Owie

We were planning to take a walk today, but Zane is favoring his right rear leg. No walkies today. And I can't figure out where the leg hurts - I've checked the foot out really well, I can manipulate all the joints, and I can stretch all parts and massage it. But he is still favoring it. Hopefully he'll be better tomorrow.

Instead, Zane got a light trimming. There's really not a lot to trim on him, but I want him used to the scissors snipping around him. I trimmed his feet and just a touch around his ears. I'd love to clean more around his ears, but the hair is so short, he'd just look goofy. And Beth, his breeder, said to wait until his head stops changing so I know what I have.

One thing I've been noticing is that he is getting white eyebrows. One of my other Aussies, Emily, has white eyebrows, almost a mask around the top and bottom of her eyes. Zane has a little more above the eye, but I see it developing below the eye too. I wonder if it will continue to grow along the length of his eye?


These are Emily's eyebrows:


Of all my dogs, Zane is the absolute slowest eater. He takes forever! Bella and Travis inhale their food. Emily chews every bite. I always thought she was slow. Then Zane came along. Here's proof of his slowness. I didn't even video to the end of his eating - it would have taken too long!

Scent Progress

Tonight Zane progressed in his scent work. He is definitely scenting!

He's been finding a small metal mint container (Eclipse mints). Tonight I added a little leather change purse. I want him working both metal and leather early.

I made the leather hunts easy. The first couple were just a couple of feet away, and he watched me place them. The last one was hidden around a corner, still in plain sight once he turned the corner, but he didn't see exactly where I put it.

With the metal, he sits while I place it out of sight. He can see the area of the room I'm in, but he can't see where I place it (I was doing it in the bedroom and hid it on the opposite side of the bed or in the closet).

He was going to the area and sniffing and sniffing and sniffing until he found it. Good boy! And he's holding his sits while I hide it. That's even bigger, as he really wants to go get it immediately.

Look what I brought you Mama!

Zane went out to potty this morning, and ran back inside with this:


Thanks buddy.

Cones and Bricks and Halters. . . Oh my

Zane is getting close to an age where his strength may be stronger than his self-control. So it's time to introduce a head halter. As my dogs go through adolescence, I do like to use a head halter at certain times. They don't get to practice bad habits (like pulling uncontrollably to get to something they want).

This morning I started desensitization work with the head halter. Then we went to the park, and while I trained the girls, Jill walked him around. He wore his halter, but no leash was attached to it. I just want him used to the feel on his face now. Oh, and the desensitization work? I started with clicking for nose touches to it. Then I held the nose loop up, and clicked nose touches to it, then to the middle of it to get a treat, then pushing his nose through the loop to get a treat. Then I buckled it on, gave a treat, took it off. Puppies accept things so easily!

Last night I videoed his newest brickwork and cone work. Here they are:

Three and Four?

I was reading somebody's post today that they taught their dog to move their back feet on the cues "Three" and "Four" (because they would be the third and fourth feet placed when hand-stacking). Hmmm. I may think about that. Right now I'm just saying toe when I want him to move a back foot back, but wasn't sure how to let him know which one to move - I can't change sides to point to the foot I want moved when the judge is there looking at him. It can't hurt to play with this.

This afternoon we started working on getting a down with a utility signal. Of course, it's new cue (signal) then old cue (verbal). He has no clue yet what that arm up in the air means.

I also tested his understand of the cues "sit" and "down". Once he does a down, he wants to do it again. He finally started figuring out that sit does mean sit. One time he started to go down, then half sat, so I clicked, and he pushed into a full sit and held it.

We're playing with scent work again. I'm using an Eclipse metal mint tin for now. I'm starting to be able to hide it in a little more hidden place. I don't see a lot of scenting yet, but it will come. On a side note, Bella is up to going into a room and sniffing it out when she has no clue where it is. Very cool!

Oh, the riddle

This weekend at the agility trial, Zane did fine around all the dogs. They barked, they ran, they walked by. . . no issues. Yesterday at 4-H, he had issues with one (stress signs, lip curl). This morning we went to the park to walk. There is a dog park on the edge of this park. We walked by it, but didn't go into it. A dog was in there and ran along the fenceline barking at us. Zane went on alert, barked and growled. Why did that dog bother him, but all the dogs at the agility trial didn't? Was this little dog yelling, "Hey, your mother's a cat! Your dad came from the pound!"

Zane also found the jogging man very scary. Even when we later went past each other with him walking, Zane did not like him.

This afternoon we got out the Happy Legs. We haven't done them in awhile. After that we worked on hand-stacking, then on free-stacking. Along with "step" to get him to step with his front feet, I'm trying to teach him "toe" to get him to move his back foot back if needed. I do find it hard to be motivated about working on conformation stuff since it will be awhile before he goes into the ring, and then it will be the altered ring. Being a cryptorchid, he'll never go into the regular conformation ring, and I really don't want to neuter him until he's around 18 months old. We have a long wait to see how he'll do in that ring. I have to admit I'm finding myself a bit depressed about that whole issue. Bella turned out not being quite up to conformation standards (coat color issues, front is off, front movement is paddling). I thought Zane was my chance. . . and it's not happening there either. Maybe this is my sign that I'm supposed to stick with performance events only.

Zane has started eating some of his dinners out of Nina Ottoson puzzle toys. I love making the dogs work for their food - it fulfills a need that eating out of a bowl doesn't. They were designed to hunt and work to eat - not having it handed to them in a silver dish. The first time he gave up after figuring out about half of it. Tonight he worked to the very end.

Longer sessions

When working for his meals, I could get maybe 3 reps out of Zane before he just didn't want to do anymore. Gradually, I've been able to work that up. The past two mornings I've done a set of 10 stands, then a second set of 10, then 10 reps of out/wrap the cone. Then he gets the rest of his breakfast. That's a much better level of duration. Hopefully I can push it even more.

Last night before novice class, Jill and I did round robin recalls with him. But. . . if we didn't call him and he came running, he got ignored. This is teaching him stimulus control. There is no reward if you do it and you haven't been cued to do it. There is a reward if you are cued and do it. He loved running back and forth.

Then I worked on cones with him. Well, just one cone. Sometimes I sent him ahead to wrap around the cone. Sometimes I walked by and sent him out to the other side of the cone. He wraps much easier to the right and sometimes doesn't quite make it to the left.

We ended with calling him through a straight tunnel. Back and forth and back and forth. Then we wanted to catch him as other dogs were arriving, and he just kept running back and forth through the tunnel. Uh oh! Tunnel monster! I need to get out some jump standards and build that drive for running between the poles! (No bars on the jumps, just the uprights.)

Heel work

We went to an agility trial this weekend. Zaney-butt got to go and hang out. At one point, Jill, my 13 yo daughter, was playing with him and started heeling. He's worked on choose to heel. He's been heavily rewarded for sitting in heel position. But the two have never been put together. Jill did it. Pretty nice for a 4 month old puppy!

Brickwork

Zane had a very busy morning. He worked on his stand this morning, went for a walk, and went to class.

Another thing we worked on this morning was the first step to his left finish. I want him to jump up before pivoting into place for his finish, so worked on the jump up. He will jump up, but does a little spin too. Unfortunately, the spin is in the wrong direction, but it is darn cute!



On our walks,we work on three things. The first part of the walk is spent with frequent rewarding for walking on a loose leash. The second part we play the walk-away game. The third part we work on attention and heeling. All parts are starting to come together. But. . . the walk-away game is the hardest.


Here's the latest update on his "brickwork" or "circus elephant trick".



And this is how we turn it into the left pivot. This is the first time I've done this step with Zane, so you see it in total learning phase.



Now for an admission where I've messed up. I've given him too much freedom in the house too soon. He decided one part of the family room is a place to pee - he's done it 3 times in 2 weeks. So we're back to lots of control. And. . . because he wants to pee in that place, he is now tethered in that area with a dog bed, toys, and a chewie. If he wants to pee there, it can become his new place to hang out. Dogs won't pee in their living space, so I'm making it part of his living space. I may also start feeding him there, as he really won't want to pee where he eats.

Baby Giraffe

I no longer have a puppy. I have a baby giraffe. This is a crummy picture, but it does show those legs!


Here's a better picture. But he doesn't look as leggy.


I tried to video his stand training, but cut off half his body. I'll try again in the morning.

Stand and Relax

Things have been so busy around here. I'm working on a new website, and spend all my spare computer time getting it going.

Zane is still working on the same old things. Getting more and more good downs on a verbal only. And getting some anticipation of downs - I'll take that! At least he's thinking about them!

This morning I added a stand to his training. Not going from a sit to a stand - just standing. I have him tethered and when he is still - all four feet solid and not moving, I will click. Gradually, I will build the time between clicks. Then I will start adding touches and light pressure to help him learn to hold that stand.

I haven't pulled out the Relaxation Protocol since he passed Day 1. So I pulled it out this morning. He did Day 2 in both a sit and a down with no problem. Maybe I'll make it a goal to do one day a week. That way we still progress without pushing him too hard.

General Training

We had competitive obedience practice today, and Zane worked on his moving hand push, eye contact in heel position, down (several good ones on verbal!), around finish, and started working on the leap up for the beginning of the swing finish.

He adores the Vizla that comes to the practice time. He wants to play with him so bad!

Oh, I forgot that he's lost 4 teeth. He's growing up!

Right now my least favorite thing about him is his head. I'm not sure exactly what I don't like - he seems to have very broad cheekbones and not much stop - it's almost collie-like. I don't know if the head will mature better or stay like this. Does it matter? No. He is what he is.

Sometimes when he's working on eye contact, he's concentrating on it so hard it looks like his eyes are going to pop out of his head. It's so cute! He is so intense at times!

One small incident. . . possible long term affects

Remember how the dog ran at us on our walk yesterday? This morning, Zane did not want to go on a walk. "I really, really don't feel like it Mama. I'll just stay here. Ok?"

Nope, not ok. Get on that horse and ride, boy!

So we went on our walk. At first he was very skittish, then finally settled in and walked and gave nice attention. But when we rounded the corner to turn on the street with *that* house, Zane went on full alert. Any time he checked in, I clicked/rewarded. But he was very watchful and very nervous going past that house. Luckily no dog came charging at us today.

I've heard people yell, "My dog's friendly!" as it goes running up to someone (it's off-leash of course). They forget that maybe the other dog isn't friendly. Or maybe it's fearful. Or maybe it is a service dog. Lots of reasons to not let a dog run up on another person or dog.

Zane's reaction today wasn't bad. It is easily worked through. But. . . what if the dog had run at us again. How many times can we have a setback before it has a permanent affect? Unfortunately, where we live, there will always be dogs either running up on their fence line or running loose. We're in the country - it happens. Maybe I should start carrying something to stop another dog before it gets to us. Heck, I can't even get out my own front gate without the mastiffs across the street barking hysterically and acting like they want to attack.

Finish and Shake and High 5

We got a great down at the park this morning! Nice, fold-back on verbal cue. Yes! He's also getting good at setting up in heel position on his own.

The past two mornings we've gone on nice 30 minute walks. He's had so much energy he's been running almost non-stop and almost running into things in the house. So off for a walk. He gets to work on loose-leash skills, and he gets tired. When he gets home, he crashes! Unfortunately, this morning we passed a house with a loose lab. It came running right up on us while the owner tried to call it away. Zane was scared, so I stepped between them, picked Zane up, and walked away while telling the dog to go home. He needs nice, slow intros - not a dog running right up on him.

Speaking of running. . . he can keep up with Bella now. They run and run and run, and he's no longer left in her dust.

He's doing great with his around finishes. I no longer have to move the toy for him to chase - he goes around on his own. His sits at the end are still crooked, but I'm not even working on those yet. Right now I want that drive to get around, and he's got it. The straight sits can be built in later.


He's gone over the dogwalk and a-frame a couple of times. And to work on the chute by myself, I'm draping a towel over the end of the barrel. We'll work up to the full chute a little at a time.

He's gone from doing a paw touch to a shake and a high 5. Next step is the wave!

Class Night

Mondays are busy for me. At 4:30 I either teach 4-H dog obedience or assist with 4-H dog agility. Then I drive 30 minutes away and teach a competition obedience class.

For 4-H today, we actually had a young woman who was in 4-H herself and did junior handling come to teach the kids about the showmanship portion of the dog program. So I got Zane out and let him practice being a show dog. He had to stack, got examined (and rolled on the ground at her feet while she loved on him), and kind-of gaited. We definitely need to work on that.

This past weekend I also taught him to do a high five, so any time he got tired of standing there, he tried to do a high five.

Tonight at the competition class was the first night of five weeks of fronts and finishes. Zane got to come out and work on his around finish (going so well!) and chair fronts. It's good for him to work in other places and around other dogs.

Before class I had some time to work him. We did a bit of choose to heel. It took him a couple of circuits to remember what to do (it's at an agility field, so many other things to see and smell), but then he wouldn't leave my side.

Then we worked downs. Finally. . . finally I got three fold-back downs in a row done on just a verbal. Yay! Of course, I probably had him do 20 downs before that. He needed help because he wouldn't offer anything, or he'd sit and flop. Every proper down got a big jackpot and praise and petting. He loves to be loved on. Hopefully we're on the downhill side of learning downs.

It's Fall!

Finishes and Scent Work

Last night I started introducing scent work to Zane. I took a pill bottle, put treats in it, rubbed it with my hands, and just clicked/treated for touching it then picking it up. I opened it up to get a treat out each time. Then I started to hide it "in plain sight". Basically, as I was sitting on the ground, I just put it to one side or the other and waited for him to find it and pick it up. Then I put it a little farther out. I want him to start looking for it. We played it again this morning and did the same thing.

Eventually, I'll be able to leave him in a sit, walk somewhere, place the object, and he'll go find it. For example, I played it with Bella this morning (I introduced it to her too yesterday), and she is finding it hidden in, on, and under other objects. Then I'll start putting it out with similar, unscented objects.


This morning I played with the around finish with Zane. I've taught finishes several ways. With my first Aussie, Harper, I did it the traditional way of luring the dog around with a treat to heel position. With Travis and Emily, I started with a toy, spun myself in a circle so the dog ran around me to chase the toy, and we ended in heel position. With Bella, I backchained moving to heel position.

So, I had to figure out which method I was going to use with Zane. I tried the backchaining, and he was ho-hum. So I pulled out a toy. Zoom! He likes that one! He's very bouncy going around with me, but he is usually sitting in heel position. Which earns him a tug game. And. . . he has figured out to release on "thank you" (my release cue). Good boy!

Let's talk about downs for a minute. As you know, I am a positive reinforcement, clicker-training fool. I do use some luring when I think I'll get better results. I love to shape behaviors. But then there are dogs like Zane. As I've said before, he always wants to know "Why?" I guess my answer to that question just hasn't been satisfying enough for him. So I had to think. I want a specific picture. We have repeated and repeated and repeated giving the verbal cue followed by either a lure or the hand signal when he didn't need the lure any more. Why would he never go down on the verbal, or if he did, it was a sit, then flop. That's not what I want!

So, I had to put aside my positive reinforcement hat for a while tonight and work on getting a down. I would say down, then my hand in his collar pulling him down in the fold-back I want. I did that about 10 times, then said down, and lo-and-behold. . . he went down. Perfect fold. I had finally answered his question of "why". He got a huge jackpot and we quit right there.

I've notice that many competitive obedience people quit competing when they switch to positive reinforcement only. I wonder if it's because of situations like this where positive reinforcement isn't enough to get the dog to do what you want. And yes, I've heard it all. "You need to use a better reinforcer." Yeah. . . chicken is his favorite and he wouldn't drop for the chicken. Or the cheese. Or the roast. Or. . . With the collar pull, he is still getting a reward when he gets down, but he also does have the discomfort of having his collar pulled too.

So, I probably need to throw out my positive label because I left it behind tonight.

Sigh. . .

At the Laura Romanik seminar, she stated that when transferring from your lure to your verbal cue, some dogs get it in 50 tries, and some get it in 5000 tries. I think Zane is in the latter category. Some days I think he's starting to get a glimmer of the verbal down. . . other days, he has no clue. He did go down 3 times today on a verbal. . . but it wasn't a fold-back down. And I am insisting on a fold-back, so I'm back to giving the hand signal (no more luring - he doesn't need it).

Remember the shaping exercise with the box lid? Doing the two-in-two-out? I'm expanding it and using it to help with his self-stacking. He stops with his two back feet in the box lid. I ask him to step-step - that moves his front feet forward. Then I ask him to stretch - that gets that nice forward pose. If he steps with a back foot, it's out of the box lid and clearly wrong - especially if he hits the side of the lid. I played with it a bit tonight and think this might work pretty good.

I also started working on "shake". At this point he doesn't want to leave his paw in my hand - he just wants to hit my hand and take his paw away. So we're building duration. After shake will be high-five, then wave.

Another Trainer

Tonight at puppy class, I let Jill, one of my daughters, work with Zane while I taught. She introduced him to leave it. I haven't worked on leave it yet as I've taught him so much self-control in other areas. She said after one try, he wouldn't even go for the treat in her open hand. We'll just have to do walk-aways with him - the regular method of leave-it will never work.

She also worked on the "circus elephant" trick with him. And held him while he was a distraction for another fearful puppy.

I've been trying to get other people to walk him or hold his leash while I walk away, but having Jill train him is even better. I'm sure we'll be doing that again.

Park it. . . on a grasshopper?

Zane's cue for going to his mat and laying down is "park it". We work it most mornings for his breakfast, and today I pulled out the Manners Minder for truly lazy mat training.


This afternoon, Zane found a grasshopper to play with.

What are you?


Do you smell good?


Ouch! You hurt!


I whack you!


And on video:

Shaping Fun

I love to shape behaviors. I love to see a dog think and figure out the game. I love to see what my dogs can come up with. Shaping is what really differentiates clicker trainers from traditional trainers. I *want* my dog to try new things and not wait to be told or shown what to do. The traditional trainer doesn't want the dog to do anything unless they are told to. It's just a different mindset.

Remember the first part of the retrieve work where I had Zane just bite the dumbbell or articles? Step 2 is learning to pick it up off the floor. Just another shaping exercise. You'll see Bella and Emily come in for some distractions, and you'll see a touch of resource guarding from Zane.



After a break, I pulled out a box lid. I didn't have a picture in my mind of what I wanted him to do with the box. I just watched what he offered and picked one. I went with two-in-two-out - like the agility contact behavior two-on-two-off, but for this it's two rear feet in the box.

Good day at the park

This morning we went to Rally practice. Bella practiced, then Zane came out to hang around with the other dogs. He did beautifully! He met two new German Shepherds, a new Sheltie, and a new Vizla. No hint of fear aggression. He acted very appropriately and submissively to the adult dogs. He approached calmly and let them sniff him. He sniffed Wally, the Australian Terrier, and tried to play with Rusty, the BC that he knows already. He was also able to give eye contact and worked on downs with them all around him.

This evening I grabbed some chicken and decided to see if I could shape Zane to pick up the grabber arm he likes. At first he was totally focused on me. Then he looked at it - click. Then he pawed it a couple of times - click. Then he nosed it - click. He did put his mouth on it a couple of times, got distracted by the kitten several times, and stared at me a lot. But he did eventually start to pick it up. He would immediately drop it, so I had to time clicks very carefully. I was pleased with what he did. He's learning to learn.

Relaxation Protocol

Tonight I decided to video Zane doing the Relaxation Protocol Day 1. And of course, I had his head chopped off on the video, so we had to film it again. Poor puppy. He was getting a bit tired and distracted the second time. That's a lot of work!

The Relaxation Protocol is a beautiful thing. Each day gets harder and harder. Within each day, it starts easy, gets harder, gets easy, gets harder, and ends easy. When working on a behavior, remember the 3 D's - Distance, Duration, Distractions. You can work on one at a time until it is fluent at that level. In the RP, if you add distance, the time is short. If you increase time, you stay close. If you add a distraction, it's short and you are close. As days go by, they do start combining, but Day 1 starts off easy.

Vet Day!

Today was Zane's last vet visit for awhile. He was 21.2 lb. Discussed the parvo issue with the vet, and she told me that the manufacturer they use believes in their vaccine and will cover the costs of treatment if your dog gets parvo after receiving two of their doses. She also told me that last Tuesday, they had 5 parvo puppies in the clinic. Parvo is still rolling strong here. And the family who had the sick puppy. . . they've lost two of the three. I'm assuming they've had no vaccinations.

I also measured Zane - 15. 75".

He went to Bella's agility lesson this morning. He practiced his sits, downs, eye contact, and hand push before class. After class he got to meet a new puppy. This was a very exuberant puppy in an x-pen, and we just sat outside the x-pen. Zane sniffed and got chicken. Things seemed to go ok, then Zane started barking. It wasn't a nice, excited "let's play" bark, so I moved him back and we played "look at that" with the puppy. I'm hoping that given a couple of intros, Zane will be ready to play with him.

After Zane's vet visit, he had a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day. He got bit by a harvester ant. He started whining and limping, so I assumed he had a sticker in his foot. But no. . . the ant was still stuck to him, still biting. I pulled him off, but he was whining and limping for at least 30 minutes. He laid in my lap like the most pitiful little thing. He's fine now. But I do admit those things hurt! And they can hurt a long time. I got bit by one, and for 2 weeks the nerve below where I was bit twitched on and off.

This evening we played a bit with free-stacking. He needs some work there. Actually, he's not that bad. . . he's challenged with a handler who isn't as good at the conformation stuff as the obedience and agility stuff.

There is a plastic toy "grabber arm" that one of my daughter's left out in the yard. Zane likes to pick it up. So I started to click every time he did. Now he gets the game and will pick it up for a click/treat. Who thought of learning a retrieve with a large plastic toy? But since he picks it up naturally, I can capture the pick up and work from there.

Zane - 16 weeks

This evening, Zane got a bath, some practice on the Happy Legs, some practice gaiting (need to work on that - he needs to focus forward), and then practice at self-stacking, then stacking on the table. I need to video the self-stacking to see how we're doing!



He was being much more difficult than usual with the stacking tonight. He wanted the cheese, and that's all there was to it!

Companion?

I'm currently listening to the book Through a Dog's Eye. The author talks about the CBTI - Canine Behavior Type Index. You can take the test at http://www.petconnectgame.com.

The test says that Zane is SGM - a companion. Here's what they say about a companion:

The Companion has the softest, most charming character for a family pet. They are funny, silly, laid back, subservient and obedient. It is rarely serious, is everyone's friend and its favourite pastime is to 'ride' the couch. The most unobjectionable combination of traits. Do not expect it to be a strong watch dog, athlete, or seem especially clever.

I'm not sure I got the correct results, but I think it's probably close. Zane is very serious - so the "rarely serious" doesn't fit. Clever? He's definitely not as quick as Bella at learning. But I also don't think he'll have the imagination to come up with all the variations I don't want. Like I've said before, it's going to be interesting to see how he matures.

Remember the Relaxation Protocol? After our 2nd try at it that was disastrous with all the distractions that occurred, I decided to drop it for a bit. After working chair fronts, sits, and downs today, I decided to try it again. Did Day 1. He passed it for both sit and down! Good boy! Now on to Day 2.

He's still practicing his mat work for his breakfast. He's very good at it. "You just want me to lie here on this cushion? Got it! My kind of job!"

Bad mommy forgot to give him his lunch today. He cleaned his dinner bowl. Maybe he needs to send me to my crate.

Agility fun

Earlier this week I lowered my teeter as much as it would go. Zane loves the wobble board, so I figured he'd have no issues with the teeter. I was right! He runs right down it, eating treats along the way.

Today we went to our agility lesson, and Zane got to participate. First he did stride work. This is not jump work. It is to teach him how to adjust his stride according to what's in front of him. As a puppy, our main goal is to find his stride and work that, not make him adjust yet. His stride was a little longer than we expected!



He also got to work the chute. Unfortunately, I forgot to grab the camera for it. The first time through (open chute), he did slow down on the new surface. But he made it through to play with a tug toy. The boy loves to tug! He did it 3 more times, getting faster every time. The last time he beat me to the end! The chute was held open, but on the last run, the middle was sagging a little. Doesn't phase him!

On the obedience front he's working on chair fronts and hand pushes for heeling.

For the chair fronts, I sit on the edge of a chair and extend my legs to form a chute. The first couple of times I will lure to get him between my legs and close. While he's there, I hold a hand out to each side and expect eye contact. After a couple of lures, I just hold my hands above my legs and expect him to come in, focused on the middle of my body away from my hands. How many times have you seen people who have dogs who can front when their hands are in front, but have no clue what to do when the hands are at their sides? I want the hands at the side to be his cue to focus up and middle. He's getting the idea!

One funny story from tonight. I cut the tip of my finger pretty bad yesterday. I have a bandaid on it, and before doing the chair fronts I washed dishes. The bandaid was wet, came loose, and started flapping. When Zane grabbed for the treat in that hand, he grabbed the bandaid and swallowed it right down. New training treat? I'm sure it will come out tomorrow.


For the hand push, I want him pushing into my hand with his nose. When his pushes get strong enough, I'll start letting that push "move" me. I'll step forward, and he'll step forward to continue his push. This will build drive for the heel. For now, I'm just standing still waiting for him to fully understand what I want.