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Good morning!
your pill bug games are looking great! She figured out the cookie recall element immediately after the first rep haha! Took her a bit long to eat that first cookie but as soon as she realized that the chase was ON, she was much quicker to grab it and chase you. Yay! She also did a lovely job of staying on your correct side (nice connection for you!) The slippery floor helped you stay ahead on this, but we don’t want her to kill herself getting to you – so as soon as the weather allows, take this to dirt or grass so she can really dig in. I just posted the next steps so she is ready for more of this 🙂RC foundations: She seemed to have no problem with turning on either side of you (and nice job going back to the toy as well). For now, keep your hand a bit lower as you cue it so she doesn’t jump up during the spins – I think she was jumpy when the hand had the cookie and when it didn’t have the cookie, so a lower hand will help that (and a slower hand cue for now will help too). You can also toss the treat after she turns, to change her focus downwards and not up at the hand.
The stay work for the diagonal RC foundation looks great! The stay is the hardest part and she didn’t move her little feets at all. That made the head turn very easy. You can mix in releasing her forward for the reward as well to start building in the drive ahead out of a rear cross. We will be adding these to wings at some point soon too!Nice work!
TracyGood morning!
The wing wrapping while you are sitting is looking really good – nice value and she is bending her body and zipping around it so nicely! She is also doing a great job of leaving the cookies to go do it, You can add a bit more distance! If you have decided on your wrap cues, you can slap them on with this game too (after she gets her reward, when you are pretty sure she is going to wrap, just start the verbal :))Looked like a nice transition from the tugging to the collar grab and into the game! Clean transitions like that are so helpful!
On the GO with distractions – make sure you move, maybe even push her back a little so you can be running first. When she cut across you at 2:05, you were mainly standing still so there was not a lot of support of the cue with motion (now, she might have cut across you anyway because that was the closer toy, but at least we can try LOL!!)
On your 2nd big transition (2:45) when she moved away from you taking the collar – you can mix in quick collar take and immediate toy throw to help preserve the quality of that transition. She was a good girl to move back to the chin hold but we also want the good collar grab.She did cut across you with you moving on the next rep – so you can dial back the excitement of the distraction toy. Have it out there before you engage her with the GO toy, then try it – that way the distraction toy is present but doesn’t get thrown, so it should be less interesting. Then we can work it up to you putting it down at your side and so on,
Contacts – nice job adding the target and the verbal! She is looking up at the cookie hand because it is moving, so try to move it less by dropping the treat into the target hand (this takes some coordination LOL!!). Then after the release, have her come off the target to play with a toy – we want value but not SO much value that she doesn’t release 🙂 The release to tugging is actually what builds the speed. And that will allow you to reset her in a standing position to restart. I like the stand because it is more balanced and less slam on the shoulders as she moves into target position (compared to starting from a sit). This game looks ready to take on the road to lots of different planks!!
Nice work here!!!
TracyHi there!
He certainly loves this tuggie! It looks like his toy drive is definitely expanding – it might not be perfect in all places yet (and that is normal) but he is getting happier and happier to tug! With the toys that he loves and in the comfy places, you can work a bit on getting the toy back smoothly (just relaxing your hands til he releases it) and then reward that by giving him the toy back for more tugging 🙂He also seems to really love the wing wrap! Nice job building all of that value! He was great about doing it and there was even some distance! You added in the sends – remember to use your dog-side leg on the sends. When you did use it (like at 1:32) he wasn’t sure if he should go or not. But when you did use it (Ike 1:42 and after) he was great. So the next step now: rather than him offering it, you can put it on cue. After each reward, line him up at your side, hold his collar, get him jazzed up – then send with arm & leg. If you have decided what wrap verbals you want to you, you can add them now too!
And I believe he is ready for the next level where you start to leave for a FC while he is wrapping.NIcely done!!
TracyHi!
It is this one:The most difficult part of this type of rear cross is teaching the pup to turn the correct direction (away from where he last saw the handler) rather than spin the wrong way (back towards where the handler was coming from). Here are the steps to teaching the turn:
Start with a rousing game of tug!
Ask the pup for a sit-stay at your left side. Be sure to reinforce throughout this game for holding the sit stay – the puppy is allowed to move her head, but is not allowed to move her feet or turn her body until you release her. Break it down as much as needed to help build a solid stay! Here are 2 ways to reinforce the stay for this game after stepping back:
○ You can return to the pup to hand deliver the reward○ You can click and release the dog to a thrown reward
Take one or two steps back, so you are parallel to or just past the pup’s tail. Be sure to reward the pup for holding the sit, either by returning to her or click/releasing her to a thrown reward.
Cut behind the puppy so she is now on your right side, and step up to her shoulder. When she turns her head to face the side you are now on, reward her by either giving her a treat in position or releasing and throwing a treat or playing tug.
Because the pup will anticipate the rear cross, it is important that sometimes you step back but not behind her – in these cases, if she continues to look at you without turning her head the new direction, you can either step forward and give her a treat, or release her to come to you for the treat or to play tug.Be sure to repeat this on both sides of the puppy!
Here is a puppy Hot Sauce playing this game for the first time: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GgiolvmBLVw
I figured you had the toy play going 🙂
2o2o is great! I have a shaping game coming soon that will help that too. The nose target can be used for now to get the concept going then get faded.Hi there! He is getting so grown up!!
Good work here. On the plank: he did well with his. Big self on the little plank! good boy! It is not easy to turn around on it, he did well. Question – do you want a 4 on or a 2o2o? That will allow us to plan on where/how to add the targeting. I think the 2o2o is clearer for big dogs so ends up being easier to teach with fewer reps needed.
Wing wraps from the chair – good boy here! And also good boy on the sending. And he is letting you leave early. Value looks good. Yay! So… 2 things to add:
Have you decided what you want to do for wrap verbals? You can add them in at this stage, from the chair and on the send (wrap towards me, or left wrap/right wrap).
And, start to leave earlier – be sure it is a front cross, turning towards him, so he feels a bit of countermotion. Do it at a walk for now and feel free to throw the reward back to him.Diagonal RC: good job rewarding the stay a lot, that is the hardest part! He had no trouble at all with holding the stay and looking the new direction. You can mix in releasing him forward for a thrown reward along with sometimes rewarding in position like you did here.
Other RC flatwork – he seemed to do better with the cookie in the lure/cue hand? I think he was jumping up to the empty hand but was really good when the cookie was in the hand. So two ideas: do a lot with the cookie in the hand for now, and mix in very few empty hand cues. And on the empty hand cues, keep your hand low and move it slowly – and then toss the cookie out ahead. You can even show him that it is an empty hand doing the cue? It is possible he is jumping up to see if there is a cookie there or not. Also, he did better on the right than on the left – so keep the left hand low and slow 🙂 Right side looked good with and without the cookie in it!
Great job on the Go throw! Perfect choice of toy LOL! And the distraction toy was not really salient, which set him up for success really nicely. You can build up to letting him see you put the distraction toy down then getting him excited for the other toy, to see if he can still drive forward.
Nice job on these! The only other suggestion is to make sure you incorporate toy play more with all of the foodie games – you might have been doing it but edited it out, but I wanted to remind you just in case 🙂
Tracy
Hi there! Good work with the baby boy here!
I thought FOR SURE on the first rep of the go game he was going to go straight! He was looking right at it LOL! Good boy to get it right on the 2nd rep. It was hard to tell if he did better when going to the first toy thrown or when you wanted him to focus on the 2nd toy – but he was figuring it out! The extra ready ready energy you added at the end on the last rep really helped. I also suggest that you try tossing the distraction toy off to the side first, then make a big fuss with the Go toy – tossing it less far and letting him go right as it lands. That can help! You can also try having the distraction toy on the ground even before you start, so the excitement of seeing it tossed is diminished.Rear crosses – nice! He had no trouble at all with these. Made it look easy and you were able to add more motion too! Yay! Next step would be to cue them with empty hands and then reward. You can also try the diagonal line foundation where he is in a stay (my dogs all find this one to be much harder) which is also a good stay exercise 🙂 We will be able to build on these nicely!
On the plank work: This is a good start – the hardest part is getting the big pups to keep their hind ends on, and he was definitely figuring it out! One thing that really helps is to be in front like you did after the 1st 2 reps. And a longer plank can help too, that will give him more to move on without losing his hind end. And he was doing his nose touches with good power! To make it even easier, try to be less exciting 🙂 He was actually coming in a bit too hard and then losing his a balance a little. You can add back the excitement when he has a session or two under his belt of knowing to keep his back feet on the board. Another thing to make it easier is to sit on the ground in front – easier for him and probably easier on your back too LOL! That way you can get lots of good rewards for stepping into position with you right there.
Overall, though, I think this is off to a good start and you are correct the he just needs more experience. I am happy with what he did here and I think sitting in front will make it easier.
Nice job!
TracyHi there!
Stay work looks good! In the distracting environment, it was smart to release to the reward. When she gets more experience and you can trust that she won’t pursue any distractions, you can throw the reward back to her. This is really nice work in a crazy new environment!>>. We had some distraction issues our first night back with the tugging so saved some of the other exercises for another day.>>
Smart dog training! The barn environment is distracting but she did really well, particularly with the thrown food. She was MORE than happy to get on the plank LOL!!!! And it looks like she was happy to get back to the toy on the release too. You can raise the plank a bit more as well, and we will be adding running across the plank soon too!
Nice work!
TracyHi! All sorts of nice work on this video: good play to start with! I think using food in these early stages (as you switched to) will help more, allowing her to offer so you can get in and reward. The toy was too exciting at first so she wasn’t really thinking about where to put her feet, but she did really well transitioning back to it after some treats. Yay!
And yes, totally agree that rewarding lower (in terms of head position) is better, her head was a little high here.
She, like many bigger puppies, had a little trouble keeping all feet on while turning around, so keep playing with that (or if possible, put two planks side-by-side for a wider playing field :)) But overall I think she was pretty confident and happy, which is GREAT! Next session can have the plank a little higher, propped up so maybe 6 inches off the ground.Wing wrapping: She is really beginning to get nice value on these! You were a bit too far away on the ready set go elements and a bit too twitchy 🙂 on the first couple. So, when you get her pumped up – lt go of her collar but don’t push the collar forward (you were flinging her a little and she didn’t find it helpful LOL!) You can take one step, but then hold the step – on the reps where she pulled off at the last moment, you were stepping then moving back.pulling away a bit too fast so she was unsure. On the very successful reps, you stepped but then held still so she was able to go a lot better.
On the ready moments with the collar hold: there is a lot of pressure and arousal in there, so she does *not* have to look at you or at the wing. At 4:55, she was definitely ready but you pulled on her collar and wanted her to look at a certain spot – definitely don’t jiggle the collar around and she doesn’t need to look in any particular spot right now as part of the criteria. And it didn’t help on that rep (also note the change in facial expression when ou did that).
3 little tweaks to get her more successful on the send:
first, start closer to the wing – yo uare a little too far so there are too many options.
Second, when you send her around it, use your dog-side leg to step forward – at 5:21, for example, you are leaning forward but your dog sie leg is back, so she ends up going around the weong direction (fine to reward it anyway, like you did). The leg step will help!
Third – look at *her* (connection!) as you step, not at the wing. That will get your shoulders pointed to the correct line. You were tending to look ahead which didn’t clarify where you wanted her.Nice job keeping your arm back!! Also on the sending, you can toss the reward out past the wing when she leaves you rather than coming right back to you for the toy all the time. You can see how placement of reward helps at the end of the video when you addvalue by throwing the reward past the wing.
One last idea: Don’t say “go” for these… it is not a ‘go’ unless you don’t plan on using a ‘go’ cue to mean extension line on course. For now, replace it with a silly noise or something that you won’t be using. And then we will add on your collection cue!
Nice work here!
Tracy
Hi there!
What a great opportunity to train! Fun! Perfect timing too – do it during a walk through, so it is stimulating but not over-the-top 🙂She was a perfect girlie on the first video, short and sweet! Also perfect on the 2nd video – she looked like the same pup you have at your home training base. That’s ideal! She didn’t look distracted at all – did you notice any difference? You can also practice stays at the practice jump at a trial, I’m guessing you probably did some of that 🙂
Nice work! Have fun on your trip!
TracyHi!
I think running frame and stopped DW is great! We will do some foundation on the running contacts starting this week here so you have stuff to play with and see how it goes.On the wing wraps:
He did play really well with the toy! the upcoming wing wrap games have more running from you during the reward, which will very likely ramp up the toy play too 🙂 But if he says no thanks, you can switch to food but do try to get the toy moving and tossed and a little bit of chase before you switch to the food. I think getting the toy away from the food-smelling area will make a big difference 🙂I don’t mind if Wager is behind the fence there during the session, but try to ignore him completely as Spot is working (sorry Wager LOL!!) that way Spot can have your undivided attention and yours interaction with Wager will not draw Spot’s attention to him either.
Spot is doing a great job offering! I think you can start each session with a quick warm up/reminder up close to the wing to help get the ball rolling (for now). He did well with the chair moment too LOL!!
An idea for the next session (standing or from the chair): as you add distance, we can move away from the offering and into the cued behavior. After each reward, have him come back (like you were) but then line him up and do a little send: gently pull back on the collar then step forward with the dog side arm to the wing. Start nice and close but I think you will be able to add distance really quickly!
Nice work!
TracyGood morning!
On the hand touches, some ideas on mechanics to make it all easier: I think you should try these with you sitting in a chair, there might be a bit too much pressure with you down low and leaning over (hand over her head) which was inducing the laying down. And I think the cookies on the ground were a bit too hard to start with LOL! And non-crunchy treats will help too, so she can just swallow them rather than chew them – the chewing was taking a long time (in dog years haha) so you were waiting, withdrawing the hand, having to restart, which muddied the water a bit for her. I suggest bits of cheese because they are tasty and very easy to swallow 🙂
All of these will help make it a much easier session. Her actual touches were good! And they were good with the cookie hand overhead too. You were at your most patient at about 2:21 when you just let her chew and you left the target hand out there – more of this! Yay!Also, be hyper aware of your marker words. You use a lot of good girl and praise words, which is GREAT!!!! But you also use ‘eh’ noises and “uh oh”s which are punishment markers – and Demi is really sensitive to that. So I suggest NEVER using them with her in your training sessions because she just doesn’t need them and they are not happy-making for her.
Have you decided what you want to do on your contacts? Stopped? Running? Let me know so we can plan 🙂
On the wing wrapping – nice play to start with! I am really liking your quick placement of the treats and tug breaks! She was a happy camper to go round that post. At 4:13ish you added a bit of challenge by moving away from the post and she was perfect 🙂 And you responded with the right balance of partying when rewarding then quiet when she was working. Really nice session here!
So, for the next session, using the same post: warm up with letting her offer like you did here, then move to the next step of lining her up at your side, holding her collar, getting a little opposition reflex and a bit of ‘ready ready’ excitement… then let her go and see if she can leave you for it. Stay pretty close at first to keep building value.
And, separately from that, do a value building/shaping session on a wing so we can start using that too.Nice work!!!
TracyHi there!
For the wing wraps, you can use a bit of all of the above! Yes to the cone and the single upright, and yes to shaping it on the wing as well. It is a matter of generalizing and that’s a good thing 🙂
Nose touches:
Nice play to start! You can work a transition from the toy to the touches by getting him to give the toy back rewarding that with another tug moment or a treat. That will help want to give it back more easily and not eat it lol
On the touches- I think there was already a treat in your hand, so I am not sure if he was thinking about touching or thinking about the treat. So, the touch hand should be empty, and the other hand can plop the treat into it after the touch. Also, have your hand a little lower, at his nose level (bend over if needed) so he can move straight to it rather than go up to it. That will produce an even stronger touch.Focus forward:
He really loves that toy lol! It is a perfect toy for the back and forth of release it then tug as reward then release then tug as reward. The focus forward is looking really strong! You can move to the next steps from a sit and see if he can hold the sit while you dangle the toy then move to putting it down and so on all while building focus forward.
Nice work on these, he is doing great!!
TracyHi!
I agree that there are elements of the 2o2o criteria that are easier to maintain (perhaps easier to teach!) and that is a definite gold star for 2o2o! It took me about 6 weeks to decide what to do with my youngster, so keep pondering til it feels right LOL!Great list of verbals! You reminded me of the different release words too – release to work, release to visit, etc. And verbals for slackers has the easiest way to teach left and right that I have ever used and it works really nicely – the ‘minny pinny’ LOL!!!
Tracy
Good morning!
>> I’m conflicted about this. Sending to a target is one method of teaching go-outs in obedience and although I’ve not used it in the past, I am considering using it for Wolfie.
Good point for discussion. See below!
>> If I do, I would want her to have a specific action to take when she gets to the target and not just hang around out there.
We very quickly move away from hanging out on it (that is already included in these preliminary games). But, also, use different targets for the different skills. For this baby agility targeting, use something completely useless (I used a hat LOL!) because we are going to use it for a bit then never really go back to it. For the obedience foundation, use something different like a box – go to the box, get in, stay in. Pups are brilliant discriminators so she will be fine with both.
>>So I think I will redo this, have her put her front feet on the target and then sit.
That is an extensive chain, which is fine, but use a target that will promote this (like the box I mention above) and of course start all the elements separately: get in, get in and sit, send to it, send & get in, then eventually send and get in and sit. But don’t use that specific target for the agility games.
>>But where are we going with this for agility? Would this mess up the purpose of sending to a target in agility?
We are moving into countermotion and commitment games for agility with this (you’ll see it past the initial shaping steps) so yes, sending and sitting and staying is not what we want. But, using a different target (like a random shoe or something) will serve the purpose just fine and allow you to train both behaviors. The obedience target will result in get in and sit, and the agility target will result in hit and go. She will learn both easily, same way the dogs learn the difference between jumps and tunnels and tables, etc.
On the video:
Cone work – she definitely has a ton of value for the cone, well done! Now we need to change it up to get her going both directions equally and so it doesn’t turn into repetitive circling (I am not a fan of repetitive circling of any obstacle with a puppy). So, after each reward, call her back to you, reward her for coming back, take her collar, reward, set her up on the side you want her on, then do a little ready set release of the collar to give her permission to move. That way she will begin driving away from you to the cone and it you will be able to get it going in both directions (because she is starting on your side rather than offering it repeatedly at a million miles per hour LOL!). This also begins an element of stimulus control – don’t go til permission granted 🙂 – which gives you time to have rewards ready. Start this really close for now but then we will quickly be able to add distance. We are looking for only 1 time around the cone, not multiple times.Plank – yes, it is common for us to have it going nicely then the puppy grows then it looks totally different LOL! Try to stand perfectly still and let her get herself on without help, then reward (there was a lot of motion and cookie moving from you while she was getting on the plank, so she was watching you more than thinking about where to put her hind end). Once she is on, reward, and then it is fine to lure a bit to get the turning on the plank – you were perfect in how you did that at 1:44, slow but clear. Yay! And as she continues to grow, getting her on lots of different planks will help too 🙂
Focus Forward to the food – yummy! I think she is doing just fine but be sure she is looking ahead before you release her to it. The 1st 2 reps were god, but on rep 3 and rep 4 she was looking at you. Because she doesn’t find stationary things to be super exciting yet, you can hold her and then toss the treat onto (or near :)) the target – then as it lands, if she is looking at it, let her go. If she isn’t looking at it, toss another one 🙂 You can also try a lotus ball or treat hugger, so it is moving a bit as it lands to help her want to look ahead. She will get happier looking at stationary things over time, but for now we will go with her love of moving things to build the value.
OMG toy races, isn’t it funny how things come together when we have finally resigned ourselves to something else?!?! HA!! Love it 🙂 Latent learning plus no pressure = great behavior. So fun!
Rolling toy appears to be something she really enjoys! Great timing of the roll then release on the first rep – a bit of teasing before the throws also really got her excited 🙂 You can let her go for the race before the ball rolls too far, because she is trying to go and ends up looking up at you when you don’t let go fast enough. So, roll it a bit further or throw it underhand so it lands then rolls, and let her go just before it lands. I am loving her excitement for this now, well done!!!Great job! Let me know if the idea about the obedience versus agility targeting games make sense 🙂
Tracy
