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Here is Contraband with a new elevated target (I need a heavier one or something, he moves this a lot). And first tries with inverted target, food and toys.
Here is some work from today – elevated target using a new thing in a new place. First tries at inverted target – I think the little one is too small. She did 3 feet in it consistently but did manage to get a couple of good ones with 4 feet.
Good morning!
>>Yesterday, Keiko and I gave the “volume dial” game a try. As we got ready to play, I realized (with chagrin!) that Keiko has limited tricks. As a former “Tricks and Games” instructor at a local dog training facility, I would normally have had her in at least one class, and done other tricks at home.>>
I feel your pain, I realized I only have 2 or 3 tricks going LOL! Oops!!
>> Can I blame it on the pandemic?
Yes, I blame the pandemic for everything now haha
>>we had a few things we could use, and this will spur me on to develop more little focus and fun tricks with her. She’ll probably get a kick out of it all, too!>>
Perfect! This will be great for adding into focus routines and start line stuff, as we get out of the pandemic and hopefully get these pups to new places 🙂
>>Her focus, especially in the confines of indoors, is really good, and she likes treats and toys.
Yes, she was great here! I think her focus is really strong so these games at home are more about setting up the baseline for when you take her into different environments. You will know what works best for her, plus she will recognize these games and begin better able to ignore any distractions. Plus you can add distractions at home: I highly recommend volume dial games with your husband around 🙂 That is something I do with all of my pups: “Ignore the daddy” LOL!
>>Usually, when we’re doing a longer session with agility equipment, she tends to prefer the treats from hand, tossed, or a lotus ball. In this video, I think she is a bit more revved for the toy. It was brand new, with skins and dangly things, so she was really interested. What do you think?>>
I think she did a great job with both food and toys here! The toy looked to be a little more stimulating (it is a really cool toy!) so you can try it around the agility obstacles and see how she feels about it. She might be happy to play with toys in all places except around obstacles, where treats and balls are favorites, and that is fine 🙂
Great job here – you can try these with random new objects in the environment, to help teach her how to ignore things that are new/weird/different 🙂
Have fun, stay warm!
TracyWe don’t really know what is happening inside the dog’s brain, I wish it was as simple as operant conditioning but it is not. We assume it is a self-rewarding behavior but it could also be the dog seeking a release from the pressure of the training situation, which is also valuable feedback regarding our training. Or it could be avoiding the negative punishment of bringing the toy back when the handler takes the toy away (even if trading for a cookie, which is often less valuable to the dog). Most of the time, the handler takes the toy because she is thinking about doing the next rep… but yet the taking of the toy is directly associated with arriving back at the handler, so the based on the dog’s response it is perceived as a punisher (the bringing back of the toy decreases in frequency). There are a lot of things happening when a dog runs off with the toy. So it is really important to turn the situation around – plenty of free time with toys, plenty of toy play where we do NOT take the toy back in favor of doing the next rep, adding a cue to the behavior so we can use it as reinforcement (“great job on your toy race, go for a run, woohooo!!”) and also takes the pressure off of the situation.
When the dog comes back and we play and send them for another run, or trade for an amazing toy and play more… and we set aside our focus on getting the toy back to do the next rep… we are using really valuable reinforcement for the behavior we are training, we are helping to create bringing the toy back as a REALLY fun thing, relieving the situation of any stress associated with toy play.With puppies, training games where the dog brings the toy right back should be limited to the smaller spaces where you have a chance of getting the toy right back without pressure/stress and you are also happy to give the pup a lot of time to play with it. If we take a puppy into a training situation where they are unable to bring the toy back, we are going to add pressure and stress to a behavior that we do not want any pressure or stress associated with (that is why dogs don’t retrieve, or why they cannot release the toy from clamped jaws, and so on). Those environments are for play skills and not trying to train agility skills with the toy until the pup and handler are more of a team in terms of the toy play.
Good morning!
>>He and I play all the time outside, but never alone.>>
Ah, that is interesting! You can ease him into new environments with a ‘stable pony’ – one of the other dogs who will be completely relaxed and models that for him as he assess the environment. I always bring a ‘stable pony’ with any of my new pups 🙂 Usually it is my big intact male BC mix who walks into any room with a confident, relaxed attitude. It is super interesting to see the pups watch him and mirror that.
He did really well with his cone game at the barn!! Good boy! You can give him a send cue now that you are that far from the cone – the dog-side arm and leg can step towards it, just like you did with the prop. As you get further away, the send gets installed because we don’t want them offering when you are more than an arm’s length away – we start to put it on cue. And then you can do to the sideways and backwards sends, turn and burn, etc. He looks ready for all that on the big cone! No need to do anything with the little cones LOL! The little ones are too much like a number cone and we don’t want any value for interacting with those 🙂
He had a little trouble with the toy play at the end – possibly because steak was in the picture 🙂 You can try the toy separately when he is more acclimated to the new environment, but steak was definitely the right choice for this session!!
Great job!!
TracyI think of it as a two-pronged approach: I teach the retrieve and make the retrieve really fun! But I also don’t put pressure on and allow the dogs plenty of running around time with the toy. It is a great way to keep the pup relaxed during training and then they want to bring the toy back 🙂 It ends up being a very happy retrieve 🙂
Good morning!
He is a minny pinny superstar! And that is a good thing, this gets developed into all sorts of good challenges in coming months 🙂 He totally started without you LOL! Good boy, he was correct to recognize the set up.
Nice job rewarding him “flat” across the front of it at the 90 degree angle. You can also do this with toys!
The wing set up was super easy, so adding the bars as you did was perfect.
One suggestion – You don’t need to click when the bars are there – he was consistently touching the third bar in both directions on the click and we want to have a firmly established “no touching” rule when it comes to bars. The click is too stimulating for a baby dog to continue thinking about his feet – and that is fine, we just take the click out (good jumping form while stimulated is easy to get but not something we worry about not, he is too young). And if he touches the bars when you are moving to reward him, you can have the treats already in your hands and then your hands are moving less and/or move this to bumps rather than bars. He is only doing this on bar 3, so it is more of a “OMG CLICK AND COOKIE” moment and not anything worrisome about jumping 🙂 But, we also do not want to have any negative marker associated with bars, so continue to reward and if he touches the bars, we just back off the level of distraction.Since the bars are in… and I am 99.99% sure he will turn the correct direction, you can slap on your left and right verbals to begin attaching them to the behavior. I think you will find it ridiculously easy 🙂
Great job! Stay warm in the upcoming snow!!
Tracy
Hi again!
Wow, her stays are coming along nicely! The ‘pizza’ cue still cracks me up, I love it! Your work on these is really showing, she looked settled and calm in her stay, but explosive on the release. That is exactly what we want! Yay!
>>I still have to remember to put her in the sit stay at my side. >>
You were lining her up with you facing her, but then she was happy to let you move away – so you can develop that into a routine and that is great! I do that with 2 of my adult dogs: I face them with my back to the jump, cue the sit, they sit facing me, and then I turn away and lead out. So if that is comfy and that is what you do with Jedi – perfect! But if you do something else with Jedi, you might want to match it for Ruby… because when you are running them both at a trial, you will not want to have to remember different routines 🙂
She did really well ignoring the MM!
As you keep working this skill, take her to as many different places as you can, but make it easier for her in new places. Only one suggestion from this video: you can use a stay verbal if you want, and a hand signal if you want… but don’t use a stay cue with the cookie in you hand right in front of her nose – she was not sure if she was supposed to eat the cookie or stay or what, so you can see her holding the sit and reaching for the cookie (1:14).
Great job!!! Enjoy the weekend!
TracyHi! Really lovely work here too!
>>Oh. I switched off from the toy and treats. Got downstairs and couldn’t remember what you used in the video. Both worked>>
I use both, I like to mix it up. Eventually, it will just be toys when doing handling as that gets more speed and excitement going 🙂
>>now I see it says to start with pup in front of you.
yes, that helps the pups transition from handler focus to line focus, plus it gives you a minute to get yourself ready LOL so they don’t go without us 🙂 You were basically doing it – you were saying ready ready then sending her, perfect! Don’t change a thing.
On the sideways sends – her commitment is looking really strong! One suggestion – use the arm next to the barrel and same side as the leg that is stepping to it for these sends, rather than across your body. Sending across the body causes you to twist – and she is going to be way to fast for you to have any time at all to twist. So teaching her to let you send with the arm next to the barrel and the fuller rotation will let you get up the line sooner.
You were doing that on the backwards sends after 1:30 and it looked great!!! You were doing left arm and left leg together, or right arm & right leg. She is better turning to her left on these and not as good turning to her right… so be a tiny bit more patient and hold the connection and arm/leg position for an extra heartbeat, until you see her committing to the barrel by getting next to it and turning her head to it.
>>Even accidentally put in a but -pass. lol>>
Ha! You can totally put those in 🙂 We add those in on some of the other games 🙂
One other suggestion: when you send her and want her to start moving – use the arm & lg like you did and start the dig dig dig cue immediately. You were saying “go” then dig dig dig which you don’ need to to. We don’t want to dilute the meaning of “go” so just start with the dig dig dig cues. She might not know what you mean but the arm & leg cues are very clear to her, so she will quickly figure out the verbal too 🙂
Great job!!
TracyGood morning 🙂
She is so funny when she starts without you! Yes, this looked great. She was brilliant and following perfectly! Ok, one more variation for you:
When she goes and takes the jump, throw the reward to the back wall for taking the jump. As she goes to get the cookie, turn like you did and connect on your right side – so when she finished the cookie, she looks up at you and has to choose the correct side (right side) or the jump.
Let me know if that makes sense! Great job here!!
TracyWow Juliet, I am happy with what she was doing here! You can hear the power in her feet on the video – very cool. Yes, she had questions as she was sorting it out – trying to go around on some reps 🙂 You can be on the other side, on the outer wings, so she is on the side of the jump opposite you to start. That way she will serpentine towards you on jump 1 and away on jump 2. That can help show her the line? But that is more of a ‘learning the set up’ thing, and you did a really good job helping her in terms of a bit of handling and also toy placement.
She did a really admirable job of jumping this with power and NOT touching the bars and NOT touching the wings. And also not hitting you when you were near the landing spot. Perfect!!!!
And I agree – she did amazingly well when the jumps were flatter at the end. Partially because she had figured out the game, and partially because she is getting REALLY good at using her body!!!
On your next revisit, you can start with the jumps a little easier than you left off – and add motion. So the toy will be out on the line, and you will lead out to the where the 2 wings meet: and release and walk forward. If that is easy, you can keep the angle open and go faster! Also, you can lead out just past the wing of jump 1 and release and walk then jog.Great job here – she is executing this better than most experienced Masters dogs, so I am excited for you and her!!!
Tracy
Good morning Suzie and Amore!!!!
I think she looks fabulous here, you are doing a great job! One thing that was consistently excellent here was your connection – it looks like you were solidly and clearly connected on each step of each run. That is impressive especially with a baby dog! Click/treat for you!!!!!
Thoughts from the video: I think you will find that my suggestions and ideas are all about the tiny details, and that is really cool – everything looked great.
Seq 1 – rep 1 was very nice! you don’t need to dip your arm at all on the serp jump to bring her in before the tunnel, just stay connected like you were. Dipping your arm takes time and slows you down, you don’t have that time to spare with Miss Amore 🙂
Rep 2 – at :12, you were pulling away a little from the serp jump a little, so keep running towards the tunnel – and then you stopped so even though you said tunnel, she was confused and just came to you (but did not deliver a tooth hug, so that was good LOL!)
Rep 3 really nice! You kept moving and stayed connected and didn’t pull away from the serp jump as much, so she nailed it. Yay!
Sequence 2 – very nice speed circle to start and then you forgot the sequence LOL! But nice job with the opening and rewarding her 🙂 the connection and verbals are going beautifully.
When you ran the full thing with the serp – super nice! Great connection on the serp – it really helped her read the line and move away from you to the last jump.
Sequence 3, to the end of the tunnel near the barn: super nice!
To the harder end of the tunnel near the driveway – also really nice!
So here is a bit of nit picking since these went so well: you were a tiny bit off the line at 1:18 and 1:33 for the FC on the backside, so she as wide on that turn. As you are driving her to the backside, get a little closer to the exact line you want her to exit on (this varies depending on the sequence, but in this case you will want to be pretty close to where the wing meets the bar). Her commitment was lovely so you can also start your FC just before she arrives at the backside wing and then you will be even further ahead!On the Serp line at 1:36 – run faster, open your arm sooner, driving to the last tunnel… she might have smoked you up that line a bit LOL!!
And overall… as long as you stay connected like you were, you can keep pushing her understanding by sending and leaving sooner, so you can be further ahead on lines. She is not yet 11 months old and already moving this fast… so we need to make a habit of you going as fast as possible but also staying connected like you were here.
Because she did so beautifully on the serps, you can also flatten out the angles a bit more, maybe a few inches at a time as you train the skill.
Great job! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi! I would say for the littler dogs like Merlin, we want all 4 feet on the board. If they need to start with 2 front feet on the ground, that is fine, then work up to 4 feet on the board. This is difficult!! With the bigger dogs that will do do 2o2o, they can play this in a 2o2o position but I think they should also learn to do 4on for the wobble board, for when they are on the teeter in the air before it hits the ground 🙂
So definitely back feet should be on, and when the dog is really comfy: all 4 feet 🙂
T
