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Aha, yes. I’m hesitant to cross on the prop because I’m not sure she’ll commit. So yes, you’re a genius!
Here is some of our resilience game. We also played this on an empty aisle at a pet store.
She’s crazy coordinated for a Doberman and a puppy to boot.
The mat I had out is different than her prop but I can see how it was confusing when I switched to her prop (which looks similar). Thank you!! She’s not reading the rear turn with the prop. We’ve previously done some dish work with a rear turn which I left in also. I’m not sure what I’m doing wrong on the prop.
On the turn and burn, she couldn’t line up on the other side with the toy in my hand. Holding the collar was genuis!!
Prop
Turn and burn – when I said genuis I was referring to you and Roulette!
Funny story about the blinds. I may have to switch to a retired dog for a seminar so we did some practice and he enjoys blinds.
We worked with the send prop today. Should I only mark a front foot touch or is back foot ok? I think I confused her a few times when she got a back foot but I waited. I then went back to parallel path but she’d stop and look at me. I think I need to make a better plan. It doesn’t happen often but when she gets confused I think I need to stop and go inside or play, etc. I didn’t do that today.
Today’s videos. We were a mess with the toy. We did some turn and burn and today the ball was lower value. She did do better turning left than right but I probably should have stopped and ask for advice. It’s hard for her if the toy is across my body. She snagged me a few times accidentally and I couldn’t keep my hands still which created more leaping. She had fun!
Stealth novel item. I had the food bag and prop before we started training today.
I was a little more flexible turning today, so we tried the blind cross sandwich again. I think we did better except for that 2nd rep. What a good girl for turning so last-minute!
We also played the novel, exciting game. I often leave treat bags out, but usually they are elevated on something and more out of our training arena. I also leave my Treat N Train out slightly outside the areas.
Yes! I love the pattern games for Rebel. We have some FEO runs this weekend and I’ll be playing this game with both girls. The facility has amazing enclosed large large potty runs so I can do some work with Rou away from home.
Today’s videos.
Blind cross sandwich. We had fun. I know we didn’t get the first one and my mechanics seemed off in the others. Turning to the right is my bad side so I’m often guessing when she’ll show up.Prop sends
Rou sends the prop sliding sometimes. I didn’t think that through. I’m not sure with the parallel path if she knew the prop was the game and it wasn’t a pattern game. She did great on the send until I accidentally was rewarding before she hit the prop. She figured it out again pretty quickly.The outings also help humans’ mental support. It’s one of my favorite ways to relax, out walking with the 4 dogs off leash, doing their thing.
Now that you mention it, I forget which side was better than the other. We’ve done some other front cross and rear cross work and she definitely has a favorite side. We will try the exercise with the toy tomorrow. I am giving my back a tug rest today.
Today’s videos:
Backing up. We have played with backing up onto a mat but we used the “stepping into them approach” holding the cookie lower to keep her head down. I didn’t realize how close I was standing next to the garage at first. No wonder it was difficult. She did great with the mat but I don’t hear any of my marker words.We played the get it game. This was new for her because I am asking for engagement. I play this game a lot with my dogs, but I’ve never asked for engagement. It was fun to see her figure it out. My treats were bouncing all over the
Yes, it was Carol. We actually live on other sides of the US but have had dobes from the same breeder.
Rou and I took the weekend off from specific training. We had an off-leash run and some socializing outings. On Sunday, I was at a seminar with my older Doberman. I giggled when she asked if I had a look/forward focus cue and if not, how useful it could be.
I am not sure if I have a lower value toy but I have a lot of leftover hunks of chicken from the seminar so we will try that shortly.
Today’s videos:
Wobble board on a new surface. This wobble board is the same diameter as the square one, but round with a lower tip. She surprised me that it didn’t phase her and I accidentally used a HIGH value tug. She seems to rotate on what is highest value tugging.Turn and Burn – ok so I was silly and tried the game first with the high value toy from the wobble board. While she was able to do it, it was less than pretty with lots of leaping at me. I went back out a bit later and used a different toy. It may have still been a little too high value but she did the game. I may use a ball next time or a hunk of bait.
Ok, I’m on the right path picturing the lead outs. We do them a lot at seminars. I’m not sure if it’s still called a lead out push. A look command definitely would have helped.
Our personal play is going well…so well I have a black eye. I knew better than to get my head close. I appreciate all the tips. It’s such a valuable tool to have.
I was singing your praises on FB and a friend with dobes was just at 2 of your seminars in FL. It’s unanimous that you’re wonderful!
Here is our stealth game with a novel object already placed in the area and our resilience food to toy to retrieve
I will look at the Brain Camp info. Even when we do FEO, Rebel is too high to take toys, which are her absolute favorite.
I haven’t run AKC Masters in almost a year, and I’d guess it will be maybe a year or so until I get Rebel there. I can’t imagine what new challenges there will be. We mostly do AKC (except premier) and the occasional UKI when it is close. Rebel and her dam loved the UKI trial we went to. I just wish we had more close UKI trials.
When do you use your look command? Is it at the start line? It’s a good skill for me to learn to teach for many reasons. I don’t think I waited for her to look at the cone. I rewatched the training video and saw a definite look at the cone. I got rushed and excited.
I have not noticed any sound sensitivity yet. I can take my lower wobble board and put a blanket underneath it on pavers or concrete to start. It is the same diameter as the square one but round with a shorter base.
Today’s videos -Plankarobics. I am a big fan of teaching this, as I’ve had 2 Dobermans fall off the dog walk and 1 Vizsla as well. My last two Dobermans could not/cannot turn around on a board. I started early with Rou and then forgot about it. It helps Rou to do some position changes to see where her feet are. I was using boring kibble, but she was very animated. She didn’t care when her feet came off, and didn’t care when I tripped and almost landed on her. I added a slow hoover to try to get her thinking a bit before turning again.
Wing wrap sends. She likes moving. It took me a bit to get coordinated and send with the correct leg. I probably overdid the reps because we were having fun.
Rebel, the high arousal Doberman, is 3 now. Ginger and I train together. She recommended Max Pup to me years ago and also recently recommended I reach out for privates with Rebel if we can’t get this resolved with her current class. She can do most of the arousal games at home, in class, and at seminars. She’s been running off-leash since she was a young puppy and has the best recall of any of my dogs. At trials, she gets into a headspace and can’t think.
You mentioned moving the bowl so she has to pass it to go around the cone. This is the exact skill I’ve struggled to teach and often give up on. As a result, I can’t leave toys or rewards on the ground during training, and I’d really like to change that. I didn’t use my hands during the session because when I do, she tends to focus on my hands instead of the task at hand. In today’s sessions, she wasn’t looking at the cone at all; I believe she was just fixated on her toy. I wanted to wait for more feedback before submitting another video.
I’ve never used a “look” command before and don’t necessarily plan on using it. But I do think it’s helpful to learn how to train it. I’ve taught her to focus on her bowl or the reward in front of her, so I’m unsure how to communicate the switch to looking at the object or obstacle instead of the thing I’ve been rewarding her for looking at. It’s possible that I moved too quickly in this process.
Today’s videos:
Wobble board – oh my she loves this.
Prop Send – I am still figuring out how to do a little play/engagement before we train without looming over her. When any props are out, she’s less likely to do personal play so we’ve been working on it away from specific training sessions.Oh yes arousal is a good thing. The problem I created was arousal without the ability to think. It’s a huge obstacle with her Aunt because I can’t even get the leash off at a trial without her flipping onto a non thinking zone.
For forward focus I think I can stand and use a toy. I’ll see how hard she pulls my back.
For the wobble board I’ve named it her teeter command since I’ll be doing a 4 on. When we play games should I just be silent and have her get on?
Here is our toy races game. I was happy she didn’t target my feet at all. I used a second toy in case I needed to do a two toy game for her.
Yes, I have a perfect solution to have her out of the room when I am stepping, which also fixes the current “chewing tornado” situation. I have started giving her something delicious to chew in her crate that she doesn’t get at any other time.
Arousal – I am so scared of that word at the moment. I will focus on Rou being Rou and not her Aunt who simply cannot trial because she loses her mind.
Markers – yes, Tug is for something in my hand. I like the “backwards thrown” cue, but I haven’t trained it yet.
Today’s videos:
Movement. This is where we are with a wobble board. We started with much smaller movements, to a small puppy wobble board, to a big board with less of a tip, to my big giant board with a big tip. We have only used this one on grass. I was willing myself to take a break a tad sooner than I did. In my current training, I am working on changing my position and her staying on the board. At this point, if a foot accidentally comes off, I am still rewarding.Foward focus, I think she was looking at me on the 3rd rep and not the obstacle. We did work on the other side with a tug and her ball. She is also very hard to hold back with one arm so she kept creeping forward.
I originally streamed my training to the TV for conformation to see what I was doing. And then after 4-5 times of getting myself outside the view of the camera, I realized I can use it for other types of training. I have a nice little inside area to train, but the challenge is getting the camera in the right spot to get a good view.
In June, we lost Rou’s grandmother tragically to mismanaged spay complications. We were on the list to get a granddaughter next year. At 10 weeks old, Rou’s original owner had their own life crisis, and Rou became available. Tada, she ended up here. Normally, I’d have more insight into puppyhood, but it’s a weird situation. When we picked her up, my breeder told us to watch our feet because she loves to run in between legs. When she got home, I realized she also liked to bite feet and target my fitbit which is on my ankle. She’s pretty good about stationary feet now, and my Fitbit. Sometimes she will nose poke my ankle instead of the Fitbit (which she was rewarded for). That said, movement triggers her. Every morning, I do a YouTube step video, and if I don’t keep her busy (fetch, bone, etc.), she will stalk my feet. We have gotten to a point where she won’t reach in and grab my feet, but she’s aroused in a stalking position with her head down by my feet. She’s in a state of arousal that I would like to avoid. I haven’t quite seen this when doing agility or training yet. She’s over 50 lbs, so she can easily knock me over now. So I don’t sound entirely crazy, this is my 4th Dobe from the breeder, and I own the littermate to Rou’s dam. Her play style may be totally different from the other Dobes I’ve had. I’ll keep a close eye. My vizslas will quickly let me know that ” hands in face is RUDE. SO RUDE. Game over. So I am familiar with trying other play styles.
Sorry for the long post. Back to our current video. We worked on Resilience Games 2.
My markers are:
Yes or clicker – universal reward marker
Good – I bring the food to you, and ideally, you don’t move (we are working on this part)
X – you come to me for the food
Hoover – several treats on the floor. I try to use this one to lower arousal.
Floor – food brought to you on the ground
Get it – tossed food
Pounce – dead toy
Chase – thrown reward
Tug
Dish – food in dishHere is our resilience game 2. She did not sit fully when I asked for a sit, but I made a mental note for future training to let her arousal come down a bit.
I’ll make sure to add the object first. She checks EVERYTHING out by nose poking it. EVERYTHING. She could have worse quirks but the number of drinks she spilled on us! Which leads me to the other quirk of biting feet and running between legs. I may have put too much emphasis on it when she arrived as my husband was recovering from ankle surgery. I think that may be why her personal play is tentative.
For the blind crosses do you want me to do a double blind so she ends up back on the same side? And should I still run a straight line?
Here is some collar grab fun. It went amazing with the food toss. Then I grabbed a ball that was apparently a top notch high level reinforcer and she struggles to bring it back. I grabbed an identical ball to work with. The last time we just played ball, she could return this one easily. Interesting to see how a little arousal can tip things a different direction.
