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Hi!
The barn hunt trial sounds like it was so fun! And a 6 day dog show road trip? I am jealous!!!! Fun!!!!
On the out video – it went great! He had the general concept when you were not moving but he was like “why aren’t you moving?” LOL!! Then when you started moving, it all locked into place 🙂 Very nice! And the balance reps of going past it were nice too – I don’t think you needed to help him as much, I bet he would stay on his line to you with your hand being as low. You can add lateral distance to this – try being 4 or 5 feet from the prop and see if he can still do that out while you are moving.
On the running contact box:
>Not sure how to help him keep looking forward the whole time.>
You did a really good job getting him to look forward! It is hard with small fast dogs, but especially on your left, he was much better about looking forward!
> Hoping I can bring the treat and train into prime time soon, but to be honest I haven’t worked on introducing it again – so much to do all the time!!>
Yes, the TnT will be so helpful! The other thing we do is add a wing past the box eventually but that is a little further down the road. Maybe the TnT can come on the road trip so he can fall in love with it? It will indeed make your life easier – right now I think he is doing well getting into the box then he can track you throwing the treat. The TnT will take care of all of that 🙂
Great job here! Have fun on the road trip if you don’t get a chance to post before you leave! Happy New Year 🙂
Tracy
Hi!
> I do need to broaden Skizzle’s horizons on treats. He won’t work for kibble. And I’ve mostly been using 3 other treats (Ziwi peak lamb, string cheese, and hotdogs) – he likes them all. the ZP is probably lowest value at the moment. He trades for these treats, and then is able to go back to the toy (maybe with some reluctance, though?).>
You can do a bit of a trail mix with a tiny bit of chicken mixed in (rotisserie chicken, for example) or a bit of salmon treats – just enough to add more smell and flavor, but not so much that it messes with his belly. We definitely don’t want an upset stomach!
The threadle wrap foundation is going well! He turned well in both direction, which is fantastic! You did the “U turns” on these which went great. So now you can do the full 360 as you continue to move forward (rewarding in the same direction you are moving towards). We will be able to move into the next steps soon, stay tuned 🙂
He did really well working outside – yes there were noises and distraction but that is so good to experience (especially the barking neighbor dog 🙂 )
He is making definitely progress with the turn and burn game. Super!!! And once he ‘warms up’ he is fantastic (like the last couple of reps). I think we can add one more thing to jump start each session which will lead us into moving the line so you can do the FC sooner too: I think the hardest part of the game is taking his eyes off of you. So we can give him a focal point as you cue him to go around the barrel: either a bowl, or part of a toy. If you choose to use the bowl, approach it like it is the ‘fold it in’ game and place it maybe only1/3rd of the way around the barrel and send him to it. You can drop the treat to it once or twice, then move it halfway around, then 2/3rds of the way around… when he is driving to it with the bowl 2/3rds of the way around, we can fade out the cookie in the bowl. You can do the FC and have him chase you for the cookie from your hand (or the toy). That can all happen quickly, probably a few reps!
Or you can use a really long toy – and hold his collar, placing the toy on the other side of the barrel – if he is on your left side, the toy is in your right hand. Then cue him to go around the barrel and you a slide the toy through the FC so he chases that 🙂 Let me know if that makes sense LOL!>And now I probably need to wait a couple days before trying again.>
You can probably do it tomorrow if you want, I think he had a grand time in this session and was not mentally overloaded.
Looking at the parallel path game:
>Again – didn’t think we were ready to swap to a jump bar>
I think you totally are! He had a ton of really good reps – the best reps were all moving away from the camera, because you did the cookie toss starts. On the reps coming towards the camera, you started with him next to you so he didn’t see the motion to set the line (which caused the questions). So definitely remember the cookie toss start.
He was also better on your left side than on your right sided, so move a little more slowly on your right and that will help him lock onto the line.I would add the jump set up now, he is showing enough understanding on the prop that you can move forward to it. As you add the jump setup, you want to deliver the treats sooner: as soon as he looks at & starts moving to the jump, you can use a ‘get it’ marker and throw the treat so it lands out ahead of him as he is going through the uprights.
>And left in our push-tugging at the end – it’s fun how pushy he is, and how he enjoys being pushed!>
He is so funny! That cracks me up!
On the last video, you added the toy placed on the line! Yay! The only suggestion is to let him see you place it (he totally missed it on the first rep LOL!) And you can let it stay visible a bit more to really solidify the concept of driving around the prop. I think this focal point will really help!
>Took me a minute to start with a cookie not a collar grab (he’s not interested in the collar grab again >
You might need 3 hands for this LOL! But you can line him up in position near the barrel, give him a cookie, then hold his collar – then place the toy, then let him go to it. A cookie lure can help line him up, and then we can fade the cookie out to the lineup cue.
Great job here!!
TracyGood morning!
>I initially had the barrels farther apart, but he struggled at the start because of the toy in my hand and he would not send from the hand with the toy in it.>
Was that on the video? Sounds like you took it out, feel free to post it all! I only saw one rep of question on the video (at :06) and that was more because you stepped to the side (watch your left leg) which pulled him off the barrel as he passed you. On the other reps, you were very clear as you stepped forward and he was really good. Going past the dangling toy was definitely harder but he did it! Yay!
The get out looked great! Nice job trying in motion and keeping your feet straight the whole time. The only thing missing was balance 🙂 Be sure to mix in reps where you release and move forward without cuing the get out – and he should stay on his line towards you.
The threadle wrap foundations look great too! You can definitely add movement now – walking forward and working on the timing and mechanics of turning him away, working up to the loop where the thrown reward is also the start cookie for the next rep. When you do threadle wraps with the other dogs, do you use dog-side arm or both arms or opposite arm only? We can start showing the arm cue you want to use as well, while still using the inside arm to turn him away. This concept will quickly move to getting him to turn away on his own.
Great job here!
Tracy
Hi!
>Or just plan on her debut being the mid-February Fusion UKI with Casey Keller.>
I think coming off the spay with very little time to run sequences, the February option is the best option. And she should be comfy with Casey in the ring, because she would have met Casey in the seminar! Seems like a good situation!
Her behind the back starts are looking great in both directions! She seemed to have no questions about going around yo then to the wing. Definitely something to keep playing with as she gets back to jumping! And it looks like the cue hand was empty? Hard to tell from the video but that is what it seemed like. If so – super! We want the hand empty so the cookie does not become the cue 🙂 If not – try it with an empty cue hand 🙂 You can also have the treats in your pocket and then sometimes you can do this as remote reinforcement too.
Great job!!
TracyHi!
This is why we start with a prop, to hash out all of the behaviors before going to the actual obstacles 🙂
>Moved onto sends and the biting is back. I know this is a tight space with dogs in this video but we did it earlier in the day at FF with lots of room and zero distractions and the result was the same.>
A couple of thoughts here –
>Also she’s gone into BC work all the time get real excited , throw balls , stalk things, nip the mamma when I said ready… so also combatting her brain now too lol!>
Yes, when she is aroused and maybe frustrated, she uses her mouth 🙂 She also got jumpy/sticky when you changed what you were doing rather than just continuing to train. So if something is not quite right ,reward her and either keep going like normal, making adjustments – or break it off entirely and change what you are doing.
She didn’t look frustrated here (til after you indicated that it was not correct) – I think this prop is probably too close to a toy. It is very grab-able LOL!
You can switch to a prop that is most definitely not a toy to grab – like an amazon box or frying pan or something. Hopefully she won’t be interested in grabbing a frying pan LOL! And that way you can isolate the foot smack. And you can mark and reward earlier, before she gets to it, so you can mark before she bites it.
As you work on this, I do think the other dogs can be in a different room. It is a lot of pressure and it is already a challenging behavior. I know it was similar at FF but no need to add pressure to it with the other dogs right there watching.
Nice work here! We will get it hashed out!
TracyHi! Seems warm for winter!!! Yay!
>I think I was getting my marker out at the right time. >
I think you got into the groove of getting it started when she was about a stride from the jump setup, which ended up having the reward moving when she was arriving at the uprights. You can now start it even sooner – when she turns and takes the first step towards the jump 🙂 That way you are marking intent to commit and forward focus, not just arrival at the jump.
>Interesting that the few failures she had were right after restarting after reloading? Not certain why>>
I watched to see if there was a pattern to those, and I think there was: all 3 of those moments (:39, 1:50, 2:24) were when she was on your right side and you were a bit lateral from the jump, with your shoulder closed forward (bent elbow at your side)… with the tunnel entry pretty visible behind you. She was looking at you on each of those, which is usually a request for more info. So it was probably position plus cloud shoulder (not enough connection) and the visibility of the tunnel. The tunnel might not have a lot of value yet, but it is a pretty big visual to process nonetheless.
You can staying a little closer to the jump after a reset, and open your shoulder back to her by having your dog-side hand pointing back to her nose more (this is what you were doing on your left side, where she had no trouble.
She had no trouble finding the jump while she was in the groove of doing it, and she got really fast at the end LOL!!! Nice!!!!
On the tunnel video – the tunnel part was the easy part, she did really well with that!
The first rep was great with tugging to the entry, taking her collar in position, then throwing the toyCompare to the 2nd and 3rd rep where you took her collar near the exit, tossed the toy, then walked her ack by the collar. She started to avoid after that – brought the toy back slowly. Add in the processing challenge of the other dog and she was not into it as much after that.
In the video you mentioned potentially putting more money into the grab… I don’t think it is that, I think it is more that she does not like being moved by the collar. So if you move her by the collar, you will want to pay pay pay cookie cookie cookie the whole time. Ideally, though, you do what you did on the first rep – tug her back to the position you want to start in, take the toy, hold her collar & give a treat (but don’t move her around by the collar), toss the toy, then start the rep. The other option is to toss the toy near the exit where you were, and have her walk back to the start spot with you while you reward with cookies. I think she will like that better than being moved by the collar 🙂
Nice work here! Fingers crossed for more good weather!!
Tracy
Hi!
>it was all cookies mostly delivered by hand. Today he is struggling not looking at my hand.>
No worries, we can balance things back again 🙂 Throwing the treats here with this game is already helping!
For the prop game – you can start the RC element by getting him charging back and forth with the parallel path game. And as you do that, be sure to connect by looking at him. When you are looking ahead, he looks at you (for more info) but when you looked at him, he looks ahead to the prop.
Looking at the rear crosses – he was turning towards you because you were still visible on the original side, which cued him to turn towards you. In both of these reps, you can see him turning to you on the original side:
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1hcISWt7TEnI1m-bywoA–eaGOFnLQ510f_XHFkA90ig/edit?usp=sharingSo to get the RCs, ideally you would be fully visible on the new side before he arrives at the prop – which means starting to get to the other side sooner and faster 🙂 You can also teach the RC concept with the alternate game here, which makes it easier to get to the other side to help him turn:
Great job here!
Tracy
Hi! This went great!
Nice connection and he found the new side after the blind cross very easily (and yes, he liked all the cookie tosses :))
My only suggestion here is that you can decelerate sooner. You were doing the deceleration as he caught up to you, so he was surprised and went a little wide. Ideally, you would decelerate right after you finish the blind so he has time to see it and collect. You can see how tight he was able to turn on the last rep – there was a little miscommunication so he didn’t recall immediately and that allowed you to decelerate sooner… and he was super tight on the turn! Yay!
You can move to the handling combos now, which involves the barrel wraps too!
Great job 🙂
TracyHi!
He has a lot of good tugging and is happy to bring it back! It looked like it was a little hard to get the tugging going in the beginning, and then when he was really getting into it and pulling back: hard to hold on (he looks strong!) And it looks like he as being careful around your hands, which is MUCH appreciated!I think a longer tug will really help! At the beginning, the toy was relatively small and moving fast and low – which required you to bend over him. That makes it hard to play! A longer toy (or two toys tied together) can give him easier access to the tugging part of the toy while also making it easier for you to hold on.
The only think I think he didn’t like was when you would let go of the tug while he was pulling back – that threw him off balance and seemed surprising so he kind of rocked back funny onto his butt (like at :32, 1:10, 1:22). And he didn’t really bring it back right away when that happened. So you can change that transition from tugging to letting go by tugging, relaxing the tug (but not letting go), then gently pulling forward as you let go so he moves forward and doesn’t end up on his butt 🙂
You can also add in throwing the toy further and then having him chase you a bit as he brings it back! I have my dogs chase me through the house LOL!
Great job here :)
TracyGood morning!
Video 1 – It is great to be able to practice coming into the ring while the previous dog is still working the sequence! Lift seemed perfectly happy to enter with engagement on both reps here. It was a little hard to see exactly what she was doing, but it looks like she had very confident body language and quick responses to cues. Yay! Definitely see if you can do this when you go back to classes 🙂
My only suggestion is to play any games where jumps are not involved away from the sea of jumps 🙂 We want to avoid any value shifts to following you instead of looking for jumps (ideally she looks for jumps when you are moving around a course). So if you do NFC without asking for jumps, stay behind the start line and go near any jumps (even if they are offset, we just don’t want to get her ignoring them 🙂 )Wing practice – She did great with the wing, of course.
Sometimes they don’t need to shake it off and are all business about getting to work – I think that is what happened at the beginning when she was like “don’t touch me, I want to wrap the wing” hahaha! She did do the shake and get engaged – I think that is part of figuring out her needs. It is possible that in some contexts, if she is engaged and does not do a shake-off, then she doesn’t need it. But if she doesn’t do a shake-off and isn’t really engaged (you can gauge that by asking her to bark or something), then you can try to get the shake-off with the backwards petting. Time and experience will let you know which works best, and what is needed in different contexts. Part of the joy of young dogs is we walk into various situations armed with a toolbox of things to do, but not necessarily knowing which tool is needed in the moment. Lots of adjustments happening all the time 🙂>I am undecided on when Lift should make her “NFC play in the ring and leave” debut. I want it to be on her home “turf” at Fusion so my choices are Jan 11-12, Feb 15-16 or May 3-4. >
I guess it depends on what you mean by play in the ring and leave 🙂 If it is go in, do a lineup (but not at a jump) then run to the food box, then back in to a lineup, etc – then. I think January is fine. I would do it near the food box but not near a jump, so there is no confusion or frustration about why she is not taking the jump when there are jumps right there 🙂 Think of it as all happening behind the start line and with people as distractions.
If you are thinking any baby dog sequence stuff then I agree with you, Jan is probably too soon only because she has not had enough recovery time from the spay to be able to practice real agility.
I am pretty sure you can remove a bar and do wing wraps, though!
>She is in the novice session with Casey Keller at Fusion on Feb 14 so I would leave her at home to chill out on Sat and then try NFC on Sunday for that one.>
Perfect, that should be good timing for NFC fun stuff.
> I am also secretarying a MAC trial at On the Run on Feb 1-2 but think I should try to get her in there for a mini seminar before a trial. (Jacque may have one on Jan 31 if her knee surgery goes well) Lift has tagged along several times when Kaladin is trialing there but hasn’t done anything in the ring, just a few short sessions on the practice jump when it was quieter and played in their back room. >
Do they have a food box there? You can also play it by ear and see how she is doing just before the trial.
>There is also a Mar 22-23 UKI trial at OTR that I am not secretarying but am considering for her assuming an earlier Fusion debut goes well. >
Perfect!!! That one should be on the calendar for sure.
>(Kaladin would stay home since it’s right before the Invitational) >
You might consider bringing him along even if he doesn’t run, as social support for her if she is used to having him around when you go to new places.
>And I have a longer term aspirational goal of having her ready to run the SS Challenge at MAC’s Classic at OTR over Memorial Day weekend. (maybe NFC but no food reward box for a Classic) >
Fun! That is a reasonable goal/time frame.
>Does MaxPup video review end on the 30th or the 31rst?
It ends on the 30th. My goal is to have the structure for the young dog support group set up today, hopefully, but we have decent temps and no rain and maybe even blue skies, so I need to get the dogs outside LOL!
Nice work here 🙂
Tracy
Good morning!
Happy retirement to Cody!
>I think he’s so close to getting it all together, just need to figure out the couple of missing pieces.>
I agree – he now just needs more exposure to different challenges and rehearsal in different environments. He is doing well!
>Plan going forward is: – pushing the distraction work in class>
Yes – first with reinforcement in your hand/pocket, then when he is fine with it, as remote reinforcement
>– music is good as a distraction??>Yes – it is a processing distraction for dogs (and humans haha)
>– keep building our chill and volume dial skills – keep working on find my face skills>Yes 🙂 And figuring out which work best for him, in different contexts.
>– going to give running my invisible dog this monday night>Yes, if he leaves to investigate a distraction, you keep running InvisiCoal 🙂 The reasoning behind it is that there is no reinforcement available for investigating, but also nothing weird or scary happens… but there is a LOT of reinforcement available for running the course with you! You can even reward you invisible dog 🙂
>– need to get back to working on end of run routine>Yes, but this seems to be a lower priority because he does well with this and is happy to get his end of run rewards.
>– keep building running in class with clean hands – treats and lotus ball in pocket>Yes, or handing off the lotus ball for someone else to throw. It is a good surprise for him! You will probably need to be very specific about when/where to reward but it can be very helpful.
>Looking forward to hearing your ideas for the support group. I would love to be able to bounce questions off you>
I am hoping to get it all put together hopefully today! Stay tuned!
Tracy
Good morning!
>even before we have “perfect” toy play skills. I’ve not had perfect toy skills with my previous dogs, so although I have some ideas of toy behaviors I’d like, I can’t let it sideline me from using toys for an extended time.>
Exactly! I remind myself that true play is ‘dirty’ 🙂 and even a bit silly. And If we spend too much time working towards perfect and precise, we lose the play element a bit and also we lose time in this super fun puppy phase. So yes, keep working on being as clean as possible with markers and transitions – but the main thing is to make sure there is no conflict or fighting each other over the toy 🙂 You and Skiz will develop a play style that is fun for you both, as well as super motivating/rewarding.
> reward marker that means “behind” the dog (for the stays, here). Hadn’t really considered it before, but can appreciate how that helps direct them to the reward.>
It has helped us build distance between dog and handler more easily, for stays, stopped contacts, etc. Super useful! And also very cute when we say the marker and they look behind themselves before we even throw the reward LOL!
> And for the stays, having a prop for duration is something I can get behind – I used one successfully to help a previous dog pass her 1 minute obedience sit (after many failed attempts).>
Perfect!!!! And since we have an eye on what family members needed, might as well use that to help Skizzle in advance 🙂
>Gives me empathy for when the puppy brain is unable to process information.>
Right LOL!! So true!!! It is impressive how much *I* screw it up compared to the dogs (who rarely screw it up) LOL!!!
Looking at the videos:
Yay for playing with the toy at the start!! And he enjoyed the toy play through the whole session. You will get a quicker transition to getting the toy back without holding his collar – you can get more passive in the tugging like you did, then reach into the pocket for a dull cookie to trade. Reward when he drops the toy, then bring him closer to the barrel, line him up (cookie lure is fine here), *then* take his collar. The collar hold is the last thing that happens and he is already in position to start (rather than getting moved by the collar).I don’t think he loves being moved by the collar (watching the change in his body language and how he started avoiding it) so the collar grab is the last thing to happen in each rep.
If he has trouble going from a boring cookie back to the toy, or even eating the boring cookie in the first place, let me know and we can make some adjustments to make it easier for him to eat and tug in the same session.
His joy at grabbing the toy behind him on the first rep (“NAILED IT!”) was hilarious. It was a hard challenge! Great job breaking it down – I loved how he would get the toy then finish the wrap and bring it to you. Wonderful!!!!!!
Skipping ahead to the turn and burn video:
It is fun to see him getting the idea of the barrel wrap game!! You were SUPER FUN on that first rep, heartily playing from :29 – :47, then making a quick transition to the cookie to get the toy back. Massive click/treat to you for the BIG play and quick transition – that was perfect for so many reasons. Primarily, the big response and big play was a bit surprising to him, which is likely to have brought on a dopamine spike and all that goes with that… which leads to more motivation (and movement!) to do the “thing”.He was great about offering it on rep 2! He got right on the toy as you moved away and dragged it on the next reps (even after a cookie!) – then loosened his grip when you stood up a little while tugging. He also likes to tug closer to your hand so he is more likely to let go when you stand up a little. Dragging the toy away from him for as long as possible (even if you change directions in a smaller space) and staying bent over for as long as possible (with apologies to your back 😁) will help keep him on the toy.
He is super clear about giving info about the cues he needs here: he was questioning if he should go around the barrel when upper body said wrap but your left leg (dog-side leg) said don’t wrap because you didn’t step forward. At about 1:34 to 1:36-ish, he stops and looks at all the cues. You can see him look up at you then down at your left leg. He did something similar at about 2:09 then he sat waiting for more info (the sit probably has more of a reward history :)) He did end up going around the barrel but having your left leg step forward or even be placed a bit more forward will help support him going around the barrel more smoothly without him stopping to assess the info.
Looking at the pattern game video – excellent warm up! And yes, he totally seemed to think the tossed hat was a toy to be retrieved. Good boy!!!! That is probably why he looked at it a few more times in the next part of the game (‘why did you throw it, human, if we were not going to play with it’) 🤣😂 He cracks me up! But he got right back into the pattern – at the very end, did he get the toy and play a bit? His cookie-to-toy in the previous videos looked good!!
Yes, the distraction can be added a bit more stealthily 🙂 And you can take this game on the road and see how he does outside or new locations.
>f you think there are specific games I should try next/soon – please let me know. I need to take advantage of the ridiculously warm/snow-less winter weather and also practice some outdoors when there’s enough light.>
A warm winter is great for puppy training! Some of the games that need more space include:
– Parallel path with the prop (and eventually rear crosses with the prop)
– The parallel path concept transfer to a “jump” – a rolled up towel can be his jump bar 🙂
– Taking the barrel wraps outside, so you can build into more turn and burn, and then rocking horses which have 2 barrels.Because outdoor time is limited, you can prioritize those for outdoors and everything else can be indoors 🙂
Great job here!!
Tracy
Good morning!
>While we had the ring to ourselves, it was a new place for him and it’s a boarding facility, so there were a lot barking dogs.>
Yes, I think some of the dogs in MaxPup 4 rent that same facility too – there have often been barking dogs and weird noises in the background and that has been challenging! Pattern games (from the resilience game here and the MYOB stuff :)) are very helpful!
I think he did great here with the collection sandwich!! Everything looks really good (blind, decel, etc) – there was one connection blip before the pivot on rep 2, but you fixed that for the other reps and they were perfect. You can add on the GO ending to this (throwing the treat or toy forward after the pivot and accelerating to it).
You can also add the barrel/cone wrap to this (you will see this in the Handling Combos game) to add in a bit of obstacle commitment.
Great job here!
TracyGood morning! Hooray for decent weather! I am hoping to get outside today too and enjoy the mudfest in the agility ring LOL!!
He did well with the serp on the left turn side! He had one question about going directly to the toy but it looks like you removed it so he didn’t get it. The other reps on that side were all strong! Because of his size and length, you can place the toy a little further away so he can accelerate to it more.
For some reason, he did not look too enthused about the right turn reps. He was looking at something over his shoulder at the start, then trotted through the reps without the usual interest in the toy. Not sure why – I mean, it seems unlikely that it was physical fatigue so perhaps there was a distraction in the environment? Wanted food reward? Or too many reps of the same thing, so he was bored? You can do fewer reps (one in each position, so the entire session of both sides is 6 reps) in case he finds it boring for now 🙂 It gets more exciting soon 🙂
The rocking horses definitely went well – that will keep you both warm in 40 degree weather! On most reps, you really emphasized connection so he could see it, because it is what the dog sees and not what we see 🙂 At :57 – that was the only spot you didn’t make connection that he saw, so he didn’t change sides. When that happens – don’t fix your errors 🙂 Missing a side change is a handler connection error 95% of the time (and 5% of the time it is a handler motion error :)) Keep going (freestyle for a moment!) then reward somewhere else. He did look confused when you stopped him to re-send, so we don’t want to mark things as incorrect (which stopping does) unless they are legit incorrect, otherwise we get frustration from the pups.
The turn and burn elements looked great and I think he really liked them 🙂
A question about your wrap verbals: when you are on course with Dellin, for example, do you say each word only twice, like ‘dig dig’, to cue the wrap on a jump? Or multiple times (dig dig dig dig dig etc) for the wrap on a jump? If it is only twice, carry on 🙂 If it is more than twice, start adding that here to rehearse you saying them more and him hearing them more.
Since it is going to be hot outside today 😁🤣😂 you can move the barrels a little further apart and move to the advanced level, which has deceleration into rotation and countermotion.
>I had to switch the toy from hand to hand on the rocking horse – it’s such a big toy that he could not ignore it in his face. A work in progress, if it was a smaller toy, it would have been ok.>
That is a big toy!! Switching hands makes it harder on us humans and also draws his attention to your hands a bit.
One of the good side elements of this game is that we teach the pups to ignore a toy in our hand until we mark and present it, even if the hand is right in front of their face 🙂 That relies on super clear markers, so you can be more consistently using your ’strike’ marker before presenting the toy. Sometimes I could hear the strike, sometimes you were quiet, and I think the toy was moving before the marker on all the reps. So you can use this opportunity to sharpen that marker, starting with a smaller toy like you mentioned so it is easier for him to ignore at first.
Great job here!!
Tracy
Good morning! He did really well working in a busy busy environment! SUPER!!!
Parallel path: he did great! Yay!
You can throw the rewards further to get even more speed on the parallel path. You can also throw a toy! Yes, toy throws tend to take longer so there are fewer overall reps, but they are super fun 🙂 You can toss a treat away so you are getting more lateral, then when he locks onto the jump, throw a toy.
>We do short sequences in his in person class and he walks. Jumps are at 12″ in class. He can go up 2″ a month starting on the 8th (18 months).>
Hmmmm….. if he is walking, I suggest taking the jumps back down to 8” and just get him running 🙂 No need to raise the bars until he is run run running in class. Higher bars will just make it harder.
Some questions to figure out why this fast athletic dog is walking in class:
Are you also running in the class? Are there a lot of distraction challenges? Are you using high value reinforcement like awesome toys thrown or placed on the line, or insanely yummy treats (lotus ball if you can’t throw the treats on turf). Are you getting him excited with toy play before his turn in class? Are there are lot of turns/collection the jumps in class?Ok, that is a lot of questions but I would like to get him running in class!!
Rotated sends: these also went well!
It sounds like you were using a ‘yessss’ marker, for cookies in hand. That is fine! But that is also permission to come to the hand when he hears it, so if you say it too early and he comes off the wing (like at :08 as you were rotating) you should reward anyway so as to not dilute or confuse the marker.>The tunnel we did last week was just off the screen to the left. It was tempting him and it did win 1 time.>
This was at :38 (and almost at 1:15) when you added a lot of distance on the backwards send. He didn’t know where to go, then as he came back to you, you leaned forward to the tunnel… which is a cue to go take the tunnel. Since he was not sure of what to do, he went to the tunnel. Good boy!
Getting closer to the wing definitely helped because he was successful on all the reps with you closer.
When you switched sides, I think there was some confusion about which wing you want (both are highly visible) at 1:35. The step back was to the wing you wanted, but the upper body was facing the other wing so he was not sure. He sorted it out but you can clarify things by having th other wing removed. To sort it out, he had to slow himself way down – so removing the other wing should help him go faster. And you can also play this game with a tug toy!
I think strike a pose went well! The reward hand was a visible distraction but he seemed to have no questions. Your position was dynamic so there was a little movement when you delivered the reward, but that was good! Yes, you can add a dish or MM on the floor. You can also use a toy in the reward hand.
And you can do what you did here with a jump for the concept transfer!
Rocking horses: These are going well too! He is hitting the wing a bit at the beginning and then also with the toy, so delay the yes til he has cleared it fully.
The advanced level is going well in terms of commitment – he had one question at 1:43, when you moved away before he was past you and moved the reward hands, so he stopped at your hands.
He was walking through most of this until the toy came out: he really drove for the toy! So to get more speed and less walking a couple of ideas:
– more toy play for sure!! Food rewards tend to chill him out too much 🙂
– move the wings further apart so you both move more 🙂
– do fewer reps of everything in training so that he is so excited to do it (rather than settling into a slower gait because there will eb a lot of food reps)
– He might have been being careful on this footing because there is not a lot of grip for tight turns. You can leave tight turns to great footing that he can dig into, and do extension stuff on the harder footing.Great job here! Let me know what you think !
Tracy
