Box Training - Kevin's video training Hero

[Valerie]

I watched the video of Kevin with Here the other day and then tried it with Eka. I think it took her 6-7 times to stop jumping off of a rough stone bench out back. And then today it was only about 3. I was really surprised it worked that quickly. Barkley would only get his front paws on the rock, though the bench is relatively bigger for him.

I don't know what the practical application of this is yet, but it was fun to have something quick and easy to work on. So what does this do and what is the next thing? I don't have Neil's videos yet but I hope to remedy that soon, and and in the meantime look up any box training articles on Lee's and Neil's sites.

[Valerie]

Ok here are the box articles I thought might exist....

From Neil:

Part I
http://www.naturaldogblog.com/blog/2...ay-on-the-box/

Part II
http://www.naturaldogblog.com/blog/2...lie-down-stay/

Part III
http://www.naturaldogblog.com/blog/2...stay-the-stay/

[Angelique]

Valerie, A bunch of things are happening on the box. We are letting their internal efficiency mechanism kick in when they stay on the box (self training, yahoo!) By giving them a defined space to be in, learning down and sit in an energized way is accomplished quickly, and by using the edge of the box carefully, they can learn to feel grounded in the sit or down because they are solid, compared with losing their ground (the sense of imbalance they experience) when their front feet slip off the front of the box. They can learn to go to the box from a distance, so they learn leaving you in an energized way as well.

In summary, for me the box leads to a sit/stay, down/stay, go to place, and working all of these with distractions and from a distance. The "go to place" translates in to a hugely helpful skill for an excited dog to have. Their place can be on top of their crate or in their crate when guests arrive, happily and quickly.

I have a couple of boxes, one that fits in the back of my car, a smaller one I can carry down the road in our village to practice in different locations, and my favorite, an old saw horse. One of my dogs might be part mountain goat, so for him balancing on a saw horse instead of a box has been the key to keeping him focused and solid while I do things like trim his nails or clean his ears.

Hope that helps.

[Valerie]

Oh very interesting! I'm exited to start working on all of those things. I think I need a better box though, the bench we have is perhaps a little too high.

What a great idea to have one that is more portable. Has anyone used one of those raised dog beds that some clicker trainers really like? It's not solid like wood as it has some fabric type material on the top of the frame.

A saw horse! That is pretty amazing! so your dog stands on about a two inch wide board at the top of the saw horse? Do you have any video of that? I would love to see what that looks like.

[neilsattin]

I think it generally helps to have the surface be smooth-ish, although I often use a dog's bed as an "indoor box" - e.g. a place to go when guests come over, during dinner time, etc.