[Kathy McClung]

>It is really interesting!! There is a high percentage of dogs that turn the same way their tail goes. We have to take out the answers from all the people who have dogs that do not have the curled-over tail set LOL!!!>
This is so cool! I saw a few people with minds blown like ours were! There really did seem to be a lot of dogs that turn the same way their tail curls. It is really cool just training a dog with a tail – haha! It is such a big communication element.

We took a few days off but are back to it now ☺
I made sure to do one more session of the Stealth Self Control with another novel neutral item before we move to the next step. When he noticed it, he BIG noticed it and I’m kind of blocking your view in the video. He didn’t seem upset just very much like “WHAAAAAAA is THAAAAAAAA?”

We did the parallel path game. A couple pups stopped in to say “hi!”
I may have treated for too low a criteria? But he seemed to do better as we went along.

We did countermotion – I think he did good! It was a challenge to move away before he started back towards me – he was moving fast.

Thanks for being so fun!

[Kathy McClung]

I feel so science-y!!!! I am following along and it looks like a lot of dogs turn to the same side as their tail. SO INTERESTING!!!
Thanks for posting!!!

[Kathy McClung]

>Nacho’s tail hangs to his left… and he turns left! You might be on to something!!>

OMG!!!! We need to do studies & take polls!!! This is my first real tail!!! LOL

[Kathy McClung]

>One interesting thing on this session is that he turned to his right on every single rep. Why was it interesting? Well, normally the dogs turn towards us based on which side we are on for this game. The right turns were all away from you! So, maybe the is Lew-speak for “I am a righty”.
>

INTERESTING!!!!

I have been wondering, for dogs with a curled tail, have you noticed when they are “righties or lefties” for turning does it match up to which side their tail curls towards? Lew’s addresses to the right!

[Kathy McClung]

Thank you – I’m excited for the next set of games!

We just did a session of Toy Races today and we both had fun! He didn’t care about me holding his harness and he was really into running for he toy! It was a great way to end the weekend 🙂

[Kathy McClung]

Good morning!
I tired cheddar cheese bits and he ate them ☺ Fingers crossed he thinks cheese is yummy for a long time!
Here are a lot of videos from the last 2 days – sorry for the avalanche!

We tried the Fold It In game again with food & toys. Thanks for the suggestions:

>You can hold your hand point a little longer before you let him go – at this point it is to pair the hand point as the cue for the forward focus. As the bowl gets to harder spots, the hand will actually cue him to focus forward (so hold him until you see where he is looking).>

>One thing you can do is hold the other end of the toy and when he is moving towards it, you can start sliding it for him to chase. That will be more exciting as a reward than the dead toy.>

Bowl & food
He was really into the food. I hope I was able to point a little longer. He was pretty focused on getting to the bowl as soon as the treat went in.

Toys
Moving the toy definitely helped but he was thinking about food after a few reps. I played tug with him in between. Maybe the “out cookies” were too distracting.

Wing wraps
I added a little more distance between me & the barrel. He did sneak through a few times but he mostly got it.

We did another session of Plankrobatics with the treat tossed ahead. I think this helped to keep him looking forward & where he was going & not at me.

We did another session of the outside prop game after a couple days off. He was really excited to see the prop. I think he was a little more confident about moving away towards it this time.

Thanks so much!!!

[Kathy McClung]

Hello!

>I admit to snorting in laughter when he almost feel over driving to the bowl when you were letting go of his harness LOL! I guess he likes treats LOL!>
He was so wild!!! Thanks for the great ideas for the next session of this. I’ll set it up tomorrow if all goes well.

>Or, if you have access to a longer plank, get him running across it to see how feels with the wind in his hair 🙂>

I set up a longer plank. I kept it low for this session but I’ll raise it up for the next one. There was a really cool moment after the session when we were out in the yard with the other dogs. I caught him out of the corner of my eye prance up the length of the plank on his own, just enjoying it. It is so cool to see them enjoy doing the thing just to do the thing. I think he was having a moment of feeling “cool”. 🙂

We did another session of prop sends. There was some neighbor noise going on and it distracted him a bit. When we moved to the other side of the prop, it was hard for him at first but then he seemed to get back in the groove. I feel like he’s really going to need this skill. How do you think he is doing on this one? Is there anything I can do to make it better for him?

GOAT Games – movement
We got out the wobble board. It is a pretty gentle wobble. He was fine with the movement. The sound was cushioned with the yoga mats. I’ll try it on the floor next. I suspect he may notice the sounds. He is pretty tuned-in to sounds. I won’t say sensitive necessarily, but he listens, assesses & reacts to sound quickly. So maybeeeee he is sound sensitive?

We have been working on toy play and reinforcement strategies. Mostly we are working on tug and out, the 2 toys game, and some retrieves and “get it” for thrown treats on the ground. With food from the hand, I think need to add a verbal. (decisions, decisions to pick one!) He has been pretty good about switching from toys to food & back so far. I’m keeping the treat value at a medium (not steak!) I’m so happy he has a medium treat since it was all or nothing before. I wish he would eat string cheese – I love your suggestion about shreds being safer for him as far as choking. I’m going to give it another try since he seems to be into developing his palate these days! hahaha

Thanks for all the help!!!

• This reply was modified 1 week, 1 day ago by Kathy McClung.

[Kathy McClung]

Hi!
>Hope you had a good weekend here in FREEZING COLD Florida!>
I don’t even know where I am anymore, I don’t think it is Florida!!!! Do.Not.Like!

Thanks for the great feedback!

>It was interesting how after a bit of choking on the cookie and then the treat tossed off to the side, suddenly the novel-neutral object came into his brain. My guess is that the arousal level changed (cookie choking!) and when that happened, the distraction became more obvious. Then once he got back into the game, he was perfect again! Super!>

You are right, he was totally engaged until that happened. That is interesting. All my dogs choke with treats & training. Brachy dangers!

Blind Crosses
>You can put a treat in a bowl 10 feet away and send him to it – that might be easier for him to see and it gives you a good head start 🙂>

Thanks for the idea about using a bowl & sending him to it for the Blind Cross game. I think that will work better than me trying to toss a treat.

We played some collar hold & line up games with his harness on today. I’ll keep doing that. He is better about his harness being held than a real collar. Maybe the collar has hands going closer to his face? I need to try that again and make sure to touch the collar from above & behind vs from the front & next to his face.

We did Plankrobatics! He liked it!

Stealth Self Control – Folding It in (sniff, so sad & now such an epic tribute)
Looking forward to your feedback on this game. We used a bowl & food & then a toy. We played with the toy in between to try & get him toy focused after all those treats

with a toy

Thank you!!!

[Kathy McClung]

Hi Tracy!
We worked on a few things today. This is really lighting a fire in Lew!

Stealth Self Control Game 1 – with novel-neutral
He was so amped he didn’t notice the novel-neutral object. I picked something smaller than he is for this first one. He did eventually notice it but I think once he investigated, he was able to determine t was not a foe.
Next time something bigger but not too scary?

Wing Wraps – standing
He was ok the standing! I tried 2 toys but I think my mechanics were not so great and he was still expecting food, so I went back to the 2 bowls & treats to finish. We did take a tug break like you suggested to keep things interesting.

Blind cross foundations
We did this out in the gusty winds today! I tried adding some collection turns at the end.

Toy Races – session 1
I tried this game outside to try & get more distance with the thrown toy. I cheated & didn’t have a collar or harness on him. He was a little slippery. I’ll try the harness again next time. We are working on the collar grab exercises behind the scenes. I think he had fun though. When I beat him & stole the toy, he got wild! Ha!

Thanks so much for your feedback!

[Kathy McClung]

Hi Tracy!

>I know a lot of people who have had tremendous success helping with car sickness by feeding the pup a ginger snap before the drive. Simple but effective! I can find out exactly which brand and how much, if you want (one of them is a vet so I trust her advice)>

I would LOVE more info about the ginger snaps! Thank you! We had mixed results with the Cerenia but I’m still hopeful. No barfing but he did still have some complaints. I am hoping he is just getting used to riding without feeling nauseated and as he trusts more that he will feel ok, he will not have complaints.
Also – thank you for the pee advice! 🙂

We finished up some week 1 stuff & started on week 2.

Stealth Self Control Game 1
I started with step 1 to get the game going. I haven’t introduced the novel neutral item et. Do I need more room to play so there is more distance between us as he goes to get the treat & come back to me? I can expand a little further into the next room (tiny house problems!)
Can I mention – OMG – I think I finally was able to successfully teach a pupper to tug & out!!?!?!?!? Whaaaaaaat?

Goat Tricks 1
I am not sure I did this right. The reset cookies may have been wrong. We played a lot in between & I edited it out for time so you could see what I was doing with the shaping.

Week 2
Wing Wrap Foundations ( next steps)
I added a laundry basket as a barrel. I tried kneeling and he definitely noticed that!

Thanks so much!!!

[Kathy McClung]

Good morning!
I hope you are still in FL & avoiding “the weather”!

We have some catching up to do so we were busy this weekend ☺
The little lint wisp is surprising me & I love it!
We have a ways to go on getting him ready to travel to do agility, happy crating & he has to get over car sickness too (poor baby). I got a prescripion for Cerenia and we tried it out this weekend with mixed results – one perfect & one better but not perfect. Fingers crossed it works once we get the dosage right.
Here are our videos!

Driving Ahead
I used his harness instead of the collar. I played a lot between throws to keep him interested & amped. A few times my hands smelled very delicious and he was turning to smell them when I was reaching for his harness. He did better about me holding the harness. I’ll keep working on that to make it a happy thing.

Prop Sends
We did another session of the Foot Target pregame and he was driving to the target so I tried a session of Prop Sends. He did so great!!! He surprised me and was really driving to the target! BUT I FORGOT TO RECORD! When I realized it, we did a quick re-do to get some video.I just did the side & back sends on the video, but we started with front sends. He was a little tired by then, but he still did good!

Blind Cross foundations
a. I am so uncoordinated
2. I am such a bad thrower

I was throwing treats on the rug so he could find them. I think he did better than me!

Resilience Conditioning Walk
We had to go to a vet visit so I took the opportunity to walk around with Lew. It was just a sidewalk stroll. He is very aware of sounds. You can see him notice the traffic & change direction, he heard someone close their car door in the parking lot next to the sidewalk. He noticed a big dog and watched. He brought me back to the building when he decided that maybe that was safer. Then we resumed the walk. LOTS of peeing! He seems to pee whenever he is unsure or doesn’t know what to do. And also to mark, but I feel like a big percentage of his leg lifts are kind of obsessive. I have never had a boy that did agility. Do you & your boys have any tips for me on teaching appropriate pee habits?

Thanks so much!!!

[Kathy McClung]

Good morning!

I did a little work with getting him to line up next to me with a treat and touching his collar. He was ok with it. I’ll try the Driving Ahead game again.

Wrap Shaping
We did a few sessions of Wrap Shaping. I had to figure out some mechanics on the first session. It was mostly just him going from bowl to bowl when he heard the treat, I didn’t advance it past that. I didn’t post that video. The second session, I forgot to let him choose to go to the bowl but he was doing great going back & forth. The third session, I did later the same day & he was choosing! Yay! I added the stanchion and it didn’t phase him.
Wrap Shaping (2)

Wrap Shaping (3)

Foot Target
We worked on the foot target again. I started rewarding at the object and moved to tossing the treat away & letting him come back & touch. Steak was the reward & that seems to be his fave so far. He didn’t mind that I was standing. I broke the session up into 3 sessions with toy play in between, but he was not interested in the toy once the steak came out, I tried to get him to play each time for a bit & when he wasn’t interested, I went back to the target game. I’m excited to let him sleep on this a day or so and try it again!
Foot target (2)

Thanks so much! I hope you are staying warm – is is cold in Florida!!! There was frozen water on my deck this morning!!!

[Kathy McClung]

Thank you for the awesome feedback!

>I like that he is an effective communicator >
This instantly made me feel differently about hearing the bark! 🙂

>He is SUPER quick in his movements – he moves towards the prop then smacks you with his foot LOL!! So you can reward him for moving towards it/looking at it, getting the click/reward in early and before he smacks you. Then you will start getting more of the foot smacks you were getting at the end of the session.>

I didn’t see how fast he was indicating. I’ll try & mark it on time!

Here are the driving ahead & driving to handler games. I need to teach him about the collar grab/set up position. I was picking him up to position him, he didn’t seem to mind, but he also didn’t really know what was going on, he started to figure it out better by the end.

Thank you! 🙂

Driving Ahead

Driving to Handler

[Kathy McClung]

>>I think at one point you said “your brain is braining” and that is the funniest thing I have heard in a while LOL!!!!!!!!

Hahahaha!!! I’m glad that made you laugh! 🙂 That made my day!

We did Handling 1. I broke it up into 2 sessions. I did position 1 yesterday (I needed to brush up on my spins!) and then today did a quick warmup of position 1 & then the others. I think maybe I wasn’t extreme enough in the changes in position. They didn’t really look dramatically different when I reviewed the video, but I did feel like she did better when she was ahead of me (position 3) than when I was past the obstacles (positon 2).

Handling 1 – position 1

Handling 1 – position 2,3 & 4

[Kathy McClung]

Thank you!!! I like the way you describes the different release verbals. I think using jump/obstacle name on a lateral lead out is more helpful than “break”. I’ll work on that with her.

We did another session. I set her up in the center in front of 3 different jumps to get her used to the “jump” release verbal & her moving away from me without my movement. Then we went back to the tunnel & jump set up, but set her up close to the jump at first & worked on that and moved to the side until we were in between the jump & the tunnel. The video is from when we got over to the tunnel & jump.

• This reply was modified 3 months, 1 week ago by Kathy McClung.

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