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Hi!
Eek, the cheese was like popcorn on that first rep! He was SUCH a good boy to wait patiently!! He is driving up to the end of the board really nicely 🙂 I am so happy with his confidence here, driving right to the end and because of the target, his head was down and his weight was shifting. Super!Because we want him driving to the end and staying there no matter where you are – I have used stuff like peanut butter and cream cheese and squeeze cheese from a can as the ‘glue’ for treats on the target, or just as the reward 🙂 It served a dual purpose: the dog was not focused on me at all so I could add different handling scenarios, and it raised the value of the teeter through the roof because, well, it was food reward they would definitely NOT be getting normally LOL!!!
That will allow you to start running past, and I think he is also ready for you to put the wing in front of the teeter to wrap – that adds more speed up the board and also you can set up rear crosses more easily. He seems ready to see that – and when he is happy with that, you can add more tip 🙂
One other suggestion – after he gets his reward at the top of the plank, he is turning around to come down the board, which is great! When he gets to the purple middle section, ask him to hop off the side rather than move through the yellow down contact without stopping. He doesn’t know enough about 2o2o for us to ask for it yet, but we also don’t want him to rehearse not stopping 🙂 So the easy answer is an informal cue to hop off the side, just like the early plankrobatics games. I think my informal cue is “c’mere” 🙂
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning!
>>I know the poles were open, but she really seemed to like the difference in the approaches. No stupid wings. Enough, already. We did a Linda Mecklenberg jumping foundations class with tons of circling cones and wings. I think if she didn’t ever have to circle a wing again, she wouldn’t miss them…..;)>>
Yep – I think that with some dogs, if there is a lot of wing circling (especially for cookies), they go into a bit of a zen mode and the wings or cones are not exciting. And that produces lower arousal because it is associated with collection, repetition and cookies… rather than something like a tunnel with is associated with running and toys and excitement. There are a bunch of dogs in this class that are saying the same things: wing wrapping is dullsville, enough already LOL! And I agree: the wings here for this game are supposed to add speed and excitement. If they do NOT – then we use something else. Wings are the easiest to move around but the tire and the tunnel and even the table can be used!
>>So, what’s your read on this? Keep going with fun entries (she does like the tire, too), work on speed, tightening the poles, keep the sets apart for a while longer, and throwing rewards?
Oh yes, here’s the (really short!) video:>>Definitely keep working on the speed being part of this, but I think the tunnel is accomplishing what the wings were being used for in this game: speed speed speed! So you can use a couple of tunnels or curve the tunnel a bit and work both easy and hard angles with the poles at this angle for a session or two. If she is running AND highly successful… tighten the poles, moving through the next steps 🙂 Definitely keep throwing the rewards, she loves that!
Let me know what you think! Great job here!
TracyHi! I feel your pain with the rain! I am hoping for a few dry days in a row 🙂
I agree, this went well!!! Very nice session!! Only one suggestion: after the reward at the MM, call him back to you (to wherever you want the next rep to start from) but then stop him, reward the line up, get him engaged (I get the dogs pumped up with tugging, some ready ready ready chatter, or gentle restraint with the collar if they like it) – then send around the wing and into the poles. That will smooth out the wing wraps and also should add more speed driving to the poles (which transfers into his striding :))
By having him loop back around the wing and into the poles without the engagement, he was accurate but trotting. That is great to get the understanding solidified, so now using the same set up, we ask a slightly different question: can you do it at a run 🙂 So before tightening the poles more, let’s get him a little more pumped with that line up moment 🙂 It will also add a bit more arousal which will tell us about the true understanding: can he still be highly accurate when he is a little wilder and moving fast? I think he will be fine but it is important to ask that question at this stage 🙂
If he is highly successful doing it at a run – cool beans, then we can tighten the poles a little more on the next session. If he says, ‘whoa this is HARDER!’ no worries – he might take 2 sessions or more to build up to 90% success with speed at this level of tightness (all of my dogs take multiple sessions at speed, I don’t think I have ever gotten it done in one session LOL!!!)Great job! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
Yes, because she had a little trouble finding the straight poles 1-2, you can warm up a session with just poles 1-2 out there, then end it with adding poles 3-4 wide open. Her rate of success will let you know if you need to stick at that level for a bit, or when to move to the next step of angling poles 3-4.Tracy
It worked! I am not sure why the copy/paste doesn’t work, I will ask the tech crew to take a look.
I think she is stopping because the value for the bowl as the reward target is lower than the value for you and the reward in your hand, for now. But she is VERY clever and you can already see that changing here and she was getting better about driving forward. You can try to throw sooner, before she gets through the 2nd poles – leave that 2nd base pretty open for now, so she doesn’t miss it on the early throws. I think that will help her look straight the whole time.
About tightening the poles – I think she has had a couple of sessions with poles 1-2 straight? But not with poles 3-4 there? Let me know and we can plan 🙂 You might need to get poles 1-2 to be angled more at the 1 and 7 angle with poles 3-4 there before they go straight. So the next steps would be poles 1-2 go to the 1&7 angles for a couple of sessions (with the early cookie throws and you adding movement). Then poles 1-2 stay at 1&7 and poles 3-4 go to 1&7 for a couple of sessions. Then… try poles 1-2 straight but poles 3-4 gop back to wide open at 3&9. So many numbers LOL!
And when you are ready to get poles 1-2 straight: yes, I like the idea of doing a couple of sessions on just those 2 poles straight, so she fully understands them before we add the distraction of poles 3-4.
Great job here!!! Let me know how it goes!
TracyThis is so weird! Still not visible. Let’s troubleshoot the tech – are you copy/pasting it directly from the YouTube window? Can you see it on your side, before you hit submit and then also after when you scroll up? So weird that it is not coming through!
Good morning! She is doing well here!
On the 2x2s: I like things better when you don’t click – the click was causing her to look at you and also some of the clicks were coinciding with her touching the weaves – so it is easier to not click 🙂 You can mark and throw like you did with channels – your ‘yaaaay!’ seemed like it predicted the throw so she was looking straight! Nice!
I think she is getting the idea of the entries AND not hitting the poles (as much – still a little, but less than before and definitely not smacking herself as hard when she touches them). So that is good – many big dogs do touch the poles as they enter, so as long as she is not twisting herself into a pretzel then it is fine and I am confident she will sort it out even more as the poles get tighter.
Yes, keep focusing on the harder side entries for now, getting further down to the bottom of the clock especially on your left side sends. You can also start to angle the 2nd base – put the first base back to a slightly less straight angle when you do that, so as one variable gets harder, the other gets easier for a minute.
On the channels: I love how she is looking forward and driving straight! She definitely had more trouble when you got further down the clock on the left side sends, so there are two things you can do:
– isolate the hard sends on just 6 channel poles to build up that understanding
– using the 12 poles, add in the crazier handling but from the angles that are more solid.
That can allow you to make progress in all the things 🙂Great job here!!!! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning!
I am excited for CAMP!!!! We have a great time – some folks have done all 9 years of it, and are on their 2nd or 3rd generation of dog CAMPers LOL!>>downhills setup like in the Week 3 game now? Get rid of the table, use the Teach It….more “downhill” but less hit/tip at the end, right? Use his target and me move past. Have him get on the board where ever is comfortable, have him walk up and turn around and then go down? Think I’ve got it! And oh yeah…both sides!!!!
Correct! By adding the variable of end position, we dial back the other variables especially amount of tip. That way, he can focus on getting comfy with the new variable (end position) and when he is happy – we quickly add in more tip. Stay tuned for more coming soon on that 🙂
Have fun!
TracyGood morning! He is doing well in both of these!
Looking at the target fading first – I think about halfway through you decided to stop using the clicker, and I support that decision LOL!!! Clickers tend to get more looking at us, and I think his best reps where when you were releasing to the reward out ahead. When you were clicking or yes-ing and placing the reward in position, he was looking at you more. So you can be super consistent about only after the release to the thing out ahead. Also, as long as he is looking straight until *after* he lands in position, I am fine if he looks at you after that (nothing else to look at LOL!). But if he is looking at you while moving into the down, then we focus more on getting him looking straight.
He seemed perfectly fine with the fading – I also agree that going to the smaller pieces of tape is the right path for the next session, just to be sure that the yellow tape is not a salient part of the target as you move forward to a tape-less world LOL
The elevator game mechanics are going generally really well! I don’t mind having him sit, but have him do it much closer to the end of the board (with you closer to the end) so the end of the board is incredibly valuable and we don’t put any value into stopping further up the board.
You can also help him hold the stand without the cookie hand in his face with one cookie for hopping on, then put your hand on his collar or back as you do the countdown.
I don’t mind if he wants to do the down while the board is in the air, because it will build a lot of confidence to move into the down while the board is dropping and arrive in the down before the board hits the ground. When he starts further up from the sit, the board is hitting the ground then he is arriving and downing. As the board gets further off the ground, he will ideally be at the end and moving into the down while it is still a foot or more above the ground 🙂 so the early down here might actually be a good thing!And you might laugh – with one of my dogs, she is SO READY for the drop that if my countdown is normal speed, she starts backing up the board, preparing the weight shift (kind of like how he moves into the down). So the answer was to do a faster countdown LOL Rather than 1…2…3…. I went to 1-2-3 target and she was much happier LOL!! I think he will like that too!
He also did well with the releases forward, in terms of looking at you less. That will really help keep him looking straight as we add more motion and independence.
Great job here! I am looking forward to adding onto these games!
TracyGood morning!
I am glad he is feeling so confident and happy here! The weaves look great too 🙂He is doing really well on the elevator game – it seems like fading the target was easy for him. Speaking of target fading – if he is going to be out and about with you, try a bit of plank work without the target in new places and see how it goes.
One thing on the elevator game: give a more distinct countdown. You sometimes did say “ready” but I think more of a 1-2-3 will get him the rhythm of when the board will be dropped (and defintiely use it all the time, this game is going to get crazy in the next couple of weeks :))
We add more to the elevator game tomorrow but in a nutshell – do the countdown, give the paw cue, let go… but now as you drop the board, you can start walking forward. We are going to start building in more independence of riding down the board and staying in position. I suggest using the target for the first couple of sessions of this new challenge, so we only change one variable at a time.
Great job here! Keep me posted!
TracyGood morning!
Yes to target fading 🙂 And yes to the markers LOL!
And I like to have the dogs settle for a moment before they jump on, to help prevent them from breaking themselves LOL!Good morning!
I think we can strengthen the 2o2o position a lot more in terms of understanding, and then revisit it on the downhills.Working backwards first – for the downhills, he is happy to run down the board but I agree that he does not know enough about the end position yet to use it with the downhill. So for now, keep a low table with a target and pre-placed cookies on it on the bottom end, so he doesn’t have to make a 2o2o decision and he can just run across the board 🙂
For the 2o2o – I think a plastic lid target is going to be more effective than the TnT as the target, because the lid is going to promote more choice on head position, foot position and weight shift and then you can place the cookie there, or you can release him forward to the TnT placed 5 feet beyond it or so. Plus, a lid or plastic target will be much easier to fade out – I think he was trying to read your body position and target the TnT and figure out how to dispense cookies, but was not really figuring out where his feet needed to be or head position. So try it with a lid as a target, starting right at the very end of the board, with you in front to get it going… then off to the side with him stepping into position. Then over the course of several sessions, you can add motion, moving past, sending ahead, etc.
When he is more comfy with the 2o2o independently of your position and without the TnT, the stepwise progression is to take it to the bang game concept: this start on the end of the regular plank, with him leaping into position from the very end, rather than starting right on the plank. When he is happy with that – it goes to the bang game on the teeter, leaping into position on the end of the teeter, with tip.
When he is happy with the bang game, then the bang game and the downhills basically merge – but I don’t recommend doing downhills to the ground until he is very happy and independent with the bang game to end position.
Let me know if that makes sense! He is doing really well so the stepwise progression will move things along really nicely 🙂
TracyOoh I am excited that you are going to a baby dog seminar today!!! Lori is excellent, you will have a blast!
And getting to do it in a new place is also fabulous 🙂
>> I’m a little nervous that she will leave me. >>
I can totally relate LOL!!! Be sure bring the BEST cookies and toys, do tricks for rewards to get her attention, reward tons while you are working her, and if she leaves you to visit or be distracted? No worries, that is normal, she will come back 🙂 I prefer the pups to be happy and go visit and learn to ignore distractions eventually, than to be worried about things. So if she is a happy visitor? No problem, it means she is a happy girl 🙂
Let me know how it goes!
TracyGood morning!
He did really well in both sessions here! Both the width and the handling (angles and motion) were highly successful! Super! So…. tighten a little more. If this was a 4 inch width, try 3 inches and repeat the handling challenges. He will let you know how he feels about it all. I am guessing he will be fine 🙂
And we might see striding at 3 inches? If so, that is when you can start adding the real cue and also put the training into an every-other-day routine, so we don’t over-work the repetitive behavior.And you can still do handling challenge stuff on 12 poles that are still 5 inches open or so 🙂
Great job!
Tracy
