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Hi! You’re going to laugh – I think the end behavior might be too easy for him, so he is able to get it right AND look at you for the cookies. Because he is smart, we can make the behavior harder and then he has to to do more to get the cookies – which translates to looking at you less 🙂
2 ideas for making that happen – try elevating the target a bit, having it on a thick piece of cardboard or something so it is something he can almost step up onto. Since it is a foot target, you can also consider having it as a strip across the length of the end of the board so he can put both feet up on it.The other idea is to that rather than just have him touch the target when he gets there, add one more behavior, something fun that will keep him focused on task. I have my 4on dogs scratch at the target, so they drive there and scratch scratch scratch… and that keeps their heads low, they look at the target, and they love it 🙂 Does he like to scratch or dig? If so, we can shape it to the target and then add it to the teeter. And a super fun end behavior like that will also really help build the drive to the end of the board.
Great job! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi Helen! I think we have entered the stage of the uphill and downhill games where my replies are going to be super boring! They are all starting to sound like this:
That was great! He was fast, he was focused, he looked REALLY confident and drove all the way to the end. Now… add more tip.
So on your next session can have a tiny bit more tip… you can get creative about what you use to support the board while incrementally adding a more tip because we only want maybe another half inch of tip here.
And if I am wrong and he is NOT ready for more tip, and you see him slowing down or getting worried or leaving the session… immediately go back to the level you had here on this video.
I think he is enjoying the cheesing here: cheese on the end of the board, cheese for the stay… he looks happy with all aspects of it LOL!
Great job!! Keep me posted about how he does with more tip.
TracyHi! I am glad the snow is receding!!! Fingers crossed that things will dry out quickly 🙂
Backing up is going well! She was really thinking about finding the board with her back feet and you had some good distance going!! I’d like to get her head a little lower – You were leaning over to keep the rewards low but she was still lifting her head… so you should sit or this one (either on the floor or in a chair, whichever is more comfortable), so your cookie hands are low enough that she lowers her head. I think ideally her chin would be at the center of her chest – that will really open up hind end independence and weight shift! And the more we can convince her to lower her head, the better 🙂
End position: really nice!! She is driving straight and fast, hitting position with complete focus and accuracy, and only after that is she looking for you. Fabulous! It looks like you were able to add all sorts of challenges by changing your position and she didn’t change her behavior at all. GOOD GIRL! So, take this to as many different places as possible, even if it is just around your house 🙂 And if possible, prop the ‘get on’ side of it up so the board is angled. A FitBone or something similar is perfect because it adds movement but is also going to hold the end of the board pretty well.
Mountain Climbers look great too! All of your RDW work has built a lot of plank confidence so this seemed easy for her. She drove ahead beautifully! Rear Cross? No problem. When you have more room, you can add more of you driving past the end of the board (I am thinking this will also be no problem for her at all). Using this setup… add more tip 🙂 Start with just a little bit of tip and see what she thinks of it! Her response will let us know how quickly we can proceed, but so far she looks amazing!
Great job here! Let me know what you think! Onwards to the next steps 🙂
Tracy
Hi! Great session here too! All of the momma-running challenges look great, so those can all get added tip like I mentioned above. He definitely had a “what the?”response to the rear cross and also a little bit when you were decelerating a little later in the session. I am glad you abandoned the rear for now, because we don’t want him asking questions LOL! So, approach that separately without much tip at all: put the BEST rewards at the top (peanut butter? Squeeze cheese? Rack of lamb? Lol) and just work the sending where you are stationary and he goes up the board entirely without you. Get him barking first haha 🙂 He might be slower at first but that is fine – as long as he goes up the board and eats the thing. Then you can go get him to help him off the top. We haven’t really focused much on sending him without you because we have really wanted to support him, but I think he is ready for the sends now!
Good plan for teeter-tables later. It is gorgeous weather here, I hope you are getting the same!
Tracy
Hi!
On the first video – I think the teach it placement relative to the teeter worked well here, it was sitting on the rubber thingies, yes?
He did well here! He was moving up the board but not racing up the board – so for the next session, do the exact same amount of tip so he gets more into the racing up the board. And when coming from the wing, help line him up so he has a really straight path – he was finding the board fine from angles but he has to slow down to do it and we want him to go full bore up the board 🙂 We are now entering the ‘adding tip’ stage of the games so in general, we spend 2 or 3 short sessions like this at each tip, then add more.The session at LU also went well. I gotta say… I think his best reps were when you got him barking before you started (SORRY KEVIN!! Ok, not sorry, but ya know…. haha!) So, get him barking, make him deranged, then giddy up. He did well at the original tip, and did well with the added tip!!!
So a plan of attack for the next session:
* Barking 🙂
* One run up the board at the easier tip he had here, very little tip. Assess: Fast and happy? Add a little more. Not happy? Either repeat or go back to easier tip.
And repeat the process for another rep: barking, up the board, add more tip (just a half inch).
Then on the last 2 reps – go back to easier tip! That will finish him on a bang of excitement and easy challenge.
Let me know if that makes sense!Bang game is looking great!! Especially the left side rep – BOOM right into position. Fab! Try to get reward in right away for getting into position and then release. Don’t add any type of ‘stay’ challenge to it here on the teeter yet. You can totally do that on the unmoving plank, but for the teeter I would like him to be in the ‘you can do no wrong’ mode for a while longer. I don’t want to tell him he is wrong for anything related to the teeter at this point, so we won’t ask the questions about staying yet haha! Those questions can be asked on the plank and on the start line.
Have you don’t bang game at LU recently? That can definitely go in the rotation, plus you can add a tiny bit more tip on this game at home too.
Great job!
TracyHi! Here is how to change the photo:
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TracyHi!
I was totally thinking of Hairy Maclary! I didn’t know the author was from NZ!!! So cool 🙂 and yes my dogs all have a first name, a middle name, and about 35,000 nicknames each haha! “Ginger Weirdo” made me laugh out loud LOL!He did a great job on the mountain climbers here! The session had a good structure – starting with supporting him by going with him up the board, easy! Then adding more challenges. When watching, I look to see any dips in confidence, change in behavior, questions on any of the different challenges… Nope! His answer to all of your questions was “GO FAST!”. Nice! Seems totally confident so…. add more tip 🙂 Just a tiny bit more. The goal is that he does not really notice the added tip and is happy like he was here, with similar structure to the session – start it easy, then add more challenge and excitement.
The other thing you can do (before adding tip) is add the wing before the teeter so he gets used to running up the board with more speed and excitement. And yes, be sure to help him off the board so he doesn’t leap off LOL! It is a sign of confidence in many ways, but we still don’t want him to leap off the top 🙂
Great job! I will go get the avatar info and post up here in a minute for you.
TracyHi! The tip here seemed to be no problem, which is great! I think partially it is because he is happier with the tip in general (hello, peanut butter!) and also because there was less tip here.
For the end position – he was getting the idea of where to put his feet quite nicely (because you were consistently placing the reward well). So the next step is to get him to not look at you 🙂 It is an easy answer: we will be adding a target to this game, as we add in the end position. The specifics on all that comes in the next games package on Monday, but feel free to get a head start and put his target out for him to drive to. We will add it in, get the end position going really well, marry a few games together, then fade the target over the next bunch of weeks 🙂
The other thing you can do is add more tip (without the target) but instead of waiting for him to move into position, just move your hand in as he is leaping on to get the reward into position so the treat is there as he is landing on the board – that will encourage 2o2o quite nicely too!Great job on all of these!!
TracyPeanut butter is magic indeed, so is squeeze cheese based on what the other dogs in this class are saying LOL!!! I need to go shopping 🙂 Check out his tail on these reps – definitely in happy position! And don’t take this personally, but after you sent him down the board, he didn’t give a hoot about what you were doing or where you were going. It was all about getting to the end of the board LOL! Good boy 🙂 He is driving straight through the tip with no questions and no concerns from what I can see here…. so if possible, add some more tip, just a little 🙂 I am excited by all the progress he is making!!
T
Good morning! The mountain climbers are looking really good!
I am really excited about how well he did in the new place, new teeter, good distractions of barking in the background. He does definitely love it when you are moving and running past but I think he still did a great job when you were sending. Great job starting off with easy reps to just be sure he wasn’t going to freak out – then adding more excitement. And good choice of how much tip to give him. It is all about confidence in these new places and on new teeters! I like that your set up had tip AND a bit of noise – the Clip And Go teeter is so quiet that sometimes the dogs don’t realize teeters are noisy til they get on a different teeter! So the little rattle here was perfect. A really great session!
Now normally I would say you can add a wing wrap before this teeter game but he kinda finds those wing wrap starts to be dull… so next time, add a tunnel before it, or a lead out on a jump! I think he would enjoy the added speed challenge and would still be fine with the teeter.The home session also looked really strong – that teeter had plenty of movement and noise, and he seemed perfectly fine with it. Yes, you can lead out more and start the crosses sooner so he sees it before arriving at the peanut butter spot… but I think it won’t make a difference in his performance LOL!! And that is very happy-making 🙂
So at this point with the mountain climbers, we are entering the more more more stage of adding more tip, very gradually, tiny bit at a time. Keep spot checking the different challenges but you can add a little more tip and see how he does!
Great job 🙂
TracyGood morning!
His little sequences look great!!! I have a little bit of guilt about not doing a lot of sequence work on balance with the obstacle work, but I figure the youngsters just finished a rotation that was heavy on sequencing so the little break is good. He looks GREAT!!!The mountain climbers also look great – he pretty much drive to the end the same way every time, regardless of what you do. Perfect! He is confident AND he loves cheese: the perfect storm for teeter training LOL!
Taking a ‘spot checking’ approach to the different challenges as you add tip is fine when he is confident. You don’t have to do all the challenges in every session, as long as you keep track and don’t accidentally neglect any challenges. You had a good mix here!
The only time I would make sure to do every challenge is if I see any questions or worry from the dog… so I would focus on more reps at the same level with the challenges and less on adding tip. I don’t see any questions or worry from Presto here, so… onwards!
>>AND I started using the wrong cues for wraps. Ugh. I think I need more sleep. >>
I feel that! Coffee is my friend. I was wearing 2 masks and sunglasses so my face away basically fully covered when I went into a Starbucks to grab a coffee this morning… and yet I was greeted by “Hi Tracy!” Oh dear I guess I have been doing a lot of coffee lately? HA!!!
>>>Any advice and how quickly to add drop? I’m not in a rush, but also happy to move along.
The goal is to ‘boil the frog’ – make it happen slowly enough that he doesn’t even really notice. So, like you were doing, add in a bit more here and there, about a half inch at a time. And if he is confident and fast like he was here? Keep adding. If, at any point, he says “wait, what??” – immediately go back a step, stay there for a bit, then add in a tiny tiny bit. There are more specifics and goals for that coming with the next games package on Monday 🙂
Great job here! Yes, add in the end games and also downhills, they are all going to meet in the middle pretty soon and the games coming on Monday will probably give him the opportunity to move forward really quickly! I am excited!!!!
TracyGood morning and welcome to you and Potion!!! Baby dog is growing up!!! He looks fabulous here and gets a double gold star for ignoring the distractions and the audience 🙂 Perfect!
The mountain climbers look great – he seems nicely confident moving with you, recalling up the board, letting you move past the end, adding speed, and even rear crossing!
He didn’t necessarily want to accelerate past you to the end when you were moving with him at first, but I think the rear crossing will help that (he was happy with that) and also you can do more simple sends where you just stand back at the starting point and don’t go to the end of the board til he arrives there. I think one more session will get him blasting ahead and then you can add a tiny bit more tip – the board was moving a little and rattling a little here, he seems unbothered by it, so you can add a little more.You can also move to adding the wing wrap before the board, I think he is ready for more speed 🙂
It looks like you had a target taped to the end of the board (or something was there :)) so try to put the reward right on that target. To draw him as close as possible to the very end of the board. The reward placement was stopping him a little short of the end here, so you can move it to just off the end of the board. If the reward falls off, try a dab of peanut butter or squeeze cheese to help it stick. Have you decided on a 2o2o or a 4on for him? I think he is the right size where you can have either as a good option. He appears to be the same size as my Border Jack, Export and my Hot Sauce – both of whom do a 2o2o behavior.
Great job! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning!
OF COURSE Cole decides to strip down the instant the camera is turned on LOL!! Kids crack me up! When he is all grown up, this will be a good video to play for him LOL!!!!The backing up is going well – he is actively thinking about his back feet, judging by the independent picking them up and putting them down. NICE! Bearing in mind that form is more important than distance, you can stay really close for a long time – as close as needed til he says “this is the easiest thing ever” and immediately backs up with good form. And, that includes adding more tip – stay close til he can do it with about an inch of tip to the end of the board. So keep nice and close, the only suggestion to is to be very still til you move the reward – you were leaning in towards him a little. I think the leaning was mainly to be able to see what he was doing, so now see if he can offer it with you completely stationary.
The funny thing with the bang game: Just as I was writing “he needs the target” in my notes, you reached over and put the target in. Ha! Perfect! If the target is not visible, don’t wait for him to offer 2o2o – you can just put the cookie in position to help him move into it. When you are waiting for the 2o2o, have the target there as an aid. (More on this coming on Monday). I leave the target there for a while to help, and I think that will make the difference for him. The circling is something to note but not really worry about – it is hard to know if it is excitement/arousal, frustration, value of the end of the board, all of the above, none of the above LOL!! So… I just note it and keep tracking the rate of success 🙂 The target should make it even easier. I think there is also a strip of tape at the end of the teeter board, so you will probably want to remove that visual so he doesn’t question which one he should hit.
Great job!!! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi! The forum can be a pain with images (I need to ask the tech people why that happens) so if you have a photo, you can can email it to me (agilitydals@yahoo.com). Coffee is loading now, so I am more coherent haha!
