Compilation of Starfyre's Rockhound litter at 2-3 months doing obedience.

Retrieve Foundation

Using the two-toy game to drive puppies to return the first toy.

Retrieve Foundation - first lesson

For baby Silkens we use a small, squishy stuffed animal that is easy to grab, make it attractive & animated then throw it in a small space.  Into an ex-pen "wall" as here or in a corner of a room or yard, even the end of a hallway.  Any small step is celebrated as a joyous occasion :)

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Lessons in dumbbell, brick work & touch

For the dumbbell, pups are rewarded with food (they love their Orijen Puppy kibble) for even looking at the dumbbell, then for touching it and finally only for touching the bar.  We still use verbal praise for touching the dumbbell, or click, for touching it, just not the higher reward if they don't touch the bar. 

Brick work as shown below, is done on an upside down flower pot but can be done on a brick, a FitPAWS Balance disk or anything similar.  This will eventually be us walking either way around the flower pot with the puppy going the same direction but by only moving the back feet.  This will manifest as amazingly tight turns for obedience or rally and teaches the puppy where its back feet are and how to use them.  At first just putting their paws up is rewarded.  I held the treat up over their heads and told them "up" and they figured it out fairly quickly.  Then they are also rewarded for even moving a back foot either direction, but as you see here this pup took right to it.  This was his 5th day on the flower pot.

Touch is something fun that can be used later in the ring, only jumping much higher, to increase the fun level between exercises and keep the dog "up".  Sighthounds are hard to keep the switch flipped to "on", unlike most breeds you see in the obedience/rally rings.  It also teaches them to be rewarded for doing what you ask instead of just being interested in the hand with the treats.

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Sit, watch me, stand and down, fronts and finishes

These pups started sit and watch me fairly early.  They sit for their food.  Sit and watch me has become their default behavior.  Smoky here was doing sit by voice without luring a treat at 7 weeks.  Play with their feet when you have them upside down for belly rubs, when you are cuddling, etc.  They will get used to you messing with their feet and be less likely to pull away or be tickled when you move their feet while stacking.  In the first video he is going all the way around the pot both ways.  In the second video he was just learning and you can see the beginning stages, he is actually staying in a stand on a couple of these and not moving his feet.  The down is just a natural progression from the stand.  Try and have them move their feet back and then down.  This will build a foundation for the down-on-recall where you want them to fold into the down, rather than move their front paws into a down which can cause them to take a few steps forward or creep forward.  We played touch after as a fun thing since when they are older, I will want to play touch with them in the ring as a reward between exercises and after the last exercise since no food is allowed in the ring; they need something rewarding to indicate a job well done :)  The swing should be lured with the left hand and the finish with the right.  I am guilty of using my right hand for the swing in this clip below.

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Go outs/platform work

Silken Windhound puppies really like go outs!  Go-outs are the foundation for directed jumping.  They go out to the platform, get a treat/kibble from the far end on a Tupperware lid, then sit, then recall.  Eventually it will look like this:  the dog goes out on your "go" command, sits on your "sit" command (hopefully mostly facing you) and takes either the bar or high jump as indicated by you and comes to a front.  As a foundation we say "to" to indicate look at the platform/cookie, "go" to go to the platform, "get it" the second their feet hit the platform, "sit" as we walk out behind their go, and then "come" to recall.  It is best to have someone hold them back on the recall and that person can also load the cookie on the lid.  You will also hold the puppy back at the beginning to build drive.  You will need to follow the puppy out on his/her go out to have them sit (you will need to be close in the beginning), gradually increasing your distance.

This video has go outs, drive to heel and two toy game. 

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Heeling

This is Smoky, Starfyre Smoky Quartz, learning to keep his head up and heel in heel position.  I am making an okay sign with my hand, keeping the cookie in position with my thumb and index finger and using the other three to keep their head next to me. 

This is Kohl, Starfyre Chrysocolla, learning to drive to heel and to play with the "live" toy as presented and to leave & ignore the other one.  Learning to focus and ignore distractions.  Although mom insists on hogging the camera frame, you can still get the idea and see the confidence exuding from the puppy.

Here is Smoky practicing heeling.  He is a little wide at times, but he is learning to keep his head up and I'm trying to reward him when he is in heel position but my pace could be faster.

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Puppy ping-pong/foundation of the re-call

The re-call is one of the most, if not the most, important lessons a Sighthound can learn.  Puppy ping-pong is played with two people calling the puppy to come, back and forth giving food rewards.