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Good morning!
Hope you had a lovely Thanksgiving! And hope you are enjoying today’s UKI trial – I would love an update when you have a moment!!!On the video: Wow, he did really well here! It is a really difficult challenge that most Masters dogs cannot perform successfully.
He did exceptionally well turning to his right and also was perfect on all the balance reps. He had a slightly harder time turning to his left like at :37 and on the last turn away rep. It could have been that your arm was higher and the cue was later, or that he is not as good turning to his left (I kinda remember that he is a lefty but I am severely under-caffeinated so my memory cannot be trusted :))… or that the exit when he is on your left is weirder and he is using the last pole when he is on your right to wrap to the tunnel. So you can experiment: when he is on your left, give your cue sooner so he uses pole 5 to wrap to the tunnel! That will be interesting to see and might be clearer for him.
>>He hasn’t taken his toy into a tunnel in a very long time and he did it here after the last rep.
Ha! Probably brain-tired 🙂 This is a hard setup where he has to go fast AND think hard. Good boy!!!!
Great job here!
TracyGood morning! Hope you had a good Thanksgiving!!!
>>t life kept me from sitting down and editing till now.
Totally understandable – editing takes a long time@@@@
>>At first I had trouble with him reading it as a back side cue, but he figured it out.
I don’t htink it was him as much as it was you LOL!! You had a bit of Goldilocks (too late, too early, just right 🙂 ) going on the first few reps:
On the first 1st rep, your cues were really late – he was in the air when they started. Good boy for reading it when he landing!
2nd rep and the others when he thought it was a backside – your feet were too early 🙂 As soon as he was landing from the first jump, you turned your feet & pushed into his line and that is definitely a backside cue, so he read it as such. Good boy!
Sarting at :25, your timing and cues were definitely more inf the “just right” zone – the hard part of these is that your feet need to face forward til he is looking at the correct side of the jump then turn to show the RC. So at :25 and after, you totally got the timing and rhythm of it so he was very very successful. Yay!
You can definitely emphasize your upper body too – more arms use, like a tandem turn, will help him so your feet won’t need to be as perfect. Plus the upper body is easier to see as you add more and more distance.
At :53 when he took the tunnel after the wrap – more connection was needed but also that is a good one to work the verbal because I believe it was your wrap verbal, not your turn left verbal. Good for you for going back to it and for rewarding it!!!!!! and showing the balance. Smart training!!!! I was going to suggest it but you were way ahead of me. Click/treat for you!!!
When you added in the layering, he did really well!!!
>> At 1:45 (I think that’s about right) I had done a rep and he did well when I said go over and then at this point I had just said over and he had a question. Not sure if I did something different with my body, timing or if I need the go there. Ideas?>>
Yes, he was watching you a little there and at 1:45 you got reallllly quiet and weren’t moving so he asled a good question. Part of it was lack of experience with the big distance/layering and part of it was that you were not moving. So he was chekcing in to see if the verbals really were allowed to override the lack of motion.
So as you work this skill, shout the verbals early and often 🙂 and also keep moving because the motion will help support the verbals too.The staying in motion will really help – Wager is more experienced and also asked that question on his rep (it is always good to see Wager working!!! )
>>How long is this class open for submissions?
Til December 1 🙂
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
>>Is this face the way I want to go my back to him then turn back toward him and catch?
Yes I prefer to lead out and then face him but I’m working thru that in a trial I’ve not been successful lol… I have a ring rental week after next will experiment.
yes – I find that my speed on course is much better when I don’t rotate to face the dog on th release, then have to rotate again to start moving. I just keep moving the way I want to go the whole time, including the release – that keeps my butt moving better 🙂 So I make sure the dogs understand the ‘catch’ in this situation too!
Tracy
Good morning! Hope you had a lovely Thanksgiving!
These are going really well – TONS of success!
On the teeter, I think he is asking some questions about whether it is 4on or 2o2o. I think this reinforcement procedure will help clarify his 2o2o!!! To help get it started, you can use a small target so you don’t gt the 4on thenneed to use a 2nd cue to get the 2o2o then do the catch – and then yo ucan easily fade the target. Yo ucan also toss teh catch reward so it lands just in front of where you’ll want the 2o2o to be, so he is encouraged to step all the way into position in order to efficiently get the reinforcement rather than stop short in the 4on.
Also, you can do the catch while you stay in motion as long as you are sure he has fully stopped in his 2o2o – this will simulate what happens on course when you are running hard 🙂You cn also work this with a ball or tug toy… I am thinking ahead to bringing it into the ring for NFC runs in UKI where you can throw things (in UKI, you can also put a target on the ground in NFC!)
The weaves looked really strong, so let’s add challenge to the 6 pooes here! You can do everything the same in terms of marker and reinforcement with get it, but you can add in varying your position to be behind him or way ahead or do a rear cross on the entry, with the get it still coming at the same time and place – that can help set up even more independent weaves! You might need to change the line of entry so it is easier to set up your different positions relative to the weaves. And of course you can add in 12 poles too, he is looking great!
Nice work! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning! Hope you had a fun Thanksgiving!
Lots of good stuff on the video!
Her questions on the remote reinforcement procedure were small but also a good indicator that she still needs to have more experience with this. And then it will be much easier to transfer to the ring. When the dogs understand remote reinforcement, they move away quickly and start offering engagement and behaviors because they recognize that is the gateway to getting the reinforcement 🙂
You can make it easier by having a bag of treats not naked treats LOL!
What was your word here? It was hard to tell exactly what you were telling her, I think it was slightly different over the course of the sessions so be loud and consistent 🙂Things were a little harder with the good toy but she did really well!! Good girl! Now, as you move away from the food or toys, add in asking for a simple, fun trick before marking and going back to the reinforcement. We build this in to sporty stuff starting on Monday.
For the ‘catch’ procedure:
>>I often throw back a treat on her start line with a get it command. I am changing that to catch. But she’s used to that being her release. She thought for sure I was trying to trick her on the AF. Yes I’ve been doing a lot of proofing so I did use my release cue in that moment when I realized she thought I was tricking her by throwing the toy.”
Working the catch procedure separately at the end of the video, on the flat, was smart to get the marker/procedure clearer. On the a-frame, you can use a cookie and get it right between her feet or behind her, to teach her to get the reinforcement and that it is not a proofing thing. If she thinks it is a proofing thing, then catch will not serve its purpose as a reinforcement – it will be a stay cue. So work it separately like you did here and then when you do add it back to the frame, don’t use the ‘you’re free’ otherwise it will devalue the marker.
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning! Hope you had a lovely Thanksgiving!!
>> In the first video from October you can see Buccleigh being over aroused with frantic barking. We took your engagement workshop and he is now more relaxed at trials (also in day to day activities and agility classes-it’s been a real improvement and we are definitely having more fun and less stress). He is able to pay attention and stay engaged, but now I think he is more aware of his surroundings and he is nervous.>>
If you think back to the engagement seminar, we talked about the Yerkes-Dodson bell curve. The frnatic barking was probably on the right hand side of the bell curve (overarousal, where he is distracted by internal distractions) and the noticing more things in the environment means he is more on the left hand side of the bell curve (underarousal, where he is distracted by external distractions like the judge). And dogs do seem to be able to slide back and forth between the 2 from one moment to the next. However, based on what you are saying, he is closer to optimal now (that top part of the bell curve) and not way down low on the left hand side. YAY!!!! That is fabulous progress!!!!! I am so glad you are both having more fun and less stress.
>> You can see in the second video that he is aware of the judge and seems a bit nervous.
The second video is marked private, can you repost?
>> I also observed that when he can go in a tunnel or do a contact his worry decreases. (When he was on the table in video 2, I was telling him what a good dog he was.)>>
I noticed that in the first video too – and also in that first video, he seemed to really love the weaves! So… he likes action and he likes things that have been heavily reinforced (like weaves and the aframe) He did NOT seem to like the table in the first video.
>>> He loves agility so I am wondering if these rewarding activities help to relieve some of his worry.
Yes, making agility as reinforcing as possible will TOTALLY help! And also, enphasize rewarding a lot of jumps. The one thing he is guaranteed to see in every agility course? Jumps. Reward jumps so much that they are as reinforcing as tunnel or contacts.
>>If that is the case, I am hopeful that we could build on this maybe with other reward applications to help him to find his confidence.>>
Yes, in some ways, but also bear in mind that we cannot rely on the obstacles as the reinforcement – we don’t always have access to the obstacles (like outside the ring) and we want to be able to control the lines on course and reinforce certain behaviors, not just doing obstacles.
But yes – you can use obstacles to build value for other things. Have you gotten a chance to watch the building value for toys video? I am totally using obstacles and the dog’s love of ‘action’ as a way to build value for a tennis ball (I really wish I had video of how little value he had for a tennis ball before I started this – he didn’t even look at a tennis ball).
The first thing you will want to do is build value for food or toys in that situation – simple fun sequence, toy then food then sequence, and so on in a bit of a loop.
Then you can slide in a distraction – run pass a person then he gets to do the sequence then he gets the toy or food and so on.
We are going to add more about the distractions and engagement on Monday too, because he totally needs to work the engagement games with the distractions that are stimulating and/or make him nervous.
>>This is a venue where we have trialed in the past but rarely have an opportunity to train with food in the ring. He can do all of our tricks, etc before we enter the ring. >>
This is where the remote reinforcement of being able to do agility with the food reward behind him becomes critically important! More on that coming on Monday too, so be sure you have practiced the foundation procedure for it. It is great that AKC, USDAA, UKI all have training-in-the-ring opportunities… if you have a dog that loves toys. It can be pretty useless for dogs that only love food, and that is why the remote reinforcement procedure is so critical for our foodies! But once he understands it with food… then you will see him be less over- or under-aroused. The lack of clarity on how to earn the food is part of the underlying issue at trials.
>>I haven’t tried our start line stay (we are working on your start-line stay class, too) because I am not confident he could do it once we are in the ring. We can do it most of the time in class now.:-)>>
It is smart to not bring it to the trial environment yet, because we really really don’t want him to fail in a trial. But doing it most of the time in class is GREAT!!!! And, we work more specifically on it here:
The catch procedure that is posted really helps!And I have another one coming for you on Monday 🙂 that will help the start line.
The next set of games will has a major emphasis on engagement and remote reinforcement, I think you’ll find them very useful to help him in the trial ring 🙂
Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning! Hoe you had a very delicious Thanksgiving!!!
This game went well, lots of good reinforcement and also use of distractions.
Very smart to move this to a new location in the house!
He played well with the toy, even with bags of treats on the table and I think there was one behind him too! It all builds into remote reinforcement, great focus and a great stay.As you lead out for agility, try to make it match what you would do in the ring – you were turning and facing him here, which is perfect if that is what you do in the ring… but if you face where you are going next before the release, make sure you show him that so that he doesn’t predict that when you are facing forward, it is a release forward (not a catch). That anticipation can cause him to leave the stay early.
And you can also face the way you want to go, prasie him… then do the catch. That way he doesn’t anticipate that you’ll do it when you stop or when you look back at him. He is VERY smart so we need to be sure he is not one step ahead of us LOL!!!>>… catch quandary if he brings it to me is going over the bar ok or do I move toward him?
Bringing it over the jump is perfectly fine, good boy for bringing it! When you are out in the bigger field and the bar is higher, you can step to the side and encourage him to bring it around the jump, only because we don’t want the toy to knock the bar which might be startling to him.
Great job here!!!
TracyHi!
>>I tried a little experiment – grilled chicken and bowls. It went well for a few reps before she lost interest.
It is possible that she is not ready to work only for food – you might have to continue loops like behavior-food-toy for now at the 1:1 ratio. Then we fade the toy gradually by doing more cookie reps before the toy comes into the picture.
>>From all of the toy work we have done I am noticing that this game is causing her some frustration. When we do tugging, she likes to win, so I try very hard to do short tugs and let her win more than 50% of this time (also to encourage the return to hand, which is really hard for her and still a work in progress. I do a lot with 2 toys and then she willingly comes back and drops the first one because the desire to chase is so high). Here, although she gets to tug a lot, she does not get to possess the toy and that is frustrating for her. I know because there is a lot of regripping the toys and with regripping usually comes biting my hand on the regrip – a big tell. So I feel like I am undoing some of our toy work since I am not abiding by the rules we have set for certain things. And Dellin is pretty serious about her rules and more of an old soul (unlike her brother), so I don’t want to erode the trust we have built up.>>
At only a year old, I think we are still in the building phase and we don’t need to abide by the rules – we can build up to have all the tools in the toolbox, but using her preferences to build up to our preferences. This is more important than the sport-specific behaviors, and also it will happen quickly – and then so will the sport behaviors. Otherwise, you get locked into certain things and that can be limiting. So for the cone shaping you can get a little play on the toy in your hand, let her win, get it back, wrap the cone, tug in hand, let her win… all starting on a 1:1 ratio of tug in hand to winning the toy in the context of the cone wraps. She won’t get much in the back-and-forth of it *yet* but that is fine 🙂 Then we slowly and gradually change the ratio of tug:win and you will be able to develop more tug-in-hand (which in turn opens up more ways to train things).
>>At one point she sat at looked at me, like there were just a lot of questions, so I did another little experiment of adding a cone for some context since she is familiar with it. That did seem to help and she went back and forth more easily with the cone there (dumb luck? maybe). So wondering if it’s ok to keep the cone there? I was right up against it – no space.>>
You can keep the cone there, yes – but the cone is not the priority – building the reinforcement procedure is. The cone probably stimulates her to move, and based on her other preferences (chase, winning the toy, etc), movement is also high on her list of fun things 🙂
>>>I tried this out too and did a couple of the little sends – she did think it was great fun. And she is so sneaky – takes the cookie and appears to have eaten it and her mouth even opens, but then it falls out with the toy.>>
Ha! That cracks me up 🙂 OK we insert one more behavior – does she like to lick your hand? Will she bark on cue? Can you blow on her nose? All of those will stimulate her to swallow (Voodoo barked on cue to make sure he swallowed the treat, and I would have Contraband lick my cheek LOL! They are both foodies now). So the inserted behavior gets rewarded with the toy.
>>This morning I also tried starting the session with frisbee, then going inside for work, then back out for frisbee. Too early to tell anything. It was warm this morning, so this option may not always be available in the dead of winter.>>
What does she love to do that you can do in the house, in the training area? It is that old Susan G thing of work=play=work, right? So you can go to the training room, do something she really loves (short toy races?) then something you want to do, then back and forth between various games. I really think the next couple of weeks will be more about sorting out all of the reinforcement procedures and building up the ones that need to be stronger… then everything else is going to be really easy with her!
Let me know what you think! Have a great Thanksgiving!
TracyHi!
He was a tugging fiend!!! Yay! This looked great and yes, you were smart to try this out in a neutral place before taking it on the road.Does he have a word to grab the toy in your hand, such as ‘get it’? I think what is what you were saying on some of them (or a variation of it :)) so you can let the toy in him mouth get a little ‘dead’ then say get it and the other toy can come alive. That helps begin to add the marker that is specific to grabbing the toy in your hand. Markers are really useful!
>>I was thinking I’d try again and possibly add the cone for playing the wrap game?
1000% yes – add this to the cone. We sometimes lose toy play when a behavior is associated with food for too long – so the sooner we get toys involved in all the things, the better the toy play will be throughout his training.
Great job here! Looking forward to seeing this with the cone!!
Tracy
Hi!
>> am I actually supposed to be staying more upright until the exact moment that the moves in for the turn and that’s when I put my hand down?Yes, you will want to be upright as if you are running an agility course and then bend in with your hand when he is maybe a foot away from you. Or, since he is little, you can use a long wooden spoon with a little dab of cream cheese on the end to replace your low hand to deliver the reward.
You were indeed bending over a little too soon here – you can wait a little longer and then pivot when he is just arriving at you hand – if you wait to pivot til he is just about at the hand, he will be decelerating to turn which is good! If you turn too soon, he won’t collect as well so he will be a little wider.
And also being later on the hand dropping in an pivoting when he is just about ariving at your hand will keep you better connected – you turned too soon at 210 which caused a disconneciton, so he didn’t know which side of you to be on. But compare it to the last rep – I really liked your connection and pivot timing there and he was super tight! NICE!!
You can also play this with tug toys – the hand he drives to is empty and then he gets a tug toy after you pivot.
Only one other suggestion:
When using a stay to start this, release him with his release word like you will do from a start line rahter than his name, You can use his name if you are starting with a cookie toss, you don’t need the release word there because he is not in a stay,Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
>>Cookie catch game went perfectly. Starting to work on wing wraps which he is pretty good at too. Although I think you should have a disclaimer for your courses that if you have three dogs all three will insist on playing!>>
Ha! Yes, the games are fun so I only have one dog in the room at a time 🙂
>> He also does great entering the ring on the leash and sitting with the leash on. Once I try to take the leash off he immediately stands up.
So I was wondering should I continue for a while to just enter the ring on the leash have him sit and reward this behavior for a while and then try to add the off leash piece? I also wondered if I should try moving the jump further away and see if he will sit? Should I try the whole sequence in a less exciting place?>>
So if I am understanding things correctly – he is perfect with every step of the process and goes into his sit. Then the leash comes off, and he stands.
That is not uncommon – taking the leash off might produce a conditioned response (moving, which is often what happens when the leash comes off) and also a reflexive response – opposition reflex might cause him to move. So an easy tweak: do the process exactly as you are, except take the leash off *then* ask for a sit or stay position. This is how most of my dogs enter the ring (leash off before the stay). Of course, work that at home first so it is familiar to him and also make sure he gets rewarded for not leaving when the leash comes off. Let me know what you think!
>>P.S. Bisbee was champ at catch game. She laid down in front of the jump like the Sphinx and capably caught cheese!
She probably is wondering why we have not played this game earlier in her career LOL!
Have a great Thanksgiving!!!
TracyHi!
This went really well!
When he brings the toy, you can tug then give a cookie lime you did just to maintain the strengthen of the bringing and letting go – that was a really nice process!Double gold star for Merlin on that 2nd rep where he *almost* cut in front of you to the toy but then processed the cue and decided to do the behavior of wrapping instead of toy grabbing. YAY!!!! You gave him a good tug then a get it then cookie, all good.
>> the one rep is my error he clearly didn’t understand back from where I was>>
yes, I think your transition into the release was actually too quick. I know I bug everyone about quick transitions but he needed a moment of connection to assess the new side before you gave the back cue (the distraction of the placed reinforcement requires a little more processing time at this early stage). It was good to reward him any way.
You were clearer on the next rep but never said his get it cue so he went around but did not get it – then at 2:32, you said get it… so he did. Little guy is developing some self-control! He might have been mentally tired for the out after that (self-control is very depleting) so the out was slower, but no worries – then he needed a chew moment. This is all interesting insight into how mentally hard self-control on the toy is! But, he is doing really well!!! I am excited by his progress!!!So a big thing to remember here is to limit the # of reps that require self-control. The getting on the couch and chewing might be the sign of the brain getting a little tired 🙂 So you can do one or two reps of the placed toy or remote reinforcement (both of which require a LOT of self-control) and then go do something really easy, like get its on cookies LOL!
Great job here! And have a fabulous Thanksgiving!!
Tracy
