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Great questions. So in regards to the quitting when the dog wants more. If I am tugging, I will tug and the moment the dog starts to pull, I will let go and let the dog win and they will carry it for however long then when they drop it, I will just pick it up. It is so important to let the dog win. If they are retrieving, I will let them catch the ball and carry it out. Make sense?
To answer Sara’s question, the idea is to quit BEFORE the dog loses interest. Food is a primary reinforcer (they have to have it for survival) and toys are a secondary reinforcer (usually a learned behavior). Most dogs will happily take food over toys. Would you trade your $5 bill (in this case toys) bill for my $20 bill (food)? Absolutely!!! Does that make sense? If you want toy drive, you have to work at it. Very short sessions a couple times a day. Most people default to food because it truly is so much easier.
Let me know if you have more questions.Sounds great! No, they just give your the alphabet and then a whistle. It worked SO well with Jack. I will have to look and see what week the lesson is scheduled for, but if you could remind me next week to post a “modified course map”, I will happily do so. I am traveling this week, but will send you an example if you remind me 🙂
I also want to mention that if you can use opposition reflex for this game, that would be great! Not sure how Endo feels about that. I am currently on the road myself, but I can send you videos of the exercises next week when I get home if you need to see what I am talking about with the games. Just let me know.
Yikes! I can see why blinds are a bit scary! Here’s a few foundation games for blinds. I can send more when you are ready for the next step.
To start, you can put your dog in a stay or simply throw a cookie or two on the ground. You will start with the dog on one side, looking over your shoulder (let’s say the right side), release the dog (or if you did a cookie toss, you can call the dog) and as soon as the dog releases you will look over your left shoulder (this is the reconnect) and reward the dog from the left hand on the new side. You can reward with food from your hand, a toy from your hand or drop something at your side, but I would refrain from throwing a toy or treat. When doing a blind cross, I really want the dog to briefly come in to handler focus, so at this point, I want to reward handler focus. Be sure to work both sides.
Video: https://youtu.be/y6JOUWZBRIc
Drill #2 – Adding motion and speed: Here we will do the same thing as in the foundation flatwork, but instead of the handler being in a static position, you will add movement. Ask the dog to stay, or again you can toss a cookie on the ground. Then you will start with walking away from the dog, calling them to one side of your body, then switching to the other side and having them come in to your hand for a treat or a toy. Once the dog is okay with you walking, then you can try it at a jog and then at a run as you saw in the video from Drill #1.
Drill #3 – Zig Zag Game: In this game, you will follow the steps for adding motion and speed, but then you will move in a Zig Zag pattern. Toss the cookie back, then move out calling your dog over let’s say your right shoulder. Then you will zig a different direction and call them over your left shoulder. Then you will zag the other way and reward them back on your right side. Focus on the reconnect when you change arms and connection. Your connection will be brief, but we want you to practice that. If your dog starts to run past you, then you will want to reward more often for handler focus. Some dogs get excited with all the forward motion and running. If your dog gets too focused on your hands and treats, then you can toss the food or toy forward as you make the blind cross.
Video: https://youtu.be/W0Vb0IpO5-8You could really blow his mind and run him at 8″. It’s about creating that “chase” game 🙂 And you can skip the gym 😉
I like how on the very first sequence you allowed her to bypass that jump (lack of pressure on her line from you to get her over it), go into the tunnel, then rewarded. Your energy is great (I can’t hear anything, so I am wondering if you took the volume out)? But I can tell you are happy and “playful”. At 1:10, I think you could get away with a blind cross. It is so much FASTER for handler to execute a blind cross than a front cross. Interesting that she went around the jump around 1:20. Maybe too much pressure on her line. At 1:33, you can cue the take off before the jump precisely at 1:34. If you pause it on 1:34, you can see that your movement is still cueing extension (all your parts are pointed at the tunnel). It isn’t until she is lifting off at the end of that second 1:34 that you begin your rotation. See if that makes sense. If not, I am happy to snapshot the stills that I am talking about and send them to you. Let me know.
Hi Shirley,
Great work! She looks good and VERY happy! I am totally fine if you don’t want to do blind crosses! I totally understand. I would like for you to do some more blind crosses though. I thought your speed circles looked really good. How did they feel?
Have you taught the foundation work for the blind crosses? I am happy to share my foundation stuff if you are interested? Just let me know.
Completely fine with the dogs in the background and how you present your startline. Great job and let me know if you have any questions.Okay, great job!!! I liked your videos and liked your input!!! I think what you did in the first video was great! His speed was good and he was happy. In the second video, you had to work harder and he was getting tired. Here are a few suggestions:
How is his jumping? I ask that because if he rarely knocks a bar, I would do one round sometime during his session at full height and the rest of the time I would run him at maybe 12″. This will cause him to go fast and increase the feeling of play and chase the momma!
Your motivation was good! I like him when he barks and has a good time. That’s a big form of play for him! Keep it up and don’t worry about others 🙂
For your reward, can you toss on the floor (several at a time)? Can he catch cookies? You could toss him several cookies to catch.
I really liked what I saw! He looked like he was having fun!
Questions?That’s okay because it will force the handler to drive to the obstacle. That is also a great place to reward so that the dog goes out and takes the jump 🙂
Yay! Look at that speed!!! Lots of food motivation and bouncy play! That’s all good stuff! For the jump shoot, I would like for you to send her over the first jump the opposite direction and wrap a wing (giving you a head start), then I want you to run to the end and pick up the container and jump around and tease her not letting her have it. Then, on the next go, you are going to let her have it. I also want you to step back when she is eating from the container. We are working on forward focus and I want the reward to come from the container. I also want this container to go everywhere with you. It is your “reinforcement station”. She knows it’s loaded and waiting for cookies not matter where you guys are running (class, trials, practice). I want that to he her checking account that ALWAYS pays. Does that make sense?
Hi Melissa,
She is adorable!!! Couple questions. When you say you are working on her jumping, what does that mean? I REALLY like her at 4″, she looks a lot more comfortable at that height to me. I had a dog for years that barked at me the whole way around a 24″ course, we knocked bars and it was a hot mess. I dropped him to 20″ just to see how he did and it took all the pressure off of him. He didn’t have jumping problems, but it was creating a lot of frustration for him. I am just curious about your story 🙂
Looks like you have great food drive and reward ethic! This is good!
Speed circles look really good! That’s why I am curious about the jump height and what you are working through.
Look forward to hearing back and don’t worry, there will be some drills you can work on without equipment while you are gone. Good luck!Okay sounds good on the video. I know you are on lock down, but is there anyone in your area that puts on fun runs? Do you run her in classes with out treats?
SO SORRY!!! I totally meant to answer that and forgot. Thank you for the reminder. Have you back-chained the dw? One of the exercises that we do with the running dw is to back chain. I start the dog about 24″from the end and mark and reward for a fast exit. Switching side and moving the dog back up the dw with each successful hit. If you do not have a dw and have a plank, you can use a plank as well. If the dog understands the mat, I may break it down with the mat. Another thing I do with the mat to get them to run at speed is take two cones and place them about 20′ apart with my mat in the middle. I will have them wrap the cone, go over the mat and wrap the other cone. This will generate speed and allow reinforcement for the mat. Let me know if this makes sense. Again, sorry for the delay.
Okay, thanks for that info! I see what you are saying with the videos. You can absolutely use food if that is her motivator. Does she always speed up at the end of the run? This next week, there will be some really good exercises for you and I will also talk in future weeks about shortening the course. Do you have any upcoming trials?
Okay, so in one of the future lessons I am going to talk about “shortening the course”. I know you are going to Invitationals, so we obviously won’t implement anything yet. Just keep doing what you have been doing for enthusiasm. With my dog Jack, who was absolutely awesome at home and totally stressed at trials, I had to shorten the course. Meaning that I would pick a line of 4-5 obstacles (half a speed circle) and go from 1 to my made up course (3 obstacles) to the finish jump. I would enter him in as many runs as I could do to make that happen. In the ring, 5-6 obstacles, then out for tons of cookies. Pretty soon when the excitement and enthusiasm was high, we would start adding more obstacles, then some handling and then we were doing full courses. This worked wonders for ring stress.
