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Hi! Her monkey noises when she was wanting the treat were too funny! Aussies are total optimists when it comes to food 🙂 Then she was like, “FINE, I will do the contact thing for the cookie” haha!
>>Forgot to grab a plastic lid when we were upstairs, so I used a small box lid. Good variety practice.:)>>
I do that too – rather than lock into one target, I grab whatever is around 🙂 I used a random index card last week and I have also used random piece of whatever is around. I think it helps to generalize the behavior and makes it easier to fade the target.
This game helps build up the value of offering that position – you can see that sits and downs have more value in this scenario in the house, so I am really happy with how she worked through it and figured out that the 2o2o has tremendous value! She did a great job!! You can add this to the bang game if there is not too much snow 🙂
Nice work!
TracyOh wow, she is really getting distinct steps with her backing up!!! This is really terrific for such a youngster!!!
I think she kinda sorta knows it is about the mat, but not fully. So I don’t think you need a bigger mat, but rather a more obvious mat – you can raise it an inch or so by putting it on something like a small dog bed or even a couple of towels. That can really help make it salient – it is backing up to the mat, not just backing up. She will have an ‘a-ha!’ moment 🙂 Do a session or two like this one on a more obvious mat… and then you can start to only click for the mat 🙂 If she backs up sideways, you can have her come back to reset between your feet (with a boring cookie :)) and try again – and backing up onto the mat gets GREAT cookies. If she struggles, you can start it really easy with just her front feet coming off the mat, then stepping back on. If you find something that raises the mat a little without making it too hard to step backwards onto, I bet she figures it out immediately.Great job!
TracyHi! This also went really well! Your motion was spot on.
For the line up to get her started, you can show her a treat, toss it, send her to get it – as you start moving up the line 🙂
The bag was right in the middle so she had no trouble finding it at all – so it is possible that in the previous video where she was missing it towards the end, it was just because the bag was less visible among the other stuff there .
If you have more room you can add more lateral distance! You can also add challenge in 2 other ways:
when you toss the treat, starting moving up the line towards/past the bag before she eats the treat, so when she turns around you will be way ahead – can she still hit the bag (probably). And you can do the opposite – go with her to the treat, wait there while she eats it… then move with her so she drives ahead of you. I think she can do that too!
Great job here!
TracyHi! Poor thing, I hope her belly feels better! Yeah, cat food will definitely upset a puppy belly!
Perfect to use the red bag for this, she did really well! She was finding the back beautifully, driving ahead, getting lateral, YAY! Super nice!
And she is a fast little thing! If you are not sure if she hit it or not, you can start at the bag as you move past it (rather than watch her) – that can help clicker timing. You can throw with whichever had is easier 🙂 as long as you are quick.
You don’t have to line her up – as you toss the treat, you can do a FC and just start heading back down the line – so if she starts on your left like she did here, she hits the bag, you toss the treat and then you turn and head back along the line with her on your right. You did that at 1:08 – she was on your right, you tossed the treat, and headed back on your left. Perfect!
She seemed to be a little better at this on your left side than on your right? But that could also be because you did more of the right side stuff towards the end and you were adding more distance plus there was more stuff there visually, and she might have been a little brain-tired 🙂 So next time start her on your right and see how she does! Great job!
TracyHi! She is doing well building value for the mat! Yay!!! Now, next steps… with the mat at the size you got it down to here, take out all of your motion and stand completely still (or sit on the couch LOL!) You were moving her and indicating it, so she was looking for your movement and arm pointing. Now that she has value for the mat, take all of that out so she does it unassisted 🙂 The running contacts have no physical cue, meaning she can learn to do it while you are running an entirely different direction LOL! So we install that as soon as we have value for the mat. And she seems to like it! For your next session, be totally stationary, near the mat for now – click and toss a treat for her to get, then stand still so she offers it again. Then if that goes well for a session or two, you can add in the angles. Each session can be a minute or so in length and that way you can change angles pretty quickly 🙂
Great job!
TracyHi! She is showing good commitment to finishing the wrap here! I see what you mean by not always going around the correct direction: I think it has to do wit your position relative to the wing – on these wraps, we want the dog to put the wing between you and her. So on the reps where she went to the wrong side like at :34, she was actually correct because she put the wing between you and her (you wanted her to put herself between you and the wing) When you changed the angle, your sends were clearer as to which side of the wing you wanted so she did much better (other than trying to use the roomba as a tug toy LOL!!) So as you move over and further away and add angles to these sends, you can think of indicating the arm and leg step to the part of the wing on the other side of the wing, furthest from you, rather than closer to you. That is what you were going on the reps where she got it and they looked great, especially on the last part of the video. Let me know if that makes sense! I think she is ready for the turn and burn game 🙂
Nice work!
TracyHi! Super nice here! I agree, she has the one 🙂 Yay! As you move back and forth, you don’t need to point at the jump at all – your motion is the cue (when she is on course, you will be running so you won’t have time to point :))
She is ready for the next steps: you can add challenge by, after you toss the treat, turning and NOT waiting for her to eat the cookie so when she turns back to the jump you are way ahead – can she still find it? Probably yes 🙂 And you can also do the opposite – throw the treat as far as you can and go to it with her, so when you turn and head back to the jump, she will drive ahead of you to get to it.
OMG you cracked me up getting on the couch! Love it! That was a creative away to add distance LOL! You can totally take this outside, starting off nice and easy like you did here, then adding more distance and even more speed/motion.
Great job!
TracyHi!
I think starting this on a non-ball toy was a good idea, but you can also incorporate balls to get the concepts going:> She has started to bring the balls closer to me when she picks them up but hasn’t come all of the way back yet. Should I do something about this while working on retrieve?>
Yes 🙂 Have her learn to drop it in a target of some sort. With my BC-ish dog, I taught him to drop it into a giant food bowl, then I worked on replacing the food bowl with my hand. Here is a clip of it:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ka6xrtHNNhAI started by clicking/treating near the bowl, then hitting the bowl, and on this video I was waiting for him to get it into the bowl. It totally clarified it for him and I ended up with this ball retrieve for flyball:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J8ocvEiyNokNow, you can do that with a ball or with this toy – she was doing well picking up the toy here! I think the next part of the progression for her will be to pick it up and bring it towards you – and you can jumpstart it by tossing it away from you so she turns around to get it, then picks it up and turns back towards you – then you can click/treat and work up from there. When the toy was off to the side, she didn’t need to turn back to you, so she ended up turning away. And you can totally reward when she picks it up and carries it for a heartbeat, even if she then flips it in the air LOL!
The other thing I would suggest is keep the sessions to 45 seconds or less, in their entirety – to make it irresistible 🙂 If the sessions go on for too long, she will get bored. But if you tell her she is done after 45 seconds, she is going to want to play more! So do one 45-second session and then leave the behavior for a few hours, trying again much later and see how it goes 🙂Good job!
TracyHi!
>>For his target behavior I guess I never really solidified a behavior. Usually it was just a treat target in control unleashed classes or when we did baby agility when he was young.>>
That might be why he got frustrated sometimes… not enough clarity about exactly what you wanted him to do. Border Collies like to know all of the details and exactly what they need to do, or they get angry LOL!!!
>> I’ve noticed in his control unleashed classes the past six months he”s been offering a foot target and tried to pivot since the target was on the floor. I thought that was hysterical and very creative – the teacher of that class didn’t find it that funny since he was the demo dog a few times lol!>>
Ha! I think that is pretty funny too! I crack up when demo dogs change the game LOL!
>> So I’m fine with a foot target especially since we are working on foot targets with the fit pods.
Perfect, clarity will help!!
>>I did try having him back up onto a folded yoga mat and then the Cato board to make sure he actually has this skill. It went well so I’ll try it in the flat teeter next.
Great! You can transfer the concept by laying the yoga mat over the end of the teeter and see if that helps him do it.
On your bang game video:
I think it went best when you started out low and in front, like you did with the middle rep – he was much less frustrated (no squeaking!) And he did well!! You can reward in position then release to get a cookie off the side, then reward again for getting back into target position, then release to get off, and so on. For now just use cookies but at some point we can add more arousal with the toy!>> Lots of distractions during this one as my son was trying to get I to the backyard and my other dog was not having it when I told my son to put him inside. I was happy the Chapter noticed the issue but then offered the behavior instead of leaving work.>>
It is perfect to work with high success with distractions! It helps him when he goes to trials, because he will be used to having to focus through distractions. He did well!!!
On your wrap games – he did really well here again with the distractions!!! I mean, you can incorporate the kids and have them walking around or running around as Chapter is doing simple training, the kids might like that LOL!!!!
He is committing really nicely and your connection looks LOVELY. That really contributed to the race track and transition to the wraps – SO NICE!!!! On the 2-in-a-row moments on the wraps, you can add in more transition to make it easier and smoother. It looks like you were running fast then slammed on the brakes/rotated on that first rep, so he didn’t commit. Add in a decel before you rotate: run fast as he is rounding the previous wing, then decelerate but keep moving to the next wing – and as he is passing you, rotate. Stay connected like you were, it really helped. I think adding in the decel will help you be able to get the commitment AND sort out the foot work – the slamming the brakes tends to feel awkward, and the decel then rotate should feel a lot smoother and more natural 🙂
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi! These looked lovely!
I realize that he thinks that starting on a wing is a little stupid, so you can always have him start on a tunnel and then do the sequences on these!
The GO lines and the wrap-to-go line at the beginning looked great. And I am thrilled about how well he did on the rear crosses! You can see his head already turning the new direction while he was going through the tunnel – and it was not a fluke, because when you balanced it without the rear crosses, he nailed those too! So the understanding seems to be really getting strongThe only tweak I have for you is to start with the tunnel on these drills because there is no real lead out option and he thinks starting on a wing wrap is stuuuuuupid LOL!!! That will add challenge for you because he will be blasting right away rather than rolling his eyes for a moment then going fast LOL!
Great job!!!
TracyThanks for letting me know – something went wonky with the upload. I fixed it (I think :)) Let me know!
TracyHi!
>I feel so far behind. The two weeks of Christmas have left me struggling just to try and go back and begin to catch up. Is anyone else in the same boat? I’m afraid that the class is going to be so far ahead of me for the next seminar. Our weather isn’t cooperating!
No worries, I think everyone feels that way! And the weather has been gross here too! The next seminars are on the weekend of Jan 16, so if you need to pick and choose what you have time to play with – focus on the concept transfer games with the jumps and tunnels. You will be in a great spot for the live seminars, and we will of course tweak any of the challenges to the needs of the dogs and handlers 🙂
Tracy
Hi!
>>curiosity would not be easier to learn to ride down by adjusting the teeter teach it?
I think that riding the teach it down is VERY valuable… but the true learning to balance comes from the Bang Game and the games we add to it, because the dog has to do it instantly and basically from a stand still. It is hard but very useful. And, we also teach end position with the bang game right away in a way that the teach it does not. I look at it as many pieces of the puzzle that come together for an amazing teeter 🙂
Tracy
Hi!
>>The list is slightly modified from the one I gave you last summer. I think my thinking about verbals is about the same.
I ask these questions a lot: what are your verbals and what exactly do they mean? It helps us plan 🙂
>>Verbals are under constant pressure: which ones am I going to teach and use? Are they truly fluent or do they require support by motion?
I agree – verbals are hard to teach, dogs are better at reading physical cues 🙂
>>To my shock, obstacle names are NOT fluent and, without handling support, are not much better than 50-50.
That is interesting and thought-provoking. I definitely want my tunnel cues to be fluent, so I can leave for the next line and trust the dog will do the tunnel. And I guess I also want to have contacts and weave pole cues to be fluent too, especially weaves and the RDW where it is important that we don’t need to be there and also those obstacles are often seen in discriminations nowadays.
Thinking about simplifying things and getting the quickest responses:
Most of the cues are very distinct. Dogs do well with distinct sounds!
I see a potential question:
Jump — jump in extension
Jump-right — jump and turn 90 degrees right
Jump-left — jump and turn 90 degrees leftThese are entirely different behaviors that all start with the exact same sound (jump). That would require him to wait to hear more, delaying the response. Or, some dogs don’t wait, they make a decision on the first sound so he has a 2 out of 3 chance of being incorrect. Something to consider is having “go” be the extension cue for the jump, and left and right being the 90 degree turn cues. Or, Jump as the extension cue and left/right as the turn cues. Food for thought!
>>I wanted to add “Tight” (wrap tightly from a lead-out push) but I forget to train it and use “Easy” instead; I think I’ll just ignore for now and see if I really, really need it (after we start trialing).>>
For any verbal attached to a specific handling scenario, you can keep it low on the priority list. The only time he will see a lead out push is when you are in a lead out push position, which means there will always be a TON of physical support… so I think easy (or whatever existing directional fits) will allow you to have one less thing to need to train.
>>I see that you have a separate verbal for taking the far tunnel entrance (what’s yours?).
Tunnel = tunnel entry on your line
Get Out – move away from me to the tunnel entry
KissKissKiss – threadle in towards me for the ‘non-obvious’ tunnel entry>> I have been using my threadle verbal (IN) for this but I will admit that it doesn’t support speed.
I used to use my ‘close’ threadle verbal until I accidentally set up a course at a seminar that was basically impossible to run clean without 2 separate verbals for jump threadle and tunnel threadle. And these folks had nicely trained dogs! So now I have 2 separate words, and train it differently. If you like, we can add games for that here too! We now teach it so that the dog never needs to look at us to wait to be cued to the tunnel.
>>On the other hand, with limited training time, which verbals are the best pay off?
Great question! I think it comes down to priorities based on goals. Goals can relate to the venue you compete in and the level of competition.
One of my dogs is 15 months old today. So, because he is likely going to compete in UKI at the Novice level later this year (much, much later hahaha), my priorities are strong understanding of GO verbals, left/right (because these help my rear crosses and serpentines too!, tunnel, tunnel threadle, and wraps. I am also playing the baby dog foundation games for contact/tunnel discriminations because I will need those for whenever I get the contacts trained up.
On the backburner: backsides, jump threadles, etc – I won’t need those to be actively or solidly in place for a year or longer. I mean, maybe he will get to run at the US Open in Speedstakes next November when he is 25 months old, and I still won’t need those cues for that class.If I was planning on doing AKC and USDAA and other venues – I would have the same goals for verbals for Novice & Open. I feel that we often focus on the fancy stuff (it is fun!!!!) without as much focus on the necessary stuff.
Let me know what you think!
Tracy
