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Hi! He is looking good here!
Uphill Track Mountain Climbers – You were smart to go back to no tip! This was a really good session, he seemed super confident. If I remember correctly he was asking questions about adding tip, just before things stopped for the winter? So it was a good refresher to start here, he was great. You can try a bit of peanut butter at the end of the board so he doesn’t leap off the top as you run past 🙂
He did well with the various challenges and seemed confident on all of it so…. onwards to tip! Add a little and see how it goes!On your bang game videos:
Bang game 1:
I think cookies were a better start for now with tugging before and after, rather than the tug as the reward – you noted that he was leaping for the tug so wasn’t getting his hind end on, and smartly switched to food rewards. The cookies reduced the energy (and is easier to place precisely) and he had more success with his hind end! When he is on your right side, experiment with which feeding mode helps him – feeding across your body with your left (he was curling in a bit when you did that) or feeding with the dog-side arm to see if he stays straighter. He was pretty straight on your left side so I don’t think it matters which hand you feed with when he is on your left 🙂Bang 2 –
He is still working out what to do with his body here but already looking much better 🙂 Have you tried this on a travel plank, to refresh the idea of getting on without the movement of the board? If not, that is a good place to start, especially with tugging before and after. If so, you can bring the plank to the barn and, right next to the teeter, give him a reminder rep – then move it to the teeter. He did work out how to get all the way on, but his front feet were making the decision and then his back feet followed along afterwards (often after the cookie went in to help him). So leaping onto a travel plank can get this started as a good reminder 🙂When he was on your right here, feeding with the dog side hand did seem to keep him straighter! Plus, he was figuring out how to use his hind end. The target was good to have there as a place to put the cookie, even when you were getting the treat in before he had to make an end position decision. When you see that he is making good hind end decisions reliably, then we will start asking for the end position decision.
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyPerfect!! And yes, I have found peanut butter or cream cheese have been great for high value rewards AND slowing down the dock divers 🙂
Keep me posted!
TracyGood morning! Thanks for the progress report 🙂
I like the hose reward – I think his mind was a little blown for a moment there. “Wait, we get the HOSE next to the teeter??” LOL!! The mechanics of the reward were solid: you let him offer the behavior, then got him off the board and got out the high value reward. The only suggestion would be to see if the hose and be a little further away? And you can also play with the hose before the teeter game and see if that pumps him up: hose, run to the teeter, one rep, hose.On the uphills – no worries about him stopping as little short of the end of the board – it will percolate with more drive to the end. He is shifting his weight a little sooner than I would like but getting better and better on each rep, as you noted! And he is able to hang out there AND offer behavior at the top.
And you saw the percolation process in the next session – much more drive to the end as well as offering behavior.On the teeter tables game:
HOLY COW he loved the dog chasing reward LOL! Wow! More of that please, just throw one random teeter rep in with the dog play, here and there, nothing “formal” in terms of training sessions. The treat session were good there too but the dog chasing rep was SUPER.I am also happy with the confidence of the last 3 reps where you added a lot of tip going down to the table – he ran right up and almost all the way to the end, then offered an end position.
What I do see on those reps, though, is something that might be causing the confidence questions when he is doing the full board at top speed: as he is arriving at the top, he is *not* actually shifting his weight, he is leaning forward – the board drops from under him, he is not balancing all that well. Then when the board lands and stops moving, he goes into his down/bow position.
But it is that moment of the board moving without him in a strong weight shifted position that we will be isolating and working on: if he does not know what to do with himself in that moment on an unfamiliar teeter when there is a lot of running from da momma… I can totally see him bailing or avoiding or both. It is kind of an a-ha moment for us that we can help him with, and that should help open the floodgates to the fabulous teeter that I know he can do (and we are seeing here).
The games that come out tomorrow will have some things that address that and also I am going to add something based on what one of my young dogs is doing that is similar to Krome here. I know it sounds nutty, but I am totally pumped up now to see this in my Elektra and your Krome because we can fix it easily!!!!
In the meantime: don’t ask for that big tip again til we get him weight shifting more. I want to protect the confidence you have built and add this other piece separately. In the meantime, revisit things like balancing on an inflatable if you have one, and tugging on a wobble board nice and low so he shifts back. On the flat, see if he will pull the toy out of your hands with weight shift!Great job here! You’ve made tremendous progress in just two weeks!!! It is easy for me to see because I see the cumulative videos 🙂
TracyOoh, clever set up with the teach it on a table! Yes, getting him on it won’t get as much speed at this stage, but that is fine – we have the speed in mountain climbers and I am confident we will get it here when he has more room to run into it.
He did really well with all the challenges here – when you were moving or running past, he was great about running through the board and offering the down! On the sends down to the end with you hanging back – he sent but he definitely had some questions: ‘why are you standing back there’ and also ‘should I do the down near you’? LOL! Those are actually helpful questions about the end position because on the plank at home, you can emphasize the go to the end and assume the down position with you further back. On the short plank, it will be easier of course, then you can start further and further away from the plank to send him forward.
The other challenges all looked pretty perfect! So…. more tip 🙂 I think you are going to hear that a lot in coming weeks! The games coming on Monday emphasize that too and will also give you another end game to work the down position.Great job here!!!!!
TracyGood morning! I am crossing all of my fingers and toes that your weave poles get fixed today!!!
These sessions look great – she is an experienced “shaper” so you were easily able to get the idea across, build value, move yourself away, add the pet tutor, etc. Yay! I think she only had one sorta question where she went between you and the poles and then turned herself around to get through them LOL! Good girl. But all of the other reps were picture perfect. So…. onwards! You can start with the 2 poles and work around the clock, with the sends and adding motion. The stick in the ground poles add challenge because there is no “base” (at least not that I could see) but I think she was fine with the concept of ‘go between’. If your first sessions with the angles of entry around the clock goes well and adding motion is easy as I expect it will… you can totally go to the angles poles. She is little so the angled poles are still going to be easy 🙂
Great job here! And keep me posted about the upcoming weave-fix-mission!!!Tracy
Good morning!
>> Sorry…getting the lingo down while doing both tracks is taking a little more brain power than I have these days!!>>
Totally not your fault LOL! Just because it is clear in my mind’s eye does not mean that I have successfully translated it to paper 🙂 Sorry! Also, I am better in the morning with coffee than in the afternoon when I am drinking water LOL!!
>> And when you said to try it “straight” – does that mean 12 and 6 – like actual weaves?>>
Yes – on the shaping session where you are c/t for the really hard right side entries, the poles can be at 12 and 6 just like regular for real weavers (or very slightly angled, 11:45 or something :)). Difficult but not over-facing. If it is too hard, open them up a little with the first pole coming towards 1 o’clock.
The session here looked good!!!!! Click timing was spot on and his drive to the poles looked good. Yay!
The left side – he is really getting these and bending into the poles. Fabulous! I think the hardest entry you had here was when you were facing pole 2, approx 9 o’clock – so with sending on the left, you can keep working towards 8 and 7 o’clock positions (the other poles and the reward target are tremendously distracting!)
On the easier left side entries, add some motion too, just like you would on 2x2s (sending and moving parallel up the line).
Looking at the right side: on the easier sends (12, 1, 2 o’clock approx) add motion too 🙂 He is doing well on those.
On those harder entries: as you work it on the 2x2s, you can also work them here (the more, the merrier, right?) But work them much closer to pole 1 within and arm’s length – so it is easy to get it and harder to enter further down the channel.
The other thing you can do here is click/treat that entry when you are close to it – just like you would with the 2×2, you can click the entry and right shoulder at pole 2, then drop the reward into the channel (or move the reward target into the channel for those entries). We can break out that entry and work on it separately til he gets it.Great job here! Let me know if that makes sense!
TracyHello again! Hooray for the threadle side entry session!!!!
(Your hand movement was fine, you were just doing a little send swoosh 🙂 The hand movement was not really helpful for him, the challenges were still completely intact and the hand movement is a normal part of the motion he will see).
I am VERY happy with how he did finding the threadle side entries here: GOOD BOY!!!! When you were down by the 5 o’clock area and you were basically facing the exit of the poles, and he got all the way out there to find the correct entry: SUPERSTAR!!!!! Love it!
So on this one you can add a little more motion.
And since as motion increases, he will tire sooner (because he is running more), you can mix in the threadle entries into your regular sessions with the sends and motions. That way you cover all the challenges without overworking him.
The threadles were definitely more of a mind-bender for him, he was talking to you a bit and I took that as a slightl level of frustration because it was so difficult. However, the success rate remained super high so it was more of a stimulating frustration and not a failure-induced frustration, if that makes sense? In other words – it was fine that he found it challenging and had to think his way through the puzzle, because he problem-solved really successfully.Great job here! You two look great and I am excited for more! Remind me of his parents: Match and Elphie?
Tracy
Good morning!
Good to see you here!!!!! When he was missing entries in your other training sessions, what was happening – running past or entering on the wrong side? We can keep an eye out for that and also see if we can see what hole in the process might have led to it.
He was fabulous on the first session here – great job with your session structure!!! You hit all the angles on the sends (that send from 6 o’clock to the right side entry was pretty impressive!!!). And also hit the angles with a bit of motion. That is great!!!
he had a couple of questions on your left side sends when you were near the 9 o’clock entry – he was weaving but the ‘wrong’ direction. I think that is just an artifact from the previous training and he just needed to sort out where the reward line was here. The rest of the session helped him and when you revisited that angle, he was great (I do chuckle when he barks his opinion when you didn’t reward LOL!!!!!)
So a couple of ideas for the next sessions:
I think you can angle the poles to 1 and 7 now (they looked to be 2 and 8 here). Revisit the sends, revisit the motion – pretty much a session very similar to what you did her but the poles are tighter.
Then, if that goes well – add more motion. Work the sends but instead of walking, go to jogging and see how it goes.
And if that is peachy keen… the session after than can be about arousal with the poles at 1 and 7, with tugging before the send.
I suggest more motion and more tugging because speed demon puppies like him sometimes don’t “see” the entries when they are really excited and running fast, so we are going to ask him to look for that entry even when he is totally pumped up. We will layer in arousal at every level to make the progression easier 🙂
Great job here! I see your threadle side entry video so I will go take a look at that now for more Potion TV 🙂Tracy
Good morning!
This was a really great session – accuracy, tons of different angles, motion, and he was more balanced about running on both sides. And yes, I would have rewarded on the self-send too 🙂 It looks like the poles were at 2 and 8 here? Onwards to 1 and 7 with all the sends and motion. It will be easy for him.
He seems to be just like Contraband: accurate and semi-passionate about this with the Pet Tutor but not enthralled enough to sprint to it. For the purposes of weave training, we will go to a higher excitement reward. With CB, I use his frisbee on the 2x2s now – I went to it after several sessions with the 2 poles where he was really super about looking straight. Now we have accuracy AND speed 🙂Now, I suggest it for Kaladin because he also can go fast without losing his mind (same as CB, but not same as Elektra Who totally loses it when she is too excited :)) and he is really good about looking ahead. So after another session of the 2 poles at 1 and 7 with the pet tutor, I think you can do a session with the Most Magical Nemo Ball (and the Nemo ball friends) and see how it goes!
The only downside of using the toys instead of the Pet Tutor is that you will get fewer reps, because he will be running more. So my sessions are about 90 seconds, but I like the results.
let me know what you think!
TracyHi! I am glad to hear the weather is behaving!!! And I love wind chimes too – we are getting to the part of the year where I can sit outside in the morning, drink coffee, listen to the wind chimes and watch the hummingbirds. So nice!!!
She did really nicely on the shaping sessions here! You got lots of value built, got a different location in, added the MM and added the interim verbal. Perfect! She picked up really easily, which is not surprising at all 🙂
Yes – onwards to the position work and getting the poles angled. Because she is an experienced ‘shaper’, you will probably be able to move through the first couple of steps pretty quickly (getting the poles angled, adding motion). So as long as her success rate is high and you are getting all the crazy angles in… feel free to move through to the angles poles as quickly as she says is ok to do 🙂Great job here! Looking forward to the field sessions 🙂
TracyHi!
yes, I think the poles were set wide enough for him – he has more experience with weaves than Presto and a little smaller, so I think it was a great angle.
And hooray for a fun play day! Sad news about the snow but hopefully it leaves quickly!T
OMG that freestyle video is SO FUN!!!! And his sequencing looks great too! Are you in classes at Get Rev’d? Those are good people and top notch trainers!
I totally see why you got him – he oozes amazingness, right through the screen here. And I like dogs that are thoughtful til they ‘get it’ and then they turn on all the speed.
What a terrific dog, I am excited to see your future adventures with him!
TracyUgh rain!
you can try the weave-tunnel game as soon as you have had 3 or 4 sessions on sorta open poles, just like the one you did here yesterday. The poles can be open for it. And you can probably do it indoors with your tunnel (I think I remember you can fit a tunnel there?)T
Hi!
>> so much fun!:) In the 12:00 position, I sent from both my right and left sides. I am not sure if that’s correct. >>
Yes, that is totally correct!
>>Also, I broke down and bought a Treat n’ Train.>>
I feel that, I resisted for many years but now I have 2 of them haha!!
He is SO FUN!!! You said he is a rescue ? Tell me more!
This is a really great session. Your reward target set up kept his focus forward on the line and he did a really great job of finding his entries and bending his body to th reward line.
His only little questions were at 3 and 9 o’clock – I wonder if that is an artifact of his previous experience? But you helped him a little and he immediately figured it out. It was a really strong, high rate of success session.For him, I think you can angle the poles right away, no need to do another session with the pole at 3 and 9. That can help him with any questions about the entry when yoo get to 3 and 9 o’clock sends. With the poles angled at maybe 2 and 8 (of that is too easy, go to 1 and 7 :)), add in your motion as well where you send then walk down the line.
Let him guide you – if it is really easy, you can add more motion! On the really hard sends, dial it back. If the angle is really easy, make it a touch harder.
It was hard to hear if you had an interim cue going to give him permission to go, so if you did: great! If not, add on a little noise or word just to let him know when it was ok to start moving to the poles.Great job here!!! Let me know what you think!
Tracy
