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Hi! He definitely loves his barrels! Yay! You might have to reward him for lining up so he doesn’t start without you LOL!
The forward, sideways, and backwards sending all looked GREAT!! Pretty perfect!
Have you decided what you want you wrap verbals to be? You can definitely add them to his barrels by saying them as you cue him to go to the barrels, he is ready!
You can now move forward to the rocking horse games! And I believe he is ready for you to use a toy as well.
Great job!
TracyHi!
She did well with her runs here, she was really trying to focus on the course and ignore all the distractions. Super!!!
Looking at your list, we can prioritize things for you to work on to get even more success at trials. I think they need to go in this order:
– start line waits
– BIG distances with her staying on her line with you 5m away (or more!)
– driving ahead at the finish to her bagThe other stuff is good to work on, but less important. And if the list is too long, it is hard to get it all done.
The waits are SUPER because without them, it is nearly impossible to show the opening line, then you get far behind too which impacts everything else.
Have you tried teaching the wait concept on a platform? Crate games? We need something easy to help her and you get the teamwork on longer waits, so you can be far ahead facing forward when you release her.
And for the distance/driving ahead – you can use fewer obstacles in training and spread them out a LOT, to simulate what she will need to do in competition 🙂
Let me know what you think!
Tracy
Hi!
>It’s the counter motion and if I toss food she just starts running forward. Can I put a cookie on it like 2 times? Even I hate doing that but I have not attempted any prop stuff beyond sends and a few parallel lines.>
Toss food towards you? I am confused LOL
Yes, you can totally place the reward on the prop, or even use it as a lure to jump start the behavior! All good!
T
Good morning!
The GIF is hilarious!!!!
I hope you are feeling better!!!
>I I’ve made a spreadsheet recently to help me track more easily what stuff I have done and what skills I need to put more thought into.>
Spreadsheets are life! I don’t know how we can remember anything without them 🙂
Remote reinforcement: This went well! He was happy to move away from the cookies and dog whatever you asked him to do. Down was harder, but it might be harder in general – he got it on the 2nd cue! He has the concept here so the next steps are very tiny so we can protect this skill by not moving it along too fast.
Your mechanics were good! At this point, you might want to consider a marker that you will use at the end of the run. “Dish” is perfect for the dish, but might not be what you use at the end of the run. That also means you can use other things – cookies from a bag, or a toy. The end-of-run marker can be for any of that because the bigger meaning is that he exits with you to get the reward.
You can start asking for more than one trick in each rep – ping pong your way to asking for multiples 🙂 Ask for 1, then 3, then 2, then 1, then 4, etc. Should be fun!
And you can also move this game from room to room. For example, leave the treats in the kitchen and you move into the next room to do a trick or two. Then mark and run back to the kitchen to reward 🙂 That can help solidify that the rewards will be in an entirely different space and potentially out of the line of sight.
Parallel path: He was finding the jump really well, looking ahead nicely (not at you) thanks to good reward throws!!
Only one suggestion is about connection: as you move up the line, you can look at him more. The dog-side arm can be pointing back to him so he can see your eyes very clearly (this also lines your shoulders up to the line you want him to take, which is actually what the pups cue off of). It is this connection that provides the side information to the dog (which side of you to be on). When they don’t get it, they tend to look at us more or end up on the ‘wrong’ side of us.
For example at :14, when you are heading away from the camera, we can really only see your back (he is too low to the ground to see your eyes above your shoulders). That was happening too on the other side, and can contribute to the misses like at :20 and :28. Without clear side info there, he might have been migrating to his more comfy side on your left. More connection will take care of that very easily.
>I assume the next step is to slowly add more distance?>
Yes – add more lateral distance and also vary your position: you can go all the way to the cookie with him and let him eat it, so you start moving forward from right next to him (so he drives ahead). Or, you can throw the cookie and get waaaaay ahead to challenge him to find the jump from behind you. Remember to use big connection on all of it, always looking at him pretty directly as you move up the line.
Get out:
This went great! He is a hat maniac LOL!!
My only suggestion here is that you don’t need the ‘yes’ marker on the treat tosses – you can use ‘get it’ so he stays on his line and looks ahead. This will be very helpful when you add movement.Speaking of movement – he is ready to see you moving up the line. You can be a bit further away from the hat for that, so you have room to add in NOT asking for the get out and letting him come to you. You have room in this space to add it indoors, then take it outside 🙂
Threadle wrap foundations – this game is mainly to make sure that the pups know how to turn away from the handler which is harder than it sounds for many of them! He did great with each step here – he was driving into your hand cues nice and tight, and turning away in both directions with no trouble (including when you were moving).
The next steps to this were added yesterday 🙂 and it looks like he is ready for it! The next steps add the barrel to wrap after turning away, and there are 4 levels of it (2 levels will make more sense to him if you have done the rocking horse games).Hind end awareness – you’ve made great strides with this one! Yay! The wings helped and you can absolutely leave them there at the start of each session (or when you add new things) to help keep him straight.
One thing as you work through different levels of this: the pups actually fatigue pretty quickly on this game, so one suggestion is fewer reps in a row (2 or 3, tops), then release him to move around freely and play with a toy. You can see the first few reps were pretty straight, then the next few were sideways and/or not as precise even with the wings there. The precision overrides the number of reps, so building in fewer reps is the way to go.
You can start to gradually move yourself further from t he cato plank now, to get more steps of backing up. Doing this as a ping-pong rather than adding more and more steps will be better for him (and also doing only a few reps in a row then letting him take a break.
Rear crosses:
This went a lot better than I expected it would, after having read your intro of it LOL!!!>But, I didn’t feel like he was connected with me at all. Maybe it was the day, he was hungry, he was tired, or Mercury was in retrograde. But Blast just didn’t seem to feel this one.>
If Mercury was in retrograde, that would explain my week LOL!!!
I think he didn’t quite realize you wanted him to snatch up the treat then drive to you. So he was plenty accurate but a little low finishing the treat then driving to you (especially on the 2nd side). Perhaps he thought it was a parallel path moment? But, yo got every single rear cross, so I still score the session a win!
> He spent so much time focused on the tossed cookie, it was like that extinguished the behavior and he shut off his brain. Just a lot of waiting and idling while he munches and considers his next move.>
It might have felt like an eternity, but it wasn’t that long LOL!! However, a couple of tweaks can bring more snappiness to the game:
– use a lower value treat (if there is such a thing :)) as the ‘go find it’ treat, and the higher value treat or a toy for driving to you. That can help direct his energy into getting the treat more quickly and then running to you.
– that low value treat can be something small and/or soft that he can just kind of slurp up and not need to chew.
– I think part of the question here was that while he found the treat easily, the smells there were interesting so he was not immediately lifting his head up to find you. You can start with a treat in a big bowl – put the treat in the bowl (holding his collar), and move him back (this can big up excitement for driving to the bowl). Then send him to it, do the RC, and call him to yo and a toy or great treat.
Leading With The Head: this one is all about handler mechanics to make it happen, so a couple of ideas for you:
I think the cone is a bit too short for him! He is getting tall!
So if you have a wingless upright, you will see more of the head turn and he will have a better understanding of the goal.For the mechanics: each rep should start with him at your side, facing forward to the upright. Then the send hand sends him forward, and that same hand draws him through to turn him away.
>It just doesn’t seem to flow>
You were looping it a little more, meaning starting the next rep when he finished the reward cookie – so he was coming in from different angles and turning away, which muddied the mechanics and probably made it feel like it was not flowing. So after the reward throw, you can reset him at your side to send forward into the next rep.
>it I feel is that he’s seeing my hand and looking for a tossed cookie,>
For the rewards: the send hand/turn hand can be empty – and the other hand can toss the treat the rest of the way around the wrap. That should help him understand that he is following a cue rather than following a cookie 🙂
And to really isolate the head turn, you can mark it with a clicker. This is a great game for clicking! You might need 3 hands 🙂 The clicker can go in the cookie hand, and the cookie hand can have just one treat in it so there is room for the clicker. Then while he is off eating the cookie you have tossed, you can line him up at your side and reset the cookie in your reward hand for the next rep.
Since there is so much mechanically in this game, slowing down the mechanics between each rep will allow you to reset and set up the next rep.
Great job on all of these!!! Let me know what you think!
Tracy
Good morning!
>I’ve been having some trouble getting in the right frame of mind for training- so we’ve instead just lived life.>
This is relatable, especially at this time of year in these crazy times. Living life is perfect and patio training is a critical life skill!!!!
I have found that my motivation to train goes in waves – sometimes I want to train, sometimes I just want to hang out and take the pup to patios LOL!!!
>much fun training, though I’ve been struggling a little with what to try to train each session, it feels never ending (which of course agility foundations is like that!!!). I guess the good thing is we won’t ever run out of training content!!!! >
Every now and then I have some guilt about not training enough, or a feeling of getting behind but not knowing what to train (analysis paralysis, so nothing gets trained LOL!)
So when that happens, I take a bunch small pieces of paper and write down the names of games that I love to train on a bunch, and put them in a pile. And then I write down the names of games I don’t love to train (but feel I should be training) and put them in a separate pile. Then I blindly pick one from each pile and train the puppy 🙂 It can actually be fun!
>He also CAUGHT A FREAKIN RAT, like a huge full sized adult city rat, straight out of a bush in my backyard. I was so impressed, and because he’s amazing he traded for a million cookies.>
OMG!!! But I guess farm dogs also hunt vermin! My whippety dogs are proud of his catch! And I am very glad he traded it for cookies. GOOD BOY!!!
>We practiced the arousal dial game with tugging – out the toy- sit – regrip, and he was able to do a few reps. First “sit” was pretty quick but sloppy, second “sit” took a long time, third “sit” was really quick- good puppy brain figuring thoughts out!!!>
Perfect!!! That game is great for arousal regulation and can also be very fun 🙂 You can also add in goofy tricks – it is a good reason to teach a couple of cute tricks 🙂 Spins are fun, high five, etc.
>I also brought the barrel back out for the first time in weeks, and did some offering for cookies. And after like two reps of being unsure, and me really focusing on connection, he was super happy to run around barrels! He’s like a sporty quarter horse… big badonkadonk, turns on a dime, drives around barrel at full speed. LOL I just love him.>
Yay! Because of his size, driving around at full speed is likely how you will get the best turns on course. Letting him sort out how to do it the fastest way possible is great!
>Before I started filming, we started with some really fun all-in tugging, then I turned on the camera and set out the barrel, tried one rep for a toy, and he wouldn’t take the toy and asked for a cookie (biting at my pocket). I cut that bit out of the video but don’t worry he got his cookie! >
It is possible that the moment of turning the camera on/bringing the barrel in popped the bubble of excitement for the toy, and he might also recognize context cues for cookies. You can try turning the camera on and getting the barrel out before tugging, so you can get the tugging then go right into the session.
> and later I realized he’d lost a canine, most likely during that tug session because I’ve been obsessively checking so kind of have an idea when it was there/not there haha, so that kind of makes more sense why he refused the toy.>
Totally yes, this can be part of why he said ‘not thanks’ to the toy. The joys of puppies LOL!! That will all get easier when all of his teeth come in.
On the video: super nice session! Fabulous job with your connection (arm back so he could see the connection really well) and line of motion and verbal cue. Super!!
He did well on both sides, he really seems to understand this parallel path concept. On the second side, dog on right, he had more speed (cookie tosses were further away) and he still nailed it. And also followed the handler line to the front side when you cued that, followed by another backside at the end. PERFECT!!
So the next step here is to repeat this with one difference: you are inching your parallel path line over towards the center of the bar. That way you can gradually get more and more lateral on the backside sends.
The head turn game also looked good! He is definitely leading with his head here and you got lots of good reward in. It will feel less weird by doing two things:
– send him and turn him away using the same arm/hand, with it empty (reward tossed by the other hand).
You did this on your right side and those were the smoothest reps! When he was on your left side to start, you send with the left but you were trying to turn him away with your right hand, which was harder for you both.Then when you toss the treats, you don’t need a ‘yes’, you can just say ‘get it’ and toss to the next part of his line so he finishes the wrap.
– Slow down the mechanics, especially of the turn-away hand. Doing it too fast can make the pups miss the cue. When you had a slower had cue, he did GREAT!!
A good example of the slower turn hand is at 1:42 and then also at 1:53. Lovely!! And his head turn was spot on.Backing up is going well! Keep mixing up which hand you are rewarding from because it definitely helped keep him straighter.
>Though actually I just realized I could try having him back up onto a folded fabric crate?>
Great idea! And the folded fabric crate will have a tiny bit of movement to it, probably – which is perfect because we are adding movement to this game soon 🙂
>My goodness he makes me laugh, he’s so CUTE.>
So true! He is so adorable and enthusiastic, especially when he knows he has nailed it. So fun to watch!!!
The hopping up on the perch might have been because he is STARVING and you were standing up, so he was trying to get as close to the cookie hand as possible LOL! He gets bonus points for being clever 🙂 That might also have been why he was sitting: he was looking way up at your hands, which shifts his weight back so the sit is easier. Plus the sit probably has about a zillion cookies in it at this point, tons of value.
Bending over to get your hands lower helped a bit. I bet you can also shape this differently to get more pivoting and less hopping up: you can sit on something where your hands can be a little above nose height for him. Then rather than you move around the perch, we will let him do it LOL! You can do this with the ‘pivot back to center’ approach, by tossing a cookie off to the side then rewarding him in position on the perch, for finding center on the pivot in front of you. Then release him off to with a cookie toss. Changing the angle of the cookie toss can get him to add more steps as he pivots back to center.>Also he is definitely a little more adolescent-y (less of the sweet snuggly puppy who comes to me for everything and more of the “yeah I can do my own thing now, Mom”), and he had another growth spurt, crossing my fingers that’s one of his last ones, I LOVE his size.>
He is definitely a great size!!! How old he is now? He might not grow much more in terms of height, but you will see things like his chest fill out. I have found that most boys are actually taller in adolescence than they are as adults, because they fill out and muscle up, which makes for better shoulder measurements. You are definitely entering the adolescent period with him (wild times ahead LOL!), but the boy dogs do stay pretty snuggly 🙂
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
Tracy
Good morning!
>Having so much fun working/playing with Skizzle. He’s excited to train, starting to be more thoughtful at times, and happy to play.>I am so glad you are enjoying him! He is such a cool puppy! And so cute too – look at how cute he was, sitting in front of the camera at the beginning of the perch work video!!!
The volume dial game is looking good! Yes, this is a game that gets used throughout their training and career: partially so we can change arousal states in training (including at home) and help them learn to handle higher arousal, and partially so we can help optimize arousal in competition environments.
It takes some experimenting to figure out what works best for him in different environments, and that will also change as he goes through adolescence into adulthood. So we revisit the game a lot!
>His interest in sniffing/hunting for critters seems like something I’ll have to compete with for attention. >
Quite possibly… I think his brother caught and killed a rat! So there might be some interest in crittering 🙂 But I am not overly concerned about it, I think he will be very focused in ‘work’.
The session went well! Part of the arousal regulation getting built in is getting the toy back. Trading for a treat is great because it gets the toy back and also the treat is a good balance to the tugging, in terms of arousal regulation. You can add an ‘out’ verbal by saying ‘out’, relaxing your tug arms, then reaching for a treat (all about 1 second apart).
The tugging was very engaging and there was a teeth on hand moment at :38. He definitely wanted that tiny piece of toy next to your hand, even though there was a whole lot more toy available to him! You handled it well by pointing it out to him and pausing the game for a heartbeat. It might help to have more long dangly stuff (maybe fur toys?) on the hollee roller part of the toy? Or it might not, because some pups just love to tug right near our hands (they probably get a really good grip up there).
When you stopped to assess his body language at :59 – I loved his muscle tone and attention! Ready to GO!! Very ready, in that it was hard to eat the next treat 🙂 Soft treats that are easy to swallow might be best in those moments – I am assuming that was a harder treat? If it was a soft treat, you can give smaller pieces so there is less choking 🙂
I also loved his fabulous between-the-feet lineup towards the end of the video. So nice!!!!
Perch work is going well! His coat is SO CUTE! You are getting progress for sure!!! Remember that you can click his back feet swiveling him back to center, then reward at center – then release with a treat toss to start the next reps. Those were where you were getting the most foot movement. You were also getting good movement at the end when you were using a little bit of pressure towards him – he stayed on his perch and moved his back feet. SUPER!!!
You can revisit the perch work once a week or so, to let it percolate 🙂 And you can add the volume dial game before any training session, to add arousal regulation to it all! This is especially useful for games he has seen before – adding arousal is a great prep for taking these games on the road.
Great job!
TracyGood morning!
>Don’t let that sun in the window fool you – it’s below zero out there. >
Ewww! I am ready for spring.
>And I’m in a week long work conference which is hard on the adolescent dog too.>
Also ewww! Don’t they know you have a puppy to train? LOL!
The backside slice is going well! He very confidently went to the front side in rep 1 😂 I think that was mainly because the space between barrel and wall is very small so there was a lot more room to get to the front. I didn’t see anything wrong in the handling, so I think it was mainly a lorg doggo trying to fit into a wall space 🙂 And the wall and stuff adds pressure which is likely to cause him to move away from it.
He was able to sort it out on reps 2 and 3 (look at him figuring out his feet!) then by rep 4 he had it. He went through a similar process on the other side, with the first couple of reps requiring more thought about footwork to squeeze in there but then he did great.The only thing I think you can do is have the bump touching the wall (or dog walk plank on the other side) to add a little more room so you can also add in moving to more and more lateral lines. There will be more room outside, but clearly I am not recommending you do anything outside right now LOL!!
>Then the threadle slice – trying to click at the correct time. Timing is hard as the space is so small. Today, I thought he had better turns on my left hand. >
I agree – his left turns were really nice here! I am guessing it not a side preference thing, and more of a whatever the 2nd side in the session is easier thing 🙂
On the first side (right turns) and the first couple of reps on the left turn side, he is not really looking at the bar until after the click. It was fun to see him processing it – you can see him look at the MM while in his sit, then do the threadle to go to it. Yay! By the end, he was doing really well.
I am not sure if he would have gone to the bump without the click, so we can emphasize the bump/bar even more. 2 ideas for you:
– On this game, you can move the MM right to the landing side of it so it is as close to the bump as it can be without touching it. So it is right there and he should theoretically look at it (and the bump) as he is coming around the barrel. Once we get that automatic head turn before the click, we can start to move the MM further back
– Going back to the fold it in game where we asked for forward focus to a cone… add a bump to that game so he is focusing forward to the bump! We can add value to looking at a bump and I bet that transfers really well to this game too! Plus it is easy to do indoors 🙂
Nice work here! Let me know what you think!
Tracy
Hi!
Thanks for posting this!! She seemed totally surprised by the BF leaving and then yes, I agree that it was alarm barking.You brought her back really quickly with the pattern game , took about 20 seconds or so before she was able to stop being very concerned about it (exactly what I would have done with my own dogs and suggested for her). She was still a little in a divided attentional state for a bit and then by the end she was more in the selective state where her brain was still aware of the distraction but she was able to engage with you. To be able to get her back to a good state for working… try tugging! I know it might seem counterintuitive because it will probably change her arousal state, but that change might optimize her arousal state and get her brain to forget the distraction 🙂 A combination of tugging and treats as you bring her back into a working session can help a lot.
>As far as noise, I think the video enhances certain sounds.
So it’s the tiny little noise (and somewhat intermittent/sudden noise) predicting movement that she’s picking up on.>I terms of processing… each little noise adds up and I think she gets to a level where she has to stop and actively process it (especially if there are bird noises!) So the music by itself was not a distraction, it is more of the ‘all of the above’ causing her bandwidth for processing all the sensory input to get used up. She definitely heard all the noises (she was lifting her head to listen) and her ears are better than mine LOL!! If the camera picked it up, so did her ears 🙂 So since processing bandwidth is limited and you want her brain to prioritize info you are giving her, dialing back some of the sensory input can be useful for now.
Eventually she will habituate to a lot of the noise stuff (including birds :)) but she is still young so we can help open up more room in her brain’s bandwidth (processing is another area of amazing nerding opportunities, and I am sure you have seen it in your rehab & fitness practice – stuff like how pain changes processing even if the dogs are not showing outwards signs of pain like limping).
>And as far as markers, yeah I had always thought they used context as well. >
I think the dogs are 2 or 3 steps ahead of us humans, in terms of understanding context and reading context cues.
>Sort of like when I do fitness training, I don’t generally say much at all by way of markers and my dogs still somehow figure out when I want them to stay in place and when they should follow the lure no problem. >
Exactly!! And how do my dogs know the difference between my clumsy attempts at fitness stuff (they are SO PATIENT with me, cause I am really terrible at it LOL) versus my agility stuff versus my flyball stuff (I am better at those lol), which can often use the same prop like a Cato plank? Because of all the context cues. And I am fine with that 🙂
>So it’s definitely freeing to be able to focus on fewer markers! I’ll have to give it some thought as to what ones to really keep since this attempt at having a bunch is just not working and is just frustrating us both.>
Yes! Frustration is communication! And if you or Beat are frustrated, we need to look at it, figure out why, and fix it 🙂
Have fun!
TracyGood morning!
>Initially I moved away and did some pattern games and she regrouped fairly quick.>
Great! Patterns are always a good option in those moments.
> The person was continuing to encourage her which was making me need pattern games lol. >
Ah, people.
>Julee left me to go run and jump off her basically so I didn’t bring her to the person per se when she started to let the hackles down.>
Because she is in that unpredictable adolescent stage, you might need to have a leash stuffed in your pocket whenever she is working off leash – that will allow you to leash her up and then be better able to control the environment by moving her away and preventing her from moving herself back to whatever she is barking at.
>And yes I had no food on me for Chata. I showed her where her cookies were and we left them to do some tricks and cues back to get her food.>
Great! So if I read it correctly – 4 reps, 3 of which were good, one of which she left on. That shows that her bandwidth for dealing with distractions without the context cue of food in your hand/pocket/mouth is relatively low. So keep doing tiny sessions that are relatively easy as you build up the mental endurance for it.
T
That’s up to you, and also might depend on what type of device you use.
Apple devices start to get angry when the threads get huge, and refuse to load them. So if you are mainly using a Mac, iPhone, iPad then you’ll probably want to start a new thread. Android mobile devices and PCs have no anger towards big threads 🙂T
Hi!
>Julee lost it. Like the person she hasn’t seen since a puppy and before we even thought about training she was on full stranger danger mode. She did recover >
What did you do to help her recover? Keep track of that and use it before she sees new people, to help her process them.
>and then was bouncing all over the person but it was conflicting not I adore you human. >
Since she had such a big response to the person, probably better to not let her get as close to the person even if she acts like she wants to. Adolescent dogs, like adolescent humans, make poor life choices LOL!!!
>I did eventually try some short cookie recalls as far from the person as I could and she was good.>
Perfect!
> One look when the person spoke. >
Add that as a slice by putting random voices on a recording or video, so she gets used to a random voice popping out of silence.
>The person was very sweet but didn’t take directions well to just exist so I had to be on like I never have before. >
Humans can be hard to train 😂🤣😂
>Chata threw me bc the session was high high success. Good foods she was offering the tricks and wanting to do stuff. Kept it to 4 reps but she did take off to pick pocket the human on the third. ( forth rep was just a recover super easy rep).>
This was a remote reinforcement session, you had nothing with you? She did well and she also showed you how she is still very tuned into what other people are doing especially if you have no food available. So definitely keep working these small pieces 🙂
T
Hi! Thanks for the info!!
>I now have him jumping 8″ with the Paps and the MaxPup Malinois. 🙂>
Is that Joan’s Judge, or Ann’s Aix? Fun!
>I’m also having the instructor put a dish down at the end of lines since he like to run to the dish. >
Great! You will get even more speed from a moving reinforcement – it can be something as simple as digging a big toy or dragging a lotus ball on a line for him to accelerate to.
>Then some of our class moved over there to do a little sequence while we did some on our side and it was perfect and not a distraction for him. Last week went well too. >
SUPER! YAY!
>I also brought out the lotus ball again. Before our break I had introduced it to him and showed him how to open it. He enjoyed chasing it in class. >
Excellent – you can totally make this a toy by attaching it to something long for him to chase more.
>Also, for starts if it’s not a tunnel then I send him to a dish with cheese in it so I can get a lead out.>
How are his stays going (or platform training)? You can get a lot of speed from a motivated release using a bit of ready-set-GO!!! Does he like to be held? If he thinks that is cool, someone can hold him so he explodes into the course.
>It’s horribly cold and it snowed so the dogs can be out for like 2 minutes until their feet freeze. They (especially him) are going nuts. We should get a break for a few days soon.>
I am ready for winter to be over!!!! Bring on green grass and sunshine!
Have fun!
TracyHi! Threadle slice is going really well, I love how she was driving right into the correct side of the jump!
My only suggestion is that you remain completely stationary (don’t move your shoulders) until she has arrived at the dish. Moving your shoulders might accidentally cause her to rely on a second cue to take the jump after coming to the correct side, which we do not want 🙂 So you can stay frozen in position and say ‘dish’ – if she needs help going to the dish, you can either have your non-treadle hand do a subtle flick of a treat into it. Or you can leave a bag of treats in the dish – so when she goes to the dish, you can run over nd open them to give her one (or two :))
Great job here!! You can keep adding in hard angles, and also add in the advanced level of comparing the threadle slice to the serpentine cues!
Tracy
Hi! My dogs also feel a bit neglected LOL!!!!
You have lifetime access to all of this – it will be available for as long as as the website exists. And if the website ever croaks (totally not in the plans!) then we will send it all to you 🙂Tracy
Good morning!
>What you said above all does make sense, it just doesn’t make it easy. >
These words are absolute TRUTH!!! Totally agree.
>Like the meltdown she had this morning when we were out working in the yard in the few minutes I had before work, and my boyfriend left the house for work, sending her into a barking frenzy. >
What type of barking frenzy? Alarm? Frustration? Excitement? Do you have video? I am curious to see.
>I totally understand it’s normal, but I was planning a low distraction session and spent two whole minutes getting her brain back instead. >
So relatable… we have a total of 3 minutes to train and we have a plan! Then it all goes sideways. Yep, so frustrating sometimes!! I feel like there should be an adolescent dog support group or therapy session LOL!
>Meltdowns aren’t her norm, I’m not super worried, but she’s had enough of them that I really question if I’m handling them right, and they are mostly about people. >
Tell me more about what exactly happens or post video, so we can sort it out.
>Terriers can have meltdowns too, but they usually save them for big important stuff, not random little things like she does!>
Yes – terrier drama is definitely different from hound drama which is also different from BC drama.
Threadle slice – I don’t think she ended up confused and I bet latent learning shows that there was plenty of learning here. There were a couple of factors at play here that made it a little harder, so you can change things to clarify it for the next session:
– bear in mind that there was a lot of noise in the environment. You can see her lifting her head to listen multiple times, and even on the video I could hear the auditory clutter her brain had to sift through. That makes it all harder to process (especially since markers are auditory). Now, most of it we cannot control when working outside, but you can take the music out of it for now as that might be one level you can make easier.
– She spent a bit of time looking for the start cookie, so that can be clearer. You can place it in a bowl to send her to it, or toss it only a towel (or use a stay if it is strong enough). That will get her driving back to the threadle even sooner.
– And don’t show any frustration if she doesn’t get it or does something else. Hound brains will order up an Uber and exit the session 🙂 if we show frustration.I think this session actually went pretty well and with a couple of days for her brain to solidify it and with a bit less auditory distraction next time, you will see her do really well!!
About the markers, here are my thoughts:
>I’m getting frustrated trying to use the different marker cues: tug is get it from my hand, toy toy is get it on the ground, but I’m crappy at using the right one, sometimes nothing comes out because I can’t remember the word, and even when I do use the right one, she doesn’t seem to have any clue what the difference is. Is it even worth continuing to have two different cues for the toy? (Plus a third, “get it” if I throw the toy)>
This is an excellent question and valid points! It is cool to have all sorts of markers… but only if the dog happily understands them 🙂 I am not convinced that the dogs actually understand all of the zillions of markers – I am more convinced that the dogs understand the context and the dogs are reading us like a Clever Hans scenario. And I don’t want to spend time ‘proofing’ a zillion markers (too boring for all involved, too much failure, I don’t see a reason for it – see more below)
And also, markers are effective only if we remember the darned things. I personally am NOT the person who has a zillion different markers. I prefer to have a smaller set of really powerful markers that I can use effectively and that I can remember (I barely remember my name on some days… LOL!!). And I can confidently say that my dogs are not confused or frustrated about reinforcement in training or competition, so while I am open to adding new things to become better at training – I am not convinced that MORE markers are the key to it.
So about the toy markers – again, we want effective markers and not just a lot of markers 🙂 And with the goal of markers to be indicating where to find the reinforcement – I do not use 2 different markers for the toy on the ground in this setup. I use “get it” for both, meaning to go grab the reinforcement out ahead, placed or thrown. And
I use get it for food in this context too. Get it is a very powerful marker and I can remember it… and they are not confused. Nor would I ever put a toy and a treat down in that same spot and ask the dog to differentiate based on the marker. It is not something I need for them to do to teach them what I want them to learn. (Also, Tug and ToyToy sound the similar at the beginning of each of them, so add that in as something her brain has to sift through while processing all of the auditory stuff she is being bombarded with) For some of my dogs, I do have a toy cue for grabbing in from my hand (“bite”) versus the general “yes” for cookies. Those dogs come in HOT for the toy so they need to know if it is the toy or the treat because I often do have both in my hands during training. That helps them avoid biting me by accident. For my dogs that do NOT come in hot for a toy, like my Papillon? I don’t have that marker for him. He doesn’t need it 🙂
So, you can decide which ones you want to keep and which ones you don’t need now (or ever :)) Less is more! You can be incredibly effective with fewer markers and good training setups – you will be more consistent (which is what strengthens the markers and you will be less frustrated too 🙂
Also, verbal directionals are reward markers too, so you don’t need both in that context 🙂
The barrel wraps to the toy went well!
>Again, I’m not sure how positive she felt about this session, does she actually understand the concept? >
I think she is actually understanding the concept really well, and that includes when the reps begin. And she as engaged and had a grand time with lots of play, so I think she felt pretty good about it. She is 50% sighthound, and if they are not feeling good about it, they will leave the session or get really really sloowwwwwwwwwwww.
You can be cleaner and quicker with transitions into the next rep once the toy is placed on the ground. She had some questions about that when things did not move into the rep very quickly, and was called back a couple of times. The pups forgive some of that lack of clarity but you did end up calling her back a lot which can get frustrating.
Basically, the start of the rep is when you toss or place the toy (according to her, and I can see her point about it). You were taking a bit of extra time to get things lined up just right and she was ready for the rep to begin based on the context cue of the tossed toy – and was reading cues for the barrel wrap.
For example, you tossed the toy at 2:10 – that is officially the beginning of the next rep. She is fully focused on getting the cue. You kept her with you as you moved into position at 2:19, all good. At 2:21 you did a small movement sideways to the barrel: boom! That’s the cue, she said. So she wrapped really well, started heading down the line… then was called back and confused. She kept offering, so you can reset and clarify for her. That can be a sit cue, or giving her a cookie while you hold her collar til you are ready, etc. Similar thing happened at 3:23 – rep had started and she went to the barrel on your side step to it. You probably didn’t notice the subtle movement to the barrel that she took as the cue 🙂
So you can delay the indicator of the start of the rep by setting things up a little differently for her: get everything ready in terms of which side you want her on, your position near the barrel, etc… then throw the toy. That way the cue for the next step can come very cleanly without anything else happening in between (and without having to call her back).
Good job getting the earlier timing on the blind! The first 2 were a little late so she didn’t see the side change. The rep at 3:46 was really good, so she totally got it. Yay!
Towards the end you changed the direction of the game and that changed the line to the toy, when she exited the pivot and you said go… the toy was not really visible on her line (the wings/bar was, and the toy was further away and a little offset). So you can do the decel/pivot in between the barrel and toy, so she still knows where it is when you finish the pivot and cue her to get it.
Since we are talking about markers – in the session, you used “go” as a marker, as well as ‘get it’ and ‘toy toy’. When the toy is on the ground and I am running towards it saying GO GO GO, then the toy is available as a reinforcement. (I cannot think of a time that I would place a toy right on a puppy’s line and accelerate towards it yelling “go” and would want the dog to ignore it. Seems rude LOL!)
I don’t need an extra marker in that context unless I am in the initial teaching stages of “go”. Get it is also fine there, but I don’t think you need both “get it” and “toy toy”. Food for thought!The setup in the town square was very clever!! You could work the skill and the leash would gently wrap the pole with her… so she couldn’t really go anywhere if you were surprised by a new person 🙂
She is doing really well with her head turns here! I agree she is a lefty – both sides went well, but the left turn reps were smoother and tighter than the right turn reps. The right turn reps will be easier with a small adjustment in mechanics:
Use an empty hand to cue the turn away, and the opposite hand to toss the treat. Having the treat in the cue hand and tossing it caused her to question if the hand movement was a cue, or a cookie too. So a slow, empty hand cue will get the head turn very fluently and the other hand can drop the treat in on the other side of the pole. You can do 3 or 4 reps on the same side/same direction, then switch hands and do a few reps on the other side to have the mechanics sorted out.
And be sure to give her a tug break after every 3 or 4 reps. She did 20 in a row here and that is a lot of wrapping! So you can do a few, tug, change sides to turn the other direction, then tug and be done 🙂
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
Tracy
