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Started Week 11 games today!
On the Threadles & Serps….this is such a great example why video is important and helpful. I thought I had it down but in reviewing the video I feel like I should’ve had Ronin a little closer to the jump for one thing. Secondly, I think I should’ve been moving for a bit more before giving the ‘Close’ command. It was more a simultaneous command & move. I suppose, if I’m being truly honest with myself it could be I did that because I was worried about him breaking the stay, but I either shouldn’t be or I continue to work that separately. What else should I adjust?
Turn and Burn
This was fun of course! I was running out of space for the burn part and had wished after reviewing the video that I’d have thrown the toy more ahead of me and more consistently used the Get It command, but I will work on that. At least this time I managed to remember my wrap verbals. Or wait, wasn’t I supposed to here? (just had an ‘oh crap’ moment)
And oh my gosh, when viewing the treadle/serp demo videos, I had it on my laptop and Ronin was absolutely obsessed with watching everything Contraband was doing. It was cute – CB seems like quite a fun character!
~Kristin
Okay, I think I get what you mean about the rewarding tossing on the landing side of the barrel for the Rocking Horse. Or, at least I’m a little closer. 🙂 I’m not sure about my moves overall on this one, but I was focused on where to toss to see if it seemed right.
Mini-Pini:
I dolled out 7 total treats this time and here a subset of the training. This time we had NO ERRORs in terms of going between the wings. Only error was when he was looking for the toss before coming back to me, but no biggie, he only did that the one time. Anything else I should be doing on this one to advance before whatever is next with this one?
Thanks!
KristinDid a little more mini-pini today:
It was interesting how he was doing so well with the right turns and then kind of lost it and started cheating even when nothing had really changed. Hopefully the altered reward placement to get him back on track was okay. It did seem to work. Had no issues like this going to the left, only the right (same as the tunnel threadle issue, incidentally)
Rocking Horse
So I got into this one today thinking I knew what you meant in the previous feedback of rewarding but then wasn’t sure when I was actually doing the training. You said: “…you can mix in tossing th reward to the ‘landing’ side (other side) of the barrels as you continue to move away… have a lot of the reward tossed to the other side of the barrel when you move away…” Wait, what?! Can you explain if I did any of my rewards in this one right as far as what you meant? Or explain more please – I’m really slow this week I guess! 🙂
I kind of forgot to add in the turn and burn part and didn’t have much room anyway, but will try adding that in next.
Thanks!
KristinThanks Tracy! Great feedback throughout!
>>just work with starting the tunnel verbal, then let go, then reward him for turning away without you moving at all to help get the turn.>>
When I use the tunnel verbal in this scenario where he is turning away, should I use the threadle verbal (I decided to use “Flip” instead of “Kiss” since I just couldn’t remember/get the hang of that one), or do I say “Tunnel”?Mini Pinwheel
Regarding my commands…This is probably the nicest way anyone has ever pointed out that I am an idiot and was for sure using the wrong command for the turn! Ha ha ha!!! I was totally not thinking and just said right/left based on what arm I was using. Doh!! Well at least I only did one session of that so I’m sure the verbals haven’t stuck yet and I can change it. 🙂And on another funny note, somebody managed to get a hold of their hand target somehow and had a shred fest. 🙂 I guess I will have to get a fresh one. Ha!
Have a good day!
KristinHi Tracy – getting back to training after a super busy week or so.
Tunnel Threadle
This one continued to be a bit difficult and I know my handling in the first reps was pretty rough, and Ronin struggled. So, I went back a step or two with the tunnel threadle for a few sessions and that helped a lot. Still, Ronin seems to have a lot more difficulty turning right into the tunnel vs. left. Not really sure why!
And then, a little porridge-heating…
I did do this with a toy as well, but at least for this session I got a bit more heat with food. That actually surprised me since he’s usually more animated with a toy, but somehow not that day.
Mini Pinwheel
He did okay with this one. Part way through the session I pushed out the middle wing a little. Should I make it more advance now?
Rocking Horse
Eased back into rocking horse with a few front crosses then did a few reverse spins. I haven’t had time to advance it and add another turn and burn, but let me know what you think.
Thank you!
KristinHello! Here is our first video for the Threadle Part 2 – Verbals, etc. He advanced pretty quickly but maybe I went too quickly in hindsight since had a few issues towards the end. It was fun anyway and I’m not too worried about it. Had one little error where I started the reward too soon and he pulled out of the tunnel (same thing like one rep in your demo). I think it will come along okay. But I kept feeling a little confused about what arm to be using for the obvious tunnel cue. Let me know what you think. 🙂
~Kristin
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
