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This Pill Bug Games video is from the other day when I submitted the first Tunnel Exits video. I thought it went OK, but I had a couple run ins with objects and I think my reward timing was probably a bit off, and Keeper seemed to be herding me a little or cutting behind me, so I thought I’d come back to this one once we’d figured it out a little better. Well, tried again this morning, and it was not an improvement. I had very little buy in from Keeper. So will definitely be returning to this one again, but figured I could use a little feedback first.
And more Left/Right proofing with the Minny Pinny from earlier this week:
More Serps N Sends, trying for better shoulder positioning. Keeper was much higher energy on this try, and maybe he’s decided that the squishy green ball (a pea from the pod) is the ultimate reward. I had it in my pocket to try to switch off with the toy on the ground that I thought he would drive to since it’s the toy we’ve been using for that sort of thing (rabbit bungee), but he was obviously looking for the ball on all of these. He looked pretty sharp to me, but I’m sure that the reason for the toy or treat on the ground is so that he’s not looking to me but driving ahead on the right line, so not sure if we quite achieved that here.
And here is some Left/Right Proofing with the Minny Pinny. I left in a little more toy play between reps as I was really working on being more engaging with the toy, and I think I learned some valuable things from this, which is to say that I think I often give up on the toy if he does not immediately seem interested, but on the reps where I played with it longer even when he seemed sort of iffy at first, he really got into it, which is what I think you’ve been trying to tell me.
Looking ahead to this week, is there anything I should hold off on in the weeks 2, 3 or 4 games based on things you’d still like to see first in the other games we’ve been playing so far?
We were back at the field this morning before I got your notes, but hopefully I was thinking about some of that stuff already on these next attempts. I had written out some notes I wanted to keep in mind and walked my plans before involving Keeper (but good note on running it without him, and will keep that in mind for next time). I was a little better on verbals in the moment, but as you can see at about 1:50 I was confident that I was correct when I was saying “left” when it should have been “right.” I caught myself on the other side saying “right” when it should have been “left.” (I grew up doing ballet at a somewhat advanced level and frequently got the “other left foot” note, so I may just be a lost cause, but I’ll keep trying!)
And unfortunately I didn’t notice that my wings were out of frame, as I had originally set up for wrap proofing (but Keeper seemed like he needed the faster game for engagement this morning, so I made a quick decisions to switch games so we could get moving) but hopefully you can see enough of what’s going on – at about 1:13 he just came to inside of the second wing, but then tried to wrap to the left around it and that was probably about connection.
On Wing Wrap Proofing, I thought he showed more understanding. He seemed a little uninterested in tugging during this session, which is why I was rewarding with food or tossing the toy rather than tugging in most of these (I even tried switching toys to see if that would be more enticing), but it definitely slowed things down. But I hear you on toy play, and I will try to be more engaging with movement.
You asked about toy engagement on the Set Point, and he was definitely more into it this go round. I tried to do longer toy play with him between reps to really celebrate, and I also added the pea pod toy to the conglomeration with the hope of giving him something bigger to focus on and grab, which I think he really liked.
On the zig zags, when I knocked over the upright that I was standing next to, he stopped short and stared at it for a few seconds and then did eventually finish with some encouragement from me, and I did toss the ball for him a few times before we started again. Looking back at the video, it was actually me who knocked the barrel over too, when we were going to reset. He was pretty startled. I immediately tossed the ball for him a couple of times before trying to line up. And I even moved the barrel, but he seemed pretty disengaged during that next attempt, which is why I decided to end the session. Additional factors that session were some drizzling rain and pretty squishy grass.
Hi! We got to the field this morning to practice some tunnel games!
First up is the Smiley Face Game Baby Level, which was fun, but I was having a heck of a time remembering my verbals and handling plan! I think Keeper did well following my handling regardless, but I will try to be more on top of it next time we play. Lefts and rights (and now left wraps and right wraps!) have always been hard for me.
I thought Wrap Proofing started out pretty strong. I was feeling good enough about our initial attempts to want try without motion, but I think I kept it going too long for today. Wanted to end on a good note, so went back to help with handling a bit more to wrap up.
A little more Set Point with Moving Target, trying for shorter stays and quicker releases. (OMG, my weeds!)
More Zig Zags, trying to work up to more wings. 4 was no problem. 5 we got once toward the end of this video (and maybe again after that, but this was a little earlier in the week and the video cut off toward the end, and unfortunately I can’t remember), but 5 has been tougher on other attempts (on one try I knocked over the wing and Keeper clipped the barrel, so we didn’t keep going after that just in case that was a little scary).
I hope it’s OK that I’m skipping ahead past some of the tunnel exercises for now. I’ll need to find a time when I can get to the club field to work on those.
In the meantime, here’s a pretty lazy version of Baby Level Sends N Serps. I didn’t get into any speed, but I was happy with us both figuring out the basic mechanics and working through some big distractions – I think it was the time of evening when many people are out with their dogs and then a BIG group of runners ran by. I lost him a couple of times to those distractions (which I cut out for time), but was able to get him back with up and down, ping pong, superbowls sort of stuff, and it’s also why I’m a little loose with his starting position on some of the sends since I was wanting to get him moving. I also was second guessing myself on the front cross for some reason, so I tacked those on at the end, but I wasn’t as wrong as I thought I was! We’ll definitely work on this one some more, but I’m happy with it as a start!
Zig Zags were fun! The video cut off at the end (oops, I guess I need to clear some storage on my phone!), so it’s only showing one side of the Advanced Level, but we did attempt both.
We also worked a bit throughout the day on the head through the leash loop game (though I did not video this time, especially as sessions were spread out and sort of random). At first Keeper was very skeptical and didn’t want to go anywhere near it – I was using a different leash than I normally walk him on, and it has some metal claps that might have seemed weird to him. I laid it in the middle of the floor while I was working, and he did eventually investigate it, so I rewarded for that to begin with. After work, I tried a bit more in earnest to see if I could get him to put his head through the loop, but he seemed very nervous about it so I backed up to reaching my hand through the loop with a treat. He would not allow himself to be lured at first, but I rewarded for not moving away. I decided to relax on the couch with it in my hand and this seemed to put him more at ease about the whole thing, and I was able to quickly lure him through a very large loop. And I was very surprised with how quickly he progressed from there to offering his head through. I didn’t want to push it, so we left it there for today. I think with me being on the couch, he knew I wasn’t trying to catch him, so it will be interesting to eventually explore this in different places even just in the house.
Here is another try at Feel the Wind In Your Hair, trying getting him jazzed up with the toy more before hand, hopefully tossing and cuing sooner, and no treats at all in the picture. (I did plan to try with the treat hugger as well, but Keeper had some tummy upset yesterday and I am cutting back on some of the extra food stuff while I’m working with the vet. He seems to be feeling much better today, btw.) Based on your feedback, I only focused on tossing the toy here, and didn’t go back to the stationary toy.
And Set Point with Moving Target. Bouncing the toy seemed to be too inviting for him to hold his stay, but I did play with him with the toy before hand and overall he did seem much more interested actually driving through and grabbing the toy today and playing with it between reps. Again no food even for the resets, which he did well with today, but I think normally, and especially in more difficult environments, I’d like to use food at least for reinforcing the resets, and probably the stays – you can see the toy throw back to him was a little weird. I realize maybe I could have had a second toy, and will try that next time if not using food.
>You can also teach him to shove his head through a leash opening – that is a very fun way to make it a trick to come back and not skitter away, without you having to reach for him or move him by the collar.>
This looks like a great idea and one I haven’t tried yet. Will definitely work on this!
Yes, I agree he was tentative during the wrap verbals. I’m not sure if this was everything that was going on in his head, but we were playing on and off between some rain yesterday, which did help cool things off a bit, but we started that game right as it started drizzling. Keeper is not a fan of rain. I think that’s why he ran for the door, but I wanted to see if he would work through it.
Collar grabs are another enormous challenge with him. He did ok with it yesterday, and hopefully we are making some progress! But any time he gets overstimulated or stressed he skitters just out of reach, so sometimes I am choosing to work with food to keep him calmer, but I can definitely see a difference in explosiveness between food and toy, and I am trying to work with toys more often. He does seem to be kind of funny about tugging outside though for some reason I have yet to understand, but as soon as we bring the toy inside he is all about it and a little wild with it.
We are in another puppy class with a couple of his siblings, and I have been very hesitant to work with toys there as it takes him way over threshold. He is running over to them any time there’s a break in action and it is impossible to get him back with the whole collar grab thing. And it’s all very stressful. I would say engagement, collar grab games, resilience games are our major focus at the moment. But I also think as he’s building more understanding for agility he will be less likely to run off as I think part of it is avoidance when he doesn’t know what to do yet.
I am wondering if some of this stuff is adolescence, but still a big training focus right now!
Moving right along. Here are some of the Week 1 games:
Introducing The Set Point was what we were working through this morning when I realized I needed some expert eyes on the distance. This is probably about 4.5 feet between jumps. He looked pretty good to me at this distance this morning, but we did another try this afternoon (what you see in the video) starting with treats on a target and on his second go he did a little stutter step in between. Tried one more time with the toy and he seemed all good with a little more excitement and energy, but how’s it look to you?
Feel the Wind In Your Hair:
