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Hi Tracy,
Thanks for the reminder of using different verbals for right and left wraps. So true with the longer courses and the fact that she’s fast and I’m getting slower.Here is our work on tunnel shaping. This has been a process as I had to get her acclimated to the MM first. That took a few sessions.
I started with a few straight approaches to remind her of the reward mechanics. I figured since she’s a lefty that turning left into the tunnel would be her preferred side… not sure why but that wasn’t the case today. Unfortunately I clicked the MM when she left and not when she entered the tunnel so she got rewarded for going around. She didn’t seem to have a problem turning into the right. Also really doesn’t like being restrained for the send. We’ve been doing collar/harness grabs and touches with lots of rewards. She’s been doing well except when we are lining up for an exercise. Not sure why that is.
Hi Tracy,
Giving her a break from the backing up exercise for a few days. We had fun with the Rocking Horse exercise – kept it fairly short with tugging in between each game.Since she’s a poodle we also have to work a lot on acclimating to grooming. Not as fun as agility. Gerber’s baby food is our friend for that.
Here’s our video from today’s RH. I think she was distracted by the tunnel stuff on the first wrap and made a wide turn. Tried a blind cross but definitely need to be able to send her with more distance and get out of there in order to get the BC in. Fun!
Hi Tracy,
I covered the Back Up Board with some styrofoam packing material. She didn’t seem to have a problem with it, ran right on, but I couldn’t get her to back up onto it. Her preference is to make a circle and get on front feet first. Tried a few things but wasn’t able to get the back feet first. Stopped at 2 minutes and went out for a tug/play session.
Look forward to your input.
Thanks!! K8Hi Tracy,
Since I can only use cheese once a day today’s cheese exercise was revisiting the Turn Aways (Lap and Tandem) with Prop. These went really well! No prop victory laps and I think she really understands the cues. On one of the tandem turns to the left I used the dog side hand for turning away and I think that is why I got the jump into the air. Noticed that when I use that hand I have to bring my arm/hand up more to rotate it which encourages her to jump up.Also running away with the toy proved to be irresistible for her. I do tug for about 10 seconds, just edit it to cut down on the video time. Need to get another laundry hamper for the Rocking Horse – that looks like a lot of fun!
Tracy,
I was glad you went into detail in the Week 6 info describing proprioception. I’d never heard that term — nice to know that even at 71YO I’m still increasing my vocabulary (haha)!Some sun today so I was able to work outside this morning. Baby level of the Strike a Pose Concept Transfer went well. She has to hunt for the treat on the third toss as I had a regular treat (not cheese) in my pocket and that was what got tossed. Not sure if you can tell in the video but on the first three, when she’s turning to her left, she isn’t hitting the hand target; she completes the turn and goes for the reward hand. Turning to the right, she definitely hits the target before turning. Didn’t think I should make a big deal of not hitting the target since we will be fading it anyway. Still not excited to get on the toy when cheese has been in the picture (had to pinch her butt to get her attention on it). Here is the video.
We also did some work on RC without the prop. I’ve included it here as she definitely favors turning to her left to go right. It looks like if I haven’t “passed” her before she finishes the treat than she looks for me behind her which has her turning in to the left. So I need to pass her before she picks her head up, correct? Have to say it felt like we were much smoother without the prop. Here’s the video.
Tracy,
Here’s the backing up onto the board video (public).It’s raining here in CA so inside work today. Here’s our video with the Retrieve Baby Level. Sorry for the bad camera angle… but I think you will be able to see our challenges. She’s OK with tugging on me, Loves driving to the toy, brings it back almost to me and with encouragement I can usually get it. I ended it with tossing another toy and letting her have it – is that counter productive?
Hi Tracy,
Yes… I think patience is key for this girl. I have a tendency to rush things to speed her up.We also did another resilience walk with movement and distractions. Too hard to video, walk and reward at the same time so no video. She’s doing well with connecting after sniffing or checking things out.
Here is our recent Plankrobotics. I think I’ll get the wobble board out for her next.
We also did some backing refresher and tried backing onto a raised surface (piece of particle board). Backing up is going well – onto the raised surface not so well. She doesn’t seem to want to raise her legs onto the board when backing.
Have I told you lately how great your insight and input is! Thank you!!
Hi Tracy,
Revisiting the “Turn and Burn” exercise – No cheese involved, just lesser value treats to get the toy.I think my mechanics were better this time around (helps to review your feedback from our previous T&B session and watch the course video again.) She definitely is a lefty. I think she did really well turning to her left not so good turning to her right. Helped when I gave her more space and wasn’t right on top of the hamper.
Look forward to seeing where we are going with this Tuesday night!
Hi Tracy,
I realized that she saw me toss the prop down with our lap turns and that got her focused on it the other day. I have to get better at my placement of training aids.Here is our Parallel Path Concept Transfer session from this morning. Started off with cheese reward, I have a hard time getting her on the toy when she knows that cheese may be in the picture. She did pretty good with the tossed cheese. Really makes a difference to look at her till she commits (this reminder has been really helpful for my 5 YO especially with sends to a backside after a tunnel – Thank You!)
It was challenging to get her on the toy after the cheese and some distraction. Interesting when I turned the video off (around 1:10) and was playing around she was into it so I turned the video back on and she did some nice sends to the toy.
Always helpful to hear what you see!
Kate
Hi Tracy,
Here is today’s Prop game for RC on the Flat (Take 2). Really working on my mechanics and verbal – now if I could get the cheese unstuck from my hand we’d get somewhere.Anyway… we’re doing better going to the right, but she still heads to the prop when doing the left turn. Am I bending over too much, holding my arm/hand too much in front of me, too close to the prop or all of the above?
I only did 3 or 4 turns to each side with toy play in between sides. I think we’re improving!
Hi Tracy,
Had a great Strike a Pose session yesterday… unfortunately my phone must have been on photo and not video as all I have is a still of the patio.Working on Stays and tunnel sends this morning. Here is the video for our stay work. She’s very good at offering a sit, not always lining up next to me. I’m not asking her for a sit, I wait until she offers it. should I lure her into position and then ask her to sit? I’m not really able to move forward much so didn’t push that. Was able to take a couple of small steps away at the end of the session. I’ll keep rewarding behind and slowly add stepping away. Thanks! K8
Hi Tracy,
I’m working on dropping the “yes” marker before the “get it” – it’s an old habit. It’s so automatic you’ll notice I’m still doing it on this Handling Combo exercise.I didn’t hold her collar/harness for these as she is still biting/resisting when held back, especially when excited. Post turn also seems to come automatic to me – really had to concentrate to remember to FC. Using food helped when I left the toy behind. And the BC was horribly late… need to have more distance before sending so that there is enough space/time to get a timely blind in. Tugged more between sends but cut to keep it shorter.
Plan on working on stays and retrieve tomorrow. Thanks!
Hi Tracy,
Your comments make perfect sense. My mechanics fall apart when the prop comes into play. I’m more focused on what I can do to keep her from grabbing the prop and not on what I need to be doing for the exercise. Today will have to be a “no cheese day” so we’ll come back to this one.I was pleased with our session on Novel/Exciting Self Control. No problem with the novel item; a bit more challenging with the Exciting (Whimzee bag with one whimzee in it). I didn’t mark/reward when she backed on to the lid, probably should have but I didn’t want to be marking when she had the bag. As I waited her out she got it – could almost see the wheels turning in her brain. Sorry for the weird angle of the video.
Hope all goes well in Indianapolis. K8
Morning!
I’ll work on the hand target from a standing position. Challenge for me is a bad back and a small dog (haha).Here is our Rear Cross (Lap Turn) with the prop. Sorry for the length of the video but you said you wanted to see it all! I think key for me is using the cheese to engage her so she doesn’t take off with the prop. The toy wasn’t as exciting as the prop so she did get a lap in.
She is really interested in the cheese in my hand and although she can complete the turn she doesn’t drive on to the prop. I do have two pieces of cheese in my hand – one to help with the turn and one to toss. Should I be doing more of the turns without the prop? Toss the cheese from my other hand? More parallel drive past the prop? Limited by the amount of cheese she can eat. Looking forward to an “easy” week to get caught up. Started on the tunnel exercises but I need a refresher course on using the MM as she isn’t that keen on it. Also did some Self Control (Novel/Exciting) I’ll post that next as she is pretty interesting! Thanks!
