Forum Replies Created
-
Posts
-
Good morning!
The serps are going well, I am really happy with how nicely she is reading the commitment to the jump from all sorts of different angles and on both sides of you. Yay! Your position is looking really good too. She is getting better at going back out but she is still not 100% sure she has permission LOL!!! You can give her the get it cue sooner: just as her front fet are reaching the bar 🙂 and you can bring the reward closer if you think she will drive to it better 🙂 We will be building on this soon, which whill also help her drive back out.
Great job here!Tracy
Good morning!
There is something in every Differ session that makes me laugh out loud. In this one, it was at :59 where she was a little distracted and went to the toy rather than over the bar, then caught herself and went over the bar LOL!! And then for the rest of the reps, it was as if she was thinking “crap, I’d better pay attention here!” and she nailed it LOL! So funny!Yes, she as a little interested in the woods but there could be cool critters and overall, for being in season – very very nice session!!!! She is coming in over the bar almost perfectly 🙂 Now we need to convince her to make the body bend – and the reward on the ground on the next line is the key. When it is in your other hand, she is coming in a bit straight. So – we need something on the ground as the destination focal point. If the toy on the ground will possibly be too hard, we have over options: empty food bowl, pet tutor or Manners Minder, or a target of some sort – can even be the Cato board! Anything that you think will help direct her back out away from you with a verbal cue will work – and then we can really start adding motion. And when you start adding motion, you will automatically not hold your hand as low because it will feel too weird 🙂
Nice job here! Let me know what you think will work best as the exit target/reinforcement placer.
T
Good morning!
Rear crosses are going well – I am thrilled that we can even get this much rear crossing going with such young dogs!! Yes, he has more trouble turning to his left than to his right, but that is fine for now – at :40 you made a big deal to cross in soooo early on his line and t hen you made a massive big deal of the reinforcement 🙂 That rep and the next rep were very clear rear crosses to the left! And then gold star for him: after getting two big parties to the left, he immediately read a rear cross to the right 🙂 YESSSS!!! Very happy with this! So on the left rear crosses, be as early as you were starting at :40 to help him out.
>>He isn’t entering the turn with much speed, but maybe that’s okay at this stage. He definitely comes out of it with more enthusiasm.
No worries! Thoughtful is good with this whippet line in the beginning – let’s get him thoughtful on how to use his body and then you will have more speed than you know what to do with LOL!!! He is a little younger than his cousin, my Contraband (10 months old), who is now layering the speed because he understands what to do (and it is terrifyingly fast LOL!!!!)
The first session went well – he is showing really nice understanding of commitment! And by the last rep he was already adding in the speed. The second session also looks good – thoughtful and accurate with is *exactly* what we want right now (too many pointy dogs think it is all about speed and then they cannot control their bodies).
I think with this game, the next step is to add more running with you, with treats. See how it goes when you run faster on the exit. And then we will get the toys involved, so help him learn how to use his body with thoughtfulness even when he is more stimulated 🙂Lap turns –
>> It feels so clunky and weird – any advice? Do I need to move the prop?>>Lap turns in general feel clunky 🙂 The lap turn itself i looking good, but yet, move the prop: have it near him when he starts, so he has to move past it to get to your magic cookie hand. Then when you turn him – you can move forward and the prop will be right on his line. The prop hit is on a parallel path cue (you will be moving forward) rather than a send. The prop here was out to the side, and you were sending, which might be why it felt a little weird 🙂
Your hand looked great here! He drove right to it (and he also did really fast driving in when you called his name!!
>>We also worked on the concept transfer serp game, and he did pretty well, but he wasn’t making contact with my hand, he would come in close and then continue on for the reward. I decided to just review touching the card in my hand, and he did that great, but then once I tried the serp game again, he wouldn’t touch it all the way. My treat tosses were also really bad and the treats blended into the carpet too much, so I need to redo it, hence no video LOL! I’ll clean up what I can and then see what you think 😉>>
Question – have you gotten to having the reward on the ground yet – either the empty food bowl or a manners minder? If so…. move to the advanced level where he comes in towards you hand and swipes it then goes back out. It sounds like he is already offering an approximation of the desired end behavior (where he comes in then goes back out, rather than stopping to t ouch the target – we will be fading the target this week) so you can move ahead! The reward does need to be on the ground for it, so an empty food bowl is a great way to get it started 🙂
Great job! Let me know what you think!
Tracy
Hi! Oh yes, these are looking good! He is just about perfect turning to his left (starting on your left). It was harder for on the right turns – I scrolled back to see if we had figured out that right was harder in general but I can’t find it. It might have been that right was harder here because he had gotten reward turning left first (and both primacy and recency in play, and that is powerful!) and/or that right is just a little harder for now. But, he figure it out REALLY nicely!! I am super happy with both his drive forward AND his rear crosses (I think your timing was good!!!!). Yay! Onwards to striking a pose 🙂
Have a great weekend!
TracyHi!
>>I will use the same verbals that I use with Pose
Doing so will make life so much easier 🙂
Great list of verbals!
Question – how are ‘turn’ and ‘get out’ different? Just curious.
>>Generic lead change/Soft turn away: Turn
>>Get outT
Hi!
>> I like the ones I picked for her so think I will keep them for Kaladin.
Perfect! Using the same verbals will help preserve your sanity 🙂 Less to remember!
>>Hup- jump in collection and turn (eg: Hup right)
Left/Right – turns up to 90deg-ish>>Question: does hup left produce the same turn as just saying left? If so, you can save hup for very specific commitment things (like crazy bind crosses :)) and just say your left or right cues.
>>Flip – sharp turn left
>>Turn – sharp turn rightAre these different than you left/right cues, or wrap cues? Just curious 🙂
>>I haven’t done much with tandem or lap turns with Min so am debating whether that will use flip/turn (left and right sharper turns) or something else. I hope flip/turn will work (swing is used with the dog going in the same direction as me and flipping away/back so I don’t think it makes sense when dog is coming in and then turning back)>>
The tandem and lap turns can be decided based on the context of the course – for example, a lot of them are threadle/rear crosses, so you can use the threadle and then a directional cue. I tend to name the directions of the line and not the handling, if that makes sense.
>>I guess flip/turn could also work in place of check-check/swing so that the dog has an absolute direction instead of in relation to me, but I’m pretty used to the latter and in my mind (not sure if the dog always agrees but usually I think Min does), check-check and swing are take the jump and then wrap while flip and turn are more instantaneous and used on the flat.>>
Ah! That answers my question, then. Flip & turn are on the flat, and check & swing on jump commitment cues.
>>I also did a bit of teaching Min Zaza for a blind cross but I don’t use it consistently and I don’t think she needs it when I am not late and stay connected>>
It might be too general? Blinds have varying degrees of tightness on the exit, so I have found that the corresponding directionals are more useful for the dogs.
T
Hi Diana! These are really great choices! Have you thought about a threadle verbal? We are adding those soon here 🙂 You can always add more verbals as you get more comfy with the ones you are starting with, but these are terrific choices!
T
Hi there! Yay for playing with the big courses!! And don’t be so hard on yourself – you are doing really well! Handling young dogs requires so much attention to every single detail and there are so many good things here!!!!
>>He will jump 16″ in competition, but I usually jump him at 12″. Do you think I should be doing some at his competition height? I basically never do anything at 16″. I’m also thinking some jump grids or one jump work might be good for him. I don’t think he is powering off his rear as much as he could. I know jumping off the front is definitely a poodle thing.>>
Tell me what he has done at 16″ so far, and we can make a plan 🙂 Yes, grids and one jump work are the start – let me know and I will send stuff to play with. How many jumps do you have at home? I generally jump dogs lower in training but they do need to learn to jump at full height, so we can plan for a nice balance.
On the video:
OK, going back to not being so hard on yourself – because he is a youngster, it can be overwhelming to do ALL the things (as the handler of a dog that just turned 2 years old, I feel that 1000% !!) So – set specific performance goals for yourself for each sequence or course (for you, not him, because we can’t control what he does, we can only control what we do :)) So an example would be: being sure you connect to his eyes on every tunnel exit and after every cross. Boom! Attainable yet not so easy. And when that goal becomes comfortable, you can add another one: Getting on perfect lines, for example. Or which verbals to use. That will really help you focus on your success as well as build everything together as he also learns more about the game.First run: Course 2 – very nice opening! Good line on the blind and good connection & timing!
You can add a little more connection to his eyes on the exit of the tunnel – everything else was strong (line, verbal, etc).The middle looked good, you were multi-tasking getting the serp at 6 with staying on the line. On the 10-11-12 section, you did a forced front cross on takeoff of 11 – it worked to get 11 but it showed too much extension on the exit. So, you can try a forced front to a throwback or spin exit, or replace the forced front with a forced blind which makes it easier to get the spin on the exit of 11 to produce the tight turn to 12 (:17)
On the wrap at 12 (:19) – turning your feet forward to 13 before he passes you will help tighten that wrap up a bit, then make your connection to him on your right side as soon as you can (you were a little late, so he looked up at you).
You made good adjustments on the 2nd run! Another nice opening but you added more connection on the exit of the 4 tunnel so he had a beautiful line to 5!
The whole middle section looked smoother because you were really focusing on connection – that helped the lines really well!You added a little decel after the forced front on 11 at :41 and it helped…. but I think a stronger cue is needed in the form of a spin or a brake arm.
At :42, if you freeze the video as you explode away up the line when he is in the air: he was turning to his left, correctly, but you exploded out of it towards the dog walk so he switched to a rear cross on landing (good boy, paying attention!!!). He read that correctly, Your feet on the first rep stepped out more forward and that is why he did not read rear cross there at :19.
Next rep staring at tunnel 9 –
you did the BC before 11 and it was GREAT (:51) – he understood it, yo uwere on a great line – NICE! It allowed you to step away sooner at :52 which drew him into an even tighter line to 12. It created a domino effect in the best way: blind let you step away earlier which let you turn your feet at 12 earlier too – so he responded with nice lines through out (check out how he landed from 12 at :55 and dug in to make the turn, good boy!)It also got you further ahead on the ending line, which made it easier to get him to the last jump (that ending line is NOT easy LOL!)
Second course 1, actually 🙂
You got a little pointy on the exit of 2 at 1:01 🙂 Meaning – when he exited the #2 tunnel you pointed your arm at 3 and said get out but the rest of your body was leaving without connection, so he just followed you. You added connection at 1:09 to send him, and he was perfect 🙂Nice blind 4-5!
One goal you can add is for the walk throughs: assessing how tight the exit lines are for some of the jumps and making sure your cue is strong enough to get a wrap exit – at 5 and 8, those are tight exit lines and the forward sends sent him a little wide so he found the backside line at 6 and considered going in the house after 8 – young dogs are so literal LOL!!!
Then something caught his noe at 1:24, for whatever reason, so you lost him. It appears he actually picked something up at 1:28 so there might have been a cookie or worm or something. Yum! LOL!
Good job calling, running, rewarding.2nd run – great adjustment on the tunnel exit to show connection and get 3!!
Nice blind 4-5! Your connection and line and timing on this (and in the previous run too) look lovely!You had more name call on the exit of 5 so he found 6, but you can add in a decel and brake arm (and maybe a spin) to get the collection before takeoff.
You were talking to him more on the 8 -9-10 line so he was able to ignore distractions (and had already eaten the worm, LOL!)
You can smooooth that line out by using more serpentine-style handling on 9 – getting closer to his path and opening your chest up towards him. It was a good line but you can show a little more serp cue to make it a great line.VERY nice transition into the wrap on the 10 jump!! I saw a clear transition into decel and then the rotation and his turn was really nice!!!!! And you had your verbal going. YES! AND exit line connection, double yes!
At the very end – you were running (yay!) and yelling go go go (yay!) but not connected (no yay lol) so he did not drive ahead. That gives us an insight into just how important connection is to him – more important than motion! Good to know. When I suggested above about making a goal of connection on every tunnel exit, I hadn’t watched the video yet: but I think he affirms the need for tunnel exit connection, because that is where he had questions more than anywhere else.But overall – these are looking good!!!! Definitely do NOT be so hard on yourself – you are just learning to handle a young dog and there are so many good elements happening here!! Great jog! Let me know what you think, especially about the jumping stuff.
Tracy
Hi!
>> set up the 3 jump zig zag grid again today. She did great and had mostly great form with them slightly open. I added a little motion and then gradually increased motion.
Yes! This was exciting to see, form already MUCH improved and she was able to maintain it while you were adding some motion. Happy dance!!! Very nice 🙂
>>I wasn’t sure what to do next – whether to increase the height and keep the slightly open grid or keep the jumps at 12″ and close the opening. I opted to straighten up the line. She had a little trouble at first, but eventually figured it out. Looking forward to comments and suggestions on how to proceed. >>
With this grid… I have more of a ‘do nothing next’ approach than with pretty much anything else LOL!!! When you get several good reps in a session, quit the session and plan to add more on the next session. 2 reasons for this: one reason is to let the form get rehearsed properly all the time and let the brain wire to it. The second reason is that adding challenge later in the session will risk good form because of fatigue. This grid works different body parts and is plyometric in many ways, so good form = fatigue in the early stages. So adding challenge might be good mentally, but the dogs might not be able to produce correct form because they are a little fatigued (physically) and compensate. Her hind end was coming up a bit more than it had been at the end of the video than then beginning. So start with the grid maybe one inch more open than it was here, then if you like the form – close it a bit more for a few reps and see what she does 🙂
So the plan for the next session would be to warm up with a rep of where you left off – and then go into the harder level – and then the last rep and open up to something easier.
One other thought – have you tried it with the toy on the ground at this stage, or a target after the grid? She is lifting her head over the 3rd jump for the toy and it is inverting her spine a bit – so something out ahead will help the form there too.
Nice work!!!! Keep me posted!
TracyHi!
I am looking forward to the trial updates!!
One thing we can work on is the transition to trials where he knows where the tennis ball/reward is outside the ring, and that gives him confidence and focus *inside* the ring! I posted a few ideas for Eileen & Ivan (who is also a tennis ball fanatic) and I will go grab them and post them here too. I think we did these a while back but it is worth revisiting as you go back to trials 🙂I am glad you grabbed the grids! He did really well, they are hard but great for conditioning. He did MUCH better than most dogs do on these, especially for a first session and also especially because he is big! I am impressed! He even did a great job when he broke his stay haha!
My only suggestion is to start him closer to the first jump, less than a foot away, so he has to liftoff from his sit immediately rather than take a stride then jump. This serves two purposes:
-adds a plyometric element of strengthening his hind end and core
– adds challenge by shifting his weight back onto his rear for the grid.If he can do it as well starting closer, you can get the jumps even flatter and try it!
And after a couple of sessions, you can get the height up a little too 🙂
No need to do this every day – every 3rd or 4th day is great, so the muscles can rest/recover in between.
Great job here! Hope you are enjoying the trial!!
Tracy
Alrighty, here are 3 videos to give you some training ideas for trials! On the videos with the Manners Minder, you can totally use a tennis ball instead 🙂
Ah, 2020….. I have many 4-letter words to post here about 2020!!!
But – I am glad you are working on getting your foot back on track!!!! And stopping agility forever was a ridiculous idea on their part, seriously. The strengthening and gait stuff and bike work sounds awesome!!!!
For the dogs – 2 ideas:
Have you considered putting up a pool? I have lots of agility and flyball peeps who have put up a pool, the type that can somehow be easily taken down during the winter. I can get more info if you want – I definitely want to put up a pool but I haven’t gotten around to doing anything about it.
The other idea is to get with someone who can personalize a program for the dog’s fitness. I just started a private, month-long program with Dr. Leslie Eide who is excellent with the fitness and also does agility at a high level, so she understands us 🙂 It is about $100 a week and includes personalized, progressive plans that evolve and get feedback, plus a live Zoom consultation every week. So far, it is worth every penny and I am sure it will get even better. I am not sure how many months I will do (the pandemic thing makes income a little trickier than normal) but I will definitely do one more month after this to get Hot Sauce where I want her.For the training…. well there is a TON we can do! Question – how does walking feel? Any restrictions?
The first thing is going to be making a list of skills and ranking them on a scale of o through 3:
0 = haven’t started
1 = started but weak
2 = in progress, semi-reliable
3 = looking good!The skills can be handling moves, obstacle skills, and verbal cues. It will be a big list, but that is fine. We then prioritize and get to work! There is so much that we can do without needing to run run run 🙂
T
Hi there!
>>I am familiar with the concern about dogs, particularly BC’s, who will work until they drop. Obviously, Enzo is more sensible than that. Of course, I’d prefer that I was the one that decided when to stop but, if I’m not aware, it is nice that he is>>
Heck yes – if he chooses to stop long before the potential for any collapse, then that is a GREAT thing. Maybe it was more humid than usual? One thing it might have been – he didn’t seem as confident when you were sending him ahead, and on that last rep he ticked the bar or hit the first wing (something made noise) and since you were not moving, perhaps he thought you were going to stop him for a bar? That is something my Voodoo would do, it looked familiar 🙂
The grids are looking really good – I am not seeing a difference in his jumping form when you are normal speed, running hard, or standing still. I am especially happy to see no real difference when you were way out ahead!! He stayed balanced – that is excellent. He was balanced when you were sending him on ahead, but not as sure of it. He might just need more verbal support with the get it to help him understand that yes, he is allowed to do this grid independently when you are stationary 🙂
Nice job!
TracyGood morning!
>>Oh dear, you are right about how I use “go on”. It has two meanings, the most correct one is “take the straight line in front of you and finish up”. The other one is more like “stay out there on the line you are on and don’t cut in to me”. >>
The good news is, Enzo appears to understand the straight line meaning of go on! The bad news is, Enzo appears to understand the straight line meaning of go on! LOL!!! So, maybe plan to say his name quietly or a ‘jump’ cue? You can be quiet too of course but talking is fine. I somehow developed my ‘jump’ cue because of my inability to stay quiet 🙂
Loved your double whammy here!
Little things to think about, because we can always analyze and consider:
On the entry of 3 (the tunnel) you said around – perfect timing for a verbal. He didn’t really power out as I know he can. I wonder if the around was too soon and a GO cue would be better, to name the behavior on the tunnel exit (straight line) and then when he exits, switch to around?) The GO right before he enters should produce a straight line exit – which is perfect in this situation. And then before he exits, you can start the around to tell him what to look for when he exiting the tunnel (because around applies to the next jump). Yes, it is a nit picky detail to figure out just how fast we can get him to go – but I think it is fun to mess around with these little details 🙂 Thoughts?On the 4 backside and also when you get back through the second time: VERY awesome job of disconnecting! At :06 and even more at :22 you saw him head to the backside and then you disconnected (verbal and motion supported the line) and you then we able to get to a great spot and reconnect for the send to 5
Nice blind to the tunnel at :11, in terms of timing, connection AND line! The BC at :26 was not quite as early so not quite as perfect but still really nice!
The dig at 10 (:16) probably needed a stronger handling cue – more decel and maybe a break arm – he was pretty wide there. A spin is a possibility.
Ending looked lovely!!!
Tracy
Good morning!!
This #3 course is super challenging and technical but I think this was your best walk-run combo of the week!!!! Wow!
A big contributor might be your time management: your handling plans were hashed out pretty early in the walk so you could get into the nitty gritty really quickly. It looks like you had your full plan in motion by just under 5 minutes in: that is terrific time management on a massive course like this with all of the technical craziness.And, your plan was really good!! Some thoughts for you:
1-5 looked like the absolute best way to do things for the fastest lines.On the 6 jump (after the tunnel) – you chose the wrap which *might* be the fastest line. But since backside wraps are often much slower than backside slices (and harder for the dog), that is a spot where you can look at the slice (sending him to the entry wing closer to the straight tunnel, exiting same side as you had him exit) – based on how you set it, it looks like the distance on the slice might be longer – but the question would then be: if it is only a little longer (from the exit of 5 to takeoff of 7) can it be faster? If it is a LOT longer, it will probably not be faster. Food for thought! On the wrap at 6, you were walking with your left arm (outside arm) supporting him over the bar – that is probably just old habit, you don’t need that- you can just cue and leave.
The weave entry/exit is definitely challenging. You can consider a side change before the poles or after it (depending on if he knows to stay in when you run past and blind cross the exit).
The rest of your choices look really good, nice aggressive handling choices 🙂 I really like the BC 12-13, but you will need to leave the teeter as early as possible to get there on time. The only other potential trouble spot if 16-17, which has that push through to 17 – you were walking it parallel to the bar of 16 and using your arm to push to 17 – that is a spot where you will likely need to turn towards the gap and step into it to convince him to get the correct side of 17. That same convergence will help get the 19-20 line at the end too.
Your run went REALLY well!!!! Little details to consider:
1-5 was lovely, looked great! You did *not* over-support the 6 jump on the run, you cued and left – worked really nicely! You switched plans and did a FC before the poles – I know it wasn’t your plan and you were caught in the moment… but I liked it 🙂 Yes, a little late and he was a little wide, but you made it work. One thing to remember in that situation is that one of his strengths is staying on the line you are moving towards as you do a blind cross, even when you are not in a perfect position – so you can totally get a BC in there and make it work even better 🙂After the teeter, you were with him on the teeter for a little too long, setting up a foot race to the blind 12-13 on the line after the teeter but you GOT IT because he understands what to do there. It was a risky aggressive handling moment and it rocked! YEAH!!! And it set you up to continue your plan of the BC on takeoff of 14 – which you also got. Double yeah!!! You will continue to get more and more comfy with these handling choices and execute them even sooner – he seems to both understand AND power through them 🙂
You had an oopsie on the convergence into 17 – you ran it like you walked, and he ended up on the front side. So on the list of things to remember – convergence on the exit of slice lines when we have to push the dogs into a gap. That was a big thing for everyone this week, so it is in the Week 5 package that is coming tomorrow 🙂 Stay tuned!
On the 2nd run – you were driving even harder 1-5, love it! It looked even better than the first run. He dropped the bar at 6 on this run – it looks like you stepped backwards a little more on this rep than on the previous jump where you left forward to 7, so he didn’t realize how tight the turn was until he was in the air. Interestingly, as you were going for the FC before the poles on the first run, you stepped out of 6 perfectly. But with the RC before the poles coming up in this run, you stepped back and that pulled the rail. That’s another reason to always handle aggressively 🙂 – it gets you driving to the next thing sooner!
About the weaves: the RC to the weaves did get you a nicer entry line on this run. Question: can you outrun him while he is in the weaves and BC the exit? It would be kind of a serp/blind on this particular course, if he will stay in the poles and let you get there. The other option would be a RC on the flat, which is more like a tandem turn in this situation. I still think you can get the BC before the entry 🙂
You were a little further from the teeter here and got to the BC on step sooner. Yay! And that contributed to an earlier forced blind on 14 so he powered more through that line too. And you were much clearer on the push to 17, so he nailed it. Ending line looked really strong too!!
Very well done on this! And I am guessing that George was your videographer, big thanks to him for filming all the walk throughs and runs! (BTW, I video my walk throughs at trials too, when possible to make sure I am matching up to my runs – yes, I am that crazy LOL!)
Great job with the trial transition games – his face was adorable: “but mom, my BALL!!!” hahaha!
I really liked his speed here, going away from the ball (going towards the ball is a no brainer, he will be fast :)) he did a great job running fast up the line *away* from it, and that is the hardest part.
One challenge that I think is important for any AKC competitor is having him come past where the entry gate is and where the ball is… and continue on up the course (I see this ALL the time on AKC courses and many dogs have trouble with it). What I mean by that is – on this course – the ball is exactly where you left it. You start on the same jump, and then do a sequence like jump – weaves – teeter – jump then up the line that you ran here. Ivan would exit the teeter and then have to ignore the ball rather than head towards it when he goes past it – then he can get rewarded for ignoring it of course 🙂
Let me know if that makes sense, I haven’t had a lot of coffee yet today 🙂Great job!
TracyHi!
>>So she tends to sit and offer attention rather than behaviors until we are in a training loop. Then she anticipates the loop! So in the “prime the pump” stage, she will sit and mand. Then once she is warmed up, the “ready” cue makes her anticipate what is coming next and offer something. So I am struggling because with my other dogs, “ready” is a “prime the pump” type thing but I am struggling to adapt to her style where sometimes she needs priming and a cue and sometimes she doesn’t.>>
Interesting details of the baby dog!! 2 suggestions:
– you can de-loop her (meaning, get rid of the anticipatory process) by doing 2 or 3 reps of the behavior, then break off the game and tug. I like loops in that we can get a nice high rate of reinforcement going and often some nice clean mechanics too… but there are other elements that are NOT as useful and the anticipation is one of them LOL!!! So you can try mini loops of 2 or 3 reps then ave a dance break. And, you can insert a ‘ready’ engagement as you describe with your other pups (which sounds similar to what I do too) into the loop: play – send – reward – call back – play – send-reward -etc. So there is engagement built in, rather than circling back into the behavior. Let me know if that makes sense, I might need more coffee 🙂– if your ‘ready’ word seems to cue her to go do a thing, you can approach it differently. Either say ‘ready’ then cue an engagement behavior you like (with some of my dogs, I cue a bark. With some, it is a trick or eye contact) so she starts to offer an engagement behavior rather than a training behavior like a mat hit. Also, depending on what you want her to do with the ready behavior, you can reinforce the behavior by then inserting the prop to start the training. For example, using the mat hit (targeting), and let’s say I want my pup to stand in front of me and make eye contact when I say “ready”:
Start by holding your target mat. Say ready – when she stands in front and looks at you, reinforce the behavior by placing the mat down – the opportunity to target will reinforcement the ready behavior you want, without any possibility of her going to the mat when you say ready, if that makes sense 🙂
Let me know what you think!
Tracy
