[Tracy Sklenar]

Good morning!

Good to know about the treats and the ‘ick’ of dirt and grass! It is super important to be able to have good reinforcement so we can brainstorm a few approaches:

A couple of ideas:

– yes, the up and down game on your shoes will be very helpful because he will probably not be concerned about the treats being mucked up with dirt or grass.

– you can also use a pattern game called super bowls. It uses targets to set up the pattern (a flat target or a food bowl) and so for now, treats don’t touch dirt 🙂

You set out 3 or 4 targets or so, a few feet apart. You start the game by putting a cookie in or on the target. He eats the treat and when he looks up at you: then you go to the next target and put the next treat in it. And so on. It looks like this:

– > Sometimes he’ll go for freeze dried treats that don’t pick up dirt but it’s not a reliable solution.>.

I think freeze dried treats are variable for a lot of dogs – most freeze dried treats are just not attractive enough in terms of value when there are big distractions in the environment. Maybe really stinky salmon ones, but even then – the dry treats are often not interesting enough. Wet treats are more enticing!

So this might sound a little nuts: he needs to learn to pick up amazing treats in the grass or dirt. Yes, the lotus ball is useful but you are correct – it is nearly impossible to use in pattern games unless you have 3 or 4 lotus balls ready to use.

I do teach all of my dogs to pick treats up from the dirt/grass 🙂 I would start with grass first because it is less icky.

Drop a big chunk of easily visible and highly delicious food when he is hungry (this can be done just before a meal!). It can be a chunk of string cheese or chicken. When he eats it, reward the eating it with another delicious treat like a meatball. Take no prisoners: use absolutely amazing food (and I don’t think there are any commercial dog treats that are better than cheese or rotisserie chicken or tuna brownies ewwwww LOL!) Because the food will be rich and higher in fat and we want to use big visible pieces – very short sessions so he doesn’t eat a lot and get an upset GI. Resist temptation to use meh food to get more reps – it is not about reps, it is about quality 🙂

When he eats from grass, you can repeat the process in the dirt.

Basically we are developing a reward strategy by finding the right value of food, and getting him to eat anywhere. If we have those two things? Everything gets MUCH easier in terms of focus and engagement in the face of big distractions.

Separately – being able to engage using the volume dial game is critical:

The food can come from your hand on this game, or from a lotus ball on a line so he chases it. But the key element is getting him to be able to do tricks and silly fun behaviors. What tricks does he know and enjoy? Usually the fun ones are things like high fives, spins, leg weaves, dancing on his back legs, backing up on cue, barking on cue, etc etc. The volume dial game raises arousal and directs it towards the handler, while helping distractions fade into the background.

Let me know what you think!

Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi!

He did really well here with a dog working in the other ring! That is hard but an important skill! Good job using the moment to train!

When he had the small check out – it was pretty minor, and it was in a transition moment. I think using a toy there is actually going to be helpful for the transition. As you move from the food game to the next part of the game, get some toy play going and I bet he doesn’t check out.

He did well finding the tunnel versus the jump here, good boy! I think finding the obstacle where he has to pass the closer obstacle is hard – he had no trouble finding the tunnel past the jump from any of the start position. Many dogs have trouble finding the jump past the tunnel – and he did not! SUPER!!!!

It was definitely harder when your arm got really high and that turned your shoulders sooner (like at 5:12 and 5:31, where the motion really said tunnel but he caught the verbal and converging motion so found the jump) but he was using verbal discriminations there and still got it right. YAY! But it really does tell us that even with a distance, the super high arm can do more harm than good.

>Then it just takes a good long while to get through the variations on this lesson.>

This type of thing can be done in 2 or 3 sessions spread out over a few days. That allows for video review to see what is happening (like where your arms are :)) and also allows him to sleep on it (latent learning is magic!)

> This will show lots of examples of those flinging arms. It seems like this habit is escalating. Partly I think I feel off balance as I fall behind Jackpot on my handling and do some desperation flinging. >

Yes – when we are handling at a distance, we humans want to really use big arms LOL but he was actually reading the cues based on verbals and lines up motion. He did great!

>But I also suspect I’m losing mechanics discipline and have gotten sloppy generally.>

It is a processing thing – I think it is because there is a lot of multi-tasking here and some newer skills: the brain had to prioritize motion, connection, and all the verbals (so many words LOL!) And, the science tells us that our brains are NOT good at multi-tasking LOL 😂 😝 so the mechanics slipped a bit. It is totally normal! And you can add in focusing on mechanics with the drink in hand game 🙂

And it also gives us good insight into the dogs’ brains: when they are learning new skills or having to process new environments, their mechanics might also slip! Totally normal 🙂 and emphasizing mechanics with less speed really helps.

Great job here!

Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Good morning!

>In many of these videos (especially in the Week 2 ones that I’ve started working on), I see arm movements that I really don’t like and I need to clean up what I’m doing.>

Yes – I think as the lines got further away, your arm got higher but that doesn’t always help.

> I just don’t know what I should fix them to.>

We definitely want to shift the emphasis to connection and motion rather than pointing. My favorite way to do it is with this game:

And I also think of keeping my hands pointing to the dog’s nose:

And delivering all verbals to the dog: my mantra is to talk to the dog, not to the obstacles 🙂

> So in this instance, when my right arm sort of rotates with me as I begin to cross, thus pointing at the front of the jump, what should be happening with it instead? >

Your eyes should be on his eyes delivering the verbal, hand pointing to his nose and following it as he moves – and to start the FC, use deceleration and rotation rather than a hand cue (the dogs don’t read the hand cues on that).

>When I watch your demo video, it looks like you don’t use much of an arm to indicate the backside unless it’s back as you describe mine is at first. >

Correct! There are 2 options for arm cues on sends:
– low arm, eyes on the dog, hand moving with the dog’s nose (this is what I do)
– arm so high it is above the handler’s head and the handler is connected under the arm and through the armpit. This only works if the handler is tall (not me) and a really fast runner (also not me) so the dog can see connection somewhat and a ton of motion. This is commonly used in Europe!

In North America, somehow handlers think that keeping the arm at shoulder level or pointing ahead of the dog is helpful but it actually blocks connection and turns the handler’s shoulders away from the desired line.

>Typically, I use the inside arm as I begin to initiate a front cross (which might not be apparent here due to my sloppiness or simply doing something wrong). >

Try using deceleration to being the FC – handlers have to decelerate on FCs in order to make the rotation without getting all tangled up. And when doing the decel/rotation, low arms or pulling them in to your sides helps us be faster in the rotation and keeps the connection nice and clear!

And doing it with a drink in your hand will help your arms stay low and you will be aware of where they are as you move 🙂

Let me know what you think!

Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

NOOOOOOO ewwww snow!!! It will melt, it is too early in the season for any real snow.

T

[Tracy Sklenar]

Good morning!

>Running in 4 inches of dry sand isn’t fun but it’s the only flat surface I have here.>

It is a good workout! LOL! And he did really well.

> >I still had disconnection issues and I left them in the videos.>

I think some of the disconnection might be because you are wanting to show the line with your arm, but that ends up breaking connection. You can see that at :40, when you were cueing the tunnel with the verbal but also pointing to it and that has turned you away from him (so he stops to sniff for a moment, probably a response to not know what the cue means). Also at 1:52 pointing to the wing, he doesn’t quite see connection and things are a little unclear, so he sniffs a bit.

You can also see it as he exits the tunnel towards the wing coming towards the camera – you are pointing forward so he looks at you for more info.

No worries, it was harder but he was game to do it! And your connection was good so he was able to find the line. Super!!

Good job rewarding the off course into the tunnel and other moments when the connections not as clear – note how his little tail started wagging (SO CUTE) and he actually got faster and MORE engaged after he got the rewards there. That is HUGE!!! Because the rewards were flowing and he was not worrying about whether he was right or not – you got a LOT more speed and excitement from him even in the moments when maybe the connection was unclear. He was getting a lot more confident to keep trying to solve the puzzle with you. I love it!!!

So a quick comparison:
Early in the session, when you were not connected and pointing ahead to the far end of the tunnel, at :40, he had a big question and was sniffing for a moment because he might get stressed when things are unclear.

But the session really shifted things, especially after 2:00 when you rewarded the tunnel even though you didn’t wa nt the tunnel. Your physical cue did show the line to the tunnel, he got rewarded… and that really shifted things.

So compare to the moment at 4:19 which was basically the same moment as :40 – heading the same direction to the tunnel. You were a little more connected but still pointing ahead to the tunnel so I am not sure if he saw the connection. But he kept powering through the line and found the tunnel – he was feeling empowering to make decisions because he was being rewarded for doing so. YES!!!!

So keep rewarding his effort and his choices (even if they were not what you wanted LOL!).

And we can also give you some fun ways to get your arms down because they are not needed for showing the line, especially with small dogs – motion and connection are the main cues. This is my favorite way to do this:

Great job here!!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Good morning!

The threadle-serp session went great! She was so funny, figuring out the advanced angles even before you were ready for the next rep LOL! Good girl Bella! Just be sure your arm is in position before you even throw the start cookie – what was happening when you changed sides (dog on left) was that your arm cue was a bit late – she was already n the way back to you and didn’t always see the arm cue in time.

>So I have no idea why I wasn’t using my word on the threadle, sigh.>

Let’s blame the snow. LOL!!

>Sit stays are going well but didn’t ask for many as she’s not a fan in pants.>

She did well with the stays, and it was good to not do a ton of them. You can work stays in panties separately – they are a part of life for a while so it is good to get her happy to work in them

Also remember to break up these sessions and get toys involved – it is good to have toy play throughout to keep things exciting and give her mental breaks for the cookie reps. She played beautifully at the end with the tie long toy that was moving! Yay! So you can add toy play after every 3 or 4 reps.

>If I was and put her in a sit I would release on that word?>

Yes, the release to the threadle would be your threadle verbal.

>For serps I thought it was correct to use my actual release word.>

Yes, because in the context the ‘normal’ release word means ‘move forward towards me which fits the serp nicely.

>I totally understand why we end up releasing on what we want them to do next but how do they know ? I know this helps Josie a lot, but I did not end up with successful stays with her.
How do they not just release every time we open our mouths?>

Great question! Part of it is that they learn the different words: threadle verbal versus regular release versus praise (which means ‘doing great, don’t move’) and the reward markers. For example, if I get into threadle position but say “catch”, my dogs actually look behind him for the reward (it is actually really funny).

So we get that level of verbal discrimination a few ways:
– mixing in the different verbals with being consistent with what happens after them, especially the praise and the reward markers. Adding in praise before a release really helps them understand to *not* move just because I am saying something and to listen for the words instead.

– making sure the verbals are *not* associated with movement. So I am not going to move my hand or start running while also saying ‘break’ at the same time.

– working it in high arousal so the dogs are still processing verbals even when they are experiencing fireworks in their brains 🙂

– tons and tons of rewards for the stay as the games get more exciting 🙂

Great job here!

Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi!

>I did not do the threadle wrap because I don’t think I’m going to need it and have no idea what I would call it for now.>

I think you would only need a true threadle wrap if you wanted to do the AKC ISC classes at some point – they are really fun courses (probably more fun than premier 🙂 ) But also, you can tweak the threadle wrap game to make it a 180/u-turn which is more of a tandem turn or rear cross on the flat. Totally useful for any course!

I think he really liked the reverse retrieve! The hardest part for him at the beginning was when he was trying to run to you AND pick up the toy LOL!! He sorted it out really well and was retrieving beautifully!
The other interesting thing was that any time you moved towards him, it was totally the cue for him to move away with the toy. So if he doesn’t quite bring it to you, don’t run towards him: you can run the other way *past* him so that he still gets to chat and bring it to you.

The volume dial game also went really well! He totally loves that high five! I agree, he probably needed a slow hand cue for the spins (and maybe even a cookie in it to follow). And you can add in other tricks too – when backing up has a verbal cue, you can use that. I like to get dogs ‘dancing’ on their hind legs because it is also a nice stretch 🙂
He was perfectly engaged here! You can also play this game with food-only, and a mix of food and toys. We won’t know exactly what works best for arousal regulation until he is in different environments. Usually for a dog like Brioche, we end up with a nice balance of food and toys!

Looking at the stay video:

>he didn’t stay seated when I put him between my legs and went to move away.>

That is something to play with separately so he gets comfy with the ‘dismount’ in case you want to use the between-the-feet-lineup at the start line. Changing to sit at your side was totally the right thing to do for now.

He did great with the stay here with the toy – remember how he used to have trouble being stationary? You got this beautiful stay going really well, and I think you really hit the goal of making it FUN for him to stay! Yay!

>I realize what I haven’t done is release him forward. So what is the best mechanics for that so as not to mess up the stay work we’ve done.>

One of the things you are doing really well in this session (and previous sessions) is that you are *not* pairing motion with the marker & toy. You are adding in standing still, looking at him…. Then a few seconds later marking and tossing the toy.

So it will be the same idea for releasing him forward: lead out, connect, praise him, then choose how you want to reward him:
– release forward with your break verbal, at which point he should drive to you to play (you can throw the reward past you, but I like having the dog come play with me on the ‘break’ verbal). Just be sure you don’t say ‘break’ and move at the same time. You can either be stationary, then say break, then move. Or you can be moving the whole time, say break while you are moving, and keep moving.

>Should I do a ratio of sit/catch vs sit/release? More catch than release or what?>

It will depend on what else is going on in training. If you are using the stay in other games where he gets a lot of releases forward, this game on the flat can be used to give him a lot of ‘catch’ rewards.

Also, I really love to mix in ‘catch’ rewards in all the other games where I use a stay (we are adding more of that in tonight) to show the stay in context: for example, in the threadle foundation game: lead out, get into position… then say ‘catch’ and throw a treat or toy to him for holding his stay. I do that throughout the dog’s agility career (throwing rewards back when they are in a stay position) because they LOVE agility but I love stays so I pay it A LOT. The main thing is to do your best to OT have the release forward paired with reconnecting, or arm movement – so video all your stay sessions.

If he starts breaking the stay, you might have accidentally shown him a physical cue as the release can we can catch it early if it is on video.

The tunnel game went really well and it was a good brain challenge! I love how he was pulling towards the end of the tunnel before you let him go, as if acknowledging that he knew where to go. Good boy! And he did well on both sides, which is super nice too.

> He was doing really well but then at the end, he disengaged…just too much for one night.>

Yes, you can see him starting to get a bit distracted and brain tired as early as 1;45 in this session. And then by the end he was totally brain-fried (probably physically tired too – the tugging games take a lot of physical energy, and the nose work session plus the agility stuff takes a lot of mental energy).

But yes, I agree that he has the idea and had ton of great reps. On the double whammy part of it, you can mix in sometimes doing just one tunnel and telling him to go go go then throw the reward, so he exits straight instead of expecting a turn.

Great job on these!!!

Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi!

Holy wow, that first video looks FABULOUS!!! Little Grace handled that like a super experienced dog. You really drove the line and had great connection!!! Super nice rear cross to the tunnel!

2nd half also looked great! She almost missed the last jump because you were a little disconnected, but then you got connected so she found the jump. Yay!!

Full course – it is also notable that there was a dog nearby and she ignored the dog and person at first. Superstar! But then it got hard: maybe that is part of why she came back out – her brain was processing the visual and you called her, so she came to you? Then it looks like she was barking a bit? My guess is that she has never really experienced that and it was weird! You can help her recover with a pattern game or tricks for treats to get used to having other people nearby. She just needs more experience with other dogs/people.

>Would love your advice on why she doesn’t run the line to the finish without curling in to me.>

It was connection: when she exited the tunnel she didn’t see your connection, so she turned into you. So be sure to really lock onto the exit of each tunnel and let her see you really looking at her as you run up the line. That will help set the line directly to the last jump.

>She has never done more then short sequences before this.>

She was brilliant!!! So fun!!!

Great job!

Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

WOW!! You and Maisy look fantastic here!!!!! Well done! And I love the enthusiasm of the presenter or whoever was yelling in the background about how brilliant you were 🙂

T

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi!

>Yes, the barrel games are coming along. Much more fun than rear end awareness and backing up – don’t worry, we revisit them every few days as well.>

Totally agree LOL!! Backing up/body awareness is fine but I like the games where we get to run around a bit 🙂

She did great with the volume dial game here! Yes, you can add a few more tricks: she had hand touches, sits, spins here but when backing up is on cue that can be a good trick to add! Or a high five, or dancing on her back feet. Or even leg weaves! All of those are fun and silly to train.

She was best with the hand touch when you looked at the target hand instead of at her. When you were looking at her, she looks back at you and doesn’t really see the target hand, So when you put your hand out, let her see you shift your eyes to it, and she will go directly to it.

>You’ll notice the last hand touch turned into more of “bite the hand”.>

Yes, it is a good indicator of arousal level: a little bit of a tooth hug on the hand target, or less accuracy (you were getting some feet on the hand target too). But is it a good thing or a bad thing? Time will tell, based on what happens next: Does the tooth hug indicate overarousal? Or does it indicate optimal arousal? You can play this right before training, the you can see how she does when you train in terms of accuracy, speed, and focus.

One thought on a small details or mechanics: She did well with releasing the toy overall! You can get it back even more easily if you keep it lower so her jaw is parallel to he ground – pulling it up causes her to hold it a bit longer because she can still pull on it.

Great job here! Definitely try this game with food, as well as a mix of food and toys, and see how it goes!

Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi!

Prytania was a willing helper here!! Quill did great! You had him doing sit and downs here – you can ask for a variety of behaviors: hand touches, tricks, heeling, etc. Maybe for field, he can do focus forward on a toy (as if marking a bird?) while she is chasing a ball? All of that will be fun for him with his Prytania distraction 🙂

The toy video while Prytania was running around/squeaking the ball was also good! When he was only tugging, he was *definitely* aware of her – I think he did better when he had a “job” (first video) or when he was in the sit here in the 2nd video. He as great holding the sit while you threw the ball! This would be a good place to add the forward focus: when you put his toy on the ground, wait for him to look at it then release him to it.

The wraps are going well! You have the low and slow hands happening, and that really helps. Plus I think he was figuring out to not try to chomp the cookie hand, and follow it instead. It really helped!

Take a look at the advanced level of this, where we do the full 360 circle wraps (backside circle wraps). He is ready for that!

Great job :)


Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi!

>Tugging – I’ll have to try that when Bella isn’t in season. Added layer lol!>

You can fight fire with fire with the highest value toys on a line, and swing them for him to really chase!

>Been wanting to do the SSC with friends. We have focused more on recalls from friends building confidence in his people shyness>

He might prefer the SSC with people rather than recalls. Recalls kind of forces the interaction. And if he is not comfy, he doesn’t really have the agency or freedom to ignore them. He might really like the SSC a lot better!

>I was going to ask a bout the toy on the ground. I don’t think I officially introduced the concept. He does know get it but doesn’t transfer “not “ get it lol!>

That gets baked in with the initial strike a pose game – we get the toy dangling really early on, then on the ground. The markers really help and it is in that game where we introduce the concept of ‘don’t touch it til we mark it’.

I also put a toy on the ground and walk away, giving the pup treats.

And we use a toy on the ground in the SSC work – novel/exciting is the spot for it.

>And no I didn’t video that one either. I will when we get to the final spot and the toy can be next to him.>

Don’t wait until you have the finished product to video… video the early sessions so you can see where the improvements can be made. That will make training more efficient and speedy!

On the coming in video – what treats were you using? They were good, he was eating them. But you might want to go to the mind-blowing level. Also – I think the up and down pattern game is probably not the most helpful one because it requires him to be relatively stationary. That is very hard for an adolescent learning to ignore things in the environment! I think the back and forth (tossed treats) will be a more effective choice of pattern game for this scenario.

About the toy:

>thought any toy would do but he didn’t love the one I used for the shpile>

I don’t think it was the toy itself, I think it was more about how you were using it: you were bent over him, the toy was relatively short, and you were squiggling it in front of him, almost like swiffering the floor LOL Then you gave up and walked him away – his face was like, huh?

When you broke off the session to play a bit on the middle and at the en – he engaged really well with the toy when it was moving for him to chase and grab! He let go of it almost every time you smack his shoulder, so maybe don’t smack the shoulder 🙂

For toy play homework: make the toy into a live fun squirrely thing to chase and grab! Use the full length of the toy, or better yet – tie 2 toys together so it is 4 feet long. Then stand upright (leaning over the pups reduces toy play) and move the toy away from him to hose & grab. Use plenty of room and make it a game! I bet he will totally get into it. I bugged Christine out the game thing so you two can hold each other accountable. Squirrel, not swiffer! 😂

He dod well with the shpile! He got all feet on almost everything really well – he seemed to avoid the paw pod things and that is fine – I don’t think they feel good on puppy feet. So you can use the other objects and make them more random and piled up for him to climb around on.

Great job here!

Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi!

Bummer about the panties but she did great with the shpile on the mats!! She seemed confident to put her feet on just about all of it, including slamming the wobble board LOL! She seemed to be actively avoiding the paw pods, and I don’t blame her – the little nubby things seem like they hurt LOL!!!

She was not quite putting her hind end on everything so you can put some towel under the wobble board and reward her by tossing treats to the other side to get more end engagement.
And she is interested in the toy – that was along toy, so use the full length of it so you can stand up and really swing it around. When you are bending over her and only giving her half the toy, she can’t grab it as well (maybe she is trying to grab your flesh, which we appreciate!!)

>I should have planned better for her getting to the pile before me to support the rocker board. I didn’t realize it’d be that loud.>

She seemed maybe a little surprised but not offended 🙂 But having it wobble less and be softer/less noisy will help encourage more hind end use.

Great job!

Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi!

He did really well here!

The verbal-only game is looking good! And so is the sequencing 🙂

When you had a lot of motion in positions 1, 2, and 3 – the hardest part was when you were not fully connected – he pays close attention to your physical cues but if the connection is not clear, he is following motion to the obstacle he sees (like at 1:17, for example).

You can reset after oospies with a cookie, so he still gets rewarded for his effort. When you are running fast, add lots of connection by looking straight back at him and making eye contact. That will totally help him know which side of you to be on.

Separately from being beautifully connected and running fast – you can add in being a little disconnected like you were toward the end, but dial back your motion even more when you are ahead so he can sort it out 🙂 Interestingly, the tunnel was harder than the jump when you were a little disconnected so that is a good one to work on!

Great job here 🙂

Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi!

>>>I think at one point you said “your brain is braining” and that is the funniest thing I have heard in a while LOL!!!!!!!!
Hahahaha!!! I’m glad that made you laugh! 🙂 That made my day!>

I laughed ALL DAY about it. So funny!!!

Position 1 went really well – She had no problem at all reading the cues. Your connection and verbals were super clear!!

On the 2nd video – your positions did indeed look different! This went well too.
When you were ahead at :12, you had a bit of a disconnect, looking forward- so it looked like a blind to her and she took the jump even though you were saying tunnel. And she had a connection question at :59 and 1:33 and 1:50 for example – taking the jump instead of the tunnel. I think you were ahead and she couldn’t see connection, so was guessing based on motion.

You can open up more connection there to get the tunnel by using exit line connection: reaching the opposite arm across the body to push the dog-side arm back, which reveals more connection.

Separately, you can work on more of the disconnection by slowing down your motion and not being too far ahead – and deliberately softening the connection. By reducing the motion, she can prioritize the verbals and be able to get the correct obstacle. That is HARD but she is ready!

Great job here!

Tracy

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