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Okay! We got a new perch! 🙂 Hopefully this is more appropriately sized in both height and width.
Did two separate short sessions with this and I cut together a representative sample of what went down. We have hind end movement! He picked that up super fast.
Let me know what you think!
KristinOkay, so I tried to take the feedback, which made total sense, and remember to apply it correctly to another round. I did a lot of training today!
Strike a Pose – lots of good stuff, and a few errors that I am not sure I handled quite appropriately despite trying the cookie toss to reset. I also tried to delay the MM trigger until he started over the bar.
Backside slide – of course you made it look so easy exactly how we were to move parallel to the bar and reward spot, but I don’t think I quite nailed moving parallel and rewarding in the right spot.
Lead with the Head – 360s – I think this was better than yesterday as far as the cueing. I don’t see him offering the head wrap very independently yet, but will keep working on it.
Perch – tried this out with a few different objects today and I think he’s starting to get it. I’ll have to go back and read the instructions/watch video on how to progress in getting the hind feet moving.
It’s gonna be a busy week so we’ll see how far I get! If nothing else, I will be squeezing in some super fast, short sessions without but taking time to upload video. Unless I get stuck with the new lesson, that is. Some weeks are like that… 🙂
Kristin
Hi Tracy,
We got a lot of training done today, finally. 🙂
Perch Work:
I tried a bunch of things for a perch and finally selected the Pawd because, although it’s small, everything else I had he’s already used to putting his whole body on, or is too slippery, or not stable. I think this will work though. It was an interesting session. Although he’s been on the Pawds before, I have always set him on; he’s never had to consider getting up on his own so it was like starting from scratch. Seemed like he was slow to get it but then when I came back after reloading the treats it was like he almost completely figured it out! Anyway, I assume the next step is to try to get his hind end to move. Let me know if you have any suggestions.
Backside Slice:
These were fun. I think I was not walking as parallel a path as I should’ve been in the first few reps, but I think he did okay, except for the one rep where he ended up on the wrong side (I think due to lack of connection).
Strike a Pose Part 3:
Have two sessions on this video. I wasn’t perfect, but he still did okay. 🙂 I realized after it happened that after the error at 1:09 I should have THROWN the cookie to restart it like you told me last time (Doh! Do you ever feel like no one is listening to your advice sometimes? LOL!!) but I just plain forgot in the moment and I had to reload anyway.
Leading with the Head:
I found this one quite difficult to cue properly and turn my hand how it was supposed to! Not feeling confident about how to do this right but will watch the videos again. 🙂
Fun stuff this week!
KristinLoved this week’s games! So far just tried the Strike a Pose Part 3. He did better than I was expecting – somehow I thought despite how great the dogs did in the live class that Ronin would struggle with seeing the difference in the cue for the threadle compared to what we’ve been doing. But he did great!
I think I might have not been close enough to the standard in the last reps but I suppose it’s okay to start easier. Let me know what you think!
Thanks!
KristinOh this feedback makes me so happy, thank you! You always help make things so much clearer and I appreciate that! I DO have my jump wings unsnowed, totally cleaned up, and were just waiting for your okay to start using those (I know I asked about it before but wasn’t 100% sure he was ready for them). So I will start using those now – yay!
Regarding using a toy for the Get Out, I totally agree and was starting to think about that after the last session too. I think he’d love that. But, a question… I would still need to use the treats to start him off at the beginning of the rep right? Or could I also eliminate treats at the start of the session and maybe start him from his platform or something? That’s no as firm as a stay but still gets me a little ahead and in motion before the cue. Let me know your thoughts.
Thank you!
KristinThank you for the great instruction and the video on the getting the toy. Super helpful!!
Worked mostly on the Strike a Pose today and I think it went well, although after reviewing the video I’m thinking I may not be as close to the jump as you were intending. I can keep working on that unless you think I should start doing something else with it.
Still struggling with the Get Out and proper treat throwing, chewing and staying more in motion. I thought I’d try using darker treats on some light colored towels to make them more visible, and yet they are smaller so I thought would require a lot less time chewing. I don’t think it worked out that well, and I’m still working on remembering fade the “Yes!” and remember to say “get it” but I’ll keep trying! I don’t why this one seems so hard LOL!!
~Kristin
Happy New Year!
Moved to the next level with Strike a Pose today. It was kind of fun! I decided to use the Manners Minder rather than the food dishes, but might also try that if you think it might work better. I also tried this for two reps (not on video) with a toy and for some reason a dead toy just sitting there for this exercise didn’t seem appealing to him (even when he saw me place it); he didn’t drive to it and instead just stopped and stared at me. So, okay, fine, we won’t use that! LOL!
It was interesting that at :17 he went behind me to get to the MM. On the next rep I backed away from the jump just little bit to help him out.
Still trying to remember to say “Get it” but was a little better. 🙂
Had 2 errors in a row starting at 2:54 so I made it easier by backing up to a more middle-of-bar position and then he got it right after that.
Practiced more Get Out as well. I do wish I had moved in closer immediately upon getting a failure rep. I did practice another round after this (not on video) and I did so exactly that, although there was only one failure. However, in this video, at about 1:01 I *think* he was going out and came back in as I reached with my cueing arm for the treat in my other hand – do you agree? Not the best move on my part! LOL! At 1:23 can you see why he didn’t get this one? Was I moving too fast do you think?
I have a random question also. How do you train a toy release? I want to do that in a way that still retains super high value for toy but is a relatively prompt release.
Oh, and we also did a few super quick rounds of Rocking Horse with high success. He did really great keeping it easy and I think his confidence was high. I worked on not switching the toy in my hand and that confused him a few times, but didn’t seem to deter him too much from understanding. We’ll keep going with the simple rocking horse a few more times.
Thank you!
KristinAwesome feedback – thank you!
I worked a little bit on the Strike a Pose again today, making the towel longer and also getting a closer to the standard for slightly more wrapping. I am not sure if that far enough though or if I should have had my target hand closer to the standard?
Also, I keep forgetting to use my proper “take cookie from hand marker” so that was kind of a fail this time, but will keep working on it! 😆I also was wondering on this one…I have taller standards but they are in he snow now so is it okay to use these short ones or would it also be okay to use my wings?
I also worked some Rocking Horse again AFTER revisiting Turn and Burn as you had suggested. I did a few super fun rounds of that, then later tried a short session with the beginning Rocking Horse setup. I think it went much better, with more enthusiasm (less confusion) but am realizing (totally agreeing with your feedback) that I need to slow down and work both of T&B and Rocking Horse a bit more before moving on. I really want him to be supremely confident and comfy with all this. Clearly I need to slow down too for me so I can consistently get those correct marker words in AND remember to reward with my opposite arm to get better connection. I am not sure why that is so hard to get into my brain, but I re-watched your video on that and am resolving to try harder to do it. Even Emmett as a beasty-sized schnauzer was not as short as this little guy and I feel that connection is harder with him so far away and those super cute but totally in the way eyebrows like blinders! LOL!
Thanks again for all the great advice.
KristinHello Tracy! Finally catching up after being out of town for the holiday and some wonderful craziness. Breaking a bit of video protocol here and posting more than 2 min of a couple of the games because I did a few sessions without uploading and then wasn’t sure what of that to cut together to give a good picture of what went down. So hopefully you’ll forgive me and I promise to go back to waiting for feedback before doing more sessions.
Strike a Pose (Serpentine Week 6):
This is one I have only done one session of, but after reviewing the video I don’t like my positioning in any of it except maybe the second rep wasn’t too bad. Luckily he figured it out anyway, but it’s like I forgot all of what we learned in the previous version of this game! LOL! I need to do this one again. I think this one is harder with short dogs!
Rocking Horse 1st Try:
We had some struggles. Started out okay, but then had some big issues going left around the barrel. Had to stop after this and go back to using the dishes of food going back and forth with me standing up in between.
Rocking Horse Next Sessions:
This was a lot better although I think my arms are probably too much in the picture and now after going through the reinforcement lesson I think I saw ‘Yes!’ way too much. I was wanting to give him some verbal encouragement though and not sure what else to do. What else should I be doing to help us advance this game? I want him to feel more confident in what he’s doing.
Get Out – Two videos with multiple sessions
He definitely was fond of leaving without me to get to the prop sometimes. Had a hard time staying parallel on a few. And definitely was stronger on one side compared to the other.
Remote Reinforcement:
I actually thought he would have a lot more fun with this game. Not totally sure why he didn’t. Did have a few distractions – first, a bug, then I think I should orient this where I’m not walking towards another table where I have treats. I thought it was far enough away and tall enough not to matter, but I might have been wrong. I did decide my marker would be “Party Time” after trying out a rep or two.
Let me know what you think!
Kristin>>– you can use some boring cookies for this too – the toy looked really interesting, so he was less likely to leave you to commit to the barrel. Starting with boring cookies can get him moving away form you better,>>
Ha ha, boring cookies. Very funny, Tracy. LOL!!! He’s a schnauzer and even kibble is fan-freaking-tastic!
Just kidding, I get your point though and will also think better of using a brand new super fun toy for that kind of thing. 😝
~Kristin
Yes, yes, yes to ALL the things you said!! As usual it makes complete sense.
>>On that first rep, you were not connected enough…Any time he ends up on the wrong side of you, assume it was a handling error (because it was LOL) and reward him for his effort.
Compare the hand position at :03 to your hand position at :11 and :27 – all the way back ad connection was much clearer, so he had no questions.>>Absolutely you are right. I looked at the video again at the points you mentioned and I can totally see it now! And yep, I need to pay more for the effort anyway, because it was, as it 99.9% of the time is, my mistake! 🙂
>>If he goes wide or looks at the toy, try not to mark when he is not quite right or still making a decision like at :30 (you were late so he was wider there and not sure).>>
Yep, totally agree with this too. That non-reward marker is kind of a bad habit I’m trying to break, but it’s hard!! Will keep working so I appreciate the continued reminders on that.😀>>Being on his line will cause him to bubble out to get to the toy when you drive ahead (not a big deal here, no worries!) but it will not cause a side change question – that is all about the connection.>>
Great, thank you for clarifying because I wasn’t really sure. Definitely need to focus on that connection more so in that case!>>Retrieve – sometimes these early sessions are ‘exploratory’ >>
Yep, it did feel like a little trial and error and I’m comfortable with that now that I kind of your blessing and ideas to try a couple of other things to figure it out. I have a few ideas based on what you said and will try them out.Parallel Path:
>>The click tends to get the dogs looking at us, so we can avoid that by just tossing and not clicking. You can mark with a get it before the toss but the early toss will be the best info for him 🙂>>
Yes!!! I definitely sensed that as I was doing it that the click was encouraging to look at me rather than forward, so glad to hear I can fade that right now how. Super!We did a little gaming tonight with the Rotated Sends. I had a total brain fade at about :52 where I forgot which hand I was supposed to be using and also of course completely forgot to use my new verbals until it was over and I kinda went Doh!! But that’s okay. Ronin and I got through it together. 🙂
Thanks again for such detailed feedback – it helps SO much!
KristinHi Tracy! Thanks for the great feedback. I did some more work and have a few questions on some of the things.
First, here is my final video for Week 4 Handling Combos. I tried to be a bit quicker on the front crosses this time, but have a question about the first rep where he went to my wrong side. I was trying very hard to have good connection with him and maybe it wasn’t enough, but I also was wondering about being on Ronin’s line here – and I was in some other reps also – if that may also cause a side error?? Do you think he even knows what his line to the toy is at that moment? If so, do you think that fact that I’m totally in his way contributing to the confusion?
And now we have some of the Week 5 retrieve practice. It was kind of a disaster! LOL!!! I had his favorite toy, but the second I had food out he would not really show any interest in the toy AT ALL. So, I thought I’d switch two toys, but despite watching the video of Hot Sauce somehow I just totally didn’t know what I was doing with this one. Ronin likes toys and tugging and carrying them around, I guess I just am still not sure how to start with that to get the retrieve. Should I use to toys that are more similar and equal in value? Other suggestions to help me wrap my brain around this in the moment? Need more video first?
Parallel Path Commitment:
This was fun and of course he did quite well right away, despite the fact that I could see after watching the video I was late on several of my clicks. Note: it is a rolled up then kind of flattened hand towel on the floor between the jump standards (very safe).
As always, thank you for he wonderful feedback!
KristinSuper good advice about the focus question, thank you!
We worked a bit more on handling combos with the distraction of the toy. I didn’t get very fancy in combining my moves, but figured I needed to start much simpler in the wake of the confusion during the first try. LOL! I picked my wrap left/right cues and started to apply them for the first time also. It’s ‘za za za’ for left and ‘choo choo choo’ for right.
I focused too much on the right side though, so next time I’ll do more left wraps. 🙂
I also have been doing more rewarding of the collar grab and he’s quickly learning to appreciate that a bit more.
We are a little behind but having fun!
Thank you, Tracy! We did a little more tunnel practice tonight, but I have a question. When I am holding him and ready to say ‘Tunnel!’, should I be waiting until he’s pretty much completely focused and turned towards it? Ronin obviously now understands the value of the MM and it’s a distraction, which is good practice, but not sure how much to test that vs. making more sure he’s focused and ready before giving the command to do the tunnel. I know, not really a black and white situation, but curious about your thoughts.
Thanks!
KristinOh that is such great feedback, thank you!
I worked on the rear cross on flat with prop again and although some of my turning him was too fast on a few of them it was still overall better. Also, I am not thinking I moved far enough past the prop like you had said to do…I guess I forgot that in the moment. Doh!
And some more tunnel work. He seemed to be getting it a bit more this time around and was finding the tunnel pretty reinforcing:
Let me know what you think!
Kristin
