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Good morning!
>But, even after being in the crate all night she doesn’t leap out. I’ve used my chase the treat marker and she’ll just stare at me. It’s unusual.>
That is a little unusual but she is really young – she might still be in the ‘waking up’ process and that causes the delay.
>I do want and offered sit for the sit stay, correct? I don’t ask for it?
>At this stage, offering is preferred because it helps them cognitively override the leap-grab impulse for the toy 🙂 If she has trouble choosing a sit but is able to offer a stand, we can help her with a cue.
>We started with play and then the first attempt she came over and started chewing the pool noodle.>
Ha! The joys of puppies… everything goes in the mouth for chewing LOL!!!
She did well on the video! The serp element went great – I think the hardest part was finding the start cookie! That might be why she had a harder time at the beginning – cookie finding, not a side preference. She would look for it then I think she was continuing to look for more which was delaying her return for the serp. When she was able to find it immediately, she would return to the serp pretty immediately too. Yay!
We can get creative with ways to help her find the start cookie: a food bowl to toss it into (use a big one so you can get the treat into it :)) and then the food bowl can move to the different positions. Or a mat or even a Treat n Train if you have started showing that to her.
Great job here!
TracyHi!
>Ironically, I took an in-person course covering Movement Puzzles and we started with moving back and forth between two bowls before progressing to cones and beyond. Why I never made the connection is a mystery, especially since I watched the two bowl game video the first week of this course!>
yes – those movement puzzles are built off of the same concept as the 2 bowl game. The 2 bowl game has been around for a while and the movement puzzles are a really clever way to expand on them!
>BTW..Tribute is backing up on a mat designed to train a running A-frame. It is not mine but I was planning on buying one. Before I do, is there any major advantage/disadvantage to teaching a running A-frame with a mat verses the PVC box? I ask because the mat is a lot more portable.>
I think you can train the a-frame with the mat or the box. I prefer the mat because it helps them dogs know where to put their feet very specifically but the box can be very effective too!
T
Good morning!
> I’m having trouble posting. If I just go to forums and scroll down my page it gives me an error message. When I try looking at others posts on their pages it gives me an error messag e. I’ve tried logging out and back in but no change. Only way I could post this one is going to your previous comment and posting>
That might have had something to do with the huge internet outage yesterday due to an issue at AWS, if your server uses that (ours does not). I am taking a course that uses that platform for its internet (Canvas) and it was out all day yesterday. I checked the Agility U sites and checked using your profile – all good here, so it might be the outage. If it is still being problematic today, trying clearing your cache. You can also send screenshots to our support at support@agility-u.com and they might have ideas.
The rocking horses are off to a great start!!! Yay! Your mechanics are very clear and precise, which totally helped her. There was only one spot where you were a little too early to send (she was still eating the cookie haha) but everything else looked good! She got faster and faster. So you can use a toy for this now (have it in a pocket then whip it out as a reward after one or two wraps). You can also add a little more distance between the barrels and take them outside to see how it goes!
Great job 🙂
Tracy
Good morning!
>HA! I was trying to use more distance in order to get enough space for a blind but yea, it backfired.>
She thought it was *very exciting* 🙂 Since she thinks it is very exciting, you can be almost boring and calm during the actual reps: very precise mechanics and connection. Then you can be your normal super fun self during the tugging 🙂 That will lock her onto the barrels and then we can add more and more running 🙂
T
Good morning!
She did really well finding the tunnel here from the harder angle! Super! You can keep moving further back so she finds it from further away. You can also move to the easier angle but put her on the inside (between you and the tunnel) so she learns how to turn away into the tunnel.
With the toy as the target, you can add a bit of impulse control too: rather than bring her back to the start position by holding her collar, you can put the toy on the ground and reward her with treats for going back to the start spot without holding her 🙂
Stays – it took her a moment at the beginning of each to realize you were waiting for her to offer the sit but when she did, she held it brilliantly! You can also cue her to sit if that helps her.
As you move away – you are very exciting 🙂 Moving away slowing with a slight crouch and muscle tension while holding the toy up here might be creating a lot of excitement from her. If she has trouble holding her stays when you do that, you can add in moving away more naturally/more relaxed 🙂 with your arms down. Maintain the connection you had here, though, that was great!!Nice job!
TracyHi!
>just sharing this for completeness, I spend toooo long AGAIN! (Despite knowing at every level its the wrong thing to do, I keep chasing “one more rep”. I even set my timer!) >
This is a good assessment, especially if he had done other things previously. Where did this session fall in the order of stuff you posted? 1st, 2nd, or last? Knowing about his mental stamina can help you plan for next time
I am not sure that this one session by itself was too long… but if there were other things happening before he did this game, then yes it could have all ended up being too long/too much training.
One thing you can do is bring out exactly 5 cookies (instead a the whole bait bag) and reward each toy release with the cookie. When the cookies are gone – session over. And don’t ignore the timer LOL!!
>>I sped up the me playing bits. >
Speeding up the playing makes the session seem shorter, but as you mentioned: the play element is tiring for the pups so the more tugging you do, the shorter the session should be.
I think the left turns were a bit better than the right turns here, maybe he is a lefty today 🙂 He was able to do the wraps so now you can revisit it and see if latent learning has taken over! Then you can start to move the line on the ground, so you can do the FC earlier and earlier. And be sure he gets to the line before you praise and run – when you were too early, he came back to you. But when you waited til he reached the line, he was great!
Nice work!
Tracy
Hi!
He is doing well with his stay!! Be sure you say your marker before you move the treats – on the 2nd ‘catch’, it looks like he was moving when your cookie hand moved so tell yourself to be completely stationary for the marker, then after a second or two, throw the reward 🙂
The strike a pose moments are looking good too, he was great about driving into your hand and then turning to get the reward. Yay! You can move this forward to getting the reward onto the ground (toy or cookie bowl). Then it will be very easy to transfer to a jump!
The death roll is adorable!
Great job 🙂
Tracy
Hi!
>You know on an intellectual level that sometimes dog just “get it” once they’ve had a break from something and come back to it, but it’s always amazing when it happens. >
Yes! It is so cool! I understand the science behind latent learning but it is still really crazy when it happens 🙂
He was great here, got right on with no concerns. Turning around, hopping off then back on – all good! Super!
Since this went so well, we can add a little: you can put blocks or anything stable under it to elevate it a tiny bit! And you can also have him turn around in one spot, as well as change positions (sit, down, stand) – a cookie lure is perfectly fine for all of this 🙂
Great job!
TracyGood morning!
>We didn’t feel as in sync and connected as our last session. I think that partly may be due to doing this at 5 this evening. I felt pretty “sloppy” with my cues, not as sharp as in the am, and I think she is thinking about her dinner (feed them between 5 and 6).>
It is entirely possible that time of day played a role: dogs have a circadian rhythm like we do, and both of you might have felt differently training at that time of day! I personally am much better at 8am than 5pm 🙂 But it is good to work at different times of day!
I think what was happening was that the serp arm was getting ‘lost’ in the visual because it was tucked in against your side rather than fully extended out away from you. And that was causing your shoulders be facing the reward more and the jump less.
To help make the hand cue more visible, you can turn your shoulders to face her more, with the center of your chest facing the center of the bar. Then extend your serp arm away (elbow locked and a 90 degree angle of shoulder to arm in your armpit area :))
When she is on the way back to you, this picture will help her drive to the jump! You were shaking the target hand which was great – you can keep shaking it and add in looking at it too. Then when she comes over the jump, drop the treat into the bowl with the other hand without turning your shoulders (I know, it is like a fancy dance move LOL!!)She might still go directly to the bowl on some of the trees because it has value, but if that happens you can just toss a reset cookie and start the next rep.
Nice work here! Let me know how if goes with a more ‘open’ upper body!
Tracy
Good morning!
>Haha, not left handed, but I was trying to focus more on rewarding from left hand recently as I had been tending to feed too much from right hand. Perhaps tipped the balance too far.>
That is funny! He is very good at locking on to the location of the predicted reinforcement. We can try to stay a step ahead and vary the reward hands more.
Looking at the parallel path video: Overall this went well! He did have more questions about whether to follow you or find the jump – these could have been because you were a little ahead, or because there was more ‘clutter’ in the environment: different place, all the obstacles, wind noise, the visibility of the toy, you had a hood and hat on which might have blocked connection (he was looking up at you) etc. You can point back to him a little more to open up your dog-side shoulder to show more connection when you have other things that might be obscuring your face.
No worries at all, though! He was able to get lots of rewards and the exposure to doing this in a different environment as great! I believe the next time he sees it, he will have no questions 🙂
Great job!
TracyGood morning!
>On the rocking horse do you start with the easier side or harder side when you do two in a row?>
I start on the harder side, because the mechanics are likely to be clearer. The 2nd barrel can be to the easier side where motion might ‘muddy’ the mechanics.
>She just not too interested in tugging these days. I keep trying. >
She is teething, so it is better to reduce the pressure on it and give her some time. She can play with toys in many different ways, but it doesn’t have to be tugging. Tossing toys and running around work just fine 🙂
>Plus, retrieve is slow. I can only get it in the kitchen. >
Give this one time too! It is coming along. Plus, if she is teething and not into tugging and the reward for retrieving is tugging… then you won’t get an increase in retrieving. You can trade for treats or toss another toy, and also give it time to develop.
She is doing well with the stay behavior! She was doing a great job of holding position when you were moving away!!!! When she is more stimulated with the toy, there is a delay with the offered sit. So you can use food too, which might elicit the sit more quickly. And mix in lots of instant rewards for offering the sit, with your ‘pitch’ marker or even the release and running away to start a party.
>Dot does NOT understand a release.>
>I wasn’t sure with “ok” as I knew she wouldn’t leave. So, I said ok and then get it. What’s the correct order?>Yes, you can say ok then get it (new cue then old cue) or you can say ok then offer the reward thrown out ahead. Also, you can say ‘ok’ then take off and run with the toy or food. That will help build the release word but be super careful to separate the verbal release from any running or offering of the reward – be completely stationary when you release and then after a second, takeoff or throw the reward. She will figure out the release soon enough and then we will have to use a lot of reinforcement to help her hold position LOL 😂😝
>She’s the only puppy I’ve owned who won’t leap out of the crate. I’ve had to drag her out, try to lure her out, stand and wait several minutes for her to decide to leave. Sometimes she’ll chase the treat and others she just stares at it. It’s very unusual.>
Interesting! Is this happening when you play crate games, or in regular life? Does she stay in the crate when she has to potty, like first thing next the morning?
Nice work!
Tracy
Holy WOW for both dogs!!!
MACH6… that didn’t take long at all! Yay Benni!!!!!! Congrats!!!!
7 points for a puppy at a Specialty? WOW!!! Good job Brioche! He is definitely a special dog and I am glad the judges see it too 🙂
Thanks for the update! You must be on cloud 9! Keep me posted!
T
Hi!
Backing up is going really well! Having your hands centered definitely helped! The next step is to keep both hands like that, but just below your knee level (with apologies to your back for having to bend over :)) That way he will keep a lower head position for more backing up, and you can also toss the treat between his front feet to get even more backing up!
>my cookie tosses were not consistent so there were times when Tribute needed to dive under the chair to get the treat>
He seemed perfectly happy with that LOL!!
The cone shaping is off to a good start! Luring is fine to get it going but for the next session, let him ‘work’ the bowls by going back and forth between them before adding the cone. That way he can offer the wrapping which will lead to you being able to use a bigger thing to wrap (barrel or tall cone), then you can be standing up!
Great job!
Tracy
Hi! Lots of good stuff here!!
Strike a pose:
I think she is doing well overall – driving in really nicely over the jump!!We can get her targeting your hand a little better – I think she might have been driving directly to the toy on a lot of the reps LOL! As she is coming back to you, be sure to look at your hand and not at her so she is always locked onto the serp hand. When you looked at your hand, it was perfect!
You can be closer to the jump so she has to start turning before she goes over the jump. And, stay perfectly still until she gets to the toy. Moving results in you closing your shoulder too early, which will dilute the ‘go back out’ element of the serp and future threadle 🙂 When she gets to your target hand, give her your toy-in-hand marker. Is it “yes”? You were praising with yes mixed in but it was a little unclear as to if it was a marker or general happiness 🙂
Rocking horses: On both videos, the first wrap looks great on each rep and she has a ton of value! But I think you have added distance and speed too soon – she is doing a lot of jumping up at you. What was happening is that after the first wrap, you were taking off with a lot of speed. That was breaking connection and the 2nd barrel was far away, so she didn’t know what to do.
So let’s help her not jump/grab so we don’t have to undo that later in training 🙂 To smooooooth these out so she doesn’t jump up at you at all: move them closer and work on the FCs and then sending, with only one step of each and clear connection. I think 8 feet apart might be the sweet spot for the barrels for now? When she can do 2 or 3 in a row without jumping up, you can move to 10 feet apart. If she does jump up, take it as a sign that you are not connected enough and use more eye contact and less arm & running.
The parallel path game was just about perfect when she was on your right side! Yay! Nice timing of the rewards! And she did well on your left side but came past the jump a few times – I think that was happening because your left shoulder was pretty far back, which rotated you towards her and pulled her towards you… kind of like a threadle. When you were connected but your shoulder was not as pulled away, she was great on the left side too.
Nice work here!!
Tracy
Hi!
Strike a pose went really well too! She was driving in to the target hand pretty perfectly (when she could find the start cookie haha) – be sure to look at the target hand to help support her line to it. You can reward directly from your other hand rather than throw it, to get the smooth turn after she hits the target.
Because this went so well, you can use a toy in your reward hand, and also progress to having the reward on the ground (toy or food bowl to plop the treat into).
Looking at the tunnel video:
>had to leave in the bloopers portion of the game>
Ha! Bloopers are the best part! I give her bonus points for being super clever to just go get it then run back and forth through the tunnel LOL!! She is hilarious! The rest was great, and she had no trouble with the harder angles (even though it would have been easier to just go grab the toy LOL!) You can move to the next step, which is starting with easier angles but with her between you and the tunnel, so you can start working on the threadle entries 🙂
Great job!
Tracy
