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Oh, that is indeed a great toy!! This is great!
He might really like the stuff on the end of it, and also the bungee handle that makes is easier to tug on! You can tie it to a longer toy so he still has this toy that he really likes, and then you can slide it around for him to chase and grab. I am so excited that he really likes this toy – we can use it in training and also find similar toys that he might really like as well!
Have fun!
Tracy
Hi!
>Copper had a trial this weekend – almost qualified several times, but kept jumping his contacts. Alas, another opp to learn from you if there is a course around contacts. Also interested in intermediate distance training classes for Copper.>
Sounds like a fun weekend!!!! We have done contact proofing courses in the past, and we have a handling mini course coming up in February – all about the opposite arm which I use on some distance work too!
Wrap Shaping:
>I found treats that he REALLY likes and now seems to want them more than his toys.>Yay! It is good to have treats he loves! He has great toy drive so I think his toy ply will come right back in the presence of the new treats. He definitely liked the treats here!
You might need to take the collar off for this game – the tags were hitting the bowls and that extra noise might have been causing him to look around a bit to see if there were more cookies being dropped LOL!
Since this went so well, you can move to the next step: after a couple of treats to establish the back and forth rhythm, you can start to delay the treats and see if he starts going back and forth between the bowls (then gets the reward). And if he can do that, you can add an upright into the game for him to go around.
Drive to handler: he is doing so well with his stay! Yay! You can add in more of your motion now in the form of walking forward then slowing down so he decelerates into your side. It might be hard to have you moving when he is in a stay without breaking (we want to protect his stay like it is gold :)) so you can start with a cookie toss. Be sure to slow down no later than when he is halfway to you and reward with the dog-side hand right next to your leg. Yo can also add the pivot, where you both turn and he stays nice and tight to you.
Blind crosses: you are not klutzy at all! This is a hard skill (rewarding across the body) because it is new and maybe a little weird feeling 🙂 It really helps open up the connection especially with such a small pup. The only time he had a question was when you were a little late (that was the rep where he didn’t change sides). But you were on time for all the other reps and he did great!!
Just one suggestion: I think a longer toy will help because then he can stay at your side and not swing around in front of you.
This went really well so you can add more motion (jogging then running) to this one as well.
Driving ahead of you went great! He is happy to leave you in the dust 🙂 The only thing to tweak is how you hold him when you are throwing – sometimes he was moving, sometimes you were moving, sometimes you let go too soon or kind of bowled him a little LOL! So try to get him stationary and not moving – then throw and let the toy land, holding him for a few more seconds before you let him go. Then you can also try to run. Check out the toy races we added yesterday, I think he will like that a lot too!
He was very happy to get on the here! You can build up the break cue by saying it then throwing a treat (you did that at the end). And you can also get him driving back and forth to the board by marking his interaction with it using a ‘get it’ marker, then tossing a treat to the side. That way he hops off, grabs the treat, then runs back to it 🙂
Since his treat love is really blossoming, you can use a more exciting toy – maybe something furry and a little wilder so he is equally excited about it in the presence of food.
Then when you want him to tug, you can move the board away so he doesn’t get locked onto the food potential of the board until you are ready for more shaping
Since he was so confident here, you can keep changing up what you want him to climb on. This can include boards, couch cushions placed on the ground, random things you might have, and even some simply dog fitness equipment if you have any.
Great job here!
Tracy
Hi!
>Aelfraed is approximately 15 inches tall now.>
That is a nice size!! He will probably end up at a 5 foot set point distance, maybe even 6 feet!
>He also thought staying while his treat ball was put on the ground was exceptionally hard, so that may have impacted his desire to chase it fully when we eventually got to the part of releasing him.>
I can see how it might have been really hard! You can start it really slowly to work up to high value for a dragging treat. He is really young, so time is on our side in terms of teaching him jumping.
Wind In Your Hair is looking great!! You varied your position significantly (and looks like you added more distance) and he was still able to drive ahead of you. Super! Since he seems to like this game, you can add the challenge of you being past the jump as he exits the wing to see how he does with finding the jump – plus it challenges him to send all the way to the wing if you are right near the jump when you cue the send. And you can keep adding distance between the jump and wing.
He was also fantastic with the smiley face game! Great job keeping your arms down and showing very clear connection to support all of his lines.
He was looking at you a little bit on the soft turns (wing to wing) so that is a spot where you can keep connecting like you did and add in throwing rewards when he is arriving at the 2nd wing.
You can add more distance between the wings and tunnel here too! I was trying to figure out if his vocalizations were because he had a question or he was frustrated or…. I didn’t see a consistent reason so he is probably talking it up because he was excited 🙂
Great job here!
Tracy
Hi!
He did well ignoring the neighbor dog here! That was a lot harder when he was younger. Some of the delay in his responses at the beginning was probably due to the barking but then when he was able to wrap really well even as the upright moved away.
>I got some very nice training loops going >
Yes! You had a really nice loop going and got the upright further and further away – Super!!
The marker for he cookie was consistent but also the word is a little long so since you are thinking about markers – you can shorten this one to maybe the first syllable – that way you are definitely going to be able to say it fully before you move the treat
>then I kicked the baby (just a little) and it went a bit sideways haha.>
Just a small kick LOL!! But it did interrupt the flow. I am not sure that he was put off by being kicked – it is more that he forgot his train of thought and you were already 3 minutes into the session without breaking it off to play. So you can break out the tug toy more frequently and then I think the 3 or 4 minutes will be easy for him to do – the whole session on food can end up being too repetitive so the pups lose interest a bit.
great job here!
Tracy
Hi!
>but the words weren’t working because my brain got broken thinking about cues, cos I listened to a podcast with Shade Whitesel. I know i need some clearer cues for toys, but I need to think them through, i don’t know what I “need” but I also know my brain can’t cope with too many verbal cues.>
Yes, clear cues are good but also don’t try to add so many that it is paralyzing to the brain 🙂
>So far I’m thinking * play tug with me “tuggy” * get it (send to dead toy) * winner winner (he can take laps) >
Perfect! Those 3 will get a very far in training! You might also consider a ‘bring it’ to get him to carry it to you.
For the winner winner – if he is going to take the lap, you might as well say it immediately o you are naming the behavior. Then you can start to work on getting him to bring it back more immediately when you don’t say winner winner. You can do this by running the other way and presenting a different toy or treat. You ran the other way at 2:30 and it totally brought him towards you!
The forward focus is going well! I LOVE how well he puts his collar nearby for you to hold. And he is focusing on the toy brilliantly so adding the ‘look’ cue worked really well here.
>I say “get it” each time, except the last rep, where I say “go Go”,>
Adding the Go verbal is appropriate here because we will be able to use it to build up the Go cue on jumps.
>(I left in the bit when the little gobshite stole a toy, but cut out the bit where I’m trying to get my watch timer set up, and left in the bit at the end where he stole a toy again haha)>
He appears to think that the toy in your waistband is fair game for stealing and since he gets to play with it, he is going to keep stealing it LOL If it doesn’t bother you, don’t worry about it and just manage the toy better when you don’t want him to steal it. If it is annoying – manage the toy better (tuck it away more) so he can’t grab it and take off when you are doing something else 🙂
Great job here!
Tracy
Hi!
She did great here! I think she likes the action – as soon as she realized it was a running game after the first rep, she cranked up her speed and made you run run run 🙂 Love it!!!I am loving how well she drove into the tunnel as well! And she got through it really fast despite having to get low to get into it. Good girl!!!
Your connection looked great and that helped her find the lines. And she also did well with the soft left/right turns versus the wraps – it was very cool to see her sequencing so brilliantly!! She was not quite as sure of the soft turns between the barrels (the left & right turns instead of the wraps) so she didn’t accelerate as much, but I bet she will sleep on it and have an easier time flying through it in the next session.
>When she turns but doesn’t wrap I should be saying left or right, right?>
Correct! You did well trying to get all the darned verbals out 🙂 No worries if sometimes the wrong ones come out – as long as you are working the verbals, it will get easier with practice.
Yes – the wraps are for when she is coming all the way around back towards you (like when she was going back to the tunnel here) and the left/right ’soft’ turns are for when she is doing a 90-degree turn but stays on the line (like to the next barrel here.> Do you think I should move the barrels further from the tunnel?>
Yes – I think she will LOVE that 🙂
Great job here!
Tracy
Hi!
He was fierce with the toy here at the beginning! Yay!
He flings himself around a little with the collar grab when the food toy is around, so you might consider a harness? Or releasing more quickly to the bowl?
Yes, it was harder to get toy play when the food had been in play!
When you went back to the toy, you can make it even more alive by throwing it, dragging it like a FastCat lure 🙂 and trying to play the game like you did at the beginning: holding him then throwing th toy for him to chase. Because the food changes his internal state, you will want to get him wild again with the toy being doubly wild. And you can try it with just one rep of cookies – throw one cookie then go back to the toy rather than several cookie reps. Let me know how he does!Nice work here!
Tracy
Hi!
Lew did great with the bowls for the wrap foundation! He had definitely caught on to the back and forth between the bowls by the time you were done with the first posted video and was even better at the start of the 2nd video here. Adding the upright was easy peasy for him! Wow! He was so quick that he was walking and chewing, like you mentioned LOL! Maybe tiny bits of steak will be useful for this too 🙂
You can start to replace the upright with bigger things – a cone or a barrel if you have those around.
Foot target:
>I broke the session up into 3 sessions with toy play in between, but he was not interested in the toy once the steak came out,>
That is pretty normal – he was a wild man for the toy at the beginning. Then smell and taste of steak was probably overriding toy play, so you can use lower value food next time and see how he does. Or, you can run to an entirely different place (away from the steak area :)) and see if he will tug in a different place.
Tossing the rewards away to see if he would drive back to the target was helpful – I think early on he was thinking the session was about being in front of you and smacking the ground but then he was very deliberately hitting the target. Super!
>I’m excited to let him sleep on this a day or so and try it again!>
Yes! Let’s see what magic the latent learning will work – and if he is smacking the target at the beginning of the session, you can move tot he sending game with it.
Great job here!
Tracy
Hi!
Looking at the prop game: Maui did a great job offering behavior on the hat here! Try to stand completely still while he is deciding what to offer – when you were moving/leaning, it was drawing his focus up to you and away from the prop. If it is hard to see his little feet 🙂 from above, then you can be a tiny bit further away to have a better view. I think one more session of value building is all he needs, then you can move to the send games.
The hand targeting went well too! My only suggestion is that when you are kneeling, he wants to be in a down (probably some reward history there) so you can stand up and also reward by tossing the treat way like you started doing at around :50. That got really lovely hits! And it got him back up when he offered the down again.
>Here is his first attempt at focus forward.>
This video is listed as private, can you reset to unlisted so YouTube will let me see it?
Great job here!
Tracy
Hi!
>I’m sorry to not have done Wing Wrap Foundations last week…a stomach bug took me out. >
Oh no! I hope you are feeling better!!
>But, I made sure to do it first thing this week so we can a) let the latent learning kick in before advanced level b) make sure we get the advanced level down before we kick it up a notch later this week with the next steps!>
Perfect! I think the session went really well!
>The only thing we seemed to have a bit of trouble with was these Wing Wrap Foundations. She could smell the cookies in my pocket and was more interested in pestering me than going after the cookie in the bowl.>
She was a little more fluid going to her right (from your left hand to your right hand), in terms of neverstopping at your hands or your bowl. It was when she was going from your right to left (to her left) that she would come to you more – and when she was sorting out what to do at :40, she turned to her right to get back on track.
This might mean she is a righty. It is good to know if the pup has a preferred side! We will keep an eye out to see if we see it in other games too, because it helps us decide which side to start on in the harder games.
>Any tips you have to mitigate this? Should I try standing?>
You can stay sitting for now, because it is not really an impulse control question – it is more of a side preference question. I would just give her another session or two of this and then when we add the cone, we will keep it a little easier when she has to turn left and make it a little harder when she is turning to her right.
Collar grab and toy races looked awesome! She was happy to be held, and happy to beat you to the toy. You can add in more of throwing it as far as possible so she can really leave you in the dust 🙂 like you did at the end. And every now and then, feel free to try to cheat to win the race 🙂 You can cheat by gently pushing her back to give yourself a head start. She is fast so she might not let you win, but she will have to kick in a whole new gear of speed to beat you.
Goat games are going well too – she was offering getting on the fit bone really nicely! And the neighbor dogs did not seem to distract her at all, so that is a valuable rehearsal for what she might experience at an agility trial: big barking while she is trying to sort out how to use her body!
The fit bone is a little smaller than her stance, so she was very comfy putting her front feet on but not her back feet. You can add in another object or two to widen the playing field. That will encourage her to get all 4 feet on the objects and balance on them.
Folding it in with the cone: nice job letting her look forward before you released her! She seems ready for the next level of this:
You can add in a hand cue now – pointing to the line you want her to take. Since you are holding her with your dog-side arm, you can point with the opposite arm for now. Then when she looks forward, let her go but don’t step to the wing. That will challenge her to go around the wing without you can ignore the bowl 🙂Nice job! Let me know what you think!
Tracy
Hi!
On the advanced level, you mixed in some holding of the collar and he did great with that. So the routine of follow a cookie into position then hold him works really well – you can lead him into position at your side with the treat rather than toss it, because sometimes the tosses were ending up with him sideways to the cone. You were really good about NOT moving him by the collar, though, so the cookie lure lineup will help for now (and it is easy to fade out).He also did well with the forward focus here! He found it a little harder when he would have hd to pass the bowl to get to the cone, and had a couple of bloopers 🙂 No worries, there were only 2 bloopers 🙂
As the game gets harder and he has to pass the bowl more, you can have the cone closer to you so if he doesn’t wrap and goes directly to the bowl, you can get to the treat before he does (maybe 😂) You can also see if he can do this with an empty bowl, then you drop the treat into it after he wraps.
Great job here! You can try the other side in the next session!
Tracy
Hi!
Folding it in – baby level – is another way to build collar grab love. He was a little suspicious when you reached for him at first (possibly avoiding being moved by the collar). You used a cookie lure at :42 and after that to line him up, then you held him and that was ideal! You were holding by the body which he was happy with, but you can also mix in sometimes holding him by the collar after you line him up.
His forward focus looked great! He was definitely ready for the advanced level, so I am glad you moved to it below.
T
Hi! Really lovely session here, breaking down the collar grabs and just reaching towards him, then tossing a treat. On the video you were mentioning how he doesn’t love collar grabs or being touched, so this is a good area of focus for us! He was GREAT about not moving away on most reps when you were reaching towards him, and you were lovely about not being too pushy about it.
He absolutely loves his line up position: so you can add a little more collar grab there: he lines up, you put a finger under his collar to gently hold him, throw a cookie, then immediately let go of him to chase the cookie. That can be a really good way to sandwich the collar grab in between 2 things he likes: lining up and cookie chasing 🙂 That can help build collar grab love for sure!
Great job!
Tracy
Good morning!
It was really cool to see your video camera casting to the TV behind you! Fun!
>She checks EVERYTHING out by nose poking it. EVERYTHING. She could have worse quirks but the number of drinks she spilled on us!>
I might need to add the “Don’t Spill My Coffee” rule to this class – all of my dogs learn it really early LOL!
It seems pretty normal for a Dobe to checks things out, so to help her with the impulse control you can have the novel items in the environment further away so it is a little easier to not go over to them.
> Which leads me to the other quirk of biting feet and running between legs. I may have put too much emphasis on it when she arrived as my husband was recovering from ankle surgery. >
When does she do the foot biting/running between feet? Do you know what the cue or trigger is? We can redirect it because it might knock you over when she is full grown!
>I think that may be why her personal play is tentative.>
I don’t think it is tentative… I just think that might be her current preferred play style 🙂 The pups get to choose how they want to play with us. Food and toys make it easier for us to guide the play, but when there are no food and toys I am happy to take feedback from the pup. At least half of my dogs are similar to Roulette, in that they don’t enjoy it when I move towards them with my hands in the name of play. They prefer when I teasingly move away from them, and they come to me.
This collar grab game went great – she was MORE than happy to come in, line up and the collar hold happening because it was the start of the best and easiest game ever. She seemed to have no questions or concerned about being touched/grabbed/held by the collar. Super! So you can build up a little duration (holding it longer after you throw). And you can sometimes incorporate it into other games – line her up, hold the collar, then start any of the games where she starts next to you. We definitely want her to continue loving the collar grab!
>The last time we just played ball, she could return this one easily. Interesting to see how a little arousal can tip things a different direction.>
Yes indeed, arousal changes things for sure. Plus she is just about the age of entering adolescence, which also changes behavior a little. So you can set up trades for the beloved ball – if she brings it back, she can have another ball (it can be an identical ball if she has feelings about the value of the ball). Or, you can trade for a treat. Both of the trades after the retrieves can be followed by lining her up, hold her collar, toss the ball again.
Great job here!
Tracy
Hi!
He was a most marvelous little goat here! I love his confidence – he was trying to get on the Klimb before he even let go of the toy LOL!
I like that he did get back on the toy even if it took a heartbeat to be sure all snacks were accounted for 🙂 to get him back on the toy faster, you can lean the Klimb up against the couch so he doesn’t offer Snack Search & Rescue during the tug breaks. Or, you can run to a totally different area to get him chasing you for the toy (and away from the good snack smells).
Since this went super well and he was very confident, you expand this for sure: instead of cookies on the climb, you can use a ‘get it’ marker and toss the cookie to the side for him to get… opening up the opportunity to race back to the Klimb and climb on it. And you can replace the Klimb with a number of different things: planks, couch cushions, under-inflated inflatables, etc – you can even make a bit of a pile for him to climb around on.
>Think this was right but to be fair, I only halfway read sometimes!>
Ha! Yes it was lovely! And you can use the field guides so you don’t have to read all the text – they have just a couple of points will guide the session.
Great job here!
Tracy
