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Hi! 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 🙂
TracyHi! Just saw this…. I have a game for that! From the puppy program, get started with this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6iPa5p6Dt5M&list=PLfmMHeoeqwgbgZtQq99RPwFDMW8k8I3P3&index=12
And we will build from there when class starts 🙂Hi! Lots of good stuff here!
On the stand on the plank: I think he was sitting because he didn’t like his back feet falling off and didn’t quite know how to stand and keep his feet on – so, you can use a wider board or put two side-by-side for now if you have 2nd one. The other option is to isolate the 2 back feet on the plank by luring him into a 2o2o off the front of the plank. I think that can help him figure out how to put his back feet on it without having to worry about his front feet AND back feet all not moving at the same time LOL!!! He did get into the stand towards the end, great job with the fast rewards! His back feet were under him which probably meant he was not totally sure of where all the parts needed to go 🙂 so widening the plank or isolating back feet for a session or two can help, then it will be easier on this one.
Parallel path on the prop – I think that moving further from it laterally really helped solidify the game here, because he had to choose looking up at you or looking down at the prop. When you were close to it, he was trying to do both. And when you took that step further away for your line, he couldn’t do both… so he focused on the prop a lot more! Yay! I think on the reps where he couldn’t find the prop after eating a cookie, he just needed a moment before you moved up the line again. So when you throw the treat, go to where he is getting it – then after he lifts his head from the eating event 🙂 you can proceed up your parallel line again 🙂
He did really well here, so you can also do the countermotion element of sending him sideways or backwards as you begin to move away.The stay game -this is also going well!
> Had to think about my cues … luckily he was forgiving.>>
Yes, try to clarify the verbals so that you can use your ‘catch’ verbal more consistently – I think there were a lot of yes verbals followed by the throw, but I don’t generally recommend ‘yes’ as a release word of any sort (because we humans say it so often and generally we want the dog to keep doing what he is doing LOL!!) And when you use your catch word, keep your hands totally still when you say it, then toss – he is very tuned into your movement so I want him to not think the hand motion is the release and miss the word. You can also just use your ‘catch’ word, you don’t need to ‘yes’ it and that might make it easier to build value for that verbal.
Speaking of movement… he likes to move his feet, he reminds me of two of my dogs. So you can change your criteria slightly for the initial reward: look for butt to be in the sit AND for both front feet to have weight in them (so he doesn’t patter his front feet). You can wait for him to be totally still, the reinforce. It will take some patience for him to settle himself, but I think that is a great game for him!
He does like to pummel you a bit… You can see if turning away consistently gets him to stop, but it is motion and he likes motion (plus be careful not to turn back to face him when he barks). So if it does not help him stop the pummeling, you can continue to face him, completely motionless, til he settles completely into the sit (butt on ground, weight in both front feet). And if he is able to pummel you and then sit, you can add in something for him to sit on, like a cot or bed – so he runs to it and sits, rather than slams you in the belly or tries to grab the food (I feel that! Ouch!).Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi! I hope the icy stuff melts and is GONE by end of day today. We have stuff to do!!!
The back and forth looks good here! You can add challenge to the angles by tossing the treat even further away off to the side, so he he as find his way back on the plank for progressively more difficult angles. I think he has some value for standing on the board so he was offering that too, which is fine of course 🙂 He was turning around nicely when you tossed the treat the opposite direction! The bow was adorable. His right turns looked great! He is not as fluid with the turns to his left, so you can slow down the cue for those and lead his nose through the turn so he bends into it and thinks about his feet on the left turn. And when you start flyball training, he will do a box turn to his right LOL!
Great job!
TracyHi! He is doing well with his goat tricks 🙂 Yay! And as cute as always 🙂 The yellow box looked good, he was able to happily get on it, no problem. Yay! And also a good transition back to the toy. The noisy Sorry game gave us good insight into helping him in these types of moments: yes, the sound was weird (but not terrifiying) – so you can click for that first choice to sniff it, then toss the treat away so he can have a ‘relief’ moment (I am a big fan of letting dogs move away from things that are weird :)) Then when he comes back, you can click for the next sniff, then toss away. Then click for a paw touch then toss the treat…. then I am sure he will pretty quickly get all feet on it and you can switch the placement to feeding while he is on the box (like you did for the yellow box). He did come back and offer pretty quickly, so the main reason that I suggest this is it will lay the groundwork for teeter training in the future. When the teeter moves or makes noise, he will already have experience in the protocol from this, so he will make the transfer very quickly 🙂 Let me know if that makes sense!
Great job here!!
TracyHi there! Great post here, he is doing so well!!!! Soooooo many lovely things on this video!
Pre-game 1, prop shaping: Good job with the c/t timing here! He was super about offering the foot hits. Try to stand still, as frozen as possible – he was watching you move a bit (he sees EVERYTHING lol!) You can also throw the treat further away so he can then really drive back to the prop and smack it 🙂 He is doing great and it is a perfect choice of prop… so you can definitely move on to the next set of games with this (the sending from week 1).
Pre-game 1, nose touching – also fabulous! He offered a very clear nose touch. Good boy! Good clicks! One tweak on the rewards – have your treat ready in the clicker hand and then after the click, bring that hand over to the hand he just touched and feed him there, either right on the target or right in front of it. That will keep him closer to it and also keep him from putting himself into a sit to wait for the cookie. And if he is standing and closer to it, he is more likely to touch it again faster. And it will prime the pump for when we build on this (next Tuesday :))
Driving ahead with toy: he has fabulous toy value! I love his toy play! He is very engaged and maybe a little naughty on the toy… but I consider “naughty” to be the same as “perfect” with toy play at this age.
This was a great session, building from up close to adding distance while also staying connected. He was looking forward on all of them but one (he looked at you when you added ‘steady’ for the first time). He seems comfortable with the restraint and very confident to drive ahead with speed and grab the toy. Adding the ‘ready’ word is great too because it will serve you well in the trial ring eventually: when you ask if he is ‘ready’ he is going to say HECK YES! GAME ON! and it will be a fun way to get him in the zone for his runs.
You can play this game with various toys, to spread the value to as many different toys as possible. And, add in your motion now. My guess, based on this, is he will NOT have any trouble with you moving – so you can probably add in running as soon as you let him go. If he thinks that is weird at all (that would surprise me, based on his zest here), you can dial back your speed and go back to walking. If he is happy with you running – go to the toy races so you are actively trying to beat him to get to the toy (good luck, he is fast haha!). I think your only challenge will be finding the place to do big toy races… you probably have snow on the ground. So, any indoor area where you both have good footing will work for the toy races.Drive to handler – also going really nicely! He seems to want to be a tiny bit wide of you, so you can feed the reward so close to your leg that your hand is touching the side of your leg. That will further encourage him to drive into you for tight turns. You can even feed him with your hand slightly forward, more on your knee, so his head is turned a little and his neck is almost wrapping around your leg – also to encourage the beginnings of tight turns. That will also help him line up his hind end, which is a factor in turns. You started doing more of that (feeding really close to you) at 3:55 and that totally convinced him to get closer to you and tighter into the turn. And he then was able to bend his body as you added in the turns after he drove to you. Those looked good!!!! The double turns were harder -he lost connection a little on the 2nd turn, so you can move more slowly to maintain the eye contact as he gets the hang of the fact that there might be 2 turns in a row LOL! The last part of this section, where you added speed and the toy: I am really excited to see the excellent food and toy transitions at the end, he looks like he has GREAT balance and that is rare in puppies! It is very cool to see him going back and forth between food and toys – perfect!!!!
You will be able to advance this game really quickly too – check out the blind crosses first (those will be super easy) then you can move him to the game we added this week, which combines this game with blinds with driving ahead. Wheeeee!!Great job here! He looks fabulous!
Tracy
Ooh, it sounds like Bonnie has a BEAUTIFUL place!! So nice!!! And perfect for the winter!
>> About her even liking to turn to the left on the blind better too. Not as good on the right.
These puppy classes during the pandemic have really helped us see early signs of side preference, it has been fascinating! And because we can see it sooner (thanks to obsessing on videos haha) then we can help balance it sooner. Plus, now that I also play flyball, I have gotten better at reading side preferences because it is really important for flyball 🙂 3 of my dogs are lefties and 2 are righties in flyball… but they are all pretty balanced in agility!
Stay warm 🙂
TracyHi!
One of the fun things with young dogs is sorted out the toy play and food play and all of that – it is not that easy! A definite puzzle when/how to use food and toys. He clearly is really stimulated by the frisbee – try to use it more interactively, rather than throwing it. The sends looked really good! So have him come in and tug with you with a soft frisbee. It is possible that some of the running around and arousal you are seeing is linked to the running after the frisbee when it is thrown. And in situations where it is not thrown, he is ‘hacking’ his own arousal by running around. So, see if you can get him to come in and tug, and then you can release from the tug with a frisbee throw.>>I did have issues with Chapter throwing out behaviors to get rewarded faster.>>
What types of behaviors? One of my youngsters thinks the frisbee is LIFE so the behavior I have taught him is to sit and wait. LOL! “You want me to hurry up? That is cool, offer a sit and then I will hurry up” LOL!
I thought he did really well with the tunnel and wraps with the frisbee and with the food! Really nice work with your sends!! He was faster with the frisbee, partially because of the value and partially because the food was the last rep where the ‘edge’ was off. And since the frisbee was out of the picture, he was taking himself on frisbee runs.
>>I forgot to mention with the tug tug tug and lazy game is that with a frisbee he won’t eat food. I am working on his tug toy skills with other toys so I can try it with lower value toys and see what happens!!>>
This is where you can start shifting the value to other toys and food by using the frisbee so you are not locked into only frisbee. Have the frisbee present, tucked under your arm or in a pocket. Have him eat a treat (criteria = take it AND swallow it!) and then reward the act of eating with the frisbee. That will raise the value of food in the training environment. Same with other tugs – tug on it then reward the tugging with the frisbee, Start this away from trying to train anything else, just do the food then frisbee or tug thn frisbee games until he can eat and play with other toys, in the presence of the frisbee. Let me know if that makes sense and let me know how it goes!!
Tracy
Hi!
Peanut butter on a spoon is MAGIC lol!!! And I think they get used to turning around or being lifted off and that contributes to confidence later on – I know far too many dogs that take a spill on a teeter and are then afraid of it. He sorted this out! He was not entirely sure of how to get on and the moving of th board wa a little weird… but peanut butter is magical! If the board flapping is worrisome, you can leave him in a stay and go to the end of the board, face him while you hold the board and recall him to you. That will split out the movement of the board and also get him more comfy with you ahead (he seemed most comfy with you next to him, which is fine to start!>> I realized he wasn’t at my feet but at the top of the teeter about 15ft away and wondering why there was no PB on the spoon!>>
HA! That is funny. My Elektra just goes and stands on the end of the teeter now and waits there. She is a nut.
I am glad that he is feeling good about turning around and walking down! All of that helps build into the confidence of driving up the board – the height is hard!!!! A few more sessions and he will be ready for more movement too.
Nice work!
TracyHi!
Your raise a good point here:
>>It’s hard for me to get him running in the close confines of the basement.>>
We don’t need them running at this point. I am happy with the trot, and with the thoughtfulness. I think it was SUPER clever how you changed the angles of the plank to get him using his hind end to get on – brilliant! I would not have thought of that, and I love it!
Does he have value for stopping at the end of the travel plank? You can maintain that, it looks like he offered it when you were running LOL!! You can have him get on at an angle then stop at the end. If I recall, you are getting on the RDW crazy train with a bunch of us, right? The travel plank isn’t used for that so feel free to use it for your teeter behavior which I think will be a stop, right? Either way – he looked really good here!!!! Thinking about his feet most of the time and you can also do the turning around on this plank – it is nice and narrow and will add some challenge there 🙂Great job!
Tracy
