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Hi! Sorry to miss you tonight, we will mix up the days/times of these in case you want to join on at a time when you aren’t teaching.
>>If he happens to offer a down, that’s fine, but I’ll be rewarding more his speed with going up and down, not waiting for any downs.>>
Yes – we won’t be doing that many reps of it and the games will progress pretty quickly 🙂
This session went well! All of the reps had you sending him ahead so while he was doing well finding position, I see what you mean about him being crooked (mainly because he was looking at you). The foot target makes it hard for you to be right at the end, so you can adjust your position to be closer to the end by being a little bit at the foot target. And adding in moving past the target will also help him be a bit straighter because he will be looking more ahead at you. But, since he will still want to look at you (nothing else to look at LOL!) you can add in something to look at 🙂 I think adding in a Manners Minder can help give him a focal point, which will help him be straighter for now. Some of the rewards can come from the MM (when he hits criteria, you can release him forward to it) and some from your hands – and then release him forward to the MM. The more we can convince him to look forward, the straighter he will be 🙂
On other thing that I think can help keep him straight is if you look for and mark that little bit of hooking of the wrists to the edge of the foot target – you can see him do it at about :26 and also 1:42. That helped straighten his body position and it is a clear criteria that both drives him to the end of the board and encourages the down!
Nice work here! Let me know what you think! You can totally add in more of the challenges here; I think he is ready!
TracyOops, I guess I only answered in my head! Sorry! My tunnel threadle verbal is “kiss kiss kiss” 🙂 As in, I will kiss you, dog, if you get the correct end of the tunnel. LOL!!!! And yes, it is different than my jump threadle verbal.
Tracy
Hi!
>>On the first one I tried to push on her line. You’re right. That doesn’t work. That’s how I was taught. >>
It is not that they don’t work, it is more that if we train a bit more independently, you won’t need to push on her line and you can get further ahead. She is small AND fast and that means even less hang time than Jedi and Sport… which also means you need to move faster 🙂 So, we train for more independence. We do push the line when the dogs come in from harder angles but on these simpler angles we try to get the dog to go independently on the verbal without needing to step to the line.
>>Maybe I should just stay on level one for awhile. It says to stay there and make sure that is really good>>
I think you were fine to add a little challenge, but you were forgetting to show the line then release like you did in the first video. It won’t be a problem when you are close ot the barrels, but when you are adding distance, it becomes more important. So, be sure to connect, move, THEN release – that will help her read the line with the added distance. When you did that, she was great! When you tried to do it all at the same time (release, move and cue), she ended up on the front side of the jump. For example at 1:58 she took the front – she was in her stay and you were lateral, towards the center of the bump – that is fine but you will need to move and connect for 2 or 3 steps before you release her so she can see the line. When you release then move & connect, it looks like a front side cue and she zips past you.
The cookie tosses worked nicely on this one, because it gave you the opportunity to be moving up the line with connection earlier – those were really nice!! So you can use those as you add more distance, and also her stay is looking really good so you can use that too as long as you move, connect, then release.
The only other thing to add into the mix is asking her to take the front side sometimes 🙂
Great job on these! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
Adding distance: you read my mind hahaha and you were further across the bump here and also worked the other side. Nice!
I like starting from the stay on this one too, starting from a cookie toss makes you rush and it is not as smooth. You also started with her next to you on a couple of the reps towards the end and that worked great too!
She did a really nice job finding the backside on these. At 1:34 you started behind her and released before you were really past her so she ended up on the front side of the jump. The motion up the line is what sets the backside as she is learning the verbal, so for now try to be several steps ahead before releasing her. Eventually, she will know the verbal really well so it won’t matter as much, but for now she needs the motion.>>I suppose I should not do the FC. Hmm…but if you are heading to the left a FC would be okay. Or is it okay because the other backside will be a wrap.
You can totally do the FCs here on the landing side, or the serps – those both count as ‘slices’ for me because you stay on the landing side. The backside wrap is the full 360 degree circle, where you move past the barrels to the takeoff side. Let me know if that makes sense.
Great job here too! Onwards to video 3!
Tracy
Good morning! Good job on all 3 of these videos! Some thoughts on this first one:
Nice job with your parallel path motion here – you were really good about showing her the full “wing” (not blocking it) with your parallel path and she was perfect about going to it. Great job rewarding her for coming back over the bump. And great job with the backside verbal getting adding from the stay, and adding the serpentine line. Stays look good, and lots of good rewards too! And lovely connection too – great session!
On the next session – you can move your parallel path a bit further over to the center of the bump and also mix in some front side reps where you call her name and turn to the front so she pays attention to the difference.Great job here!
Tracy
Hello and welcome! I am jealous of your beautiful summer weather!
Hero is so fun! Really nice first session here! And I see what you mean about him being cat-like, jumping off then on. I encourage ALL of that confidence at this stage because it is GREAT for balance as the board starts moving. Because he is cat-like, you just have to be quick with the cookies and getting him off the board. You can also give multiple treats for staying on the end as you begin to add in moving past – he will get the treat at the end and learn to wait for you to come back and give him another treat as you reach for his collar and help him off.
For the next session, you can start him in his stay further back from the board, partially to give you a chance to get ready and where you want to be, and partially because the added distance will allow him to add more speed driving up the board. It looks like he will have no issues with that so you can add that as well as the other challenges (be ready with your treats; I think he will be moving pretty fast along the board!)>>Is it OK to make a reward plate with sides? I screwed it to the underneath of the seesaw, but he knocks the treat off and then jumps off to find it. >>
Absolutely! I had the same issue with my smaller dog – the treat would bounce off so she would just go find it. Sides would work really nicely!
>>He’s ruled by his stomach and no treat will get left behind.>>
Totally relatable!! LOL!
>>Tomorrow I will do a game from the Downhill Track. Is it OK to do two sessions on one day spread apart and working on different tracks? >>
Yes, that is fine! The goal of keeping the tracks a bit separate right now is to avoid over-training and also to allow us to be able to isolate any issues, if the dog has a question.
>>I can edit my vids a bit more so you don’t have to watch everything next time. Just thought you would be able to give me a lesson on mechanics lol.>>
Full session vids are great – this was a nice short session with a high rate of success. Yay! I think the hardest part of the mechanics was getting the treat to not fall off. On the first rep of the next session, you can also reward along the board and not just at the end like you did here early on, just as a reminder moment before adding driving across the board. And when he is understanding to stay at the end of the board and not jump off, you can add in the driving past and crosses.
>>Ruse will do the games as well in the background. The seesaw has been lowered since you saw her in NZ from 700 mm in the middle to 500 mm.
Wow, that is great! So this is a full height seesaw? That is nice!!!!
Great job! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
Min was hilarious! And I have found that the dogs are fine with our bad throws, as long as we use a “bad throw coming” cue (I use ‘catch’) which means the treat or toy will be heading to their general location and they are allowed to move to get it.
His end position work is looking really good – he didn’t seem to have any questions here in terms of what to do in the face of the different challenges. You can have the cookies ready to toss in more quickly (I usually hold them in the same hand as I am holding the collar with, but you can also toss with the other hand) so on the harder challenges you can toss in immediately.
The angle of the board with the disc didn’t seem like a problem at all for him, so add more angle and either a bigger inflatable if you have one or stack 2 discs? That will give more angle and movement during this game, which also help prep for the bang game.
Looking at the challenges of sending ahead or you driving past or adding crosses – no issues r questions on any of them, and you got he rear cross too, well done! So you can add more wildness – more speed, having the ball in your hand, running towards Min, etc. I think you are not likely to find anything that will be too hard at home, so you can take the simpler challenges to different places – have it off to the side at class, or do this in front of a tunnel, etc. Add toy play between reps to see if he can still hold it together when he is more stimulated (I think this will also not be a problem for him, but it is good to ask him at this stage 🙂 )
Great job!!!
Tracywhere else can you take this?
Good morning! He is doing well with his plankrobatics here! He needed the first rep to ‘read’ the set up (and that is fine) but then he looked very comfy going back and forth. The turning around looked nicely balanced too. You can duct tape a spoon to the underside of the board (a serving spoon maybe?) to use as the reward target rather than placing the treat at the end of the board – it will help bring him even closer to the end of the board and will also help transfer to the uphill and downhill games. (For those games, briefly revisit them with less tip and see how it goes – you can probably add tip pretty quickly based on what he has already done). And you can also put a pillow or dog bed under the board so there is less clanging – and a pillow or dog bed will provide some “whip” movement when the board lands too – also a good prep for the full teeter.
I think you can probably tweak this set up for downhilling by using the chair that was closer to the camera and jam it under the teeter so the top part doesn’t move, and then he can go downhill to the other chair. As long as the chair closer to the teeter doesn’t swivel around it should be fine
🙂
Great job!
TracyGood morning!
I thought the sideways angle was just my lack of coffee haha!!He did well with the mountain climbers in the new location! Definitely a bit wary… but the 2nd rep is the one that tells me more about how the dog feels and he was faster and happier on that second rep! YAY! Being silly and doing the tunnel in between reps definitely keep him pumped up. You can be a lot quicker to get the reward ready between the tunnel and the teeter reps so you don’t lose his excitement LOL! And you can use a toy reward for the tunnel then do the cookies for the teeter. I like how on the last rep, he was twitching in a little in his stay – I take that as a sign that he wants to drive up the board and that he is liking it! Dogs that DON’T want to do something do not twitch with excitement in the stay haha!!! And I think sandwiching it in between the tunnel makes it a smaller part of a bigger picture, so he thinks about it less – as opposed to a ‘teeter only’ session where he might start to think about it tooooooo much.
Overall, this was a great session. For the next session there: change nothing. I suggest at least one more happy session like this before you change or add anything. We have the luxury of time on our side to be very systematic here.Great job!
TracyHello and welcome! It is great to see you here! I look forward to this adventure with Emmie 🙂 Is she still leary of the motion? The games help that, and I suggest structuring sessions into single rep, super high value “one hit wonder” sessions. Literally…. one rep for a massive reward. That will help speed her love for the motion 🙂 Keep me posted!
Tracy
Omg!!! I almost had a heart attack reading this!!!!! KROME!!!! I am glad to hear he did NOT ruin the TV. Onwards to training!
TracyHi and welcome!
>> But I am wondering about whether I should be integrating the end position into the mountain and downhill games? I am hesitant to use the traditional way of treating at the end of the teeter because I don’t want to reintroduce the nose touch behavior we’ve been trying to eliminate.>>
I think adding end position too soon for these games might make it harder – for the mountain climbers, you can have the reward there already as you add the challenges, but I think having him in a down with the board that high might make it harder to get him safely off the board. For the downhill games, he can step off to whatever is propping the board, so that is less of an issue. Based on the videos here, I am not worried about the nose targeting because when I picture him doing the full teeter – he is going to have to lower his head and look downwards before (and in order to) get into the down position. So, I think it will be fine because the prop that elicits the down is helping with his foot placement and that lowered head will add to the weight shift. My guess is that he is going to want to look down then lie down on the uphill and downhill games, which is going to end up turning into kind of ‘sliding’ into the down at the top of the board, if that makes sense.
On the backing up video: stay lower for now when you are cuing it (you don’t need to stand up at all :)) and feed him lower so he is dropping his chin below his topline to eat. That is going to free up his hind end movement even more. When you were rewarding, his chin was high – so that was making his steps backwards shorter (less reach in the hind end, more push from the front). You can see it when you were standing, so you can stay nice and low for this game 🙂
He did really well with the position changes – you can do those in the middle of the board so it adds challenge with the movement 🙂On the target plank video:
We want him to watch you less and look at the end of the board more, so feed lower on this one too (or toss the treat back to him between his front feet. Also, don’t click 🙂 I think the click might be building in watching us on these games, so I tend to not click in favor or either tossing the reward back, rewarding out ahead, or having the reward ‘pre-placed’ 🙂 on some of the games.
Watching this video – when he was doing a bit of a nose touch, he was going to the end of the plank, looking down, then dropping back into the down. When I visualize it across a full sized teeter… I think it is going to work in your favor to have him looking ahead and down rather than up or at you – so as long as he gets into the down quickly, I think he is fine to look downwards here and it will help the down. On the full teeter, he will probably get to the top, look down and drop into the down by the time the board is parallel to the ground – standing a bit longer can help him control the tip and whip of the board, so if he is arriving in the down as the board is arriving at the ground – perfect! Let me know if that makes sense – it is a clear picture in my caffeinated brain but not so sure it is clear in writing hahaha!
On this game – you can take it into the bang game introductory phase, where he is leaping on and into position from the side. And adjunct game for dogs doing the down position: using a cot or bed or something – have him jump on from the side and very close, and lie down – that can help prime the pump for the crazy bang game stuff coming up 🙂
Great job! Let me know what you think!
Tracy
