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Good morning!
Thanks for the backing up video! Backing up from between your feet looks good! Toss the treat so she can go further back on that version of the game and not stop at the end of your arm.
With the board –
Yes, it seems like something about the texture of the board seemed to make her avoid it a bit. It was actually very good proprioception to avoid it LOL!!! You can reward her at the end when she did get on it even though it wasn’t exactly backing up, just to help her learn to like the feel of that board.To help her like the feel of the board, you can wrap it in a towel or yoga mat so the texture is les weird for her. Then I bet the backing up gets very easy!
The retrieving is going really well! Be sure to have long tug sessions when she does bring it back so she enjoys bringing it back (rather than thinking she will tug for a moment then have to give up the toy). The tug sessions were edited so I couldn’t tell how long they were – go for at least 10 seconds! And if you were, click/treat to you!
>brings it back almost to me and with encouragement I can usually get it.>
At first it looks like she as trying to get past you, but the joys of the location allowed you to get the toy and play 🙂 Then it seemed like she was bringing it to you – YAY!!! You can add a couple of things to this to keep things unpredictable in a good way: when she brings it to you, sometimes have a nice long tug session on the toy she brought back. Sometimes whip out a new fun toy to tug on. Sometimes surprise her with a treat. Those happy surprises are very motivating for the retrieve.
>I ended it with tossing another toy and letting her have it – is that counter productive?>
I think that is a fun way to end a session – you can use markers to delineate what is happening. “Get it” is your thrown toy marker, so only use it when you were throwing it. You also used it when you presented it to her from your hand – there was a slight moment of hesitation when she was like “are you throwing or can I grab it” so a “from my hand” marker would be great for that. I use “bite”. And for ending where she can win the toy and take it on a trip? Use a marker which is also a cue to go for a run with a toy. I use ‘go for a run’ but you can also say something like ‘victory lap’ or ‘party time’ then throw the toy – that becomes a cue to run around with the toy. And running around with the toy is a valuable (and fun!) decompression technique!
Great job here!
TracyWow! The stay is coming along really really well!! You haven’t been working on it that long but look at how well he holds the stay! I am impressed! You are doing a great job changing the timing of the reward/release, so it is unpredictable in a good way 🙂
He does indeed line up really well on your right and curls to look at you on your left. You can se a cookie lure to get him nice and tight then feed him in position – then take a moment for him to settle, then walk away for the stay. That also formalizes the stay a bit and he seems ready for it!
The next step is to do this with more arousal do lots of tugging before/during the session and shorter stays (for now) so he learns to stay even when is very stimulated. That will be useful in agility for sure. To keep him successful in a higher arousal stay, start with much shorter stays and then build them back up to what you have here.
Great job here!!! We will miss him while he is on his trip!!
Tracy
This is a high energy game and he did great in the hard new environment! He as really engaged in the 2nd part of the video, in terms of being able to grab the toy and bring it to you without visiting, then trade for the 2nd toy. That was lovely work! It would make sense that there were fewer distractions so he could be successful.
When he was distracted:
>He has previously coped with this amount of busy-ness but he was very distracted.>
Was he working off leash on big distances between you and him… with other dogs nearby? That was definitely really hard for him! He might have been working on simpler stuff with you right there, so this was just really hard for him.
You can have him on a leash if there are other dogs around so he doesn’t rehearse running off to them at all. He did come back when you called him but, that running to them gets rehearsed and can get built in to the behavior. You can also do simpler stuff when there are other dogs/people walking by: instead of the retrieve and recall and blind, etc – you can just do a simple recall and see how he handles it (in terms of ignoring distractions). The harder version of the game can be saved for easier distractions, and the easier version can happen when there are a lot of distraction 🙂
Nice work here!
TracyGood morning!
I love how she investigated the plank right away then hopped right on when she realized it was a GAME ON moment 🙂 She was great about hopping off, turning around, etc. She even offered a sit! You can add position changes: ask her to go from a stand to a down to a sit (or any combination of that). A hand cue or cookie lure can totally be used to help her out.
>I think I’ll get the wobble board out for her next.>
Yes, you can bring that in! Start it off with stuff under it so it only moves a little, to be sure she is happy with the movement.
The backing up video is marked private, can you reset it as unlisted so. I can see it ? We can totally help her get her feet up on the board 🙂
Nice work here!
Tracy
Good morning!
Look at her bringing it right back! Fun!! You can take this game on a tour, with the same setup (you sitting on the ground or low chair) – can she do it in the driveway? Can she do it in the area you were doing the rear crosses? She can be on a leash of course, with the loop around your wrist. Or if you are in a fenced area, the toy can be on a leash 🙂
>Like all of my dogs the BEST place to grab is where the handle joins the tug.>
That is so funny when dogs do that! I am guessing that is where they get the best grip for strong tugging? But I don’t really know why – it is so funny that they choose the small piece and not the big fancy toy 🙂
Nice work!
TracyHi!
So much lovely work here! Yay!!On the barrel wraps – You might be helping more than she needs you too 🙂 You can step & point towards the barrel but she doesn’t need as much arm cue circling around it – that might change your shoulder position enough that she is not sure which side of the barrel to go to. So center your knees on the barrel, so you are even further over to the exit line and give a little step & send but the correct edge of the barrel side you want should be very visible to her. The bowl can be empty – she can use it as a visual aid then get the reward for finishing the wrap.
Good job with the baby retrieve! I like how you had a really long tug session when she brought it back to you 🙂 And just as I was going to write – t try it standing… you stood up! Ha! She definitely liked that! She seems to be in a chewing/teething stage so she is bringing it back but also kind of wanting to chew on it. She will outgrow that soon for sure.
She was definitely into the bumper on the shaped retrieve!! I think you can go to putting it on the ground faster here – she was like GIMME hahahaha and also yes – take the rope off so the two of you are not butting heads over which part to pick up. When it did go to the ground, she was picking it up faster but then had a question when you picked it up. So because she wants to pick it up, you can let her pick it up then bring it to your hand to get the click – getting it to your hand is what makes you click 🙂 kind of like letting her train you 🙂
Kind of like this: my dog had to put the ball in the bowl to get me to click: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ka6xrtHNNhARunning contacts – she is very coordinated for a baby dog! I was thinking the mat might be too narrow for a young dog but nope, I think she has the coordination to do it! Yay!
You can elevate this mat a bit to make t even more salient – attaching to a hard piece of foam or anything that won’t slide but will raise it by an inch or two would be great!
And then you can add more criteria – if you are going to do running contacts, have you decided on a criteria? Most folks do the split-rear-feet criteria, so you can shift the click to the 2nd back foot hitting now instead of front feet.Great job!
TracyHi!
Great job with the parallel path at the beginning to get the drive ahead of you jumpstarted to before adding the RCs.
You were great with the RCs -clearly visible on the new side before he got to the prop. YAY!!! So yes, he was brilliant but also your info was clear – driving the diagonal RC line right on his tail. Click/treat for you both! Yay!
>I failed on them with both Chata and Julee>
Freeze the video you have with them: when they are touching the prop, which side of them are you on? The info might have been late if they did not make the turn.
>We had trouble finding orange cheese… and I didn’t really know how to use the mat ( tho when I practiced a mat it didn’t help much ) >
Do you mean the mat for the start cookie? It is just a giant target to toss the cheese onto 🙂
Great job here!
TracyWe will move you tomorrow, but have a blast at Cyno!!
He was trying to figure out the lap turns here – he was turning away nicely but was not entirely sure where to look. So cue the turn with an empty hand then after he turns away, relax the arm position (don’t hold your arm up high) and walk towards the prop. When you had your arm up high, he was thought he was supposed to keep interacting with it 🙂
>One side is definitely easier than the other lol!
>What was happening was that your mechanics were different on the second side: you were actually early with the cues 🙂 When he was still a couple of feet away, your leg stepped out and your hand started to move fast. It was a little like you were trying to cue the turn and the prop in one motion. Try it with your arm and leg completely stationary until he is a couple of inches from your hand – then step straight back and turn him away, same as you do on the flat when the prop is not there… then after he turns away, walk to the prop and I bet he gets it smoothly 🙂
Nice work here!!! I will be following your adventures at Cynosport!
Tracy
Hi!
>I attempted some today and she really is not driving out to a toy.>
If you don’t have anyone to drag the toy, get a really exciting toy and throw it – and let her go before it lands so it is still ‘alive’. She might like that a whole lot!
The safe spot is great and it is also great you have a cue for it! You can eventually use it as a line up cue in front of a jump too! To get just a plain ol’ sit at your side – cue it specifically and reward it/praise it so she doesn’t think you want her to offer something else. You missed the first reward moment so she offered a HIGHLY rewarded behavior.
And you will need to resist rewarding the Spot behavior if you don’t want it LOL! You don’t have to withhold a treat, but you can think of it more as a reset cookie: You can toss a reward off to the side if she does the spot without being cued, which will add a response cost – why come in close to the mother if the cookies will all be “out there” LOL!! So I think more clarity of cues and reinforcement will totally help 🙂
>She is a downer though, resorts to downs a LOT.>
When you wrote “she is a downer” I was like NO SHE IS NOT A DOWNER! SHE IS SUPER COOL! because I was reading it as she is a bummer, a Debbie Downer hahahahaha My brain is tired 🙂
She might revert to a down for too reasons: she is very young and holding a sit actually takes some strength!
Also, all those cookies might zen her out too much, she is ready to chill 🙂 Try adding toy play to this and very short session – use to get her ramped up and then use food as the catch reward.
Lap turns are looking great! The tandems are also going well – one tweak for the tandems is to not pull her all the way in front to you then turn her away. Keep her outside the line of your body so she turns away without getting in front of you. Otherwise she might run across your feet and trip you!
You can move to the next level where she has the prop on the ground for both of these – your hand cues draw her past the prop, then after you turn her away she drives to the prop.
Nice job with the blind to the decel & pivot!
When you win the toy race- tease her like you did as the winner 🙂 Then immediately go into the next throw rep for another toy race. You did that on the last rep and she really drove to the dead toy! This is also a place where you can release her to drive to it before it hits the ground.Great job here!
TracyHi!
The send to the barrel worked great we you got your send leg stepping to it and she could see the barrel. I agree, mechanics are looking smoother for sure! Yay!
And connection is key: make connection before the send and keep it as you send. Compare the rep at :24 to the rep at :28 – at :24, you made connection then stepped into the send, keeping the connection so she got it beautifully.
At :28 you didn’t really connect and then looked ahead, so she stopped and did not wrap. That is because the subtle disconnection turns your shoulders to the other side of the barrel, so she was not sure where to be (especially because she had just wrapped that side of the barrel).Right is definitely her harder side for now so the more connection you can give her, the easier it will be for her. You had several really good reps in a row where you were more connection and patient, so she was able to get hr wraps going to the right! Yay!
>Look forward to seeing where we are going with this Tuesday night!
>We are starting to get into the really fun stuff now 🙂
Nice work here!
TracyGreat job building value for the mat here! You can break it off for tug breaks, I think he was maybe getting bored of the simple back and forth 🙂 it was too easy LOL!
Are you considering running contacts? If so, you can shift your criteria to click for rear feet here – you were clicking for front feet, so now you can stare at the mat and click for the 2nd rear foot hit. I usually stare at the mat and count footfalls: 1-2-3-click 🙂 You can also use your ‘get it’ marker here too to keep him looking straight as weed angles and more motion 🙂Nice work!
Tracy
Parallel path is looking great!! He was finding the jump setup really nicely, no questions at all!
My only suggestion is to replace the click with the ‘get it’ – the click was causing him to look at you, so we might as well just stick with the marker which means “you are correct, reward ahead so keep looking ahead” 🙂 He was looking ahead brilliantly by the end becaue your placement was great (even as you added distance!) so no need to click 🙂 You can add more speed – can he still find it this well with you jogging? If so, how about running?
Great job 🙂
TracyHi!
I think he really likes the tunnel 🙂 On these harder angles, don’t move til he has committed to making the entry – when you moved too soon, he came with you or hit his head on the tunnel (poor buddy! LOL!) Commitment on the hard angles which currently is after he has made the turn into the entry but that will change of course and he will commitment sooner and sooner.To start each rep, ask him to line up
at your side (hand lure or cookie lure are great for this) then take his harness rather than move him by the harness – that will help him learn to set up. He was avoiding your reaching for the harness a bit so he might not like being moved around by the harness.Threadle side position at 1:03 was close to the entry and he did great! Your starting point at 1:08 was too big of change in distance so he didn’t know what to do – good adjustment to move closer on the next reps! He probably needs a few more reps with you closer to the entry to really solidify turning away from you.
Do you have a tunnel threadle verbal in mind? We can probably add that in the next session!
Nice work!
Tracy
Hi! She is doing great with these games!!
Plank video: She was very happy to get on and walk across the plank! Yay! Try to have your rewards a lot lower so she doesn’t pop up to follow your hands. You had a lower hand when you were turning her and that made a huge difference. You started moving your turn hand faster but she is not quite ready for speed on the turns yet, so keep the turns nice and slow 🙂
Backing up –
Because she is slow small, I suggest you do this sitting in a chair so you can keep your hands below your knee level (without killing your back!) What was happening here was that your hands were above your knees, so her head was coming up- which was causing her to stop backing up. So being in a chair will make it easier to keep your hands at the height of her nose when her head is in a ‘neutral’ position (lower jaw parallel to the ground). She will use your hands as a focal point to back away from, and that can also make it easy to throw a cookie 🙂Wobble board – she was nice and confident here too! But I will bug you about lower hands here as well 🙂 You can see how high she was looking up, so you will want to toss the rewards sooner and keep your hands lower, so she doesn’t look at you as much. You can replace the click with a ‘get it’ marker will should also help her look ahead and not up at you.
Parallel path – super! She has really nice value for her prop!! For this game too, we don’t want her looking at you after she gets to the prop (ideally she keeps looking ahead and moving ahead, like she is running a course :)) so to help her with that – you can use a ‘get it marker here too (rather than click) and toss the treat out ahead. Have the rewards ready so you can mark and quickly flick the treat out ahead before she looks back at you.
How is she doing with toys? All of these had treats as the only reward so you can mix in the toy between reps and also on the wobble board!
Great job here!
Tracy
