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Good morning!
>I didn’t know how to engage with her with the food, so the session was a little bit of a hot mess & learning curve for me>
The session was totally NOT a hot mess! You were playfully sorting out the mechanics and she was happy to play with you with the food.
Engaging with food is definitely a little weirder feeling at first LOL!! It is basically about looking at her eyes and dancing around a little with her facing you – then getting quiet as you send to the prop. You were lining her up at your side which helped her see the prop, but it is also good to have her facing you to see if she can switch from focus on you to focus on the prop.
>AND I forgot to set my timer
so it went on about 2.5 min!>No worries, the is close enough to 2 minutes that you don’t need to edit if you go a little over.
She did really well finding the prop! By the end, she was moving pretty directly to it when you sent her with an empty hand. SUPER!!
The next step is going to be getting her to go past your hand to the prop, so you can move a little further away to send her to it. She might ask a few questions at first by trying to stop at your hand 🙂 so you can build value for passing the hand to get to the prop by having a treat in your other (non-send) hand, and when she goes to the prop you can toss the cookie to the prop. It is a way of saying “yes, go to the prop even though there are treats in my hand” 🙂
The wing wrap foundation game went great! She got into the rhythm really well and seemed to have no questions at all when you added the cone. Happy dance! When you added more distance, she didn’t go around the cone as well – was it because she was getting brain tired (it was later in the session) or because it was too hard for that moment? No worries, you can start with the cone right in front of you at the beginning of the next session and inch it out to see how she does.
You can also move the bowls to be a bit more behind your knees so she has more room to wrap the cone/upright (it is another way of building distance). And be sure to break up the cookie sessions with lots of toy play 🙂
> I am using a white board & paper, LOL! I feel if I write down the bullets points it sticks a little better in my head & I can just review before we start the session.>
Yay!!! You can also screenshot the field guides on your phone to look at as you go into the training room – all the little elements help us remember 🙂
Great job here!!!
Tracy
Good morning!
>I need to teach him about the collar grab/set up position. >
How does he do when you are going back and forth between treats and the toy? You can get him playing, then use a treat to get the toy back and line him up for a quick gentle collar hold. He didn’t love being reached for at the beginning so a cookie can help him line up without being reached for.
He did well focusing on the toy! I think he needed an extra moment to be able to get his mouth on the toy and fully grab it, so you can move it slowly til he really has a grip on it. He also seemed to like to grip the handle (maybe because it was smaller?) and that is fine too! You can add in throwing the toy further and further so he drives away even more 🙂
Great job with the drive-to-handler! The hardest part is getting slow enough so he doesn’t have jump up to get the treat, and you nailed it! Yay! Super!!! He was driving in really well, so you can move to the next step and add the slow pivots 🙂
Nice work here!
Tracy
Good morning! Sól is so cute!!! And fun!
Video 1 (toy):
>I realized watching back I am possibly telling her to wait too much?>
I don’t think it is a problem to repeat the wait cue – it is keeping you connected and she is successful! It might get her amped up, though, almost like a ‘ready…. Ready…….’ cue so we can make sure you are kind of calm when you say it and not toooooo exciting 🙂
Great job staying low with the toy! She did really well here! You can gradually add in standing up as long as she keeps her gaze focused on the toy. She did really well going over the jump to the toy and not anticipating the release.
Video 2 (treats)
>She thinks toy is much better!>
Ha! Yes, she sure did LOL! That is fine, we will be using a toy a lot for this 🙂 For the treats – you were dropping them on the ground but you can add a dish or target to drop them onto. That will provide a nice focal point for her, even before the release so she doesn’t look up at you. Great job rewarding her for the stay – you can throw a treat back even on the reps where you are using toys!
Video 3:
She did really well with the 2 jumps here!
Start her closer to the first bump so that after the release, she pushed from her rear and doesn’t tap her front feet down again on the takeoff side of jump 1. I think your best start position for her was at 1:03.She was closer to the jump there and did not tap her feet on the takeoff side. Yay!The next step is to add the moving target game from the pre-games. You ca show that to her on the flat first, then we can add it to the set point. I think the distance here will be a little too short when you add the moving target (and as she matures), so you can add another 6 inches or so between the bumps for now 🙂
Great job!!
Tracy
Good morning!
>I have started him in a competition puppy group class for obedience. There are no puppy agility classes going on around here and he will learn good skills from the obedience class. He has never worked in a group so it’s all good.>
That is really interesting that there are no puppy agility classes local to you – you live in a busy agility area! The obedience class will be fun too and most importantly, it gets him into a group setting during adolescence. Perfect!
Looking at the videos:
Set point –
>The hardest part was getting Brioche to sit close to the bar.>It is weird at first! The pups think being that close to the jump is weird. You can face him and lure him into position rather than try to line him up at your side. For example, at jump 1, you can be on the landing side facing him to get him to line up where you want him to be. That can also promote a tucked sit and not a rollback sit, plus he will be straight. I don’t think he liked being pulled into position so facing him as if it was a ‘front’ will be effective for getting the exact spot.
His stay looked really good – great job continuing to reward it! And his form is looking good too!
>Also, I stopped using the remote for the MM after the first time because it wouldn’t stop (I had no food inside of it).>
Yes, the MM is definitely a pain because it misfires so often. Do you think he will hold the stay while you put a treat down, so he can look at it even before the release?
And we can also begin to incorporate the moving target – start with the toy on a line placed stationary where the MM was here. Then if he is happy with that, we can start moving it 🙂 That will help get the ideal head position and hind end power.
Wind In Your Hair:
>I am going to try to use “tight” for left wrap and “wrap” for right wrap. We’ll see how that goes.>
Perfect! One thing that helps remember the verbals is if you remind yourself of which direction and which word before every rep…then it becomes second nature and you won’t have to think about it at all 🙂
He did really well here on both sides.
In the small space, you can angle the jump a bit so he still drives straight, but you have more room to get around the jump.He was not looking back as he drove ahead you threw the toy, which is GREAT! You can totally reward him with treats for leaving it on the ground as a good skill to teach him, but If it is easy to throw the toy (short enough distance, heavy toy) you don’t need to place the toy because we would have to fade that lure anyway. Your timing of throwing the reward here was basically as soon as you saw him locked onto the line to the jump (but before he arrived at the jump) and it was spot on!
On the 2nd video, he had no trouble with the added distance and the placed toy – super! So now we want to be sure he can do it without the placed toy. If you are ever training with other people around, you can have them throw the toy for you as long as you tell them to throw it when he is looking at the jump instead of when he arrives at the jump.
The next steps here are to keep adding distance – if it is safe to take this game outside, it will be easy to add distance! Or you can try it in a new location like a ring rental, which is also good for getting his skills into new places.
Great job here!!!
Tracy
Good morning!
Wowza, he was a super good boy here!!!! This is definitely a session to be totally over the moon about!!!
The stay looked great, your line up spot was lovely, and most importantly, his form is wonderful especially considering he is a 9 month old male teenager!! Large dogs at this age are not known for being naturally gifted n the coordination department, but he jumped this set point as if he was a mature adult. HAPPY DANCE!!!!
For the next session, see how he does with a stationary toy (like a hollee roller tied to a long toy that he can easily scoop up) in the same spot as the manner minders was in this session. We will be working our way towards adding the moving target, so that he learns to maintain this lovely form with you moving and with a stimulating reward 🙂
Great job here!!
Tracy
Good morning!
He did GREAT with his stay as the toy was on the ground and moving too! What a good boy! There were a couple of reps where he was maybe moving a little early (the last couple reps before you added the jump) so you can mix in throwing treats back or throwing the toy back to reward the stay. He was perfect with all the reps with the jump!
>Looks like I want to hold the toy in my right hand – which puts me in strange positions when I’m to the dog’s right.>
Yes you will want to have it in the dog-side arm so you don’t get rotated moving the toy. Also, you can tie another toy to it so it is double the length – that way you can drag it without having to lean over to get it to reach the ground. Leaning over puts your physical cue into a bit of a ‘ready set GO!” position which might be too exciting as we add the jump grids 🙂
Interestingly, even with the long toy and the fun hollee roller, he wants to come up and grab the toy near your hand LOL!! He keeps his head low until right before he does that, so I am not too concerned about it 🙂 but you can try stuffing it with a tennis ball or fuzzy toy inside of it to get the bottom of the toy more interesting for grabbing. It cut a small slice into one of the ‘strands’ of the hollee roller to make an opening to be able to add a toy to the inside 🙂
You can start the set point – first with a stationary reward (toy or food bowl) to show him the concept, and then you can add the moving target to it.
Great job here!
Tracy
Good morning!
She did really well with the wrap proofing game here!! It is a hard game and she did great 🙂
>1) On her sends to the tunnel she has some hesitation when my motion to the tunnel stops. Need to work on sending her from more of a distance and with me being still.>
Yes – she needed a bit of motion support here, which is perfectly fine as we start the crazy proofing games 🙂 Then you can work on fading out your movement as you revisit the game here and there.
Also, this game adds a layering element because she has to pass the wing to go to the tunnel – she was definitely working that puzzle out in her brain! You can build more speed to the tunnel by curving the tunnel entry a bit so as she goes around the wing, the tunnel entry is directly facing her.
>2) She went wide on some of the wraps; I think that is because I was throwing my arm up and she thought I had tossed a treat. Need to work on low arms/hands.>Low arms and connection are always good, but I also think she was processing the challenge and the wideness came from thinking it through. No worries at all!! Also, was the harness new or something she was not used to running in? She did a couple of full body shakes so I think the harness might have been a small distraction but she will get used to it.
>So… in terms of the bitey behavior I wanted to schedule a private lesson to work on some of the behavior patterns that are developing. I sent in the online private lesson request (from your FB post) in late December. When I didn’t hear back I figured you were on break and I’d hold off till class started up.>
Weird! I don’t think the request came through – sometimes the forms don’t hold the info. I have an office person who replies to all the requests really quickly so if you didn’t hear back – se didn’t get it 🙂 The link is here, if you don’t mind filling it out again so we can get started!
https://forms.gle/LXAh75KQa9xH19KQ7I saw a tiny bit of the bitey behavior on the video – you can leave the transition into the harness hold in the video, no need to edit it out, so we can see ways to help her be less bitey about being held.
Nice work here! I am excited about how well she did with such a hard game!!
Tracy
Good morning! Nice work here!
Set point: Super nice session to get this started! The 5 foot distance works for now, I am betting as she matures she will be a 6 foot distance for her grids.
Her stay looked strong, which really helps as you put the cookie in the bowl 🙂 For her starting point, put her a bit closer to jump 1 – probably less than a foot away from it. She was a shade too far from jump 1 so while she was pushing from her rear, she is landing a little close to jump 1. Starting her closer to jump 1 will help her center more between the jumps.
The next step here would be to add the moving target from the pre-games. The stationary bowl is good to teach her the concept, and since she did so well we can add the (slowly :)) moving target which will get her head position ideal and even more hind end power 🙂 You can show her the moving target on the flat and on one jump first, then we can add it to the set point.
For the Wind In Your Hair game – her question about the toy was not about the toy, actually, it was about connection and knowing which side to be on.
Looking :02 (first rep) with treats, you were very connected as she exited the wing with your arm back and eye contact. On the other treat reps, the eye contact/connection was not as clear so you can see her looking up at you to get more info.
The treats were not as visible or as exciting as the toy, which is why the connection was more important with the toy in your hand. At :34 (1st toy rep) – as she exits the wing, your dog side arm moves forward which closes the shoulder and blocks her view of connection – and engages the other shoulder (like a blind cross) and the toy becomes visible.
So Bokeh says “nailed it!” does the blind, and went to the toy on that rep (and a couple of the following reps). As she was exiting the wing, she was seeing info that indicated the side with the toy.
When you took out the wing wrap, your connection was in place as she started moving so she knew exactly where to go. Super!
When you added back the wing wrap: Check out 1:01 where you kept your dog side arm back to show more connection and she got it really well!
You can also see the connection really clearly at 1:21 and 1:28 for example when you were on the other side: as she exited the wing, you had your dog-side arm back and you were making great eye contact. It is like that “Hallmark moment” from the rocking horse games where you keep the big connection to her eyes as she figures out which side to be on. -and that will help her ignore the toy.
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
Tracy
Hi!
>Yes, the gold was for her name – her registered name is actually All That Glitters Is Gold! 🙂 We love Taylor & Life of a Showgirl, too!>
Perfect! Love it!!!!!
>I will work on getting her back to the start line without the collar, then hold.>
She was so focused and engaged here that I think she will happily move with you!
>I see now why she was confused on that send….I gave too many different signals. >
I don’t think she was confused, and she didn’t look frustrated. It was more that she was double checking the info 🙂 Good girl!!!
Have fun!
TracyHi!
>For the wrap exercise, when we move to standing, can we toss a cookie, or should we still use the dish?>
For now, still use the dish – that way when you add the big change of you standing, she still has the visual aid of the bowl. We will fade it out soon 🙂
The stealth self-control game went well! Using the recall with the food and tug was great (it doesn’t have to be too elaborate) and it should look like she doesn’t even notice the novel-neutral object because we know her brain is processing its presence 🙂 She did great here and seemed to have a fun time too! You can repeat this concept with different little games, or using different novel neutral objects.
Great job!
Tracy
Hi!
>I had started playing with front feet on a small piece of rubber mat that I was going to use for his fitness. Would that be ok? Or should I stick with something more random. I can look for a box.>
Because the pups are going to running around and smacking the target, using the the fitness mat would probably make learning the fitness stuff harder LOL!! So a box or anything random would be good 🙂 Even a folded up towel or something similar can work well.
I love your basement training area! I agree, things went really well! And he recovered really well from the random noise distraction: tugging totally helps.
Driving ahead video:
Great job getting the toy back and lining him up with the treat! That was a beautiful transition into the game and he nailed it. His forward focus looked awesome and he seemed to have no questions when you started moving. So when you revisit this, you can run sooner – as soon as he starts to move, you can move too!The drive to handler looked great too! Your hand was nice and low, and you moved just slow enough during the pivot that he was able to stay on your side really well. And throwing the reward to start the next rep was a great way to transition to it! Super!
Two bowl game:
>this was 1st time doing in the basement so I started with earlier steps.>
That was smart! It sets him up for success which is really important for a baby dog. He did really well here – your cookie drops were pretty quick, so in the next session you can slow them down and see if he can go back and forth before you drop it in. I think that will be easy for him – he was starting to do it at the very end. Then you can add the cone back in too!
Great job here!
Tracy
Hi!
Bandit did GREAT with his sends! Yay! That was a big distance for a tiny pup but he did it with zest! Nice work adding the ready dance for each rep, it really helped to get him pumped up and to help him shift from handler focus to obstacle focus.
He was sometimes stopping just before the prop to look at your hand, so you can keep him looking forward to it by sending with the empty hand like you did here – and tossing the reward to the prop with the other hand. That can help keep him focused directly to the prop and not looking at your hands.
Driving ahead also looked great! He had no questions about looking ahead when you threw the toy, and he drove all the way to it with a ton of speed.
I love how he tried to bring it back but sometimes it was just so heavy LOL!! Good boy 🙂 So fun!
Since he is brilliant with this, you can start adding more of your motion too. With these long distances, you can add walking at first. And if it is easy, go to jogging then running. It is also a good game to take to different locations – are you in a part of the country where you are able to do this outdoors? When you take it to new places, you can shorten the distance to help him ’see’ the toy more easily and remember the game.
Great job here!
Tracy
Hi!
Wow, as soon as he recognized the setup, he really flew through the wing wrap foundation game. Well done!!! Yay!! You can switch to a bigger barrel now, like a pop up laundry basket or something similar.
For the prop game:
>I still felt that to him, it was all about the food, not about the prop.>
Yes, he does love the food but he was moving brilliantly to the prop to get the food! The shaping warm up at the beginning was easy for him and looked great.
The sending was a bit harder because he had to go past your cookie hands – that was hard for sure!! To help him look forward to the prop and not at your hands as much, sending him with an empty hand helps and you can toss a treat to the prop (after he hits it) wit your other hand. That will help build value for looking ahead and not at your hands. And I bet he sleeps on it and knows it really well in the next session 🙂
And a BIG click/treat to you for doing the ready dance to get him engaged with you before each send. Most people forget to do it and you did it every time! Yay!!!!
Great job here!
Tracy
Hi! Sounds like he is doing great with the toy transitions!!
Looking at the videos:
He is definitely doing great with the wrapping games. Since you have worked up to standing up, you can move. The dishes a bit further back to behind your heels. Then set the game aside for a bit – there is only so much of this we want to do at this age, and in a few weeks we will be building it up into the next steps.But in the meantime: repeat the process with 2 toys instead of 2 bowls! That will be a slightly different challenge because you can work the toy skills (markers and ‘outs’), plus there will be a little more arousal which is a good thing.
Looking at the goat games:
>I hadn’t reviewed the game in MP before this so was just trying to tire him out before bed.>
Ha! This is very relatable, as I watch my 7 year old dog wrestle with the puppy, in hope of tiring him out LOL!
He was a super good boy to get up on all the different planks and stuff here! He is such a quick learner, that the buckets are giving pivot thoughts after 1 session! And hopping on the wiggle board in between was hilarious!! Then trying to climb on the ball – he is so brave, I love it!
Since he is brave, we can fast forward you to the Shpile game (also known as the Sh*t Pile because we take a bunch of our conditioning sh*t and pile it up, then work walking around on it in arousal). The goal is to ‘install’ proprioception with an eye towards state-dependent learning so the body awareness we need is being taught in arousal – so it exists in arousal, like when he is running or very excited. Here is a video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h85KzgrB8yc
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
Tracy
Hi!
Prop sends are looking fabulous! She is basically perfect on the sends that cue a right turn (forwards, sideways, backwards, all sending from your left. You can incorporate a toy into those for more excitement.The left turns are a bit harder – she is not as easily coordinated and on some of them, she turned herself around to turn right. Clever! So on the left turns, you can stick with food for now and stay a little closer to the prop.
>We are struggling with two toy game. Dot wants what she wants and does not redirect well. >
That is definitely an independent breed trait, and I think Aussies fall into that category 🙂
>If she’s trying to bite her bed and I try to get her in a toy she either won’t leave the bed biting or comes to the toy and immediately goes back to biting her bed.>
Separate from the toys, we can look at why she is biting the bed. It might lead you to taking beds out of the picture for a bit (almost all of my adolescent dogs lose beds at some point 😆)
For the toys – I see what you mean! In this case, it was also when she had to move to her left to get to the other side. It might be relevant or coincidence, but we will keep an eye on it.
You can try inserting a treat into the game to make the high excitement toy less of a focal point: tug with toy 1, make it stationary then toss a treat when she releases it. Then when she comes back towards you, have the first toy a little hidden and the 2nd toy really active and alive and moving. Let’s see what she thinks of that!
The two bowl game looked great with the treats, so you can start to put the cone in for her to go around.Nice work!!!
Tracy
