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P.S. I looked back at the class info and realized this vid should have been 2 minutes! You can just watch the first two min if you want! I try to be really mindful of not going over my video time and won’t do it again. Sorry, insert facepalm emoji here!
So this video is a little longer than I’d like to post, and it mostly just shows the driving forward game, but I wanted you to see it because I’m working a lot with Peeka’s desire to play with me, and I was pretty psyched about her playing this morning! Disclaimer: I only did this session because she was being insane and driving me nuts, so she was primed for good playing.
In our online zoom class, we worked the whole time for food, and we just worked for food at a recent seminar (where she wanted to play with my shoe on the side at the end but wasn’t really into her toys as things to work for).
When she is into playing, her inclination when she wins the toy is to go lie down with it and chew. So we’ve been playing the two toy game, and she’s definitely gotten better about being able to trade toys. Another thing we’ve been doing (and I’m not sure this is a good idea because I’m worried about getting her too into feet?) is, since she does often like to chew on/chase feet, I’ve been trying to incorporate that a little into play (but my rule, which she doesn’t get yet, is that the feet are only interesting if you have a toy in your mouth). My goal is for her to want to play WITH me with a toy she has and then I’ll offer her the toy I have (which today was a much more valuable toy apparently).
Thanks for watching!
Sounds perfect, thank you so much for this detailed explanation! It makes perfect sense.
Peeka’s mohawk cracks me up; I call it her fin, and it’s actually a weird cowlick that she was born with. She has a bald spot right underneath it, haha! I thought it might disappear as she gets older, but so far it’s just getting bigger. 😀
Hey Tracy, question about the toy variation of Game 4 from last night. (Peeka is just working for food right now while we work on getting insaaane for toys, but I’m just thinking/planning.)
With my other two dogs, I have a “rule” (by which I mean goal, I guess) that when you (my dog) are on a toy, you should stay on that toy until I release you. So I do lots of proofing with staying on a tug (or ball) even if a cooler toy comes alive; you don’t get the other toy until I ask you to.
The reason with Tanq is for safety and management in flyball where there are lots of toys in the runback. Another reason for Cheery is that if she drops the toy on her own, I interpret that as lack of engagement, and my response is to stop playing, ask her to go look at whatever is distracting her, and wait for her to ask to play.
My question is…are my rules OK or problematic? The toy variation breaks them. The bowl version seems different because the dog is targeting the bowl instead of the reinforcer.
Thanks for reading! Peeka and I had SO much fun in class last night!
Thank you SO MUCH, Tracy; as always, your feedback is amazingly helpful. On Sequence 3 Rep 1, I did not realize in the moment that she thought it might be a rear cross, but I totally see it on video. I have struggled with telling her the difference between a whiskey and a backside wrap; I think the main difference is where my feet are pointed?
I also love that you pointed out that my physical cues aren’t matching up with my tunnel cues. All my brainpower goes to remembering to give her tunnel break (“HEY!”); I have to remember to reserve some for my shoulders.
Also, thank you for the alternate handling suggestion; I really need that. We took your Feet Forward class…oh, man, it was a while ago…and it was all about the blinds. Then we started trialing after that, and in trials I am nervous and Cheery is on fire and I tend to revert to wimpier handling (not that it actually reduces our faults, haha!).
