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Patience and praise is going so far for her!!!! I loved when she walked by the Cato and then took a minute and was like… hmmm…. let me try… this? And it worked and she flew back to the Cato to do it again to get that excitement from you again.
If she were mine – I might add some “props” on one side of the Cato now (touching the Cato), just so she can see that different in the visual that will come in the future in a context of the exercises she knows how to nail.
Then once she is like okay that was weird but I’m still fine I would take the props away, turn the Cato sideways, and start to shape the turn. Still going slow and waiting for the back feet. Then I would likely add the prop back in so she is hopping up over it slowly. That is going to make her transition to the slant board (and a prop) much smoother.
The mat work was fabulous. You got terrific distance/commitment and rotation in the rear was exactly what I want.
Since you are worried about the contacts/mat work confusing her – you could go ahead and move to a slant board super low. And then go ahead and start angling it up higher and higher. For her journey in particular, you can do her box turn in 3 parts:
-Slant board starting low and then making it steep as the box (3-4 sessions). Make sure a prop is included for some of them so it’s not a shock when we add the ball in the next step.
-Slant board + Ball on Velcro – starting low and then making it as steep as the box (4-6 sessions).
-Velcro ball on the box (typically starting on outer holes but she’s small so you might be best to start on the inner hole).Hopefully that is helpful to see the upcoming progression.
The jump games look terrific! I would love to see you releasing from 10+’ behind the jump and as she drives ahead (awesome for leaving you) you throw that tiny toy ball as hard as you can ahead of her. It’s heavy so it should makes it’s way out in front of her. You are basically marking the moment she is committed. I don’t care if she brings it back over the jump for that – but you can encourage it like you were doing.
Backing up – I was doing these the other day and put together it’s just a combination hiccup exercise – so to do that many in a row was epic! It’s a terrific core exercise.
I want to add in this bonus one for Jinka in particular – there is a similar one coming up – but I want you spending more time on this for her. It’s going to make her box turn push up stellar.
Zero spits with that two tug game with motion! Did you notice that she always turns into the orange hose no matter which way you set her up. And the right turns are more on a dime, where the left ones are the wider zooms.
When you stand and call her to you, you face her. When you run before you cue her to the second tug, you have your back to her. If you wanted to work on “bring me the tug and we play with that one” without switching, you could try adding in some of that movement away from her and see if that helps her make the decision to zip to you faster. I’m personally not worried about it – but I have a dog like her that’s VERY similar and when I do want to stand there and call him to bring his tug it makes me bananas when he slowly sharks in a circle making his way to me eventually.
Here Game distractions were awesome – your older little dog wanted to play the game too! I love working multiple dogs tugging side by side, I feel like it simulates a lot of that nearby tugging in the runback.
Her getting that bunny ball and switching to the tug is adorable! She showed amazing impulse control to stay while you placed the bunny. She held still while you revved her up, and took off like a bullet. But then she also decelerated and turned on a dime – so many sighthounds continue forward with that speed and then turn when they slow down. I’m loving so many parts of these pieces together!!
Steal that orange Cato – that will be perfect – turn it longer side (like how the box is longer left to right) to practice with the turn. Your mat can turn sideways too – it’s on the skinny side right now.
As you keep progressing – see how much of you that you can fade out. I would love to have you be 1-2 feet away from the Cato and she takes that step towards it and turns and then comes back off. Less luring, and more her decision. I find that helps make box turns that are not prop dependent.
This one was the playing with the prop jump (over and back) I believe. You can still say YES so she knows she is doing it correctly – she started to doubt herself at the end when you were being so quiet.
You can also play this game with a toy – very informal and just have fun. Have her tug and chase you back and forth making her go over it. Or do a release and retrieve over it. Nothing structured – just the idea of carry something in your mouth over a jump.
Great job introducing the jump. Now as you work up you will just turn your body a little to cue/indicate they can go over and keep tossing that cookie ahead. I liked that you said the YES marker as she was over the jump.
I love that on “ready” she was offering the sit willingly instead of jumping or trying to get the toy. She liked that anticipation.
This was SOOO good. When you said YES on that last one and she whipped over expecting and looking for it before you showed the one to switch to.
Can she also have the new toy in sight but stay on the one you are tugging? (the proofing exercise?)
If you have a cato or some sort of platform (even a slanted hit-it board) you can leave the mat elevated on that. I have not found it beneficial to take the mat back to the ground, since it goes back on the slant board eventually when we add elevation.
Nice job keeping the strict criteria for the back feet!
I liked incorporating the leash. For Astra I loved seeing her drive away on the release when you held her. Those are fine. My goal for her (as I see coming up in her training) will be for you to be able to tell her stay/sit and then setting a toy on the ground (or later pointing/placing a ball in the box) and then sending to it. She also doesn’t seem to be one to melt if someone holds her – but as wild as she gets for a toy I feel like that’s going to be the hard part. Hold your body and your brain to do the activity with focus. Cookies dumb, toys mean LETS GO she says!
I agree she doesn’t quite have the ‘touch this get cheese’ lightbulb yet. But she is close because a few times she did her front feet and looked at you expectantly.
I do wonder if your movement is so much that it is distracting and her mind is thinking it’s more of a ‘recall/be near you’ and less of a foot target. She also has a strong preference to be on your right side (the treat hand). You could test out the treat throws reset, then have you be on the other end or off to the side on the other end, and toss the cookie continuing forward once back feet come on – very similar to how you were setting her up with the turn on the plank fitness exercise (just not the spin).
I’m also wondering if she will be a special nugget that we might add a prop next to her ipsilateral setup and have her hop over that sideways in both directions. That would be fine with me too – there are a ton of ways to teach a box turn.
