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Tracy Sklenar
KeymasterGood morning! These games are going well, she is ready for week 2 games for sure.
Goat games:
Putting the cot down like that really enhances it, so she was immediately interested (yay!) and got right on it (double yay!) and you were able to get a reward in immediately (triple yay!!). She got her hind end right up on it – fantastic! And she was offering a stay by the end of the session.And great job using food rewards and tugging in this session: we want to be asking for simple mechanics when she is in a higher arousal state because it really sets her up to be able to use her body well when she is in a higher arousal state (dog sports!)
Stealth self-control session:
Cookie toss-recalls went great. She perhaps thought it was the easiest game ever LOLWhen you added the novel-neutral object:
Just like how the cot visible moving into position enhanced it and got immediate interaction… moving the little guitar into position enhanced it and got immediate engagement LOL!!! She was so funny, I thought she was going to play a tune.So a different way to set this up would be to have it already on the ground or off to the side and then bring her into the room and start the game. She was able to get back into the game really well, but it is possible based on how the object moved into position that she thought you wanted her to interact with it.
Prop sends:
>I don’t think we did much better than last time, sigh.>
It was totally better! She hit the prop on out (all?) of the reps here. The difference was in how far away you were from it:
She showed the strong value when you were up close to it! Yay! When you added the send: this is definitely better! Is it hard for her to ignore your hand? Yes, there is a whole lot of cookie history there 🙂 but she did really well. I think the distance got a little too big too quickly – the squares on the floor help us measure it!
When you were rewarding offering, you were one square away – easy peasy!
When you started sending, the more successful reps were 2 squares away
(:45, :56 and 1:31 for example)When you moved to 3 squares away, she still went to the prop but the hits were not as crisp and she was looking at you more. But she did hit the prop!
So for now, stick a little more into the 1 or 2 square range (probably 2-4 feet). We will build up more distance later on in the progression.
Great job on these!!
Tracy
Tracy Sklenar
KeymasterGood morning!
>Not a great training session this morning for either of us. Even though we took a break between each exercise with some free tine and some crate time,it was too much for a 3rd exercise.>
The weird thing about dog training is that the pups are often learning just fine in these sessions that we feel are not so great. Latent learning is amazing! So we won’t really know the outcome of these sessions until you try the game again in a day or two.
But also, having watched all 3 videos: these were good sessions! One little tweak here and there will make them feel better in the moment, but overall they were strong and she did great!
>also, we usually train in the late afternoon/evening because of the heat. I wonder if having a morning nap first would have helped>
That is entirely possible – I believe dogs have circadian rhythms too! But it is fine to mix up training times because it begins to simulate real life agility which happens WAY TOO EARLY in the morning LOL!!
Looking at the videos:
She had a little trouble at the beginning of the prop video – she was engaged but the behavior was not as crisp, not quite hitting the prop. If you watch the first part of video 1 with your eyes closed and ears only… it is possible the background noise was creating the challenge – clanging bowl, upset dog. She was able to do stuff but it was not as crisp as it was without the noise distraction.
You made an excellent adjustment and the next part was pretty quiet (just normal outdoor distractions). She did well on the sideways sending when the noise in the background was not there!
So it is entirely possible that even though she did not look at or move towards the noise distraction, her brain was processing it as a priority over the mechanics of hitting the prop (we do know that puppy brains will do that).
Part of the sends to the props is a self-control element, in terms of leaving the toy and treats to hit this random prop. She did really well!
Stealth self-control:
I think the hardest part was finding the treats in the grass 🙂 But that is a great way to start this game! She was getting the idea really well! Adding the novel-neutral item went perfectly: she didn’t seem to pay any real attention to it (but we know her brain was processing it!). The only time she interacted with it was when she didn’t see the cookie toss and thought it was behind the object. But overall, a great session. You can use other novel-neutral objects and you play different games as long as they are easy to and fun fun fun 🙂
Goat tricks: I don’t think it was too much to try this and we got good info from her!
She was happy to get onto the mat but had some trouble getting back into tugging. My guess is that the toy needed to move more and not be as close to where all the good cookie smells were. There were probably also residual cookie smells from the previous session even though it was not as recent (dog noses are amazing). It would have been interesting to see how she did with the toy if you were standing and if you moved to a different spot, away from the clouds of cookie scent (poor starving Sazerac hahahaha). That is something to try in the next session!So overall: these were good, useful sessions! You both did really well 🙂
Tracy
Tracy Sklenar
KeymasterGood morning!
>Lennan unfortunately needed many trips to the rehab vet over the last 4 months. Sometimes we have to go to the downstairs section and Lennan thinks the elevator is very scary so I have previously requested to take the stairs. His appointments earlier on were in the upstairs section but while we were there I requested if I could take Aelfraed on the elevator and the staff were happy to help.>
Wow, that is a really cool story!!! I hope Lennan is feeling better too and gets back to playing soon!
Combining the collar hold with driving to the toy was great fun! The transition at :42 was spot on lovely: play play play collar throw play play play 🙂 Same at 1:43 and 1:51 (the last rep) – super! And you did a great job of moving yourself into position rather than moving him by the collar.
He also did well with the cookies! The cookie moments might be something that you only get 1 or 2 reps of in before going back to play, because he starts to think about the collar holds more. He does best with you reaching for him when it is embedded in a game and he doesn’t think about it at all LOL!!
He sometimes sees to lose his grip on the toy when it moves back and forth quickly – he is probably getting a whole mouthful of new teeth 🙂 You can see how he does in terms ofkeepign his grip on it if, after he grabs it, you move it back and forth less and let him pull back on it more. It is a fine line, figuring out how to play tug with puppies – he likes the chase element but also wants to grab/pull.
Pop send video: I agree, he was very pumped up! He did well here and really drove to the prop. SUPER! And he drove nicely even when he was more pumped up from tugging and the ready game (and from being outdoors). He seemed to be slightly stronger on your left side? Perhaps it is a side preference for turning to his right, or a learning history of being on your left more? But the difference was very subtle.
He did bark a bit but I think it was more of a “woohoo!” bark and not frustration.Since this went so well, you can re-visit the sideways and backwards sending outside when you have a moment. His understanding here already sets him up for the next step in the game, so re-visiting it does not need to be a high priority for now.
Great job!!
TracyTracy Sklenar
KeymasterHi!
> Not sure why the first direction was so hard for her. I felt like the angle and everything was about the same for both sides, but first side I had to open it more, second direction I was able to add challenge and close it up.>
I think the first side was a right turn coming out of the tunnel (right to left on the serp) – and that right turn was HARD to make when she was going really fast from the tunnel. She was not really expecting it, so a strong name call before she enters will help lock her onto the handling after the tunnel (it is not really enough of a turn to use a directional, but a loud BEAT and maybe her middle name too before she enters the tunnel will help direct her focus to the handling at the jump). Angling the jump helped but jumping the slice to her right was hard! The big help you gave her at 1:02 was great to get her to take the jump – and excellent reward placement there too, throwing the toy towards the next jump because you were using a serp cue. The last rep on that side looked great!!!
Plus, she might have been VERY excited to train and if the right turn on the tunnel exit was the very first thing… yep, she needed very strong tunnel exit cues because she was on fire and running fast fast fast 🙂
>. Left lead is her stronger side, and I figured having to switch from left TO right lead (second direction) would be harder since it’s going to the harder side, but I guess not for her?>
She said going from the left turn on the tunnel exit on the other side to the right turn to the last jump was indeed easier. YAY!! And your handling was really helpful to get that right lead shift. You got too much shift to the right at 1:50 with a big outside arm cue, but the other reps were clear serp handling and she did great!
Great job here! I am interested to know how she does exiting the tunnel at top speed to the right, with you having called her a lot before she went in!
Tracy
Tracy Sklenar
KeymasterPerfect! She is really fantastic and you are doing a wonderful job with her training!!
Tracy
Tracy Sklenar
KeymasterOops, I left out the best part! The league at Close Enough is NOT the AKC League. It is independent – so Max does not need to be neutered. My mixes run at league there, and the boys are intact 🙂 Plus, you can use toys and food in the ring, repeat stuff to train – it is a really lovely supportive place.
> I would take a discrimination class if you offered one (I know you are busy).>
That is a great idea! Maybe that can be the ‘winter camp’ this year!!!
T
Tracy Sklenar
KeymasterHi!
> I really wasn’t sure I wanted to do agility with Ellie but it has been fun seeing her develop and enjoy the training.>
She is really fun and you two make a lovely team!
>I have a question about MaxPup 4. It says that participants should have access to different training and trial environments. And I don’t really have that. Which is going to hurt us when we eventually start to trial (if we start to trial). Do you think we can still benefit from the next session?>
One thing we can do is to take *your* home training environment, and creatively make it ‘different’ so you can achieve the same goals. I also don’t have easy access to different training environments or trial environments, so I spend a lot of time making the home environment seem different and new 🙂
Plus, Ellie did so well at the match you went to, that I am not worried that she needs to go to a million different places – we can prepare her for success without needed to run around the planet finding new locations!
>If nothing else, I need something to keep me motivated to do stuff (IYKYK).>
TOTALLY relatable!!! Keeping things funs and entertaining 🙂 while moving you both towards maybe going to trials can be very motivating! Of course, competing at trials does not actually need to be something you do. But the training elements of preparing for it are really fun, and she is a sponge for all of the training!
Let me know what you think!
TracyTracy Sklenar
KeymasterHi!
>I can sit on an ottoman and see if that helps. She definitely doesn’t understand it’s put the paw on the thing. We can’t do any of the send work until this part gets understood.>
Sounds good! As soon as she has the lightbulb moment that is a foot behavior, things will move along really quickly.
Looking at the collar grabs:
Because she is so tiny, I think you can sit down to do any reps that involve reaching towards her for her collar. That seemed to surprise her and she was moving away a bit – it was probably just the hand coming in from up high.On the other hand, she seemed to really like lining up at your side!!! That allowed you to deliver the treat and touch her collar in a smooth motion without any big reach towards her – super nice!!!!
Lining up between your feet is something to add when she is bigger. Dogs seem to LOVE this game but then they spend a lot of time trying to get between our feet at first. She is such a tiny little dot that she might get stepped on LOL!! So I think she will like it a lot but it can wait 🙂
Great job!
TracyTracy Sklenar
KeymasterHi!
>So I started working on the blind cross outdoors because I thought it would be easier running; however, when I threw the treat, he glanced, did not see it, and just went after the toy–I did not have time to get ahead. >
Finding a treat in the grass is definitely a learned skill! For outdoor training, you can put a mat or towel down to toss the treat onto to make it easier to see. If he has seen and liked a treat’n’train, you can use that too! For my herding dogs and sighthounds, I actually had to take them outdoors and teach them how to find pieces of cheese in the grass LOL (Not surprisingly, the terriers and Papillons did not need this lesson :))
>. I considered throwing a second toy, but thought getting the basic idea first made sense–thoughts?>
Yes – getting the basic idea is the most important thing. And you can revisit outdoors with easier ways to find the treat, or throw a second toy if he will retrieve it as you run away (and not take it on a victory lap :))
Indoors is so much easier to see that start treat! Which made the whole thing easier.
>Next, I chose a longer toy, but it seemed to make it harder controlling his behavior around the toy and it made it harder for me to control the toy.>
He was a leapy dude for the toy on that first rep, but using the food to both get the toy back and loop right back to the start of the next rep was GREAT!
I have concerns for the safety of your flesh on your hands if you use a smaller toy 🙂 He is coming in fast for the toy, and I don’t want him to accidentally grip your hand while trying to get the toy. Ouch! He has no intention of biting you, it is just that he is a baby dog still learning where to put his mouth – so we don’t want your flesh to be too close to his chompers. The longer toy will make it easier for you both. You can fold it a bit in your hand as you throw the start cookie and as you begin to move away from him, then deliver it fully extended so he is sure to grab toy and not your hand. For young dogs with strong tug drive, I like to attach something big and crazy to the bottom of the toy to help direct their focus (and teeth) away from my hand. A hollee roller is a fun one, or a fur tug at the end of a toy.
You were late on the reps at 1:03 and 1:10, as you noted, so he stayed on the original side – he can totally have the toy on those reps, because he was correct. Pulling the toy away and being reset with a cookie can be confusing for him (becomes a relative punisher rather than a reset reward as it is intended to be) so you can give him the tug, then reset with the cookie. I remind myself all the time that the pup’s reward is not contingent on whether *I* was correct or not 😂🤣
Timing was great at 1:15 and after that – you started the blind almost as soon as he started moving towards you and that worked great 🙂
And it sounds like you did a scatter at the end to help him relax after a high energy session. Super!!!
Great job here!
Tracy
Tracy Sklenar
KeymasterGood morning!
I think this session went really well!
>I hope I am not giving too much thinking time, but it did seem like he was thinking and not frustrated–although he did need to zoom a bit after.>
You were good! We want him to be able to think through things like this, and I agree – he didn’t show frustration except maybe the one spot towards the end where he smacked the bowl LOL! That was when you were waiting for him to do a right turn on the cone (going from your left to turn), and he had more questions about offering the right turn. The left turn (going from your right to your left) seemed much easier for him!
And zooming after was a really nice outlet after that level of focus and concentration.
2 ideas for you:
He would lose his train of thought a bit after you moved the cone away each time and reloaded treats, so you can break the session off to play tug or let him chase a cookie – and while he is doing that, move the cone a bit then reset to be ready for his first offering. And part of that momentary stop in the action might have been that you moved it further away on what would then have to be a right turn for him (:30, 1:34 for example) – so adding distance on the harder side might have made it a little harder. So after breaking things off, you can bring him back and have him start on your right side, to go to your left, as a way of jumpstarting success on the new distance.The other thing to add is delaying the dish marker until he is almost all the way around the cone so there is movement as a big piece of that. He did great later in the video when you did that! Earlier in the session, he was trying to sort out if it was a ‘looking at the thing’ behavior because a lot of the markers came for looking – looking at the bowl, looking at the cone, etc. So now we can keep the markers and food delivery to moving and not just looking. He is very smart 🙂
For the next session, move to a different object – he is ready for something different and something taller 🙂 It can start a little closer to you because it is different, but you can start moving it away as soon as he recognizes it as something to wrap.
Nice work!!
TracyTracy Sklenar
KeymasterHello and welcome!! If you train at Level Up, I will probably get to meet you and Carly in person someday! I live down the road, near Fork Union.
> I printed them off and pasted them onto index cards for use during training sessions.>
That is absolutely brilliant!!!!! Love it!
> I placed a high value treat behind the target and got her to nose touch the target. I marked and rewarded. I did this on both sides for a couple of repetitions, and then faded the treat from the target. She is now touching her nose to the target.>
Also brilliant! Well done to you for breaking the behavior down into smaller pieces and building it up with reward. Yay!
My guess is that the tugging gets her excited (which is good) and then when you wanted her to stand still and do a precision behavior like nose touching something? Well, she didn’t see the point of that LOL!! That is why you got running and barking. But then you showed her the reason why it would be worthwhile to touch the target: Cookies! And because she is smart AND a Sheltie… she was happy to touch the target to get the cookie.
Excellent job to you both!!!!!
Tracy
Tracy Sklenar
KeymasterHi!
>. After watching the video I didn’t do as bad as I thought I had done.>
Interestingly, a lot of folks here and mentioned the same thing: they thought it was kind of a bad session until they looked at the video, then they saw it was good! I am thankful that everyone looks at their videos 🙂
My guess is that there are SO MANY mechanics for the humans here, and the pup really has to think about it, that it just feels weird for us humans. But it was a really good session indeed!
He was definitely thinking about the game here! Usually hands have cookies, so he was trying to ignore the hand and hit the prop. Good boy! You can show him that your hand is actually empty by sending with a more open hand. And using the toy here worked really well – you can also lessen the visual of the toy by sticking it into your arm pit between each rep, so it is not a visual distraction during the send. But he was sorting that out too – on the last rep, he went directly to the prop even with the toy moving in the other hand. And you had a huge party, which was GREAT!!! YAY!
Nice work! Let him sleep on that for a day or two, then try it again and see if he will let you add the sideways and backwards sending.
Have fun!
TracyTracy Sklenar
KeymasterHave fun at Purdue! It is a great school!
And yes it is weird traveling without dogs… I wouldn’t know what to do with myself LOL!!!
T
Tracy Sklenar
KeymasterHi! This game went really well – he focused forward really well and he showed really good impulse control as the game got harder! Super! And he did really well with the bowl and the toy. Nice!
>One time I tried using the dog side arm to send which is normally what we do but was kind of awkward…it wasn’t planned, it just happened that way!>
Using the dog-side arm works great here too, and that is generally what we use when they are in a stay at a jump – as long as it doesn’t feel too weird to hold him with the opposite arm (that might be why it felt awkward :))
He sometimes would nose bop your hand like a hand touch, so you can also indicate the forward focus with a closed hand and a finger pointing, so he knows it is not a hand touch cue.
For the next session, you can continue to move the bowl and toy around the cone until it is basically next to you and Brioche – asking him to focus forward past it to the cone, then go all the way around the cone to get it (rather than just dive on it because it is right there 😂)
One other thing to add in, since we are also looking at collar grabs and lineups – try to line him up here for this game rather than grab and pull him into position. You can see him leaning away and avoiding the hand moving to his collar a bit when he had the toy and thought you were going to grab him (even though you were feeding him) – so using the lineup then holding him without moving him will help him not want to move away.
Nice work!
TracyTracy Sklenar
KeymasterA-ha! Got it! I thought you meant the full page, but it was the PDF. Thank you! The PDFs should be correct now!
Thanks again!
Tracy -
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