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Min – Games 1 – Standard Course 1 – 7/13/21
Finally managed to line my schedule up with Chaia’s! Standard course was set with jump substituting for a frame and straight tunnel for DW.
Min approves of big courses on nice grass. Had walked getting a blind in before #16 so she could turn right to the tunnel but quickly realized I wasn’t getting there in time. At the end, it may be hard to hear, but I was busy giving her the wrap left (dig dig) cue when I wanted and got the wrap right. Clear proof that she follows body motion and position more than verbals, or at least verbals that were trained later (she started out with check check as wrap towards me either direction and I retrained to dig dig when I was training Kaladin)
Games 2 – Sequence #1 – Kaladin – 7/10/21
Jumped him at 10in (bit muggy for 12 for the Floof Munster). Used his name softly out of #3 tunnel and he didn’t head to the off course. I think the “yes!” started to pull him in 8-9. Check Check wrap was decent. He did have a small head check on the last linePractice (after running Min)
Decide to run closer into the tunnel so I could be moving more as he out. Also did 8-9 reward on line with get it instead of yes so he wouldn’t pull into me. Rewarded the wrap and tried a spin. Rewarded the Go on the last line after 13.“Final product” – later in the day
Had 2 aborted starts and then I realized he was being drawn to Nemo who was pretty far off course by my back steps. Moved Nemo further away and did a short sequence having him turn away from the distant sight of Nemo and then having his Happy Hour Nemo reward. Things went much better after that.
Lots of good ideas on where to take this next…and he’s going in for the removal of 2 small pieces of anatomy on Wednesday so this game may be an option after he’s had some time to recover. (I’m also out of town Sat-Tues to visit inlaws (who don’t like dogs. geesh!) so we’ll be taking a bit of a break anyway.
With the Jacque pounce it was the middle of the sequence where she was the extension of his line as a distraction. He’s progressed from not trying to go visit when we come in or when we are setting up. Great plan on using the acclimation game. Now she just needs to hold another mini seminar…
Kaladin & Min – Motion Override – 7-8 & 9/21
Got behind on my video editing.Kaladin
7/8 was the first session with my motion for camp (we had done this earlier in Max Pup but not recently). Started with his flying Squirrel and then upped the ante and used Nemo on 7/9. He thought I had completely lost it around 0:55 and kept starting at me so I did help him with a tiny bit of motion to the wing when I started up again and then he figured it out.
Min
She also thought I had completely lost it when I started partying near the wing. Then she caught on. Cropped out me rewarding Kaladin for staying on the mat and then resetting him when he got bored with waiting.
In other news, Kaladin rocked his mini seminar at OTR on Friday. We did the environmental acclimation game while we were walking and a few tricks heading in for his turn and he rocked the very first sequence. Then lost his brains when he was heading towards Jacque H so detoured to pounce on her, seemed disappointed when she ignored him and came back when I called him. I had him do the next part of the sequence and then rewarded that.
DW at 36in – 7/7/21
Took more than a week off due to excessive heat and being out of town. We finally got a bit of rain and it cooled down to the mid 70s so I decided I might as well try the wing instead of the PT and voila! Not a full extension run, but he’s staying focused forward to the wing and he’s actually running and not trotting! He was kind of bouncy and pouncing over the stride regulator onto the target. Not sure if that is something to worry about or if he’ll flatten out more as he sorts it out.Also, I went back to the class to watch the a-frame video and the link isn’t working (for the video). I don’t know if it was working before and then something changed.
Hi Tracy,
I think I got confused which dog you were talking about here:
Another interesting insight from Kaladin – I think Kal had trouble staying in his spot when you did a big “YES!” verbal and that is something to know for training him: he finds it stimulating and a drive to momma marker. So with Min you can have your placement markers more than the big YES – which will also bring more clarity for her.I think you are saying to use the placement markers more with Kaladin than the big Yes and this will help for clarity.
And in regards to the passing guy & stroller – he can usually handle someone going by at a moderate pace with no dog as long as he’s not startled by them. The dogs are what usually elicit a response if I am not actively working to prevent that by engaging him in something more productive.
Skills #2 – Verbals with Arousal – 7/7/21
I did a few sessions with each dog on Monday and Tuesday. Today was the first one I did with the wing.
Using “sit” for the stationary behavior. And a mix of Flip (spin left) and Turn (spin right) for the moving behavior (because I don’t like being one-sided when traing them!)
Still need to post my verbals, but here’s what I’m using for the wing:
Check-check – wrap right
Dig Dig – wrap left
Lalala – backside slice
circle-circle – backside 360
Catch (catch food or toy)
Grab it (grab toy in my hand – think I forgot it a few times)
X (treat delivered to mouth)Kaladin
(I need to not lean towards the wing when he’s trying to figure out why I’m being weird)
Min
Haven’t done this much formally with Min at all (maybe 1 or 2x when Kaladin was working on it in MaxPup), but apparently she’s picked up these skills along the way.
And just for kicks – this was Kaladin’s 2nd session with 12 straight poles!
In other news, I had great success this morning on our walk by tossing the first treat off the path as we were moving. He stayed calm for dogs going by about 10ft away. Sometimes he stared at the dog heading away from him for a while, but I waited him out. He also looked quickly back at me when a guy pushing a big stroller went by about 5ft away.
Ah yes – I can see how the cue to get the tossed treat and then the sight of the distraction becomes the cue to play the engagement game.
Our cue for multiple treats raining down from the sky is “Bonanza”.In other news we did a few short sessions of the verbal arousal and determined that Sit is a very strong behavior that he can do with me jumping and flailing arms in place. His flip/turn (spin left and right) isn’t as strong but it’s good with moderate movement on my part.
Currently raining hard which is good for the grass and dropping the temps out of the 90s, but bad for actually training outside.
Kaladin – Environment Acclimation – 7/5/21
We did a quick refresher of step 1 and then moved to step 2 with Nemo as the distraction.Is the bit about making sure the treat is tossed on a surface where the dog can easily find it for the learning stages? I regularly have him find a dropped treat in the grass when we are walking and another dog is approaching. The grass is mowed for a decent stretch off the path) It takes him a while to find it and then I toss another and pretty soon the dog has gone by and he’s still happily finding treats. I tried the game this morning which basically meant waiting for him to look back at me before giving him the toss cue and dropping the next treat. Worked really well as long as I got him off the path and at a distance (10-15ft) from the approaching dog. A few times he had to stare for a while before he could look back at me but he did it all calmly. He’s not advanced enough that he can do this if we are surprised by an approaching dog and don’t have time to get a bit of distance.
In other news, he did really well hanging out at the USDAA trial in Duluth over the weekend. We played a bit of frizzer with a long line in the field away from the ring, did some restrained recalls and tugging, and just hung out in the shade within sight of the ring. Did 2 really short sessions with the practice jump but it was in the 90s so he was pretty un-enthused. (combination of heat & the trial environment was definitely beyond his pay grade at this time)
<eKaladin- Send to Tunnel Sequences- 6/30/21
Flipped things around so I could work on the Sequences using the other half. He thought I was more clear about the softer and sharper turns. I think he missed the first backside to the tunnel because I was too far over and blocking his view of the wing.Kaladin – Send to Tunnel sequences- 6/29/21
Moved a tunnel into the back so I could work on the distance sends with something he is really comfortable with…so comfortable that I kept getting the further out jump than the sharper left turn. I probably shouldn’t have had my arm out for the tighter left turn but am not quite sure what else would help to handle that distinction at a distance. Now I need to flip my course around so I can fit in the other half. (That DW sure takes up a lot of space in a small yard. And Christina, Dawn and I have had a hard time syncing up our schedules to train together at a larger space.)And Min was definitely hangry. She’s calmer at trials! We had to work through a big teeter issue when she was younger so I think I’m still overjoyed each time she gets one at a distance and am more exuberant with the praise for them than I need to be.
Min – Send to Teeter Sequences – 6/24/21
Here’s Min acting bonkers (for her) because it’s meal time. She runs ahead of me to the end of the teeter nicely but I think I haven’t been good about making sure she isn’t releasing herself when I’m further away.Kaladin – Send to Weaves – 6/25/21
Bit slower when I’m hanging back or fading laterally but he did his weaves! I ran with him on the last one to end on an easier one.
Teeter & Happy Hour – 6/24/21
I had intended to do a few Teeter games, a full one and then see how he sent ahead but he is stalling out a bit as he rides it down so I decided not to send him on ahead without me. He started this the last session about a week earlier so I added the target back in to to see if that moved him into 2o2o faster. I think it did but he still looks a bit sticky to me.
And yes- for the RDW, what I was excited to see was you focus forward on your job and when cued, we run to your jackpot raw food. It sure beats him looking at me as he’s striding through the target.
Kaladin’s Happy Hour – 6/22 & 6/25/21
Did a refresher session with Nemo with our new word (Happy Hour) and discovered we need to tug more with our agility leash as he wasn’t sure about grabbing it at first.
Did a couple more short sessions for Nemo (outside) and treats (inside) and then decided to see what would happen when I combined “happy hour” with his RDW. The best reward I’ve found for that is to send ahead to the Pet Tutor followed by some raw food in a toppl so he can’t scarf it down. Only problem is that if I carried the toppl or placed it off to the side on the grond, he would turn his head as he hit the target. Put it on a mill crate and he looked back at it as we left but kept his head forward on the DW! (The first rep he tried to start running up the teeter after the PT but then he sorted it out)
DW at 28in -6/25/21
I think I must have had the DW lower than 24in as I moved it up several rungs and now it’s at 28in. I used a game from Tracy’s Camp where “happy hour” is his cue that we are running to his reward (his raw food on the milk crate). That got the distracting raw food out of my hand so he focused forward!
First 2 reps I had the regulator at Min’s distance (6in above). Whoops! He had a much easier time of it when I moved it to 12in above the target.
