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Good morning!
This is the frisbee/strike a post game video. Let me know if there is a separate link for the turn aways.T
Good morning! She was a total rockstar here, going directly to the target hand and ignoring the frisbee! That is fantastic!! She seemed to have no questions about it 🙂 If she can also that on your other side, you can add challenge by dangling the frisbee… then when she targets the other hand, you can cue her to grab the fries or you can throw it to the side. I think she will really enjoy that 🙂
And you can also put the frisbee on the ground on the opposite side of the target hand – and then cue her to get it after she hits the target hand. She might think the frisbee on the ground is boring, or she might think it is really hard to ignore but it is a good challenge to see if she can still touch your hand and not go to the fris.
Great job!
TracyGood morning!
Yes, the potty training adventures sound interesting for sure! It will work out, but I totally agree that you don’t want to rehearse keep away (or peeing in the kitchen). It might be the substrate preference for your backyard, with familiar smells (Sprite!). Maybe you can have a certain spot for peeing (in the back, or if you have grass on the side or at the front of the house) – and Sprite can make a contribution 🙂 to add smell, and then Dot goes to that spot first thing in the morning on leash, to help develop the substrate preference you want and peeing without chewing on a leash or line. Let me know how she does – it will get so much easier as she gets older and develops more control.
I love the giant stuffed dog idea! That must be so cute also!!
T
Hi!
Editing videos is the hardest part 🙂 but it looks like the training is going really well!
Driving ahead is looking strong! Even with Torch being so small, she was focusing forward and getting ahead of you (yay!) Great job to you for keeping that toy low even when you are tugging – that really allowed her to continue tugging. You can take this game on the road and add more distance so she can get ahead of you even more 🙂
The bowl game is also looking good! You can scoot the two bowls further back (behind your knees when you are kneeling like this) so she wraps even more around the cone. And that will also help her not slide between you and the cone when you add distance – the bowls will be less visible in that spot.
It looks like she was only sliding between you and the cone on the right turn reps – she went around the cone on the left turn reps. She might be a lefty! So you can add a little more distance when she is going to the left, and keep the distance less for now when she goes to her right (from you left hand to your right hand).
The next steps can also include you sitting in a chair and then standing up while she is wrapping.
Stealth self-control – she definitely had the idea of look at and go around to the cone LOL!! She was like “LET ME GO, HUMAN!!” She was great with it as the bowl got around the cone – on that last rep, she could have easily gone directly to the bowl without the cone wrap but she looked at her line when you pointed at it, then went around the cone perfectly. GOOD GIRL!!
Keep moving that bowl around – the goal is that after a couple of sessions, the bowl is basically next to her and she needs to focus forward then go around the cone to get back to it. And work both sides, of course 🙂
It sounds like you were clicking here, but you don’t need to – the click was happening after she got to the bowl, but the marker had already happened and that is all she needed here.
Plankrobatics – She knew to offer getting on the plank but with you a step or two away, she s also trying to orient towards you. So you can be right there, inches away, so she can get al 4 feet on.
She followed your hand to turn really well! The plank is super narrow, so you will see her be able to move more freely if you put a couple of planks side-by-side (or any other objects) to make the playing field bigger. That will help her feel more comfy learning where to put all her feet 🙂
Backing up: She is off to a good start here! To get more distance and more steps, keeping your hands lower – at nose level for her – will help. When you stand up, it raises your hands and her head follows. And when her head is high, moving backwards is less likely to happen.
Because she is so small (for now :)) you can sit in a chair for this – that will make it easy to keep your hands really low without making your back angry 🙂 You rest your elbows on your legs and just leave the cookie hands right in front of her. That should get even more backing up.Parallel path game is going really well! She really liked that furry lotus ball 🙂 and that really helped her look at the prop and not at you. You had really good lateral distance here! And your throws were great, getting the toy out ahead before she looked back at you.
You can keep adding lateral distance, and you can also add getting her to drive ahead to it by starting right next to her and about 15 feet from it. And when she will drive ahead of you… it will be easy to start the rear crosses!
The sideways sending to the prop is also looking great! She has a ton of value for the prop. To start each rep, give her a little bit of the ready dance so she is fully engaged with you – then the send will be very snappy! And you can start moving away as soon as she starts moving to the prop. The only thing to *not* do is don’t say ‘go’ 🙂 We are saving ‘go’ for getting her to drive forward, and we will add verbals for the wraps/turns soon. So for now, you don’t need to say anything or you can make a silly noise 🙂
Great job here!
TracyGood morning!
Really nice session here!
His body language of being very alert followed by the full body shake off at the beginning tells us that the environment is definitely stimulating! Sounds like there was all sorts of interesting things to look at, hear, smell, etc.He was able to return his engagement to you pretty regularly, which is great. It is not happening at super high speed yet, but he is really just at the beginning of taking this game on the road. More practice and the best possible treats will speed things up in terms of engagement – as long as he won’t get an upset GI, you can use stuff like chicken or little bits of hamburger or any high level food rewards.
>I like the time this pattern game gives Skizzle to check things out, though I can see he still needs more time even by the end, as he’s no faster to return attention to me.>
Yes – one of the goals of the game is that the dog has the opportunity to check out the world, without pressure from us humans, and within a framework of how to get rewards and engage with us. You were super patient and that was GREAT!! He will get faster and faster with practice, and you can still practice at home (with normal value treats, nothing mind-blowing needed) to continue to build value for the game.
You can also try this game as you are moving – either moving back and forth, or walking somewhere. That gives him even more freedom to move which is really beneficial for adolescent dogs too.
Great job here!!
Tracy
Good morning!
The blind crosses are looking great! Yes, I agree that feeding across the body is weird feeling t first 🙂 But it really opened up your connection to him and he was able to find the new side change immediately. Super!!! You can go to the next step, which is the collection sandwich (adds in deceleration and pivots and driving ahead, kind of all the puppy handling games 🙂 And you can use a toy to reward for blind too!
He did great with the goat games! He was confident on the donut – it is one of the hardest objects because it takes a lot of adult strength to balance on it, so it was smart of you to just do a little then move to the wobble board. He was super confident and especially adorable when he got the toy and went and got on the wobble board by himself LOL!! That still counts as a retrieve LOL!!
You can put all of the various items together and make a giant playing field for him to walk across the various surfaces.
For the bowl at the end – he was happy to get on it. You were far from it, so he didn’t quite have the balance to turn to you without his feet slipping off. That is only because he is so young 🙂 so to get more balance on the bowl, be closer to it. We start working on pivots soon and we will definitely have you nice and close so his feet say on.
Great job here!! Let me know what you think of the webinars when you have a change to listen to them!
Tracy
Hi!
Congrats on the title!!! That is fantastic!!
>So as to be expected throwing the toy behind him blew his mind. Had to stay very close to the barrel.>
Yes, that is a BIG challenge and staying close to the barrel is great! He did great, almost perfect! The look on his face was hilarious 🙂
There were only 2 little bloopers: at 2:22 and 2:59. On both of those, you didn’t really step to the wing. As you released him, you started turning away so he said “ok cool, no barrel!” On the other reps, you stepped to the barrel and faced it longer so he went to it – that makes all the difference at this stage. In other words – don’t be twitchy 🙂 Make sure he is heading to the barrel before you turn and go to the toy.
Since he has such good toy-food skills, you can also put the toy on the ground then walk to the barrel and feed him high value treats for moving with you then lining up at the barrel. That is a different challenge but also a good one!
Looking at the stay video:
>as he cannot stay still in any position when asked for a nanosecond.>
Then this is the perfect approach for him! It basically makes the stay behavior the pup’s idea, and not something we humans insist on LOL!
You can add in turning yourself forward as if you were about to lead out, and taking a step or two away *as* you say ‘catch’ and throw back.
>I see a couple times he didn’t get up but did scooch back a notch>
That was mainly because you were standing there facing him so he was probably wondering if he should offer something else? Scooching back is not a problem at all for now, and it will go away as soon as you face forward and add your motion a bit.
>Should I work on duration first or change my position compared to him or what?>
Both – start facing forward and moving away slowly (which adds duration) but in a natural way and mark/throw back very quickly as you move away. So he sits, you start moving away but after the first step, you mark/throw. Then ping pong the # of steps to gradually increase how far away you get. Since this is a very new behavior, keep it easy and reward before he breaks.
>Also am I supposed to toss the food to try to get him to catch it or just toss it behind him? He is not a skilled catcher of food just yet.>
You can toss it towards/behind him – he doesn’t have to catch it. The marker just means “coming your way!” So he learns to love staying where he was. And once you say the marker, he is allowed to move so it is also a release word.
Nice work here!
TracyHi! Great question!
>Dog is on your left, dish/toy is straight ahead, holding collar with your left hand. Indicating with right arm/hand.
Why would this not be a left arm/hand cue to wrap left to right and hold collar across your body with right hand?>
You can totally point with the dog-side hand! And when it goes on jumps, we generally do point with the dog-side hand or both hands. For this game, it is usually easier for the handler to hold with the dog-side hand – it might be hard to hold with the opposite arm. And, having the opposite arm makes the impulse control a little easier at first because it acts as a bit of a visual barrier to the bowl or treat, as in: “don’t go there, pup, go around the cone” 🙂
But really it is handler preference and so you can play with both ways and see what feels more comfortable:)
Tracy
Hi!
>I’ll see if I have some toys I don’t care about to leave outside.>
I’ve got lots of cheapie dollar store and amazon toys – they don’t live outside, they live near the door and a few go out with us (one in the mouth and maybe also one in my hand :))
>It’s more that she’ll grab a branch or a small piece of a chew and play keep away. That becomes worrisome as I don’t want her to swallow it. She threw up a piece of bark last night in the middle of the night.>
Yes, absolutely worrisome! It might be long-line time and her drivers license for free running in the yard gets temporarily revoked til the chewing/eating/coming in gets directed more the way you want it. I do lots of rewards for coming in, of course – but at least as many “let’s go right back out!” moments so the pup can’t predict that going inside is the end of the fun and then start to avoid it. And you can change up the rewards for coming in – play with Sprite, or something cool and active in the house with you or a chewy.
>Potty training is slow as she won’t go when she’s outside and then wants to come in and pee in the kitchen. So, I’m taking her out constantly.>
That is hard! I can relate. Maybe a change in potty location will help, like if there is a place in the front of the house you can take her out on leash? She will get the hang of it soon!
Backing up is going well here! You can add in the next step, which is using a target mat for her to back up onto. Use something low and also big enough so she can start with all 4 feet on it. It will help add more distance!
You can see it in the “Adding Challenge” section here:The resilience game also went great, no problem at all! If the toy was the item-to-be-ignored, then it makes sense why she had a little trouble tugging on it. She was in ‘ignore it’ mode and focused on the food – you can make that easier by tying the toy to a long toy so it swoops around more and the food hand is further away 🙂 And, you can use a different toy for the tugging so she has an easier transition back to tugging.
Great job!
TracyHi!
The turn aways on the flat looked good! The lap turns looked particularly easy for her to read.
The tandem also went well –
>I think I’m rushing the tandem turn and bringing my hand up too high which brings her off the ground>
Yes, you can keep your hands lower (probably needing to bend down a little) and have them visible as soon as she starts moving to you, so she sees the cue sooner and is ready for the turning away.
>the prop is much more fun than any toy and off she went when it hit the ground and she was released. Didn’t include the video as she wasn’t going to give it up>
Definitely send the video, even if it is only a rep or two 🙂 There might be one small adjustment we can make to help it go more smoothly.
>Should I change the prop to something that doesn’t move?>
Nope 🙂 Her communication is with her mouth 🙂 so if she picks it up, something is sideways in the cue timing or something else. It could be something as simple when you put the prop in the picture, and how long the session already was, etc.
> Save my cheese for prop only sessions?>
Yes, value of reward can also be part of it. You can also use a toy reward.
> Send her back to Minnesota? (Just kidding – I love this pup)>
Ha! Nope, send her to me, she is adorable!!!
>I also did some hand target refreshers to get ready for the serpentine strike a pose. She’s a funny girl. She gave me two great hand touches and then started giving me paw touches instead (We have NOT done any hi 5 training). >
Paw touches are behaviors we see usually when the pup is excited or if the target is too low or the reward too late or the placement of reward needs to be adjust or all of the above 🙂
>When that didn’t get her a treat she started biting the card. >
She communicates with her mouth!
>This happened on both sides – 2 touches; paw touches and bite the target.>
Rather than withhold the reward, toss it off to the side and use it as an opportunity for problem solving. You ight need to just raise the target so feet are not as easy to lift. Or reward sooner, just before she touches it and before a foot hit. And reward with a tossed treat, so she stays in motion and is less likely to want to hit it with her feet. The game this builds to helps get rid of foot pawing at the target anyway, but it is fun to use shaping games to problem solve a bit.
> I know with my other poodles I’m not able to repeat things as they start to get creative and offering all sorts of behaviors — forget that some things are genetic. Thoughts?>
Yes, there are genetic tendencies for sure! I wouldn’t think 2 reps is too many in a row, but there might be something she is reading about the setup or something when she gets pumped up that causes her to want to add her feet into it. Definitely get it on video, it will be fun to sort out!
Nice work here!
TracyHi!
Yes, this is looking really good! The next step to add is have her starting further behind you, coming to you as you are moving – then as she is on her way, you are slowing down so when she gets to your hand, you can turn her away for the tandem turn. The slowing down really sets up the turn away so he is expecting it, so even if you are running (which she will like :)) be sure to slow down before she gets to you.Great job!
TracyHi!
Good job focusing on your markers!!
>From a prior comment about my verbals–
nice or good is encouragement only>I think using praise can make the markers muddy, so be careful to praise after the marker and when she is at the reward.
>yes is food to mouth or toy to mouth>
This might not be as clear, if you have both with you. It is one of the places I like separate markers because we often carry both food and treats. Plus, the approach to get a treat versus the approach to get a toy (coming in hot for a toy!) and I don’t want any hard contact with my hand if she comes in hot for a treat.
Parallel path – her value was great and she was wonderful about finding the line to the prop!! I see what you mean about saying the ‘yes – get it’ combo! The ‘get it will definitely help her look ahead and not at you, so plan for that for the next session – there was a lot of yes good girl so she was looking at you 🙂
Rear crosses – she is hitting the prop beautifully, so now you can start giving RC info sooner:
>> Rear cross– she consistently turned incorrectly no matter the side she was on .>
Based on the timing of what she saw, she was turning correctly. So you can
start a lot further from the prop, maybe 20 feet away, so that she drives ahead of you which gives you time to then get to her other side… all before she gets to the prop. She was at the prop when you started cutting behind her to the new side here, so she turned to the original side then turned to you. Getting you to the new side when she is still a stride or two away from the prop will get her turning to the new side really well.Having the toy nice and close to tunnel really helped! You can also use it as a framework to get her to bring it back – as soon as she grabs toy #1, you can whip out toy 2 and move away, calling her. The goal is to shape her so she eventually grabs toy 1 and immediately brings it back 🙂
Stays – nice job getting these stays started!! As you start these, the little bit of motion the whole time you get a step away but mark/throw a reward back pretty early on is where she was most successful.
Standing still for too long especially if you weren’t really looking at her was might have been making her think she needs to offer other things. So you can cue a sit (or let her offer it) and be slowly moving away the whole time – but reward very quickly with the marker. Be sure to say the marker before you move your hand, though – she was leaving the sits when your hand would move 🙂
Great job here!
TracyHi!
A quilt retreat – that sounds amazing!!!
The predictability video is the same as the stay video. It looked really good, his stays were lovely! He already had a foundation for this nice stay, right? He did really well with both the reward thrown back to him and the release to you. Since this went so well, you can ramp it up by adding more arousal to it – this can be in the form of using tugging before the sit and then as the reward to throw back or to release forward to. You can also add more of your motion as you lead out – instead of walking, maybe a gentle jog? Eventually you will want to be able to start running as you lead out, before you release him 🙂 For the more-motion challenge, I think food is probably a better reinforcement than toys: both because it is high value and it might not be as stimulating as the toy 🙂
The tandem turn video is the pattern game/predictability video. He was fabulous – easiest game ever, according to PoweR. The pink spracy bottle was only interesting to him because as you moved, he might have been thinking you wanted him to offer behavior on it LOL!! When you were further away, he ignored it completely. He was also solid with the frisbee on the ground.
You can take this game on the road, to more exciting/distracting places – agility trials, the park, anyplace he might go where you might like him to ignore outside distractions. Be sure to use high value food.The handling combos with the TreatnTrain went GREAT! The TreatnTrain might be the biggest distraction out of all of the distractions LOL! But I am super proud of how well he stuck with you at the cone and when you pivoted
There was one blooperd at 1:09 and I think it was a late pivot cue 🙂 You took a big step towards the TnT so he was locked onto it, then you pivoted, so he was already on the line to the TnT. He was perfect on all the other pivots where the info came earlier.>With these I realized I did not use the “Ready” between reps. I think he would have been better if I had remembered that.>
Yes! That was really his only question: when, exactly, to go to the cone. A bit of ready ready followed by the send to the cone will clarify that for him.
Since this went so well and he really liked it 🙂 you can add more room between the cone and the TnT so he gets to really run run run when you cue him to go to it.
So the missing video is the tandem turn video – let me know if you have the link to it.
Great job! Enjoy your week!!!!
Tracy
Hi!
She was pretty perfect with touching the target hand, and she did great with grabbing the start cookie and coming to the target. Your reward placement was really good!>agsin she spent time sniffing the grass when there was nothing to find.>
The video was really useful here for this!
She seemed to think that your reward hand movement was the same as a cookie toss motion, so she was looking for a tossed treat. And it does kind of look the same 🙂 The markers are not that consistent (you had a mixture of yes and get it), so she is relying on hand motion to tell her where the treat is. So you can be very consistent with the markers (I think your ‘get it’ is great for when you throw it, and you can use a different one for when you want her to eat from you hand – ‘snacks’ is a fun one 🙂 and make the ‘eat from my hand’ movement really obvious by shaking your hand and showing her the treat.Interestingly, she did the same sniffing back-and-forth when you were extending the target hand in the 2nd half of the video – I think she was reading the target hand as a tossed treat motion too! So by starting with the tossed treat away from you (and it can be tossed onto a towel or mat if she sometimes sniffs for too long), then as she comes back to you – show the target hand and look at it. That should take out her thinking you tossed the treat – when you did it like that, she did not sniff around, she went directly to the target.
Nice work here!
Tracy
Hi!
This went well! She has no questions about the handling – it was more about ignoring the treats 🙂>So I’m trying bc to do more outside as she seems to be more distracted and sniffs the grass more even when using big or light colored treats.>
You can teach her the pattern game outside – that one is great for getting rid of sniffing evn though the treats are tossed. And doing more with a toy will help a lot too.
>She did better with this exercise if I hid the treat under the target.>
She definitely knew the fastest way to the cookie was to run directly to the target LOL! You can help her by rewarding her with more cookies for walking away from the target and towards the barrel. For example, put a medium value treat on the target, and then use high value treats to reward her for moving with you to the barrel (without holding her). That will help her be able to ignore the treat target.
Let me know how she does with the toy! Nice work here!
Tracy
