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Hi there! Time is moving quickly, the pups are growing up!!! She is looking good 🙂
First up: Hand touches!
Nice job with the transitions between the cookie element and tugging, it really keeps it fast and fun! She seems to have really nice value on the hand touching. She is a little twitchy about hit and turn, and I think it has to do with the target handing moving more than needed. So just leave the target hand out there the whole time – she touches, you plop in the reward, but don’t move the target hand so she can touch it immediately again. The cookies up high with the hand a little lower was definitely a challenge (as intended LOL!) but she worked through it! You had a good moment of re-presenting the hand when she was a little stuck and them BAM! Great hand touch. And nice job with plopping the cookies into the target hand.
Have you thought about what you want your contact criteria to be for each obstacle? Running or stop or a combination?Focus Forward to toy:
Looking good, remember to release before she looks during the collar hold element (she looked on the 2nd rep as you released) so super quick releases are good! The stay section looked really good. Yes, she looked up at you as you stood up – no big deal, because she looked at the toy while you connected with her and then got a release. Yay! You an progress this game into a trial position: You, Lanna and the toy form a triangle. She is in a stay, the toy is maybe 6 feet in front of her and you are lateral to the toy but 6 feet off to the side of it. Fun little game to get her to both hold the stay in the face of something exciting and focus on her “work”!Foot targeting: OMG that is FUNNY that she was trying to pick up the target!!!! I can see her thinking about it here at first. You can use something really big like a dog bed so it is less likely to get picked up 🙂
Good job moving the pool noodle away, we don’t want her to get confused about which is it.
I think cleaner transitions into the send will help this game a bit – she isn’t 100% sure when to get so she is slowing down. So, at the start of each rep, gather her into you – hold her with your dog side leg and arm bacl, rev her up a little, look at her – then send with one step forward. Maintain your connection while doing so – on the sends you were turning away a little so she was looking up at you to find the connection – for baby dogs, we maintain the connection the whole time.
The cleaner transitions will allow you to get more distance as well as lots of speed to it really quickly.Pole wrapping – glad to hear you have done a little but not a lot. She is just now at the age where we can ‘install’ this behavior 🙂 For now, you are too far from it – she has to travel a few feet to it so she isn’t quite sure. Start a lot closer, within half of an arm’s length so she can go to it without any questions. A couple of value building sessions is all she needs and then you can add distance as well 🙂
Have fun in NC, I think the weather will warm up for you!!!!
Tracy
Hi! Nice work here on these!
1st video:
Send to target – you can make a cleaner transition on the sends, so she knows when to start. So let’s talk about collar grab ideas and other things so it isn’t always about the collar grab 🙂
First, you can do a line up at your side and hand on chest as an idea for the send.
Or, you can collar grab *while* tugging then get the drop then immediately go into the send game. I think the transition of get the drop then try to line her up then try to give the treat then collar grab…. it might be easier to do it while tugging.
Also, you can do grab-release-grab-release during tugging as well, so it isn’t a stop in the action.
And don’t move her around by the collar either once you grab it, she no likey hahahaha – go the direction of wherever she is already facing.Her sending when you are facing forward is looking god, lots of good cookie tosses. I think toy tosses will also help her too! When you add the countermotion, start closer – it looks like you have added too much distance too quickly, so she isn’t sure (even when you throw the rewards). So stick closer for now til she is as fast going to it as she is coming back to you.
Focus forward – using some of the collar grab ideas above, here is another idea – do very quick transitions: tug, grab while tugging, get the toy and instantly drop the toy (holding collar) and when she looks at it (maybe even before it hits the ground) – let her go. That will really help with both the FF and the collar grab!! There was a bit too much time in the transition so she was thinking about the collar then looked back at you – speed is your friend 🙂
Don’t get toy then try to collar grab her, it is a buzzkill haha!!! So try the above ideas for the resets and collar grabs and see how it goes.
Also collar grab and release while continuing to tug – so you don’t always go into a restraint, sometimes it is a touch-and-release.
No need to add a word yet til you have the fast transitions and she doesn’t want to look back at you. Then it will be easy to praise or say “yes”.
Hand touches –
Looking strong!!
Nice downwards targeting, nice pushing on your hand, and nice transition to the toy.
Let her swallow before you tug LOL!!! Otherwise this looks good and we will be building on it. Have you thought about what you wanted for your contacts? Stops or running?Nice work!
TracyHi there! great job jumping right in!
On the focus forward – he is doing a great job of looking at it! On the last rep, you released him to it before he looked back at you – that was the best one 🙂 If quiet praise causes him to look at you, you can totally use “ready” but also add in the praise by dropping the toy sooner and releasing him to it sooner. The reason I think adding in the praise is worthwhile is, looking ahead, for that time when he *nails* an amazing weave entry and you praise him because you are 20 feet away… we don’t want him looking back at you LOL! So the praise can be built in gradually and you can alternate with the ready ready words. You can also try this from a sit, but keep the toy close to get it started and release with just the get it cue (before he breaks :))
I would add in letting him get the toy before you move it much, or toss it for him to chase & grab (you can use a long toy to hold an end if he might take off with it, or you can get him chasing it by moving your feet more in the play – that also accomplishes getting him away from the food smell, which might be inhibiting tugging because food is *yummy* 🙂 He did start to engage when you got moving at about :45! But then you stopped a bit short (I suggest throwing the toy for a good chase moment). He doesn’t seem to like being pushed on – he was biting your hand then left at :56. Same at 1:25ish, he was biting at you but not really playing. So, let’s take out pushing on him, that is pretty clear info from the dog LOL! I think throwing it and letting him chase it is a great way to get him to play, even if it is hot out. You can do some cookie play (spins, cookie chasing,etc) but I think it is worthwhile to get him back and forth between food and toys with more chasing/tossing of the toy. How does he do when it is pretty cool out (or indoors) with the back-and-forth? We can add in games to get him to be able to play with food and toys in the same session.Hand touch: you can train in the shade LOL! It is 20 degrees here so 83 sounds awfully nice 🙂
On the play/tugging – I think you might be moving the toy too much out of reach for him to get it, so he gives up grabbing it and just focuses on the food (:05).The hand touches look good, mechanics of reward by putting it in the hand he just touched were good! Having the hand a bit more out to the side can get him to drive into it more, but you can also add in getting the hand lower to the ground now so he has t goo a bit downward to touch it.
Foot target – jumper cables – hysterical! Clever item to use, and he immediately got into targeting it. Now as you started adding in the sends, you can ramp it up by starting him with a collar hold or gentle pressure on his chest then give him the send step for permission to go to the target. Do it as gradual, steady pressure, he seems to prefer that over fast hands on him. And, for now, keep him relatively close on the sends (like you were doing at 2:47ish and beyond) to get more speed to the target – when you got too far away (earlier) he was slowing down a bit too much.
Nice work here! Let me know what you think!
TracyAwesome! Welcome back! Fun times ahead – and focusing on life skills is 100% more important than agility skills 🙂
T
yay! Welcome back to you and the fabulous red head 🙂 We will have fun! And I have a list of new things I want to add to this class, thanks to learning adventured with Hot Sauce.
T
Hi!
I totally understand how paralyzing it can be to try to get it all done – dog, life, etc. Eek! But these games will give you a fun outlet to play with your pup, no timeline 🙂 I always keep these classes open extra so you can post as you can get to it 🙂T
Hello and welcome back! Yes, life balance is hugely important – there’s no rush, keep it all in balance and move at the dog’s pace 🙂
Tracy
Hello and welcome!! I am so excited about Kiwi 🙂 You’ll see some demo videos from my 2 Paps (Crusher and Nacho) so you’ll get some Pap-specific ideas 🙂 Keep me posted!
TracyYay! I’m glad he liked the ladder, it is really great for body awareness and balance!!! It is definitely something to revisit here and there as it keeps them balanced as they muscle up.
Have fun!
TracyHowdy! She is doing really well on all of these!
First up: clicker stays. She has come a really long way in a short time with developing a lovely stay! Yes to fading the clicker now: she is ready for the release forward or the throwback “get it” of the reward. You can use the clicker in difficult environments and short stays but in easier environments, you can fade it.
Also, you can add arousal (which is a distraction) by replacing the treats with a toy: release forward to the toy for tugging or throw back the toy for tugging.On the dual training – in the training session here, it might have been too difficult to have both of the other dogs there so stick with just one dog and be a bit more boring in what you do with the other dog 🙂 And then make sure she has a longer training session for herself to help make the waiting worthwhile – nothing high arousal yet (as it would be difficult to go back to waiting) so stick with more thoughtful things. And if her turn is the last turn, you can do a super high energy game like recalls or something.
About getting her to chill out – the dual training helps but have you started any of the coping skills stuff? Dual training is operant, she has to make a decision, and that is stimulating. But the coping skills stuff is all about lowering her heart rate. That includes having her on or near a bed/chair with a snuffle mat or bully stick or stuffed Kong while interesting things are happening. She can also be in a crate or xpen for this – but in short bursts so that she doesn’t finish the mat, for example, then bark or get stimulated. You can also use a Manner Minder in the crate (just duct tape it closed so she doesn’t open it up) and then you can pump in rewards form a distance when exciting things happen. Those rewards should be early and often, with relatively boring things happening out on the field.
And, in the moments where she might be overstimulated and is either done with the coping activity or isn’t interested in it, I suggest letting her chill out in the car or something where she can’t rehearse the stimulated behaviors (barking, I’m guessing :))On the 2nd video:
The sends to the target are looking really strong, so you can add in more of the countermotion games and moving away at this stage.Recalls with distractions – the distractions didn’t seem distracting at all LOL!! Good girlie! So here is a group challenge for y’all: Do side-by-side recalls (adding dogs running parallel to each other as a distraction) and then you can do flyball style recalls: one person holds *both* dogs (one very strong person) – both handlers run. The first level is that
One dog gets called then the next dog gets called a few steps later. If that goes well, both dogs get called simultaneously. Yeehaw!
Perching is also looking really good! You can work on completely fading your motion, so she goes all the way around it without you moving. Just a little help with maybe one little step to let her know which direction you want her to go (because she might only choose one direction if we let her choose it). And when you release from the perch, play some tug rather than toss a treat – this provides a nice mental balance to the game and also adds a bit of difficulty because it raises arousal – can she still use her hind end properly while in higher arousal? That is a great baseline for what will need to happen in agility jumping 🙂The leg bumps are easy for her, and you added the angles back around your hip which is good. So you can add a bit more speed into the collection of the bumps: using treats – toss a treat approx 10 or 15 feet away, tell her to get it. Then have her come straight back across your leg bumps and toss another treat 10 or 15 feet away. Do that back and forth a few times (and you can help her by tapping the ground) on a relatively straight line. If she has no difficulties, you can add angles around your hip by tossing the treat 10 feet away a bit behind you, so as you call her back over your legs she is approaching on an angle and has to figure out her striding.
Let me know if these suggestions make sense! Great job here!
TracyHi!
Ha! Definitely not cheating to have taken a class with Tina, I think it is great!!!
These are great tricks, and he really seems to enjoy them. Fabulous!!! Bring these tricks to lots of different places, to help get engagement in a variety of places. It is great to do tricks near the agility ring, for example, to help him ignore distractions.
Great job here!
TracyHi! This was a hard goat game! He did a good job trying to interact with it! My one tweak for this is to deliver the rewards more on the item to help him understand the value of getting on it – a lot of the cookies were thrown off of it, so the value was mainly off the xpen and not on it. Try to deliver several in a row while he was standing on it, then release and play tug. That can help build the value for getting on it 🙂
TracyHi! Based on your story about the recall in the field (or lack of :)) you can take him out on a leash and heavily reward in that environment, in a way where he can’t leave you for a distraction. He can then earn his freedom back over time with great recalls 🙂
On the video here:
Try some higher energy interactions with him during the transitions. The actual recalls were good but then you would lose him in between, like at 1:25 for example. Maintain your high energy interactions all the way back to the next transition or just hold his collar if you want to discuss.
About the connection – try to have the dog side arm back, trailing behind you, which will drop the shoulder back and open it up to him. As you were running forward, you had your arms at your side with bent elbows and shoulders forward, so he didn’t read the connection even though you were trying to look at him. The arm trailing back will help to open up your shoulder and open up connection. You were starting to get it at around 4:15, but you can trail your arm back even more rather than run with your elbows bent.
So I don’t think he was distracted, I think he just needed more connection. Let me know if that makes sense!
Tracy
