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Hi there! She is doing really well!!!!
Pillow game – looks like she is building value! And it also looks like she is trying to figure out how to touch it AND look at you LOL!! So you can help her look down at it by dropping the reward on it sooner, as she is on her way to it even before she hits it. That can encourage her to look down more and at you less for this 🙂
Toy drive ahead – yay! This is good! Nice job tossing and releasing while she was looking at the toy. Bearing in mind that she is a pointer, it might take a few session to override the instinct of pointing and then you will see more and more speed develop (kind of like how Border Collies need to learn to NOT flank). I mean, Pointers do not naturally run fast directly at what they are hunting, right? So she is looking directly at it and moving straight to it – she will continue to get faster and faster (this is an EASY game for terriers because they naturally drive straight and fast at things LOL!)
Drive to handler: Also looking lovely!!! She had a good stay going on these, so be sure to reward these a lot (we like stays) and if she does a couple of good ones… don’t ask for more (she is so young, after all) and switch to throwing a cookie back to get her away from you to start. That way there is no arguing about stays – only a couple of happy stays and the rest of the reps are done by sending her away to a cookie so you can get the head start.
Her drive to you looked fabulous and the turn looked GREAT! Very bendy, ad you had great hand position to really support her turns. Yay! And the double at the end looked great too.Great job here!!! Let me know what you think!
Tracyhi Joni! This was great! She does indeed have a strong nose touch – and after about the :30 second mark on the video, you lowered your hand so she could come in straight and not reach up for it: PERFECT!!! You won’t need the touch verbal for this one (it turns into a different ‘move’ in week 3 LOL!) and you were perfectly quiet – that allowed her to really focus on the nose target and she was nailing it. The credit card thingie is a perfect target for her here. And I agree – the cut up Swiss cheese was a GREAT choice because it was really obvious and also delicious 😁 Swiss is sticky so it is hard to throw, I recommend Cheddar LOL!!! You can also break off and play tug after every 3 or 4 cookies – that will keep her arousal higher so she is less likely to want to sniff for any missed treats.
This behavior looks strong for what we will use it for, so you can put it away til Week 3 and work on the other stuff from last week and the new stuff that is coming tomorrow.
Great job!!
TracyHi there! No worries about the video length, my video lengths are suggestions so no one puts up a 30 minute video LOL!!! this was about 3 minutes of basically a full session and it was perfect 🙂 No facepalms needed!
>it mostly just shows the driving forward game, but I wanted you to see it because I’m working a lot with Peeka’s desire to play with me, and I was pretty psyched about her playing this morning! >>
I think the driving forward element of this game looked GREAT which also speaks volumes for the increase in toy drive: she will only drive forward if she LIKES what she is driving to, and she sure did here! Yay! My only suggestion on that element of the game is to let her go sooner – when the toy hits the ground, if she is looking at it (and she will be) – let go immediately.
>>Disclaimer: I only did this session because she was being insane and driving me nuts, so she was primed for good playing.>>
HA! I feel that LOL!
>>In our online zoom class, we worked the whole time for food, and we just worked for food at a recent seminar (where she wanted to play with my shoe on the side at the end but wasn’t really into her toys as things to work for).>>
OK then, that is great for now! And this week we can work on getting the toy play and food play going in a back-and-forth between the two sense. We don’t have a live class this week but I will be posted games and we can isolate that. 3 thoughts to mull over tonight before I post the games in tomorrow’s package:
1 – what NON toy items does she like? Will she play with a slipper? Cardboard from a roll of paper towels? Feather duster? What makes her cuckoo? We can use any of these as toys when there is also food involved. My Border Staffy, at Peeka’s age, LOVED little hand brooms so I went back and forth between cookies and sweeping the floor with a hand broom for her to tug on. The Papillons liked cat toys a whole lot. We can do some fun stuff with non-traditional toys 🙂
2 – food is high value, so any toy play for now should be done away from any pool of scent of treats. You can offer a boring kibble in one room of the house… then run run run down the hall to a different room to play tug. It is both stimulating and removes the distraction of the food possibility.
3 – you can totally use the Outback Steakhouse motto of “no rules, just right” for her toy play for now. When the play becomes really where you want it in terms of active engagement whenever you ask for it… then we slice in some rules 🙂 But for now – let her be sassy naughty pants on the toy, do everything ‘wrong’ in your training in terms of letting her pull it out of your hands, letting her run around with it, etc – I have a video to show you all on all the “wrong” things to do to build toy drive LOL! It is easy to install tug rules on top of that 🙂>When she is into playing, her inclination when she wins the toy is to go lie down with it and chew.>>
You can attach the toy that she wins to a really long line or a long toy, so she can feel the joys of victory… then if she tries to lie down and chew it, you start wiggling it around – this serves a dual purpose of re-engaging her AND giving her a response cost for trying to chew it (the toy will move away) which will lead her to stop wanting to chew it. Victory laps with the toy are fine for now, though 🙂
>> So we’ve been playing the two toy game, and she’s definitely gotten better about being able to trade toys.
yes! I can see that in the video, yay!!! She was so funny – I don’t think she remembered she still had a toy in her mouth when you were trying to engage her with the other one 🙂 Be sure to keep the toys super active and enticing, I don’t think she is ready to bring you the toy when asked all the time, so for now, don’t ask, just entice 🙂
>>Another thing we’ve been doing (and I’m not sure this is a good idea because I’m worried about getting her too into feet?) is, since she does often like to chew on/chase feet, I’ve been trying to incorporate that a little into play (but my rule, which she doesn’t get yet, is that the feet are only interesting if you have a toy in your mouth). My goal is for her to want to play WITH me with a toy she has and then I’ll offer her the toy I have (which today was a much more valuable toy apparently).>>
My Export used to play with feet on cue, I have a great photo of it somewhere – but there are rules – the human must be wearing shoes and it is only on cue 🙂 So maybe start with a shoe or a slipper attached to a leash? Of course it is a slippery slope to use shoes, but I have never had a problem starting with shoes then fading them out and adding rules later on 🙂
The only other thing to mention on the video is if she has something startle her (like her sister barking :)) – perfect opportunity! It get the toy really exciting when that happens, so the startle moment equals toy party dance time! Throw the toy around, let her chase it, etc – and keep throwing it around and partying with her until she is back on it (you can move her away from the distraction if needed by having her chase you :))
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyAwww so fun to see this! It has been so amazing to see her progression from puppy in MaxPup to full-fledged kick-ass agility BEAST! I love it!!!! Onwards to a better 2021!!!
Goooood morning! What a great video to see first thing!! She picked up the rhythm very quickly and has no trouble applying it to the upright. I didn’t see any side preference, she looked balanced going left and right (that’s unusual in a good way!)
Since this went so nicely, do maybe one more short session to solidify it then we move on: with the upright close to you, start changing your position by sitting in a low chair or on something (I sit on one of those balance donut things). You can also kneel if it is comfy, but my knees say hell no to that 🙂 then after 2 sessions, if she is successful like she was here – move to standing 🙂 the upright is close to you during these because we only want to change one element at a time.
Separately, with you still sitting, you can push the upright further away to add a little more challenge there.
The back and forth between food and toys is a pretty normal thing that it will be harder to get one over the other. For dogs that are in food mode,leaving the pool of scent seems to help. Plus, teething! Soft, very flat, furry toys that she can win without having to pull too hard will help too.
Great job 🙂 let me know what you think!
TracyHowdy! Super brilliant work here – she was so quick to pick up the rhythm that you had to go faster too LOL!! Love it! The little confusion you saw is just an indicator of side preference: she is a righty 🙂 We often see the side preference on this game. She *easily* could offer turning to her right – she was not quite sure what to do with herself when she had to turn to her left. Totally normal, and I had the same thing with Contraband (my blue Merle puppy) when he learned this game: he is a lefty and gave me the same response as Vanessa was giving you when I wanted him to turn to his right.
So, we can make it easier to turn left for her while maintaining the challenge of the right turn (which was easy for her) – you can move the food bowl closer to the wing on that side. So, thinking from your view: the food bowl next to your left hand can stay where it is (that is the food bowl that elicits the right turn). The food bowl nearer your right hand can move closer to the upright – that is the bowl that elicits the left turn. If the bowl is closer to where she arrives on that side around the wing, she should have an easier time turning back to produce the left turn – and therefore have a higher success rate which leads to more happy-making on left turns. Let me know if that makes sense 🙂
When the sides are balanced out and she feels more comfy turning to her left – we can start getting you standing up.Great job here!!! She is picking this up soooooo quickly 🙂 Let me know what you think!
TracyHi again! So fun to watch his videos 🙂
Lovely mechanics here with your decel and the timing of your turn – it allowed him to really bend his body so nicely around your leg as you turned. He was CRACKING me up, though: looking for more cookies in the bowl and was so engrossed in it that at :35, he looked up and didn’t know where you were for a second. Gah, I love him! My only suggestion on this one is, for now, bend over more as you feed so that he doesn’t have to lift his chin – he can look straight or slightly downwards through the turn. Thankfully he will grow so you won’t always have to bend over.
I think the cookies were in your hand on all of these – he did really well so now you can try it with and empty hand – everything is exactly the same except your hand is empty and you whip out the cookie from the other hand after he turns.Great job on all of these! He is such a perfect puppy <3
Tracy
Hi again! Free days are perfect for puppy training, especially with such nice weather! Wing wrapping looks great – he very quickly figured out the joys of the back-and-forth between the bowls (easiest game EVER, according to Disco LOL!) The only time he stopped was when you reloaded the treats but then he got right back on it. So…. onwards to adding an upright! Get the back and forth warmed up with some treats just like you did here, then slide the upright in and see if he finds the rhythm with it there (I think he will be fine with it). We will be able to progress this very quickly, he is a SMARTIE!!
T
Hi! He looks like he has awesome tug drive, it is hard to get him to let go!! We can add some ‘let go off the toy’ games haha He was driving ahead really nicely! The other toy was a distraction: “why would I go *there* when there is a fabulous toy right *here*?” LOL!! Smart dog 🙂 So you can throw the toy and let go sooner, before he has a chance to think about the toy on the ground near you – the thrown toy is more alive if it is moving. When you waited an extra heartbeat to let go, he would look back and forth between toys. He worked out how to get the toy out ahead brilliantly!!!! I think you can get even more drive ahead if you either have the other toy a little more hidden, or you run with him to the toy you threw (he really liked it when you moved). So you can add in the moving now – he is doing great!!
T
Awww, this was super!!!! Picture it eventually turning into send and go on a jump – he was nailing it!! On the first couple of reps, your hand/arm was a little too interested and salient, so he was not sure if he should go to the prop. When you switched to your left side, you also really softened the arm use, letting your hand gently move with your leg but not really extend much more than that: that was perfect for him. He was reading the leg, it was supported with a bit of hand/arm – and then he had it. Yay! He was focused on til the send and then he was able to look forward at his work. NICE!! On the first rep or two of each session, you can add in tossing the reward to the prop just to refresh the value, or do a couple of clicks/treats for it. Then you can move into the sends and add the distance you were getting by the end (that was so fun to see!!!!).
I think he did a great job playing with the toy after all the food rewards! Food is high value so it might sometimes be harder to get the toy engagement. I’ve found that it you run away and get the toy moving/dragging to get chase going – it helps ignite the tug plus it moves his nose away from the food scent that is in that area. And, some pups think shaping is all about food and not toys, so definitely keep incorporating toy play into these games, either between treats or as the reward.
Great job here!!!! You can add in some sideways and backwards sends now too!!
TracyHi!!
>> it easier for you if I post at the end of my thread like this, instead of attempting to group posts by game? The OCD in me is wanting more organization options in this forum>>
It is easier for me like this when I am working in the forum on the site. But I can also come in via the email notifications which take me directly to your post. Either way is fine! We tried to fine a forum that could do things several different ways but there was nothing nimble enough for what we needed (or at least that we could afford, there are some that are a bit of out of reach LOL!!). You should be able to use the tags on your post then when you want to see topics, you can click on the tag and they should group together.
He did really well here – you were showing a clear transition to slowing down earlier, so he also had plenty of time to make the transition and was able to end up at your side in decel a lot more easily. You rewarded with the dog-side hand on some and with the arm across your body on others – based on his response, I think dog-side arm works best for him – he was right on you and had the best head turns and body bends on those. When you rewarded with the arm across the body, it pulled him a little too far across and his butt ended up a bit more perpendicular to you, if that makes sense. It is subtle for sure – it is probably easier to reward with the dog-side arm, so I am glad he responds so nicely to it!!
Nice job!!
TracyHi! Having a holder is a whole new level of fun and excitement!!! Yay!!! He was a little chill on the first rep and did just fine…. but kicked it into super high gear on the 2nd rep. Yessssss 🙂 He smoked you (exactly what we want, thanks Wingman LOL!) Then light bulb was on and he smoked you again on rep 3. Then it was ALL smoke da momma. Perfect!
You can also add ping pong recalls: he drives ahead, you play… then you send him back to his holder (and she can have another cookie or toy to reward). That gets good recalls going, plus he has to leave the cookies/toys she will have on her, and then he has to leave you on cue to go back to her. All sorts of layered in distraction work and choices, all while being silly and letting him drive ahead (actually, you were really running, so “letting” him is the wrong word hahaha!) Plus it should tire him out a bit LOL!
Great job!
TracyHi again! What a good girl! Love the foot pounce! This is basically baby’s first gamble LOL! The forward sends looked fabulous – you can start them with a little more of the ready dance where you get her engaged with some silliness before sending her. That will help her know exactly when to start the send, especially when you are moving back towards the prop. I loved how she focused forward on her line to the prop!
When you went to the sideways sends, the first one was a bit too far from the prop – nice adjustment to get a little closer, totally helped her out. Also, on the sideways and backwards sends – you can shift your connection from her cute little face/eyes to the prop as you step sideways or back to it – that can further clarify that it is good to leave you. She was really catching on so nicely!!!! These early commitment games are helping her understand that you will be sending and running the other way quite early, and she is doing *awesome* with them.
As you keep playing with these, you can add in more distance and you can also use a toy as the reward.Great job!!!
TracyHi! Lovely session here! (Also a good way to tire out a puppy hahaaha) Cookie throw followed by driving to you – completely great, she was happy to shift into decel and turn on your leg. Good reward placement and she was really nicely bending on the turn!
Adding the tug toy in looked like it was a little harder – she seemed to be thinking about cookies 🙂 You can add 2 thigns to get the tugging easier: a higher value toy, something really special that she doesn’t get to see often (fur maybe? Or something crazy and long?) and also when you a start the tugging, have her chase you and the toy to a different spot that is away from the food smells. That chase plus being away from the food smell will help get her right back on the toy. I really like her food drive (it is unusual in baby BCs to have great food drive!) so we will definitely look to maintain it as we add the transitions back to the toy.
Nice work!
TracyHi! She is doing well! She is learning to let your run with her and I think the distraction is not so much your running, but more about your exciting praise! When you are with her and playing, the fun chat is fine. When you praise as she is picking up the toy, it is harder. On the first rep, you started praising as she got her mouth on the toy, so she turned to look at you with the toy in her mouth. On the 2nd rep, you started praising before she picked up the toy, so she did not pick it up in favor of looking at you. On rep 3, you hung back a bit more plus you were more “chill” on the praise – so she grabbed the toy. I think if you combine the running of reps 1 and 2 with the being quieter until she had a good hold on the toy… it will be perfect! I love how she is driving straight to it and leaving you in the dust. Yay!
Great job! Let me know what you think!
Tracy
