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Good observation – and I’m going to say you have two choices you and Snorkel can make together for this one.
Depending on Snorkels comfort level, she could find chilling between your legs waiting while other dogs are getting ready a safe place. Then you would reach down last second to hold her when everyone is ready. I also love it for a “hey get really close in here so I can pick you up” so if she enjoys it you can use it that way too.
But what I’m thinking might be more realistic is you would hold her in one arm. Often that is READY, set is feet on the ground, and then go. It might be a safer spot, she can see everything, and it doesn’t hurt your back from a whole weekend. My sciatic nerve won’t let me hold a dog to the side but she’s small enough I might could do it in front like a baby.
If you played this same game at practice, maybe you moving back 10-15′ from her as she is asked to carry a tug back – what does she do?
She is very in tune to your motion – the ones where you were moving away she was almost frantic to catch you (and like the one where she dropped it and went back and then when she looked up and you were still and she was like… whew). For indoor fetch sometimes I sit on the other side of a doorway and toss down one hallway/room and then they have to come find me in the other room with the toy (so I am out of sight). That might be another version of this game she would enjoy.
I loved that you threw the tug a few times because I was going to ask if she would be more interested in grabbing if she had total possession (and she said YES). When she recalls to you like this, right before she gets to you – toss the toy ahead of you. Then clap her back, play like 2-3 shakes/tugs, then let her win and you back up slightly again. She really seems to like presenting you with the spoils of her victory. And then my goal would be that she gets used to running and grabbing the tug off the ground that you then do 50/50 throw the tug ahead and some where she grabs it and wins it from your hand. You still don’t tug with her until she gives it to you. I’m curious to see if that helps to continue building the toy play in public.
She LOVES that chuck it!! So does she do any border collie excited spinning in the house naturally? Mine will sometimes do it waiting for me to open a door, or for their food dish. It seems that she offers left and goes left more naturally – but majority of what you sent was right (which I wasn’t sure was because you were working on keeping her balanced).
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.
