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You were right :). Resilience games at the trial went better than I expected. We started with the very basic start of the game out in the parking area (smells, but not many dogs or people), then progressed through multiple mini-sessions through the weekend until we were just outside the barn where people and dogs were regularly walking in sight. For the most part she would observe, then check right back in to continue the game. She only had two moments in which I couldn’t get her attention while she reacted and both times were in response to a reactive dog barking and scaring her (we were VERY far away, so I’m not sure what I could have done to prevent it). I will still absolutely consider this weekend a win for her.
A sudden onslaught of rain has kept us inside, so we are focusing on trying to catch up with our ‘stay,’ retrieves, and backing up. But in the meantime…here are two games we played before the rain hit!
ShPile:
Prop Game 4: Get Out
Still living life in left turns over here! But enjoying Games Package 6 🙂
We had been revisiting the backing up games over last weekend- she still likes to back up a bit sideways so we took a couple steps back to basics before we tackle the added steps for this week. I found that just a very light hand/arm under her belly (no pulling, pressure, directing…just light touch/support- if that makes sense…) helped her back a straight line. Hopefully I didn’t make a poor choice in that…
The Rocking Horse game is a favorite of my older dog, so I was excited to get Macklynn started in it. You will likely watch me correct my errors in real time on this video. As we progressed through repetitions I would catch myself – “Too much hand direction,” “No connection,”…etc. 🙂 I’m learning! LOL
Strike a Pose Part 2!
Unless I’m missing something here, she feels decent on this one? I was pretty surprised and happy with how quickly she picked this one up. Love my post-work exhaustion causing me to be incapable of handling treats AND sticky notes, haha!
We are trialing this weekend, so I’m hoping to spend some time with her between runs working on resilience games. She’s been successful there before, and there are options for varying levels of intensity. I’m optimistic, but a little nervous to be honest.
The defaulting to left turns makes complete sense – when she gets happy zoomies in the yard, they are ALWAYS to the left, she definitely has a preference. I’ve been paying closer attention during the wrap game/rotated sends this weekend and we are making progress.
We ramped up the parallel path game this weekend! We stuck with treats for the sake of the video, but have been alternating treats/toy in our little practice sessions.
We finally got to play with the tunnel! My manners minder was refusing to respond to the remote, so I had to improvise but she seemed content going for the toy…
Thank you for the insight on the resilience game and fear vs. resource guarding – your thoughts were a big relief.
I feel very confident in her ability on the resilience game in lower distraction areas (home, the agility facility we frequent most often, etc.). We’re going to keep working on this in baby steps. We did a quick trip to the lake with a friend yesterday and stayed in less populated areas. Once she was comfortable with my friend’s dog – she did regularly scoot closer to him and turn to see how he was reacting to things that she was unsure about. That just further validated your thoughts. 🙂Thank you!
It has been far too long since our last post – I apologize! It’s been a rough couple of weeks for both of us, but no excuses :). We’ve been playing our games and revisiting some old ones, but I have a severe lack of videos uploaded.
She has been loving the sends and parallel path, so I’ve been working on getting more distance with both of those. We did have an instance where she wasn’t sending backwards (even though I knew she knew how) – watching it back I wish I had reset sooner to increase her success rate…
We did take the resilience game out to the bike trail/lake down the road – but we needed to bring it back to somewhere with less distraction. Her choice lately is to bark at people and I have a hard time redirecting. Some have indicated that she may be resource guarding me, some think it’s fear….so we have been bringing that game back home to reset for success.
And my new tunnel bags came in this week! So we finally get to go back and pick up the tunnel game this weekend 🙂
Happy March 1!
>>CPE is often similar to AKC challenges in many ways, so those are the verbals we prioritize. NADAC has the big distance skills, so we can add those too! And if you have an interest in the international-flavors 🙂 we can add that too! The trick is to prioritize and add it all piece by piece so it doesn’t start to feel overwhelming.
I’ve been doing CPE the longest and just added NADAC in the last year, so those are where I’m most comfortable. For Macklynn I haven’t quite decided what venues I want to pursue. Definitely open to learning more of the internationals and AKC to expand MY knowledge base.
Hoping to have sketches for the turn verbals in the next few days for your comment/correction, since some still aren’t registering for me.Progress videos from this week!
We tried to slide to the next levels in the games you suggested, and she seemed to progress forward well.
I don’t have a video of our ‘stay’ progress yet, but it may be the slowest progressing game for us so far. We’re still rocking the ‘sit,’ one step, ‘catch’ combo. Anything beyond a step and a half away results in a broken stay.*Handling Combos
The camera is mirrored, so I have to really think about which side she prefers – but she makes it VERY clear that she has a preferred side.
**Turn Aways
Added the Prop! This week I’ll try to remember to start throwing the treats/toy to keep the forward focus
**Tandem Turns
Once I thought about it as a rear cross – it clicked. LOL – I’m not sure why my brain wasn’t registering that last week.
**Strike a Pose
Well. I didn’t catch the camera slide until I finished recording. The clouds are lovely, but I wish you could see more of Macklynn :D.
Happy Monday/Tuesday!
Oh, the timing of the topics in Package 4 is impeccable. My older dog missed getting his C-ATCH this weekend due to a poorly directed threadle (100% my fault), LOL – so opening this week’s package and seeing threadle foundations gave me a solid laugh.
On a more serious note- the reminder about perfection vs progress was much appreciated and also well timed.Verbals:
I do use ‘Wrap’ with my other dog, but my hesitation using it for the turn & burn game is potential confusion on NADAC barrels. In some of the sample videos it seemed like some were using ‘Around’ for the game, which is what I use for my older dog on NADAC barrels – would that be appropriate here or do you have a suggestion?
I’m ok changing some of my verbals between Fynn and Macklynn – I’m doing things much differently with Macklynn and want to make sure I learn and adjust so that Macklynn and my future agility pups benefit.
The Verbals section for this package was incredibly helpful. I do have some questions, since I don’t see a lot of the turn situations in CPE trials, but I want to understand and incorporate them. If I don’t find good examples in google searches, I may send a couple rough sketches your way to make sure I understand what’s described.We recorded two quick games today:
Turn Aways:
I clearly do not understand the tandem turn :D. I will revisit the videos and see if I can get it down.
Slightly embarrassed at my allowing her to get distracted by the tug mid-game, but appreciated her telling me it was time to break up the game.
Strike a Pose:
Have a great day!
Happy Friday Night! (Saturday morning :))
Here are progress checks on some of the games we tackled the last few days. Today was our first break in the rain, so we ran outside to take advantage of the extra play space.
This little one blows my mind sometimes – the very first time I dropped the hamper on the ground, she offered to go around it both ways before I realized what was happening. However….she DID watch the tutorial video and seemed a bit stunned and in need of emotional support (hopefully this link works):
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ry98WvnBj5lYTww8bWW1ksCGhlbWtfRa/view?usp=drive_linkParallel Path/Prop
Collections:
Turn & Burn:
One question did come up this week while I was looking over your last message:
I know there isn’t set criteria or a black & white answer here, but generally speaking what is a good starting point for determining when to lure vs let them process/shape the action? A lot of what we are going over here is fairly new territory for me, so please forgive the very basic question!!
The backing up is getting better, but she’s still preferring to go sideways sometimes – so I will revert back to lure in the warmup sets just as a reminder.Incredibly rainy day here today – so we were resigned to work in my little living room. For that reason – we revisited the Parallel Path and Backing Up games 🙂
Parallel Path
-Watch in real time as I realize the mistakes I’m making in this one.
Backing Up
-The tips you gave on the last video for this game worked wonders over last week. She’s been comfortable with this green mat, so I tried using it as a starter for a bigger (or slanted) platform. For a few sessions she was working her back legs even harder by strategically backing up to avoid the mat – but we made some baby steps in the right direction this time.
Just a couple clips of some of our play time between runs at this weekend’s trial. I did NOT expect her to focus away from home, so I didn’t record everything, but these are the two I managed to capture.
Collection Part 2:
Decided to push the limits a bit on this and give it a try at the trial this weekend. The long-line situation isn’t ideal, but she didn’t seem too distracted by it. Our struggle at the beginning was the tiny treat- when I would toss, she struggled to find it – once we switched to a bigger/more exciting treat it felt smoother.
Predictability Part 2/Patterns:
We played this game once or twice at home before the trial this weekend and she felt very solid, so I felt comfortable playing out in the parking area between runs. I can see where my brain gives out (End of Trial Day Exhaustion) – and I revert back to ‘yes’ instead of ‘get it’ ….I am DETERMINED to get this :D. Macklynn, however, seemed confident. She was on a decent length long-line that she is normally comfortable dragging around, but she didn’t seem to have any desire to get away.
I’m hoping to push the envelope on this in a more exciting area of the facility during next weekend’s trial.
Generally speaking: I am laughing watching some of my video attempts and noticing how many times I realize my hands are up at my chest and I intentionally put them down at my sides. I’m doing a bit better with that than I am the reward marker change-ups, but I’ll get there.
Thank you for the great notes on the last post! Will definitely make a note to start Turn & Burn with the left turns.
I’m still cracking up over her Toy Races video – such a smart girl with a big personality.Monday was for watching the recording the Live Video recording, then we went outside (where we have a bit more space) and revisited the Prop Game before adding in the Parallel Path bit. She remembered the game quickly, and seemed to be ok with the parallel path concept until I started adding distance. I’m guessing I just added too much too soon :). Its on the homework list for tomorrow – so we shall see what we are able to accomplish.
We started Backing Up a little later on Monday, but encountered a few too many distractions (a neighbor came out to her backyard with her dog, my older dog was a little jealous….etc) so we cut it short. We did try again tonight in a short session, but I’m not fully confident that I understand this one – so I’m going to revisit the videos tomorrow before we try again 🙂
Miss Macklynn experienced her first little injury and had to take a week of “calm” – specifically no repetitive turns, quick start/stops, etc – which put us a little behind. On the positive: she constantly blows my mind with how much she remembers and picks up as we go.
Goat Tricks 2: We had a great opportunity to utilize a training facility (after our required rest week) and utilize a plethora of new-to-us wobble boards, inflatables, planks, etc. There were too many people around for us to record – but I was SO proud of her! She offered a minimum of 2 paws on each item without any prompting or hesitation. This was such a big step for her that I was in shock 😊
She got to tag along to an agility trial last weekend and a fun match today and we took some time to do resilience walks. Hopefully next weekend I will be able to find a place at the trial to record – even though she’s having some regression into fear lately, she was so confident and happy walking around the facility and exploring.
Goat Tricks 3:
We did this exercise a few times during her rest period, and didn’t add the turns until near the end of this week. She decided she liked this game: I later caught her climbing on a Cato board that had been left out and turning in circles on her own.
Toy Races:
I was blown away at how effective the treat/handicap trick worked. We played this game a few times and she always started off lackluster – but a couple of losses and her energy increased significantly. Can’t wait to keep playing this one.
Wing Wrap Next Steps:
This was one game we weren’t allowed to play – but she snapped back in once we could. I’m excited to take the next steps now that she seems more consistent with the foundations and me standing.
Reinforcement Strategies:
The concept is fully logical – the execution is breaking my brain :D. I’ve used ‘yes’ as a clicker/marker word for years, and am working hard to break myself of that habit and expand into new things. I’m working to incorporate the new words throughout our day-to-day, but definitely keep catching myself reinforcing the reinforcement with ‘yes’ on a regular basis.Happy Thursday!
We’re still working on incorporating more tug breaks AND setting a timer 😉
She spends Tuesday/Wednesday away from me while I work my in-office days, so today felt a bit like we were refocusing.Video One just makes me laugh. It took the first set to get us both resituated and focused for the day:
Now Goat Tricks 2 For Real:
Since we had trouble getting to two paws on the inflatable, that’s as far as we got for today – but I’ll take it!
Wrap Shaping:
I watched the video for this week’s addition to this game, and wasn’t sure we were ready to progress yet? So I took today to reacquaint with the game and incorporate the notes you had from Monday:
Loved the feedback above! It’s been so long since I’ve worked with a puppy that I often forget that she’s still just a baby :D.
Here we go with Games Package 2! Biggest issues seemed to be on my part:
1) Keeping treats in the correct hand – and ONLY the correct hand
2) Keeping the games to 2 minutesI’m a little disappointed with myself this week – wasn’t feeling well and didn’t record as many of our practices as I think would be helpful. I’ve worked this weekend to set up a schedule for recording next week, but I think I need to push past some recording nerves as well 🙂
We took the Drive Forward game outside early in the week and it has led to good things! She seemed engaged and focused, and we did take advantage of our long line. You were right – it did end up going a lot slower in terms of progress, but it seemed like the trade-off was worth it for the speed and build up we were able to get later in the week. She has not shown any hesitation when I jog behind her. My only concern is that she loses interest in toys pretty quickly when we are doing training games – hopefully we can capture this a bit better in videos next week.
We worked on the prop game quite a bit this week and I love how quickly she picked up on the sends to the side and backwards. This video only shows a couple of each – since I wanted to maintain the short video/session, but still get all of the pieces in.
Your notes on the wrap game were so helpful. I went back and re-watched the instruction video a few times and realized I was rushing and had skipped steps. Oops! So I reset and have been going MUCH slower and she’s getting more confident. I let this video be long – I didn’t move the tools quickly enough and she offered the cone at a distance…I’ll take it!
>We will be teaching her some games that give her a framework to process weird things tar appear or move fast. For now, you can scatter some treats in the grass to let her snuffle around when something weird appears.
Definitely looking forward to the games to help her process weird things! She’s been struggling with that this week.
I love the idea of using a social support dog to help Macklynn in her experiences. My older dog is not the best option – I find myself intentionally keeping them apart in some situations just so she doesn’t pick up his quirky anxieties. I’ll start reaching out to dog sport friends to see who might be willing to assist.
Thank you for the insightful feedback! Here’s hoping for better health and recording consistency this upcoming week.
Prop Game:
Latent learning always surprises me! Interaction with the prop (jacket) wasn’t clicking with her in the pre-games, but the second I dropped it this week she was good to go. I didn’t realize that I had thrown the jacket out of frame mid-way through, but I suppose that’s what I get for forcing myself to stop looking at the phone.Wrap Shaping:
The first video is not our first session playing this game, but I wanted to include her pauses in the video.
Pt 2 is where things got a little comical. She goes to my left side far more easily than she does my right. The cone isn’t an issue when going to my left, but she has decided it’s much easier to cut behind the cone to go to my right.Resilience Walk:
It seemed that the lack of direction made her more nervous. We’ve done fun walks in the past (at trials, the bike trails, etc) and she is much more confident. She does have a tendency to bark at concerning things that are at a distance (bikes, people, dogs) – so I was impressed that she refrained this time around, though that may have just been lack of confidence. I have a couple other walks planned for this upcoming week, and hopefully she’ll show off her personality a bit more.One thing I observed in general this week is that she prefers to look for direction. With the Wing Wrap Game – she would stop/stare at me, Resilience Walk – hide behind me at loud noises, poke me if I wasn’t moving, etc.
We’ve worked the Drive Forward game a few times, but I’m realizing that my indoor spaces are pretty small for us to get up drive or speed so it all looks lack-luster. Would it be worth trying in the backyard? Or would the risk of distraction outweigh the potential drive/speed?
More videos forthcoming, but I felt I had waited too long to post as it is 😊
