[Tracy Sklenar]

Good morning!
I did some thinking about this overnight… and I think aI have a tweak that can help him get the down while the board is in the air. Watching his elevator game on the 2nd video, I think he believe the down should happen after the board hits the ground. MOre on that below 🙂

The Mountain Climbers look great – that was a good refresher session for the crazy elevator game. He is actually downing pretty quickly… right after he looks to see if there is a cookie on the target LOL! Understandable… he did have about a million cookies there early on. But no need to visit this game again, it becomes the crazy elevator game shortly.

So on the elevator game here: he totally thinks is it ride it down and when the board hits the ground, go into the down. So, a tweak in the order of festivities to help him understand that we want him to down as soon as he arrives at the end of the board:
Yes, use the target here for this – a big, obvious target (no need to fade it on the elevator game until after he is running the full teeter).
And try this:
Hold the board
Ask him to hop on (don’t reward)
Wait for him to offer a down (then reward once)
Move the cookie hand away (don’t leave it over his head, that is causing him to look up at you)
Then start the countdown 3-2-1
Then spot then drop the board. He should remain in the down the whole time – big rewards.

Start this super low so it is easy for him to offer the down without you having to ask for it (be patient at first :)) and also to get him comfy with the down on a board that is up in the air and super unstable (the board is very stable when he is the down down on the mountain climbers)

No need to do anything else other than elevator game with the changed up order, installing the down a lot sooner. The goal is that the stimulus for moving into the down is arrival at the end of the board and NOT end of the board hitting the ground.
When he can do that with the board relatively low, then we can add height and the crazy elevator game – that will come easily 🙂

let me know if that makes sense! Have a great weekend!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Good morning!

I agree, the red target made a massive difference for him! Really strong session here. It looks like he was moving to the target position and only really looking at you *after* arriving, which is perfectly fine as that will help him know where to go next :))

EXCELLENT job being patient and letting him sort it out when he stopped on the board and looked at you – it is hard for the dogs to drive past us when we are stationary and you were great about letting him sort it out. It made the next reps even better! Super!!!

>> he real challenge this time was moving into place. As soon as I got within a certain distance of the teeter, Cowboy would freeze and stare (must have been talking to the Border Collie!)>>

Do you mean when you were moving him by the tab? It looked like a little bit of opposition reflex maybe? He might not be used to being moved by the tab, so you can play with a different transition back to the start:
After the release, reward, then have him ‘heel’ (loosely haha) on the side you want to start him on for the next rep, earning LOTS of cookies for moving with you back to the start position and not trying to start without you 🙂 Then when you arrive back to the start spot – you can take the tab, deliver one more cookie, get ready for the send into position. Let me know if that makes sense.

For the next session: the red target is a winner, so keep using it 🙂 And, add in your motion: cue the target position and then keep moving (slowly at first) until he hits and holds position – your motion should be steady, no decel, and should continue for 3 or more steps after he gets into position and you are sure he stops (so he is not reading any subtle decel cues). If walking is no problem for a few reps, you can add in more walking then jogging and so on 🙂

Great job here!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Good morning! It is so cool to be able to train this in new places and also in front of crowds 🙂 He did really well! I think he naturally does a great job of controlling his internal state, that is pretty unusual for a youngster 🙂

Looking at these sessions, a couple of ideas for you:
One small detail that can make a big difference since we want his head low: throw your reward lower: think bowling rather than underhand pitching. The rewards are a little high so his head is coming up. If he is expecting them low and on the ground, he will drop his head even more.

On the first reps: at this stage, let’s consistently set him up for success on that first rep – partially to help him find the entry successfully, partially to create the positive conditioned response to the weaves: if he is successful on the first rep, he will have more of a YAY response to the weaves and not a hmmmm….response. So you can set up success with an easier entry and less motion to counter any of the other variables.

Speaking of variables – now that he is basically weaving for real, you must become a master of the variable dial 🙂 Misses/errors still count as reps, so if we are going to do 10 reps of 6 poles (which is the same as 5 full sets of 12, which is a lot!) and 4 are misses… we are not looking for 10 successes plus 4 misses for 14 total – but we are looking at 10 total so that would be a 60% success rate. I do a lot of weave pole math at this point in the class LOL! So on the first session, he had 13 attempts with 4 misses (depending on how the rep where he stopped before the entry gets counted), which is 70% success rate and a total of 6 full sets of 12. So we can get the success rate higher (we are shooting for 90 or so) with fewer reps by reducing the variables – new location is a biggie, so the first few reps (where dogs tend to fail most) should have reduced variables in terms of your speed and the angel of entry.

On the 2nd session, he had 8 reps (which is a really good # in a session) and was at 75% success. Both of the misses were variable-related: for example, new people doing the wave nearby and you were running hard. So when you get an audience doing the wave LOL resist temptation to also run – dial back that variable so he is successful.

It is like a ping pong game of back and forth with variables: environment serves up a big variable change? You volley with reducing one of the other variables 🙂 And I totally agree that he was faster for sure with the audience! And I love that! And that is why the weaves were harder too 🙂 As as you work through each session, you should be monitoring the variables and constantly making little adjustments. It will become second nature and it is VERY reinforcing because the little buggers really blossom in their weaving, and we do fewer reps overall too 🙂

When I started obsessing on the weave math and variables with my 3 youngsters as the poles got tight: boom! Suddenly they could all weave. Not a coincidence hahaha! So now that we are getting real striding, I have gone full on into weave math obsessing for everyone 🙂 Let me know if that makes sense! I think he is doing great and is *thisclose* to the weaves being fully closed 🙂

Great job here! Hopefully there is more opportunity for weaving in front of a crowd LOL!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Good morning! Nice session here: speed AND accuracy, happy transitions into the sends without the biting of the momma, no distractedness (is that a word?) even with the noisy ducks! Yay! He got his straight line entries and some angles too (you can totally mix in harder angles because that puts you way ahead, which is a good challenge for him :))

I totally agree that he is still in that middle area between running and striding. So try tightening them more! When I was getting striding with CB on the channels, I did one rep, then looked the video. Then tightened more – then looked at the video. I kept doing that til found the ‘sweet spot’ for the striding. One thing that will also help for the striding is to video from the head-on spot so he is weaving straight towards the camera (yes, I have nailed the camera with the toy throw a few times haha). You’ll have a much better view of his mechanics if you do that.

So try moving them all in a tiny bit and do some easy entries, and see what he does! I feel that it is probably only another inch or so then we have the swim striding 🙂
And he has multiple sessions in a row that we fast and super accurate, so it is fine if he has some questions as we add striding 🙂
Great job! Keep me updated about his sweet spot!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi! Good job on this session! He did well in a new place and also you did a really good job on each start after the reward: I felt like he knew when to start and it was very clear for each rep!

A couple of ideas for you:

>>Like all of the other places, he headed straight for theManners Minder and ignored the weave poles. Like all of the other places, I broke down the set-up and rebuilt it as he gained confidence.>>

For the next new place, start several steps easier so that first rep is successful, rather than get the failure and then back track. It is early enough in the training that it is OK if he has not generalized the hard stuff yet 🙂 You might not need to back track all the way to poles 3-4 being as open, but if that is what gets success? Perfect!

Watching the session as a whole… one thing stands out about when he was successful versus when he was not: motion! When you were stationary or not moving that fast, he was much more successful compared to when you were moving faster or running. At this stage of training, I think less emphasis on getting the poles straight will be important so you can add in being able to run run run!
So on 4 poles, I recommend opening them up to poles 1-2 straight and poles 3-4 being at 1&7 if he is successful there and do all reps in the session with you moving fast. If he is asking questions/having misses – don’t slow your motion to help 🙂 Instead, open the poles up to wherever he can be 90% successful or better with you running (and adding the other handling challenges too).

For the 6 poles – no need to work those for now until he can do 4 poles with you running. The reason I recommend leaving them for now is that he was able to go through them, but at a lower rate of success than we like (70-ish%) and also on the reps where he was accurate, his striding was not comfortable and he was pattering more often than bouncing. So I think it is too early for him to see 6 poles for now in new places, but it won’t be long before he can see them anywhere.

So for the next sessions – focusing on adding your motion with slightly open 4 poles should take priority. I would try for at least 2 full sessions like that, to get into the 90% success range with bounce striding and different entries while you take off and run, rear cross, etc.

When we have that, it will be onwards to 6 poles but probably with poles 5-6 a little open to start, to maintain the striding while you run.

He did not seem distracted or bothered at all when you went to the lotus ball instead of the MM!! Nice!!!! He was still looking ahead really nicely as if the MM was the focal point.

Great job! Let me know what you think!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi!

>>This is totally foreign to us so I was really supporting with that outside arm. Took a couple tries but I think we got some understanding by the end of the session. Do you use this same “out” for distance gamble sends or do you have a different word/handling for that?>>

Yes, the outside arm can be weird at first – some dogs let us fade it and go on just a verbal, but some dogs prefer that we use it as part of the cue. I use it anywhere I want to shift the dog away from me to pick up a line and then the dog should remain on that parallel line. It works nicely on ‘normal’ courses so I can get to my next position, and is also VERY useful for gambles/sends! It is specific to the lead change away (and is not a left or right turn) so if the gamble/send doesn’t have that, I use the other directionals. Here is some examples of it in sequence:
https://youtu.be/3aLyVpqMPEs?t=15

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi there! This is going really well too! It is a hard behavior because it is pretty unnatural for most dogs: they don’t want to move away from us like that.

All of the chase the momma moments looked great, she never considered leaving you for the jump or grabbing the tunnel behind you, she was always on the line. Perfect!!

The get out cues are going really well, considering they are very new!!! On the reps where you emphasized your outside arm pointing to the far wing of the jump, she got it every time. You can see that on your first ‘get out’ rep as well as at 1:07 and 1:20. At :47 you were a little too understated in the cue (it is a big cue :)) Same at 2:30, but the other reps on that side looked good – so be big with the cue, lots of connection and arm pointing. It will get easier when she is more experienced with it, but I think you are off to a great start!

There were a couple of moments here that allow us to continue talking about your question from the previous session:
>Do you think this is a “likes being correct” sort of thing or just expects rewards and is confused when she doesn’t get them? It’s always taken her a moment when she is wrong to get back on track to whatever I’m
Asking of her.>

She had 2 errors here that deflated her, and she did what I think you were describing.
The first one was at 2:02 on the send to the wing: you were not that connected on the send and it ended up looking like a blind cross cue… so she ended up guessing on the wing wrap and turned to her left. That makes sense, because it looked like your shoulders were pointing there and she is also a lefty from what we can tell. Good choice, Arty!
You said “oh no ma’am” (or something) and faced her, movement stopping – she deflated (from her perspective, that was the response to the info she saw, so she was not actually incorrect). You gave her a cookie for the sit at 2:13 but that was a solid 10 second later, which adds to the negative punishment of the moment.

So what to do instead? In that type of oopsie moment, it is a very very high likelihood that the dog was correct and the handler was not 🙂 So, I almost always reward the dog’s effort right away (“Good girl! Here’s a cookie while I figure out why that happened, nice effort and commitment!”) while I assess if I was doing something wrong and, even if I thought I was ok, I will improve my cue for the next rep (and you totally gave a better cue at 2:15!! and she nailed it).

Now, I won’t reward right away if I have given a specific directional verbal – for example, if I say “right” and the dog turns left. In that case, I am still pretty sure it was human error 🙂 so I happily call the dog, immediately send the dog again with a better cue, and immediately reward. But you did not have your specific verbal (unless I couldn’t hear it) so it would have been fine to give her a reward then reset.

If I go back and look at the video later and decide that my cues were great and the dog was just choosing wrong… no worries, because the extra reward will not have a big impact on the learning in a bad way. It tells me that I need to clarify the behavior but the extra rewards keep the session and the training in general feeling really good and free of frustration 🙂 The extra punishment will have an impact, though – it can create frustration/stress which will manifest as fight (dogs that bark at or bite the handlers), flight (sniffing, zooming, running off to visit) or freeze (standing still, staring, slowing down… which is what Arty does). I have had dogs that showed frustration in each of these ways, which really helped me figure out how to reinforce the behavior we want without getting any frustration. It is easy to see it when the dog is biting you or having zoomies LOL!!! The freezers are harder to see as being frustrated but they are.

So, you can un-freeze her in that moment after an error with a response that can ultimately lead to more reinforcement without having to tell her she is wrong (because she knows). And if there is ANY possibility that your handling cue was wrong… just reward her as if that is what you meant to do (because it was probably what your body was saying).

Now, at 2:30 when she didn’t take the jump, that was a bit of a handling error (more pointing needed :)) and also it is a new skill for her. I thought you handled it pretty well! You can also call her back and do a trick for a cookie, like a spin or high five. And then just keep moving to keep the flow going – she seems to perceive that break in the action without a reinforcement as a marker that she was wrong, so she freezes up a bit – I think that response was residual from other oopsie moments. She will get more resilient in those moments when there is a stop in the action or the moments when she is not correct because there was no reward offered if you also pair them with reinforcement is still available, either with rewarding for potential handler error, fun tricks for tricks (or toy), or quick movement back into the next rep.

The dog on the video I posted above is a ‘freezer’ like Arty – but note how she was most definitely wrong (not a handler error there LOL!) but she had no change in demeanor, she just tried again and got it right 🙂

Let me know what you think! This is a really fun part of the training to explore 🙂
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi!

>>Thanks so much for taking the time to help me look at the jumping! I feel better now 😅

I love obsessing on the little details like this! It is the type of thing that tells us a LOT about the dog!

>> we did our rear cross exercise this evening and I’ve got to say, I’m proud of this!

You should be proud, the RCs looked great! Especially on the left turn RCs. On the right turn RCs, I think you can get closer to her line, sooner, getting right on her tail 🙂 Running in closer to the tunnel can help you set the line even sooner to get those a little tighter.
And nice balance with the GO lines, she was really reading the difference nicely, only one oopsie 🙂

>>I didn’t teach my older dog Peaches (first agility dog) rear crosses until we were 4 years into trialing! I can’t believe the progress Arty has made on these at such a young age!>>

You’re doing a great job making sure she knows all the things 🙂 Rear crosses are not what many folks consider “fancy” but they are SO important 🙂

>>I left one part in there for you where she blew past the jump then seemed pretty demotivated when she didn’t get rewarded. >>

Yes, thanks for leaving that in. She was going fast! And trying hard! And just so happened to be incorrect, probably driving to the last place she saw the reward. Oopsie!

>>Do you think this is a “likes being correct” sort of thing or just expects rewards and is confused when she doesn’t get them? It’s always taken her a moment when she is wrong to get back on track to whatever I’m
Asking of her. Just wondering if you have any tips there.>>>>

I don’t think it is a likes-being-correct thing as much as it is a ‘you’re wrong’ marker. You can handle the errors without communicating that she is wrong as much – the lack of reinforcement makes it clear that she was incorrect so you don’t need to stop or face her or really even say anything – you can just run her back to try again. You were not trying to use a punishment marker but if that reaction (body language and words) has been paired with negative punishment (which is withholding reinforcement, basically) then it is easy for the dogs to deflate – that sounds like what is happening. So, approach the errors differently:
Have a laugh! Tell her she is a cutie (because she is) and that you liked her effort at doing all the things FAST. Then keep things moving back towards the start while being engaging and smiling. You can even do a trick for a cookie on the way back to the start. No worries about her thinking that her choice on that last one was correct because she knew the instant there was no reward that it was not correct.
Here’s an example: I just finished editing some weave videos for that class, and one of the young dogs made a really impressive blooper of running past the poles and directly into the tunnel LOL! It made me laugh and so I stayed engaged, had a chuckle, said something silly and random, then just tried again. She didn’t get her toy but note her body language here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R8lbMni6sbE

She didn’t need a verbal marker or anything change in demeanor from me to know that it was the incorrect choice – there was no click or reward thrown. So in that moment, I just moved back into the next rep and she was a happy girl throughout.

Let me know what you think! Great job here!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi!

>>Not sure what happened with the sound on the last one but clearly from the first two reps on this one you should never assume my markers are perfect 😳 Although they were pretty good for the wing wrap!!>>

Ha! Yes, the first couple were early indeed 🙂 On the others, now that you are at 4 basically straight poles, you can delay the click until his left shoulder is passing pole 3 and his nose is between poles 3-4.

He did really well here! Lots of accuracy and striding and speed! Yay! You can add in more variations in the angles of entry now too.

>>In hindsight I did way too many reps…

Now that the poles are straight, it definitely gets important to count reps. I think there were 16 reps here, which adds up to about 5 reps on a set of 12 poles – and that is about the most I would do in one session. You can try to limit the reps by counting to 10 reps for 4 poles, or 8 reps for 6 poles or 5 reps of 12 poles. You can also set the timer for 2 minutes and do as many as possible in 2 minutes (which will never be too many LOL!)

>>and the MM is only mildly rewarding…too damn slow and 3 kibble isn’t much of a reward in his opinion. I think I need to figure out how to make this more fun.>>

A couple of ideas for you on this:
you can move the MM further away, so he can run more to it after the poles rather than decelerate because it is close.
Also, you can mix different things into the kibble so it is more exciting and smellier 🙂 My MM currently contains a stinky mix of kibble, cat kibble, and freeze dried tripe (ewwww). The kibble picks up the smell and taste of the other stuff so the dogs are wild for it 🙂
And, you can leave the MM there as a focal point but now move to a thrown reward – something like a Treat Hugger or Lotus ball or even a tennis ball! That is also a good way for us to begin fading out the MM, which is on the agenda in coming weeks too 🙂

I think he is ready for you to add poles 5-6! Let me know what you think. Great job here!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi!
These are looking good!

The Zig zags are looking strong – she is especially strong on the first 2 bars – I think on the first several reps you were too far from jump 3 so, positionally, she didn’t know you wanted it. When you moved in and got close to the 3rd bar – nice! I agree – that last rep was the best 🙂
An added challenge for you: you can start to fade out the big arm motions and see if you can cue the in-and-out all on one arm 🙂 You were playing with that a little on a couple of the reps here so now you can see if you can try to get all 3 bars with you only moving one arm 🙂 Doesn’t matter which arm for now – try it with both just not at the same time LOL!

Lap turns – yes, she is definitely transferring her understanding from your home games into these games on the wings too! Yay!
Little details: Remember to step straight back more and step less to the wing to set the turn, especially when your right side is next to the wing. When she was on your left side, you were very strong about going straight back like at :18 and :25. Also, to draw her in when the wing is there: extend your hand to her in the presence of the wing, let her lock onto the ‘magic cookie hand’ 🙂 until she is about 3 inches away then move it back – if you move it back too soon and when she is too far away, it looks like a throw back to the other side of the wing – especially if you step towards the wing and not straight back – that is what happened at :27, versus the next rep at :36 where you waited a bit longer and stepped straight back 🙂 That was great!

When you added your motion – it all looked great, that is more comfy for you both 🙂 Yay! Your mechanics looked great on those.

Lap video 2 with the race tracks – These also looked really good! She likes the race tracks 🙂 You can use your sends more to the race track wing, so you don’t have to run backwards up as much. She is reading the lap turns really well!!!

Tandem turn are also going really nicely 🙂 For now, coming out of the rocking horses or race tracks, just do one tandem turn then reward her. Your first tandem turn on each rep was GREAT – you were moving forward, cuing the tandem, and keeping your feet straight (like at :07 and 1:03). When you did multiples in a row, you were not as crisp with the mechanics and ended up moving less or turning your feet a little so she was looking at you more.

Great job on these!! If you wanted to challenge yourself, you can add more distance between the two wings 🙂 The turns and commitment look really good so more distance will add more speed 🙂

Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi there!

>>I am having a good deal of trouble/frustration with her not bringing a toy back to me. She grabs it and runs around and will actively avoid me. >>

Lots of ideas, but first a few questions:
– when does this happen in the session? At the beginning? In the middle? After a failure? All the time?
– how often does she get to play with toys and have big run arounds with toys, without being in a formal training session?
– what type of toys does this happen with?

I think the first thing to do is figure out why it happens and then change up the training loop. If you have video, post it up!
And separately, I recommend a training loop that is simply about getting the toy back 🙂 In a boring, clean environment, work on some trading: one toy for a cookie, first only from your hand: right hand tugs, you cue an out, left hand presents a cookie, and so on. Don’t try it in conjunction with actually training anything yet – we can add that later.

And by boring clean environment, I mean a small room or hallway where there is going to be less stimulation and less interest in running off with the toy.
And then when we take it outside, I suggest doing it on leash and only the simple loop you establish inside.

For example, Contraband got into the habit of running off with his discs and not coming back. I did some things that created it by accident, messy training mechanics and also accidentally pairing taking the disc away into the ‘game is over’ moment, so of course if momma can’t take the disc then the game can’t be over, right? LOL!
So I went back to the loop of getting the disc back and rewarding it, first in my hallway at home, then on leash on the front porch then on leash in the yard then on leash in the agility field (separate from any training) – then re-installed the disc back into training, maintaining the improved mechanics and loop: so now he is fine 🙂 It didn’t take long as soon as I got myself sorted out LOL!

>>Makes using a toy for a reward very hard to do and makes training sessions more about getting the toy back than anything else.>>>

Agreed, which is why sorting out the reinforcement plan is more important than the training at the moment. You can do sessions on ALL cookies for now as you get the toy play sorted out separately.

>> I try trading the toy for a food reward, which she is happy to do (loves food also). But still doesn’t bring the toy all the way to me.

That isn’t so bad for now, you can move the other direction, do the food trade by tossing it past you the other way – and as she is getting the cookie, you pick up the toy, and play from your hand. One of the training loops you can develop can be toss a toy, call her back and when she moves towards you, mark & toss a treat the other direction, you get the toy, ply with her, toss it again, and so on. I recommend this in the house first though so there is less running off with the toy that happens.

You’ll find that you can begin to delay the timing of your ‘out’ cue and next food toss til she is closer and closer and eventually she will be bringing it to you. You can also do shaping sessions for ‘put it in my hand’, I have video somewhere of me doing that with my Papillon and a ball 🙂

>>Tried working on this inside with minimal space/distractions. Helped some inside but no transfer of behavior to outside. HELP!>>

The transfer to outside is likely because you made big leaps in criteria and didn’t establish the loop outside too… and then it will pop up particularly if the dog gets frustrated. So whatever worked inside needs to be re=established outside. That is why Contraband was on leash outside to help – and even though he is great at home now, I used a long line on him at his first disc competition last weekend as a way to help transfer the game of ‘bring it back’ to the higher arousal environment. UpDog allows the long line for most of the games and Contraband was wildly successful – he never ran away with the disc and he never tried to ‘taco’ it. And one game did not allow for the long line but it is had agility obstacles – and he was able to transfer the understanding there too.

Let me know if that makes sense!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Good morning!

>> WAY too many things for me to remember and then execute in this one 🤪🤪🤪

Ha! That is why I mention the mechanics about a zillion times – it is harder than it looks LOL! I highly encourage a lot of practice without the dog, so you know which hand goes where and when 🙂 I think you looked good though!!! And he did really well.
Nice review and warm up of the mountain climbers and elevator to get this rolling. And he did REALLY well on the crazy elevator levels!!!

>> The “dancing feet” at the end of the board kind of through me off… it felt like as soon as the treats were gone he wanted to back away from the end of the board and something in my brain went wacko and I started double counting>>

Yes, sometimes they do that – it is either a reflection of the difficulty of the game, or an early prep of the weight shift for the drop to target position, or maybe both. My Hot Sauce (medium sized dog in the demos) totally does that. Just ignore it, it will go away as long as you keep rewarding at the very end for driving up and your countdown/release is very consistent. Do the countdown fast and don’t double count because that changes the consistency of the cues.

He got better and better with less backing up as he got more understanding of the game!
And he did a GREAT job when you added the wing, I think he preferred that because of the speed and running 🙂 He seemed very confident! And he also had no trouble with target position. YESSSS!

One suggestion: Catch the board sooner so it doesn’t drop as much – and feed him all the way at the top with the board still way up in the air. That will encourage him to drive all the way up to the end super fast, because small dogs tend to see that picture of the board way up in the air.
Then you can feed him and lower it a little before the countdown to keep him comfy with the drop. Eventually you will be able to do the countdown and drop from that sky high position 🙂

Great job here! I think this game is going REALLY well. I would give him another 2 or 3 sessions like this one, from the stay in front of the board then from the wing, then move it to the tunnel.

Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi there!

Looking at both of these videos, he is doing well! Fading the target? No problem. Confident on the end of the board as it is falling? Yes!!!! Frisbee on the ground as a distraction? Easy peasy. Lots of great stuff here, and 2 things to clarify for him:

One thing on the Elevator game mechanics (I know, I obsess on these mechanics LOL!): after he hops on, you can raise the board. But then the board should be completely stationary during the countdown, then when you give the target cue, just let go so it drops. You might not even realize it, but when you were giving the target cue you were pushing the board up before letting it go. That causes him to have to balance differently – first as it is moving up fast, then as it moves back down – and on the full teeter, it is not a scenario he would se (the board will only be going down, not up then down). So try to just let it go and don’t push it up before letting it drop.

The other thing that both sessions had in common was the stay versus release:

>>. I’m not sure that’s clear for him on all the reps
>> I also had issues when I tried to move forward with Chapter not seeming to understand on some reps that he needs to stay.>>

I agree, the stay/release is not as clear as it can be, so he does not know when to move or not. Let’s clarify that and then it will all be much easier.
First, words 🙂 I think the ‘yes’ might be too vague of a cookie toss word – it is a word we use all the time in about a zillion different ways so it doesn’t tell him to stay or release or where to look. For the “I am throwing the cookie to you in that spot” moment, choose a marker word that is entirely different and define it.
For example, I use “catch” to mean: reward coming back to you there and then you can move to get it.
“yes” does not mean the dog can move or anticipate reinforcement – it is more of a “I like that, keep doing that right now” thing. For example, when Chapter nails a weave entry, you are likely going to say “yes!” on course… but you will also probably want him to keep weaving in that moment 🙂 Same on the teeter: when he hits and holds the 2o2o, you will probably default to a “yes!” on course but that doesn’t mean a release.

Of course, you can use “yes” for that throw back & release… but then you can’t use it for other things and that might make your brain hurt too much hahahaha

Separately, the ‘break’ release can be very clear to mean “leave position now” without the reward being thrown back, and I think that is what you are defining it as, yes? Generally, I use ‘break’ either to mean “come to me for next info” or, if I follow it with something like “get it”, it means leave position and go chase the thrown reward (break get it!)

Second, when you have defined your verbal markers, let’s add them in being super consistent:
On the plank, for example, you don’t need to toss a cookie back as he is arriving in position. We can move to the next step to see if he is clearly making a ‘hit & hold position’ decision with a small delay of the reinforcement: long enough that he has a bit of ‘wait’ so you can assess what his choice is: just long enough for you to say “good” in your head (not to him yet, that might muddy the water with the other words for now). Then after that short delay (2 seconds, maybe?) you can use your toss back cue THEN toss the treat.
So the order of festivities becomes very important for him:
Have the cookie ready in your hand. Cue the behavior. He hits and holds the position and when you are sure of his choice: say the word (but do not move your hand) and then toss the treat:
Prepare – Cue – Assess Behavior – Mark – Deliver.

That will help him be able to consistently predict what is happening, so he will be able to better understand the stay element. Right now, I think the yes has several meanings and also the cookie is moving before the marker – so it is helping him arrive in position, and he takes the cookie toss as permission to move (which is fine provided it is first paired with the marker word).

The marker can also be “break” after you assess the behavior and then he comes forward off the board for the reward delivery.

Obsessing on the mechanics will clarify for him – take out your motion at first so you can be ultra-focused on very clean mechanics (I do that because I cannot walk/run AND be clean in my mechanics until after I have gotten it without moving haha)

And he will give you feedback: if the mechanics are muddy, he won’t know to stay. If they are clean, they stay in position will improve immediately 🙂 For example, my smallest/youngest dog gave me feedback that my catch cue was very clean & clear: her stay-in-position is great and when I say ‘catch’ she lifts her head up and looks behind her LOL!!

Let me know if that makes sense! Everything else is whizzing along beautifully 🙂

Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi!

>>I noticed he didn’t appear to acknowledge the target but wasn’t sure how that and where I was located played into his finding the 2O/2O position. I will try this again.>>

Dogs definitely like to use our position and motion as cues, so I am hyper-focused on helping them NOT watch us here LOL!!!

>>In addition, would using the Treat n’ Train help at all? In that way, Cowboy gets rewarded without me being there or would it cause confusion when it is time to fade it out of the picture?>>

Yes and no – you can use the TnT but about 6 feet away. The setup would be:
teeter with the red target close to the end of it to elicit the 2o2o, with the TnT no closer than 6 feet – that way you can mark the 2o2o and release to the TnT reward without the TnT being either too big if a distraction or the target that elicits the behavior (it is indeed very hard to fade when used to create the 2o2o)

But more important for getting the independence of the behavior is that he is consistently able to predict what earns reinforcement, and where. So for the next 4 or 5 sessions or so, use the exact same setup and exact same target so it is easy for him to recognize and predict that the 2o2o is what earns the party 🙂 That will allow you to add all of the other things like running, lateral distance etc. If the setup is different all the time and the targets are different, he will default to the only consistent predictor: you. So he will watch you, which we don’t want 🙂 The target will should create it for him, so then he won’t need to watch you.

Let me know if that makes sense! It took me about 10 training sessions to get the targeting where I wanted it to be before I got into the really high level games towards the end of class- a couple of sessions on the plank, then the bang game sessions. I am too old & slow for the dogs to rely on my position LOL! So it is very important that they do their end position without needing my help 🙂 And I think it is also super helpful for faster runners because then you have more freedom on course to run to wherever you like, and he will go and do his end position 🙂

Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Good morning!

Both videos are the same here, I think the video is the 2nd session you discussed? But it went REALLY well!

One small Border Collie-specific suggestion: make sure he swallows the treat before throwing the disc haha! Take that extra moment, let him look up at you – then throw it. That way the efficient flow of the session doesn’t get interrupted by hacked up cookies LOL!

On the video:
the added speed from the motion even with the friz present seemed to be no problem! And he got some of the hard side entries too – your focus on that is paying off 🙂 So, before we finish tightening the poles, I think we move him to the Find Em game from the wings to teach him to look for the entries with more speed and coming from an obstacle before the weaves:
https://agility-u.com/lesson/find-e-track-2x2s-game-2/

>>I can’t remember which video it was when you said we should add the weave verbal- are we there yet or do the poles need to be closer?>>

When we see the swim striding (which is what I think he is going to do), then we add the verbal weave cue for realz 🙂 So – not yet, but soon.

I think the next steps for him will be the Find Em with the poles at the angles you had here, and then after that – tighten up the first base to straight, then the 2nd base to straight.

So, getting to 4 straight poles will end up being anywhere from 3 sessions total to 6 or more, he will let us know 🙂 Things are rolling along very nicely!!!

Great job here! Let me know what you think!

Tracy

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