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Thank you! It is a free webinar on using video, so I am going to play it without the sound first, then turn on the sound so folks can hear what was going on and how well she did!! I will send you the recording of the webinar š
T
Hi!
The shaping in arousal went great! The goal is to convince her brain to still be able to use her body well, even when she is more stimulated (many adult sporty dogs struggle with this!). She did great! It looks like she offered interaction with the dog object really well – and when there was a moment when she didnāt get the treat (it looked like she thought you had tossed it?) she gave you a super deliberate ālook I am smacking my paw on it!ā at 1:12. Ha! Brilliant girlie!
You can keep showing her different things to offering behavior on – this will bring you into the various goat games too!
>My partner was doing yard work so I ālostā Jazz at one point but moved my location (saw your feedback to Ginger) and got her back.>
Yes! She seemed to have a visual distraction and then she caught a scent. Your response was great, to move yourself and the toy to a new spot to get more movement in the toy and more engagement. Super!
>Next up will be toy races ā when the yard cools off. The challenge Iāve run into with this is that she becomes very bitey when highly aroused. Sharp puppy teeth and old skin donāt go well together.>
Show me all the bitey moments! There are a lot of ways to teach her to not get bitey but seeing them in context will help. For toy race, you can use the bigger possible toy. For general tugging, super long toys help keep little teeth off of our flesh š
Great job here!
Tracy
Hi!
>We laughed so much about him telling me to go fetch his toy!>
It was so funny! IF he could snap his fingers or ring a bell to have his staff gather his toy up, he totally would have LOL!
It sounds like the big city trip was fantastic exposures for him!
> He had a great time exploring and had one startle moment when a tent side suddenly flapped in a gust of wind right into his face but he recovered quickly and was right back to exploring the same spot a few seconds later. He really was not a fan of super loud motorcycles (I donāt blame him for that) but otherwise handled all the busy places well too. >
This is all good, even the stuff that was new or startling.
>He thought it was quite concerning to see a dog tied to a tree outside a shop without its human present. The dog was calm, Aelfraed likes dogs, and we had also passed a couple of dogs with their people as other points in the walk which was fine so I donāt think he was upset about the dog specifically. However, seeing this dog all by itself caused him to issue one single sharp bark and was the only time he barked during our whole outing. It was very interesting.>
Super interesting! I wonder if he has never seen a dog without a person? And the tree was a weird looking person LOL!
>He has only met my sister once before so far, about 3 months ago, but he was quite happy to play tug and some version of fetch with her (indoors) which I thought was great.>
So awesome! It sounds like a really great adventure for the little dude. I love it! The next step is to bring him to outdoor cafes š
Tracy
Hello!
These are a series of superstar sessions šWing wraps:
That first video was GREAT – there was a party in your yard and she ROCKED it! There was a toy behind you so she brought it over, then went back into the game. Much to be proud of here, especially how well she engaged with you!! Can I borrow this video to show people as a great example of a baby dog staying engaged, even with big distractions in the background?Scrolling down to the 2nd barrel wrap session: much easier, no party in the background LOL! She did great! And I am glad you were standing, that was the next step .She wrapped really well and did get back on the toy even though there was good food smells around. You were so fun, re-engaging her with the toy. Super!! This game is ready for the next steps coming on Tuesday.
Looking at the collar grab video: Lovely! She was half nose-touching here, which was also great because she was very happy to be next to your hand and have you reach towards her. You can add in lining her up at your side, then taking her collar. But I think she will be perfect there too.
I loved the crazy wobbly setup for the goat games! You read my mind – I was going to suggest taking the toy out of her mouth and see if she would hop onto it by herselfā¦ and that is exactly what you did. Yay! Super! Yo can keep showing her crazy setups for her to walk around on.
Great job on all of these!
Tracy
Hi!
>I wasnāt going to go straight into standing up, but he went straight into it!>
It was great! He said he was ready! He was a good boy zipping back and forth around it.
I loved when he worked through the frustration of not being sure of what to do, when you moved it too far away so he didn’t get rewarded for a couple of rep – you brought it back in a little closer, he barked at your for a heartbeat… then put himself back into the game. SUPER!!! And that was a good way to handle it: no need to mark his miss with an oops or anything. And when he missed twice, you moved it back in a little and waited. It was a big resilience moment for him, to be able to regulate the frustration and get back into the game. YAY!!!
Do you have anything taller? That would be the next object to wrap around, and we can use it in the new game coming on Tuesday š
Great job!
TracyHi!
This was great fun to watch. Thanks for your help, Sprite! Dot was like “we are getting on things now? Cool!” so you got a ton of offering then continued offering while you put Sprite in the x-pen.
Yes, the disc didn’t have as much offering on it but that might have partially been that it was further from the other stuff, and also that it feels weird (that stubbly surface) and it moves. You can cram it in among the other stuff more, and cover it with a towel so the surface is not as weird.I wonder if, for now, the square blue thing would be good for the prop games here? We don’t need to use it as a prop for long, then it can go back to being used for conditioning stuff.
> Iāll see what I can do with separating the toy and food. Iām not sure how to film that though.>
Part of it will probably be off camera, so you can choose one or the other to get on camera. Or, you can do it outside where the camera can cover a wider area.
Have fun! Nice work here with the ‘stuff’!
Tracy
Good morning!
> I feel like Iām playing ācatch-upā with my videos so I hope Iām not overdoing the postings. >
You are doing great! And feel free to post multiple videos, if you’ve done multiple sessions of stuff š
>All my cones are in our RV so I may try using a bucket for her to wrap around.>
Perfect!!!
>Here is our Blind Cross Foundation session from two days ago. I feel like my timing is off (geeā¦ I havenāt heard that before LOL). >
Ha! Yes, this game works the dual-purpose of working on our timing, and teaching the pups that we humans might be late with info LOL!!
>Should I be rotating right when she leaves the treat? >
She is a speedy pup, so yes – as soon as she starts running towards you, you can start the blind. She was running toward you as soon as you said her name.
>Iāve been waiting till she is actually running to me so Iām late with rotating.>
That was making the blind happen when she was about halfway to you, which is maybe one stride late – but the timing will matter less if the reconnection is super quick, which comes from reward placement:
> Also not sure which hand I should have the toy. I start with it on the original side and then transfer it when I rotate. Not sure if thatās the best approach.>
The best way to let her see fast, clear connection on the new side is to place the reward across your body (opposite arm) and not in the dog-side arm. You would start with the toy in the dog-side/original side like you did – but don’t transfer it to the other side. Keep it in the original side and put it across your belly as you finish the blind. This pushes the new dog-side shoulder back and really opens up connection!
Yes it will feel weird LOL!! But the toy in the dog-side arm when you finish the blind actually delays the visible re-connection after the blind, and you can see her responses were delayed on those. Visible connection is what produces the side change and the toy across the body is the best/fastest way to do that.
On the first rep, you had the toy in your original dog-side hand (right hand) and as you finished the blind, you kept it there and showing it across your body. Her side change there was super snappy, even though you probably had the shortest head start (and therefore late blind, she was almost to you) on that rep. On the other reps, you showed the toy with your new dog-side hand and even with earlier timing – she was later in seeing the new side.
So keep doing what you did on that first rep! If you freeze the video at :05 you will see absolutely beautiful connection and she knew exactly where to go. Yay!
>Worked on the Shaping in Arousal game this morning. That will be our next post.
Looking forward to it! Great job here!
TracyHi!
She is an excellent goat š She looked very happy to interact with the upside down thing in the first video and even got her back feet on it when you waited for more. What a good girl! She was even getting spicy and offering MORE when the rewards were not coming fast enough, in her opinion LOL!
She offered all 4 feet on the moving object, but was close enough to you that it didnāt move. You can help her move it by standing and walking around, so she is moving it a lot! You used your reward placement to get her to rock it back and forth (that was ADORABLE, she was surfing LOL!!) so adding your movement as you walk around it will get her smacking it even more and approaching from different angles.
In the coming weeks, keep adding different objects for her to walk on, slam, move, etc, so we can maintain this confidence though adolescence and beyond.Great job here!!
TracyHi!
Yay! She is totally getting it, zipping around the barrel. Super!!
You can let her see you putting the treat in the bowl after she arrives at it, because that will help affirm that she was correct.She didnāt always seem to know to look at the bowl to find the cookie when she didnāt see you put it in there LOL!
The distance you got here was perfect – the next step is to do this exact same session, with you standing up š That will lead us in perfectly to what is being added on Tuesday!
Great job š
TracyHi!
>Yes, I randomly hum tunes. Iām not sure why the circus one popped in my head.>
Singing, humming, and pajamas are all important parts of puppy training videos hahaha!!
> Sometimes she really doesnāt want the toy as youāll see in this session. I donāt want to force her. >
I think the challenge her is balancing the food interest with the toy interest. And to keep the interest in the toy high, it might need to be presented in a different location because the food presence really drew her attention away from the toy here. She did tug, the interest is there, so it might just need to be set up a little differently so we donāt have the competing stimuli of the food and bowl.
One thing you can do is start the toy play in a different spot, away from the smell/visual of the food. Then run into the food area, do a food sessionā¦. Then leave the area and get back into the tugging š That also gets the toy really active! With my Papillon, I used to run down the hallway to play tug, then back into the original room for shaping, then back down the hallway. It was an excellent work out hahaha! But it maintained the interest in the toy play without having to worry about food as the distraction. (It was hard to video, but totally worth it).
>Iāll try to remember tying them together. Sheās better with smaller toys to grab onto. Most of my stuff is too thick at this point for her.>
Yes, the toy in your hand is perfect! Yo can put something longer on it as a handle for you to take off and run to a different spot, dragging it for her to chase and grab š
She did well with the forward focus and stealth self-control here! That bowl got pretty far around the cone, she was super!
Something we can consider is delaying the marker because I could see it potentially get confusing. If you say bowl when she looks at the cone and then you let goā¦ she might not be wrong if she goes directly to the visible bowl and not around the cone š It is not an issue when the bowl is on th obvious line around the cone, but when things get harder and he will need to pass this bowlā¦ it might be better to let her start moving (the collar release or a yes can be the context cue for that) and then say the bowl marker when she is at the cone and past the bowl.
You can also play this game entirely with a toy, no food at all, so you donāt have to worry about balancing interest in toys with interest in food!
Great job here!
Tracy
Hi!
>I was surprised by her interest in the food as she wasnāt really food motivated when we played it in the past.>
She was definitely interested in the food here, that is great! And that helped her pick up gong back-and-forth really well! She spent some extra time chewing LOL so you can try small slurp-able bit of treats, like tiny pieces of cheese. She wonāt hear them plunk into the bowls but I donāt think she needs that anymore.
The next step to this would be to put an upright in front of you, to get started with getting her to go around objects. I am sure she will find it easy!
>I included switching off the ādeadā toy as the previous times I had a really hard time getting her off the dead and onto the live. No problem with that this time. I guess there is something to be said for latent learning.>
She did great here!!! Yes, latent learning can be magical š The next step here is to get her to let go of the toy by making it dead – but delay activating the other toy til she starts moving towards it. That can establish the back-and-forth pattern she was doing with the food – and as soon as you have that pattern established, you can put the upright in here too.
Great job!
TracyGood morning! I love having people hold puppies for this game! And the auntie was so cute, cheering for him š He did great!!
Has he also done restrained recalls? When you started running, it looked like his first impulse was to look at you, and that might be him asking if he was supposed to do a recall or run ahead to the toy. So to give him the feeling of leaving you in the dust, you can be moving but not as fast – pretend you are running for real, but only run half speed.
And you can use a marker to indicate the toy is in play o he doesnāt have to watch you (āget itā, for example, if he is familiar with that one). He was beating you to the toy (good boy!) so now I want him to feel the joy of leaving you in the dust without looking at you first.
Most pups do what he did, which is take the toy on a short victory lap before coming back for the next rep. I have always considered that to be a bit of a decompression, where they are moving off the pressure of us humans running hard next to them – and I think it is great!
His little barks were HILARIOUS when he was finished with his victory lap and was ready for his staff (you haha) to pick up the toy for the next rep. He has such a big, fun personality!
Great job!
TracyHi!
>I tried the wing wrap exercise. Started with food ā Skizzle remembered working on this before, and is a pro moving back and forth. >
Super!!! That will make it easy for him to fly through the different steps.
>This is our attempt with toys. He loves his toys and tugging. Hi toy release isnāt as great as I thought it would be by this point (though it accurately reflects our training š ). Itās a little awkward with his reluctant release, but I donāt think thereās much conflict here.>
I didnāt see conflict. He let the first toy go when it was officially ādeadā š He might need a marker or word as permission to go to the toy in your right hand here – he was focused on it, but seemed unsure if it was ok to grab it? So you can use a āget itā type of marker, and even make the toy crazy, flopping up and down more š
Great job here! Does he remember going around an object? And will he go back and forth with treats, with you standing up? That will lead us into the upcoming games š
Great job!
TracyGood morning!
Paper towel package as a wrap object: BRILLIANT! He had no trouble, no questions at all. And the giant gift bag was great too – those different textures will help him generalize wrapping to anything he sees.
>He only tried to ācheatā once but I blocked him with my leg.>
The oopsie moment was in the transition after the tugging – you donāt need to block him, you can simply not reward him (no marker needed, but no cookies) and let him experience the āthat was not correctā moment. That is actually important for pups: sometimes what they offer is *not* correct so they learn to process that and get back to figuring out the correct behavior. He did not have the same error after the second tugging break when you switched to the bag.
It is a fine line – if he fails several times, or always fails at the same time (like after a tugging break) then we are not getting the understanding that we want. But one failure/no reward moment can be as instructional as all the reward moments š and that little bit of friction of NOT getting the expected reward can be very motivating to work to get the reward (has to do with the dopamine drop out of NOT getting the reward).
>I notice when I change the distance at first, he seems more hesitant when wrapping to the left. Iām not sure if that just happens to be when I change the distance each time or itās an actual side preference.>
It could be that it is the new challenge of the distance change (he sees the thing being moved and that slows him down for a moment, or it could be a side preference: his and yours. You tend to re-start (after tugging or distance changing) the game with left turns here. So maybe he is more of a righty? Or maybe you are more of a righty, or both LOL! Either way though – he is looking strong in both directions and he will be more than ready for the next level of this game on Tuesday.
Great job here!
Tracy
Good morning!
The circus music while tugging is hilarious š
She was a superstar, getting right up on the plank! Yay! At this stage, you can show her something different each time in terms of an object to get on. You can also set up a big ‘playing field’ by having 2 planks next to each other, or several objects next to each other, so she can offer all 4 feet on things. The plank is a shade narrow (for now) for all 4 feet but 2 of them side-by-side will be a nice wide surface for her to get on.
She likes that toy! She is letting go of it a bit earlier than you are intending – it is either because she notices food or is predicting you moving to get the food, or because there is too much pressure with you having to lean over during tugging (or both :)) So tie that toy to something long so you don’t have to lean over – you can be pretty upright and still move it around a lot! And keep tugging til you are going to transition back to food, and if she stops early, you can squiggle the toy around more (away from the food) to maintain the balance of drive for food and toy.
Great job here!
Tracy
