Practicing For Earthdog

[Tuesday]

We constructed this 9" x 9" x 10' tunnel this morning. It took us longer to build it than it did to get Murphy to make his way through it.

It took one wardrobe box and a lot of tape.

[bradl]

Nice job. The directional arrow on top is a nice touch

I need to build something like that and then put Dundee's food dish at the end of it.

[JCDickens]

We tried this last week at the graduation ceremony. Nope. Dickens wouldn't hear of it. It was one of those crackly kids tunnels that wasn't too stable. Do you think something constructed out of boxes would be more appealing to him?

Murphy looks like he's ready to roll!

[bradl]

Agility tunnels (and the kidz analog) are probably not at all equivalent in a dog's view. I would guess the instability factor in your class tunnel was likely significant too, as you suspect. Dogs don't seem to generalize particularly easily, although the close dark space of a cardboard box probably generalizes to a wooden den more easily than a round spiral fabric tunnel would. Still, the more experiences of all kinds the better.

I built a plexiglass tunnel (8 feet, one turn) for a demo one time and found that Haggis would not enter it until I put a decal on the far wall of the turn. Once he could see where the turn was, he entered easily. He would sometimes camp out in there, fogging up the plexi with his hot breath Yet he never hesitated to enter a wood/earth tunnel. Dogs are funny.

[Hillscreek]

Maybe make a straight tunnel with wood or cardboard or whatever. Something firm first then after add a turn.

Angus took a while to go in but now can do a straight run easily. He ran through a drainage tunnel under a pathway on a trail we walk on the other day on his own initiative. So I guess he's about ready to add the turn when I feel up to making it.

That's a really cool tunnel Murphy!

Edited November 18, 2012 by Hillscreek

[Tuesday]

We tried this last week at the graduation ceremony. Nope. Dickens wouldn't hear of it. It was one of those crackly kids tunnels that wasn't too stable. Do you think something constructed out of boxes would be more appealing to him?

Murphy looks like he's ready to roll!

We started out with dining room chairs on carpet in a darkened bathroom/bedroom (carpeted floor) - using value treat and the clicker (Murphy has been clicker trained practically since the day we picked him up at 9 weeks old). Once he was going back and forth under the chair, we put a blanket over it so it enclosed the sides. Then we added another chair and it was almost like a child's tent. The we added a "chute" type area that was about 9" wide. All the while, clicking and treating.

A day or so later we went with the smaller chairs (patio type) that went into the wardrobe box opened up in the kitchen (tile floor). Again, clicker and high value treat, eventually easing up on the clicker and treats and just giving positive praise.

The other day we made the opening of the box only 9" wide. When we took him to his first Earthdog event last March the biggest thing that I feel held him up from going all the way into the dark tunnel was that he wasn't tucking his tail.

So, this morning we made the first run of the box run and let him go back and forth for. Once he was happy and acclimated, we added the turn. Took a bit more coaxing, but he did just fine.

We clicked and treated, then weaned off the treats and ended on praise.

Edited November 18, 2012 by Tuesday

[kjwarnold]

We've got a kids' tunnel and it didn't take Kirby long to race right through it. Packy, my food-loving, treat-hogging, Packy, would have nothing to do with it, even with a high-value treat at the other end. I had to force him in, then he just wanted to come right back out the same way. He didn't care about the treat at the other end (and he knew it was there) and he didn't want to have anything to do with that rolling tunnel. We had to have three people on it to keep it still before he'd go in. The cardboard idea is a great one! I've got lots of cardboard right now; I'm going to have DH save some and see how this works.

[hheldorfer]

This looks like a fun project for a snowy January weekend. Will definitely keep it in mind!

[cairnsby3]

Now you need to work toward putting the food bowl in one end and then holding him up at the other end, standing back at the other side of the room. Point out the tunnel to him then put him down like you would at a test and give your command. He will learn to run straight to the tunnel and in to eat. I did that with Shiner and that was one of the few part he really got, "run straight to and in the tunnel and not around on the top"

[Tuesday]

Thanks Cairnsby3! I'm going to try this tomorrow night when I get home from work. He's very adamant about eating his evening meal on time.

Last March he did try to go over the top one time, but when the judge with the clipboard blocked him, he accepted it and tried to make the hole entrance bigger.

[Dirtdogs]

I love that picture! I am so glad I am not the only one that does stuff like that:)

I did build myself some tunnel sections. I made a few sections with plexi glass - not only cool for demo's, but gives new dogs more light and they seem to take to the tunnels well.

Kristi