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Hi!
Looking at both the indoor and outdoor stay sessions:
The mat really helps! Super! A couple of ideas to help build this even more:Releasing her forward to the toy or treat is a great reinforcement: she gets the toy or treat, and she gets to move (which is also reinforcement for her :))
You can add in throwing the toy or treat back to her (I use a ‘catch’ marker for this). Two reasons for this:
– it builds in value for you getting further and further away while she remains in her position
– it also allows her to move 🙂One thing you don’t want to do is go back and feed her by hand, for 2 reasons:
– it doesn’t let her move like the other options do
– she leaves the stay position as you go to deliver the food, which can be confusing to her as to whether she can move in the stay or not.So stick with releasing forward or throwing rewards back!
One other thing that will help transfer this to agility – walk in one direction to be more consistent and clear about what happens next. You were walking all sorts of different directions so she was not really sure where you were going – this can cause movement from the stay as well, because she is not sure of what is next. You can add variability by releasing or rewarding at different times and at different distances.
On the 3rd video, we can apply the same thoughts of rewarding by either releasing forward or throwing the reward back to her, at variable times.
I think you are asking for too much with the stay on the station and trying to go back to her, and getting failure –
You can see the movement when you go back to feed her at the beginning of the last video (:15) – and then there were a couple of reps where she stood up and some confusion about the reward when you went back to the mat.So definitely stay connected as you lead out – that will allow you to watch her to see what she is doing and also so the re-connection does not become the release.
That will also allow you to mix up when you reward by releasing or throwing the reward back – sometimes after a couple of steps, sometimes when you are past the jump, and any time in between 🙂
Trying to reward her in position on the mat got her jumping up on you and moving more, so you can skip that – we want the rewards to be about you moving away and nowhere near her 🙂 You can ask her to get on the mat and don’t give her a cookie just for getting on it… the cookies can come after you lead out 🙂
She is doing well with targeting the bag at the end! What are the rules about having it visible near the ring? Be sure you are running though, to support the drive ahead cue so the physical cue (decel) does not conflict with the ‘go’ cues.
Great job here!
Tracy
Hi!
>I’m actually moving her back to 8in in tomorrow’s class and I did some set point work with her at 8 and 10in yesterday. The intent is to be running more at 8in going forward so that the 4select at the trial is super easy.>
Perfect!
>She’s not the best at waiting for her turn at Fusion so I think I will have Dean bring her partway through the day on Saturday once I’ve gotten the trial going and can then focus on her more. It’s so convenient having Fusion be 8min from my house!>
This is good to know. And yay for Dean!!!
>I also just entered 2 runs sat & Sun for the late March OTR UKI. I’ve got plenty of time after Feb Fusion and even the early March USDAA to re-consider and adjust if necessary.>
Exactly – entering is fine, and adjusting or pulling out is also fine. Training in the winter is hard, so there is no rush.
>LOL – it is Lift. She could suddenly decide the food reward box is stupid! >
Yep, I feel like I am getting to know her HAHAHA!! It is possible that the food box interrupts her flow, and she is feeling good in the flow right now. But she likes food a LOT so definitely would start with the food box!
>The rabbit fur lotus is gaining a lot of value for her. She is doing better with me carrying it while running and she will sometimes tug with it in the ring too (before & after getting food out of it)>
It might be a good visual bridge from training into the trial environment – even if it is in your pocket, it is *there* so the leap from training to trialing is not as big. You might not even want to ask for her to tug with it at first? Or maybe she will like it? But definitely it can support the transition to trials as a bridge.
> I think I will experiment in class and see how she does for a short sequence with me carrying it and tugging her over to her remote reinforcement from a short distance (pseudo – NFC reward box) to get actual food.>
This is also a bridge, which is good! And if she doesn’t want to tug, it can be a marker bridge: when the toy appears, food is coming soooooo.
>Or were you thinking I should just carry it, do the mini sequence and then leash and out to reinforcement. (then I’ll be one of “those people” who carries the toy and doesn’t reward the dog with it!)>
Yes – but you would be doing it as a visual bridge that is pre-planned. Those people are juts either forgetting to reward a dog that likes to tug, or they are being stingy LOL!
>If the experiments go well, I might try an FEO or two at the early march USDAA trial. I’m already planning on entering Kaladin for that one.>
Great! I found that the USDAA trials I entered recently had courses that made more sense to the baby dogs (smaller yardage in a good way, clearer lines).
Keep me posted!
Tracy
Good morning!
> In this building, with this course set up, I think the person who sets it up, that our club rents from, seems to just jam as much equipment in the room as she can, with little thought to setting good lines or flow.>
It is definitely a good mental challenge to find decent flow! Will they let you move a jump or two out of he way if you put it back in the same spot? I take photos to remember where everything goes 🙂
> Even when I’ve walked it before running Biscuit, I’m like, “WT ever loving F?” >>
Ha! Yes, that is probably not the best thing to be thinking before running the dogs LOL!
>He often has the same issues with no place to go, and has multiple off courses.>
Right! And because he is more experienced, he chooses off course lines (which is perfectly fine of course :)) But Kishka is a baby dog, so not knowing where to be or getting to run might spill over into frustration, which manifests as distractibility.
>Clearly I need to really just pick the absolute right lines.>
Or very short fast fun sequences! That can work really well too.
> Where I will be going back to the little, “obedience for the agility dog”, class (it’s really not what it sounds like, but it gets us working with dogs and people in adjoining rings), >
Perfect! That is a great opportunity!
>we also got a three month membership to the place, a different building than the video. We get one free rental a month. So hopefully we can get there soon and we will set up one of your courses from the last week of Max pup 4.>
Also great! Keep me posted!
Tracy
Hi!
>I actually had a holiday today and the high temp was -8, so had to keep everyone entertained inside. >Yay for a holiday but a -8 high? EEEEK!!! I will stop complaining about the highs in the 20s we are having this week LOL!!
>Shockingly, my almost 10 month old Mal was driving me up the wall…>
He probably doesn’t think that -8 is an unacceptable as you do 🙂
The click timing on the threadle slices was great and he was nailing it on the FIRST side – that is not how the threadle slice sessions have been going (first side has been historically harder for him) so this is GREAT!! And you nailed the timing of the 2nd side, which was great as usual.
So the next step is to move the MM a little further away each time you revisit it. But, life is not all about threadles, so no need to make this a daily thing 🙂 Every few days or once a week is all he needs for now.
Looking at the threadle wraps (pun intended haha) – the first side went great and the only error was at :56, when you switched to the new side (he turned to the original side).
What I think was happening was that you had done too many of the same things in a row even with adding more motion, and not enough balance across these sessions (not just this one). So in his smart mind, he was like “we are practicing our left turn aways!” which is why he did such a lovely left turn when you changed sides. We want him to be thinking that the session is about watching your cues, which means you have to give him different cues to watch for 🙂 In other words – balance a lot more frequently with sending to the other side of the barrel (normal sends :)) as well as changing sides more frequently. To really challenge him mentally, don’t do more than 2 of the same things in a row. Mix it up!
That includes when you add the second barrel. You can mix in regular rocking horses (FC wraps) with the threadle wraps and tonight we add the spins and racetracks. That will be good mental and physical stimulation while you wait for warmer weather.
You broke things down to let him know it was a right turn away but I think balancing the sessions with different cues will be very helpful for him. Sure, he might have a failure here and there but that is fine (and usually informative) – you can reset with a cookie toss when there is a failure, and save big exciting play for after correct responses. You can use a marker to toss the treat, but then you will want to praise and play tug. –
When he was on your right side, you were building in a hand flick to get him to turn away, so by the end of the video when you had 2 barrels, he was waiting for that (these Malis are SO SMART and learn very fast!) I don’t think he needs the hand flick on that side, so be careful not to add it in because he totally watches it 🙂
Great job!
TracyGood morning!
You are correct, this was the easiest of the peasiest for Mr. Max! YAY!!! It is almost like he knew that the gateway back to the treats was to move away and do things with you. I love it!!! You can keep revisiting this here and there, as we add more skills and as he goes through adolescence. He is off to a fabulous start with this!
>My 3 year old terrier, was stumped by it.
That is really interesting! And do I remember correctly that your terrier struggles in the trial environment? It could be linked to not knowing how to earn the reinforcement that is outside the ring. Definitely play this game with the terrier too!
Great job 🙂
TracyHi!
The volume dial game went well here! Part of the volume dial game at this stage is information-gathering: What can she do? What does she look like when she is ready to work? Or overaroused? We got good info here 🙂
She did well with the visual of the bed! You added the hand touch and it was pretty perfect! She had trouble locking onto the hand to turn to the right – but could do it to the left. She couldn’t line up (because that involved looking away from the toy, perhaps?).
She could totally jump into your arms! Maybe that one was taught in higher arousal (or is naturally assosicated with arousal) so it was easy for her to do it when she was in higher arousal 🙂
So one thing you can do is mix in food: the food can help get her to do the spins (food is definitely a context cue for those, for now). And you can tuck the toy into your armpit and cue the line up with food (also potentially a context cue). It is good to sort that out so we can fade the food. And also, using food can be part of finding the ‘just right’ arousal balance as she grows up!
> The one thing I changed was while I was setting up for this one (camera, cookies, crating the other dogs, etc) I gave her the toy to run around with and the last one she was bouncing around like a lunatic with anticipation, she might have even been wrestling with her terrier brothers. So while not realistic (can’t let her run around with a toy for 5 minutes before every agility run) being completely unemployed while anticipating work puts her way over the top.>
Yes, she might have been overaroused and maybe a bit depleted the last time from the pre-game stuff 🙂 And running around with the toy was balancing for her, letting off some steam perhaps. But because there is an arousal regulation element of this (teaching her body to do it), you can play this game with a variety of things happening before it. She can run around with the toy, or she can bounce around while you set up, or she can be crated and chill… or crated while you work with her terrier brothers 🙂 Bringing her into the game in all different arousal states will go a long way to figuring out how to help her optimize the arousal state: toy? Food? Combo? Which tricks? This is all fun to sort out while she is still young, and build the toolbox.
I am really excited about how well she is doing with the threadle wrap game! She reminds me of Contraband a lot, in how she moves through turns. He grew up to be a fabulous turner, so I am guessing she will also be able to go full out then turn super tight. Exciting times ahead!!!!!
> Again, better turning left than right.>
Yes, but the right turns are not that far off the left turns. For the right turns, moving the cues more slowly will help her process those.
One cool thing I noticed was she was leading with her head through the turns, especially the left turns. That is what we are looking for! And perhaps it is latent learning from the session you did with the pole in town? It was great seeing her do it and then having her body really follow that through the turn.
Only one suggestion: if you use a “yes” marker (cookie in hand available now) then you will want to delay it until she is almost finished with the wrap. When you used it to mark the head turn while you were moving forward, she did not finish the wrap (:42) and I don’t think she was wrong to come into reinforcement. So you can also use the get it marker and toss the treat – you did that in this session too and it was very effective!
One other positive to note: She was very happy with the collar holding here! So you can add collar holding to the volume dial game to build up the love for it even when she is in higher arousal.
If you have a hallway to work in, you can try the advanced version of the threadle wrap game with 2 barrels or if it is narrow, 2 wingless uprights. Winter is annoying because it gets in the way of the fun!
Great job here 🙂
Tracy
Hi!
> started a new thread because the original is getting squirrely on my IPad. I’m a tech hodge podge, windows, safari and android are all in use.>
I am also a hodge podge and the squirrely stuff only happens on the ipad and Mac. I guess they don’t like talking to wordpress & google.
>It which translated into it’s your body language that’s going to tell the dow where to go. >
True, and also lots of loud verbals for me since I can’t outrun the dogs and my position on course/body language can be unreliable for them 🙂
>It was set up for teaching into two small 5 or 6 obstacle sequences rather that the big a– international style course that most presenters lean towards. Left with some homework I can set up and train at home.>
That is good!! Lots of opportunities to teach and work on skills rather than course work.
> Turns on the floor were a bit long – 7 to 8 minute average.>
That can be a lot of human AND dog, but the smaller sequences might have made it feel like less of a long time out.
> tuck myself into a corner for some pattern games and chill work while the dog ahead of us was working that went well. >
Awesome!!! That is great!!
Thanks for the video the run! Coal is just like my Whippet, Ramen – when something is not comfortable, he will look at me then at the thing, then back at me. This is exactly what Coal did on the start line here:
The leash runner was a close talker, meaning she was very close to him! 5 feet away, maybe? Facing him, watching, arms folded. The gate steward was also pretty loud and seemed close by.Coal said “that was a LOT of pressure!” so he stood up and shook it off. When you asked him to sit again, he looked at the leash runner then at you then at the gate steward, then back and you and he sat. That is pretty clear communication of “DUDE THESE PEOPLE ARE A LITTLE TOO CLOSE!”
I mean, he is not wrong about that 🙂 but also that is pretty common. I have looked up from taking the leash off the dog to find the leash runner was so close I could hand her the leash without even extended my arm. So, to prepare him more, can you enlist classmates to come stand behind him like this leash runner, at the start? Or be gate stewards yelling things behind him? He ended up working through it really well, but you can show this to him more so he is more prepared.
He held his stay, released well, and the run was lovely! He was very responsive to the handling and as you mentioned, the contacts looked great. Yes, he had a weave bobble, and it might indeed have been because the judge was walking in towards him. You can ask your instructor to walk in when he is weaving in class! I am not sure I would have fixed it, because it popped the concentration bubble and he left to check out the leash runner. So you can keep going to maintain the flow there, and that will pay off big in future runs when he is able to nail the weaves because he is more relaxed.
Great job here!!! With the trial coming up next weekend, you can pick and choose which runs you want to do for real, and which you might want to use for training. 6 runs is plenty of ring time and we don’t want to tire out his brain 🙂
Tracy
Hi!
> Though that won’t happen soon, as we got about 4” of snow last night, with extra cold temps coming.>
Darn winter!! Can we hit the fast forward button to get some warm weather and greem grass?!?!
Thank you for posting the video, this is really helpful! In the first part of the video, I think she was really trying hard but with everything so close – neither of you could move a lot. There was a lot of stopping because you had no place to go on the line, and that caused her to be trotting/walking, which didn’t tap into her whippety joy at driving lines. So she was a little distracted, because the sequence was not stimulating or easy to read.
Compare to the line after 1:10 – that was a clear, fun line and she got to run! That was the best section, even with the turn on the tunnel exit and next jump are hard, she got it nicely and probably didn’t need as much help to get it (the extra help put you behind on the a-frame).The frame was good, but you can let her finish eating before continuing – I think she was still chewing LOL!
But mainly – can you set up smoother lines for her so she can move a bit more. That would be fewer turns and obstacles further apart. I think that will make a HUGE difference in her focus! She gets to run at home on sequences, and that is so much fun so distractions are less of a question. If she is not able to do that in class, then the arousal level is not as good and she might even be a little frustrated, so she shows interest in more distractions. It might take some creativity if obstacles are set up tight for all the classes, but maybe you and Paul can make up your own courses?
I make up my own courses all the time in training and at trials – and if anyone questions it, I just smile and say “Whippets!” LOL!! And since most people don’t know anything about Whippets, they don’t argue with me LOL!!!
Let me know what you think! She is doing really well and she is ready for more 🙂
Tracy
Hi! All of her sessions on the video went great!
All of the reinforcement stuff was really strong – she did great with the remote reinforcement at the beginning, and was also fine with her lotus fur tug on the wall too! Do you think the lotus fur tug is something that has enough value as a reinforcement that you can run with it in your hand at a trial (no treats in it), just as kind of a context cue that yes, there will be treats coming. And then she can run to the actual treats at the end.
You can also mix in the remote reinforcement marker at the other end of the ring, not where you entered, to make it more realistic (simulating entry and exit gates at a trial). You can let her see you set up the reward station near the exit gate. And when you have people helping, they can make a big show of grabbing her leash while you are setting her up at the start line, then carrying it to the exit 🙂
The leashing up went great, she was really shoving her head into it LOL!
>She was a bit sassy on the line-ups .
Yes! But it looks like you were like “I don’t care *where* you line up, but please do line up k thanks” LOL! It was a quick negotiation and a good compromise 🙂 The line up moment can be an indication of her arousal state: fast snappy line up? Probably in a good state for the run. Having a harder time lining up? Might be her way of saying she needs a moment (trick or pattern game can help) before lining up.
The sequencing is looking really really strong! Yay! You can start raising bars in practice (easy lines first, then adding harder turns and lines – you can take as long as needed, no rush). Higher bars in easy environments will make the lower bar (for now) seem even easier in a trial environment!
>she was speedy and focused with no leaping lizard moments.>
Yes, the more I see her, the more I am convinced that the LL moments were mainly linked to frustration when trying to process things. So we can take that feedback if we see any LL moments and help her out. The main triggers for it lately had been any softening of connection on a tunnel send or jumping away from the course, or when she had to do something going past a random human right there.
You are also doing a great job of continuing no matter what happens, so she is getting a lot of support from you!
She had 2 questions about the handling:
At :31 – after the BC, you were a little far from the jump and a bit soft on the connection so she stayed on her line (took her past the jump). She would need to shift to her left there, so a more direct intense connection (like a mini ‘get out’ cue) will help with that. Those slicing lead changes are hard for young dogs so they need really emphatic cues.
At 3:37, BC was late (you started as she was jumping the BC jump) so she picked up the off course line. You can still get it with clearer exit line connection (that was not as visible as it was on other crosses that you did here). The FC worked there at 4:27 – the timing was a stride earlier but mainly the connection was better on the exit of it so she knew where to be.
The FC might be the better option there anyway, because the BC might turn your feet to the off course line before the correct line. And the FC will turn your feet to the correct line right away.
> I’ve got her entered in SS & Jpg (4s) on Sunday for the mid Feb Fusion UKI with Casey Keller. It’s small to tall that day so she’ll be first. (I could also switch her to 1 class/day and do SS at the end of the day on Sat and the beginning of the day on Sun.>
I would personally be tempted to enter all 3 runs BUT remind myself to do small bursts and potentially NOT run all 3. That way you have more time available in the ring to pick and choose what you want to do. Short fun blasts are very valuable.
> After the seminar on Friday, I’d leave her at home to rest for most of the day on Saturday and have Dean drop her off mid-afternoon)>
She is also pretty familiar with hanging out there, so maybe Dean can bring her late morning so she can be there a bit longer, more like what her current normal is when you bring her to hang out for the day? Of course you can change it based on how the Friday seminar goes.
>> Going to pick a day at the Mar 21-22 OTR UKI (Harry Pawter trial). I can do Jpg & SS at the end of the day on Saturday (small to tall so she would likely be first) or there is double SS first thing in the morning on Sunday (tall to small so she’d be last. I could also pick the 2nd SS & then Jpg so that there are 3 classes in the morning for her to settle in during).>
When do you need to decide? In the “It’s Only Money” department LOL I would probably enter a couple of extra classes and either do very short bursts or not run her if it was too much. You can decide it after the Feb trials.
Also, you might not need a food reward box, she might think it is stupid, but that is something she will tell you at her first trials.
> May 3-4 at Fusion (Stefanie Theis judging & I am secretary. Stefanie is also doing half-day seminars on May 2). Other options that have NFC/FEO but no reward box so not sure about these: OTR USDAA Mar 1-2, ASCA at Fusion Mar 8-9.>
USDAA and ASCA will probably have slightly shorter distances and easier lines that UKI for her, so it is something to consider even though the NFC options are more limited. No need to decide now, I am pretty sure both organizations will let you enter pretty last minute 🙂
Great job here!
TracyHi!
It is great that there will be a fun run before the Cup!! That makes is easier for young dogs for sure!
> thanks for the reminder to practice leaving the toy with my leash in class this week and next. I have done it but not for a while, always stick it behind my treat pouch.>
Perfect! You can show him the whole routine of taking the treat pouch off, leaving the toy with the leash, etc – I am confident that he will do well with it, but I don’t want him to be surprised by it at a trial 🙂
Keep me posted!
Tracy
Happy birthday Fen!!!! I hope he got good gifts and snacks 🙂
The video might be edited in reverse order – the first steps were towards the end and they went well!
He also did well when you added the 2 in a row! You were using a wrap verbal, which is great! One thing to consider is two different wrap verbals, so he knows if you want him to wrap to his left or to his right. He looks like he is going to be fast and powerful – add all of the distance that we see on courses nowadays, and I think you will be happy to have the verbals that differentiate right from left so you don’t have to be physically in the picture for him.>I think the hardest one for me to fix will be too much movement.>
Do you mean too much of your movement? I think you did well! No worries about too much movement, you will get to move a lot more very soon 🙂 The main thing will be connection so as long as you are really connected, you can move as much as you like and I think he will do great!
>I noticed he is hitting the barrels so will look at your prior advice in Turn and Burn on that. >
Yes, he was hitting the barrels a little bit – it was hard to tell if it was because they were too close together so he didn’t quite have a chance to organize for the turn? Or if he was slipping a bit on the mats (they are hard for him to grip for tight turns). You can experiment with it and see if moving the barrels further apart are easier for him to organize for the turn because he has more room to do so. And you can add in the earlier rotations of the advanced level.
The added distance might not work, because he also will have more speed! But it is worth a try. We are going to move this off barrels soon because sometimes the dogs just move the barrels because they are so easy to move 🙂The other reason he might have been hitting the barrels was the toy – when you had the toy scrunched up in your hand and didn’t move it (like at the beginning of the video), he was great! The opposite was when you were switching hands at :34, he thought maybe you were delivering the toy so he really smooshed the barrel LOL!
So keep the toy in one hand o he doesn’t watch it as much, and I definitely recommend a toy-in-hand marker for when you are rewarding him (I use ‘bite’ for that). By making it clearer when the toy is available, I bet he will look at the barrels more and at the toy less, touching the barrels less as a result.
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyGreat question! He might be generalizing the movement (which concerns him a bit) to all long narrow boards, so he investigates each one to be sure it doesn’t move before interacting with it confidently. So you can work the plank skills separately from each other:
– the long narrow planks, for now, can be stable so he can confidently leap all over them and turn around, etc.
– the wobble board can be the thing that moves (it is probably round or square?) but you can dial back the movement by sticking a ton of towels or other stuff under it so it moves only a little tiny bit. Then you can do very short/high value sessions: touching it once and getting a fistful of chicken, for example, or releasing him to chase his absolute favorite toy. Then session over. Releasing the pups off the wobble board as part of the reward totally helps too and allows them to interact at their own pace.
Less is more is the way to go – I call it human self-control LOL!!! You can come back to it later, but the single event jackpot can really be motivating to get onto it. As you shape the behavior, you can get more reps and then fade out the stuff that supports the wobble board to add more movement.
The plank training and the wobble board training then converge into teeter games!
Let me know if that makes sense!
Tracy
Hi! This went really well!!
>She needs my arm still. She was guessing on verbal only.>
Do you mean the ‘swoosh’ movement to cue her to turn away? I think she didn’t need it all that much – only when there was a bit of extra motion or when you switch to the harder side of entry.
But yes, ideally you keep the outside arm cue as you say your threadle wrap cue (in in) and move up the line – and you don’t use the arm to turn her away.
To get to the level, start by moving slowly and decelerating a bit by the threadle wrap barrel. Keep your hand visible and you can even ‘pulse’ it up and down, but don’t swoosh it to turn her away 🙂 Keep that position/slow motion/arm cue until she turns her head away and takes that first step to the barrel – then move forward again but reward like you were doing here 🙂
I think she will figure it out really fast!!!!
The other thing to keep in mind is that the threadle wrap cue does have an element of decel built into it, even when you are running on a big course. So you can dd it here: move fast between the barrels until it is time for the threadle wrap, then decel near theTW barrel until she turns her head away (then move forward fast again as she turns her head away and takes the first step to the wrap).
Her only questions here in the videos were when there was no decel and you were trying to move forward the whole time – she looked at you to see if she needed to follow the motion or take the barrel. So the element of decel supports the verbal and arm cues, making it much easier to get commitment without arm swoosh 🙂 And the decel remains as part of the cue, to varying degrees depending on the context.
Great job here!Tracy
Hi!
I saw your temps and got cold just reading them! Yikes!!!!
The threadle wraps versus regular wraps looked great! You can add more movement on the threadle wrap and you can also look at the advanced levels which add a 2nd barrel.
One thing to consider:
Can you make the dig dig, check check, and look look sound more different? The rhythm and pitches are nearly identical, which might negate the sounds of the verbals when more is added (like motion for you both!). Right now they all have basically the same rhythm (doot-doot) and same pitch changes (low-high). So to really make them more effective, you can leave “look look” in that pitch/rhythm framework, but change the others. Dig can be digdigdigdigdig (rapid repeating and low pitch) and check can be something like che-che-che – done as 3 sounds, emphasis on the ch, similar pitch. Let me know if that makes sense!Threadle slice looks great! Next step before we add motion:
Delay the click ever so slightly until he looks at the bar, especially on the first side (the second side is always better and it was pretty perfect on this video) . And if he goes around the jump, don’t click, just reset and try again. If it all goes sideways (which I doubt will happen!) just stop the session and post the video 🙂Stay warm! Great job!
Tracy
Hi!
>With the volume dial game, her best one was cuing her to the nearby dog bed so you’re totally right about having a big visual target.>.
Dogs in general do like visual targets! Sighthounds in particular like them too 🙂
> Hand target was one of the first I tried but I got VERY half hearted attempts, like a step towards the hand before stopping to stare at the toy while still 2’ away from the hand>
In the volume dial game, you can reward the attempts that are not great – that can help shape your way through the arousal by rewarding bits of the behavior (because that might be the best she can do in a higher arousal state at th moment).
>(maybe from some of the strike a pose work where she’s been cued to the reward for not quite touching the target in the hand?) >
Probably not related, probably more about the arousal 🙂 But that is fine!
>She could do “sit” because I think it resembled the start line stay exercise,>
Yay! You can do fast sits with quick releases!
>I could try her jumping up behavior, but did not that day. It’s a little hard to do with a toy in my hand, but I’d want her to learn to do so at some point>
That one is a good one but does require a lot of mechanics or maybe 3 hands LOL!! And you will want to make sure she can process arousal pretty well before you add it so she doesn’t fling herself at you (can be ouchie for you both!)
>(as it’s a good disc dog behavior and I’d love to get into disc dog with her, the Rat boys think disc dogging is dumb). >
Disc dog stuff is SO FUN. Highly recommend!!
>>I have a cued “feet” behavior for putting her front feet on my leg, also one I’d love for her to be able to do as part of a ringside routine, but pretty sure right now she will think I’m nuts to ask her to do that with a toy in my hand.>>
That is possible! And also, it is possible that she is reading context cues – so eventually you can come back to the toy for this so she is not thinking of certain behaviors as cookie-only behaviors.
> Should I try a few reps of all of those with food to prime the pathway a bit, then switch to a toy for 1-2 reps, then back to food before she goes “lights on no one home”?>
You can certainly use really high value food to bridge to higher arousal – mind-blowing stuff can make simple behaviors hard too! And you can also move the food like a toy – have her chase your cookie hand, or toss the cookies back and forth… the cue the trick 🙂 That can land in a nice place between regular cookie state and high arousal toy state!!
Let me know what you think!
Tracy
