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Hi!
These are all looking good!>1. Backup to some stacked dog beds>
Really nice, and has a bit of ‘wobble’ to it.
>2. Backup to an elevated dog bed with the front feet off and angled against a chair>He did well here too, but I would skip the angle for now – my sports vet colleagues forbid this for puppies 🙂 because their shoulders are just not ready for it. Some (most?) say never to the angle/headstand to protect the shoulders especially in herding dogs, and a couple till stay it is OK in adult dogs. So keep the angle low and you can add challenge the of stepping over something
>3. Pattern game 15 feet from the ring then <10 feet from the ring>
Super nice! You can add in the cookies being up and down so he can get experience moving less and get ready for the tight quarters near the start area.
>4. Turn and burn around a big traffic cone>He loves this game! You did forward and back, and 360s, so don’t forget the right angles (your line will be L-shaped) because he will see a ton of good countermotion on that too.
>5. Some hand touch stuff 6. Voluntary collar grab>
Also really good! Have you shaped him to put his head into a leash loop yet? That is a fun one.
Also, does he do any goofy tricks? Those are great for being in tighter quarters too – thinking ahead to when he is getting ready to be in a lineup waiting for a turn in the ring.
Last question: does he sleep well at trials? Just curious to know if he can rest well. If not, we can work on strategies to get him sleeping he can rest & recover. If so – rock on! Woohoo!
>He had lots of fun and we also played with his tug toys in various places around the ring and outside in the grass yards.
We also signed up for some kind of little puppy training thing tomorrow and Ginger and her new puppy will be there too I think. >All of this is great! A fun, busy weekend 🙂 Keep me posted! Nice work here!
Tracy
Good morning!
OMG! Look at her being a pattern game rock star here! And this was after a play session WITH THE OTHER PUP STILL PRESENT!!! This is lovely! I would think it would have been harder because she would have been super stimulated, or focused on Rou, or… NOPE! She was quite brilliant here 🙂
You can add in walking back and forth more, which opens up more distraction opportunity as well as makes it easier to transfer to places (like classes/trials/seminars) where you would have to move her to difference places in the area.
>She does work in the living room and I’m trying to give her more freedom. But, she struggles to settle versus get into mischief.>
Yes, she is a high energy busy lady. She reminds me of my Jitterbug who was in perpetual motion at that age. The whippety creatures would be upside on beds wondering why the herdy creature was making up his own adventures in the house LOL I think the house tours will be fun because you can introduce a new area one at a time, using a pattern game or maybe even a simple prop game.
>Bonus…she peed twice in the backyard!>
This might be the biggest and most important breakthrough of the last couple of weeks. We really need her to potty in different places so you can expand her work by taking her places!
Great job here 🙂
TracyWow, first time in a class environment and he was able to do all of that? That is really super! I am proud of him for being able to ignore the challenges of being in a class and work with you 🙂 What a good boy! Click/treat to you both!!! What tricks is he working on?
Tracy
Excellent question! I would bring the pop up crate because I can’t remember him seeing a giant cone at home? But I haven’t had a lot of coffee yet so maybe I will remember after more caffeine hits haha!
That way you can try Turn And Burn with something familiar then ask him if he understands the concept applied the cone in the new place.
>If I do use the big cone should I do any of the earlier steps in wrapping 1st?>
Yes, since the cone is new. And if he says it is easy, you can move right into the turn and burn game.
>If I do the parallel path I am thinking I should do some basic hits on the prop 1st since we have not done that anywhere else.>
Yes – give him a warm up on the simple stuff and let him tell you if he recognizes it. If he doesn’t (that would be normal) then you can do a session of just value building for it there. If he does recognize it, then you can do parallel path.
Have fun! Keep me posted!
Tracy
Good morning!
>I wasn’t sure if I was on track to the jump and thought I could peek while he was wrapping the wing and even though I saw him exit the wing wrap and thought I was connected, he said that was not ok. He definitely reads eyeballs!>
Young dogs see everything! And they tell us all about it if we are not correct LOL!!
The concept transfer session went GREAT! This is actually a hard game that you and Aelfraed made easy peasy! His commitment is strong and your handling was spot on!
The only real malfunction was it looked like the food ball toy kept popping open when it landed. And having The setup mixed into all the other obstacles around on course is actually a good prep for what courses will look like when he is grown up: Stuff everywhere that he has to ignore to stay on his line!I think all of the RCs to the left were pretty perfect! And he only had one question to the right, at :46, which looked like you needed to move more to the jump after you changed sides. And that is exactly what you did on the rest of the right turn RCs. Lovely!!
The Go reps were strong too, great job mixing them in! He glances at you sometimes so you can mix in a placed reward sometimes so you can kind of race him to it – and if you win, you party without him haha! That way he will recognize the acceleration forward as the Go to leave you behind and get to the reward first 🙂
Great job!
Tracy
Hi!
>It seems that when she knows pork is in the picture she gets “sticky”. Reluctance to tug Could also be that she finally lost her last baby tooth (upper canine) last night and was a bit sore.>
These are both entirely possible! And it could be that right hip pain still being ouchy – at 1:38 she had a weird movement after coming around the wing. I don’t think she was looking for a dropped treat, it was more like looking back at her right side? Hard to know for sure, I wish she spoke English 🙂
One thing to try as we sort it out is to start a session with toy play. Then work the session with food. Then end with throwing the toy around and letting her chase it. We can see how that goes (keep the food portion short so she doesn’t get bored 🙂 )
>I’m not as timely tossing food vs toys so she was turning back to me after the jump looking for the reward.>
Since she really likes food now (do I remember correctly that as a baby pup she was not that into food?) you can also introduce a lotus ball as the food carrier for when you want to throw food. Treat huggers are great too.
I am also curious to see if you start sessions like this from a ‘ready dance’ instead of the stay.
Very nice rear crosses here! Right was a little better than the left turns, mainly because the RCs were later on that side. An example is at 1:25 – she is approaching takeoff and you were still on the right turn side, so she turned her head over the bar and turned left after landing. Compare that to 1:04 where you were on the new side a stride before she took off for the right turn.
The bowl helped her lock on the line and also yo were super quick to get to the new side on the last couple of reps!
The right turn RCs were also fresh off doing a bunch of Go reps, so you can mix in Go reps in between the left turn RCs too. When you do them, though, ave the Go verbal only for the straight lines, and the left/right for the turns. You were saying Go here for most of the line and left/right at the very end, which is possibly confusing if you want straight or a turn. For the RCs, you can be saying left/right or if you want to support commitment more, try a jump verbal for now (which we will eventually take off too and stick with left/right).
>Afterwards we took a “free-walk” around the park letting her sniff and just be a pup.>
That is a fun thing to do after training! Great job here!
Tracy
Hi! The reps here looked really good! When you got far enough ahead to be fully visibly on the new side, she was perfect 🤩 On the couple of reps where she turned back to the original direction, you weren’t quite as fully visible on the new side as you were on the other reps – baby dogs need rear crosses to be very obvious, and she was QUICK to grab those cookies and look up! It gets easier when she figures out the pressure of your line is the RC cue.
>I think it’s the allure of freedom in the other room.>
Yes, that was probably it! She had a high rate of success but the excitement of the new area was hard. She was able to hold it together for a couple of reps then had to take a run around in the forbidden zone 🙂 You can do home tours with her to get her to not consider new areas to be forbidden fruit 🙂 by doing pattern games in each new area in the house. And you can do them on leash so she can assess the new area without running around.
Nice work here!
Tracy
Hi!
She had a lot of good reps on the serp/threadle/tunnel proofing here!
One thing with this setup: you can turn the jump 90 degrees (which changes her start position too) so she sees directly into the tunnel (and doesn’t have to turn to get into it). That makes the tunnel entry easier and also more tempting relative to the jump 🙂
>We’re seeing the stall out on the start again. >
Two things can be causing it – either something hurts, or she is unsure of what to do and is abstaining until it is clearer. There is a stress element to it, like the moment at 1:39 when she froze then started to sniff at 1:49 when you dangled the toy.
On some of the frozen moments you were not connected, but on some you were connected, so I don’t think it is a connection issue.
>She saw the chiro on Tuesday, still some soreness in the right hip joint, but not as acute as a couple months ago. I am going to have her X-rays done to make sure there isn’t any structural abnormality that could be causing the soreness.>
Good job looking for any underlying pain! That is a source of the freezing that I have seen in dogs, so we want to make sure nothing hurts.
>(Should have let her continue and rewarded the threadle there as I probably cued that even though I wanted to cue the serp.) >
Yes, you could have rewarded in that moment: she released and the cue was a little unclear (body said threadle, voice only said release). In general, reward a LOT if she is close to correct on these handling games, because errors are almost always human errors 🙂 For example at 2:45 – she came to the correct side of the jump but then there was a disconnection after the threadle. You said tunnel but disconnected and that turned off the physical cue away from the line to the tunnel, so she was not sure what to do. That is rewardable because she was close to correct with the info she had 🙂
Another way to help her not to freeze is to do a rep or two, then switch to a different reward. Maybe chicken on one rep then cheese then a tuggie… keeping things super exciting will possibly keep her in higher arousal, to overcome the freeze ups.
>Also, not sure how best to indicate the tunnel when bypassing the jump – throwing my arm up in the air doesn’t seem like the best approach.
Do you mean the layering? If so, handle it as if the jump is not there – just regular connection and a bit of hand pointing to back to her. That will look different from the arm cue on the serp and threadle, where the arm is waaaaay back and your waist is rotated.
Nice work here! Let me know what you think!
Tracy
Hi!
>He is getting too big and pulls so hard. But that’s on leash so interesting that he would generalize it.>
Pups are excellent at generalizing things like locations/where the value is 🙂
> Is there something I should do differently on that side? Maybe not as far away or change up the distance to do easier and some harder?>
For the loose leash walking, make the cue very obvious with an upright posture and your arm bent with your cookie hand on your stomach. Your left-side training stuff can have an empty left hand, looser posture, swinging arms, more connection to his eyes – he will learn to differentiate the cues.
>Today is going to be break day. It’s nice out so we will go for a good walk. Maybe try the pattern game outside>
Have fun! Enjoy!
Tracy
Hi!
>helping him move more fluently through arousal states. I suspect in the not too distant future I’ll laugh at needing to work to increase his arousal.>
I consider this all to be Pre-hab for adolescence when the brain struggles to regulate arousal states LOL! It will all be fine 🙂
>(main goal for him is a nose smush behavior at the end of a high arousal run instead of going to his leash and grabbing it to prepare for UKI Invitational where there’s chaos and unpredictability at the ring exit where leashes should be +/- dogs lunging at their toys near Rip’s valued tug leash – we won’t be using a tug leash there). >
This is a good goal!!! And fingers crossed that there won’t be any tiny old ladies trying to carry the leash to you… I have memories of that from early in his NADAC career LOL
Looking at the video:
OMG! That is exactly the fake pulling at the beginning and later on that I was attempting to describe. And he was giving some good weight shift before he moved into being a Swiffer lol
He is already super excellent at the back-and-forth pattern. You can add moving around and having him on a leash, even at indoors at home just to keep the leash neutral and not paired with excited things 🙂
You can of course do this at the trial today – and you can also do the up-and-down version of it so you can bring the game into tighter spaces, closer to the ring. I take these 2 games everywhere at a trial site, with good food reinforcement, to keep practicing the engagement and environment assessment.
The only thing he had a little question mark over his head about was the grab it moments: he was putting his mouth on it but then didn’t seem sure of what to do once his mouth was on it.
I am thinking you wanted him to grab it and be able to tug with you? If so, you can let him ‘pull it out of your hands’ but letting go of it at the barest hint of any pressure from his mouth. Then you can increase the amount of pull on it he needs to do in order to win the prize, and soon enough he will be hanging off the toy and tugging hard 🙂He has brain-rattling hand touches – brilliant! Have you ever played the Cookies From Heaven game with the touches? For the dogs with great hand touches, it helps them keep their heads down and totally on task, even with cookie distractions above their head. It is one of my teeter foundation games: head down, weight shift, don’t look up , ignore distractions 🙂
You can start with the hand to the side, then eventually lower your hand so the palm is facing upwards. Here is a visual:
>(any suggestions if you see this before we’re done there?).>
The patterns and any of the other games are good – do I recall he is learning a lineup between your feet? That is a great one to do at a trial site. Or if he doesn’t know if yet, you can teach it 🙂
Have fun! Nice work here!
Tracy
The countermotion is going well!
>I started with the clicker and then ditched it, easier without, but then switched hands to toss the cookie lol>
Definitely easier without the clicker! And don’t worry about the cookie hands 🙂 as long as she gets rewarded, you can focus on the send and timing 🙂
She has a lot of value for the prop and is moving to it really well! When you used your leg to also point to the prop with your hand (like at 1:00 and the reps after it) her sends were very fast and snappy!
To be able to move away sooner, try starting further from the prop. If you are 6 or 8 feet from the prop, you can send her to it and see her moving to it, while you are already sliding the other direction 🙂 You were just a couple of feet away from it here, and like with the rear crosses: she is quick so you can give yourself more room to have more time to add the handling.
Nice work here!
Tracy
Hi! Rear crosses are hard! What was happening here was that you were late on the RC info – she was arriving at the prop while you were still visible on the original side, so she turned to the original side. Good job continuing to reward her, though! She didn’t get mad 🙂
To make it easier, two suggestions:
– you can move the prop further from your starting point, so you can more time to get to the new side. She is quick so you a few more feet will give you a little more time.
– You can start on a line that makes it easier for you to get to the other side quickly. Think of it as a clock: the prop is 12 o’clock, so you and Sunnie start at 6 o’clock. That can give you an easier path to get to to the new side (2 o’clock or 10 o’clock LOL)For the backing up:
Great job getting her front feet just barely off the mat!
Then when her front feet (and eventually back feet) are off the mat, you can let her offer more – let her step herself back onto it then you reward by tossing the treat between her feet & onto the mat.>Maybe the session went on a bit too long too?>
I think the session was a good length, not too long. What was happening here was that you were moving your hand towards her to get her to move backwards, so she was waiting for that hand movement which is why she was moving less (she seemed to think she needed to wait until you moved your hand).
That got the backing up going, but for the next session start exactly like you did here: but let her step her front feet back onto the mat without you moving a muscle 🙂 That will get her offering the behavior and not waiting for you to move your hand.
Nice work here!
Tracy
Hi!
Turn and burn is looking great! Nice job with the line on the ground – that really made you consistent with the timing of the FC and he was showing super commitment 🙂
You can add your wrap verbals now as you send him, so he begins to associate the verbal with the cue to wrap the barrel.
And keep moving the line on the ground closer and closer (in small increments) to the starting point at the barrel so you can continue to move away sooner and sooner.
>I tried three different toys – food pouch tug toy, the lotus ball and a black furry tug. You will see the results.>
Totally agree: the lotus ball is the winner! He seems to like the movement of it to chase, and the easy availability of the treats 🙂
>I would have to say that I think the food won though I do like the lotus ball. >
Food from your hand is useful in some setups but the lotus ball has more applications – you can throw it like you did here, and you can attach a line to it to use it for him to chase and grab(or for longer throws).
>At this point I am reluctant to use the toys for which there is little interest because I think it will dampen his enthusiasm for the work. On the side, not associated with these agility exercises, I will continue to work on toy play but at this point I think it is detrimental to mix the two.>
Yes, he is not as interested in the food pouch or the tug toy. Part of it might be that he needs them to be more active, dragging and squiggling around on the floor – not close to your hand or stationary – for him to chase/pounce on/grab.
Separately from a training session, try to change the play style of how you present the toy to him. We want to be able to use toys in training, and he has toy play drive, so it is a matter of sorting out how to make it fun during training.
For both the food pouch and the tug toy, either use one that is 3 or 4 feet long or tie several together to create a toy that is 3 or 4 feet long 🙂 Then start moving away and dragging it on the ground, moving it pretty fast away from him, getting him to chase it. He doesn’t seem to like it when it is close to his mouth and not moving, but dragging it might be a whole different level of fun 🙂
Let me know how it goes! Nice work here!
Tracy
Hi!
Yes, it has been really cool to hear about the tail-turn direction correlation!!
>It is really cool just training a dog with a tail – haha! It is such a big communication element.>
Ha! Yes, they use that tail for a LOT of talking 🙂
I see what you mean about him BIG noticing it! He actually noticed a couple of reps before: a :22 he sees it and gives it a wide berth on the way back to you. On the next rep, he takes a LONG time to eat the treat and come back (processing). It was then on the following rep that he spent quality time checking it out. Then he got right back to normal n t he game. Good job to you for letting him check it out, since he definitely had feelings about it! It was cool to see him assess it then dismiss it 🙂
Hello to the Bostons in the parallel path video! They seemed judgey, as if they could easily do it better LOL
>I may have treated for too low a criteria? But he seemed to do better as we went along.>
I agree that there were a couple of reps in the first part of the season where you rewarded a little too early (he was looking at you but not hitting the prop). You changed your timing to be a little later to be sure he got the prop, and also changed to the get it marker. All of that helped him – just be sure to be picky about what you reward, so he only gets rewarded for touching it and not going past it 🙂
The countermotion game is going great too!
>It was a challenge to move away before he started back towards me – he was moving fast.>
Totally agree – he has fast feet so you will need to start another step or two further away. And, start to move the other way as soon as he passes your foot on the send. It will also increase the difficulty because he will need to have more distance, but I think he can do it!
Great job here 🙂
TracyHi!
I totally see what you mean about the hesitation! He was startled by the bar rolling on the first video, so maybe he is being careful? Or, maybe the pressure of jumping towards the reward on the ground without being 100% sure that he can have it is causing the hesitation. I don’t think it was a serp issue, he seemed to know to come towards you but not past the jump.
I suggest an experiment 🙂
Take the jump out of the send-n-serp setup, and leave the bowl or toy on the ground. Send him around the barrel and move through the serp as if there is an invisible jump. Don’t say anything, just move 🙂 If it is a “can I have the reward” question, he will hesitate. If it is a “concern about the jump” question, he will go directly to the toy or bowl.
If it is a reward availability question, you can use your marker sooner. And you can move the reward closer to the jump. That will help!
If it is a jump concern question, you can do something like put the bowl right in between the jump uprights, or have the toy on a line and drag it over the bar for him to chase as he comes around the wing.
Let me know what he tells us when you try it! Nice work here – we will figure out his question 🙂
Tracy
