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Hi!
>> Having trouble with left side, even when she’s on the outside. Did a short session at lunch and will do a few more reps on left and add the second pole if goes well.>>
Perfect! Keep isolating the hard side and work the easy stuff on it – and you can add the harder challenges to her easy side 🙂
>>Can you share how you were able to get your one dog that was afraid of the manners’ minder to be comfortable with it so you could use it? >>
I treat the MM like a box or toy that the dog offers behavior on, and I give her a treat. For example, I shape the dog to hit it with her feet, or back up onto it, or run around it – and click/treat from my hand. So it is not a food dispenser for a while. Then when the dog loves to offer behavior on it, I click then drop a bunch of food in the MM tray.
Eventually I get to letting the MM dispense the food, but that is when the dog loves offering behavior on it, and the MM is really far away when I click it so the noise of the gears is not a big issue (and outdoors, because the ambient noise will muffle the MM noise).>>When Maia was missing from the left, she grabbed the cheese before I could. Went back to frisbee at RT and cheese to call her back. Manners minder would be big help.>>
As you are building the love to the MM, you can use it (or an empty food bowl) as a target. it is a visual aid but the cookie is not already in it – so yo can toss the cookie to it if she is correct, but she doesn’t get the cookie if she is wrong 🙂
>>Noticed your coming to Chicago area for a seminar! One day I will join you live! This is my first dog, so have a ways to go before I can work with you! Maia is almost 3.>>
You don’t need to do anything extra to be able to come to a seminar, you are ready now! I hope to see you at one soon 🙂
TracyHi! Gotta love a cold front!!
On your first video – there were a couple of oopsies in the beginning but I think those were more about sorting out the mechanics of the start and the toy throws. Then when that was sorted, he was pretty perfect!! Hitting entries and bending!! And what the heck was the slow motion shark week move he did on one of the toy throws? LOL!!! Funny 🙂the second session picked up really nicely too! I am super happy with how he is hitting and holding the entry! That last one was GREAT!!! He had one error, and it looked like it was a start that he was not ready for – on all the others, you took a moment, got ready, then sent him. On that one you just kinda started and he was not ready LOL! So take that moment and that crispness of the cue will help the success even more.
I think you can move the 2 bases closer together now – do that before you angle them more. And if he is fine with the 2 bases closer, then yes – angle them more. Yay!!Good boy with the channels!! He was a superstar with the bending!!!! I think that concept of bending into the entry is really solidifying. On the 6 poles, you can add even more challenges (rear crosses, etc) and you can also do that on the 12 poles! I think he is ready for more.
Great job! Let me know what you think!
TracyThat first rep was hilarious: WHEEEETUNNELLLLL hahaha!
He did well overall in these sessions. I think you can generally go to adding motion a little sooner, so he is seeing motion a lot more than he sees standing still When you added it at the end, he had no trouble and that is great!! Yay!
yes, he does have a little trouble at the 10 o’clock angle, but he did get better and better as the sessions went along. You can start him closer to the poles so he has less room to curl in to the wrong entry, and it is easier to be correct. And you can try to drop the reward in between poles 2 and 3 for that entry to help solidify it.
The other thing I notice is that you didn’t go south of 9 and 3 on the clock so be sure to work the bottom of the clock too (4-5-6-7-8) so he gets those hard entries too.>> So, when I do 2x2s again, does it look like we are ready to switch to 1 & 2 straight and 3 & 4 back to 3&9? I haven’t seen any foot work starting so far with the current angles, but I heed your words to reduce reps as soon as we get into that territory!>>
I think the top of the clock angles are ready for the next step , but you will want to make sure the bottom of the clock angles are ready too – so maybe one session working the bottom of the clock then you an do to poles 1 and 2 at 12&6 and poles 3 and 4 at 3&9.
I don’t think you will see striding til the poles are pretty tight, probably when poles 1 and 2 are straight and poles 3 and 4 are art 1&7. So you have more time before you need to start limiting reps- this is still easy on his body 🙂
Great job!
TracyHi! Nice session here! He was driving for sure! It is hard to get a full on run with this starting point but he was definitely game on, moving fast. Yay! So… add a little more tip, continuing to work towards getting the board to the ground and the end position.
>In looking at the 3rd set of games released on 3/29, are there particular pre-requisites before doing any of them? Obviously raising height on the bang it game is just a futher progression, but does more tip need to be place on uphill or downhill before trying the elevator game or the downhill to end position?>>
yes, the bang game is just more of the progression. For the elevator game, we are starting pretty low so you can start it just below wherever you are in the bang game. For the downhills – you can keep working what you did here, until at some point the edge of the board is close enough to the ground that you just decide he is ready to marry end position to the downhills 🙂 He is getting really close to that! Maybe a few more sessions. The uphill game can sit tight for now, put that progression on pause and we will pick it up again in a week or so. The focus shifts to the end position for a bit and then we merge in the uphills 🙂
Nice work here!
TracyHi!
On the first video:
For the bang game, use the target – I don’t see it here and he was going into the down, but was looking at you and then the down behavior started to shift a bit. So for now, have the target still on and we can fade it gradually so he can maintain the behavior and not look at you.He seemed perfectly happy with with the rebound game as soon he got past the first rep or two. Yay!
The elevator game is much harder for mechanics indeed! I recommend the target on this one too, to help out in the early stages. Keep playing around to see why mechanics feel best – you had the opposite arm holding the edge of the board and feeding with the dog side arm – you might find it easier to reverse that and have the opposite arm doing the feeding? The other thing is to remember the countdown 1-2-3- then say spot, so he has ready for the board to move (it also allows us to build in the next level, coming soon :))
He was happy to let you noodle around with the mechanics, the movement didn’t seem to bother him – nice! So that way you can keep figuring what it easiest and he will be happy to let you do that.I think he did really well on the mountain climbers in the new place! For the super hard challenges, you can load the target (like when you hung back and sent him ahead). But the rest had end position and he was really strong on all of those reps!! I do think you were right to not add in more challenge – he did have a lot of slips and an almost fly off, so he didn’t need more tip here 🙂 He would have driven up the board with more tip, but he would have also been a bit off balance so it was the good choice to wait on it.
Great job here!! Based on what is coming next, you can play with fading the target on the plank, but still do the target on the bang/elevator/rebound games 🙂
Have fun!
TracyAh, bummer about the phone!! I am glad she had fun running up the board from the tunnel, you can definitely keep doing that to continue to build speeeed and excitement. She did really well here running up to the wobbly end. Great job here, she is making progress in all the different games!!
TracyHi! I agree – this was so fun to watch! And she even did her first fly off LOL!!!!
Two things I really loved:
When she messed up, you two laughed. That is SO much better than when people get uptight – you two had a chuckle then tried again and she blossomed.I also LOVE that she is trying to slide into position. That is GREAT as it shows confidence and weight shift. She was not doing it as much when you were behind her, but there were a couple when you were ahead and moving that she really wanted to sliiiiiide 🙂 Yay!
This game should definitely go on the road – take the wobble board or baby teeter and the target to different places to generalize the position and the joy 🙂
In the regular locations, keep adding motion and excitement to challenge her. She looked great!
TracyHi!
Good job introducing the rebound game!! I think she was happiest when the board moved slowly and when it was only a little tip. When it moved fast and it tipped a lot, she was unsure. She was perfectly happy to stay there and eat as soon as she figured out the game, though LOL!! Good girl. So on the next rebound game, especially if it is on a new teeter – start with a tiny bit of slow moving tip. And then if she is happy and doesn’t pop off, you will be able to add more tip. I am glad that even though she thought it was a weird new game, she got right back on every time!! Yay!Nice work!
TracyBummer! Yes, it is too soon to put it into a course – he is still learning the confidence and plus we have some history to un-do in the teeter history. In new locations, try more of the end behavior games like the bang game to start to transfer the teeter love. And we will begin looking at plans to get the teeter into a course in the next couple of weeks.
Tracy
Hi! Lots of good work here!!
Starting with the proofing: The first rep was really good!! On the 2nd rep, I think your foot and arm position was a little rotated and pulled her off the wing for a moment at :13 – try to be a little more forward-facing and keep your arm a little back (pointing less). She did figure it out, so you can totally reward that! You did show the toy but didn’t give it to her, but she can get it to play with in that moment because she did figure it out nicely. Same at :25 and :38 – the pointing was a little confusing so she was not sure if she should go or not, so it took her a moment to figure it out. Compare it to the first rep where you arm was back as she exited the tunnel and then it moved with her line – that was the smoothest drive to the wing. So you can connect with her on the tunnel exit with your arm back, then it can glide forward as you step to the wing. She wasn’t overly focused on the toy – but do be sure you let her have it on each rep to play tug 🙂
Set point: This went well! She had a nice stride pattern going through this, it is what we are looking for. Yay! She only broke the first stay, the rest looked strong. Keep rewarding it and I am sure it will stay strong. Because she is so young, there is not a lot more to do with it right now… so just revisit it maybe once a week or so to keep it fresh as her body grows 🙂
On the week 2 game:
On the first video, her wing commitment looked great and the left turns on the tunnel exit looked good too, especially on the 2nd rep. Your go from the tunnel to the wing looked really good – and your connection on the tunnel exit to convince her to take the wing was GREAT! When you crossed and wanted her to go back to the tunnel at :26 and :38 was not as connected – you were running fast so when you looked forward, she slid past the tunnel. From the wing to the tunnel, stay super connected, looking right at her eyes as you run towards the tunnel, and maintain the cue til you know she sees it and will go in.
You did that connection much more clearly on the 2nd video – you really emphasized the connection to help show her the tunnel, it was lovely!
Really nice connection on the 3rd video, you are really mastering the connection element and it looks great! I see what you mean about the right turn tunnel exits being wide – your verbal is on time, but you physical cue is driving forward. Because she is young, motion is trumping the verbal. So to help her, let her see you turn and head to the wing on the right at the same time you say the verbal. That way she will see and hear the cue, and that should tighten it right up.
Great job!!!! Let me know what you think 🙂
TracyHow fun!!!!! I hear it snowed a bit up there, but hopefully the weather is back to being lovely! Tell Lin that I say hi and enjoy your vacation 🙂
TracyHi! Long time no see 🙂 She was great today!
Revisiting toy races will help with the drive to the dead toy. And doing it in a small space (and 2 toy games and retrieving games) will all build value for bringing it back and playing with you 🙂
THi!
I 1000% feel the pain of being subject to the whims of the tech gods!!!
Very strong session here: Very nice wraps and go to the jump! You were nicely connected so she seemed to find the line easily, no problem on any rep. She never looked back or curled in, and she never ran past it. Adding distance? Perfect! Working both sides? Also perfect. Verbals? Yup! Yay!
So you can add challenge to the handling in one of 2 ways:– send to the wing from further away so you are ahead of her, passing the jump, as she exits. The challenge is: can she find the jump when you are waaaaay ahead and hauling *ss?
– start super close to the wing, stand still til she finishes the wrap: then run. The challenge is: can she drive ahead of you to find the jump.
My only question is about the toy. She chased the toy when you threw it, but did she play with it then you switched to food? If so, yay! If she did not play with it, you can work that engagement more and you can also bring her back to the wing while tugging (you did this on one of the reps and it worked great!!) That layers in more arousal too. When it was planted at the end and ‘dead’, she did not drive for it – she took the jump and looked back. You can revisit toy races to get that dead toy to be more interesting. And on the throws, you can run out and get her tugging 🙂
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
>>Congratulations! Your latest message has sent me down the verbal option rabbit hole. LOL!
Ha! Just pick a couple so you can add those without getting caught in a spiral.
>>As I better understand the steps that you have in mind for this loop, and in particular that you want me marking and rewarding the decision to offer looking and moving away from me, I am realizing that I can’t use “Yes”, because I use “yes” interchangeably with the clicker itself as a marker. Like, in situations where I don’t have my clicker. And that is pretty hard wired at this point.>>
That is what I thought it might be. Good choice to change it.
>>So, I’m going to use “Aye-Aye” (synonym for Yes) for the reward from my hand.>>
Perfect!
>>Like you, I am using Get it and Catch for thrown rewards.
I have a couple of others too – like “Bite” means grab it hard in my hand when I am not moving, and a shhhhhhhhhh noise is the cue to grab the toy when I am running on course.
>>I also sat down and typed out a list of all of my verbals and what they mean so that I can keep track and remind myself for “cleanliness.”>>
The clean physical cues are 99% of it too – clean mechanics are more important than the verbals (as we learn when we train chickens haha) and all of the young/inexperienced dogs are cuing off of physical movements anyway, not really just the verbals. But consistency with the physical cues will build the verbals – the ‘catch’ cue being a good example. We’ve been using it on stays for a while, so I can lead out, stand still, not move at all – and if I say “catch”, Elektra will lean back and open her mouth (it is so funny). But if I say “break” , she drives out of the stay to me. The other cues will build with continued consistency and pairing.
I did a little discussion/demo with some of the examples, it is oh-so-slowly loading in this terrible country internet.
>See you tomorrow morning in the brisk wind chill!>>
I am NOT in a happy place about the cold, but I guess it is better than snow right? LOL!
T
Hello!
>>1. Work Bang Game and add excitement (is that what you mean by “add challenge”?)
yes to excitement, but also more height and motion – moving forward, crosses – and sending from behind her (the field guides will have the list)
>2. Take the Elevator Game on the road
Yes 🙂
>3. Work the target on a plank and work on fading the target
Yes 🙂
> 4. Downhill: add target at the bottom (on the ground)
Yes 🙂
>5. Uphill: review once a week-ish
Yes 🙂
Have fun!
Tracy
