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That is great info! Feel free to leave that in the video or make a note as you post – it will change the next steps. Since he was uncomfortable enough to go lay down far away, I suggest that game (teeter-table) goes into the One Hit Wonders mode for at least 5 sessions. What I mean by that is: you do one single rep for a MASSIVE reinforcement value. Then done! Then entire session on that setup is one rep. (I know, it is SO HARD to do only one rep LOL!!). And the reinforcement value should be sky high – what is his favorite thing? It can be one rep for an entire meal. Or one rep for his most favorite ball or toy or…. swimming? Whatever he adores is perfect 🙂 The point is to make it more about pairing in super high value and then stopping before he gets a chance to think about it too much or show any avoidance. It is kinda of like if I wanted you to be happy with a spider, I would should you the spider one time, give you a million dollars, then end the session and go do something else for a while.
After 5 sessions of that, we can re-assess and see if he needs more one hit wonders or if we can change the session structure again.
let me know what you think and how it goes!
TracyGood morning!
I think it is Monday there: wobble board day! Fun!!!>> You convinced me about the weaves, I will sign up with Hero. I should have done the combo package. DOH!
>>You can still do the combo! I can hook it up for you via email if you like. There should be enough savings with the discount to pay for lots of dog treats LOL!!!!
He did really well on all 3 games here – I am SUPER happy with how he is approaching them: no worries about the movement, no worries about the noise – all happies to play the games. YAY!!
On the downhill game – I am doing a little happy dance here about how he is driving with a huge stride across the board then doing a fast weight shift right at the very end of the board. That is EXACTLY what we want him to do and he is offering it naturally. YAY!!!!
I agree – he was happy and getting faster on each rep. You started to add in moving with him towards the end of the session, so definitely add that in for your next session – moving with him from a stay, starting with him and moving all the way across the board, starting with him and sending him ahead without you (the cookie will already be there).
If he is as happy with that as he was here… the session after that can have a little more tip! He is making really nice progress 🙂The wobble session was great – he is TOTALLY efficient and found the best way to balance hahahaha! Smart dog. He is really liking it, looks like he was trying to get back on at the end – so you can reward by tossing the treat off to the side and letting him leap back on into a balanced position. It will be easier with the wobble board but this setup works too, because it is entirely unpredictable and he has to be prepared for any possibility of movement.
The targeting is going well, Good job challenging him to Ask for more feet and less focus on the food 🙂 Part of the food focus is because you are in front of him. And since he is doing well, 2 ideas –
You can change your position to the side, to see if he can get into the position parallel to you (and not facing you).And, add the tape strip target to a plank – do you have a short plank that he can use for end position? The tape would go right at the end – you would introduce the setup like you introduced the tape but now he is going to be 4on the board and targeting it (which might actually be even easier).
Some dogs do better when we slightly elevate the target for this – meaning, put the strip of tape over a strip of cardboard (same width and length) or something similar, so it is a more salient target to put feet on. That can be helpful to transfer the behavior as he moves to the plank. Let me know if that makes sense!Great job here!!
TracyHi! Peanut butter is magic! “Mom, do what you want, I’ll be running to peanut butter position.” Good boy! He was super strong on all the things except going without you – he shifted his weight earlier on that one at the end. No problem, I don’t think it was anything other than your motion is stimulating and going without you is less stimulating. So, you can mix more sending ahead in, because the magical peanut butter properties will help build it up to being as strong as the others.
Interestingly, he also had to run PAST a stash of peanut butter (I think it was on your hot water heater?) in order to get to the smaller reward of peanut butter. No problem! That is so cool – shows the value of the task.
The setup looked and sounded good – a little movement but not a lot of noise. So, since this went well… add a little more tip! Just a little, see how it goes, and if he gives you the thumbs up… add a little more.If you are able to bring him to a new place or different teeters, or when this teeter can live outside for the summer – definitely bring the peanut butter! It is a high value reward, but also the smell will be strongly associated with these confident performances which should help him generalize that to all the new places 🙂
Great job!!!!
TracyGood morning!
These games are looking good – he seems to have no issues with the movement or the noise at any point! Yay!!!
On the bang game: he definitely was fine moving the board, hearing the bang, etc. That is great! You can add in a little more tip, I think he is ready for it. For now, though, don’t wait for him to offer target position (because he doesn’t have the focal point of the actual target) – so stay close to the end and get the reward in fast 🙂 When you were behind him, he was curling because he needs the focal point of the target for now (which we will add soon enough, when there is more tip to the bang game).
When he was on your right side, he was pretty straight. When he was on your left side, he definitely wanted to curl in – so when he is on your left, reward with your left hand and see if that helps. He might be curling in because he is tracking the cookie move from your right hand, and turning to face it. The left hand reward will be quicker and he won’t have time to track it 🙂
But next session, add in a little more tip with you right up near the end and see how he does 🙂His backing up looks good!!!! It was smart of you to try it again after the bang game, looks like he needed the warm up to think about the place where the rewards come. And you can use that in this game too: have him start in the 2o2o position (he can move forward into it with you facing him) and then draw him off (cookie lure or release to a hand touch) then cue the backing up (or wait for the offer). The only questions he seemed to have in this session were about when to start – so beginning with the 2o2o will help put him in the rhythm of position, forward, back to position, forward, back to position, etc. Let me know if that makes sense 🙂
As with the bang game… add a little more tip to this and see how he does! Not a lot of tip, maybe half an inch – but overall I think he is doing super!!!!Great job! See ya later!
TracyGood morning!
Mountain climbers – there is some tip added and he is doing well! And the added speed from the wing wrap before it looked good: he was fast and you were able to blast by, do crosses… he never looked away from his task.
The sending without you was not quite as perfect as when you were running by, he stopped a little short on the way to the top and was not as fast driving up it. So for your next mountain climber session, 2 things: start with this little bit of tip and do 3 quick reps:
1 – warm up & reminder where you move with him and past the end
2 – sending him ahead
3 – either sending him ahead if he needs to see it again to get more speed & confidence, or if he was as strong on rep 2 as he was on rep 1, you can add the rear cross to the game here.After those, add a tiny bit more tip to the board and do the ret of the session with you running with him, running past, etc. Those elements are ready for more tip.
The 2nd game (teeter-tables) was really interesting to watch! He is not yet 100% happy with this game – he was really having to think about where his hind end was and how to balance (and that is fine, because we want him to think about that!). He lost his back foot off the board when you got excited – which might be why he sometimes was having trouble with the teeter when you were running or during a course. It is hard to multitask body awareness and balance, when da momma is running/cuing/etc!
I am confident that he will sort this out very quickly though – using the same tip as you had here, give him 2 more sessions of just back and forth across it and let him guide you about how he wants to pick up the pace. When you see him leaping on faster, turning around fluently and moving down the board faster… you can add more speed too 🙂 And when he says “I got this” and is going faster than you, turn the game around so he starts at the top and only goes downhill, with him running (either with you or as a recall). As soon as he sorts his body out on this, things are going to move very quickly. Yay!!
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyPS – I forgot to add in that when she comes down the board, you can ask her to hop off the side, on cue – so that she doesn’t build a habit of running down the board and hopping off the contact zone 🙂
T
Hi and welcome! I am so happy to see you here 🙂
This is a really strong session! I see what you mean about the little bit of wobbliness. – she didn’t seem overly worried however, I agree – more stability will bring more confidence. A different jump wing would work, or a couple under the teeter to hold it up – look like you had 2 there?
The other thing you can do is tape a spoon to the underside of the teeter so she goes one step further to get the cookie out of the spoon, which also opens up you not having to face her (she might have been slowing down a little early because you were facing her).
But overall, this is going well! If she has another session where she is going straight up the board like this, definitely add in some of the challenges of you moving past, sending her, etc. She is off to a great start!
Have fun 🙂
TracyHi! Did he start without you on the first one? LOL!!!
Also notice how he sits and stares at the end of the board when he is in a sit LOL!
He was well with no tip but he did GREAT with the tip added! I think that part of the video was the best part! When you had some tip and came in from the wing – he drove right to the end and didn’t seem to be crouching at all (I did see sone crouch earlier in the video, but not when he was coming in from the wing).
So now as you add tip (and as the teach it arrives) you can also go for the wild and crazy routine so he is too pumped up to think about the tip: if you have a tunnel and some jumps available, do a crazy sequence where he can fly… then bring him over to the wing-teeter set up and see how it goes! His response will of course guide us as to how quickly to add tip, but he is making big progress!
Great job! Let me know what you think!
TracyAh! She is so fun! This was a great lesson in “Emmie needs to sort it out first then goes fast.” She totally needed to assess the situation in the beginning: “where does it tip? What is this setup? When does it move?” You were great: ‘come to the end, eat a cookie. Easy!’. You were perfect in your no-pressure, tons-of-cookies approach, it really helped.
Emmie’s response? “Game on!” I love it! She not only got fast and confident going uphill but she was also not concerned about the movement or noise going back down the board. She has value for her 2o2o position so was offering that, both when she was unsure of the uphills and then even after she was happy with the uphills.
When you had your back to her because you were planting the cookie – I could totally see her plotting to jump on the board. HA! So funny! But also great – very confident. There is no way a worried dog would do that, and since this game is all about building confidence: happy dance!!So at home, stay on this setup for another session or two, and then we will begin to add in tiny bit of tip.
And a question: what is your access to other teeters? It would be great if you can get her to play the first step games on different teeters in different places, but that is easier said than done!Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
It was really cool to see her think through this! The behavior from your previous backing up sessions was there (when she very deliberately engaged and lifted the back feet) but as you noted – a whole new ball game on the teeter!!!! The progression during the session was very good – part of it was you figuring out which mechanics would help set her up. A couple of ideas for you to help get her more in the groove – she reminds me of my older puppy (2.5 years old) who had a virtually identical session or two the first couple of times I asked her to back up into the teeter. Mainly, she had some understanding that it was backing up but she was not 100% comfortable yet doing it onto the moving board.
So, since she is comfortable with backing up onto a non-moving plank and moving forward onto the slightly moving teeter end, you can split the difference: prop the teeter so the end is not moving (like the plank) and get her backing up onto the end that is not moving.
When she is happy to do that, you can gradually add in some tip to it, being careful to only mark the backing up and not the turning around to get on (she is clever, but you were good with only marking backing up LOL!)
2 ways to set her up for success on the teeter before it moves which will translate to more success after it moves:
– you can the plank lay right next to it (or over it if it is really stable) for a reminder session on the plank then immediately go over to the teeter.
– you can introduce the backing up with more leaning back and forth – meaning, start her with 4 on the board – cue her to step forward into 2o2o, then back into 4 on position. Then you can move to having her in 2o2o, and getting her to lean forward (cookie lure is magic for hits :)) without moving her feet… then lean back (still in 2o2o). Then if she is happy with that – have her back feet come barely off the board, with a little more leaning forward – then see if she will step up back onto the board into 2o2o.The stepping up also brings up a question: on your non-moving plank, is she stepping up or is it flush to the floor? If she is stepping up backwards: fabulous! If it is flush to the floor and she doesn’t have to step up, you can transfer the backing up behavior to other stable surfaces where she has to step up. Let me know if that makes sense.
The other thing you can do is make it a tiny bit harder to turn around to get back on the teeter (and therefore easier to back up) by using your cones to make a channel – pull them forward past the end of the teeter plank so there are closer to where her front feet are in the 2o2o and see if that helps (of course she might go around them entirely to get back on, but sometimes a channel really helps the backing up behavior.
You are off to a strong start here! Let me know what you think and keep me posted on her progress 🙂
TracyWait… you’re just gonna slip that in about flyball?!?!? Ha! So fun!!!!! We will need to do some flyball sooooooon!
Good morning!
he is doing well here!
On the ‘downhill’ video: he seemed happy with the movement AND the noise! The mat under the end where he got rewarded was clever and definitely took out the noise element. The teeter resetting onto the barrel made noise – but it was far away and he was also off the board eating cookies when it made noise, so he did not appear to react to it at all. yay! The reset slam of the teeter is definitely something dogs react to, so keep releasing him and tossing treats so he hears the reset slam and eats the cookies.
Your placement of reward here was spot on – low enough to get the bow but not the down. That will set up nicely for the eventual end position!
Using this set up, revisit it just as it is for another session. And if he is still a happy cat on it 🙂 you can then add a little more tip for the session after that.I love the number 8 wire solution board LOL!!! It moves in all directions and makes a bit of noise too – perfect 🙂 He was trying to get him body on it but he was also trying to follow the cookies (because, he is sooooo hungry haha) – so on the name visit to it, try just letting him offer getting on and balancing and we can do the ‘pull you off’ games when he is more balanced and on the other wobble board when it arrives. The added game for it won’t be post til March 15 here (16 for you) so it gives you the week to play with it 🙂
>> Thanks for the information about the weave course. I assume this would be good for a retrain of both my dogs to solidify in their brains entries and exits? Is it too much work for Hero to do this course now, alongside seesaw training?>>
The weave course is good for retrains because it starts from square 1 and goes all the way through – and this time, I have included challenges early on that I wish I had taught all of my other dogs early on rather than after they learned 12 poles. It should really help solidify entries and exits, plus we can do some problem solving. It won’t be too much training, because neither the teeter nor the weaves should be trained every day… so it forces us to slow down and be very systematic. I train each skill every other day, with a day off in between (and often with a day training totally other things too LOL!)
Great job here!
TracyHi again! I just suggested adding tip after watching your previous session, so I am glad you did. She totally noticed the tip (they are supposed to notice the tip) and it was overall a good session. But yes, you did add too much tip for this first session by going from half an inch to a full inch, so I am glad you went back to half an inch.
She was stopping short on the full inch tip, which means she needs another couple of sessions on the half inch tip. Those sessions can be really short – 2 or 3 reps with high value rewards. And also, as you add tip, mix in craziness between reps: for example, with Contraband, I throw the frizzer and get him tugging between reps and he does not think about the tip when he is wild 🙂
Don’t go on to adding more tip in the mountain climber track until her performance looks basically the same as it did without tip 🙂 Then add a little more. Some of the tracks will take longer than others, and that is fine!
Along with mountain climbers, you can mix in the downhill game and the end position games in different sessions on different days, so you can make progress on all of them (they build together in a couple of week). That way it is not all about the one game.
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning! This looks fabulous! She was really confident on every rep, driving to the top with a happy waggy tail. And that included the sending ahead and the rear crosses. She was also super fast. And she didn’t hold a grudge on the reps where you forgot to have the cookie pre-loaded hahaha! Excellent session. You got most of the challenges in, the only thing I would suggest is to try moving past and doing a FC or a BC as she is coming up the board, so she gets used to Staying on the end of the board even when you are turning and crossing.
And if she is happy with the crosses – go back to the easier challenges, without the wing… and add a tiny bit of tip. VERY tiny, less than half an inch and drape a towel or something over the top of the tripod teeter holder so there is minimal noise when the teeter hits it. I suggest the tiny tip and minimal noise because I want to protect this progress and keep her VERY confident. Her response will guide us to let us know how much tip we can add, and how quickly 🙂
Great job!
TracyHi again!
I think she likes this LOL!!
This also looked really good with the bumps and bar added in – she was still bending really nicely!! And no trouble bouncing the distances (she had one moment of distraction but that was not a big deal, she came right back). You had lots of good starting positions (in the center) and the verbal was there too. Nice!!!!
Because she caught on so quickly and because she was sooooo excited – definitely add food into the routine here 🙂 Use the toy to get her focused, then trade for a cookie, line her up – then send, then toy as the reward like you did here. That will help for a couple of reasons:
First, she will be less bitey if she learns to make a smooth transitions and food rewards are involved.
Second, with only the toy, you were holding and pulling back on her collar to get her set up (so she wouldn’t start without you LOL!) but that was very stimulating so she was getting more ramped up than we need her to be (and that brings on the growly bitey behavior). If we needed her to get motivated, I would suggest holding her collar and pulling back like that… but she was perfectly motivated so you’ll want to be calmer, gently holding her collar, no pulling back, front feet on the ground.
And that extra little bit of calmness will also help her not rush the last jump – when you were running away and she was really pumped up, she was putting her feet down on the last bump a couple of times – she was just rushing a little to get to you 🙂 So, if you are not quite as fast, she will think about her feet a little more.Yes, when holding her we would want to say the verbal then let go of the collar. The other thing you can do is ask her to do a sit stay in front of the first jump – she is so confident with this (yay!) that we can totally ask for a stay now, so she doesn’t just send herself into it. That will work nicely for start lines at future trials, when she is going to be really excited too 🙂
Great job here! Let me know what you think.
Tracy
