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Hi! I have personally not ever competed in obedience (gives me anxiety too LOL!) but I love to train some of the exercises!
I hope she feels better ASAP!!! Poor girl! Keep me posted!
TracyHi!
>She is VERY serious. You are the first person to recognize that. She’s a HOOT because she takes things so seriously. That is during work. When she is “off-duty”, she is the happiest dog I know and so sweet!!
I love that! I call her type of dog a Peek Frean (a very serious cookie). Remember this jingle?
>>That’s what I HATE about videotaping little dogs. It’s so hard to get my head in and still get her in. If I turn the phone vertical, I can get everything – but then I’m more restricted on the sides. If I pull away more to get my head in, you can’t see her because she’s so small. I’ll make sure I’m totally in view next time.>>
The joys of small dog videotaping LOL!! I get creative by putting the camera up high on a shelf and then zooming in.
>>What I don’t like about this target is that she pushes off of it and it slides on the carpet. It doesn’t do that outside or on the mats at OTR.
I noticed it was sliding a little! You can put a grippy rubber backing on it, like a bathmat or something.
>>When I first got her, she would walk in front of me backwards flipping her front feet at me in the air as she bounced backwards. I’m sure it was cute to someone previous to me…okay it’s cute. But I know it’s not sustainable for anything productive in agility.>>
So, like a backwards kangaroo waving both front feet? Yeah, not productive -I have seen dogs walk backwards into things as you mention – it is kind of like a BC running into a tree because he was running backwards with his head turned and not looking at where he was going.
>>I bet it’s adorable!! I had to tone her feet flapping and backwards walking somehow because it’s dangerous how and when she does it.
It is cute because it is stationary – no flapping or walking. I can see how the flapping/walking would be icky!!
>> And she likes to put her front feet on everything, including other dogs. Bad habit!!!
Those small dog front feet!!! The first thing I had to learn when I got my first small dog (Rebound the Rat Terrier) was how to NOT accidentally build front foot movement into every single behavior LOL! The small dog front feet move so fast, it was a brain-melter for me for a while. It is so much easier with larger dogs LOL!
>>Or maybe I’m just a curmudgeon.
Ha! Never!!
> She’s not used to a moving release. I am stationary when I release her with strong eye contact. This is the first time she’s seen me moving. I assume she was hesitant because of that.
That makes total sense! And she did pick up a lot of speed after a few reps.
T
Hi!
>>I used to think that I knew so much, and now I’m pretty sure I know just a little, lol.
Yes, so true, but also a fun place to be – so much we can learn from the dogs 🙂
On the video – the warm up looked good, it is fun to change up the prop a little because it can help with generalizing concepts.
He did well on your parallel path reps! It was hard to tell on the camera angle where he was touching it – not sure if he was hitting it or striding over it. If you find that it is hard to see, you can tweak it a little by changing where you look: you can stare at the prop as you go back and forth. When I can’t see the feets that well, I try this with more of a running contact approach – I stare at the prop which makes it easier to see the feet. True, there is not a lot of connection to the dog’s eyes when I do that, but that can also serve the purpose of helping the pups understand to stay on a line even when there is imperfect connection (because, well, we are all imperfect or looking ahead sometimes :))He also did really well on the sending! The foot step looked really good, good job remembering to look at him – it was enough connection to support him without being so much that it stopped him. You can let go of the collar sooner – you can use a collar hold to engage a little bit of opposition reflex if you like, but then let go right before the send – it looks like your hand might have moved with the collar which made letting go a little later? You can also play with it with out touching the collar at all 🙂
The backwards steps were a little too far away at first, they were definitely better when you were a little closer – that might be the different prop or different location coming into play as well: the backwards sending is definitely much harder! You can also toss the reward to him, out on the prop, on those as you build more distance, to help keep the value high as you add difficulty.
When you went back to the sending forward – he had a little trouble and I wasn’t sure if it was because you were a little too far away at first or if he had trouble because it involved leaving the treats? The foot steps was really good here too! And the toy totally brought things to a different level: he was more explosive on the leaving to hit the prop for sure! I think you still had treats in the picture too when the toy was involved but the excitement of the toy helped him drive to the prop really nicely! You can totally incorporate the toy more at this stage, then, as we add the difficulty of distance and countermotion (and the rear crosses :))
Great job! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi! This is also looking terrific! The flat barrier seemed to be a really good next step – a bit more challenging but not mind-blowing. The barking didn’t appear to distract her at all. I laughed out loud with the garbage pail, it was such a funny visual and you were hidden behind it LOL! She was perfectly happy to wrap it, no trouble at all. Yay! And also no problems when you stood up. Because she is able to let you do that, you can move this forward two ways:
moving the big pail a little further away, so she could potentially fit between you and the pail
beginning to reward from your hands rather than with the cookie bowls. You can leave the bowls there when you do this the first time and just deliver the cookie from your hands. Then you should be easily able to fade the bowls out of the picture entirely.Great job on all of these! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi! She does indeed have a nice stay already 🙂 and it is fun game indoors for sure.
Interesting that she had the big yawn at the beginning – these are hard! You did a lot of challenging reps with distractions, so be sure to ping pong those with lots and lots of easy reps where she can be correct without any proofing needed. You can also add in the Advanced level (it is on the video, we didn’t do it in the live class :)) to get her even more excited and add the challenge of seeing if she can stay while she is more ramped up. Great job with the different verbals here, it was very clear! And she also was a good girl on the drive to handler – it provided some fun ‘action’ mixed in with the stays 🙂
TracyHi!
Yes, it is hotter than an oven here!! I can’t wait til the sun goes down so I can get outside with the dogs!!
>> I thought it was cute that she veered sideways to touch the prop when I started being more distant. She could have stayed with me, but she knows the prop gets the C/T.
That is exactly what we want her to know 🙂 Yay!!
She did really brilliantly on the parallel path, no questions at all from what I could see. Nice! And I want her to choose that prop over sticking with you for now 🙂 At least, in this situation.
The countermotion is also going really well – she had the crispest responses when you engaged directly then sent.>>My guess is the bag prop is not as compelling as a food or toy reward.
Haha! Correct 🙂 And she did give you some “this is weird!” looks – but she produced the correct behavior each time! One thing to be careful of: these countermotion sends are for crosses where we want the dogs to turn towards us, so be sure that your next line of motion is straight ahead (not towards the prop or towards the pup). At :38, you had a good countermotion step followed by a step out across her line, towards her: which she read as a read cross and turned to her right (away from you) rather than towards you (to her left). So be careful to stay on the straight line like you did on all the other reps.
The rear crosses went really well!!! She was not 100% sure but she did them! Yay! Be sure to balance lots of the straight line parallel path before and after the rear cross – that will keep her driving to the prop. You can toss in a rear cross every few reps, but she should mostly see the parallel path to keep her confidently driving to the prop.
Great job here!
TracyHi!
One thing that will help on the parallel path game to see if he is hitting or not is to stare at the cap (don’t watch him at all). That is how I was finally able to see the rear foot hits on the running contact work – starting at the mat 🙂 It will also help on the countermotion games – looking at the cap even as you move away.
With both of the games, stay a little closer to the cap for the next session or two. I think you were adding distance a little too quickly here, so he was not as strong on the hits. Do a session or two that is very ‘up close and personal’ to the cap 🙂 and when you can see the hits with lots of intent, you can gradually add in distance. The countermotion can be nice and close too – it is more about how early you can leave for now, so being closer will allow you to see what his quick little feet are doing anyway 🙂 I think he is understanding the general concept of both games (stay on the line and commitment to the cap) but I agree – there were some moments where he was not hitting as clearly as in other moments. Stay closer for now will help build up the value of the hits (as well as continue to solidify the understanding of the concepts.
Great job on all of the videos! Let me know what you think 🙂
TracyHi!
I think the eating is going well LOL! As long as you keep moving while he is eating, you will have time to time the blind cross: you can start moving away while he is eating and then start to run when he is finished. You started to do this on the last rep with the blind but then stopped yourself – I think he is ready for you to be moving away on these then really run after he eats the treat. Plus, it will likely help him swallow it faster 🙂
The drive to handler and the GO all look really good – well done with sorting out your mechanics!!! He is doing really well with the nemo ball on these, so you should also mix in other tug toys. That way the nemo ball can retain its status as highest value, while you also build in other toys to increase that value too – I think this might be a good game for that!T
Hi! The sit stay work is going well!
You can make a quicker transition back to the stay: play with the nemo ball, get him all jazzed up then start again – I think that without the quick transitions, he loses the groove of offering. For example at 1:22, you ended the interaction and moved him to a spot and he lost the rhythm. Quicker transitions will totally help keep him in the game.
Also, you can mix in throwing the reward back while you are still moving – sometimes stand still, praise, throw back (or release forward) and sometimes be moving forward, keep moving, praise while moving, then throw back while moving 🙂 We don’t want standing still to predict the release or throwback (as many pups figure out quickly 🙂
And he did well with the driving ahead after driving to handler! Very nice!!!
THi!
The wave is so funny! She clearly loves to wave LOL!! I think it is probably a good idea to NOT have her wave with the sit if you want to do obedience. If it was only agility, no big deal at all LOL! My guess is the wave will go away as you add a lead out on the sit in agility. 2 ideas for the sit and agility lead outs: you can click sooner, just as her butt begins to move but before it actually hits the ground… and before her wave paw comes up 🙂 Then throw the treat. You can then begin to delay the click (or not click at all) so you can get the stay without actually clicking the wave. Then add duration – walk away, with connection, and don’t click until she puts the foot down 🙂 But for the agility start line, no worries about it. For obedience, you can use your mat or a perch for her to first put her front feet on and get rewarded for front feet on it (both feets, no waves lol) and then have her get her butt on it too in a sit. Let me know if that makes sense.The wrapping looks great! Two things to add now – rewarding from your hand (no more bowl drops – you can have the bowls present for the first session as you add this, then fade them) and a different larger thing to go around (like a pop up crate). There are more ideas on the course syllabus page that I added on Saturday.
The drive to handler looks great!!! Well done with your timing and with the nice low hand! You can definitely move onto the ‘collection sandwich’ with the blind and the go that I posted on Saturday. And, another idea for a wave-free sit: you can get her to your side, turn, then cue a sit at your side – then reward. I wonder if she will wave when you do that, because it is cued entirely differently than the wave set up?
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyShe did an awesome job here! So serious!! Her little tail… GAH! it was distracting LOL!
I couldn’t see your head on the sends, but on some of the reps she wasn’t as fast or head-checked for a moment (:50, 1:02, 1:07 for example) so it is possible that you were not as connected (shifting connection to the target) as you sent. On other reps (before those and then again at 1:17 and 1:40, for example) you sent and left nice and early and she had no questions – so keep working that connection.
One other thing to consider, because you mentioned her front feet earlier – in the transitions after the reward and back into the next send, she has her front feet in the air a lot 🙂 If that is something you would like to avoid (or accidentally reinforce with the next send) you can help her not do it and also still get the tight turn/drive back understanding by tossing the reward past you as she drives back rather than feeding from your hand. That way she stays down on the ground, drives back, gets reinforcement, and it buys you a bit of time to reset. Now if you don’t care, perfect LOL! I don’t mind it with the littles and my littlest, Elektra, does a similar front feet thing which I have put on cue (“Baby Bear”) because it is cute. I have personally not found it to be a problem in training or on course or in life, other than some offering of baby bear cuteness when she wants part of my dinner LOL! (And I of course give her some, because, I am the WORST lol!!!)Collection sandwich video – there is a lot of cuteness happening here too, it is distracting. LOL!
The start station has a lot of value right now so she is not driving off of it on the release with as much speed as I know she will have eventually – she did get progressively faster and faster on these though, so it is already percolating nicely – then she was starting to smoke you, so be sure to get your blind cross started basically as soon as she leaves her station.
You might have stepped in a little towards her – but she didn’t seem to be bothered and was happy to drive to the collection cue.
On the mechanics of the blind – give her one more heartbeat of the cross-body connection before you go to the collection hand. The collection hand was in play before she had made the side change, so she didn’t see the connection as crisply – and the line behind you had a bit of zig zag. I felt like I had both hands in play for a moment with the pups here: cross body arm to get connection and the dog-side arm to get into the collection. That is fine and will help her see the side change sooner.No worries about the bending of the line a little on the GO! There were 2 strong visuals out there – the station and the tunnel – PLUS the additional layers of putting it all together adding more challenge… and she was still able to go to the toy, which was a little harder to see in the grass. AND she was able to bring it back, head up, each time – VERY cool to see that!!!!
Great job on these! Le me know what you think!
TracyHi!
>>So would the verbal here would be the one for a tight left and a tight right, correct?
For wing wrapping? Yes, it would be tight left and tight right.
I can’t wait to hear the full story about E and Sly 🙂
