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Hi! I am glad to hear the weather is behaving!!! And I love wind chimes too – we are getting to the part of the year where I can sit outside in the morning, drink coffee, listen to the wind chimes and watch the hummingbirds. So nice!!!
She did really nicely on the shaping sessions here! You got lots of value built, got a different location in, added the MM and added the interim verbal. Perfect! She picked up really easily, which is not surprising at all 🙂
Yes – onwards to the position work and getting the poles angled. Because she is an experienced ‘shaper’, you will probably be able to move through the first couple of steps pretty quickly (getting the poles angled, adding motion). So as long as her success rate is high and you are getting all the crazy angles in… feel free to move through to the angles poles as quickly as she says is ok to do 🙂Great job here! Looking forward to the field sessions 🙂
TracyHi!
yes, I think the poles were set wide enough for him – he has more experience with weaves than Presto and a little smaller, so I think it was a great angle.
And hooray for a fun play day! Sad news about the snow but hopefully it leaves quickly!T
OMG that freestyle video is SO FUN!!!! And his sequencing looks great too! Are you in classes at Get Rev’d? Those are good people and top notch trainers!
I totally see why you got him – he oozes amazingness, right through the screen here. And I like dogs that are thoughtful til they ‘get it’ and then they turn on all the speed.
What a terrific dog, I am excited to see your future adventures with him!
TracyUgh rain!
you can try the weave-tunnel game as soon as you have had 3 or 4 sessions on sorta open poles, just like the one you did here yesterday. The poles can be open for it. And you can probably do it indoors with your tunnel (I think I remember you can fit a tunnel there?)T
Hi!
>> so much fun!:) In the 12:00 position, I sent from both my right and left sides. I am not sure if that’s correct. >>
Yes, that is totally correct!
>>Also, I broke down and bought a Treat n’ Train.>>
I feel that, I resisted for many years but now I have 2 of them haha!!
He is SO FUN!!! You said he is a rescue ? Tell me more!
This is a really great session. Your reward target set up kept his focus forward on the line and he did a really great job of finding his entries and bending his body to th reward line.
His only little questions were at 3 and 9 o’clock – I wonder if that is an artifact of his previous experience? But you helped him a little and he immediately figured it out. It was a really strong, high rate of success session.For him, I think you can angle the poles right away, no need to do another session with the pole at 3 and 9. That can help him with any questions about the entry when yoo get to 3 and 9 o’clock sends. With the poles angled at maybe 2 and 8 (of that is too easy, go to 1 and 7 :)), add in your motion as well where you send then walk down the line.
Let him guide you – if it is really easy, you can add more motion! On the really hard sends, dial it back. If the angle is really easy, make it a touch harder.
It was hard to hear if you had an interim cue going to give him permission to go, so if you did: great! If not, add on a little noise or word just to let him know when it was ok to start moving to the poles.Great job here!!! Let me know what you think!
TracyEwwww sorry about the mud!! The weaves can wait til the ground is dry 🙂 And to get him on your left – use that fancy behind the back send trick! That was awesome! (I need to teach that to my dogs :))
T
Hello! Look at that green stuff! No more snow!! I see the sun shining!
Really nice channel intro session! He has never seen this concept before, right? Super good work, and he got some really hard entries too! You had motion as well. The magic of the pet tutor helped him focus on the ‘line’ so he was basically perfect.
On interesting thing that I see it that he gallops to the harder right side entries by is tending to trot to the left side entries. I am not sure if he thinks that side is harder and requires more thought, or if he is more comfy on the right side entries. Either way, we will keep track. He was gallopy into the simpler entries (on the 10-2 part of the clock) so I am thinking it was more about being thoughtful.You can probably now move the PT a little further away too, add more motion, and work in harder angles past the 3 and 9 sides heading more towards the 8 and 4 angles (but without motion first).
Great job!!!!!
TracyHi!
>> Presto went to his first seminar tonight – a jump grid one with Jacquelyn Hoye at OTR.>>
What a perfect seminar for him!!! Perfect age to do that.
>> He was super fabulous! >>
Well, of course he was fabulous! I am happy to hear it but also totally not surprised 🙂 He was probably that nice combination of totally focused AND pumped up by the fun environment 🙂
Super sessions here on the 2x2s! I don’t think he had any errors and there was only one rep where he had to slow down think (a threadle rep). But the others were fast and perfect, without motion, with motion, send, threadle, didn’t seem to matter. Yay!! My
only suggestion is to delay the click for one more moment til his right shoulder gets to pole 2 in the 2x2s. When you were working the hard right side sends at the beginning, you were clicking perfectly for him getting to the correct side of the poles. So now… wait to see if he can get to the correct side AND go through them (and not run past them). I am fine if he looks at you a little when you are delaying the click 🙂
Same with the MM – on the 2x2s, just delay one heartbeat longer til you see right shoulder at pole 2. When the MM is there, he won’t look at you (be cause MM = LIFE!) and it will allow you to mark the moment where he comes back into the poles. I think he will be fine with it and still be correct… but many youngsters get to the correct side of the poles and then run straight past the entry, parallel to the poles () so the right shoulder/pole 2 criteria was developed to make sure that you don’t end up clicking that moment of running past (because I sure did, and then got more of running past). For channels, it is left shoulder/pole 3 🙂
The threadle challenges looked great! You can add harder angles now too. And if you get a chance do another clicker session, try c/t on the 2 poles for the totally straight entry and see how he does.
Great job!!
TracyWow, excellent session! Super high rate of success, even with all of those really hard angles of entry! I was especially thrilled to see how she went out and found the entry on those right-side sends! Happy dance!
So 3 ideas for things to do next (3 different things you can mix in):
– As you mentioned, work up to the really hard left side sends, being calm and stationary like you were here.
– on the “easier” sends, get her a little wilder with tugging before each rep to add the challenge of arousal! She is completely focused on her line to the MM so now we will see if we can add more excitement.
– add your motion now – send and as she is heading to the entry, start to walk away down the line, parallel to the poles towards the MM. Start with the easier entries then work up to the hard ones. If motion is difficult, move slowly 🙂 If she says it is easy peasy… walk fast, jog, build up to a run!
Great job here! Let me know how it goes!
TracyHi! Nice session here!!! He seems to really have the idea of the channels and he totally adores that Manners Minder LOL!
Due to the Manners Minder romance, I think you can add line up cookies, for two reasons:
First, so he comes back to you fast and happy after rewarded reps (to line up easily) and also after no-reward reps (where the ultra-sadness of not getting the MM to work was evident hahahaha).
Second, to add a bit of distraction – he would have to leave the cookies to earn the other cookies: so hard!!! But I think he will be able to do it, no problem.Almost all of the entry challenges looked great, nice timing of your clicks! For those, basically everything 9:15 to 2:45 on the clock, add your motion now: send and start to walk down the line (if that is easy, you can go faster).
He did have some trouble when you got to what looked to be 3 (or later) and 9 (or later), so don’t add motion to those yet: for those angles, start him a little closer to the entry but on the same angle, and see if proximity helps. If not, you can work over to those angles more gradually from the highly successful angles.(I also worked those 3 and 9 positions on the 2×2 entry with a clicker in my living room, and it transferred immediately to the channels 🙂 )
Great job here! Looking forward to seeing more!
TracyHi Abby (and Merlin :))
This was pretty much a picture perfect session! All the angles? Yes! Clear line ups and sends? Yes! Adding motion? Yes! And I think he was at 100% rate of success. Super!!! You generally used the time while he was eating from the pet tutor to get to your next spot, which made it very efficient. If he does weave back to you as you are getting there, no problem, you can reward that. Great job adding your motion – he was faster when you moved, but not distracted by your motion. Perfect! I loved the ‘behind the back’ line up moment when you needed him back on your left side (he likes to be on your right) – that worked like a charm, you can totally use more of that.
Great job on this session. For the next session, try tightening the angles of the poles a little but structure the session exactly as you did here. Do you have any access to an outside place? He is ready to take this skill on the road!Great job, keep me posted!!
TracyHi! Both sessions here looked great – they both started off strong and continued to get better and better! The other good news is that she LOVES treats so it really didn’t matter what you were doing: when the treat target was out, she drove to it without giving a hoot what you were going… send, run past, cross, etc: she was perfect on every challenge on both sessions. Great job gradually layering the challenges in to keep her confidence and success rate very high!
On the downhills: this was a strong session – nice introduction to the set up and then progressively adding challenges. When you started she was looking at you a little but then as soon as the reward target was in place: boom! Straight down the board every time. She got faster and faster – and the main goal of ‘run to the end, no stopping too early’ was definitely accomplished.
So, next session, add a tiny bit more tip! And then you can start with the reward target out there right away and work through the challenges.
The uphills also looked great! I am so happy with how this went. She started off good and ended great: running to the end, exactly what we want. She only slowed down in order to eat the food and not fly off the top. Nice! And no issues with any of the challenges. So next time on this setup: give her a bit of a warm up (one or two reminder reps) just like you ended here, then I think you can easily add the wing wrap in before the teeter. That will add even more speed.
And if that goes well, for the session after that: add a tiny bit more tip!
For both games, you can also get her a little more pumped up with more playing before and after.
Great job!!!! Let me know how it goes!
TracyIn general, yes, start at full height. But always go with the dog on the first rep and you can have the reward visible at the end – show it to her as you put it there and then go to the start. If you think there is a chance that she will sprint up the board and dock dive off the end… then the other approach is to either put a table on one end so it is more of the teeter-tables game to get her used to stopping at the end. Or, you can lower the teeter so the angle is not steep and she won’t risk getting hurt if she jumps off. In that case, the teach it would be at whatever low setting keeps the teeter “up” side propped in position without moving 🙂
Tracy
Good morning!
He totally cracked me up when he went backwards beautifully next to the board til he was next to the contact… then hopped on into his target position. GOOD BOY!!!
I agree – he was happy to back up with more tip and he was assuming his position nicely right at the end of the board.
I think the barking has to do with the difficulty of the game plus the added distance and possibly the length of the session: He is pretty quiet when you are at a about an arm’s length from the bottom of the board (maybe a little nose whistling) and he is very accurate. The conversation begins as you add more distance which also coincides with being later in the session. You can try to start. The next session at the bigger distance already to see if that isolates it, or do a longer session (this length was good) but stay at that distance and see if he barks later in the session even with the easier distance. That can help you figure out if it is distance or duration 🙂
Either way – he is doing great. I think the barking might be distance related, so you can keep yourself in that arm’s length distance and add challenge with a tiny bit more tip.
Edited to add – less distance is fine because form is more important than distance! And his form is good when you are at a little less distance 🙂
The other thing to add is backing up onto an inflatable like a slightly under-inflated disc or fit bone to help with the core and balance he will need as he is moving into the down and the teeter is dropping. The year-old-ish dogs are having a little trouble with that, because they are still baby bodies in many ways :). I will try to get more ideas for that on video (Elektra is having a little trouble with the balance with a lot of tip too)Great job!!!
TracyGood morning!
You might be the only one here who is using tables in this game (as it should be) and the rest of us are faking it with other things LOL!!!
The first rep on a teeter is always interesting, but the 2nd rep is what really tells us how the dog feels about it. I was SO HAPPY after her first rep where you just basically introduced it to her… then she turned herself around to head back across the board. That seems to indicate that she is in a very happy place with the process and that is the more critical element of teeter training. YAY!!!
Then the rest of the session looked great. She was definitely keen to run the board! She was starting without you haha!For the next session, one thing to add is to see if she will hold a stay on the first table so you can lead out and recall her across the board to the 2nd table. That can start to give her the feel of running a little but with the support of you being at the end with her. And if the next session goes as well as this one, you can add a tiny bit more tip to the setup.
As you add more tip, there is going to be more noise (especially indoors) so my general rule of thumb for myself is that the first session of new tip will have a towel or something that dampens the noise. If the dog is happy with the tip, then the 2nd session on that new tip is without the towel so the noise is back in. That way, I can add each element separately (which also helps me figure out what the issue is, if the dog is concerned about anything).Great job here! She is making terrific progress! Keep me posted 🙂
Tracy
