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He is definitely happy to bang around on the teeter! And backing up went well. Remind me – is he going to d oa 4on or a 2o2o? I remember 4on but maybe I am making that up in my head 🙂 We will want to add a target to the bang game pretty soon, so the chosen behavior will tell us where to put the target.
On the straight line sequences:
Nice job with the wrap, backsides, and rear crosses! He is doing the Go lines well too, but we want to convince him to stop looking at you on the jumpafter the tunnel (he was looking at you on that jump for just about all the reps). He was driving back to the tunnel without looking at you at all, which is great!Looking at this session and skipping ahead to the last video of finding the jump after the tunnel: His commitment and line finding is really good, so we can smooth out the head checks.
He is not looking at you when he exits the tunnel, he is looking forward to the jump both in the straight line videos and the find the jump session. The looking at you is happening right before or over the jump – it looks like he is tracking the reward throw rather than continuing to look ahead. If your throw is early enough, he doesn’t give a big head check (but he does have an eyeball on you :)) If the throw is a step later – he looks at you pretty consistently.
So that is probably where the head checks are coming from when you add in the 2nd jump – tracking the reward throw, paired with wanting you to open it for him. This gives us a good starting point for reinforcement strategies: either someone else has to be hanging out off to the side and throw it (ideally something he can reward himself with), or someone else is at the end of the line for each rep and only starts running and dragging the reward when you say Go. No more reward throws from da momma 🙂
>Should I reward the first jump out of the tunnel? Or is he maybe looking to see if I’m going to toss? He seems better on the other side with the one jump at the end.>
When we add back jumps after the tunnel, he will know how to look ahead more so it will be easy to get. He is better on the other side because there is only one jump and your throws are earlier.
For now, take this off of jump lines to play with what he will drive to in terms of reinforcement (plus he has done a lot of jumping this week, so a few days off of anything jumping will be good). You can do some tunnel then run forward, with the thrown reward from someone else and the dragging reward, to see which is more exciting and effective when paired with Go cues. Then when he goes back onto jumps, it will be easy to get him looking ahead.
The countermotion game went well! Well done to your for gettng the rotations done early so he got the full backwards sending. The race tracks went really well too – the tunnel as a discrimination was hard! It might have been far away but that is still close enough to be a possibility, so turning your shoulders early definitely helped him resist it. You can add more speed and see how it goes when you are running 🙂
There was only one blooper (:52) and that actually did look like a lap turn with a bit of leaning forward amd how you stepped the dog-side (right) leg! He was clever to read it like that. On all of the other reps looked like backwards sends so he had no questions on those.
Great job here!
Tracy
Good morning!
A couple of reward ideas for you!
>He generally does enjoy the treat ball and can open it and doesn’t seem bothered by the velcro. He does wait for me to open the majority of the time though.>
For the treat ball, we need to figure out how to get him to just grab the food without you needing to open it – waiting for you makes it harder to use that reinforcement effectively, so here are 2 options:
– you can weaken the velcro so when it lands, it pops open and he can just grab the food. I weaken it by putting dog hair on it so it doesn’t hold as well 🙂
– separately from the other games, just play with it – put something amazing in it (does he like pancakes? Or maybe I just in the modd ofr a pancaske 🤣😂) and gently close it so it doesn’t pop open. Then don’t open it for him, let him work the puzzle (he does like puzzles!) Don’t use it as a reward for actual training until he opens it himself, otherwise we are accidentally building in him looking at you or waiting for you.
For more immediate food rewards without you there, you can also use a stopped kong or toppl – cream cheese, peanut butter, or even butter can be the rewards lining it. It is a little tricky to keep it from getting too gross in the dirt, but stuffing it way inside will help that and he can still access it.
I am a big fan of the Treat Hugger because they are very easy for the dog to access the treat, and I bet a nice piece of crusty baguette would stick up nicely in it 🙂 This is what I mean:
https://www.cleanrun.com/product/treat_hugger_treat_holding_fleece_dog_toy/index.cfm
But there are a zillion variations on it and I am sure you can get one in Canada so you don’t pay any of the ridiculous US taxes.And since the MM is not his favorite due to limited types of treats, I bet he will like this one: tiny but very easy to put any kind of reward in it! And actually more reliable than the MM.
https://www.cleanrun.com/product/ready_treat_v2_0_radio_controlled_remote_treat_dispenser/index.cfm
I am sure you can find it in Canada too,For possibly using a toy:
On straight line work, I like to either use a toy that predicts running ahead (like a frisbee or ball), or have someone running and dragging a reward on a line (sorry, Shaelyn, I think I have just enlisted you for more running LOL!!) It can be a toy or a food item, but he gets to chase it. He is a pup that seems to love to move, so that might be a super fun reward to add to the straight line stuff. The runner stays out there for all the reps, but only starts moving when she hears you start saying your go go go cues. That will get him looking ahead and not as you.>He does enjoy a treat dish that he can run to. He doesn’t really understand not to run to it when it is present though, so maybe can work on that a bit more.>
You can totally teach this, but then there is a lot of impulse control needed and I want him to just run forward without any other considerations 🙂 Maybe tie a paper bowl with butter in it to a line to be dragging as he drives forward?
Let me know which you try and how it goes!
Tracy
Yay! Show it to him without any movement in a short, high value session. If that goes well, the next session can have a centimeter of tip so we can see how he feels about the movement.
And if possible, play the game (without board movement for now) on as many different teeters as you can get to.
T
Hi! Welcome back, great to see you here with both dogs! I am looking forward to seeing them in action 🙂
Tracy
Good morning and welcome!
it sounds like Jackpot is at the right age to increase his exposure and experience in competition environments – exactly what you’ve been doing. FUN!!!And the class is designed to NOT take up too much time 🙂 but still get excellent results. The entire first week can be done at home without much equipment because it is all about handler mechanics. This is indeed a busy time of year so you will hopefully be able to fly through this first week. Same with all the weeks, even with the increasing level of challenge: the goal is to fit it nicely into everyone’s schedules so we get it done 🙂
I am looking forward to seeing you and JP! Have fun!
Tracy
Hello and welcome! Baby boy is growing up and it sounds like he is doing many amazing things 🙂 I am excited to see him work!!!!!!
Tracy
Good morning!
It is definitely a fine line of getting the toy back and the recall, and keeping it fun to play with the toys!One thing to put into this game is that the puppy should always somehow win the toy, and the end of the game (like coming to you or going back into the house) should never be associated with giving the toy back. The keep away happens when they think bringing it back or giving it up will end the fun.
A couple of ideas:
Would you consider the hollee roller to be one of her highest value toys? If so, you can have a 2nd holler roller or a higher value toy to throw the other direction. It is a back-and-forth game, where you can throw the 2nd reward when she looks at you or moves towards you. Do that a few times to get her moving instead of hanging out in the grass: call, start to move the other direction, then whip out the toy.You can also use food – throw the fun toy, call her and toss food when she looks at you or moves towards you. Then, throw the toy again! And again 🙂 And maybe more food. If you throw food to get her back then grab her and the game is over… she will stop coming back 🙂
You can also ask the other dogs to help! Each dog is given a toy and told they can go for a run. Call your older/reliable dogs back, give a HUGE reward, then give them the toy again. Don’t call Sunnie at first, she can watch or do whatever.
Sunnie will learn by social learning – then when she chooses to come back to you, big party! Then send her on her way again while you keep doing recalls with other dogs. Then you can add her to the game: call each dog, reward, call her – reward. Then back to freedom. This is actually one of the top 2 ways I have taught recalls with all of my young dogs because it works really well as long as all the dogs get along 🙂 The other way is restrained recalls or running recalls where I take off and run the other way calling them and dragging an amazing toy.
When you do eventually go back into the house – more rewards! It can be her entire breakfast or dinner (if she likes meals, I am guessing she does) or a stuffed Toppl or something really fun.
She can be on a long line to start all of this, and also I really recommend teaching her the concepts in the training room indoors (including the group recalls). It won’t match the excitement and distractions of the great outdoors 🙂 but it will give her the idea of how to earn rewards and can help when you are outside.
Keep me posted!
Tracy
Good morning!
At the beginning of the first video, she had a couple of questions due to some conflicting indicators about where to look – you looked at her, your hand in the cookie pocket… she was not entirely certain about there to go for the first couple of reps.
Things went more smoothly when you looked back at the ‘landing’ spot behind the wing – she committed beautifully!
On the 2nd session: This also went well! Getting the 2nd wrap is definitely hard and the best rep was when you slowed down your mechanics a bit (last rep). That allowed you to be super precise, and more importantly it helped her process it all. It is a hard dog skill, because they have to continue past the rotation AND the reward 🙂 She was lovely!
Outside:
Wow, she was a tugging beast! Love it!!! That made it a little harder to find the wing at first but you moved a little closer to it – that really helped. Because we love the toy play here, it was better to get closer to help her out AND still get the toy play. Just be sure that you remain centered on the wing so she can see it – you were starting to migrate onto her line which blocks the wing on a couple of reps.>But I could only manage the 2 in a row. Not sure why my brain could keep going>
No worries, those 2 in a row were great! Rewarding her early and often with the toy was fantastic and more important than how many wings in a row she did.
And toy play is going to tired her out faster than treat rewards, so definitely stop the session early (maybe after a minute) – she was tired by the end of this one. Then after a break, come out and do another minute. You’ll end up with the same amount of training time but all the sessions will be full blast 🙂
Great job!!!
TracyGood morning!
>Back to winter weather.>
Craziest spring ever: we had 95 on Friday and this morning is it 34 degrees.
>Arlene Spooner measured him for practice….15″>
Tell him he can grow one more inch for AKC! Or, come do some UKI where he can jump 12” and he would probably dominate the competition. If you don’t want to do the crazy international stuff, you can look at the DASH stuff which is super fun!
>He was crated at a trial today so he is full of energy. We did short work at the practice jump as well as spent time ring side tugging and asking for sit/down, spins etc.>
Little bits of work at the trial are good, and this was a nice game to burn off the rest of the energy 🙂 And it was a good challenge for him – he might have been extra energetic but still had to manage the mechanics of the teeter board. He did great!
>He scared me when I walked past the end of the board and he scarfed the food and was about to launch himself off the side>
OMG good catch! He really trusted you to catch him. He was not disturbed by it at all, confident little dude!
One thing you can do is put a reward on the target that he can lick, rather than grab & swallow. For example, a dab of cream cheese is great (or peanut butter as long as it doesn’t have any synthetic ingredients or sweeteners) – it will keep him there licking it so you have time to go back to help with the dismount. I use cream cheese with my dogs to prevent them from just jumping off the side after eating the treat.
It seems like the teeter was moving the tiniest bit and making a bit of noise: perfect! When do you get the borrowed tip it? When that arrives, we can start adding more movement.
Only one more suggestion: move the wing over so he exits on a completely straight line to the teeter. He was having to adjust the line which slows him down – a straight line will help him learn how to approach it at full speed and then shift his weight at the top.
Great job!
Tracy
Good morning!
Motion Override: Excellent start and this is a hard game!
She was a little surprised by the first one (ok, a lot surprised haha) and you were moving a little fast for the beginning of the game so she needed a second cue – I swear she said “wait, what?!?!”
But then you slowed down for a couple of reps and she got it. When you got more speed (normal walking versus slow walking) she knew it was *something* about stopping but didn’t get the sit. You slowed down a bit on the last rep and she got it. So when you revisit it, start with the tiny slow steps that you ended with here, and then you can add more and more speed. And make sure you do it on your right side too.
Straight lines video: This went really well!!!
>She had no problem with the entry on the straight lines games.>
She was perfect here with her tunnels – the tunnel entry was on the line she was on, and your handling supported it. Yay!
Looking at the different cues:
Her GO lines were lovely – you can accelerate more, race her a bit 🙂
You had one FC and on backside in the session, both were really strong! She was not expecting them (I think she was expecting straight in those moments) but your handling was clear. The timing of the FC was really good – her turn will get even tighter with a little more distance between the jumps so she has more room to shift into collection.
And the backside cue was powerful and clear, so she got it even after all the reps to the front side. SUPER!
>Rear crosses are the hardest.>
I agree – out of all the cues, the RC is the hardest for dogs and humans!
I love that you rewarded all of her efforts – she was reading your info really well. One thing to do is reward *later*. I know, that is a weird thing to say haha! I suggest that because on a lot of the RCs you were trying to get the toy throw to produce the turn but that was late.
If you run up the RC diagonal to the center of the bar – that is the turn cue and the toy throw can come after she takes off. That is what you did :47 and :58 and especially 2:11! That running line created the RC and it worked really well.
When she had questions, you were showing the RC as she was already taking off (:19 and 1:59) or you were trying to cut across too early (:32). So showing the RC diagonal then throwing the toy as she took off was the winning line.
Great job here!!
Tracy
Good morning!
>I am still fascinated with border Collies. I have always had dogs, but the way they work to figure out problems is amazing >
They are truly incredible! Amazing in every way. And cute too, which is a nice bonus 🙂
>You will see both of our flaws on here but I enjoy the feedback and it helps me learn.>
The bloopers are the best part 🙂 It helps us humans learn our mechanics and I also love learning how the dogs communicate with us.
Looking at the rocking horses video – super strong start here!! He was a little locked onto your hands at first but got better and better about leaving your hands for the barrels on each rep! Yay! By the end he was much smoother.
I think letting him sleep on it will make for an even smoother next session! His brain will keep training the skill in his sleep (for real!) For now, keep your sends to the barrels slow and smooth and connected (looking at his eyes), so he can figure out how to go around it. You will see when he tells you that you can go faster – he will zip around the barrel immediately and then look at you as if wondering why you were so slow haha! I figure that will happen in the next session.
He did great with the ‘out’ – Border Collies do love to move away to work! I think his questions about getting all the way to the prop at the beginning were because you were behind him, so he was not sure if it was OK to leave you like that. But as soon as you started moving… super!
As you play with this skill, you can try cueing it with an outside arm instead of the dog side arm. That will help him see the difference between when you want him to go to the prop (outside arm) versus when you want him to ignore it and move with you (dog-side arm). You can use the dog side arm to send to the out too but it is not as obvious as the outside arm.
He did well working for the treats but you can get even more engagement by mixing in tugging after each rep or two. That will keep him really excited and distractions in the environment are likely to fade away when tugging is present 🙂
Great job here!
Tracy
Good morning!
The backing up is going well! The step might have been a little taller than he was expecting, but he sorted it out really well!Yes, you can toss the treats between his feet but your hand position can also get more steps with a slight adjustment:
You can get more steps backwards by keeping your cookie hands in front to you, a few inches above your knees. That will give him a focal point that keeps his head in a neutral position, which will lead to backing up being easier in terms of mechanics. When your hands behind you, he was looking at your face which lifts his head and changes the mechanics. That can cause him to not back up as much.
He did well offering going back and forth over the jump! Letting him offer was a nice mental warmup!
He also did really well finding the jumps in the mini sequence and reading the front crosses! My only suggestion on the little sequences is to throw the rewards on the line more, spreading it out so each obstacle gets rewarded at some point: use a get it marker and throw a toy or treat out ahead, so he looks forward at the line and get lots of rewards throughout.
Great job here!
Tracy
Hi!
Since she has done a lot of the jumping games lately, give her a couple of days off of the jumping stuff. Then when she has had some rest, do a set point at 8 inches and if that goes well: the wrap bar can be at 8 inches for now 🙂 Keep me posted!Tracy
Hi!
Wingin’ it went really well – his commitment is looking strong with the wings, including when you did a couple in a row and he had to commit even with all that countermotion! You can build up to doing 3 or 4 in a row and adding the race tracks around the outside too.
> I didn’t catch on, until reviewing the video, that going to 2 wings would require moving the toy from one hand to the other (or gesturing with the toy in the hand on the 1st wing)>
Yes – that toy movement was making it hard for him vbecause it drew his focus to your hands and he was not sure if you were rewarding or sending. So you can either keep the toy scrunched up in one hand and not switch it (he will probably think it is fine to go past it to the wing), or stick it in a pocket or inside your vest then whip it out when you want to reward.
> And I left you Skizzle’s bark of frustration. Bless him! That this is the first bark I’ve heard. And hopefully it’s not to continue (barking is not for me).>
I think in that moment it was actually a frustration-excitement combo, but mostly excitement! You had indicated the wing at :54 so he went to it… but I think maybe you were planning the handling? But he saw hand movement and went – then when nothing happened he stay engaged and was anticipating the next send. Then I htink you said “ready…” and he said HECK YEAH! LOL! In fact, that is exactly how I teach my dogs to bark on cue: get them pumped up, then kind of freeze while they are anticipating the fun, then say “ready”…. bark bark bark then reward 🙂 So you can take out the ‘ready’ word and just send, and he probably won’t bark.
>And Looking Ahead. Compared to the Pinwheel and Wrap Exercises, it seemed like a break (for my brain).>
It is a game that relies more on dog training than handling, so it definitely should have felt like a pleasant break compared to all the handling moves of the other games 🙂
And he did great! Excellent commitment throughout, even with the jump in different positions and you were on different lines. Super!
>I think maybe I was a little lazy in my movements – since it was the running parallel that was harder for Skizzle when I played the first version the second time.>
Because he seemed to have no questions, you can add more acceleration and even get way ahead of him, as long as you keep the same clear connection you had here.
>Things I noticed…at 00:13 he takes off way early for the jump.>
As young dogs learn to read different distances and different handler positions, we sometimes see ‘interesting’ takeoff spots 🙂 No worries, he sorted it out and did well on the other reps. He was just figuring out form and how to use his power to go fast 🙂
>At the end, I try to get fancy w/ tunnel-wrap-tunnel-jump. But I’m not in the right place to cue to the wrap – and stepping backwards brings him to me.>
If is fun to get fancy! And it might not have gone perfectly according to plan, but you kept going and rewarded him as if it was exactly what you intended. So he was happy with it, feeling confident and able to keep going fast.
Great job here!
TracyHi!
> Aelfraed is lucky that his mom also enjoys baked goods and that trips to the bakery now include the thought process of “what would Aelfraed enjoy a little bit of?”.>
He is very lucky! And I bet the answer to what he would enjoy is “everything” LOL!!
The straight line sequence videos looked great! Your connection was spot on! Timing and verbals and line of motion: all lovely! It was very very clear what you wanted on each rep, so he did great. You did throw in one blooper 🙂 on the 2nd video at :19 – the RC cue was late so he turned left, because on that rep you didn’t show the RC pressure line to the center of the bar so he never really got the RC info. Compare to the previous RCs and the next rep at :30 where you showed the pressure line to the center of the bar, and those went great.
One handling suggestion: To get further ahead on the backside line to make it easier to cue the backside, you can send to the tunnel then cut the corner and head directly to your next position rather than curve along the course with him. That will get you further ahead and make it easier to show the backsides.
One dog training suggestion: he gives you some head checking when driving ahead on the 2 jumps, especially on the Go reps. I think that is a reinforcement thing: he doesn’t really dive on the lotus ball and rip it open from what I can see here – he goes to it and then waits for you to open it. That would make sense about why he doesn’t want to get too far from your hands 🙂 So we need to find something you can throw that he will drive to without hesitation. An entire croissant? haha just kidding! Will he grab for the lotus ball without you if something better is in it? Or a treat hugger, because then he can snatch the treat out without sticking his face into velcro? Or a ball? We can also use a manners minder (I think he will drive to it, yes?), as long as it stays out there the whole time while you cue other things too so it is not a giant lure but gets triggered on the go reps.
We can also give him a bit of a higher bar to jump on the wrap jump to help him set his hind end more. Raise it by 2 inches and see what he says 🙂
He did really well with the rear crosses on the mountain climber game! Going to the end and not watching the handling went really well! He did notice the movement and noise of the board and was a little more careful going across the board. I think part of it was the whip of the board – as he was getting on it, there was enough vibration that it was bouncing up and down which probably felt & sounded weird. For now, attach a small weight to the bottom of the upside so when it moves, it stays down and doesn’t bound around. The weight can be something as simple as a rock that is duct taped to the underside of the top 🙂
Great job here!
Tracy
