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Hi Joni! Hope you had a great weekend!
She did really well here! And you were super patient! Ruby is fast and likes to move… so choosing to be stationary is probably the last thing on her mind LOL! And you got it! Yay! Patience is the name of the game. You can also get the placement of reward in really fast by just dropping into the thing so she would be more tempted to stay in it. But it was definitely NOT a hot mess LOL! It took you only :44 seconds to get her lightbulb to go on so she was like “Got it! In the thing!” I think it was fine to keep going after the second success with all four feet in the box – when you tossed the cookie, she lost her train of thought and had to remember it. So you can use a release to a tug toy for a play break right next to it, which might make it more likely for her to get in and stay in – and then you can give big rewards for staying in it like you did. The cookies tossed out to the side will be great for if you want to keep her moving through something, like a running contact mat or weave pole shaping eventually.
Lovely job!!! You should totally do some type of shaping like this, once a week, it is great for the pup!
TracyHi! Sorry for the delay, the weekend of live online seminars for the other puppy group has put me way behind!
He is doing a GREAT job of ‘targeting’ the prop on the parallel path here. And you are amazingly connected, I think the timing of your marking is absolutely nailing it! Both of those will serve you well for what this builds into. I think I do want him to actually touch it, because he is going to have to weight shift the tiniest bit to do so. That weight shift simulates what he will need for jumping, even in extension, and for finding weave entries and getting on contacts when he is older. So, yes, you can reinforce touching it. But add your speed more gradually so his rate of success stays high. Handler motion is a huge distraction, so going from regular walk to faster walk to a slight jog… looking for 80% or higher on each session with him touching it. Because he is doing so well here, I think it will be an easy thing for him.
nice work!
TracyHi there! Great ‘seeing’ you this morning!!!
Nice work on the teeter, he is looking great!!
>>But I noticed he’s had a bit of a hesitation at the tipping point, so this is a great exercise.>>
I think his drive to the end here was AWESOME! Really fast up the board!! And pretty independent. And totally having to think about where all parts of his board need to be, and that is really critical at this stage.
>>1) He is slow to get into his down behavior and is still struggling a little with keeping his legs in the right place in that position. Given he’s under a year and a little leggy, I would expect some of that is just growing up.>>
Question – how did you originally train it? It is possible that he needs a target to down on, just as a target elicits as nose touch for 2o2o. That might make it more salient and faster?
>>2) Also, whenever I pre-placed a treat, he 100% ate the cheese whiz before going into a down.
Relatable! I, too, would eat first if the food was there and then do the behavior 🙂 Especially if the treat placement had nothing to do with how he learned it (I am guessing you did not use a food lure there to teach the down on the teeter)
>> When I didn’t preplace, he would volunteer a down, but still delayed. So, clearly he does not see “spot” as a full chain of behavior of running to the end and going down. I do have a black circle target there – which I first used on the ground before adding to the teeter.>>
Ah! I see, you do have a target. Maybe he thinks the teeter has to land on the ground and then he moves into the down. It might be hard for him to balance in the down when it is in the air so he might be thinking the down is for as it is landing? Very few big dogs down at the end when it is that high – they tend to rock back and then as it is landing, finish the down.
>>Should I stick with this and the behavior will get stronger with more practice/understanding. Or, am I doomed to failure >>
Totally not doomed to failure 🙂 Many many top dogs have a down on the teeter! I think you need to define exactly when you want him to start the down – is it OK to weight shift as the board is dropping then finish going into the down as the board lands? That should get good balance on the board and a nice down at the end! When I do a 2o2o, most dogs will have all 4 feet on the board and they assume the weight shifted crouch position until the board is just about landing, then they step into 2o2o. The down might be the same?
Let me know what you think!
TracyHi! I think winter is fully upon us, so stay tuned for more and more indoor ‘stuff’ 🙂 Great seeing you this morning!! And yes, tomorrow will be the same general games and anywhere else the different dogs take us 🙂
Tracy
Hi! His toy retrieve at the beginning looked fabulous! Yay!
He is doing a really nice job offering his sits. Yay! and he looks like he is starting to understand to hold the position too. One thing you can add in is moving away with a little more of a normal walking gait – but the instant you begin to step away, click and throw the reward back to him. I think the only struggle he had was on your first step away. So basically, as soon as he sits, you start the game by beginning to walk away: but as you start that, click/toss in the same motion. That rewards the choice to sit & stay and also counter conditions the movement away that so many dogs reflexively go with. Then you can ping pong in more duration – sometimes instant click/toss, sometimes a couple of steps – always while you are moving 🙂 If there is too much standing still then moving, it is hard for the pups to hold the stay. If we are moving the whole time, they can’t predict or pair movement (or lack of movement) with the release or click, so we end up being able to get a lot more duration as you move away.
I think he is ready for that, which will get a nice long stay & lead out! But if he disagree 🙂 you can dial it back – the rate of success will let you know how he feels about it.
Great job! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi! His is doing well with this!! He is showing really nice value for the prop and beginning to let you move away. We can sharpen the mechanics of the send to help build even more countermotion: stand totally still in your starting point, with him in front of you and making eye contact (I have found that saying something silly like ready ready ready will help get eye contact). Then make a big, sharp, dramatic send movement and connection shift – BAM! – so he knows exactly when to go and the drama of the arm/leg movement and connection shift will propel him… at which point it will be even easier to move away. I also make weird noises like “swoosh!” LOL that help the pups know when to start 🙂 That will make the transition from handler focus to line focus for the send even clearer. I think he wasn’t entirely sure of when to go – so having him engage in handler focus with that ready dance for a solid 2 or 3 seconds should help make the big send movement pop out more, if that makes sense. And that in turn will help you be able to leave sooner for the countermotion.
He seems to have no problem with you being sideways or backwards and is setting up his turn really well! This bodes well for future turning on jumps 🙂 Yay! And I didn’t see a difference in his left or right turns, he looks really balanced! Your clicks were spot on (one might have been early, I think he was lifting his foot LOL!) but overall, great job marking the send and staying connected – then exploding with excitement afterwards. Yay!
Nice work!!
TracyHi! This game has a LOT of mechanics for the human and you did a great job! A third arm would be useful and you made it smooth with only 2 arms LOL!
My only tweak for you is to do the blind cross sooner so you can decelerate into the turn sooner. You can start the blind one step after he begins coming to you, so you have time to slow down before he gets to you (giving him time to adjust to the change of speed). On the first couple, you did the blind a little later so he didn’t have a chance to collect, so he was a bit wider from your leg as you turned. At :48, you did the blind sooner and showed decel sooner – note how much tighter he was to you there (I think you commented on it in the video too, it was lovely!!)
He was really good about going back and forth from the cookie to the toy out ahead – that is actually the hardest part for the pups and he was great! Yay!!!! And he did seem to really love the toy that you switched to 🙂>> I might have messed up a bit because I was letting him have a treat at my knee when we made the turn and then throwing the toy, and I realized as I was wrapping up that you might not have been giving them the treat until the end. Should I be omitting that 2nd treat during the turn?>>
I think it was fine to feed him at your knee during the turn then throw the toy – it builds value for driving in nice and tight, and adds challenge to leaving the food moment and driving to the toy. You can fade the treat on the turn, and also sometimes surprise him with one to maintain the value of coming in to you on the decel.
You can add more and more distance on this, sending him further to the first cookie so he has more speed through the blind and into collection/turn. You can also have someone hold him, so it is a restrained recall into the blind (especially if that someone has cookies, so he learns to leave the cookies :))
Nice work!!
TracyHi! You and he got into the groove really nicely with this!!! It was hard for him to ignore the hand in the pocket at first (treats!) but then when your hands were down, he was really strong with offering the behavior. At :38, he went past it and you were tempted to help him or stop… but you made the right decision to just keep moving, no reward but not helping. He totally said “a-ha!” and then had very distinct, lovely commitment. Yay!
>>For the parallel lines piece, do you want our lines to always be straight at this point, or can/should we do some arcs too?>>
No arcs needed for this one, but you can add more distance between you and the prop, so he is working at an increasingly bigger distance out on his parallel line. You can start that with a cookie toss to get him on the one and then work up to being 10 feet away while he maintains his parallel path. Great job!
Tracy
Hi!
This is also going well! She is so quick, so we do a lot of planning on how to keep up with her 🙂 You can have cookie in both hands, so you can drop the treat in with whichever hand is closer to the bowl, rather than having to reach across or grab a cookie from the other hand. She was VERY zippy to get the routine going in the beginning! The cone might be a tiny bit too far away because she lost her chain of thought a couple of times and then had to figure it out again – she especially wanted to cut in front and turn to her left, so you were correct when you pulled it in to get her going again at the end.
So for the next session, be standing like you were here and have it just a couple of inches away… then after are a couple of cookies for back and forth, move it out an inch… then another inch… and so on. And if she starts cutting in, bring it back in by an inch or two.
>>I forgot to keep track if left was better than right.
She was stronger going to her left here. I think that is her side preference, she is a lefty 🙂 But no worries, she is pretty balanced so the right side turns will be just as good as the left 🙂
>>But what should I do to get more distance on the cone without her cutting through. Or, how far does the cone eventually get?>>
You can move it out very very gradually, so she barely notices. And mix in easy reps where you move it back in, so she finds it with no problem.
The cone should end up being 2 feet away – and we will be transferring to a wing pretty soon and adding more handling, so don’t worry too much about distance for now.
Great job!
TracyHi! This session looks really good! I love her focus outdoors, and I love how easily she goes back and forth from food to toys. Yay! Is that a Santa she was tugging on? LOL!
The blinds are going well, I think the hardest part was the timing of the transition from the cookie to the blind. You can call her sooner, as soon as she grabs the food, to get her driving back even sooner. She is definitely getting back to you really quickly so you can start further away to give yourself a head start, by holding her, throwing the cookie REALLY far away, then you have more time to get the blind. Also, since she sometimes loses the treat in the grass, you can have a bowl out there – place a treat in it, use her line to prevent her from getting it and walk her away from it – then send her to it so she can find it easily and then you can get away ahead. There were a couple of reps where you were too close to her and she was sooooo quick that the blind was late, so giving yourself more of a head start will totally help. When you were further ahead, the blinds looked awesome! I didn’t see any questions from her about going to her right or to her left this time, she looked really balanced on both sides. Very nice!!!
Great job!!
TracyNOOOOO KEEP DA SQUEAK! But so far both the puppies I’ve met are fabulous, so you are in a good position either way. I am a terrible, terrible influence and I recommend you keep BOTH of the puppies. I mean, 2020, things are DIFFERENT and sanity is overrated.
Hi! Being on week 2 is fine, we are barely ahead of you. She is doing really well!
The Any Toy Any Time game looks great. You can add in talking to her more, chatting her up with stuff like “ready ready” and silly noises because those will become exciting things you can use in the ring when there are no food or toys. Speaking of food – you can add a cookie at this point: play with a toy, give her a cookie, then see if she will go back to a toy! The flying squirrel disc seems to be highest value, so start with that and see what happens 🙂Wing wraps – the djembe is perfect! I want to see you play it while she is wrapping it LOL!!! She did really well here 🙂 The flying squirrel disc was more interesting than the other tug toy, so it was not as easy to get the back-and-forth going. So, either use 2 of the same tuggies (or similar ones), or use 2 flying squirrel things (her head might explode with joy LOL!!!). And you can totally use the djembe with food too 🙂
For the backing up – try standing with your knees about 2 feet apart, and lure her under you with a cookie dropped there – then toss another cookie when she backs out from under you. I think that will jump start the backing up, plus it won’t look like you wanted her to do a fold back down. The cookie lure you were doing totally looked like the fold back down cue (it was a BEAUTIFUL down, too!!) so the dropped cookie under you then click/toss a treat when she backs out from under you should look pretty different and help you get her started with it.
Great job!
TracyHi! These look really awesome!
Blinds to the tunnel on the 1st 2 reps: yes, you let him land and then did it LOL You were asking that in the video 🙂 But were lovely sends and lovely blinds! To make the jump commitment more of a sure thing, you can add a verbal as you are starting the blind – a jump verbal or a left/right directional.
On the FC rep – yes, it was a little late, you can try leaving him in the tunnel to get further up the line to the pinwheel jump so when he lands, you can cue the jump and start the FC sooner. But you are correct, he still got the turn because your lower body rotation was really good! Plus, with the low bar, he still had time to make the adjustment (you were not THAT late, maybe one stride). On a 16” bar, though, he would have made the takeoff decision sooner, so you will want to try the FCs sooner.
All of the BCs through that section looked really great! Lovely timing and connection. It becomes weird feeling because there is no place to go LOL! On the first and last BC through the pinwheel, you had a nice decel and shoulder turn to get him turning to the outside wing. On the 2nd to last blind, he jumped the center of that bar – it looked like you stepped back in a little so for a heartbeat he considered a rear cross? But he was lovely on the other reps where you stayed more on the outside.
Great job!!!
TracyHi!
>> So to be more interactive are you saying after a sequence I can have him tug with the frisbee and after tugging I can throw it? I know the throwing and chasing is the big reward for him so I want to make sure he still gets that, but do it in a smart way.>>
Yes, you can do that. But I also suggest you expand the toolbox of reinforcement so the frisbee is not the end-all, be-all 🙂 The frisbees running around is high value but also has some fallout (more running around and higher arousal levels that take a while to come back down).
>>I did try the eat food and then tug the frisbee tonight and that went well. >>
Great!!!
>>The tug with another toy was a total fail. He tugged one time and then I did the frisbee and after that he had zero interest in the toy. What’s a good way to make that toy/ frisbee transition smoother? Will he eventually figure it out after not getting rewarded with the frisbee?>>
You can start training sessions (easy skills) with just the toy, no frisbee in sight. Then the frisbee is in the area, but not used. Then you can alternate toy play with some frisbee but I think the toy play on its own probably needs to be higher value before you try to trade off with frisbee play 🙂
>>When he hajacks the frisbee runs when I’m using food- what should I do in that moment? I haven’t been nagging him to come train. I usually sit down and ignore him and until he comes over and is ready, but I’m not sure whether that’s what I should do or not. >>
I think in that moment that is the right thing to do. You can also limit your food sessions to be super short, so you end before he runs around. If it is one or two reps, then you end – perfect! You can send him for a run, or then change gears and go play with toys. But trying to change gears before he leaves will make a difference.
Separately, try to work on calling him out of the runs. What I do with my frisbee-loving border whippet is I have several frizzers and I do recalls for the next frizz: run with one, hurry back, get another one, sometimes eat a cookie then get the frizz, and so on. I worked those skills separately from trying to train other things.
>>Here is my teeter session from today. We did a few reps no tip and that went really well so the last three reps I took the tip assist down one notch. While I was training he felt slower but watching the video I think he looks pretty good and happy.>>
This went really well!!! He was not slow at all, he was shifting his weight appropriately and that might be what felt like slowing down? But this looks great!!!! You can add in a little more toy play (not frisbee) at this stage, before adding tip, to help him self-modulate his arousal. Loops with food are fine in the early stages but we do want to introduce some arousal 🙂
Let me know if that makes sense!
TracyHi! Sorry to hear about all the snow, fingers are all crossed that you get some melting! Also, the next games package has some stuff that can be done indoors, hopefully 🙂
About the tunnel timing – as I think about it, the tunnel has a 2 part cue because of the length of the tunnel. We cue them to go to it then how to exit it, because the length of the tunnel buys us that extra time. The cues on jumps do not afford that luxury, because they need to approach the jump ready to exit it. With the tunnel, they don’t need to worry about the exit til they are already in it, so they just need to know about the exit before going in 🙂 Hope that makes sense, I was thinking about why the timing was different 🙂
Tracy
