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Turn your Cato so it is longer the way she is going across. The position you have now is what we will use when we start to shape the turn soon. If it is a little longer she will hopefully give you time to get her back feet on there while the front feet are on there too. I saw you waiting for all four feet – and I want you to be able to only say YES and give the tug when the back feet are on the platform. Right now the majority were for the front feet.
As for food versus tug… I would be curious if you were more energetic and praising with the food would that pump her up? She honestly seems very versatile and eager to buy into whatever you are selling. You are naturally more fun and engaging with the toy (because it’s a two player game) but food can be fun too. When you toss it and cheer her on she liked that.
If you keep using the tug you might have to put it behind your back because I want eyes on the Cato (or at least a glance on where to put feet briefly) versus only looking at the tug. She was about 50/50 on that.
Yes – these are fabulous. I laughed out loud in my office halfway through when she just got her back legs up on it. She showed a strong understanding that it was a foot target.
Reminder that you don’t need to take the platform to the ground – what you have is the lowest I would go so we can just slant it back up slowly to match the angle of your box.
Because she is looking up a lot we might add a prop in front of the board sooner rather than later when you get to the turn shaping back and forth (instead of side to side). This way she has to look where she is going and then turn her head back. Then eventually you would add the cookie, then a tug, then eventually a ball on the board so she learns to put her head down and grab something.
Do you imagine she will run for food as her reward in Flyball? If so, once she is cleared by the dentist, you could start incorporating tug/throw her and the tug away and then have her come back to you so when the tug touches your hand you say YES for a treat. Essentially teaching a retrieve. Or if you have the basics of the retrieve keep building on that – I really like a hand target because the criteria is black/white – I think we did that with Ravie (but I might be wrong and it was Inky).
OMG I was so impressed she did it perfectly twice!! If your basket was a little longer she wouldn’t feel like she was falling forward with the momentum and then pop out the other side before you could treat with all 4 feet in. So yes, if you have one that is shorter so she can more confidently step in versus hop in then you are golden.
My only feedback would be to be careful with the uh-oh verbal cues. [I noticed she got a lot more of those uh-oh in the low value RSO Tug drill too]. The removal of the foodbowl is already a “negative” because you are taking away the thing she wants. So I wouldn’t also add a negative cue too – I also watched her body language and she tends to shrink/hesitate to attempt things the more she gets told no. This is a great game of her testing boundaries to see what will pay out – so I don’t think you have to hold her paw quite as much. I would be fascinated to see if you were silent in a training session like this and only gave the “good girl” and yay positive feedback like you were doing how that would impact her. She’s crazy smart and I agree with you – she is going to get all of these games very quickly.
The low value tug def had more moments where she wanted to sniff (whether that was from boredom or frustration I can’t speak) but you did do a great job of using tossed treats in motion to keep her interest.
The higher value tug you were actually able to get a longer lead out (which I thought would have been harder) so that was really neat to see. You also engaged her a lot more, you can hear the laughter in your voice as you were both having a really good time together. It was very fun to watch!!
I like to end my sessions by letting my dog win the prize. Whether that is a jackpot of food, or carrying their toy. Some of my dogs I have to put on leash first, and then they get to carry their toy out of the ring, or to the car, or back inside the house.
There is that speed I was looking for!!
If she will trade between 2 toys you might want to look at having her catch the tug and run through with it, and then come back to you for a game of tug with a second tug toy. She is hitting so hard that’s why she is popping off. Or you need to be in motion with her when she hits – just wait a little longer to run since your place has a shorter runback and you are speedy.
You can 100% not encourage the auto-re-run lineups. I am of the same mindset – I do not want a dog to come lineup at the box for another recall unless 1 – the owner tells them they can go and 2 – the person at the box then starts calling them. To stop that you can clip her on the leash and then keep tugging and playing. It would also reinforce that getting caught doesn’t mean the game ends… so it’s a 2 for 1 in my book.
Great job! The HERE has a value for sure! As we build on this game in the coming Units I want to see Thistle driving to you a little more. I know it’s a smaller backyard, but you can strategically start on one end of the yard and toss that throw away cookie near you, then take off running when she gets her first step towards you. I want her to think that she HAS to go all the way to you in order to get the cookie. Right now you often stop when she is halfway to you, then she just walks the rest of the way to you.
What does she think is the greatest thing in the world? High value treats? Tug? Disc?
I liked these! The camera angle was hard to see but it seemed like you were able to capture a lot of nose touches when you were turning back to change directions. Just make sure the nose is coming into your hand, and not that your hand is going towards the nose.
Don’t feel pressure to take this outside and add motion – I tend to keep this one shorter distances (could also be similar to teaching a collar grab).
You did a great job noticing that she switched better when you have motion. And I could tell you were trying to toss her away to one side of the room so you could move to the other – I imagine if you had a hallway or a little more running space you might have quicker trades.
You might always try giving the “Yes” and then some follow up encouragement words like get it get it get it as you wiggle it around.
Sometimes when mine are having trouble switching because they find them equal (or one higher value) I try to use a dinkier tug to start a session and then switch to a beloved tug. You just then have to out, reset back onto the dinky one, and start again. That usually helps me get more of the behavior of Switching down…. then I can work back up to the equal value tugs.
I also liked how engaged you were when you just had the one tug in your hand – so don’t feel stuck that you couldn’t set it aside until you were ready to switch so you could really engage in the toy play while she is tugging.
She’s a mini tigger bouncing up – I am astonished how far up she can make it.
I wonder if you could add some fleece or rope to the end of your tug to make it a smidge longer? A few times she appeared to be careful on where she grabbed it avoiding near your hand. Since it’s a smaller tug she has a smaller area to grab from and that might be causing some hesitation?? But I loved at the end where she was super confident and she was nailing that tug!
The hardest part seems to be the transition from tugging, back into the sit. If you offered a cookie for the sit, would that make tugging lower value because she likes cookie more? I know some dogs have a hard time switching between rewards.
Your cueing and movement was spot on. I liked how you already incorporated a tiny lean/step on the “set”. You can certainly keep building up – taking a whole step on the “set”.
If the sitting part continues to be difficult you can also just work on a general SIT/STAY where the only reward is food. And you work on distance and keep moving back to her to reward just sitting still (not releasing yet). I find if I add in 1-2 of these sessions for my dogs that have a hard time holding a sit, it goes a long ways.
She is the size of a Powerflex box!!! You did everything I would have recommended. As she was struggling with the rear feet you turned the box sideways and then tried to pull her through. Maybe when you start your next session start with luring and and through the box in box directions for a few reps. Show her that she CAN get those back legs in there, marking yes for when the back feet go in. Similar to how we do the box turn on the Cato. Then hopefully since she has a few good reps under her belt she will confidently offer it on her own.
Thank you for the nudge!! Does the link take you to the correct video? It says 4 feet in a box but takes me to the same Here video.
The video using Here looked perfect. I liked that sometimes Snorkel was in front and sometimes in the second position of getting rewarded but stayed keyed in on you.
1 – I would not use it with Combo if he bumper car rides Snorkel – because I don’t want the Here to become a recall where she hangs back until she’s behind everyone/Combo so she feels safe. And then as a result runs back to you slower. I have had that issue with mine before and those dogs that don’t want to be ridden by a certain dog just walk back to me instead of running/causing the others to chase.
2 – I’d let them say it to their own dogs cause it’s the equivalent of saying come, or their name 5 times – because if they haven’t put the work in, it’s all a foreign language to the dog. I wouldn’t let them use the Here like yours if they are just calling her to say hi. But if you were playing puppy ping pong or similar games, it’s okay. But truthfully I like when HERE is reserved for the owner (because it’s the calling back from the box to you) – so you could tell them to just call her name and that would be just as well.
