Forum Replies Created
-
Posts
-
Good morning! I hope you are having a good trip!
>I just finished watching the video and wanted to clarify whether I should be doing the moving target with this game, or something less exciting – stationary toy or food target – to start?>
You can start with a stationary target at first for a couple of reps, to make sure he understands the concept of doing all the jumps and the distance between them. Then as soon as you think he has the concept – switch to the moving target 🙂 I think he will catch onto the concept very quickly, so you will be able to use the moving target very early in the training too.
Keep me posted on how it goes!
Tracy
Good morning!
>I am so glad there is only one game this week.>
Life totally gets in the way of puppy training! And we have a few weeks after the last set of games so there is time to play 🙂
Tunnel threadles went well! Yo were setting the line really well and your arm cue was very obvious. Try not to flick him away to the tunnel – let him find it himself. That way you won’t have to cue both the come in AND go back out of the threadle there – your cue will mean BOTH things and he will blast away to it
>I know I messed up some of the tunnel threadles and didn’t do them right>
The moments that felt weird were either a front cross instead of a threadle (like at 1:53 & 2:53 & 4:01)
Or you didn’t get your shoulders turned early enough to show the threadle line like at 2:14. Ideally, your shoulders are turned to the new line before he arrives at the wing, more like what you did at 2:20 and 4:40 – those were great!!!
Looking at the mission transition game –
>The wind in your hair transitions I am not sure I did it right. He wasn’t moving fast so for me to slow down felt weird.>
You were doing it right, in terms of decel for the wrap. You can also use your wrap verbals!
I see what you mean about him not moving fast at the beginning:
It is possible he didn’t want to blast fast into the wall? Or he was slowing down/not driving ahead to stick closer to the toy because he knew it was a wrap session (the first reps all being wraps tipped him off)? When you added a bunch of GO reps, he TOTALLY added the speed (and ran towards the wall, no problem LOL) then when you did the decel cues, it was easier to get the transition because he was running more.
So definitely start with lots of GO reps. Then throw in a decel – then back to GO GO GO 🙂 that way he won’t anticipate the wraps and dial back his speed. And since he is young, he doesn’t have a lot of endurance yet: do a rep or two or three, then make him take a break 🙂 He will be mad LOL but that will help maintain the speed throughout the reps – after a break, you can come back and do a few more.
Great job here!
Tracy
Good morning!
>But, I have high hopes of improving over the next few months. >
You’re doing great! You’ve gotten multiple puppy training sessions in and the puppy is making excellent progress. But more importantly, she is happy and engaged which is really the #1 goal 🙂
>I was out of town for the weekend and I didn’t have my plans mapped out and ready for me when I came home. So, mistakes were made. >
No worries! You were able to get training games played and she had a grand time 🙂 It would have been easy to skip it all entirely after being out of town, but you still made time to do fun stuff with her, and that is HUGE 🙂
>On the bright side, I now know I need to have my training plans ready to go on Monday when I’m home.>
That is why we start with concept games – the main learning at this stage is how to plan for the puppy’s sessions. Sometimes things go completely sideways but the info is still valuable and the puppy still has fun 🙂
> Oh, I also didn’t have Fresh Pet defrosted, so I was using hard treats, so I had to make sure she was done chewing before tugging so she didn’t choke to death. lol>
You mentioned this session as being “meh” but I disagree. She was totally chewing a lot LOL!! But she was still offering behavior! And also – she was eating her treats happily in the presence of a toy which is a big win. And hilarious to tug while lying on the prop. Going back and forth between food & toy is one of the biggest things right now and she did it really well, even with the less valuable treats. Love it!
For the offering on the prop: one thing I noticed about the first session was that she was able to target the prop AND watch you. Almost butt targeting it a few times LOL!! Pretty clever and the upcoming games will get her looking at you less.
On the 2nd session: she was totally into hitting the prop LOL! You were able to train the puppy and sit on the couch – life goals! I think part of what you were seeing was a bit of latent learning: she slept on it, the learning consolidated in her brain, so the next session was great.
Side note: I have found this “meh” feeling session followed by a fabulous session to be very typical of training whippety creatures. The more whippety they are, the more we see the latent learning. And that is great! Not easy on our human egos, but definitely great for the puppies.
>so much she left the tug to do it again.>
Yes – the ‘work’ of hitting the target is becoming super fun and valuable, so she wants to offer it as part of the game. You can lift the target during tugging to help her NOT offer it during tugging.
But also – you can move to the next steps with the sending game. There is an element to the sending game (the ready dance) where we are using some silly engagement to basically tell her to NOT hit the target until we cue it. She is ready for the next steps!
The driving ahead at the park looks great! She was great about focusing ahead and driving to the toy! One suggestion is to get her all set up (where the long line is, where you are, etc) then throw the toy. You were throwing the toy then doing some of the set up, so she gave you some judgey looks LOL!!! The last 2 reps had the smoothest transitions to the toy throw and release, so she was really perfect. And she is grabbing the toy and pretty much bringing it back, which is GREAT!
You can add more distance to the throw, and more running for you 🙂
This game also begins to tell us a turn side preference – it looks like she turned to her right on all of the visible reps here, even when she was on your right side which could elicit a left turn. The last few reps didn’t have the turn visible on the video, so keep an eye on her turn directions. If she consistently turns to her right – good to know for flyball and other training approaches! And we will also changes things a little to help build left turns t0 keep her balanced.
>I plan to get busy over the next couple of days and have a plan in place for while I’m on the road!>
Perfect!!! Does on the road include CanAM?!?!?! Would love to meet her and maybe steal her LOL
Great job here 🙂
Tracy
Good morning!
She did really well focusing on the toy and the bowl! Excellent first session!
> However, I feel like my hand was a distraction. She wanted to hand touch it again.
I think the hand looks very much like the hand target hand position does, especially when it was your left hand (she doesn’t seem to look at your right hand as much). So you can change the position of the hand cue for this slightly: instead of the totally open palm, you can play with curling your fingers in or closing the hand into a fist, and pointing with a finger.
But also yes – part of the goal is that they look away from something with value (hands) and begin to perceive it as a cue to look forward to the line.
> Are we supposed to grab the collar with the dog side hand and use the other hand to point to the line?>
Handler’s choice! Whatever feels better to you (or less weird LOL). Or, do it both ways because the real life application can sometimes have the dog-side hand, and sometimes the opposite hand.
She did perfectly with the dish & toy getting almost halfway around the cone here. For the next session, start about where you left off here and keep moving it around. The timing of the marker will also begin to change: when the toy is visible on the other side of the cone where she has to pass it to go to the cone, if you mark with the dish or get it as soon as you let go of her, she has permission to go directly to it rather than around the cone 🙂
So, delay the marker until she is committed to getting around the cone. That might look like her arriving at the cone, or turning her head to wrap it. Or if she is really showing great commitment, it can be before she gets to the cone.
Great job here!
Tracy
Good morning!
Super nice session here with the wrap shaping! He did really well with just the bowls, and also really well with the cone. You were able to add some good distance too! Only one suggestion – after every 4 or 5 treats approximately, break up the game with some toy play. That will keep him really driving back and forth with a lot of excitement. You can see here that after a lot of treats, he would sometimes stop & look around. Mixing in toy play when using food will help break it up so it doesn’t become too repetitive.
He is ready for the next steps here: Using this cone, you can move to sitting on something low, then if he still wraps brilliantly like he did here – you can move to standing up. It will be easier to use the bowls & treats for this than toys, but you can still break it up with toy play. When changing your position to sitting on something then standing, adding distance to the cone is not as important so it can stay close to you.
You can also add in the next step added yesterday, of swapping out the cone for different objects for him to wrap around. He is ready for that too.
Great job!
Tracy
Good morning!
These games are going well! One thing I notice is that when toys are the reinforcement for the whole time, his arousal comes up and that is where we see some errors. We can balance that and teach him to work & play in high arousal without losing track of the behavior you are shaping.
Think of the excitement as being something that comes up for a brief burst, then back down, then back up, rather than up the whole time. To do this, you can do a short session of a couple of reps with the toy as the reward. – then a couple of reps with food, or take a quick break. In those food reps or in a break, his body & brain will moderate the arousal to keep him in a really good zone 🙂
For example, with the cone shaping, you can do a couple of back and forth reps with the toy. Then as he got more excited, he was leaping back and forth to the toy and not wrapping the cone – so to add more distance with the cone, do a couple of food reps with the bowls, then back to the toy. Switching back and forth between food & toys will help maintain the accuracy even in the high arousal 🙂
And it is easier to get you sitting on something then standing, which are good next steps as you add taller things for him to go around.
For the sideways sending – he is still showing good value for the prop, which is great! A you rotate to be sideways, remember to use the leg next to the prop to step to it, along with the arm. The sends were always stronger when your leg was involved than when it was your arm only.
>Sure, I would love recall games – any dynamic or toy play is super fun.>
The first step is here with a super dynamic recall – someone holds him while you run around him once or twice, then run forward for the recall (you can do the blind crosses too :))
Great job! Have fun!
Tracy
Hi!
Charley’s forward focus on the toy was GREAT! He was primed to focus on it from the moment you took his collar to start the game. And he was really good about letting you hold him to start each rep – happy wagging tail and lovely drive to the toy.
>The only negative that I noticed while filming this video is that Charley seemed a little intimidated when I ran with him, toward the end of the clip>
I agree that it might be because you were reaching for the toy as he was arriving at it, in a small space. You can take this game to a larger space (long, carpeted hallway if you have one, or outside in a puppy-safe area :)) That way you can throw it further and further – and he can have fun driving way ahead of you as you run.
>I tried with a yoga mat last week on the foot target exercise, until he discovered that yoga mats can also be play things.>
Ha! That is hilarious. He is a big personality 🙂
>but Charlie still isn’t seeing thrown treats well. >
I found small astro-turf style mats on amazon. Or you can use a dark towel to toss a light-colored treat onto. Or maybe a big bowl to toss it into to see if that is easier.
He was super with his sends to the prop! He was especially fast about driving to the prop when you stepped towards it too, using your hand and leg together. When you are doing the ready dance engagement before the send, wait for him to look up at you before you send. The best example of that was at :25 on the video: he gave great engagement, your send was very clear, and his response was great!
I think he is ready for the advanced level where you do the sideways and backwards sends 🙂
The link to the wrap shaping sends me to an error, can you repost it?
Great job here!
Tracy
Hi!
The wing wrap foundations with the bowl went really well. She might be showing us a side preference here: did you notice that she always moved to her right (toward your left hand) very quickly with no questions. The moments when she would get a bit frozen or offer the down were all when she was supposed to move to her left (to your right hand). She might be a righty! Good to know 🙂
For the next session, start where you ended here with the quick cookie rhythm. Then after a couple of reps, if she is in the groove 🙂 you can slow it down and see if she starts to offer moving back and forth on her own. And if she does? Cool! You can very quickly move to putting an upright in for her to go around.
The tugging before the goat trick shaping! Then she had trouble offering behavior at the beginning for 2 reasons, I think –
The tug toy was too visible and she doesn’t know how to really ignore it yet.
The object you wanted her to offer behavior on was too small.You made a good adjustment by tucking the toy away a bit (but still holding it so it was still in play) and then making the objet really obvious by putting it down in front of her. I love that she wants to tug, so it was perfectly fine that the tug was very exciting here 🙂
For the next session, keep going with the tucking of the toy away like you did here! That worked well. And you can choose a bigger object for her to offer on – something big enough for her to get her whole body on 🙂 That will help her get right on it even with the toy present.
Great job!
Tracy
Hi!
Her engagement with the prop looked great here! There seemed to be no issues with you standing. Easy peasy – onwards to the sending games. I think she will like the action and the ‘yes’ rewards from your hand – she got all pumped up for those towards the end of the session here.
>She does play with toys sort of. Her food drive is waaaay higher.>
It is always great to have high food drive with any dog that is a whippety creature! You can try using a flirt pole or a super long tug so she can chase it while you are upright and moving. I highly recommend something with fur on it, that will stimulate her whippet-self to chase and play 🙂
Great job here!
Tracy
Hi!
> I can definitely see less impulse control when he’s tired. I don’t know if that’s harder for terriers since he’s my first, but I also think he’s just a dog and still learns the same way as any other dog, I just need to make sure I adjust to what he needs.>
The impulse control loss when the dog is mentally depleted is not just terriers 🙂 It is all dogs, all breeds, especially puppies and adolescents. There is a study out there about service dogs being more reactive when they are tired.
> We have a really busy next couple of weeks so we’ll see how he does. After this coming weekend I’m going to Colorado for the following weekend for showing so we are gonna be busy.>
As long as he gets plenty of sleep and sniffy walks and quiet time, you will be fine to continue his training 🙂
Tracy
Hi!
>I haven’t struggled this hard remembering a course before. I must have had to look at it a dozen times and I still got it wrong. Same with the handling; I’m sure I used the wrong arm more than once. I had a pretty wicked headache for a few days, so let’s hope that that’s it and not a new, fun symptom of perimenopause.>
Sorry to hear about the headache!!! It might just be a product of stress piling up: the EO prep then getting canceled, AAC Nationals, Canada Open, all the travel associated with those plus puppy travel, now back to school with all of the unknown that a new school year brings… your brain is probably tired and can’t quite hold onto remembering the courses. No worries, it is not normally an issue for you, so it will not become an issue 🙂
The opening on this course looked good! Based on how it is built, was a dog-on-left lead out possible so you didn’t have to do the blind 2-3? Or lead out dog on right and push to the slice on the other side – that might be the faster line.
>My threadle cue is the dog-side arm down and back. I agree that her slices on any side are extremely problematic commitment-wise. The threadle-wrap cue is the opposite arm.>
She did well with the more obvious threadle arm on 4 at :16 and :11 on the 2nd video with the dog-side arm high and back. Be sure to keep your feet straight like you did at :16 on video 1. When you rotated your feet pn the 2nd video, you cued the wrap.
Compare it to the threadle on jump 10 at :42 on video 1 & :54 on video 2. That seemed to have the opposite arm being used -so maybe it is a right arm preference?
>I am trying to plan rewards more consistently rather than trying to push through the course now. Does this seem reasonable at this point? >
Yes! This is a perfect time in the agility season to isolate and reward skills on course work, or do skill-specific exercises.
You had really good rewards for the independent backside after the frame – you can throw it more to the landing spot to help make taking the jump on a backside a default and separated from your motion. Same suggestion for the 12 backside: throw it more to the landing side and not anywhere near you 🙂
One thing to play with is slice versus wrap: Pushing to the slice at 7 will probably be faster than the wrap, but trying both and comparing with a timer will let you know – she is small and bendy enough that the wrap might be faster!
For the ending line, it is a beast to get across the ring! The trick is to get the backside at 16 without going past the tunnel exit of 15. On the first video, yo were a couple of feet past it so you got behind at the end. If you get behind, use the opposite arm to get her to the last jump. The dog-side arm turned your shoulders to the a-frame so that is why she picked up that line.
At 1:08 on video 2, you were right at the tunnel exit – which definitely got you further up the line. Yay!!! A good fall/winter project is to work on being able to get the backside with you only halfway up the tunnel, or just at the entrance of the tunnel. That will get you allll the way ahead for helping her take the 19 jump – but also placing the reward on the landing side of all. The backsides separately from you will help her automatically take it when you moving really fast and not having time to look at the landing spot (that worked brilliantly in other spots of the course here!)
Great job!
Tracy
Good morning!
Frankie thinks this is the BEST GAME EVER – there was a strong breeze coming from all that tail wagging!!
When you were getting stealthy and not letting her see you place the cookies – she was definitely starting to offer going back and forth!! Smart girlie! She was basically perfect with moving to her left when yo did that. Moving to her right (to your left side) seemed harder for her, that was when she was more likely to come up to your hands. Maybe she is a lefty? Good to know!
For the next session, start where you ended here and see what she remembers. If she gets into it pretty quickly: add in something for her to go around (tall skinny upright is best for now).
And she loved the engagement at the end 🙂 Yay!
Great job here!
Tracy
Good morning!
Nice job getting her into the rhythm here – you went from obvious cookies to stealthy cookies really well!Going to the toys was harder right after the treats, but she did it and that is HUGE! YAY!! She was playing more than she was offering to go back and forth with the toys, but that is fine with me – I am super thrilled with how well she went to the toys after all the cookies and without you having to run around.She was starting to offer going to the other toy (or at least looking at it :)) and you made a big happy fuss over it 🙂 Yay!
You can go to the next step of adding something for her to go around. I think she will be able to do it with both food and toys. The food will probably get her offering it more easily but she might start offering it with toys too after having slept on it 🙂
Great job here! And thanks for the good song in the background!
Tracy
Good morning!
>repeated the two bowl game and used chicken. Why did you want the treat softer?
Mainly so she chews less LOL Mission accomplished, basically 🙂 She was swallowing faster and not chewing the whole way around.
She had one miss after you spoke to her (when you missed the bowl) and she seemed to be clearly trying to figure out what you said LOL but no other misses, good balance in both directions!
Onwards to next steps: we don’t need more distance, so the next session can start with you in a sit like you were here, and if she remembers the game (I am sure she will) – you can move to standing up 🙂 The barrel should be close to you again when you change the variable of your position.
And, added today, are some next steps in terms of getting her to play this game with different objects. You can see it here:
She did well with the pillow as the NN object! And she definitely notices the novel object in the environment, giving it quite the look at the beginning LOL When doing the pattern game, you don’t need to throw the cookie towards the novel object because that might introduce it more than we need right now. You can also do mini recalls – toss a cookie then recall her to you, with the novel object present. And you can also do the blinds or decels, so she is seeing all sorts of games wth various NN objects in the environment.
Great job here!
Tracy
Good morning!
>Benny started showing aggressive/insecure behavior around new dogs, especially large dogs.>
I see what you mean about his concerns! We have some really fun games coming up that will help a lot – we want him to be happy and ignore big dogs. We get some foundation on that with today’s new games 🙂 And a game next week will be VERY useful for ignoring new dogs.
He did really well with his platform! When he is in a harder position with big dogs around, he seems less comfortable being stationary (lots of barking) but when he was moving, he was much more comfortable and relaxed about it.
Being able to move a bit will help him relax more (this is normal for adolescent dogs). So rather than ask for stationary behavior at this point around other dogs, you can use his little prop and let him hit it and come right back to you for food or a toy. And that way if he needs to move away a little bit from the other dog to feel more comfortable? Perfect!
The low socialization moment with the bigger dog seemed really nice when they were both low. He seemed pretty relaxed? It was hard to tell because the bigger dog was blocking my view but Benny wasn’t barking 🙂
One suggestion for those socialization moments: when you are going to end it, move Benny away first. Ask the adult dog to just stay there while you call Benny and reward him for moving away. When the other dog moved away first, Benny got concerned again with the sudden movement.
If you want, I can send some of the recall games we play in flyball to teach dogs to ignore each other 🙂 and they are incredibly useful for agility too!
Nice work here 🙂
Tracy
