[Amy Sannes]

Hi Tracy –

>Are you saying “park it” for his station? I love it! And he is doing well with staying on it!
Yes! That’s the cue I use. Makes me smile! Also made me think about “target” and “hit it” – those both sound close to “park it,” so I might need some different words (maybe “touch” or “tag”). Nobody else will ever be able to run my dog (but I’m probably ok with that).

Speaking of – I was going to ask you if agility folks are going to look at me sideways for using “flick” for threadle slice. I think I picked the word up from somebody’s post on the forum – and I like it – and don’t want to use “close” (that’s my heel setup cue). I guess my question is if there is a “standard” use for the word “flick” in agility?

Also – sometime recently you mentioned not creating frustration by withholding rewards. Thank you for saying as much. I know better (both recent previous dogs would walk away if unrewarded), but Skizzle is fun to train because he keeps going. I will do better by him if I protect our relationship with rewarding effort. I quite like variable rewards (higher value for what I’m looking for; lower for effort), so should integrate those into our training. I should also reward effort and assume that I’m not giving clear information (as is so very often the case).

Some old and new games over the past couple days:

We tried backside slice – seems to be going well. I need to be more consistent – not sure why I’m saying “yes” here – when I should say “grab” for the toy or “Get it” for thrown treat. Trying to inch my way laterally into the middle and opposite side of jump – but I lose him if I get to far. Might work better to ping-pong the distance laterally. Also – I need to stop throwing my arm towards the barrel.
From the last time: >I think you were saying “back” once, but you can say it several times as you move up the line to support the commitment.
I’m not very good at repeating cues – in obedience (which I enjoy competing in), I take pride in giving a single cue (esp. since you’re punished in the scoring for additional ones). It’s also a pet peeve for a dog’s cue to be “sit sit sit”. But I can appreciate that there’s little downside to repeating cues in agility. 🙂

We did a short Turn N Burn session. I was trying to quickly move away from the barrel so he would see my backside when he came around. Went ok…still working on our “out” mechanics for tugging 🙂

We did some rocking horses. It’s coming along nicely…better movement from one barrel to the next. I was trying to make eye contact when exiting the first barrel.

And we’re working on backing up. One hop-py attempt, but I like the rest of the stepping back. Getting more steps, but I probably should experiment with changing my position, as you previously suggested…next time.

Like his brother Checkers (fun to see his progress in this course, too!) – 5.5 months – and a whole lot of fun!

Amy

[Amy Sannes]

Tracy –

Thanks again!

>It takes some experimenting to figure out what works best for him in different environments, and that will also change as he goes through adolescence into adulthood. So we revisit the game a lot!
Thank you for reiterating that this game should get used lots – I will try to regularly bring it into the beginning of a training session as a temperature monitor for Skizzle’s readiness to work.

Here’s a long one – strike a pose transfer for threadle slice. It took a couple sessions for Skizzle to understand what the Manners Minder meant (and to go there automatically). Things I think I can do better on – saying the cue (“flick”) earlier (aka enforcing no early release from mat). And I don’t love his jumping up to tag my hand getting built in here – I understand it was just a starting point to get the dog to come behind the jump before going back to the reward. How would you suggest moving in that direction?

We also tried threadle wrap around barrel (“InIn”). I feel like I need to shape this movement. I wish that he guessed if a barrel was present he should wrap it, but with Skizzle that’s just not happening. No hurry on my part – and the puppy brain changes day by day, week by week. He’s 24 weeks now. I feel like I’m contorting myself to encourage him to wrap the barrel – which it doesn’t sounds like will benefit us in the long run. 🙂

In Flagstaff, we’re having the driest start to winter – apparently for the past 110 years! Which has been great for potty training a puppy 😉 But I don’t love watering my trees mid-January.

Hope you’re having a great day!

-Amy

[Amy Sannes]

Hi Tracy –

Having so much fun working/playing with Skizzle. He’s excited to train, starting to be more thoughtful at times, and happy to play.

We tried the arousal dial game. I appreciate that this will be valuable in away-from-home environments (and maybe even the backyard). His interest in sniffing/hunting for critters seems like something I’ll have to compete with for attention. I think he does well here with toys and treats and is able to respond to simple cues. https://youtu.be/cqOYoSPUCUc?si=EFPaYAB_7Ilkhz27

And we’ve been doing some short perch sessions. I think we’re continuing to make decent progress towards isolating hind end movement around. https://youtu.be/KQOWavbGuKc?si=cDWP0I7pSbgjrmDV

-Amy

[Amy Sannes]

Hi Tracy –

Was excited to attempt the some of the same games again, with your feedback.

For the backside slice foundation – this round went much better! Still not super far laterally from the barrel, but Skizzle is more consistently wrapping. https://youtu.be/W47sXkJ6JUg?si=Y0m5KI0ZBeFqdrF3

We’ve done some short sessions of backing up – I’m quite pleased with the progress he’s making. https://youtu.be/3ljUCg4rrjw?si=YfE6wQE83kMmYTUk

I had time to make a new perch for pivoting – I call it the pivot trivet – since the main piece is a wooden trivet. Added grip tape to the top and felt feet to the bottom. I thought it would be perfect – it’s close, but it’s not quite heavy enough. I may continue to use it anyway, as long as I don’t see him deterred or altering what he offers because it moves occasionally. As far as pivoting goes – starting to see more hind end movement. I’m trying to give a cookie for front feet on and then waiting for lateral movement. Reading your feedback again – I should work on placing my reinforcement directly in front of me to encourage him to pivot towards front. I probably need to eliminate the cookie for getting on the perch, to also encourage that movement.

We’ve tried a few rounds of quick head movement – like you said, it requires 3 hands. I thought this was a very decent effort. https://youtu.be/7IMD0gj0t80?si=g2XILJ1FRnB7x3Sd

I have a busy weekend, so Skizzle will get a couple days off of training.

-Amy

[Amy Sannes]

Hi Tracy –

Skizzle and I tried out the exercises with the live session last night. It seems like we’re off to an ok start. I feel a bit inspired by the demo dogs to add some impulse control and place work – we should get started on place and ability to work with a toy on the ground :

But for now…

Here is our backside slice foundation. Still a little sticky pre-wrap, but better after he decided to wrap. I tried a few (later) where I was further laterally from the barrel – but then he didn’t wrap at all. https://youtu.be/zZNnhOsT7-s?si=z44dJcgnWVRckCp2

And the strike a pose 3 transfer for threadle slice. Watching the video, he was popping up to tag my hand, which is probably undesirable…could try a target stick – though at the moment he likes to bite it 😉 I will have to try moving the setup toss…he didn’t have any inclination to wrap the standard when I tried here, or I wasn’t in the right place for it. https://youtu.be/gcjOC7er6GI?si=KaEN2KK0Dp516crL

Here’s some pivot work from today – first time trying to throw behind me. I started working on pivots maybe a week ago. He gets that his front feet need to be on it. I worked through not sitting with his front feet on it (you can see a little of this here). A shorter prop might help him sit less – I just don’t have anything ready right now (too bad don’t they make those rubber bowls smaller). https://youtu.be/02sPD9fPRv8?si=bmonaJr4gWmWMp5d

Thanks

-Amy

[Amy Sannes]

Tracy –

Thanks for the great feedback. Appreciate your thoughts about tweaking the setup and buying me some time to be in the right place for the games!

Just one game to show today. Our best effort yet with Rocking Horses. Hew was quite wound up – so nice to see he could also process a bit. Seems like he’s looking for the toy when he comes around the barrel – esp. the first one? Maybe it’s an expectation to get the toy after the 1st barrel?

-Amy

[Amy Sannes]

Hi Tracy –

Thanks again for the feedback!

We tried a number of different exercises over the past couple days…and we played on the road again – another good session with short games. Thanks for suggesting the 2-towel setup – I think it really helps him drive ahead (maybe so much so that he loses track of the props between?).

On the road I tried get out with some movement. The prop wasn’t as relevant, but I erred on the side of rewarding effort since it was the first game we played.

Then we tried the prep for running contacts with the hula hoop.

And lastly, blind cross work. Some good reps, some with confusion, and some where I’m not ready. Skizzle laid down on the towel after the last rep – which made me think he was pretty tired and we should take it a little easier for the next day…which we did.

At home, we tried the hallway rear cross – which went much more smoothly.

-Amy

[Amy Sannes]

Tracy –

Thanks for your suggestions on managing toys to protect the hands from tooth hugs. I am exploring some strategies to keep things fun for both Skizzle and myself 🙂

And yes, thankfully I generally don’t see a lot of frustration with Skizzle, including his spins. These exercises were typical for us, where he is moving fast, and I’m slower than him in processing/moving. It’s the novice handler – novice dog thing 🙂

Still capitalizing on the warm (50s and 60s) and dry winter here in Flagstaff with some practice outside, especially while I have a few days off from work.

Went hiking yesterday and took along the equipment to do a short game there. I’m very excited that he was able to focus and play, despite some distractions (garbage truck driving by, cyclists stopping to talk ~80 ft away). He’s definitely considering the distractions, but able to engage – reminds me that we need more field trips.

We tried strike a pose with jump standards. He’s driving into the hand target first. My throws are not perfect to get him through the jump standards, and he doesn’t have any reason to do so – so he misses going between them a bit.

We tried some rotated sends. Like the barrel wraps which sometimes start with a question mark of what to do – it’s not close to automatic that he should circle the barrel if it’s there.

We did some backing up. I tried both lower and higher platform – I like the lower better, because he doesn’t rotate as much. I will try to ping pong short steps (which are mostly the back feet rocking while the front feet move back) with longer ones that get the hind end stepping back) by varying where I place the treat.

And we played rocking horses…which is fun when he moves around both barrels. I might try replacing the soft barrel with a 2nd hard barrel, to discourage the barrel-bashing. It’s cute (looks like fun for Skizzle), but frustrating that it shows up nearly every session.

Hope you’re off to a great start for 2025!

-Amy

[Amy Sannes]

Hi Tracy

>To help remain more upright (and make sure he doesn’t actually get your finger when going to the toy) you can try a longer toy for the reward (or you can tie two of them together).
I have a question about this. Skizzle prefers to grip close to my hand and will re-grip to do so. Yesterday he did get my hand (ouch). He does this even with long toys – part of it may be on the ground close to him, and he’ll jump up in the air to grab the toy closer to my hand. So what approach do you use with puppies that don’t mind biting your fingers/hands?

We had fun playing a few of the games over the past couple days.

We played get out, which I thought he understood better than I thought he would.

We did short barrel wraps going both ways. He’s more comfortable clockwise, but it could be because that’s how he first learned, and that I tend to keep treats in the left pocket (and hand). I’m making sure to get in at least as much practice counterclockwise.

We tried rear crosses in the hallway and corner inside. What a speedy, spinny thing. He gave me pause with all that spinning – pondering the frustrated spinning dogs I’ve seen on agility courses. But part of why I’m here is to learn to communicate well with him – so hopefully we can avoid frustration (and spinning). https://youtu.be/3gRyTiqs97o?si=_nimH8piNKHD5pJa

We tried parallel path with a “jump bar” and he seemed to understand that being close to that bar led to reinforcement.

And we did some schpile. He seems unfazed by different textures and movement underfoot – which is great! https://youtu.be/yLezYiW6r8c?si=s–jOT9TlrPec_c_

It’s nice to see a little progress with more regular work. Skizzle gets pretty excited for training, which is also fun.

Happy New Year!

-Amy

[Amy Sannes]

Tracy –

Feedback that is super helpful:

TnB >I think the hardest part of the game is taking his eyes off of you. So we can give him a focal point as you cue him to go around the barrel: either a bowl, or part of a toy.
Hadn’t picked up on the eye contact getting in the way of the send. This helps…I kinda skipped over the fold it in game – and seems like Skizzle could really benefit. I will spend some time placing the toy so he sees it easily.

Collar grab recommendations >A cookie lure can help line him up, and then we can fade the cookie out to the lineup cue.

Today we enjoyed playing outside again.

We reviewed the blind cross. I put out the towel to throw treats on. For some of the reps, he skips eating the treat and bounces off for the next rep. I had him go back for the treat (~39 sec).

And then I remembered that I wanted to try it with a decel to pivot.

Lastly, we tried running contacts foundation – a hula hoop was our box today. For being the very first introduction, I was surprised at how quickly he understood the value of being near/in the hoop. Probably great transfer from the prop work.

Thanks again!

-Amy

[Amy Sannes]

Hi Tracy – Thanks again for the feedback.

>You will get a quicker transition to getting the toy back without holding his collar – you can get more passive in the tugging like you did, then reach into the pocket for a dull cookie to trade.
Today I traded toys for cookies more, though I still wasn’t always initially prepared to do so – but Skizzle reminded me 🙂 I wouldn’t say they are dull cookies though. I do need to broaden Skizzle’s horizons on treats. He won’t work for kibble. And I’ve mostly been using 3 other treats (Ziwi peak lamb, string cheese, and hotdogs) – he likes them all. the ZP is probably lowest value at the moment. He trades for these treats, and then is able to go back to the toy (maybe with some reluctance, though?).

This morning we did some threadle wrap – with handler motion forward.

This evening we trained some outside – yay for a different location. You can see Skizzle had to work through some distractions – mostly noises of suburbia, including the neighbors yapping dogs and probably some engine noises (you can see him listening to this).

We started with some turn ‘n burn. I tried to clean up my leg and hand signals to the barrel. Skizzle still has questions. When I watched the live, I was so ready to move the line around the barrel – but I think we’re still working on clarity with the concept, so feel like it’s probably better to wait. And now I probably need to wait a couple days before trying again.

We tried parallel path with the prop. Lots of late self-corrections to get to the prop. Again – didn’t think we were ready to swap to a jump bar. Sped up some play time (thinking time) in the middle. And left in our push-tugging at the end – it’s fun how pushy he is, and how he enjoys being pushed!

And we did more barrel wrap play – emphasis on the play (vs. # of reps). Took me a minute to start with a cookie not a collar grab (he’s not interested in the collar grab again (sorry, Skizzle)).

-Amy

[Amy Sannes]

Hi Tracy –

Thanks again for the feedback.

>You only need a semi-clean release 😂🤣 What I mean by that is you want to be able to get the toy back pretty quickly and NOT have to fight him for it or wrestle him out of his mouth.
Appreciate this, and will try to incorporate both food and toys together for more games, even before we have “perfect” toy play skills. I’ve not had perfect toy skills with my previous dogs, so although I have some ideas of toy behaviors I’d like, I can’t let it sideline me from using toys for an extended time.

Also thank you for suggesting a reward marker that means “behind” the dog (for the stays, here). Hadn’t really considered it before, but can appreciate how that helps direct them to the reward. And for the stays, having a prop for duration is something I can get behind – I used one successfully to help a previous dog pass her 1 minute obedience sit (after many failed attempts).
I’m fine not using “ok” for this exercise…the reward marker serves as the release cue (you said as much in your demo video, I just didn’t pick up on it with the first viewing 😉

Tried the lap turns again, but I should’ve tried without Skizzle first, because I wasn’t stepping back or ready on time for the cookie toss. Gives me empathy for when the puppy brain is unable to process information.

Worked on wrapping the barrel by advancing the toy around it. After the missed first “wing-it” attempt – things went well. https://youtu.be/sqqkuMY3ef8?si=eGwzVg1Ku-u6quHK

We did a pattern game with a distraction added. Next time I will add the distraction with stealth – or a take a break to add it before resuming the game. I appreciate at 39 seconds where Skizzle shows me how the hat is on his mind. https://youtu.be/Tfp7qixSdQQ?si=qABLNtCc4WzPB6qG

And we attempted turn ‘n burn. I’m excited to have Skizzle wrap a barrel; he’s still figuring out why it’s supposed to be a fun activity. I need to do way more burning (might also make it more fun for him to chase the toy. LMK if there are previous steps/games that would be good to review to help with the wrap. https://youtu.be/tq9x-IN9A7c?si=GDwe3EpQl0scA-bW

Actually – if you think there are specific games I should try next/soon – please let me know. I need to take advantage of the ridiculously warm/snow-less winter weather and also practice some outdoors when there’s enough light.

Thanks again.

-Amy

[Amy Sannes]

Hi Tracy –

>I always think every dog should have a PT person on their team.
Thanks for this recommendation – as well as for Leslie Eide! Having been in sports myself, this makes sense…just wasn’t something I needed with my previous dogs.

And thank you for the feedback on specific videos. All different games today, but I will incorporate game-specific feedback in next attempts at the same or similar games.
>You can also start to change positions, getting yourself higher (sitting on something) with the goal that you are standing eventually 🙂
This repeated advice is something I need to incorporate. I feel like Skizzle’s so smol that I need to be right down there with him – but the final picture for dog sports has me upright.
>Or, since he got moving more and then was happy to eat – maybe he needs to get tugging or just running around a bit more before starting with the food, to increase his arousal state.
Can’t say I tried this today, but I will try it soon. As for playing games with toys – I am interested, but for some games, I would like to have a clean toy release first. I haven’t done much to that end…with the retrieves, I’m only beginning to see the drop.

We tried some additional games today.

Here is our baby lap turn. https://youtu.be/geA5XhNzMBM?si=oz72haD8WwSYk9fT

And baby tandem turn. I need improvement – struggled to have treats and arms in the suggested location. https://youtu.be/eH4yvF04ML0?si=j0lmoWEBJrwq1mR7

For both of these pre-prop trials, it seemed to go ok (esp. not spinning and staying on the floor), though he’s pretty excited for the treats. (I didn’t want him disinterested in the food reward like he was for the threadle wrap foundation – when he didn’t drive back to the hand). I don’t have the value of food motivators or the timing of training (related to eating and daily activities) figured out yet.

Then I tried lap turns and tandem turns with the prop. And he seems so food-crazed that it’s not a clean training loop…too many extra spins, hops, frantic behavior.

And then we played with the beginning work for stays…the release. You can’t see my face, and I’m quiet – but I’m waiting for a sit or down without intentionally cueing. I thought this went all right for a first attempt.

-Amy

[Amy Sannes]

I hope you had a great Christmas, Tracy!

Skizzle enjoyed a busy Christmas, greeting all kinds of new people and dogs, and charming many of them. His leg seems to be much better. Today marks one month after the initial injury. Please let me know if you see movement that concerns you…or if you think we’d benefit from PT or a canine fitness referral. I’m trying to intersperse less physically demanding days with more active ones…and trying to make sure the injured leg moves independently. Seems to be much improved.

Hoping to take advantage of this week for catch-up. I’m having a great time trying some of the games. Skizzle’s a lot of fun to work with.

We tried the threadle wrap foundations – baby level from this week.

And some collection. I see from the video on the first attempt, he was still chewing a treat when I was trying to encourage him into my hand for another treat.

We tried the wrap game beginning with a barrel. Vito’s game has not resulted in the pattern of turning back and forth, and it shows in this game. For the prop being new to him for this game, it went decently…and as expected for a dog encouraged to interact with new props. Oh, puppy! Possibly too soon to judge, but maybe it’s easier for him to turn to his right around it than back to his left? Hoping to leave this alone for a couple days and see what latent learning brings.

Here’s a bit of retrieve play. We’re just starting – with select toys that aren’t as fantastic – to get a drop for the same toy to be thrown. Interspersed is some toy trading, as that was the previous step. Super pleased with his interest in playing with me and continued retrieve (even if he doesn’t drop it).

And lastly is backing up. The stool on one side is an attempt to keep him a little straighter in reverse. Despite not-the best training, I see snippets that suggest he understands the idea of the low platform as a target…and maybe that he understands moving his back end in reverse is desirable.

-Amy

[Amy Sannes]

Hi Tracy –

Appreciate the offer for bubble-wrapping Skizzle. He probably needs it. I’d rather be slow getting back to things now rather than struggle with a recurring injury for months and months. He injured his right rear leg – likely from trauma (not sure what) – where he had a laterally luxating patella. So he was initially hop-skipping to avoid using that leg. I’m’ still seeing an occasional hop-skip – mostly when moving faster than a trot (though I’ve mostly been trying to restrict to trotting or slower).

I tried a training session with kibble – but he didn’t eat any of it, so aborted. Here’s another couple games with treats I thought were less exciting – but maybe he was still a bit too hungry. Better than the previous attempt, though. And nice to see him using his brain to get to the prop!

Started with the beginner pattern game. Thought the stool was reasonable for this to help keep him low. https://youtu.be/12JfNWxqZLw?si=Y9-qK4rsoxq3zIlX

Then tried the parallel walking. I’ve got so many years of making a clicking noise – that it’ll take more video review and diligence to move to verbal reward markers…I’m aware and working on it. https://youtu.be/ELVOusZwDRY?si=M8mgVGzJor6KF1kz

-Amy

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