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Good morning!
I think this was an excellent session for building independence on this behavior, thoughtfully for now. With Yowza, I know the speed will be there so letting her hash it out without pushing for speed was perfect here. You helped her at first then she had it – great job adding in more independence by taking yourself out of the picture.As for the speed of the down – it was fine here! She had a LOT to think about LOL!!! The board is wobbling, the board is narrow, where to put front feet, how to balance in her core and hind end…. she was great! The down here is what I would consider “pretty quick” and will get faster with more sessions. It won’t even need to be as fast as a down on the ground because of the extra moment of balance needed: and that is fine, because the board is up in the air while she is doing it on the teeter. So when I visualize her putting this on the teeter, I am VERY happy with how this is going! Let her continue to think through it, she is nailing it.
As for the front foot placement: I think she was, on some reps, using the ground as a bit of an anchor for her front feet. I prefer her to be fully on the board, and you can help that with placement of reward. Check out your very last rep here at 2:00: you placed the reward a little further back and she had all of her feets in perfect locations. NICE! So keep that reward just inside the edge of the board enough that she keeps her toes from touching the ground.
For next sessions – do a couple more short sessions like this! You can get her more stimulated with a toy, and see if she can maintain the accuracy (still rewarding with a cookie just like you did on the last rep here). If you have time, you can get that done in the next day or two, it won’t take her long. And if those sessions look good like this one: take the target to the end of the teeter for some bang game. Keep the board low, keep her thoughtful like she was here. And see how it goes, with the position and independence. Her success will guide us as to how quickly we can add more challenge.
Great job!! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning!
These games are looking really good!!! Great job figuring out how to get the downhills lower with the stool!!! He was great here. If he is trying to start without you, on the downhills and the bang game too, you can release to a tug game or a cookie in your hand, then lead him around your hip as you turn to reset. And he is tries to start without you, at this point just happily call him back and reset (I don’t think we want to cookie him at this point, just try to prevent it :))
For the downhills, the next step is to the ground. Yay! He was nice and fast too. But before you remove the stool, do another session with him in a higher state of arousal. A tuggie or frisbee can do it: a little tug before, a rep into position, then release to play with the toy or chase the friz: then see how it goes 🙂 If he can be highly successful in higher arousal, the session after that can be back in ‘normal’ arousal… and without the stool, going to the target on the ground.
Bang game also looks good! You were hanging back on this one and he went into position beautifully. Yay! So for the next session, add you motion of walking past him as he is moving into target position. Be sure to keep moving (slowly) til after he stops. I tell myself to take 2 more steps after I am sure he stops. If he is solid with you moving slowly, you can ramp up the speed 🙂 The challenges of motion and still getting into position and stopping – that is the hard stuff! So start off slowly and let his success guide you. And then reward in position, and release him to you (for a cookie or toy) so he doesn’t restart before you are ready 🙂
Great job!! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning! Great job with pajama training! I think Kyla was in her jammies too but I was too busy laughing about the banana split. Both sessions here were really lovely – she was on control of her body, sticking the position with good weight shift (especially impressive on the bang game – that board was HIGH!).
So since she is doing so well, I would repeat the sessions with all the same challenges except for one thing: stir up some internal arousal 🙂 Make her a little nutty maybe with some tugging, high action tricks, or even just you being nutty with a bit of “ready ready ready!!!!”. That will challenge her to maintain her weight shift and end position control when she is more aroused. I think she will do fine but it is a good thing to add at this stage before we let her rip across the whole board LOL!It looks like there was some solid target fading on the plank! Yay! So if she can do the bang game with higher arousal and the same/similar success, you can go ahead and fade the target on that one too.
Great job! Let me know how it goes!
TracyHi! Hmmmm, where are you located? I can ask around and see who has UKI. UKI trials are really easy to host so we all put them up at the very last minute LOL!
USDAA also has good training in the ring opportunities. But now that AKC allows it too, you can look at those!
And thanks for the BadDog Agility link, I will take a look!
TracyGood morning!
I almost snorted coffee out of my nose with the Cooking With Lennan episode LOL!!!!! It looked delicious LOL! He looked shocked on the first rep, such a delicious buffet! But he was perfectly happy to run faster on the 2nd rep LOL! I think you might need a YouTube series for the Cooking With Lennan show.
I am glad the sous chef from the previous episode did not mind the dripping ice cream LOL!
And he gets a double gold star for holding the stay as you ran away with a cheese banana split lol
Keep on keeping on with this progression, revisiting every couple of days with high value rewards, gradually adding tip. The board is getting noisy at this stage, so you can lay a towel over the sawhorse to dampen the noise.The targeting on the plank went extremely well! He was curling to look at you a bit especially when you were way behind him, but you can go to a toy out front, a few feet past the target, and release him forward to it. I think you can take the challenges from this session and work them on the bang game now.
You might have done that on the last video, but it is marked unavailable. Can you reset to unlisted?
Great job here!!!!!! (Also, I had t get ice cream yesterday because for some reason, I had ice cream on my mind LOL!!)
TracyHi!
Great job here! This is one of the harder games, at first, and it is going really well! Add height very slowly though, over more sessions – watch her ears, they seems to be the indicators of how she is feeling about our crazy games LOL!! She was doing the sideways Yoda ears here, which seems to be the “this is weird but ok I will do it”. Stay at the same level of height until you start to see the forward ears which indicate “yes this is really fun”. Then you can add more height to the drop of the board.The 2-hand hold on the teeter definitely worked best for you! One thing you can do is put a tiny dab of cheese or peanut butter on the end of the board, as the ‘hop on’ cookie that we would give her if you had a third hand 🙂 That will help her build the love for jumping on when the board is in the air (which transfers to driving to the end of the board later on).
The target fading is only needed for the bang game and downhills right now, you can totally have the target in place for the elevator game (we fade that later on, but the game is new so we leave the target in for now). I think that can also make it easier and she will have a good focal point since the target is already visible there.Great job here! The Elevator game builds up over the course of the next several weeks and you are off to a great start!
TracyGood morning!
Both of the sessions were really lovely – great job showering all sorts of crazy handling challenges, all the things you might want to do on 12 poles on course. No problems at all, he just nailed the entries and go into the poles. So the next step is to combine the games: do the Fimd ‘Em with wings (from the 2nd video) with the poles at the tighter angles from the first video 🙂 He was definitely weaving on the tighter poles, and had to think (which is good!). Adding the wings will add challenge to the weight shift needed to get in and stay in, because there is so much more speed.And yes, he was wide on the 12 o’clock wing LOL! You can work the tight wraps like you are doing with Ruse 🙂
Great job here!
TracyGood morning! She is doing well here on both. A couple of ideas for you:
On the 2x2s, now that the poles are getting tighter and you are adding more of the handling – I think she needs a reward target for a couple of sessions. She was looking at you a lot and we can see it in the rear crosses in particular. She did figure out the RCs but the reward target will basically say: “hey, look at this 2nd set, it is changing so keep going, don’t look at the momma” 🙂 You can use whatever you think she will like: if memory serves, she felt the MM was a little stooooooopid so a toy on the ground is fine or you can put an empty food bowl out and chuck meatballs into it. Anything that she can use as a visual aid/focal point for now is good – I don’t think you will need it for more than a couple of sessions.
Poles 3-4 at 2&8 were a complete no-brainer for her, very easy! So on the next session, warm her up with that angle and the reward target and when she is looking ahead: go to 1&7 on those poles. I think she is ready!The channels are also looking good – the visual of the channels keeps her looking forward, which is great! The rear crosses were immediately better because she understands to run the full channel. Nice! One thing I noticed was that she had a little trouble on the hard entries when you started running immediately (this is normal!). So using the easy entries, send and run fast down the line before she gets to the entry. That can help her sort out how to hit and hold the entry with you moving fast, and then a couple of sessions later we can move it down the clock and add the fast movement on the harder entries. For now on the harder entries, move away as soon as you send her, but at a calmer rate of speed 🙂
And keep tightening the channels, bit by by, she is doing really well!
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
I think it is funny when they fix their mistakes – my 2 year old dog tries to do that. I take it as a sign of understanding and they are enjoying the process, but I try to be really fast calling her back. The other thing I see with Chapter is note how he is getting his reward and setting up the line up between your feet as you are walking back – that is also a sign of a relaxed, happy dog enjoying the process. Yay! It might seem like a small detail but I think it is huge.And yes, he is being super good but also really hoping you will throw the frisbee haha!
On this setup, he was great. And in a new location! And I can’t believe the hubby didn’t mind you weaving on the putting green LOL!!!!!!
So, next session, a couple of things to add to move to the next step:
Move the MM a little further away, 6 feet or so from the exit of the weaves, if there is room – that way he can run through out and of the exit.
And, angle the poles a little, maybe all at 2&8. I think he will be fine because he understands the setup now. And the angled poles will get even more bending into the entry.And, last but not least… do more frisbee throws. He is ignoring it pretty brilliantly (only really looking at it when he has to choose the MM at the very end) so I think you can add more excitement with the favorite toy.
Great job!
TracyHi!
Does the toy have a bungee on it? That can save your shoulders and help prevent him from pulling you over 🙂 I like tugging in training but I definitely do NOT want him pulling you over or wrenching your shoulders.Yes, I have totally had dogs give me the big “no thanks” when it comes to toys. I might ask again in that moment or try to move the toy… but, like you, I don’t force it. Forcing the tugging is not fun for anyone and it is definitely not a reinforcement at that point. So, if it happens, I will go to food and then try to figure out how to make the toy more interesting in that moment or when food is around. And if the dog’s belly is full… I just end the session. My dogs tend to be bottomless pits in terms of food so I usually just set a timer. They can eat non-stop LOL
TracyHi!
She did really well here!!!! Lovely understanding of entries and staying in. And, interestingly, she is following pretty much the exact progression of my medium sized dog, Hot Sauce. That makes things easier because Hot Sauce is 2 weeks ahead based on me starting the filming 2 weeks before class started haha!
So the reason I bring it up is that Keiko’s understanding is spot on: get in, stay in from pretty much anywhere and no matter what you do. YES! Love that! She is still sorting her striding out and based on where the weave are here, she should be striding. But she is thinking so deeply about getting it right that sometimes she strides, sometimes she changes her rhythms. That is exactly what my pup was doing.Here is what got the striding: for the next 2 sessions (whenever the rain stops, she needs a couple of days off from weaving anyway) with the poles in this setup or maybe one tiny bit tighter – do fast & furious top of the clock entries only. Any entry between 10 o’clock and 2 o’clock starting from a tunnel or far back. Without having to think as hard about the entries, she will be able to start feeling the rhythm and get into the regular groove of the striding. At that point: we can go back to the harder angles. She is doing so well with the harder angles that I don’t mind shifting focus to the striding/. You’ll see more of that in the videos coming Monday 🙂
And when she has the striding for 4 poles and they are almost closed, we will probably be spending next week on 6 poles (and once she has 6 poles, 12 is very easy to get to). Exciting times ahead!
Great job 🙂 Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
Both games are going well here 🙂
The hop on cookies for the elevator game will basically buy you time to be ready with all of the mechanics, now that he is pretty eager to get on the board LOL! And they will help when you start to lift the board for Elevator Game 2. And I think he is ready for that, both the lifting and then adding in you moving forward (but start that while the board is still low).
Was he scratching the end of the board during the countdown?? LOL I guess that is the equivalent of forward focus hahaha! He looks really good here, he was even being pushy 🙂 so you will be able to add levels petty quickly.>>I don’t have the teeter outside yet so it’s hard to add in Nemo in the basement,>>
Yeah, normally I would bug you about getting the teeter outside but it is SNOWING there so… stay inside hahaha Tell Mother Nature to BEHAVE please, no more snow or cold!
He did a great job here and you can release to his breakfast on some of the reps (maybe spoon some into a smaller bowl so you can do more than one rep). Note him licking his lips at the end as you sent him into target position – helllooooo Pavlov! Perfect!
The height of the board is really good, so I think the next steps are to add you moving past the end as the board drops, adding more speed to your motion and challenging him to hit and hold end position.
And then we start fading the target 🙂Great job here!!! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi! You can totally cherry pick! It keeps things fresh 🙂
>>He LOVES the MM, so this is probably making it a bit more difficult than if I used the tunnel.>>
Ha! Yes, the tunnel is probably easier for baby dogs. He did well! His questions were good ones, based on the cues he was reading. I think he was 100% accurate – here’s why:
>>When I do this, given that we are practicing the come in and go out like in a serp or threadle, I should be turning him away from me to finish instead of what I did, shouldn’t I? So, in the first set of reps where he started to my left (right on video), I was finishing by rotating him around me to my right. Afterwards, I realized that I should probably have continued traveling in a straight line or even showed him handling to go away from me after passing the wing. Is this correct, or am I making something out of nothing?>>
You are correct – maintain the upper body serp cue and reward with the other hand for going back out. That will accomplish the serp lines and also keep your cues clear. Get started by standing still and not letting your shoulders move at all, until he is eating from the reward hand. Then you can add motion, but your feet do all the moving and your upper body remains in that rotated position. Early in the video, he was going directly to the MM on a couple of reps – that was when your dog side shoulder was closing forward, ending up perpendicular to the jump, so he was correct to stay on the line to the MM based on the physical cue (:13, :21 for example). When your shoulders stayed open, he was really strong coming in on the serpentine. Yay!
The other thing you can do is reward with the MM! You can move it a little further past the wing and then as you hold serp position: if he comes in, you can click it and send him to it. Here is a video with more of that visual with the MM, plus some motion. You should be able to see that ‘frozen’ upper body and how it elicits the come in- go out moves from the dog:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gkoNPCHtFwI
Great job! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi! He is lining up beautifully! Great job! Even from the other obstacles: he took the moment to square up his rear before driving up the board. Perfect! This game can go into a rotation that you play every couple of weeks or so, you don’t have to do it that often.
For now, move to the Elevator Game Part 2 and keep fading the target on the downhills and bang game.Great job here!
TracyHi! It is fun to watch him work, so I am glad the feedback is fun too 🙂
On this video:
Ha! A good challenge for him, finally. He has been so perfect that he was making my brain have a strain trying to add some challenge.
I love this setup for him, it simulates the teeter on course! Great job! He was starting to get it but also had several glorious failures of the crimes of passion variety.You can do 2 things at the start of the next session:
use you plank like it is a bang game, where he is just jumping on at the end. That will allow for a ton of quick reinforcement. Then, add in motion: just walking at first. When you were running, he forgot to stop LOL!! So add in motion slowly. When he can do that with the obstacle distractions, you can add in the full plank with you walking, then build that to running the full course and stopping on the plank. It might take a session or two but I think he will get it nicely 🙂Great job! Let me know what you think!
Tracy
