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Hi Tracy!
Does Sunnie have the same big feelings for Lexie? Is it possible for Sunnie to go out with Lexie… then Kelsie goes out (sorry, Kelsie, LOL!) That might reduce the excitement of those first moment?
Lexie told Sunnie a long time ago where the boundaries are & Sunnie respects that 😀 So these 2 going out together is perfect. Unlike Kelsie, Lexie waits to be released when the gate is opened. Although I don’t want her to wait anymore, not at this stage in her life & on pred (peeing & drinkng alot!! LOL! But she still does 🙂
Front of the house in not an option, no space & too dangerous & my backyard is only 3/4 fenced so I always go out with my dogs, I never just “let them out” 🙂Went on 2 sniffari walks this weekend with Sunnie. Just me & her, off the property. I missed the marked doing this when she was younger because I felt bad leaving the other 2 at home. With all the attention on Sunnie, it just added to the guilty pot that was getting full 🙁 The rail trail, where I was taking the big dogs is about 15 min away. When I did take all 3 or 2, it was a shitshow! I only did this a couple times and decided this is a bad idea. With that I never went back with just Sunnie smh! 🙁 I had to shift my mindset & not worry about walking the path like the big dogs! There will be time for that later…. I didn’t realize until having conversation with you & finally reading the lecture on sniffari’s how important it is & how to just let her sniff & do her thing. She couldn’t really do that in my yard, with the whole bird distraction & I was foucsed on training her ‘agility’ skills then. I did however bring cookies on the sniffari walk (lecture said not to) because I needed ammunition if I had to deter wildlife or reward for calm behavior for people going by on bikes or walking. I just let her do her thing, if we stayed in one spot, ok no problem, when she did move forward and checked in I rewared every one! When we first started on the path, she was busy sniffing, but when I needed to move her to another area, she could care less about the snacks. Kibble was ok for later in the walk, but not when we first got there. I did have a few pieces of chicken hearts, she complied but it wasn’t like give me that snack! So odd having a lab that food isn’t the end all in certain situations! Next time I go I will not go on the path, but walk in the fields near the playgrounds and ball fields, then it’s not like we have to go in a straight line then – on the path, I can let her choose which direction to go!
We will continue working on the birds. Even tho’ I missed the mark when she was younger on some life skills (oops!) we did get some fun “agility’ & then some games over the past 6 months. Saved us in the winter when it was SO cold and SO much snow!
Thank you again for EVERYTHING! You truly put your heart & soul into these courses. We will see you in Max Pup 2 and if we have to adjust for space or whatever I know you’ll be there to guide us! Which is reaassuring 🙂
See ya in a few weeks!
Hi Tracy!
Thank you!! For always sharing with me the why, the how & everything in between 😀
You never just say good job, great idea, you take it to the next level and teach me about my dog. I love & appreciate that more than you know! <ok maybe you do lol>
You can use little sends to it, then run away when she hits it so she can chase you for the reward. You can use a long tug toy for her to drag so she can get engaged with the toy too.
Perfecto! Sunnie will LOVE that! I can’t wait to experiment with it 🙂
6 ft leash- I see the difference it makes, even if it felt awkward at first! >
Yes, it is a pain 🙂 but it allows you to get a ton of rewards to her without concerns about her taking off.
Yes! And I’m starting to see $$$ in the bank, the check ins are happening in novel areas too now. Not as strong as at home yet, but it’s coming. I had to take Lexie & Sunnie to the vet today, it was a little bit of a shit show at first but then she remembered to check in and we got thru to where we had to go lol!Everytime I go out either solo or with the other 2 in the yard, I’m starting to figure what works, what doesn’t 😀 The hardest part that I haven’t figured out yet and managing Sunnie is when I take all three out. Sunnie just wants to chase Kelsie when Kelsie makes a big loop in the yard & comes running back up the ramp on the deck. This is SO hard for Sunnie, I’m holding her back, she doesn’t want food, she wants Kelsie 🙁 This usually occurs when coming home & I gotta get everyone out to potty. Lexie especially, hers is always urgent. What I do now is I open the gate on the deck & let Lexie & Kelsie go first. I hold back Sunnie until Kelsie returns back to the deck, but Sunnie is out of her head (rightfully so) waiting & trying to get to Kelsie. So I’m holding onto her harness for dear life! I haven’t figured out a better solution. Then I get angry in my head for having chaos 🙁 🙂
The happy medium can be a cued behavior. You can literally tell her to ‘have a sniff’ then let her sniff around, pull you to where she wants to sniff (within reason), or you can scatter kibble all over the grass for her to sniff out. This can be done with a flexi or long line, but we don’t want her to take off and yank your arm so starting it on a shorter leash can get the sniffy cues started 🙂
I kinda started something like this but wasn’t sure how to build on it 😀 this give me some ideas! Thanks!
Another hot day here tomorrow, so we’ll get out early! Hope you have a great day instrucing & it’s “cooler” up there! 😀
Hi Tracy!
Thank you for the tips & strategies! As usual you always add icing to the cake 🙂
I guess I should have told you what I have been doing so far 😀 So I’ll start there first!
Rewarding for every check in- I am more generous with that since you shared your thoughts. I didn’t try any new treats tonight, just didn’t have anything cool. I agree shorter engagement session are way better and I need to buikd up to longer. I get so wrapped up in A- how nice she is heeling and B- keeping her off the birds! But yes, I love you analogy :Don’t worry about trying to be better than the birds – think of it more as shaping her brain to be able to resist the instincts she has been bred to focus on.
I’m also throwing in pattern games here & there. Sometimes right off the deck, sometimes down in the yard. I’m using a combination of bowls & dots to play these games. Up/Down game too. I put a twist on the super bowl game too (her sister’s mom gave me the idea!). I have 3 bowls out in the yard spaced far apart. Sometimes I load them, sometimes not. I release her to the bowl & then do a recall. Then we transport to the next bowl. I had them spaced closer at first, but she kept going to the same bowl lol! Tonight I just sent to the bowl & ran with her to toss cookies in it. The idea is to get further & further away so she can Run!
You mentioned about visual aids and using the prop (pot holder) I used in class. How would I use the prop? One other thing I would like to try is a different visual for her to focus on: a foot target or a mat or even the prop we used earlier in the class! It is possible that the visual of the birds hijacks her nervous system so she cannot respond to non-visual cues (which is part of why the lures work, they are visual). So a big visual aid can make a MASSIVE difference.
6 ft leash- I see the difference it makes, even if it felt awkward at first! 😀 I got greedy and wanted to take Kelsie and Sunnie on a sniffy walk in the yard- Big Mistake- lesson learned! I put them both on a flexi (eek!) The 2nd half of the video shows part of the walk. Things happen SO fast with Sunnie. I went to give Kelsie a cookie and BAM the flipping birds were straight ahead of us on the ground! Being up prepared and not being ahead of the situation, she nearly took me off my feet 🙁 I felt bad that I let a “mistake” happen.
We practiced at our lesson walking nicely on leash & not jumping on my instructor. We weren’t perfect, but I set a new precedence for her. It was good 🙂
Thank you for giving me ideas for enrichment, this gives me ideas to work on 🙂 Sniffy walk in the yard, still keep her on 6ft leash? 6 ft keeps me close, but then she’s constantly pulling. I’m not sure how to get a happy medium where she doesn’t have to look at me every second & just sniff!
Thank you for the MYOB suggestion too- I’ll get on it! 🙂
Good Morning Tracy!
We gave string cheese & meatballs a whirl yesterday 😀 Maybe meatballs were a little bit faster in response time, but no match for the birds when they came into view, BUT I can use a scatter to get her off of them. My problem is I freeze when she freezes because I don’t know what I should be saying! Does it matter what I do – scatter, get it or whatever it takes to get her off looking at them? and then what, don’t I have to be better than the birds somehow, do we keep going with whatever I ‘lured” her off with after she reorients to me?
Also if she is always on a 6ft lead ( I understand better control for me!) how do I satisfy her enrichment other ways since running, chasing fills her cup? Won’t she get fustrated over time of not being able to get her ya yas out?
Just wondering how you built on keeping them on a short lead every time she’s outdoors so eventually (hopefully at some point down the road) off leash? I know this is a long process and totally going to put in the time, patience & practice for it, I want to help her 🙂
Lesson today indoors on turf 🙂 I will take some throwing toys too (froz & ball) along with our tugs to see if she has any interest there. There I bring porkchops & St Roccocs, she’s great there with those snacks! The biggest ‘issue” is her cray cray for the instructor & getting a bit over threshold when we are there because she is SO excited! That’s something I’d like to work on too- do you have a webinar on this? 🙂
I’ll try more food stuff & try the toy toys in my yard. When it’s not 100,000 degrees 😀
Thank You! 🙂
Wow Tracy, I don’t even know what to say! 🙂 THANK YOU first comes to mind! 😀 but I thought the course is over today 🙁
The first step is to establish what type of reinforcement is the most valuable in that environment – we gotta fight fire with fire!
Food- I have to go shopping to get some food variety. I’m not a big cook lol! Tues night is Kelsie’s (middle child) nosework class. I take Sunnie with me 🙂 Wed night is Sunnie’s agility lesson- air conditioned, bird free arena 😀
Not to sound like a dork, but how do I test the food if she’s not doing anything? She will check in with me because right now I am feeding her for every time she looks at me. This only happens when she’s close. When she goes to the end of the line, I usually have to call her back, recall training, which she ignores me mostly. Some ‘reps’ she’s move attentive than others, but by no means is it a Rock Solid recall.
So same question for toy toy. Do I try to play with her with various toys? Remember toy play isn’t my strong suit, but I still want to learn! 😀 I can get her engaged with toys indoor much easier than outdoor, probably because it’s all me not knowing how, especially when she taps out, I tap out too. Btw your toys sound much cooler than mine LOL!
Do your dogs have high prey drive for birds too? or other animals in the environment?
I see you are going to be at Paws For Thought Farm!! It’s 3 hours from me 🙁 otherwise I’d be there in a heartbeat!! I am about an hour south of Albany, near New Paltz 🙂 I”ve trialed up there years ago. It’s a lovely facility, you will love it there! 🙂 Bill & Sue are awesome too!
Hi Tracy!
Just wanted to take a moment to Thank You for an AMAZING puppy class!! The progression, the feedback, ALL THE THINGS, were SO incredibly helpful, fun, informative. You gave Sunnie such a wonderful start to everything really 🙂Just for fun I went back to our very first exercise. OMG Sunnie was so tiny LOL! 10 weeks old 🙂 I also watched our last exercise above. This was the start of our demise 🙁 The birds, her prey drive kicked in even higher than before. I can’t take her off leash, that’s why I haven’t submitted video 🙁 (and Lexie’s diagnosis pulled my attention to her) Prior, I was able to call her off as you know, you’ve seen me dissappear & return (like the video above) Now she’ll chase & run & not come back! My yard is only 3/4 fneced and she’s running toward the no fenced part & won’t stop. I have a heart attack every time she does this. My body & hands are taking a beating from the leash for her bolting. I”ve got her on a long line (or a 10 ft) line. I am trying really hard to help her. Been researching, but I can’t do it alone. I think I need to pair the trigger (birds) with a marker to reorient to me & then give her (reward her) with an outlet she wants- chase- run but it has to be with me. The birds are everywhere in my yard, so that’s a challenge too. I can’t train the behavior I want somewhere else and then build up to it. Add in adolescence to the picture too 😀
I was excited to join Max Pup 2, but now I don’t know 🙁 I’ve got to get this under control before I can even think about training agility 🙁
The temps up here in NY are going to be brutal this week. Hope you are getting relief in VA!
Just wanted to say Thank You 🙂 and let you know why we haven’t been around 🙁
Good morning Tracy! I think my post got buried, this is from late Tues night 😀 bumping it up! Thank you!!! 🙂
Thank you Tracy! I will try again with your suggestions! 🙂
THIS is hard not to do LOL! So you can also look at your hand instead of her cute face to help cue the threadle.
Here we go with Rocking Horse, well more like trying to intersperse toy play with “work” 😀 It was REALLY windy so you know what that means for Sunnie, lots of movement- leaves, grass, birds, whatever Yee Haw! Please don’t hold back on suggestions! LOL! 🙂 Thank You!
Hi Tracy!
The patterns set up her brain to ignore the distractions even better!
I need to learn me some more Pattern Games 😀 Get It seems to be our “go to” I can use this & get her off birds, but I don’t want to wear it out LOL!
Tonight we tried adding motion to Serp & Threadles! We had some trouble shooting to start and I did some slicing before we got the end product, sorta. We were having a blast and she “scared” me when she did put the dots together lol! Flying like a rocket ship, yikes! I left in the trouble shooting in the video so you can see where it started & how it ended. This session got me pumped with a holy shit moment. What is this kid going to be like when she is running full out and not doing this from a sit stay?! I loved seeing the little bits we’ve been doing turn into a big bit! Working with dead toy, revisting a skill we did awhile ago, just to name a few bits! Sunnie is a latent learner – it amazes me when we leave something alone & then go back, it’s wild!
I also have a training session with toy- toy doing rocking horse -part 2, it’s kinda long about 3.5 min , I definitely need help! I didn’t want to bombard you with 2 ‘long’ videos at oen time 😛
Thank you Tracy! Busy adulting & just be a dog week 😀
Tonight was so pleasant we tried Rocking Horse again! Sunnie was battling with the outside environment big time. I only lost her once to a bird at 32 sec, but I got her back by yelling Get It! She saw me toss the food, I was very dramatic LOL and came flying back, YAY!
I do have a ‘go for a run’ cue which I use to let him have a big run with the toy…
I’m trying to do that with the birds – when it’s Ok to chase and when it’s not – a work in progress!
you can use the volume dial game to get her looking at you and really engaged, or a pattern game.
Love this idea & Get It worked great when I needed her to leave the bird and come back! 😀
Good Morning! I hope it’s nicer where you are! 2 cold days (temps dropped like 40 degrees!) of 50 & rain!
I personally do not let my youngsters wander between reps, because it risks creating a conflict/frustration when I don’t want them to wander. With my youngsters, I only want complete focus and engagement in the ring, so I will reward them then if I need to talk to the instructor,
Should I practice this at home too when we train? Once she has a station behavior I’ll use that?!
Sat morning before the rain came we tried what you suggested- warmed up with turn & burn with big wings 😀 and then went into rocking horse. What ended up mostly in these 2 lessons is Sunnie breaking her stay. I have to admit I am not saying “wait” and then when she does break there is no consequence (except not doing the thing right away) I just “reset” her. Should I help her out by saying Wait at this point in her training? And what should I be doing when she does break? She struggled a bit at the pole barn the other night too with staying, so finally I said my words & she stayed put. With so much going on in the environment I wait until she looks at me, same when we train elsewhere. OR should I ask for a “LOOK” (which means look at me) ?
Here is our warm up!
Rocking Horse with Wings!
This morning we played around with Find My Face. I got a little turned around myself, LOL! “did I go this way & I need to turn away from her” thoughts swirling in my head 😀 Then she did a fancy move at the end LOL So I stopped because she had me cracking up! I tossed for any movement back toward me, not necessarily eye contact. It is her most favorite Game ever. Thanks to you 🙂 I use this outside when she feels like she shouldn’t go back in the house. It’s more fun to have a holle roller or ball in her mouth and play keep away. But if I start playing Get It she drops the toy toy and we make our way up to the house. Once we get close she races up to the deck to get more kibbles! I taught her Get It & toss kibbles on the deck so now she knows when her she’s up there kibbles come. I do this every time we go in, potty, play time, Get It > kibbles on the deck 🙂
Good Morning! Thank you Tracy 🙂
We tried Rocking Horse Part 2 last night. I forgot to hit record for the 1st session, so here is the 2nd after a break in between. It’s short because I wasn’t sure if I was doing this properly & didn’t want to keep going LOL! This is one of those exercises that I felt I needed a person live watching me LOL! Fun tho’ I loved adding some more handling together, good for me (mentally!) to practice too!
The other night we had a lesson at the pole barn. Instructor commented “Sunnie was more focused tonight” but reminded me that can change next time due to her age. 😀 said to myself yup you reminded me of that awhile ago LOL! Question, Is it Ok to let Sunnie wander off in between reps? Or should I keep a thumb on her? when the rep is finished I reward but should I make sure she is still connected with me? Keep her connected until our turn is over? I”ve been letting her, but mostly she leaves me on her own! when the exercise is over, I am not making sure she stays with me, sometimes I do but not every rep. Hope I am making sense! She does come back when I call her, but not snappy, it may take a bit, while she is exploring in the pole barn. This happens at the turf place too.
Also, I noticed and maybe it’s just a coincidence, (but I know you like the brainy stuff, me too!) she was quite wired when we came home from that lesson. We got home about 9 pm and she was still “busy” after 10! I thinkshe was overtired and just didn’t want to settle. Which is her MO sometimes! But when she does crash, she crashes hard. She’s always done this, even when she was a wee one at the breeder. I am teaching her that after dinner is chill time. She’s getting it most nights 🙂
Thanks Tracy! 🙂
Good Morning! We went out early because it has become ungodly hot here! 90’s smh not normal for NY!
Sunnie knows her left & right verbals, familiar with this set up from ‘fitness’ (cavaletti set up) & I use bowls with that exercise. She LOVES the vito games 😀 For the left turn I think my setup was incorrect? Last rep I think I got it right? She was SO cute on the right turn first doing a turn on the flat before heading to the jumps LOL!
Thank you Tracy! 🙂
I gave the threadle wraps & threadle tunnel a break tonight 🙂 Thank you for all that feedback & thoughts SO helpful!!
We’ve added the volume dial game, so feel free to skip to it – it is all about increasing arousal to get great engagement and focus, even with insane distractions 🙂
We tried this tonight with food. Your thougths on this one?! I wasn’t sure if I was doing this correctly LOL! When I tried to get her to turn L & R you will see she went to her fav – MIDDLE! lol!
Thank you Tracy! 🙂
What I mean by that is you can still make an obvious show of your hands for the cue as she is coming to the correct side of the xpen setup, but you don’t need to do as much of the big hand movement to turn her away. She might need it on the first rep or two as a reminder but then you can probably keep your hands pretty stationary – and that is ideal!
Gotcha! Short session tonight after the tunnel fun 🙂 and I totally forgot to use my words 😀
Tunnel threadle didn’t go exactly as planned & I think I went too fast in the progression when she started to have struggles 🙁 Also, I don’t have a tunnel threadle cue- yet, so for tonight I just said tunnel.
