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Good morning! Hope you had a good holiday week!!!
The get out is going well – he is understanding to shift away from you and move to the prop with no problem. Yay! Small detail in mechanics – when he is on your left and you are using your right hand to point to the prop, throw the treatwith the left hand rather than grab with the right then throw it. Reaching over then throwing it delays the reward and gets him tracking your hands. When he was on your right, you tossed with your right hand.
>I was not sure what to change.>
Definitely time to add your motion (and the verbal), so you are walking forward the whole time. He can be in a stay or you can use a cookie toss start – for the cookie toss start, you can give the ‘get out’ cues as soon as he starts moving towards you (or don’t cue it and call him so he stays on his straight line with you. For the stay, you should release with the get out cue (or, release with break and don’t cue the get out so he comes with you on the natural line).
Addig motion is key, mainly to keep your feet pointing straight (you were stepping to the prop a little when he was on your left and your feet were pointing right at it when he was on your right). Since we want feet to continue straight forward (making it easier for us to run), you can put a line on the ground that you are not allowed to cross over, to keep your feet moving straight 🙂
The Serping looks great here, he has the idea of the line we want (in then out).
>he seems to know where he’s going, so after the first rep where I wasn’t sure what to do, I just went with it.>
You were correct to reward it! We will be adding motion (see below).
>then had some issues on the second side.>
That side might have been the harder turn side, so he did have one error at 1:24 and the same question at 1:40 (and one more later on) but that is just as valuable as the rewards. It was from the slice angle (position 1). But, no rewards for that. He said “noted!” And then ended with a string of successes. Super! 3 errors is no big deal, for a dog like him. But if you get past 3, then you would want to break it down more.
Since that side proved to be the harder side, you can swap the angles and start him in position 3 (harder angle) to really emphasize that it is the jump not bowl – when you worked him from position 2 (more centered on the bar) he did great with finding the jump and not going directly to the bowl!) Starting from the harder position is great for dogs that love to solve puzzles and can do that without running into frustration or arousal issues. He seems to be that level-headed problem-solver type of dog!
On the easier side here (dog on right), there are 2 paths forward for the serps. Don’t do them at the same time, they are separate skills for now (but get merged pretty soon):
– replace the bowl on the ground with a toy 🙂 This might be harder! Or it might not be harder at all. We will see what he says!
– using the food bowl on the ground, add handler motion. This is coming later in this class anyway but we can bump it up for you since he is ready. He is in a stay in position 1 and you are outside the jump. Put your hand back in serp position and rotate your upper body (he is still in the stay) then you slowly slowly walk through the serp line on the landing side of the jump (he is still in the stay and your upper body is showing serp position). When you are passing the center of the bar, you release him (looking back at your serp hand and continue to move sooooo slowly :))
Definitely don’t release til you are at or past the center of the bar (any earlier will conflict with the threadle cues he is going to see very soon :))
Let me know how that goes! Great job here!!
Tracy
Good morning!
I hope you and your crew had great holidays! And I am so glad you enjoyed the webinar! I think part 2 is going to have some cray fun stuff too 🙂
>We did our first session of the TSA game and man, I was blown away by the reaction I got from both dogs!>
Isn’t it funny how doing this at home can open up reactions like they were at a trial? LOL!
>I don’t know if just going outside our gate was such a big deal that it amped them up but they were both AMPED after this short session. Like for over an hour afterwards they were just crazy-loco & chasing each other and just wild.>Ha! I guess something about it was super stimulating LOL!
>This is off subject because it is about Frankie. Can I sign her up (in addition to Bazinga of course) for the “FEO support group” class that is next even though she is not a baby dog?>
Of course!!! We are happy to have Frankie too! My goal is to have that all mapped out by the end of this weekend.
> I could use guidance on navigating helping her with remote reinforcement. I have been working on the remote reinforcement with both dogs just in the yard and working up to adding more obstacles and then the last 2 times, at step 5, Frankie just couldn’t leave the treat station to go to the jump. She just couldn’t leave the treats. That was big information for me. In our own yard. Couldn’t leave the treats. >
So interesting! And great info from Frankie!!!!! Sometimes I think that the presence of food in our hand/pocket (or a toy) becomes the cue to do agility for a lot of dogs.
>I didn’t do a lot of pattern games before I asked her to move away and maybe that was too much to ask of her. >
We can experiment and see what she needs.
> I’ve been focusing on her fears & getting her confident going in to the ring, but after hearing that dogs that shut down from the gate to the first jump are usually worried about reinforcement in the Mind Your Own Business webinar the other day and seeing her unable to leave her remote reinforcement at home, I think this is playing a big part in her engagement!>
Yes! If she is concerned and then we take away the ‘cue’ (food) she might get more concerned. It is HARD!!!!
>Here is Bazinga in the TSA game. She seemed fine that the last treat was gone & we were “going in the ring” to play. I kept it short & used our “let’s go!” I think she was like “hey lady, but we’re running!” >
For the dogs that we are raising this way, this is a point where the agility itself becomes intrinsically reinforcing, so we don’t need to stop and reward nearly as much when running trial courses. She might be getting there! We still reward in training, etc, but at some point the remote reinforcement act of putting the food/toys down outside the ring becomes the cue to go into the ring and run for real 🙂 That is why we approach is so carefully… to be sure they love it rather than get stressed out about it.
Looking at the TSA video:
Great job progressing through the different elements!
Nice warm up with the 2 bowls (that can be done near the ring at a trial, just a little further away so you aren’t surrounded by other dogs :))Volume dial – all good!
Tugging on the leash on the way in – you can cue it. Might be self-regulation for the arousal? And you can cue her to tug it on the way out.
2nd time through – because there is SO MUCH arousal regulation in this game, and because she is adolescent which means it can take twice as long to bounce back to baseline in terms of physiological stimulation, the 2 reps might have been too close in time. She might have needed a few minutes of walking/sniffing before round 2. That could be why she had a frozen moment at the start line (a bit of over-arousal). But it was great for you needing to shift gears – you can ask for a trick in that moment (or use the magic word reset we are adding in MYOB 2, stay tuned!!!) and bring her back to the optimized state quicker.
>She is really getting into tugging at the leash. She didn’t want to drop it in the second rep. That is what took so long for us to line up. I’m curious to see what you think about it in this video. Am I creating a tiny monster?< Definitely not creating a monster! You can work on her “out” of the leash (trading for treats to start, then giving the leash back for more tugging, etc). But tugging on the leash is basically the equivalent of having a great toy in the ring. We need to help her understand when it is available and not, but it is a great way to have a lot of fast reinforcement at the beginning and end! And in AKC you can shove it in your pocket and bring it with you, for fast access at the end of the run :) About the next FEO steps (at home and at trials): >Try a longer lead out & do more obstacles before rewarding. Later on: Try some quick In & Outs with no reinforcement on me>
All good!
>Try the weaves & reinforce after them – what do I do if she doesn’t get them? Keep going & then reward after the next obstacle?>This is trickier but yes, reward for effort after the next obstacle and if you are in an FEO run, you can swing her back around and try again. I think before you try at trials, do her weave work at home and the agility league field with remote reinforcement and see how she does!
>I’m going to rent the field where we do agility league and let her use the weaves there and practice some in & outs before I bring them to a real FEO trial.>
Perfect!! That will be fun! Bring friends to make it all as realistic as possible.
Great job here! Keep me posted!
Tracy
Hi! I am glad you are starting to feel better! Did you get sick when you went to the TS concert??
The collection sandwich looked great 🙂 He did really well picking up the decel to make the turn, especially on the last rep. You can also accelerate to the thrown toy after the pivot and try to win the race to it!
To make the mechanics even quicker: when you make the first connection on the dog side before the blind, you don’t need to also show the long toy in that hand (interestingly, you only did it in left hand, so maybe it is flyball bleed-over haha, but that also might be why the last rep was the best rep). You can keep it scrunched up in the dog-side hand then when you do the blind, show it across your body (still in your original dog side hand). That will make 2 things quicker:
– his response to the side change, because he sees more connection
– your side change, because you don’t have to unveil the toy then reel it in 🙂For example at :13 you had the toy extended in the left hand then did the blind – you can keep it scrunched up in your left hand before the blind, then that left hand can come to your right hip after the blind to really open up your shoulders. You had your right hand down at your side during the blind, which will ‘hide’ the connection to the new side, delaying his side change. After he makes the quick side change and see the connection, then you can drop your right hand in for the pivot.
For the verbals:
>curious on your thoughts with them. This is what Pattern is trained on.>
Definitely glad that you are using the same verbals, so you don’t lose your mind trying to remember different verbals for each dog 🙂
Two thing to consider:
– Be insanely specific about what each thing means, down to being able to draw a picture of exactly what it should look like… because he is probably going to have to do it all at a distance based on how things are evolving:)
– Different words are great but different words + different rhythms + different pitch are AMAZINGLY helpful for the dogs 🙂>Loop – wrap wing left Kiss – wrap wing right Check – soft turn left over jump Dig – soft turn right over jump>
Yes, I love that you are using separate verbals for these.
>Chute – soft tunnel turn
Tunnel – straight tunnel exit>For the tunnels… how soft is the soft turn? You will want to be super specific because I am sure you have seen how tunnel exits are key nowadays. You can also use your directionals for those: so say I have a jump then 25 feet to the tunnel then a wrap exit of the tunnel –
Over the previous jump, I can use an obstacle name to commit to the tunnel. Then when the dog is maybe 8 feet away from the tunnel entry, I can give a wrap verbal and get the wrap exit (or the soft turn verbal, etc). It is an easy way to get a huge variety of tunnel exits without needing 10 more verbals LOL
>Left – turn left on the flat/off a non-jump obstacle Right – turn right on the flat/off a non-jump obstacle>Non-jump, like contacts? >Hup – jump in extension>
>Easy – sprinkler>How much extension with the Hup and how different from the Go? And how much collection on. The ‘easy’ and how does it differ from your check & dig? I use GO GO GO to me full on, ass on fire extension, over the center of the bar. I use my “jump” verbal to mean moderate collection – not the same collection as the right/left soft turn (your check and dig, I believe), but not the GO extension.
>Walk it – dog walk Climb it – A-frame Teeter Poles – weaves
Slalom – weave threadle Flick – tunnel threadle>Yay!
>Seek – wrap threadle Push – backside slide Wrap – backside wrap In – jump threadle>
Also yay! >Zip – far bypass Bye bye – close bypass>
Jump line bypasses?
>Table
This obstacle should be banned and burned hahahahaha
>Out – lead change away Go – take the next thing in front of you in extension>
All good!
One verbal that I have added and LOVE is a turn away to a layered line, distinct from a turn away to a handler focus line. Think of it like a rear cross on a jump: for a regular rear, I just use my verbal directionals like you have here. But if I am turning the dog away into a big layering moment, I use ‘switch’ which means turn away and stop watching me and get into BIG extension until otherwise notified. It has been a LIFESAVER in this day and age of big layering and tremendously advantageous in terms of getting to my next position.
Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
Very smart to work in the parking lot! I am glad it isn’t too cold because it sure looks cold LOL!On the first video (forward focus/stealth self-control) – it was hard to see where he was looking so I am not sure if he was looking at the bowl or not when the bowl was in an ‘easy’ spot. He might have been able to look through the wing to see it, so you might need a solid wing or drape a towel over it 🙂 When the bowl got into a hard position at about 2:20 then it was definitely easier to see where he was looking because the bowl was on the exit side of the wing . So I think you can keep the bowl in that harder position to really emphasize the forward focus to the line yo are indicating.
Strike a pose video: This went super! The reps at :19 and then later :38 and after there were the best timing of getting the target out and visible, so he could see it the instant he turned back towards you.
You can reward further from you with the other hand – still draw him across you like you did, but present the reward outside the line of your leg rather than right in front of you. He is a big dude that will give him more room to turn.
He is ready for the next steps here: treats or toy visible in the other hand, and then lowering them to the ground (toy) or using a dish on the ground. The dish can be placed on the ground a foot or so past your foot on the exit line (below the hand that is rewarding him) and you can drop the treat into it after he comes in to the target hand.
Really nice job with the lap turns! He is turning away beautifully, in both directions. Yay!!!!
Only one suggestion: Have your magic cookie hand visible sooner. As soon as you throw the start cookie, you can extend the hand fully to him so he sees it as soon as he turns back to you. Same thing with the tandem turns – let him see the tandem turn hand as soon as he turns back to you (you were showing it when he almost arrived at you) so he is prepared for the turn away cue. That will really help when things are moving faster!
You can add the prop into both of these games 🙂 And you can also start the threadle wrap foundations – perfect for indoors!
He did well with his wraps on the rocking horse game! You don’t even need to move as much 🙂 You can just stand in the middle and change directions like what you did at :40. On the other reps, you were moving outside of the line to the wings, which widened the line a bit. He liked the turn and burn exit! But I think the footing made you both a little careful (thankfully! Don’t slip!!) Doing these at ring time will give you both great grip!
I don’t think you had your wrap verbals going here – you can totally add them! And if he does well one the first couple of reps during ring time, you can add the advanced level with more countermotion too!
Great job here!
TracyHi!
I give you a big click/treat for not tripping over the slippers LOL! I totally would have fallen over trying to run in the 🙂
There was no sound in this video for some reason? So we will issue all the verbals were perfect 🙂
The session went super well! Your exit line connection looked super, she had no questions about which side to be on and you were able to move more than last time. I think she also liked getting the toy thrown ahead after the cross!
Placing the toy on the ground rather than tossing it definitely helped! And bridging that moment with food helped a lot too. SUPER connection on the exit of the barrel wraps!! SUPER SUPER! So she found the line to the toy really well.
Since placing the toy and rewarding with food was very helpful, definitely keep doing that on all new games or anything super high arousal.
And since the motion of the thrown toy adds a lot more challenge, work on that separately – do a short toss of the toy, reward with food for leaving it, then a barrel wrap to the reward from you hand… then cue driving to the toy.
Then add more and more motion to the toy toss, continuing to move her away with food and reward the barrel wrap with food or toy, your choice. I think it is worthwhile to do this as an arousal regulation game: The motion of the toy was very exciting! So we can introduce it more slowly to help her regulate aorusal and so you will be able to throw toys to where you want them and she will be fine with that 🙂 My guess is the throwing of the toy is part of what bled over into the cue to get it, so we can gradually re-introduce it without making it all about getting the toy.
Great job here!
Tracy
Hi!
I agree, the barrel wrapping looks great! Yay!!! You can now move forward to the turn and burn game 🙂>I’m learning about the whippet stuff. This puppy is very different. She’s not a big tugger so I’m going to have to work it a lot. She’s still young so.>
Yes, whippets and whippet mixes are different but in a good way 🙂 Post a video of the tugging so I can send ideas! Generally they want long fur toy that are moving away from them (never towards :)) You can try it with the turn and burn game – as you do the FC and run away, drag a fur toy and see what she does. Keep me posted!!!
Great job here 🙂
TracyHi!
I am glad he had a good first Christmas!
>Please let me know if you see movement that concerns you>
Will do!
>or if you think we’d benefit from PT or a canine fitness referral.>
I always think every dog should have a PT person on their team 🙂 I start my puppies pretty young, getting used to having hands on them. There is not a lot that we can (or should) do with real fitness work for puppies, but there are some baseline things that the pros can give us which makes it easier to help the pups as they grow up. If there is someone super good (like a Sports Vet) near you, that is where I would start. For online stuff, I recommend Dr. Leslie Eide – she is a fabulous sports vet AND agility competitor.
https://www.facebook.com/@thetotalcanine/>I’m having a great time trying some of the games. Skizzle’s a lot of fun to work with.>
I am glad you are having fun! Skizzle is such a cool fun puppy!!!!!!
Looking at the videos:
The threadle wrap foundations are going great! It looks like he can turn away pretty equally in both directions (maybe a shade stronger to his left?) He didn’t always drive back to your hand for the next rep, so you can reward him from your hand for driving in, then turn him away and reward again.
You can add movement to this, with you now slowly walking forward the whole time.
He didn’t drive into the cookie hand at the beginning of the 2nd video too and didn’t always chase the start cookie – so we can sort out a bit of his food interests. What kind of food was it? Perhaps fewer reps with inanely high value treats? Or, since he got moving more and then was happy to eat – maybe he needs to get tugging or just running around a bit more before starting with the food, to increase his arousal state. You can also play this with a toy, because that will get him into a higher arousal too and then if he prefers the toy, we can blend in food to increase the value of that too.
You can also move to a bigger environment, because chasing you more might be even more exciting (and making the food more exciting too!)
For the pivots, doing them slowly worked best. If you were too quick, he was not always sure where to be. So you can get him to chase you in a bigger space, then decelerate and pivot slowly.
He was SO FUNNY offering climbing on the barrel LOL!!!
>Vito’s game has not resulted in the pattern of turning back and forth,>
You can do a variation which includes the bowl concept and also the “Fold It In” concept from the Stealth self-control track: have a bowl with a cookie in it starting at the entry line of the barrel. You will line him up by your side, hold his collar, then send him to the bowl. Then the bowl will incrementally get further around the barrel, bit by bit. That can get the barrel wrapping and also fade out your hand cues! You can also do it with a toy – based on the retrieve video, he is very into toys! Let me know if that makes sense.
He is doing great with his retrieves! Nice job with your chase marker! You can add in a tiny bit of tugging with the tioy he retrieves while the chase toy is visible, so he doesn’t think the visibility of the 2nd toy is an out cue. You can also start to change positions, getting yourself higher (sitting on something) with the goal that you are standing eventually 🙂
Backing up: he was again cracking me up with the stool LOL!! He has a future in show biz!
For the backing up – you can start the concept with front feet (which are easier for pups to think about). Using a bigger mat as a destination, start him with all 4 feet comfortably on it, the lure just his front feet off. Then let him step back onto it without your hand pushing in towards him – then reward again with all 4 feet on it. When he can easily step his front feet back on without your hand moving (other than to lure his front feet off :)) then you can progress to luring all 4 of his feet barely off – then wait for him to step even one foot back onto the mat. That can help him figure out how to use his feet and also will fade your hand cue quickly.
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
Tracy
Hi!
What a fun session! This went great in an environment with some good distractions too. Super!!!
>yes there’s a turkey in one of the stalls that you can hear at one point in the video. And I left in her new trick at the end of the video- first time doing it outside of a training session specifically working on that trick>
The turkey was hilarious! She didn’t seem bothered by any of it. She did well with her new catch-me trick too – what a fun trick that is so useful too!
Your collection sandwich went great. Your decel was clear and that is key! She drove ahead really well and she was great with her toy retrieve which makes it all sooooo much easier fun 🙂 As you finish the blind cross, you can have your new arm pointing back to her to let her see your eyes more clearly (then drop the hand in low to your side as you decel into the pivot). Showing a bit more connection will let her changes sides even sooner on the blind.
She had some questions about the pivot – I think it was because you were going too fast on the pivot part. As she arrived at you, you would sometimes whip around really fast so she lost side info for a moment (especially on those right turns) like at :38. But on the reps where you pivoted more slowly, like at 1:14 and 1:45, she had no questions and turned well to her right as well!
>Seems that she can turn left ok, but turning right she’s finding hard.>
She might be a lefty (today LOL!) and that is fine – the right turns did seem a little stickier in terms of her mechanics even with the slower pivots, but nothing concerning at all. It is good to know for when you start harder skills (start with a left turn) or move more slowly on the right turns at first. But overall, she is very balanced and I know you will have her well-balanced and fit from your work!
One other suggestion: Accelerate and get loud with your go cue when you throw the toy or cookie. Let her see a change in energy from the calm, quiet decel/pivot into the high energy acceleration and GO!!
Great job here!!
Tracy
First video – Yes, the novel-neutral might seem easy but it can be pretty hard for young dog brains to process. When you enter the ring, you can ask her to do something as soon as you enter – he heard barking dogs then didn’t know what else to do, so you can start the game.
The leash coming back on got her to leave to investigate something on the first rep – could juts be a bit of fallout from her brain processing processing processing. And that is fine! The rest went well.
>maybe the completely empty ring made the item stand out like a sore thumb.>
Possibly, but that is fine because she has already told us that her brain attends to new things in the environment, so letting these really stand out can go a long way to work on those neural pathways!
The ring entry stuff went well – there were definitely different challenges in the environment. Her barking at the beginning seemed to be more like alarm barking (and then I think Kaladin was barking) –
There were some weird high pitched noises in the background here too. She totally heard them at the beginning and that was hard! I don’t think it was you making weird noises LOL! And then there was more barking in the distance – that kind of barking is not normal agility barking so she definitely had to process different challenges.>Practiced going in and out. first 2 reps with no treats on me and rewarding outside the ring. Last rep I rewarded her with treats in the ring>
I think in any environment that might be significantly changed or even weird, you can reverse this: begin with treats with you in the ring, then fade them. The association of treats with the behaviors we like can help her brain dismiss the weird stuff in the environment.
>She didn’t shake the first 2 times but I also didn’t give her much time for it.>
She probably was not ready to self-regulate at first – there was a lot going on!
It was interesting to see her do the spins at the beginning – she was doing them but slowly and her attentional state seemed split. Part of the brain was like the “hey, I should be doing my tricks right now” and another part of the brain was like “what the heck are those noises?” But this is good rehearsal! She was successful and by the end, she was doing everything pretty much as she does it at home, even though the distraction level remained the same.
Great job here!
Tracy
Hi! Hope you had a good Christmas!
>I have a minor strain in my calf, so I wasn’t able to really run, but it still worked out ok. >
Ouch! I think that caused a couple of small questions in the handling, but you ironed them all out:
On the first sequence, you had a RC on 5 at :24 and I think that is what you wanted her to do based on your line of motion across the bar. I think you also wanted the RC at 1:44 but you were on the wrap wing at 1:43 when she was taking off so the RC info was late. Let me know if that is what you were planning? Nice work continuing even if it was not quite going as planned 🙂
On the opening line of the 2nd sequence like at 3:14 – you can be closer to the line to 2. Being stationary and lateral caused a zig zag 1-2, even with the forward focus cue (the forward focus did not override position and lack of motion). The info was much clearer at 4:12 and 6:14 because you were closer and moved a bit. Super!
On the Wrap cue at 4:19 – your rotation was too early, mainly because you were already decelerated (protecting your calf) so she had a delayed commitment. The wrap cues were much clearer at 6:24, with you waiting longer to rotate til she really locked onto the jump.
Looking at the Remote reinforcement elements – bear in mind when we start running bigger courses with remote reinforcement, the dogs are basically working for ‘free’ here so be careful about not doing too much and also about making it very very clear so they don’t have any confusion. I think there can be more clarity and that will help her out a lot. You can see by about 5:50 she was a bit done with the RR practice and was slower to line up and didn’t hold the stay as well. Remote reinforcement should be approached like weave training when you have 12 closed poles – do a couple of reps and be done, rather than repeat them a lot. They are fatiguing and not that much fun for more dogs.
>She has a new game where she wants to tug on her leash while I’m putting it on or after it’s already on. I don’t mind her tugging on it, but I do want it on cue rather than whenever she feels like it. >
I think that is likely an arousal regulation moment where she is actually making a great choice to tug on the leash to self-regulate (rather than say, bite you, or run off, etc). So I will take that info from the dog and let them do it, then give them an out cue so I can get it on, then immediately cue the dog to tug on the leash.
Looking at the things that went sideways here with the RR, I look at all of it as either confusion or frustration behavior. Video tells all LOL! Nothing she did was naughty or incorrect. Here are details:
>At the end of the first sequence, she ran over and stole her toy from my bag (which she doesn’t normally do, so it was accessible to her). I had her bring me the toy and after putting her leash on, I took her to the reward station and gave her cookies instead of the toy that she stole. I wasn’t quite sure what to do in the moment, but my goal was to make it clear that she doesn’t get to steal the toy and play her own game while at the same time not making it an aversive experience.>
This was at :33 – I don’t think she was wrong to go get the toy because it was unclear about what else to do there.
The run was clearly over, you said good girl, turned towards the toy bag for a step or two. She looked at you, say you do that, but didn’t get any other info and ‘good girl’ good girl is a reward marker that you’ve used a lot… so she went to get the toy out of lack of knowing what else to do (you were not really connected or telling her specifically what to do). By the time you said something else, she was at the toy, which she then brought to you immediately.>She seemed to understand since she did not go for the toy again (other than the leash, but that context is a little different I think since we haven’t worked much with that yet.>
I think she got the hint not to go to the toy again but that might have added to the confusion. She was like “well if it is not that, then what is it, exactly?” So you got some other behavior like zipping around with the leash. Because there is already very delayed reinforcement at the end of the run – clarity and hurrying is super important for young dogs.
>as you can see in the video at one point, she grabbed it off the ground and took a victory lap with it. >
This was the end of run at 4:27 – she was frustrated (a couple of things had gone wrong in the handling and she had already done multiple RR sequences and the end of run was unclear… so she grabbed the leash there I think and was like “I’m out! I need to decompress!!!” That is valuable information 🙂
>She also ran out in front of me when we were going back to the station towards the end of the video. I think she was herding me a bit, which I also want to avoid so I don’t fall flat on my face, lol.>
This was at 6:43 – I just think she didn’t know where she was supposed to be. You took off jogging but not connected to her and not telling her what was happening, so she curled to in front – partially frustrated and partially trying to see what was happening. I couldn’t hear the RR marker – you might have been saying it very quietly after the leash was on, but it will work a lot better if it has the clarity and energy as the ‘good girl!’ marker does.
>I need to develop a behavior for her at the end of our runs I think so that she doesn’t steal toys or the leash.>
She wasn’t stealing them 🙂 You can give info sooner & faster. It can be something with words like “good girl! Where is your leash?” Then run to grab the leash, get it on, tug on it, etc. Then you can use a high energy RR marker and hurry to the reward station (which should be pretty close at this stage) with a lot of connection. The more information you can deliver, the more she will know what is happening and you will get an end of run behavior that you really like!
>What do you think about a hand target back to the leash or simply heeling (but as a fun behavior, not in a militant sort of way)? >
I can’t speak for Katniss, but all of my dogs would immediately sell me on eBay (or even list me as ‘free to good home’ haha) if I tried asking for that at the end of an agility run LOL!!! She is likely going to have the same response. After all of the adrenaline of running a course, asking for extended control behavior is going to be inconsistent at best, and probably frustrating for you both – creating conflict. I think the best bet is fast, clear info to keep her moving to the leash then to the reward. It gets a lot easier when the dogs are more experienced but we have to help young dogs a LOT.
>I thought about having her go to her leash and sit until I get over there, but I can think of a couple of potential issues with that like her not knowing where it is or her grabbing it and self-rewarding. >
I can see using a “get your leash” cue to help direct her to the leash. I doubt she will sit nor do I want to see you listed on eBay for sale if you try to make her do that LOL!!!! But she can go to it, pick it up, bring in to you – all good! She is highly unlikely to take it on a runabout if things are very clear and not frustrating.
>She’s becoming quite the teenager, lol!>
If you mean teenager as in A+ student who is very focused on her work, hangs out with the smart kids in the library, always brings her A-game to class, and provides excellent feedback? Then yes, she is a total teenager LOL!!! I think a lot of this training is getting feedback from the dog about what works, what is clear, etc, and she is doing a great job with that! So take her feedback – she wants more info and needs it sooner/faster, which is fine because you can add more words to help her out 🙂 I think she is doing great!
Looking forward to seeing you on Monday!
Tracy
Good morning!
>At the very least I think that overstimulating walk + lack of nap routine has him just a little “off”.>
Yes, I think that is part of it – his brain is a little tired from all of this and his body is too. And he might be a little sore, which can change the processing too.
>My other dog is wandering around…. he wouldn’t go inside, LOL. So he got to be a minor distractor.>
I think this was a bigger distractor than it might have seemed in the moment. The pressure of another dog nearby and watching definitely draws mental bandwidth away from the other stuff the brain is trying to focus on, so I think that was a contributing factor as well.
So there were a couple of contributing factors but the main factor was that there were too many connection breaks. More on that below.
First up, the “Out” session: Good attention to the detail of feet facing forward and not stepping to the prop! The arm cue looked good and he did well! You can add even more eye contact as your arm points to the prop, and you can add the ‘out’ verbal too.
You can now add more laterally distance and toss your start cookie further away. That added distance will also allow you to mix in reps where you don’t cue the out, but instead cue him to move with you past the prop.
Strike a pose is also going well from the harder angles. When he is coming to your right hand (first part of the video), you can move your position to be less centered on the bar, and more centered on the jump upright. You were in the exact correct spot when you changed sides in the 2nd half of the video and his line was perfect! Super!!
>In the very last rep of strike a pose, and then during this game, he was much more distracted by noises than usual>
Sounds like there was a jet engine rumbling in the distance at the end of the SAP video. And yes, he totally could have been tired out too!
Looking at the rocking horse videos:
At the beginning of the rocking horses, I think the toy in your opposite arm was too big of a visual challenge (especially if he had just been playing with it vigorously). You switched to food and a less visible toy, and it was much easier for him!
Now about the connection – as he was exiting the first barrel, you had a moment of connection but then you were looking forward and pointing forward, which breaks connection and changes the side info. You can see that at :50, 2;08, 2;44 (he thought it was a blind cross) on this first video.
We have a better angle on the disconnection on the next video – you can see it at :33 – :36 where you connected as he exited the wing and then looked forward and pointed forward while he was still behind you. He jumped up on you in that moment of disconnection (a bit of frustration). He was getting frustrated because the disconnection was being paired with stopping and a verbal, rather than continuing and a reward. You did toss cookies to reset but those were far enough away in terms of time, that he didn’t relate them to the disconnection moment.
And a couple of times you sent to the barrel and then stepped backwards as he was passing you and he was not quite ready for that so he looked at you and didn’t wrap (:06 on the 2nd video, :13 on the 3rd video).
And there were a couple of times when he started to go around it and you praised as you turned, which pulled him off the barrel (praise is a reward marker even if we don’t intend it to be) so if you praise and it pulls him off, keep going or reward. He was extra watching you there because he was not totally sure, so that is why continuing or rewarding is critical there.
When you were more connected, he got into it really nicely and did lots of great reps!
So the main thing to learn from him here is to 100000% live by the 2 failure rule. This is a total of 2 failures, over the course of the training of that skill in that day (even if there are multiple sessions in a row, you still don’t want to go past 2 failures). If you get to 2 failure, you need to make it easier to find success (watching the video often hopes a ton) or quit for the day. He had a lot more than 2 failures here in these multiple sessions, so he was not all that pumped up for the game. And the failures were caused by connection breaks or motion questions (plus the added external factors) so you ended up getting less participation from him.
As you are training, if something is happening (like he is not wrapping) and it is unclear why – step away from the game and watch the video. See if you are connected as he is passing you on the way to the barrel, or if you’re pointing forward/looking forward. When you are looking forward, you might be able to see him peripherally but he can’t see your eyes so he loses side info and stops moving.
And if something goes sideways (because it is dog training and things do indeed go sideways LOL!) know when to quit ! If there is a struggle and he gets it? Cool! End the session and resist temptation to make it harder. This will help you live by the 2 failure rule and avoid the dog opting out of the session.
And set a timer for the session. Or, don’t allow yourself to bring more than 10 cookies outside 🙂 If you bring the whole bag of treats, there is no limit for how much training can be done. But if you bring 10 treats, you have to be finished after there are no more treats left 🙂
Also, remember that you do not have to finish on a good note! You don’t need to keep looking for something to reward. That can end up digging a bigger hole. Even if you go back to the simpler barrel wrap like on the 4th video – you don’t need to ask him to do that. It is more important to keep sessions short, stop and look at the video, rather than risk more failure.
>he wasn’t able to do harder today, which is totally ok but I’m struggling a bit with adapting in the moment.>
Adapting in the moment is hard for sure! That is why the setting the timer/limiting the number of treats you have available as well as the 2 failure rule are so helpful – they give strict guidelines for adapting 🙂
The threadle wrap circle turns looked great! You can add in a little more motion by tossing the reward ahead after the circle – then as he is going to get it, you start moving the other direction.
>So not sure if we’ll take time off all training, or just the barrels, or go way back on the barrel wrap teaching stuff? The other stuff is going well but suddenly barrels are *hard* LOL.>
I think you can give him a couple of days off from the barrels… but you can train without him and work the clarity of connection with your invisible dog 🙂 Videotape yourself: are you connecting to your invisible dog al the way through the send to the next barrel, with your dog-side hand nice and low to his nose so it doesn’t block connection? Then after a couple of days, move the barrels to someplace new and try it with him!
And since he has had a busy week with a different schedule, you can let him sleep more and maybe do one simple training session a day (not barrels for a few days, though). That will help him bounce back to baseline (resilience!) from all the changes that the holidays bring… I wish we could all get a few quiet days off to get back to baseline LOL!!!
Nice work here! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
With one toy on the ground, come around the barrel to tug with a toy in your hand (opposite hand ideally so you can really open up connection).
Use a toy-in-hand marker for that. And for some reps, cue her to go to the toy on the ground. Mix it up!T
That’s great!!! And definitely yes – don’t ask her to do it at home 🙂 I’m glad she got on it at the training place!!
Tracy
Super great to have people watching at home base!!! Plus your attention a little split with all the things (people, glasses, etc). Plus a dog barking in the background – plus the toy on the ground – plus the clapping 0 there was a LOT in the environment. A whole lot!
She was very aroused (faster, jumping on you more than usual).
>I think the people bothered her less but she was hard to handle because she was not driving to the obstacles.>
I don’t think the people were bothering her in any negative sense, or producing anxiety in any way… looks to me like we were seeing multi-sensory integration in action! On a normal day, her brain is bombarded with all sorts of sensory integration but she has had enough rehearsal in quiet environments and with one person, that her brain can prioritize certain things (the mechanics of finding the agility jump, for example) and doesn’t need to expend bandwidth to process the other stuff.
Add in all of the elements on those first two runs? Yes, a LOT more processing is happening and her brain was *almost* able to fully prioritize doing all the agility. Almost! Really darned good!!! And that is also why rehearsal is so key – because it is not an operant skill we teach them, it is happening in the neurons and neural pathways need to build through rehearsal. For all we know, it is possible that her brain told her that she took every.single.jump on the first two runs (which is one of the reasons why it is important to keep going like you did).
The more you can set up positive rehearsals like this, the less her brain will have to work hard to process and prioritize info – the agility will get MUCH easier. And when the brain is having to process *A LOT*, I find that we see tendencies pop out – some are breed tendencies (like my teenage whippet will run straight and fast but not always OVER the jump LOL!) and some are possibly inherited – like getting a little sticky in those heavy processing moments (rather than jumping up and biting, for example, which I have certainly seen run in certain lines).
So what to do about it? Keep setting up rehearsals with the people and ‘stuff’ in the environment. One thing I would change is for the really hard rehearsals, don’t start them as remote reinforcement. You will want a reward in the ring in your pocket, to be able to throw it and surprise her with a reward out on a big line, for example. That surprise element (hello, dopamine spike!) can build up a lot of motivation to find the jumps even when the brain is very busy processing. Then as she gets more experienced and her brain doesn’t have to work as hard with the multi-sensory integration, you can add in harder skills like remote reinforcement or things like weave poles.
None of this is actually operant, in that she is not actively making a ‘choice’ about taking the jump or not. But it is powerful learning, nonetheless.
It would be cool to be able to have an fMRI machine on them while running 🙂
And yes, it is different with one person watching versus a small group. Not much was different in your handling, but she was able to find the lines more easily. Her brain was being bombarded by less info, therefore less to process, so she had an easier time prioritizing the agility skills. Plus, if this was the 2nd session, she had already seen the agility setup so she didn’t have to work as hard to process the location of the jumps.
>I was wondering if maybe her dial would be better with a toy rather than treats?>
You can ask her and try it! It might be perfect, or it might be over-arousing if you are asking her brain to process the external environment as well as more arousal in the internal environment. The only way to know is to try it 🙂
I don’t think this was an arousal issue though – arousal optimization is great, but her brain still has to work through the MSI in these early stages. Then the 2 come together quite nicely and it will soon be like she doesn’t ‘notice’ any of the people at all.>You said see you on Thursday. Do we have another live?>
What I meant was see you today n the forum, after Christmas 🙂
Great job here!
TracyHappy holidays!!
The right turn wraps at the beginning looked really strong! You were very clear on the connection at the exit of the FCs and you were moving but not going toooooo fast so she was able to read the handling cues.
Left turns were harder – it might be a combination of her not being a lefty and you working on the side that is less comfy for you 🙂 or that she had just done a bunch of right turns and needed more of a break in between the turns. So rather than switch sides in the session, you can take a break, play with a toy, then come back a couple of minutes later and try the other side.
At :51, she cut in front to almost do a right turn – you were a little further from the barrel there so moving closer on the next reps really helped get her into the flow of the left turns. You can also use a reset cookie there – rather than line her up and move her by her collar, you can have her come back to a cookie lure to line her up then start the next rep. The line up cookie can keep frustration levels low – the dogs know that the rep was not quite right (based on your reaction) so the line up cookie rewards her effort and smoothly brings her to the next rep.
Getting her to come to your left side worked great when you moved a little more slowly and had ultra clear connection. On the successful reps, your movement and connection looked the same as it did on the other side and she read it great! Super!!!
You can keep adding more motion to this, building in more speed while maintaining the great connection. And you can also keep things super clear like this and try it with a toy on the ground. You can reward with a toy in your hand for coming around the barrel, to help teach her that the toy on the ground is not the cue to go to the toy on the ground 🙂
Great job!
Tracy
