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Huge Congratulations on CanAm!!!!
I decided to go back and do a few things from prior weeks to fill in some holes before moving ahead.First – I worked on threadles and serps. I was very impressed with Pesto’s ability to come in and then go out on a jump. In looking at the video I realized I am too far back from the jump which made the angle much more difficult for Pesto to get the jump – and my cue was late. After proofing the Serp, he had a much harder time with the tunnel. Maybe I should set him up differently? Any suggestions on how to improve the picture he sees when I ask him to take the tunnel?
Second, back to rear crosses using a tossed reward (ball). It is clear he has a better side and by the time I switched to the left side I think he was already starting to run out of steam so I need to set up another session and have left side rear crosses as the first thing we work on. I wasn’t going to force it so we finished and then I threw the ball in the yard for a bit.
addendum: Pesto pieces out today when we went in the yard to do some jump work with the manners minder. He probably need la a day off – so rather than even try to get him to re- engage – I tossed tennis balls and then had him chase me for the ball and then throw it behind me. No pressure chase the Mama game.
Then took him for a walk on a trail and sat in the park where there were children off at a safe distance and let him just be in the environment and tossed cheese when he engaged.
I feel like he is processing a lot of information and stimulus these days. I’m seeing a level of hyper awareness of the environment.I have several questions about the Resilience Games.
1. In a training setting do they need to be on leash? If there is a distraction like another dog, or food, or a human I am guessing the answer is yes. Pesto will often leave a training session during class or a private to say hello to another dog, often when the work is getting harder. I am not always in a position to immediately break out the pattern games and I am not sure that after he is already stimulated they are going to work. I have been able to get him back and refocused. There was one time in his private where he went into Zombie mode when someone was in the room moving things around while we were asking him to do something hard.2. Pattern game duration in a training setting. If I am working with him and suddenly I loose him you said to recalibrate with a pattern game before toy engagement. How long is the pattern game and how do I know when he is sufficiently reset. Do the cookies have to be tossed? Can they be from my hand or on top of my shoe (I’ve done the shoe at trials with Skipper when we are waiting our turn to run).
3. When I take Pesto into the building at a trial I often lose his focus and the word “Here” becomes irrelevant. He is sooooo stimulated by the environment that I cease to exist and he is either staring at other dogs hoping they will notice him, or he is being the Walmart greeter. In these cases he is on leash. Does this mean I should not let him say hello to other dogs which is incredibly self reinforcing?
I am thinking about the MYOB webinar by the way.Inquiring minds. LMK.
We’re back –
Serps and sends:
I went back and did the serp exercise again – setting more of an angle to make it a little easier. Watching my video I can see what worked and what didn’t. He is not ready for me to be too far ahead of him on the serpentine, so I started slowing down so he could come in and then drive ahead to the reward.
Separately, the children next door were making a lot of noise and then started driving their electric car. He doesn’t like them and often will bark at them. The distraction of the kids triggered him zombie response. This happened yesterday when we were in our private with Perry. Someone walked into the room and was creating a distraction. He stops moving and needs to be prompted to reset. In the session, the first time this happened I pulled out the tug and that worked well. The second time when we were working the other side I used food to get a mental reset. I don’t really want the session to end in zombie mode and if I can get one or two good performance behaviors I will end the session.Driving ahead and rear crosses:
I used a tennis ball for this exercise to get him driving ahead without the lure of the manners minder and without the toy in my hand. He went crazy over the ball. Then I transitioned this exercise to the rear cross – still a little bit of checking in but in general he read it and made the right choice. There is one time where there was a ball next to the bar and he started to turn in that direction and then realized I was going in the other directions and adjusted. This went well, we just need practice.This session is a bit of a mess because I think I must have not been completely present in my own body thinking through what I was doing and saying. I could skip posting but what the hell…
My verbal was wrong on the first bunch (giving the collection cue instead of the directional) but then I realized what I was doing. Then I thought I would try the front cross to the serp, and then somehow I started sending him in the opposite direction about the wing and doing the serpentine. Then I went back to the beginning of the assignment with the send to the serp and he started not coming in
Did he start missing later in the session because of body language or changing the game and then going back made it less clear? And poor guy hit the bar -he was a little surprised because that hasn’t happened before.
When I switched to the other side there were more challenges but in watching the video I think my body language was closed and he was reading it correctly based on what I was telling him.
I might be mislabeling some of these lessons but I’m training foundation handling so that part is good.
First video is the continuation of the serp/tunnel discrimination working on the other side and varying his set up and my motion.
Second Video – tunnel handling – I tried not to make this too fancy and I wasn’t always getting out the right verbals but he always seemed to go in the right direction and it’s pretty obvious when our connection was off. You will see I used a tennis ball instead of a tug. there is no thumbnail (I have no idea why) but there is a video.
Third – worked on some bread and butter rear cross training – I know there is a second part to this which I will go back and work on. I used the manners minder but still caught his checking in with me as drove across the jump. I am guessing that is normal? Anything else I can do – maybe more wind in my hair?
Ok – so I went back and worked a little bit more on the racetrack and blind crosses and that video is below. I worked a lot on managing connection and staying in motion.I still think the toy is sometimes a distraction when I am pointing at an obstacle. I appreciated your advice about teaching the send as opposed to thinking he is already able to do a send.
Second, I worked the serpentine /threadle assignment with a tunnel – compared to a barrel. Let me know if we were doing it correctly.
We finally got out in the yard today.
Watching my video I can see clearly how late I am on my blinds. Pesto had trouble with the Diamond when we did the race track which you will see at the end of the video. He had already been working for over five minutes at that point and I could see I was losing him.The weather this week has been awful so no opportunity to work on Week 2 outside. I do have a question however on the moving set point – Pesto is 9 months and has been working at 4 inches, you set the second bar ascending for Contraband, should we stay where we are or should i set the second bar to 6 inches?
I re-did the set point work to get the spacing better and to you a dragged tug toy on the ground and I think it looks better. I need to start moving the toy before the release. The time I was still and you can see more hopping than when I drag the toy before the release.
I also practiced the wind in his hair – which I believe is about the dog passing me and driving ahead? I tried to limit my motion and say go and throw the toy. Let me know if I got this right. I tried using a ball instead of a tug because he will go after the ball and not take a victory lap. Let me know if you think a ball will make him hop too much.
see 3 videos below – with my questions:
Proofing – are there ways to progress this?
Set Point – Is this the right distance apart? I think the last one looks the best.
Smiley face – is it possible to increase clarity going from wing to wing or is just him learning? I don’t have a soft turn cue so I used check which is my wrap cue. Thoughts?
thanks!
Retrieve
I’ve never been good at working the retrieve or the recall. Pesto has a very bad recall at the moment. This toy session went well. He has shown a clear understanding about ball retrieve.
Sit stay
I feel like I get a better and more engaged stay with a toy.If he breaks given we don’t want him to be wrong, what is the best way to handle it in the moment?
Parallel path progression
So for this first session with the wings I decided to leave my mat between the wings rather than introducing a pool noodle or towel.I noticed that as soon as he crosses the plane he looks back at me – does that mean I’m throwing the treat too late?
very helpful advice on the tunnel and the failure rule – you get caught in the training and don’t hit the pause button as to what the dog actually needs.
i failed to mention that i first tried using the manners minder and it was not that exciting for him. He clearly found the toy more fun and i think i could say the same about the barrel – good information for future training.
