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Hi! Werlcome back!!
>Plus a blooper session. You will notice different pants in round 2.>
I was enjoying the up-close look at his face and then his happy hugging of his momma… til I realized he peed on you LOL!!!! Puppies…. 😂😂🤣
Backing up onto the plank is going well – he seems to be seeking it out with those back feet! He was a little scrunched up and ended up sitting on a bunch of reps on both videos. I think it was because he was targeting the grey mat with his front feet too. That mat appeared to be preventing the plank from slipping and it ended up getting his front feet very close to the plank, thus the scrunching up and sitting. Do you have a longer mat you can put under it, so he can get his feet on it and be a little more stretched up and balanced.
He was doing well with the stays – they went best when you stayed connected as you walked away. That was something of a context cue for continuing the stay, and when you were looking to reload cookies he would move towards you more.
For the pivoting with front feet on the bowl – this is going well! My only suggestion is to deliver the food a little lower, keeping his chin a bit more parallel to the ground (you can leave your hands lower as a focal point for that). That promotes a more neutral head position, which will get more independent movement of the back feet. The higher head position restricts the movement a bit. You can also check out the ‘return to center’ and step overs for more advanced pivoting games!
After the pivots, I think the behaviors were starting to blend together for him so we were getting some interesting combos LOL! When you switched to back feet on the bowl, we were getting front and back foot movement. And when you went to retrieving the object to hand, we were getting that plus backing up (which made delivering it to your hand a bit challenging LOL!) The context cues for those were similar (the bowl for the pivoting, and the body position for the retrieving/backing up). Since he is really young and there is a reliance on context cues for now, you can isolate the behaviors in two ways:
– breaking the training up more into separate sessions, in time and location. He can have a break between each short session (wait on his coat, for example) and then you can move to a different part of the room for the next behavior where there was no association just formed with something else.
– create distinct context cues for each behavior. For example, if the black bowl is a front foot perch (back feet move), then use a different object for a back foot perch (like a yoga block or something). They will look different and cue different behaviors. And for the retrieve to hand verus backing up – the backing up hasa context cue of you leaning over or sitting, you can be standing or in a chair for the retrieve to hand.It gets easier as he learns the different behaviors, and then they will be on stimulus control so you can cue them rather than rely on context.
Nice work here!
Tracy
Hi!
>> Was it mainly when you were rewarding after jump 2? >
>Yes. Maybe that’s it. Looking back, the reward is probably too close to jump 3.>
No worries- spreading the jumps out will help with that, and waiting til after 3 to reward will help too!
> For home training: Do you have 2 Cato planks that you can put end to end, to create a longer plank? >
Unfortunately, I just have the one.>Using planks at the field at the training facility will be good! No need to do much of this at home.
Keep me posted!
Tracy
Hi!
>Okay, we’re back and mostly recovered from the nightmare that was West Coast Open (final verdict mild COVID turned old school with running huge courses in 100 degree heat – ended up in the ER after scratching Rip from Games Final and UKI Stakes Final with pneumonia, pleural effusion, pericarditis, pericardial effusion, plus crazy GI, taste, smell, appetite stuff leading to 8 lbs weight loss).>
OMG! That must have been sooooo scary!!! I am so glad you are home and doing a lot better.
And happy birthday to Vibe!! That tunnelers run looked so fun and the Run Wild crew is really lovely. And good tunes in the background LOL Vibe didn’t seem to have any trouble ignoring the dog running after him!
He did really well with the lazy game – you can spread out the distances a bit more each time (even within a session). I think a toy might be more desirable to throw when rewarding out on the line – as you build up the distance, throwing a reward for the middle jump will reward commitment of course, but will also keep him from checking in with you when you are not running towards it. See how far apart you can get the jumps! I think 30 feet is a good goal to build to over time 🙂
And of course check out parts 2 and 3 for lazy game variations.Great job here!
Tracy
Hi!
He seemed pretty confident to get on and mvoe the wobble board. I think You can start with yourself closer to it – I think he was not entirely sure it was what you wanted at first? Then when you leaned over, he recognized it as a cue to back up (that is how he learned backing up at first). Good boy 🙂You can move this to different surfaces to add more noise, or put something under it to make it noiser (like a frying pan or something metallic).
>I think i need to make it not wobble for the next session to encourage the back up.>
To get him backing up onto it, you can jump start that by you being next to the board, asking him to get on it with all 4 feet: then luring him forward so his front feet are off. Then let him step backwards onto it. Then you can lure all 4 feet off and let him step backwards onto it. That should give him the aha! moment and get more backing up. I think he can do it with a little bit of movement of the board, but if he seems concerned about it then yes, you can stuff towels under it to reduce the movement.
> yesterday tried doing bang game down at club with the seesaw but barry was absolutely not having it. >
What did he seem concerned about: movement or noise, or height?
>Also on the video i realised how much these trousers look like pj pants. >
Ha! They look cute! Do they have dogs on them?
Great job!
Tracy
Hi! I can’t believe he is 18 months old already! My puppy turns 18 months today (I was reminded by the breeder haha) and is still completely untrained LOL!!
Barry did great with his lazy game here! I think at first he was waiting for a release but then when he realized he didn’t need it, he was happy to offer the jumps. When you add the sends, you can take on big step. He is ready for you to add more distance between the jumps, and check out parts 2 and 3!
>I’d like to point out that the the blue bag behind the left most jump was brimming with treats. Barry saw me re-load from it so knew it was there, but he completely ignored it!>
Wow! Good boy!!!!
Nice work here, it is great to see you both back in action!
Tracy
Hi!
HIs lazy game session is off to a strong start – he was watching the treats very carefully 🙂 to figure out how to get you to throw them! So that means that yes, he missed a jump sometimes but that is valuable info: take the jump, mom throws the treat. Miss the jump, no treat. Try not to help by stopping by the jump. Keep moving very slowly (sooooo slowly and lazy haha) and let him sort it out. You can use your ‘get it’ marker to help him know where the reward will be coming, which can also help him look at you (and the treats) less 🙂 Give him a couple of short sessions of this and he will lock it in, then you can move to parts 2 and 3 🙂Looking at the wobble board:
> He immediately jumped on the board before we even started and then once we did get started seemed to get the idea of putting all 4 feet on the board and tilting it. But then he seemed to get confused. >
Based on how you described it, I agree that he might not have beem concerned about the movement or noise of the board. I think the challenge in this session was the MM – I am not sure if he is very distracted by it, or just doesn’t really like it (or both!) But he almost seemed wary of it, offering less on the wobble board the more the MM got involved. The food in the 2nd part of the video seemed better so he offered more behavior. But standing close to you and barking at the MM might indicate that while he likes the food a LOT, he is kinda uncomfortable with the MM in that context. But it could be that indeed he didn’t love the board, so was didn’t want to make it move even though he wanted the food.
So it would be interesting to try the session again without the MM. You can use an empty bowl to toss treats into, or usey our ‘get it’ marker and toss a treat onto the ground (or the loaded treat hugger). That will tell us if the wobble board if the issue, or the MM (or none of the above LOL!)
Nice work here!
Tracy
Hi!
>Somehow I may have turned this onto a run and leap don’t think game vs a true agility game>
Ha! The game is actually too easy for her: she is able to run the board, leap, and look at you LOL No worries, we can make it harder 🙂 You can elevate the board a bit, so she has to think about her balance. And you can put a big bowl out 10 feet from each end, as destinations for your treat throws and visual targets. Now, this doesn’t mean your throws need to land in the bowls 🙂 as long as the throws are near the bowls, she will watch you less. Or, you can use a Treat n Train on one end and a bowl on the other end.
The wobble board was easy for her too. There was a little noise but she was more than happy to get on it (ok, jump on it LOL!)You can go to the highr board, and also you can put stuff under it for more noise – a soda pop can, or a frying pan for example to add a little bit of the metallic noise she might encounter. You can also ask her to tug on it, for more weight shift and some repeated slams.
Nice work 🙂
Tracy
Hi!
Hi!I think Rusty really liked the lazy game – he seemed very happy to offer the jumps! Super! 2 in a row was no problem, and you were also able to add more distance.
My only suggestion is to switch from saying “yes” to saying “get it” – the ‘yes’ marker was getting him looking at you a bit, and ‘get it’ should keep him looking ahead.
For this game, keep adding more distance 🙂 and check out levels 2 and 3, I think he is ready for that!
>As a puppy he was all over the Wobbleboard. I also think that I remember way back in a video for you that he pinched his foot underneath the edge of the board. Could he possibly have remembered that?>
Possibly! But if it has been a while since he has done the wobble board, it is possibly that the memory/learning has degraded. In these teenage months, his brain spends time getting rid of things it doesn’t think it needs anymore, so it might have pruned out the wobble board learning a bit.
He was definitely suspicious of the wobble board at the beginning! of the session! But he does LOVE that manners minder so clearly he worked through it! I agree – BIG difference! You can hear from his breathing that it was still a mental challenge (he was kind if huffing at the beginning and at the end). So you can start the next session with towels shoved under it, to help prop it up so there is a little less movement (just to jump start the next session). And then when he is flinging himself on it happily. you can fade the towels out pretty quickly. You can do that each time you start the wobble board in a new place too (or different wobble boards if you have any access to those).
> From work I have done between sessions, Rusty now does the teeter happily, set at about half height, and I am working on stopped contacts. He does not seem fazed by the banging and movement. Should I alter the Teeter Foundations and if so, what do you recommend?>
Good boy! Do you have a short video of it? That will tell us what to add to what he is doing now 🙂
Great job here!
Tracy
Hi!
>I took a short video of her antics as I set up the tripod and before I had set out the jumps, which is what you’ll see at the very beginning. Party of one!! To be fair, this is our play yard and she’s never done agility in this space.>
I love seeing dogs romp around having a great time 🙂 She is adorable! And it sounds like she was playing like she normally would there, plus you were not asking for engagement – so it is all good and a pleasure to see a happy dog 🙂
And she was all in when the jumps were out and you were asking for engagement by moving. She was very successful finding the jumps! The finding of the treats was more challenging 😂🤣but really she was pretty quick with that too except for the FTFT moment which made me laugh so hard 🙂
Since she did so well here, you can keep adding distance between the jumps (and more visible treats for outdoors – can she have chunks of white string cheese?)
> Tomorrow I’ll use better (smellier) treats and we’ll be indoors, so I’m hoping it will go a bit better.>
Being indoors should make it easier to find the treats for sure. And she was already finding the jumps really well, so keep adding distance and check out parts 2 and 3 as well 🙂
Great job!!
Tracy
Hi!
This plank session was a good refresher – it asked and answered the question of “can you still run across the plank with your new big grown up body” He said yes, no problem, even on the slight angles. You can add in a toy for tugging before and after (and some tug breaks during) to see if he can also do it when he is more aroused. I think it will be no problem for him.You can definitely raise this board with anything you have that is pretty stable, and add in turning around as well as hopping up on it in the middle (and hopping off too :))
Nice work!
Tracy
Hi!
>The mini teeter is a long board (6’ maybe) with a piece of pvc (3” or 4”) under it to allow it to tip. It’s pretty sturdy and has rubberized top. I had used it for some of the other games. He seems to like it. The wobble board we did a few weeks of it with towels during one of the other classes.>
You can work with both, as your mood and weather dictate 🙂 The more exposure to wooden obstacle thingies, the better 🙂 And if it has been a while since he has done the wobble board, you can start with the towels under it again just to be sure he still likes it 🙂
On the lazy game video:
That siren was an excellent distraction – he noted it and got right back to work. Then when a new weird siren sound happened, he noted it again and got back to work. Good boy, Dubs! It was a perfect thing for a teenage brain.
This game went really well and it might fall into the category of easiest game ever. His only misses were when he was re-engaging after getting a treat and was a bit too close to you & the jump. You had a couple of reps of 2 in a row owards the end – no problem at all. Yay! So now with this game: add more distance between the jumps (but your lovely lazy motion remains unchanged) and you can check out Parts 2 and 3 🙂Great job!
Tracy
Hi!
Hi!
She is getting the idea of backing up, but we can make the session cleaner to get it more about backing up (and by extension, get more backing up :)).
The beginning of the session had a lot of behavior offered, almost all of which did not get rewarded. About 2 minutes in, she started offering backing up more which looked really good! But there was still some other behavior creeping in.So you can change the structure of the session a bit: Start the backing up session with a reminder by starting her with all 4 feet on the destination on wobble board (and clearing the environment of the small plank nearby and not having the ball in the center of the wobble board for now). That should trigger the memory of “oh yeah, this is backing up!” and then you will be able to quickly scoot further and further away to get more and more backing up (and less wandering and checking out other things).
Looking at the rocking horses:
>assume I should treat her going around the barrel as taking the front of a jump and use those verbals for the tight turn on a jump?>
Yes, treat the verbals as wrapping the front side of the jump to her left or to her right. Some people treat them as backsides, but that only works for relative directionals (push to backside wrap). With the absolute directionals, we need the element of 2 wings so she can work the discrimination of which wing to go to the backside of… which won’t work with 1 barrel 🙂
>We did best on rewarding after each barrel. I think she was looking for the treat from the hand some after that.>
Actually, I don’t think she was into the treats on this session much (more below). Her questions were more about your timing & connection, and the challenge of turning to her right.
On the reps where she didn’t go to the barrel (1:32 for example and 3:05), you were actually a shade early on the sending for her current state of understanding. You sent just before she arrived to you, which broke connection a little. So delaying that by letting her get all the way to you then swooshing her forward with big connection should help a lot.
As you also noted, the left turns are easier and right turns are harder here – even when she got the right turn at 2:14, it was wide and harder-looking in terms of coordination, then she needed a moment and was sniffy. To help her out, you can make the right turns the first send (more likely to be successful) and the left turns the send to the 2nd barrel. You did that at 3:02 and it went great til you didn’t really connect and were too early at 3:05.
Speaking of sniffing and the leaving to get on her cot:
I think when she with the sniffing and disengaging she was also saying that the pay check (treats being handed to her) was not enough for the level of challenge. Use that toy more! It is a high energy skill that you are asking for, so use a high energy reward (according to Kyrie) and I am on board with that. In these early learning stages, the toy can live in the pocket of your hoodie or in the back of your pants so it is not a visual distraction, and then you can whip it out as you mark & reward.She is finding the prop on the get out really well! So now you need to add your movement – as she is getting the start cookie, you can be slowly walking forward the whole time. As she finishes the cookie and begins moving up the line, you can cue the ‘out’ with arm & big connection while staying in motion, or you can keep moving and NOT cue it (which means to stay on the line with you).
And you can add the verbal you want to use – you had asked recently if it was an absolute or relative cue. It is actually an absolute cue with a small relative element before it: because she changes her lead to the one she was NOT on before the cue, it is absolute in that she needs to change leads which overrides your handler position and motion. And the small relative element is that the lead she was on was dictated by the previous line you had set on the course, usually from your position. There are relative element of agility in just about everything, so this is a cue that can fit both molds 🙂
Great job!
Tracy
Hi!
>Today we did some lovely back up work which I have a cute photo of>
Ha! I can totally relate.
There was only one barrel rep here but it went really well! Keep adding distance, and also take a look at the advanced level where we have you rotate earlier 🙂 The facebook video with Pop was adorable and also hilarious! Good pups!!!
The threadle foundations are going well without food in your hand. The only thing to add now is deceleration before she gets to you (and before she sees the turn away cues). Decel will help her predict it is coming and also help set up collection. The first few reps were steady fast motion, and that at :17 you actually sped up as she was getting to you which is why she didn’t read the cue to turn away. You did have a little decel at :26 but is was not quite early enough – you can see she went wide on the turn like she did on the earlier reps. So the decel will help her read the cues and turn nice and tight 🙂
Great job here!
Tracy
Hi!
Everything here looks really strong 🙂
For the get out game: a couple of suggestions about verbals –
try to just use ‘out’ for the cue, and then mark & throw the treat out towards the prop. Then praise 🙂 When you were praising then marking & throwing, it was pulled her focus back to you. You’ll get even more distance and independence by marking & throwing out past the prop before the praise.She was good at going to the prop when cued in both directions. Interestingly, when she was your right side she was very good at NOT going to the prop when you didn’t cue it. She offered it a little more without the cue when she was on your left (coming towards the camera). It might just be a reflection of learning history/more rewards with more ‘stuff’ happening on your left? So you can call her more on that side and I am sure everything will even out in terms of being able to resist the call of the prop 🙂
Threadle wrap foundations are going really well too! The next step is to try it with an empty cookie hand. You can also use a cookie toss start so she is behind you as you are moving forward – that will let her see you decelerate and get her attention on your hands, before giving her the turn cue.
Rocking horses looked great!!! She picked it up really quickly!! You can put the toy in the pocket of your hoodie so you don’t switch hands – the switcheroo draws her attention up to your hands a bit, and away from the barrels. Keep adding more distance between the barrels, bit by bit, and you can try the advanced level too!
Great job here!
Tracy
Hi!
She did great with the lazy game here – her TTFJ skills are growing beautifully!! The only thing I’d recommend is when there is not a lot of motion and the jumps are close like this, you can keep the bars really low so there is no real jumping effort. This is mainyl because she is going to stop suddenly to get the treat so we don’t want her cramming her shoulders.She is ready for more distance between the jumps! You can spread them out more and more – and if you run out of room and want to spread them out even more, you can do it with 2 jumps instead of 3 🙂
>I removed the stay because it was a lot to train the stay and the game. That was the known hole in our match runs. But she gave me an amazing sit at the start when asked. I did not ask for the stay. All her body language clearly said she could not stay.>
Separating the stay training is great – no need to work 2 skills at once! The stay can be rewarded in isolation, then over time we can begin to add it to the sequence work.
Great job here!
Tracy
