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Hi!
This is a good session considering the MM is a new variable! Yay! We are also starting to see some striding! On the harder right side entries, I think that the first poles being straight are a little too hard – open those up for a couple of more sessions so he can be more successful.
The other thing you can do on the ‘bottom’ of the clock angles (3-4-5 and 7-8-9) is to take one set of poles and do isolated, up close sessions where you work the really hard angles and drop the treat in right after the entry (no throwing, no MM needed, just drop it in LOL!) I did this in my living room on a small carpet 🙂Now, about the striding: he is bouncing a bit – I am not sure that he will be better as a bouncer or a swimmer (see new games added today) . How tall is he? Aussies can be either bouncers or swimmers – tall enough to swim, but front end assembly might be be better for bouncing. So as we work on striding in the coming weeks – do you have access to channels? If not, we can use open 2x2s as channels to see what he does with his striding. For now, keep the 2x2s a little more open so we can watch the striding percolate in coming days 🙂 The Find ‘Em Games added today will be fun for the 2x2s and will give us more ideas about his striding 🙂 I like to detour into striding before we finish closing up the poles 🙂
Great job here! And I like your plan to go outside if the weather holds. Start with the poles a little more open than the indoor sessions because the environment is a new variable – and if it is no problem, you can angled them really quickly 🙂
Have fun!
TracyHi there!
Yeah, I feel the pain of the MM sometimes randomly doing whatever it wants LOL! However, the good news is that I can now add the word “doo-lally” to my vocabulary LOL! What a great word!!! Ha!About using the MM… also yeah – she will eat the treats when asked but is not very excited about it. That tells us that the MM is really not a useful, high value reward. So, let’s take it out – she is not interested in the treats and she is not using it as a target – and she is working beautifully for the toy (excited but not losing her mind). So, onwards to only the toy (she won’t be sad) and I am not worried about her looking for you after she finishes the poles: on a course, you would be cuing the next obstacle.
This session was really strong in the challenges!!! Only one detail to suggest: when you are sending and going to be moving alongside the poles, try to move immediately (even if it is just walking) rather than stand still til she gets into the entry and then move. We want her to find those entries even when you are already moving. When you did the rear crosses and lateral movement away and countermotion – you moved immediately on all of those, and she was great! So, on the big sends, don’t stand still unless you are going to be standing still the whole time 🙂 If the motion is hard for her, you can dial it back to move slowly. If it is easy… move faster 🙂
I think she will be fine with it because she is really focused on her ‘work’ 🙂
In a few minutes, I will be posted all the new games for the next couple of weeks! I think you can add any of the new channels games (there are a couple for 6 poles, and a couple for 12 poles). For the new 2×2 games, you’ll want to get her onto 4 poles that are pretty angled before adding those.
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi! This also went really well! I like how you are adding in a little bit of collar touching in a way that is not eliciting tooth hugs 🙂 Nice! He is doing really well finding the poles and staying in – they are a little tighter now so he has to bend but he is doing that with now trouble!
And yes, try not to go from 0 to 100 hahahaha you can add the really hard challenge but do it walking rather than sprinting 🙂
Overall – excellent session! I am excited by his progress!!!
So for the next channels sessions, you will see several channels games posted in a few minutes: the Find ‘Em and striding games on 6 poles are probably the next steps that will eb best for him, but you will also see handling challenges on 12 open channels too! Soooo many options 🙂Great job here! Stay tuned for the new games to add.
Tracy
Hi there! He did really well here! And your throws are getting better (keep them lower though LOL!!!) He seemed to have really no trouble on this, really great finding the poles and going straight. Yay!
So, onwards we roll! You can angle the 2nd base to 2&8 (I think it is 3&9 here) and repeat the progression of sending, motion, etc. Yay! We are in lather, rinse, repeat mode on the 2x2s: add challenge with a tighter angle, work the entries and motion, repeat the process on another notch of tightening the poles. I generally try to get in 2 successful sessions (90% success or better) then I tighten it up or change a variable).I will be adding a Find ‘Em game that you can also incorporate into your 2x2s sessions. Stay tuned! Great job here 🙂
TracyHi! She did really well here! And yes, we are seeing striding start to percolate 🙂 I *think* she was deciding on bouncing but then towards the end she was playing with swimming. She started off driving really fast to the weaves, then slowed down to think about it all on the harder angles of entry and as the poles got tighter. That is fine, but it also means we don’t want to add more tightening of the poles yet. Stick with this level of tightness for another session or two, either doing what you did here (she seemed to LOVE the squirrel reward :)) or adding the Find ‘Em game that will be posted shortly (I messed up the video uploads so I am re-loading it now and waiting for my slooooooow internet to get it done). You’ll get an email when they are posted but the Find Em game can add the running to the entry.
When she can do another couple of sessions here at this level of tightness (with or without the Find ‘Em game), then we tighten the poles a little more. So now that she is striding, sessions should go to every other day or every 2 days, which probably puts us at closed or almost closed poles by next weekend or shortly thereafter. FUN!!!!!Great job! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning!
I agree, I don’t think she realized it was about the target 🙂 She was offering the down and looking at you, so it was more about the momma 🙂 When you did the intro familiarization session, was it on a plank? On the foot targeting for the 4on, I think you can help her out by making the target a bit bigger and more obvious, like the strips of tape over a think piece of cardboard or wood (arts and crafts! LOL!). And then have her hit it with her front feet, then run and hit it and lie down on it. That way you can move the little strip all around and she will go target it in different places.
And if you have a travel plank or something, or even a square platform or wobble board – you can put the target on the end of that and work those that on the plank or wobble board. That will allow her to see that it is all about the target and NOT about where the momma is 🙂
Somewhere in there, she will have a lightbulb moment and will be able to hit her position with the target no matter where you are or what you are doing.
Then it can go back onto the teeter 🙂You can see the general ideas with my smallest dog and her tape strip on the plank and also the bigger white target on the wobble board (that big white target is a leftover face mask, so it is a little elevated LOL!).
let me know if that makes sense! Yowza is a confident lady on the teeter so as soon as she realizes that the target means do the thing independently, it is going to be a fast progression. So playing with that concept away from the teeter will get it in place, and you can keep moving forward with the other games too.
Nice work!
TracyOoooooh brilliant tip about the cream cheese chunks!! Thank you! I was using the tub of it and the girls thought it was great. Contraband actually ran away from it in horror the first time – I think it was because he had just been to the vet for a curbside rabies vaccination and they use cream cheese for the dogs when they are in the building. So he must have associated the cream cheese with the horror of leaving da momma and getting the shot. Whippety dogs are very dramatic LOL!
The bang game looks really good! He is getting on and focusing on the task while getting on. I do like that you were mixing up the reinforcement a bit, as he does like to watch the hand moving. I would say the one reinforcement moment you want to avoid is releasing him when he is looking at you. So how to get that behavior? The frisbee was getting it, in terms of allowing you to have the reward out ahead (or sometimes from hand) but with MUCH less looking at yo mixed in. YAY! You can use your magic frisbee target (with or without a pre-placed cookie, sometimes you can release to the target then toss the cookie to it). And you can also have a toy on the ground out ahead. Or the MM, but I agree – other reinforcement systems are good tp play with!
So keep going with the Fritz target out there or a toy, all the time – eventually that will be replaced by obstacles 🙂Your mechanics look solid here so now start to add in the challenges of moving past and crosses, etc. – all with the target out ahead to help keep him looking forward. Then you will be able to add more tip.
Based on what we know of his confidence, I figure one or two short sessions with movement challenges, then add more tip, then a couple of sessions of different challenges, then more tip 🙂 And probably by the end of the week, depending on life schedules LOL you can have a lot of action and tip in the bang game.
Great job here!!!
TracyGood morning!
Uphills: I think he was getting more and more confident going up the teeter to enjoy the entire charcuterie you put up there for him LOL! Looks like the same amount of tip through the week? You can add a little more and do the same fun fun fun high value one hit wonder sessions. And keep using the tugging before, he seems to really get happy with that!!!
Backing up – good for him! He was really good with finding the board and pushing it down with each individual foot. And interestingly, he didn’t ‘lead’ with one foot each time, yo can see him push the board down with the left and the right at different times (although I do think the preferred the left foot by the end of the session). That is great that he was balanced enough to do it with both feet. You can leave this game where it is in terms of height of the board – the only thing to add is doing it in different places 🙂
Plank with target 1: I like this! You got it rolling in front of him then you moved gradually off to the side. And note how he was focusing on the target before you sent him to it. He was really good about hitting the position, too! And you adding standing up, which is one of the things I was planning to suggest as a next step.
Question: what were you saying as the cue? It sounded like break, the release but maybe not? If it was break, you can switch to your target cue now. if it was your target cue, then carry on LOL!Plank 2: this is what I was going to suggest as a next step – you being off to the side and standing. And it sounds like you added “bang” as the target cue: perfect! So – now that he is doing so nicely, you can move this to the bang game pre-game on the plank, where you have him off to the side, on the ground (not on the plank) but right near the end. Then you have him “leap” on into position at the end of the board, using the bang cue, while you gradually introduce the various challenges like moving past, doing crosses, etc.
Balance plank: He seems happy here and thoughtful. On this game, see if you can get him running up the board – probably with you running alongside 🙂 You can totally have the treat already on the balance equipment so that he stops on it at the end. It is the type of thing that you can revisit maybe once a week, just as a balance game and to keep the joys of weight shift fresh in his mind 🙂
Downhills: I like that he is doing some plankrobatics on the board to get on. he is also driving straight down the board, through the tip, and there is a significant amount of drop. I also think the food reward pales in comparison to the toy so he was looking at you and asking that question about the cookie LOL! So we can work out how to get the reinforcement to work more for him: you can do high value food and not have the toy in the picture (you can play tug to start and then set it aside for the actual session). Or, place the toy on the target at the end and see if he will drive down the board thoughtfully to the toy (and not leap like a wild man for it :)) Because it is a value building game, we don’t want him to say that the cookies have no value in that moment, so I am happy to look for different reinforcement strategies. He is looking really confident, so I think you can add more tip as soon after we sort out the reinforcement.
Great job here!!! He is making strong progress in all of the games!
TracyGood morning! He looks fast and confident here! He was super about driving straight through to the end. No problem! At this tip, add in more of your moving past the board, some crosses at the end, and also the wing before it and the rear crosses. All of those are designed to help him drive up and stop at the end, even as you are moving faster and faster. He likes to go fast when you go fast LOL So you can gradually add more and more of your speed so he gets the idea to stop while you run 🙂
Great job!!! It is fun to see him looking so confident!
TracyHi! Both of these sessions look regally good!
On the 2x2s, you can incorporate the toy along with the MM – the MM is out there and sometimes you click it, but you are also carrying the toy and sometimes throw it, or sometime mix it in after she gets the MM reward. Based on the channels session, the toy is not a distraction to her so you can mix it into the 2x2s as well. The MM can be a reward and also, for now, a focal point to keep reminding her to look forward.Also on the 2x2s: I think she is ready for the 2 poles to be straight, she was fast and accurate with the entries here! The only suggestion is that as she comes back to you after the reward, take a moment to reset, take a breath, then send her. That is so she can re-focus on it and tighten her bend on the left side entries (she was hitting them and going a little wider than needed) and also so she can think about not hitting the poles on the right side entries. That moment of stopping for a few seconds will let her plan her attack 🙂 especially on straight poles.
Her ‘get in, stay in’ on the channels is looking great! I think she was perfectly fine with just about every crazy thing you did except some of the left side lateral distance sends. So revisit those with a little less motion during the next session, and I am sure you can add in more motion on the session after that.
About the toy: yes, it was hard to get the toy in before she looked back at you at the end but it looks like she was looking straight in the poles. Try to get the reward thrown as soon as he left shoulder is at pole 3, and throw it towards the MM each time. And rather than praise, try a marker: something like “get it” so she is cued to drive forward. She is not looking at you in the poles, so I think this will also help keep her from looking at you 🙂
Has she seen 12 poles yet in the channels? I think she is ready 🙂Great job here!
TracyGood morning! He did really well here! He looks totally solid on most of the angles. He is thinking about the really hard angles: he is thinking more on the hard angles on the right side sends but getting them. He is thinking about the hard angels on the left side sends and had some misses. So on those left side sends, you can isolate those to have less motion to let him think for now, then add the motion back.
I think that you can also work those hard left side sends (and all the things, really) in the next strep too: poles 1 and 2 go straight at the 12&6 angle and poles 3 and 4 go wide open to 3&9 for a bit. It looks like poles 1 and 2 are at 1&7 here, so you can move to the next step and isolate those angles.
I like the idea of the find em on the 6 poles before going to 12 – it is a great way to also start to fade the MM!
Great job! Have fun!
TracyHi! I am loving his confidence driving across the board!!! Good boy!! There is a lot more tip and he was still happy to drive across. Good boy! About the fly off moment – I think he is sorting out the weight shift. As he was getting to the end of the board on the other reps, especially when you were running, watch his front end: his head was up and his front legs were straight, which means he was more upright and forward in the weight shift, and not crouched and shifted back into his rear. So, to isolate the crouch and weight shift, you can go to the weight shift game with the plank going up to the peanut or inflatable. And, also focus on the end position games like the bang game, because that really fosters the weight shift.
I am glad his is so confident on the mountain climbers too! That is great! All the pieces are starting to come together. Great job!
TracyHi!
He did really well on the bang game!!! I agree – I think he is pretty happy with this game 🙂 One thing to try – move the food bowl target one inch further away to give him more room for his front feet, as that might help him be perfect in the 2o2o and not stop in 4on.
You can add a little more tip here! When you add more tip, yo can also go to starting him very close to the end of the board, so he has to leap onto the end without a running start – this builds strength and balance into it, which is perfect for this stage.
While I am thinking of it – when you start to fade the target, you can replace the bowl with gradually smaller pieces of aluminum foil 🙂He did well with the downhills with all that tip! Driving ahead of VERY difficult at this stage – I was just thinking that maybe the ball would be useful and then you added it 🙂 And then when you were throwing it at the end, he liked that too 🙂 You can try leaving it on the target plate for him to run to: worst case scenario is that it bounces off, and he chases it LOL!
I suggest a couple more sessions at this level of tip with the downhills… then onwards to the downhills to the ground and end position! Yay!!!! On those, move with him rather than send so his drive across the board is supported by body language.
Great job!
TracyOoh, he was cuckoo here in a GOOD way! The toy play and quick releases add a lot of excitement! Because he left the end position several times when you were running, do some “fake” running – be exciting verbally, lean in, pump your arms… but just walk 🙂 That will split the excitement a bit, so he will be more likely to be able to be excited AND be correct on the downhills.
Then when he can do it with you fake running, we start to add back real running 🙂 That way you can get all the passion he had here plus the accuracy.
The bang game looks really strong – yes, you had a little too much giddy up on a couple of reps, but overall he was super – so add a little more tip next time 🙂
Great job here!
Tracy
