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Awww how exciting! And it all looked so ‘normal’ there like a real agility event (those days are pretty much gone here in the US boohoo).
I think you created an environment filled with positive experiences and positive reinforcement for him here on these videos. Yay! What a perfect first-trial experience 🙂 The first video had lots of tricks and reward of different types and different levels of excitement. You can add more movement to the cookie reward tricks so he chases you a bit more, to see how that changes his arousal. The tugging tricks were lovely. I don’t think he was over-aroused in any way, it looks like he was able to maintain focus and excitement in a distracting place! Same with the turn in the ring – you made it fun and fast and reinforcing to be in that ring. Perfect!!!! I was hoping you would do some start lines and tunnels when I read your description, and you did both. That was ideal, in my opinion. And he was almost perfect, just one missed tunnel (you might have taken off too soon LOL!) which he fixed on the way back and got rewarded.
I only have little suggestions for his next experience – you might have already tried some of these:
– make some time to just let him sniff everything, greet people, and watch dogs in the ring. He can be on leash or on a mat/cot – it is good mental downtime to do this and helps acclimate him to the environment. I mix in lots of name calls for treats while this is happening
– when you bring a toy into the ring, to maximize time: if you are going to throw the reinforcement, have a second toy with you so you can reinforce him very quickly for bringing the thrown toy right back 🙂
– if possible, have a leash runner or someone nearby so he gets used to that too 🙂Great job!!!! Looks like it was a fabulous experience 🙂
T
Yay, glad you are enjoying it! Yes, this is a different handling foundation program than even a year ago LOL!! Let’s all just keep getting puppies so we can keep evolving 🙂
Glad things are settling in for you; I am looking forward to videos 🙂
Have fun!
TracyGood morning!
That is interesting about the nose touch! And since she is still learning to love it, you can use an ‘almost touch’ to the target or a swipe for the serps & threadles. We are going to fade out the actual touch soon anyway, so there is no need to ask her to do something she really doesn’t like since we are getting rid of it anyway 🙂
Great job on the video –
Great job with your barrel as the cone replacement! She transferred the idea pretty quickly. Using the cone or barrel, you can transfer the sending concepts with the one- step sending forward, and then we can build them into the faster-moving handling games 🙂
Her prop work looks REALLY strong indoors, she was SMACKING it, too funny! On your sends, I think you were being too subtle 🙂 You can go from having her in front of you and then very clearly pointing with your arm, doing a big step with your foot, and turning your head to look at the prop. That big send will transfer nicely to when you are sideways and backwards, which will also transfer nicely to the cone or barrel! Your ready was really good at :54 when you were outside, and then you can follow it with a very big, distinct send cue. She didn’t leave for the prop right away because she might have still been in ‘ready’ mode (engaging with you) and not realizing she had permission to send.
On the rear crosses – this is actually going really nicely, we just need to show her the RC info sooner and she will have it perfectly 🙂 On the reps where she turned the wrong direction, you were a step or two late doing the rear cross: she was already “committed” to hitting the prop on the lead leg which would turn her back to the original direction. But, if you look at the rep that started at 1:06: you started her a bit further back and you showed her the rear cross pressure sooner by turning your feet and pressuring in behind her then cutting in behind her: she turned the correct direction on that one 🙂 The rep starting at 1:14 was similar in timing and she also turned the correct direction.
She lost a bit of value for driving ahead because the rewards were coming from you hands, so we can tweak that on grass – you can have 2 empty food bowls out parallel to the prop – and after the rear cross, toss the treat into the food bowl. I use 2 bowls so the pup can’t predict based on the where the bowl is LOL!
Indoors, you can just throw the treat, no bowls needed. On the parallel path commitment game, she had no trouble finding the treat in the grass, so that is a good option on the rear crosses too! That parallel path game looked terrific – solid commitment even at a distance!! Love it!
Great job! You can move forward with all of these games (and be earlier on the RC game :))
TracyGood morning!
>>We tried using the station for the serps, but he self-released several times, which tells me he’s just not ready for it yet.
Agreed! Stay is a mature behavior and lots of value needs to be built. Take your time; keep it fun 🙂
>> We did the early threadle game, but in Rocking Horse, it’s not a threadle, just a straight on entry. What is the best way to teach a tunnel?
Every dog is a little different of course, but I generally squish the tunnel up so it is as short as possible. For some dogs, you can shape the to go through it by clicking and tossing the reward. For others, you can start it by luring. I have used the Manners Minder for get the tunnel started: MM on one end, pup on the other end (although I think for Elektra, I had the MM literally inside the tunnel for a few reps LOL!)
Start by revisiting saying the verbal with the pup next to you and you gently holding the collar, straight-on approach, and see if he goes, Then add walking past it and see if he goes in it. Then add more and more motion, gradually.
>> And if I’m stationary by the entry, shouldn’t I reward back by me, since my position indicates a turn back to me, and not throw the reward out ahead because that would be rewarding extension, which I wasn’t cuing.
Don’t worry about that in the early stages – in the beginning, we are just rewarding “go through the thing” 🙂 And he has to leave you to go do it, so we want to move the value to the tunnel exit and off of you.
>>I know this seems super basic, but with my RR, I never really took the time to teach her the tunnel properly and she had a lot of confusion about approaches that weren’t straight on and needed me to take her all the way to the entry. So I’d like to avoid that.
Teaching a whippet will be different, because he can accelerate through it. A RR has to decelerate into it and has to stay a little crouched all the way through, so it is an obstacle that will require a lot more convincing for a RR.
>>Edit: I’m watching the lesson on start line stays and you gave me the awesome idea of rewarding behind the puppy to reinforce the stay! I put my Ready Treat behind him and then sometimes released him ahead for a reward, and sometimes rewarded with the RT behind him! I think this may help us get better stays, since he doesn’t know where the reward will come from. I guess it’s also a good way of creating “pressure” behind the dog, which they will experience at trials, but in a non-threatening, easy way >>
Yes! Yay! I do a TON of rewarding either back at the dog when I am out ahead, or behind the dog. One of my favorite things to do it leave a toy behind the dog, lead out, and cue him to turn back and get it (I also do this with the MM). I have been able to do this at trials to help the pups transfer the skills to the rings as well. The ready treat is very helpful!
Have fun!
TracyGood morning! This session looked beautiful! Really clear, precise mechanics were in play and that helped make her super successful. Nothing to tweak here, so you can move forward to the next step: adding more motion 🙂 You can warm up her by revisiting the Baby Level and when you release her, you start to step forward as soon as you release her (feet move forward, upper body cues the jump behind you with arm and looking back to it). And keep dropping the reward in behind you as you move, like you did on this session. Then, go to the Advanced Level: do everything the same as you did here with walking around – with one difference – don’t stop moving at any point 🙂 As soon as you get past the wing or barrel to the takeoff side, release her without ever stopping. Keep walking forward (towards where the camera is) while you indicate the jump behind you with your arm (and look back at it) – you will probably need to walk slowly, but this will be the ultimate countermotion if you can remain in motion the whole time 🙂 Let me know if that makes sense.
>>It’s sad to see this class ending. I believe you mentioned you would be starting up another class that moves forward from this one. Is that still planned? If so, when do you expect to have it posted and when would it start? >>
Me too, it has been great fun watching all of these super puppies!!! I am trying to figure out what days/times for the live classes, but I believe it will start on Sept 19 🙂 I hope to get it posted either tomorrow or Tuesday 🙂
Tracy
Hi! Yay! I am glad you are back in action and that she is feeling well!!
The blind crosses are looking really good! You were really getting the hang of how early she needed so see them so she was able to see the connection on the new side and make the side change – and then you got beautiful turns on your shoulder after the decel. You can add in acceleration ahead for a big go go go after you do the shoulder turn.
Parallel path – easy peasy! Looking great! She is speedy and already has a big stride, so you can throw the reward further – that will buy you mire time to get ahead or more laterally away from the jump to set up the parallel path before she turns and starts heading towards the jump again 🙂
Prop hits – she was a tiny bit sticky heading to the prop, not always wanting to go past you. I don’t think it was a prop value issue – I think it was more that your dog-side leg was back behind you and not moving – which is a natural cue for the dogs to not drive past you. So, you can step forward with the dog side leg to send her to the prop and she will likely not be sticky at all – the leg supports her line. As you add rotation, you can also step to the prop with which ever leg you want to use 🙂
Back and forth on the cone – looking terrific! She is feeling good and benidng so nicely! If my memory is correct, she already have value on the cone so this was a fun, easy refresher for her. You will be able to quickly fade out the bowls and move to the other games were she gets into the handling stuff 🙂 Yay!
>> strike a pose – she’s NOT a fan of nose touch. We did 3 warm ups and 3 turns – 1 too many.
This was interesting! I thought her touch at 1:39 was *awesome* then she was offering other things on the next/last rep. Have you found that she just doesn’t like nose touching things, in general? It is possible that your hand position on that last rep was different – a little earlier and a little further from your body. So, you can wait until she has turned back to you after the cookie toss to let her see you put the target hand into position, that might help her drive to it.
If she just hates nose touching in general, you can skip forward to where you get the in-then-out chain: click/mark as she approaches the hand, then reward from the other hand (and then from something on the ground). We want her to love serps & threadles, so if she hates nose touching then we don’t need to make an issue out of it 🙂Great job on all of these! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
Table? what’s a table? hahaha!! You were pretty close to it, and when you moved it was on his line, so…. Good boy 🙂 Table value is a good thing!
When you were facing straight (and when he was on your left): great job!!! He came right to you and never considered heading to the yummy table 🙂
He was moving really quickly as you started running forward , so be sure to decelerate sooner – you will likely have to decelerate almost as soon as he turns towards you after eating the cookie. He was doing a lovely job of driving right to your side on the reps here! Turning early helps keep his butt in tight to you when he is on your right. He is naturally tighter on your left, so it is not as important to turn early when he is on your left.
And he seemed just fine with the beeping, what a good boy!!!
Great job!!Hi! This is looking really good too 🙂
Interesting that he comes in straight to your left hand but swings his butt out on your right side. You can start with shorter distances on your right side, so that he doesn’t come in with as much speed on that side and can line his butt up. I didn’t notice a difference in your timing or hand placement, so it is possible he is just better on one side than the other (this is totally normal :))The circles looked good, nice and tight! He was a little better on your left than on your right (probably because he already comes in tighter on that side of you) but it evened out when you got the cookie hand down into the picture nice and early on your right and started the turning earlier. He turned away from you at 1:37, it did look like a turn away on the flat with a quick shoulder movement that direction. You were smoother and slower on the others and he had no problem. Yay!
Great job!
TracyHi there!
He did really well here, great focus forward and drive to the toy – I think he likes this game 🙂 Your transitions into the toy throw got faster and faster as you went through the session, and that really helped him focus ahead! Yay!! I could see enough of his face to know where he was looking haha 🙂 My only suggestion is that as you throw the toy, watch him the whole time and resist temptation to look at the toy then back at him: as you add distance, looking at him the whole time will help you release really quickly while he is focusing ahead. I think he is definitely ready for more distance! Great job!
THi! The target hits look good! A suggestion about the mechanics: have the cookie in the clicker hand so you can click then bring that hand over to the reward and drop it in on the target (you can turn your target hand to catch it). I think the barking was because the mechanics of the treat placement were drawing his eyes away from the target, so he was looking at the treat, plus you were doing some transferring of the treat and moving the target so there was a delay (Aussies don’t like delay LOL!) – having it ready to plop right in on the target will keep him focused on the target, If you feel like you need a third arm, you can get rid of the clicker and just use a ‘yes’ marker with the cookies in the non-target hand 🙂
Good work!
TracyGood morning! Looks like the tech issues are smoothed out! No worries about the slow motion, I can adjust the viewing setting on youtube to speed it up 🙂
Nice job building the value of the prop! Starting nice and close, and hand-delivering the reinforcement helped you get value on it really quickly. Good job changing your position – as you change position, either click earlier or just skip the click in favor of fast treat delivery 🙂
The next step would be to click and then toss the treat away, which sets up the next rep of click and toss the treat – which builds nicely into the games. Great job!
TGood morning!
Whoa! A lot of distance on this one! I was sweating just watching it haha! Maybe too far for the first couple of reps, he was asking some questions. You can start with the barrels closer as a warm up then increase the distance on each rep. It is quite a workout LOL! At about :31 he was figuring out to look for the barrel out ahead and did really well. His Turn And Burns looked GREAT every time! And he is reading the FC and the spins really nicely too!
A couple of suggestions to help make it even smoother:
in terms of timing of the barrel sends, if you send with your arm too soon (before he is passing you) then he asks questions by jumping up, not committing, or slamming into your butt like at 1:32 (hopefully it didn’t hurt as much as when Contraband did that with my butt LOL!) That is all just him saying “I don’t see connection, help me out mom” (baby dog stuff, I mean they aren’t even 6 months old yet).
When you stayed connected and then pointed/sent forward after he was passing you: perfect! This is what you did at 1:30, 2:00 and 2:13 for example. Just lovely!2 things to help with getting that connection to the correct side when you are on these bigger distances:
you already started more movement (shake shake) of the dog-side arm as you made eye contact – you did this in the 2nd half of the video and I think it was a tremendous help to him! Nice! Keep doing it (and he was NOT sad about the reinforcement you built into it either :))The other thing you can add is a challenge for you: run the rocking horses with your hands in your back pockets (or holding your butt cheeks haha) – this really opens up your upper body to let him see which side to be on and commit past you. It is important that you put your hands in your back pockets because it opens up the connection as you run – not at your sides, because that closes the connection and won’t help him.
Did you see the race track/post turns game on the rocking horses? I don’t think you have tried those yet and he is definitely ready for them 🙂
Backsides – When he was on your right at the beginning – very nice! You did a good job of moving forward til he committed on all reps except the first rep and :24 – you turned your shoulders in anticipation of rewarding too early so it pulled him to the front.
I loved :27! And :32! Lovely connection and line with more challenge because you were further away.
Good job going back to an easier line when you changed sides. I think at :44 he just needed you to walk forward another step or 2 to set the line before you gave the cue. When you move AND say push at the same time, the line is not as clear so he comes into you first then goes back out. Your connection on the other reps on that side was really strong, so he did really well! You can make more progress across the bar if you walk 2 or 3 steps up the line then give the push cue. Keep up the great job with the connection, though, that is REALLY looking good and helping him!!!
You can delay the reward now and see if he automatically turns and comes in over the little bar – then reward. And if he does… he is ready for the Advanced Level, where you step away on a serpentine line. If he doesn’t default to the jump on the baby level, do a few more sessions of rewarding early like you did and then test again to see if he defaults, before moving to Advanced.
Great job on these 🙂 Let me know what you think!
Tracy
