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And we’ve continued to solidify our “foot prop” …. we’ve done the sends and counter motion games to the prop against a wall at the house for breakfast a bunch of mornings to get him more comfortable with my pressure….seems to be helping him become more comfortable…. lots of reward and the thought of breakfast takes over his brain pretty quickly 😊 From the names of the games it looks like many of the new games in Weeks 3 and 4 are designed to build comfort with being close…. looking forward to finally getting to play them. We did have some time to “train” yesterday so played with the rear cross prop game some more. I can’t remember which side now but one side he is much better at driving more straight to his hat, the other side he sets himself up almost as soon as he starts moving for the turn which makes the rear really hard for him so after feeling like we were stuck I tried to help him with a plastic cylinder which 1) he knows to go around both towards me and away from me and 2) is sort of in his way if he presets for the turn. Again, trying to think of a way to get the behavior. Anyway… fun session, tested my “trainer brain” but in the end he was happy, lots of food and I think we’re both starting to get this rear cross thing a little bit… can you tell I’m not great at rears…give me good blind any day! 😊
I REALLY hate it when “life” gets in the way of my dog training fun!!!! Thank goodness it’s going to rain for a couple of days, I’m hoping to get caught up on the Week 3 and 4 games videos!!! That said, we have been able to watch a few …. picked a couple I thought would be really fun… here’s Turn and Burn from Week 4. We both like this game 😄
Thanks Tracy…. I think you are spot on with all your rear cross observations. I was definitely struggling with holding on to him, trying to be ready to cross, treat in the correct hand, and on and on 😂 I think what really threw me off and what made me think about him already setting up for the turn was that his first step when I let him go wasn’t straight to the target but already towards the “wrong” side for a rear but the right side to set up for a turn towards me. Kinda blew my brain for a minute there! Anyway…. yes, I think we sorta figured some stuff out the last couple of reps of the rears and are good to move forward from here.
So you’re OK with the broad jump board? I know there’s always pros and cons to “props” but it was the only thing I could think of to “get” the right behavior to be able to reward it. And yep, a couple of reps and move on to something else. He was pretty clear about just how hard that was for him. Additional exercises to help him like coming in to pressure are going to be great. It’s something that he doesn’t like even in day to day life so this’ll be great in all sorts of ways for him ❤️😊❤️ Thanks as always. Have a great weekend!
I think I have a different theory of what’s going on with the “wide” coming into the hat after some stuff we did yesterday. We played with the Opposing Motion without me moving and then we played with the Rear Crosses. I do totally agree that some of it is that he is yielding to the pressure of my movement – he definitely moves away from anything he feels is pressure, I see it in him in everyday life stuff (and actually that’s part of the story from when I got him). But after playing with the Rear Cross Game I think he’s also anticipating the turn and is setting himself up for the turn on the way to the hat…instead of driving straight to the hat and then turning. After you watch both of these videos (and I am going to put both links in this post as I think they are definitely both pertinent to what we’re talking about), let me know what you think?
I think I understand but let me make sure. I watched the video a couple of times and what I see is he ends up running a curved line out to the hat instead of a straight one and that is happening because when I start to move that is pressure on the line and he moves away from it…. probably cause he doesn’t trust me not to step on him 🤣 So if I don’t move he doesn’t have to worry about getting stepped on and will be able to run a straight line to hat. Have I got that right? Should I change how I reward at all when working on this specific piece of this skill?
And yes, I was thrilled with how he understands to actually hit the hat with his foot. We’re struggling with this concept in the RC Foundations class we’re in. He totally understands to go out to the mat from pretty much any distance or angle but lots and lots of driving by… It will be interesting to see if the understanding he’s developed here transfers. I’ll let you know.
So I just saw that under your name in your responses it says Keymaster….. you must be a Ghostbusters fan? 😊
I try to do a little training with every meal…. something easy, even if it’s just sits and downs. So this morning I was going for a quick session of “touch it with your paw” and since he really seemed to get it I gave the opposing motion exercise a try. We have done some opposing motion training before, but always to a preplaced reward. He was doing so well with the change to the “put your foot on it” that I had to run in and get the iPad. I REALLY like this method! I do love this dog ❤️😊❤️
Started to play some of the prop games and realized that our foot touch was not nearly strong enough so did a couple more sessions with it…. this is the one from this afternoon. I like how sometimes he almost slaps it with a front paw as if to say “There!”
So would the verbal here would be the one for a tight left and a tight right, correct?
No Sly and Jadzia aren’t related at least not closely but I don’t think at all. I’ve never actually met E in person… we’ve gotten to know each other through the magic of the internet and the Cocker Agility World, which is a fairly small but somewhat connected group. When I lost Snoop, I had really lost touch with who was breeding … Snoop was a rescue. E would occasionally send me info about a dog or a litter and she sent me the info about Sly’s litter. The story gets long and really funny from there… best told in person with adult beverages 😄. Hopefully we’ll get the chance someday.
That might be the first time I’ve had anyone explain the pros and cons of verbals relative to me in those terms. Thank you. Makes total sense…. so in that light I probably will go with specific verbals for tight lefts and tight rights. Now I just need to decide what to use…needs to be something that “makes sense in my head”. I’ll have to think about that a bit. We used to sail so port and starboard are ones I don’t have to think about too much….maybe port and star? Hmmm…..
Thanks Tracy…. I love blinds! I get to see where I’m going. 😊. And yes, makes perfect sense to get the reward up at the same time as completing the blind. I’ll have to try this game again and remember that.
And thanks for your thoughts on verbals….that’s very much where I’m coming to with them…. Left and Right for soft turns, a GO, a verbal backside of a jump cue, and an In-In (or some sort of verbal threadle cue) for sure. What I haven’t “settled” in my head yet is whether it’s just one cue for tight collection/wrap/exit, which would always mean tight turn towards me or if I need two for tight turns – one for left and one for right or one for towards me and one for away from me. Again, thanks so much for sharing your thoughts on this! Have a great weekend! And just a “by the way”……E with Jadzia is the reason I have Sly. I think I’m going to owe her big time 🙂
And some Blind Cross fun……and now I remember why I didn’t throw food in the other exercise…I’m really bad at it 🙂
Morning Tracy! Thanks for the feedback. Yes, lower hand for feeding! If I had a nickel for every time I’ve needed to be reminded of that, or reminded a student myself I’d definitely be independently wealthy 🙂 I’ve been spoiled the last several years with Mags…..got to get back in the “small dog” habit!
Toys….so one of the things I realized/learned/confirmed when doing this last drive ahead session was that his favorite toy is the one he has! He’s always had a bit of a tendency to not want to give up “his” toy. I did a fair amount of swap/feed/give back, etc. etc again when he was younger, guess we need to do a lot more. He turns 9 months today and I’ve had this feeling for a few weeks now that he’s feeling out his “big boy pants” so I’ll definitely put lots of retrieve/play/swap/give back etc. games back in the training rotation.
Verbals….oh my gosh…..too many decisions!!! Go is our just keep driving forward cue so I’ll add it in the Drive Ahead game. We’re in Katarina’s RC Young Dog Foundations class and she’s suggesting 5 distinct cues for DW exits….straight ahead, soft left and rights and tight left and rights. And then I need verbals for tunnel exits and who knows what else! 🙂 Seriously….I have decided that his soft left and right are going to be left and right. We’ve started that training and I think I can use that for both his dogwalk and tunnel exits? I’d love to know your thoughts on that. I know some folks that think you need different ones and others that think the same one works just fine. I haven’t decided what I’m going to use for “tight” exits or tight turns on jumps. Can I use the same for both “exits” and jump turns or do you think they need to be different? I think the thing I miss the most about not trialing is the “training discussions”….so much good thought provoking discussion amongst a pretty big group of us up here in New England….really miss those! Anyway, I know I’m going to need some verbals, especially where we’re going to run his dogwalk and it looks like he’s got some real speed and I’m not getting younger or faster 🙂 But I need to be realistic about my ability to train, remember and use them timely. I think I’d be better off to have a few well trained, well executed ones that a whole lot of them that I just get confused with! I’d love any thoughts/input you’ve got on this. Have a great weekend!
