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Hi –
>do I stop my movement and then say “catch”/throw food OR do I keep moving (obviously in slow motion) while saying “catch” and throw food?>Both! If you stop, be sure to praise, pause, then mark/throw. If you keep moving, be sure to stay connected then mark/throw. Or, re-connect if you look away, praise, then mark/throw. We don’t want any change in your motion or change in connection to be associated with the release 🙂
T
Hi!
Super nice session, his stays are going REALLY WELL!! Yay!
One suggestion when you line him up – have his feet facing the direction you will walk away, so he does not get tempted to move his feet or break the stay to face you. He was perfect here but I want to help him stay perfect 🙂
Also, you did lots of rewarding while you were still moving away (that is great!) When staying in motion – if you look away from him (which is perfectly fine) just be sure that you don’t re-connect AND say catch/throw all in one motion. That might cause him to think the re-connection is the release.
Since this calm version of stays AND the ball version went so well, try it with a tug toy! You might need to make the stays shorter because he is more excited when you do a lot of tugging before and after the stays 🙂 But it will simulate his future trial-excitement 🙂
Great job!
TracyHi!
She did well here! One thing that will help is to have the bag appear in the environment without her seeing it appear – she would see you putting the bag down on when you introduced it, which totally enhanced it. So she was pretty convinced that the bag was something to interact with for the rest for the session.
So you can have it already on the ottoman or couch, for example, whence comes into the room and start playing the game as if it is not there. Then if you want to move it to a new spot, toss a cookie for her t ago chase on the other side of the room and then when she turns to come back to you: the distraction is in place 🙂
If she does pick it up – you can totally interrupt that. And if she keeps interacting with it, you can put it on something higher so it is still present but easier to ignore.
One more thought – when marking the behavior you like, you don’t need ‘yes’ and ‘get it’ – the ‘get it’ plays both roles of telling her she is correct and where to find it. So the get it will be all she needs 🙂
> As I waited her out she got it – could almost see the wheels turning in her brain>
Yes! She was thinking so hard!! What a good girl!
Great job!
TracyHi!
>To clarify, if she walks BESIDE the prop I still don’t reward? If she leaps over it and doesn’t touch it, then I do reward?>
Yes – but if she goes past it once, dial back your speed so she can hit it successfully so there are no more failures.
>One of yesterday’s videos was lured around the barrel. Let me know if I should try the cone or the wingless. >
Yes, she did well with the lure! Try the wingless, it will be easier for her to see.
>Do I go back to the two bowl game first if it’s a new prop?>
Since we are using the toy as an aid, I don’t think you need to go back to the bowls.
She was super happy to chase the toy around in the barrel in the video here and you were able to get lots of nice wraps! The hardest part for her was lining up – you can put the toy on the ground or under your arm so both hands are free. That way you can use one hand to cue the line up, the other to feed, and the first time can reach for her collar.
Do one more session like this in a day or two on the wingless upright, and then we will add the next steps 🙂
>Dot was extra cranky last night for an unknown reason. She barked in her crate on and off all night which is a first for her. Prior she has slept all night quietly. Took her out several times and she didn’t necessarily have to potty. She just couldn’t settle for some reason. So, I suspect she’ll be tired today.>
She might just need a day to decompress, for whatever reason. Remember, she doesn’t need to do structured things every day 🙂
Backing up to the mat is looking great! She was curling a little but that might have had to do with the rewards all coming from you right hand – you can see her lock onto that and move away from it rather than move backwards on a centered path. So alternate with hand delivers the treat: sometimes left, sometimes right, to help her stay straight.
Nice work!
TracyGood morning!
>but it didn’t seem to me like he ever didn’t want to do the activity.>
It is possible that he has a reward hierarchy of work then food/toys. So we can use ‘work’ as a reward for eating 🙂 depending the context and if he gets super choosey about when to eat treats. It is something to watch as he grows up and gets all of his teeth in 🙂
>Apparently we need to start training with linguine because he was quite excited about that.>
OMG!!! That is so funny!!!! He was actually quite graceful, slurping it down. I mean, linguine is DELISH and maybe you can let him watch you eat, then go do a training session using a bit of whatever you ate 🙂 I have used pasta in training because dogs do love it!
>I had felt he was adding the couch to his obstacles as opposed to leaving the activity.>
Yes – totally agree and the couch was easier than the other stuff, so he was offering that! Note how on the setup in the video below, he did not offer any couch reps LOL!
Looking at strike a pose:
>We did the strike a pose again to experiment with rewards and he really does not think that a toy is an acceptable reward for this game. He will play between reps but will not go for the toy if he has not received his cookie. He did think the cookie dish was perfectly acceptable.>I love the feedback from the dogs about what THEY think the appropriate reinforcement is LOL!! Maybe he thinks this kind of stationary game where you are facing him is like shaping, where food is the correct reward. Then in between, obviously we play with toys LOL! I just love his opinions and communication. The session itself went really well so we can certainly incorporate his feedback into the training: strike a pose has food rewards and play breaks in between. He might change that when you start moving, and that is fine too 🙂
The chase the anti game looked great – the helper here is getting a great work out LOL!! He is driving directly to her and straight and they will be super useful when you are adding in big lines on jumps in the future. He seemed to have no change in behavior when you were running, so you can run even sooner to add more racing to it. I am not sure you will win without cheating LOL but he did great!
Rear crosses:
Good job getting further and further from the prop as your starting point – he was locking onto the toy at first so you were not far enough behind to get the RC. But then at 1:04 he was driving ahead and you got the RC really well! I like how you made a big fuss over the RCs with toys and treats for a long, fun reward, then went back to the parallel path for a bunch of reps because he was starting to watch you a bit.The RC at 2:13 was a little late in terms of you getting to the new side before he got to the prop, but you immediately adjusted that on the last rep so he was able to turn correctly.
I am doing a happy dance about how well he can find the turn in both directions when you show it to him. SUPER!! Most puppies have a hard time with that and he says it is easy 🙂
He is definitely turning around really well on the plank! In both directions! It is really fun to see his coordination developing. Another happy dance here. It seems a little stronger/more fluid to the left and he chose the left turn (even though it was turning away) on one of the reps so he might be a lefty. But he is pretty balanced with no strong side preference and no limitations, and able to control his mechanics really well. Yay!
Great job here!
Tracy
Good morning!
Most (all?) conditioning classes use lures or food as a guide, and that is great. This platform might have been good a few weeks/months ago, but it is a little too narrow for him now – parts of his legs are hanging off the side so he is not comfortably sitting and is going past a tight sit into a squished sit, which is why he had so much trouble. He just needs a slightly bigger perch to be able to get on and move easily into a tight sit.
For the sit – yes, you can lure him into the position but I also urge you to not worry about it too much for now 🙂 You can either focus on the sit position, or the stay – but if you try to do BOTH at the same time at this point, you will end up focusing on the exact position and not reward him when he responds correctly (like at :33). That can lead to confusion and stress, so at this stage it is one or the other not both. He was able to follow the cookie lure to be relatively at your side and I am glad you didn’t mess around with him being a bit off to the side – being tight to your leg is easy to shape, to make the stay very happy and fun!
Looking at the retrieve:
He brought it right back really well on the first rep… then seemed to realize that the game was not that fun with you sitting so he was less enthusiastic about it. Clapping didn’t seem to really get him into it but standing was definitely better! Tugging is more fun with you standing! So keep standing and mix in exciting things like you running away (fun!) and whipping out a fun different toy to surprise him with for bringing back the first toy.The running contact work is very similar, just starting him from a different angle and rewarding near you to the next look. Are you looking to reward front feet or back feet? You were sometimes giving the yes marker for back feet (rep 1, rep 4, rep 5, rep 6), sometimes for front feet(rep 2, rep 3). If it is back feet, the first back foot or 2nd back foot? This is all the stuff to work out now on the mat, and stare at the mat to really see it.
Great job here!!
Tracy
Hi! !
The intermediate game is a pure shaping exercise – you can shape him to pick up anything including random objects that are not toys. That is great for obedience! Or for teaching him to bring you the TV remote haha!Tracy
Good morning!
Quill sure loved his formal introduction to the tunnel, with his human sister helping!! The angles were a little more challenging so definitely keep working around the clock angles. You can even toss a toy into the tunnel so he gets it pretty immediately after getting into the tunnel! A big piece of cookie or any toy he will bring back is great for that, so you don’t have to crawl into the tunnel LOL!!Great job!
Tracy
Good morning!
He did super well with the barrel wraps then driving to the toy. He was really excited by the toy but did his wrap., and you were clear about which side you wanted him on. You can use food in the in-between moments because he is aroused and food (like a pattern game) can help with arousal regulation and help him walk back to the start without grabbing for the toy.
Pivoting without going to the toy might have been extra hard because he had done a bunch of wrap-then-toy and so when he exited the wrap if you were still moving and facing the line to the toy… off he went, good boy!
Separating the pivot from the wrap helped! He did GREAT pivoting on the flat with the toy right there 🙂
And on the last rep, you finished the wrap and made sure to be stationary and clearly indicate the pivot – and he pivoted. YAY!! So for future games with this, you can send him to the barrel from a little further away, so when he exits the wrap you are stationary and indicating the come-to-my-hand. That way he never sees even a tiny bit of run-to-toy cue (motion or facing it).
He was slipping a bit on the floor, so he is probably reaching the speed level where you will want to do this outside or on mats, or get long yoga mats to cover the wood – we don’t want him to splay or hurt himself going fast!
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
Tracy
Hi!
This went really well!! She didn’t really understand how to play with it when food was present, but when you start to approach it as shaping the retrieve with food as a shaping game and not a tugging game things really got rolling! Yay! She *does* like the toy, so keep rewarding small bits of grabbing/pulling on in the presence of the food (that was hard!) You were making it harder very quickly, so be sure to watch to see if she gets frustrated at all which might mean it is too hard.You can keep moving forward with this – putting a toy on the ground for her to pick up for treats, and building up to throwing a toy for her to pick up and get treats for picking up and eventually bringing back!
Nice work!
Tracy
Hi!
The barrel as the RC creates a different type of RC – more of a tandem turn where you arms cue the behavior (you can see her looking at your arms) rather than the traditional rear cross of you cutting behind her path. Tandem turns are more of a pull to the correct side and then a turn away, like a rear cross on the flat. Tandems are super useful, so definitely keep doing them!At :47 and :54 when she went to the other side of the barrel, she was correct – your footwork and line created that and pushed her away from the tandem turn line. So if there are errors in handling games, assume they are human errors 🙂 And reset with a cookie 🙂
To help her read the traditional rear cross of you driving up the line and putting pressure on the RC line to cue behind her before takeoff, keep trying the prop game!
>(the prop she doesn’t always hit it turns before hitting the prop).>
That is fine for now, she can be near it, as long as she turns the correct direction.
And you can try the alternative RC game posted yesterday – that one will also help her read the traditional RCs.
Nice work here!!
Tracy
Good morning!
She did well here! Yes, food is her favorite thing 🙂
The food in the bowl might be the hardest challenge for here, so being close to it was very hard. Yo can have it on a chair in a corner of the room so it is present, but less challenging and she will try to grab for it less. And be sure that the food you are tossing is MUCH better than whatever is in the bowl, to help with the challenge.Nice work!!
Tracy
Good morning!
I think the difference between the stationary send near the prop (which looked great!) and the big distance/running to the prop blew her mind 🙂 When you started that far back and starting running, all of that took the prop entirely out of the picture.
So split the difference. Start by progressing with the sending and doing the parallel path game (so she can see motion) from gradually further and further back and when you hit the 15 or 20 range, you can start to move forward after the send and cut behind to the new side so she can drive forward and read the RC. For now, don’t run and don’t be too exciting because that draws her to you and of the prop.
>I started out with cheese in my hand but even after I put it away—–>
Start with cheese in the opposite arm. And I think it was more that you were running (fun fun!) and less that you were holding cheese.
We can also place something on the target to help her look forward when you are moving (like a bowl) and that will help! And check out the alternate RC game added yesterday – that helps too!
>Markers- food from hand – snack thrown or placed food- search multiples of thrown food- scatter toy from hand- take thrown or placed toy – get it>
Great! And you might hate me for this… it is possible that snack, search, scatter all sound similar to her so she isn’t really processing them. Try to emphasize the vowels: ACKs, EARCH, CATTER to make them sound pretty different.
Nice work here!
TracyGood morning!
Parallel path -the prop does have value! She can hit the prop really well! She just can’t do it with a lot of speed yet. That’s normal 🙂 The first couple of reps and the last one or two looked good! On rep she, you had a big increase in your speed and so did she, so she missed. You can still reward if she goes over the prop – but for now, you can still be moving nice and slooowwwwww 🙂 She can speed up if she likes!
Lap turn – the prop had good value here too! Yay! Your high hand with a cookie in it was a conflicting indicator after the lap turn and on the tandem turn too (hand was lower on the tandem) so she was not sure if she should move forward to the prop or look at the cookie hand. So she offered both LOL! She did offer a super cute leap-and-hit LOL!!!
>She got leaping thoughts with the turns. I’m assuming I need to slow down.>
The leaping was caused by the conflicting indicator and she was sorting out how to offer 2 behaviors: leap and prop hit. Clever! I don’t think you need to slow yourself down on these – we just need to clarify the cues and she will know where to look.
2 options:
You can feed her the cookie in your hand after the turn away then just walk to the prop, natural hands like on the parallel path (then reward from the other hand)You can cue the lap/tandem with no cookie in the cue hand, then after the turn away, move forward to the prop with the natural hand position like the parallel path game, rewarding from the other hand.
So mostly the prop value is where we want it, we are just sorting out mechanics (which is exactly why we use the silly prop at this stage :))
For the forward/sideways/backwards sending to the prop, if that is still hard – You can end with empty hands and put a more obvious enhancement on the prop: put the cookie on the prop before you send 🙂 Many pups find a session of cookie-on-prop lure to be really enlightening 🙂 And then we start the next session with it, then fade it.
For the wing wraps – it is possible that the barrel is too big for now, so try a smaller thing to wrap that she can see around better. Do you have a wingless upright? Or a tall/relatively thin cone? And you can enhance the line a bit with a long toy: hold her on your left side. Place part of the toy on the ground about 1/3rd of the way around the barrel (you are holding the other part of the toy) – then start to drag it, and let her go to follow it as you keep dragging it all the way around.
Then repeat the process, but with the toy half way around, then 2/3rds, then 3/4th, then on the ground at the exit, etc – that can help her really drive around the object (especially if it is smaller) and fades the toy out pretty fast while keeping it fun fun fun 🙂
Nice work here! Let me know what you think!
Tracy
Good morning!!
>Challenge for me is a bad back and a small dog (haha).
You can try it with you sitting on something like one of those inflatable balls or a chair it that will help with your back!
On the video:
She was so cute, still letting you drag her around by the toy!!The questions here mostly had to do with mechanics and if we smooth those out, she will turn to the prop better and also not take off with it 🙂
About taking off with the prop:
The first one was at the 2 minute mark – most young pups have a little less than 2 minute of doing the same thing in them, then they get bored and start doing other things (like running around with the prop :)) It is also possible that she saw you bring the toy out and so she figured it was break time.
To help avoid that, you can do 2 things:
Take toy breaks more frequently, like after every 2 or 3 reps for now, so she doesn’t feel like it is too repetitive. And, pick up the prop before taking the toy out to direct her to what you’d like her to grab 🙂And when starting the game back up – try not to let her see you toss the prop down as part of re-starting because that pulls her focus to it a lot. You can be tugging and just place it then keep tugging for a bit.
>although she can complete the turn she doesn’t drive on to the prop. >
What was happening was on those reps, you were turning her and stepping to the prop at the same time, so it was not as clear about what to do as the reps where you turned her and then stepped to the prop. So turn her away fully as if the prop was not there – and then instead of throwing a reward, you step forward to the prop then reward her.
>I do have two pieces of cheese in my hand – one to help with the turn and one to toss>
You can have a piece in each hand 🙂 One hand turns her away (and then you can feed her that cheese). Then start moving to the prop and reward from the other hand. Then you can fade out the cheese in the turn hand, using only the tossed cheese from the opposite hand to reward.
The other thing that will clarify things about turn versus prop is if, when she is eating the cheese from the mat, you are stationary, lean over a bit and fully extend your cookie hand (locked elbow instead of a bent elbow). That position will show her the turn cues more – I think sometime you had a bent arm and were moving backwards, which caused the cue to get a little lost and she would either go all the way to the prop or veer to it then come back to the hand. So making the cue more obvious will really help that.
At the end she had another run with the prop – probably a lot of reps by that point and the turns on that side were not as clear as they were on the other side so even though she was getting cookies, she was not as sure and directed her energy to the prop. On that side, you were turning and trying to indicate the prop at the same time so if you separate them into turn then indicate, I think it will be much smoother for her to read.
Nice work here! Let me know what you think!
Tracy
