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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 😊
Let’s give this another shot! So sorry for the technical difficulties.
What I’ve already learned by recording part of our sessions:
-I need to increase my energy level
-I need more play breaks 🙂
-Im working to find a bigger area to play inMy concerns:
-She’s quick to offer her sit/down and focus on that, and I’m worried that I’m frustrating her by waiting to shape what I’m wanting.Macklynn Pre-Game Foot Target
Macklynn Pre-Game Nose Touch
What I’ve already learned by recording part of our sessions:
-I need to increase my energy level
-I need more play breaks 🙂My concerns:
-She’s quick to offer her sit/down and focus on that, and I’m worried that I’m frustrating her by waiting to shape what I’m wanting.Macklynn Pre-Game Foot Target
Macklynn Pre-Game Nose Touch
