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Alrighty! Here are two foundation games for the tunnel threadles. The main thing is to get her to turn herself away into it:
Let me know if they make sense. Have fun!
Tracy
Good morning! I am so happy for you – vacations are AWESOME 🙂 I am sure Arty enjoyed her time at Camp Grams haha!
>>I definitely have not yet taught this skill so I had to break it down a bit.
Breaking it down really helped her out. It is mainly a dog training skill, meaning the ultimate goal is that we basically yell the word and flap our hand and she just goes and finds the correct tunnel entry 🙂 So breaking it down to teach her was totally right 🙂 I don’t think she got the beginner steps to this in MaxPup 1, so I will go grab those videos for you so you can play with the beginning steps if you like!
>> Am I relying on my hand flick too much here to turn her away and into the tunnel?
Nope – we are going to teach her to go do it on the first part of your cue so you don’t have to flick her into the tunnel.
>>One time I rewarded her for following that hand even though it didn’t result in a tunnel.
That was smart!!! Breaking it down into tiny bits will help her.
On the video – as she figures out this skill, keep your feet moving straight to the end of the tunnel you want, resist the temptation to rotate and help her. And keep walking towards it until she puts herself in the tunnel (the foundation videos will make this make a LOT more sense to you both :)) For example, on your second rep, you were moving slowly (which is good) but also connected and feet moving to the correct tunnel entry – perfect. When you were moving faster, it was harder to get her into the correct tunnel entry because she is still learning the skill. So for now, keep moving slowly, as slow as needed so you don’t have to rotate your feet towards her.
She was also a little sticky on the wings, didn’t want to wrap – I think that might have been because she knew you were about the step to the tunnel, so she was anticipating a bit. You can add in more wing rewards to help un-stick her in the face of the tunnel 🙂 And she LOVED when you did the figure 8 of the wings – she loved the motion and stopped thinking about the tunnel 🙂
>>I’m going to use “By” for my word but again right now it means nada to her. >>
You can hold off on the word for now until you have the behavior reliably – just use her name for now, then we will switch it. And I am hoping you will say the ‘by’ cue 3 times “Bye bye bye” so I can sing that old boy band song LOL!!!!
Nice start here – I will be right back with the links to the beginning stages so you can show those to her which will make this game much easier too 🙂
Tracy
Good morning!
>>OMG yes on the set up! it was getting dark and I hurried to get it done…didn’t look quite right…geez. He’s such a trooper!
He was happy to do it – the tunnel angle was easier for him, so turning the tunnel makes it more challenging (which he is ready for: he was pretty perfect on each rep.)
Turning the tunnel AND starting your first rep with the tunnel send ramps up the level of challenge significantly 🙂
So the second rep was actually rewardable – it looked almost identical to the first rep and your open upper body was late (he was already in motion when you really opened up). So he caught it at the last moment and did NOT take the tunnel (GOOD BOY!) so I would reward it. It was correct enough in a situation where the error might have been human error LOL!
Notice the clear different at :15 and the next reps – MUCH earlier and clearer serp position so he was great. And then when you switched sides and serped him at :42, you had a nice position and upper body – and he was perfect. Very nice! He had one oopsie on that side: and yes, it was not enough open shoulder. The general release could indeed mean either tunnel or jump, so upper body is critical. On course I would be using a name call and jump directionals to help him see the difference, in case my handling wasn’t perfect (which happens a lot LOL!)On the threadles – very nice too! Your cues are very clear so it looks like he was 100% on the threadles. Yay! I think you can start to add motion on the threadles – walking into them with the arm back, releasing with the verbal just as you are arriving at the entry wing. And maintain that upper body until he turns his head to go back out.
When you have motion on the threadles… you can start changing his line up position relative to the jump so he is facing the tunnel less and facing the jump ore. That will challenge him to collect more on the serps and find the threadles from harder angles 🙂 That will take a few sessions, but he looks ready to start the process.
Great job! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning!
Great job in class last night!>Maybe I shouldn’t have skipped Bailey’s Chicken Camp.
He is still giving them! I got to work with him 3 times and it was life changing as a trainer 🙂 I remember that he spent the entire first day just working our mechanics, no chickens involved. It really helped me appreciate the intricacies of mechanics and all the things that come with it. And it made it much easier to train my chickens, Marsala and Pot Pie 🙂
>>By the way I don’t get the course images. Just a spacer that says “image.png” but nothing happens when I click>>
That is odd! Were you able to see the course map in the Course Syllabus post, or does that also show as a spacer?
On the video – this is going much better! He is much more precise with a more clearly defined starting point (you can reward him from your hand for coming back to line up for the next send, he wants to keep working but the reset line up is important for the quality 🙂 He is looking nice and slithery here – my favorite reward placement was at :18, where you tossed it for him continuing more of that left turn. Think of it as a clock, with you standing at 6 o’clock: most of the rewards were tossed to 12 o’clock . That reward at :18 was tossed more to 9 o’clock, so now for the next sessions you can keep tossing there and build to getting the reward to 8 o’clock then 7 o’clock. That is to get him to continue the bending all the way through the turn.
The right turns should start with the tosses to 12 then move the tosses to 3 o’clock. It will take him a little more time to be as slithery on the right turns, but that is normal and also perfectly fine 🙂 That balance will be really helpful in the future 🙂Nice work!
TracyGood morning!
Friz throws are HARD lol!! I am taking some lessons to be a better thrower – although we did a disc competition and I had a great throw… right over the fence. Poor Hot Sauce was all like “how exactly am I supposed to catch THAT??” hahaha! At least the wind brought the frizzy back into your yard LOL!
He did well getting the poles straight with the PT out there as the focal point. It is a deliberate “calmer” so he can think about the added difficulty of the poles. Then it was clear sailing!!! Since he is a frizzy maniac , I am going to bring a bunch of different types of discs to MN so you can see others he might love 🙂
Yes, he is a little slower in the entry and then speeding up as he gets into the rhythm, but that is a normal part of the progression (I left video of CB doing that in on the demo videos, I think in the channel section). If he has questions, we can open the entry a bit but for now, let’s just see if he sorts it out in the next session or two. He has historically been a “think it through then lay on the speed” type of dude, so I am no worries at all here. He is maintaining his striding and keeping his head low and forward the whole time, exactly what we want. And he is not concerned about where you are or what you are doing. Super!
So, planning… I think giving him a few more sessions on the 6 straight poles will be the next step – adding angles of entry, maybe even doing those little sequences with the 6 poles (they can be the tiniest bit open for those). If that goes well (I am sure it will) you can move to the 6-and-4 game. Once you get into 6-and-4, things go really quickly to boxcars (6-and-6) and then to 12 straight. So sitting at 6 poles for now, maybe a week depending on weather and life schedule, then we can move on to the 6-and-4 and so on 🙂 Yay!
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyYay! Getting steps 1 and 2 going is definitely moving the right direction. You’ll see her lightbulb go on as you put it all back together 🙂 Keep me posted!! And post some video so we can see if she has any questions, or is she just needs more experience 🙂
T
Good morning! 6 straight poles!!!! Very exciting!!!
>> I think maybe I shouldn’t have used the frisbee for this session, as that is probably her most exciting toy – the tug toy might have been better.>>
It is a balancing act with the frisbee, I feel that pain: it is the favorite toy so there is a lot of incentive to keep trying. But it also elicits some behavior that is counter to weaving: head up, lots of speed, trying to anticipate the throw. But overall, she did well with this session and was MORE than happy to keep trying for the frizzer 🙂
At this stage, we want to sit at 6 poles to get the success rate up with more angles and motion (it won’t take more than a few sessions :))
One way I incorporate the frisbee but also keeping the dogs a little less excited about it (and therefore more successful with the weaves) is to incorporate food into the loop: cookie to line up, weave, frisbee, cookie on the retrieve of the disc, lather rinse repeat : ) That has allowed the dogs to stay a little more thoughtful on the poles but also earn the most favorite reward 🙂You can also take the frizzy out for a couple of sessions and use the tug toy until she has more experience with the rhythm of it all – then bring the frisbee back 🙂 The Frisbee is an important element because it stimulates her, much like a trial environment will do.
When she is more reliably hitting and holding the weaves in the next session or two, you can add back the harder angles of entry and more of your speed 🙂
Great job here!!!!! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning!
Ooh nice toy!!!
Good session here – he had to work out weaving that last base but the entries and speed and rhythm looked GREAT! I had the same questions from 2 of my youngsters when they were on my left and I had a god toy – it is easy for the dogs to want to look at us there and look at the toy. But they have to look away from us there to get the last base. So opening up just that last base can help. The other thing I did was I changed the placement of reward for them when they are on my left (you might notice it on the videos especially with Contraband): rather than reward straight on the reward line, I tossed the toy to the other side of the poles away from me (towards the trees on the right side of your screen here) so they figured out to look away and not at me. The cleared up those last pole pops on my left.
It doesn’t seem to be an issue for the dogs, Sly included, on the right because they can watch us AND weave LOL!!!So overall, great session – taking it outdoors presents a really different internal and external environment and he was GREAT! And the new toy looks awesome, which is super helpful for when you do NFC/FEO stuff and can’t use food.
I think you next session can be the 6 and 4 game, because he will still get reinforcement for each set in isolation before putting it all together.
Great job! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning!
>> I think getting into a class somewhere, and doing run thrus when they’re finally available will really help her acclimate. I’ve heard it said several times that dogs don’t generalize easily, so experiences will be co-teachers. >>
Totally agree, generalizing is tough. Except for the stuff we DON’T want them to do, somehow they generalize that in a heartbeat haha!! Experience in new places is the next level an this pandemic has made it really hard so it might take these youngsters longer to get into the trial environment, but that is fine 🙂
On the video: 6 straight poles looked really good in both sessions! And from different obstacles too! There was much thinking going on with the Max200 set of poles LOL!!! But good girl, she got it! YAY! The 6 and 4 setup was really strong, especially because I think it was the first time she saw it?
>>This is good to know – my thinker may decide to analyze new pieces of equipment, even if they are similar to what she’s been doing.>>
Yes – some dogs get thoughtful when presented with changes to the environment or to the obstacles, some dogs get over-stimulated. I personally prefer the thoughtful approach, because then as soon as the dog sorts it out, the speed comes roaring back. Over-stimulated is harder in terms of helping the dog sort things out. So as long as you keep making it fun for her like you did here, with super rewards – I am fine with it if she needs to sow down and take a looksee as you change types of poles and environments. My fastest dog was quite slow in the ring until he was about 2.5 years old. And then he decided that he had sorted it all out and turned on the speed. Those were happy times when he was a slow, he got a lot of Qs hahahahaha!!! But it is more fun with all that speed and understanding 🙂
>>Keiko is going in for spay surgery tomorrow. This means we won’t be doing any agility for a few days. I will be checking with the vet, and we’ll be watching our girl as she heals.>>
Today is the day! Depending on the type of spay, it will be at least 10 days off from agility and weaving – she will probably be willing by the side-to-side action might hurt or damage the stitches. But that is fine – as soon as she is cleared and feeling good, you’ll be able to work to 12 poles really easily based on what she did here.
Please keep me posted on how she does in the surgery, the hardest part is waiting to hear that she is through it and awake and being feisty again 🙂
Tracy
Good morning!
This is a good session on the plank! She is picking up this new position really nicely and adding a few of her own dance moves LOL! She wants to nose touch the target a bit, which is fine: dipping her head to the target will really help produce the weight shift (I don’t require the dogs to actually touch it or slam their noises into the ground LOL!). She did offer backing up on the board into a 4on bow position, no need to reward that because even though the weight shift was good, the feet are in the incorrect spot. And remember to use your OK to release on all the reps.
For the next session, a couple of ideas to build on this and clarify when you want her to do. Because this is a teeter-only behavior, let’s make it look like the bang game (rather than have her move down the plank which could be a little like the dog walk):
– with the target visible where you had it here, line her up right near the edge, hold her collar, give her a little ready, set…. then let her offer hopping into her 2o2o position. You can stand still for the first couple of reps. If she is all fine and dandy with that, add your motion – as soon as you let go of her, start to walk forward to see if she can hit & hold position as you move (I am guessing she will be fine with that as long as you don’t go to sprinting yet haha)
– if that session looks good and she is able to do the 2o2o… add a target cue. I use the highly creative (not!) word “target” but anything will work as long as it is different from your other cues. Then repeat the session with the new cue adding in right before you let her go to hop into position.If those sessions go well… onwards to the bang game on the teeter, nice and low to get her used to the new position.
>>maybe good to use the MM here?>>
I think for now, no MM is needed. The cookies placed on the target are getting her really interested in being near the target and looking at it, so let’s stick with that for now. As you add motion, she will look at you less because the target is a strong focal point. Also as you add motion, you can toss the cookie back to her (I use my ‘catch’ cue which marks the behavior and gives permission to leave the board if the cookie bounces away). And, I think she will also enjoy a toy thrown back to her there!
Nice work! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning!
>>The problem with living where I do is that the closest trials to me are over 2 hours away and most are closer to 3 or more so hard to motivate myself for that long of a drive for a few minutes of training in the ring but guess I need to get on the road. >>
I totally feel this! The closest trials to me are NADAC… therefore no teeter LOL! The others are all 2 hours away at the closest and UKI is more like 4 hours away. Sigh. It helps that Mags is running too. I believe it is worth it though and have plans to get out on the road as soon too. When my Voodoo was a baby dog and USDAA added a toy option (Intro classes, I think?), I remember he was struggling with the teeter. I drove 5 hours each way (insanity, truly) to a USDAA in New England so he could get on the teeter in 2 classes. I very clearly remember his lightbulb moment when he went, “Wait, the teeter games HERE are the same as home and I get my TOY? Heck YEAH!” So I only had to do that one insane 10 hour trip LOL!!!! And plus, as you mentioned, getting Sly into the trial environment without a bubbling over of excitement is high on the agenda.
Having access to Lo is amazing!!! She is awesome. Maybe she can put a teeter into a little sequence for some crazy elevator game? That Clip N Go teeter is pretty different so the dogs need to experience it.
Good session on the video! He is excellent about driving up the board and hitting/holding target position. He does drive *almost* all the way up on the reps, I see what you are saying – he weight shifts maybe 6 inches short of the top on some of the crazy elevator reps. And he does it when he is doing the full teeter. No concerns about that. he will get more to the end as he gets more experience. Two little tweaks to help him feel that comfort level in training:
– when you do the crazy elevator, you can grab the board and present the food a little later: let him get to the top and drop the board a bit, then you grab it and *then* put the cookie hand in. I think part of the reason he stops a little early is that your cookie hand is in view early enough that is serves as a bit of a stop sign, so he slows down. If the hand goes in later, he will get to the end more.
The other thing to add in now is more arousal. He has a solid history of the under his belt now, so you can try to get him wilder before cuing the teeter – that will get him going al the way to the end. I didn’t want to make hm wild until he had a nice strong history but I think we have arrived at that point! And if you get him wild and he is a little less than perfect (such as driving all the way up the board but late on the weight shift so the end position is not as good) – reward anyway 🙂 I reward a lot of effort to weight shift at top speed, so keep that top speed going 🙂Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyThat sounds like a blast! Hope you had a great time!
She did well on this session – she was a tiny bit rusty but I was VERY happy on that 2nd rep where she was kind of demanding to get into target position during the countdown!
I am not sure what was different on the rep where she got a little worried other than being on your right? So perhaps she needs more simple reps on your right side to build the value. She did bounce right back and looked GREAT on the rest! That rebound movement and noise is something she does not love – is she in a group setting where other dogs might do the teeter? Or maybe you have another dog that does the teeter? You can pair that rebound noise with play or food by having her maybe 15 feet or more from another dog doing it – and soon as the teeter slams and wobbles, you can throw a toy for her or deliver giant cookies or get the 4 wheeler revved up LOL!!
For now, I think you can start to move to the crazy elevator game, with short high value sessions – and try to weight down the teeter base so there is less slam/wobble. For her, if you can reward her at the top of the board then lower it so it is about to parallel or below parallel for the countdown – that should make for an easy transition to the next game 🙂 And be sure NOT to let her think about it too much LOL! One or two reps, rewarding even if she is not perfect, then go do something else 🙂 And keep me posted1
Great job 🙂
TracyYESSSSSSSS! I saw a run you posted on Facebook (Snooker, I think?) and he looked AMAZING. Runs like that actually help with the teeter by making the trial environment super fun! I am SO happy he did his teeter. That FEO/NFC option is going to be your friend in the next few months.
I just thought of something – UKI allows a helper for NFC, I believe. Does he have any human friends that can come hang out near the teeter (during a trial run) so he is feeling it is more like home or training? It is like having a human stable pony 🙂
So happy about the trial environment!
Tracy
