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Oh no!!! Poor Skiz! Keep me posted, hopefully it is just a bruise from living the good puppy life. Thinking of you!
TracyGood morning!
>When I fridge exercise with a tug she struggled more because she knew I had treats.>
She was going around the cone nicely! And you can add in a hand pointing to the line to indicate where to look and when the rep officially starts. You can add that indication hand in the food session too.
She was going to the toy nicely here and touching it, but didn’t tug because the bunny is dead #whippet. So just as she arrives at the toy, bring it alive to get her going.
When using the toy, you can go wilder with it when she gets to it, to build up the value of driving to a dead toy by having the party really begin 🙂 Get it moving, sliding, you throwing it, you cheering and making a big fun fuss over it. The play is a little quiet and stationary, so she is not in full on kill-the-bunny mode. Unleash her whippet tug drive by getting that toy very exciting 🙂 and you can change your energy level to match it: lots of woohoo and yeah and get it get it get it (nothing quiet :))
And to help build up the toy play, no need to have food in this session. I am sure she will give the toy back without the cookie treat, so you can have empty hands and empty pockets for now. And if she gets so driven for the toy that she won’t give it back? COOL! Then we can add food back in 🙂
Keep me posted! The cone work is looking good!!
Tracy
Good morning!
The blinds are going well – you had really nice mechanics on the exit so she could see your connection and change sides!
>she tugged better but I think she’s a foodie. If she knows I have treats, she stops to look for the treat.>
A couple of ideas for you to build up the toy play:
She does like food, which is great! So on this game – throw a cookie and then have no other cookies in your hands or pockets for now. They might be a little too distracting. You can also use the lowest value cookies you have.
For the toy play – I think part of her questions is about your mechanics. As a whippety dog (BWs play more like whippets than like BCs), you will want to keep the toy low and moving so she can chase it and kill it dead (whippets are murderers, after all LOL!) You can hold the handle and let the rest of the toy drag around (you were only really using half of the toy) and keep it moving away from her so she can go all whippet on it.
When you were moving it up higher, or stopping the movement by wiggling it in front of her rather than moving it away, she lost interest. A terrier will probably grab a toy that is wiggling in front of them, but a whippet is less likely to 🙂 So keep it moving away (you can even tie it to another toy to make it longer) and I bet she tugs like a fiend!Since the blinds went well, you can go to the collection sandwich where we start to combine all of the handling she’s learned so far 🙂
Great job!
TracyGood morning!
Were you winning the first couple of races because of the head start with the treat toss? She was catching up fast and then ended up really getting past you by the end! You can help her win more by walking towards the toy rather than running til she is totally flying past you, then we can add more of your speed.
One note about the verbals: try not to use her name (Go Grace) as that might cause her to look at you. Using Go or Toy worked best!
>Whoever heard of a noiseless baking sheet? Managed to find one for our wobble board games.>
That is funny! I would have thought it would be loud?!?!
The crinkly bag made a tiny bit of noise but she was not worried -she offered getting on it LOL!!
The stuff in the middle section did not make a lot of noise, but the pop cans added noise and the board moving to the harder floor also added noise. I did not see any concerns from her. You can revisit this a couple of times a week for high value rewards, just to keep her loving to make noise 🙂
Great job here!
Tracy
Good morning!
>My other dog is back to normal, which he really doesn’t need to be right now as he still heals, but there’s much less care involved for now.>That is great to hear!
>Is Blast related to your older boy? We do often find genetic similarities in responses to arousal or frustration.
All of my dogs are related! Bones (main biter) is a littermate to the sire of Bucky (likes to bite at the end of runs, but that’s manageable) and Blast. They all give me their all, and sometimes that means their arousal is a little higher than ideal. >This is good to know! And it helps us add decompression games (more of those coming soon!) in and keep frustration lower in the early stages but not allowing a lot of failure in training, while also doing a LOT of high arousal shaping.
The high arousal shaping is where we get the pups wild and crazy with a toy… then let them offer behavior as we shape something. There is failure in shaping, of course, where they don’t get rewarded until the behavior they offer is closer to what we want – and doing it in high arousal helps their physiology learn to regulate their arousal. Very cool results from doing this!!
A recent session with my 9 month old puppy (Malinois/Whippet mix, two high arousal breeds 🙂 )
And of course, lots of the pattern games. They are fabulous for arousal regulation.
>Oh we spent probably 2-3 minutes before the video just wandering around the outdoor cafe taking it in, I just didn’t think you needed to watch all that lol. I spend a lot of time at trials with him just having him sit and watch with the no expectations besides him not bothering dogs as they pass by. He adapts to new and busy environments very well: his first big trip after coming home was to the UKI West Coast Open when he was 9 weeks old. He’s a pro at the agility trial environment now!>
Perfect!!!!
>He has a really good stay on his Cato board, can I use that for exercises like this where I need to intentionally create distance?>
Absolutely! A cato board can definitely help. And cookie toss starts or using a Manners Minder to send him too are good too, so we don’t deplete the stay behavior.
Turn and burn looked great! He was committing really well to his barrel and maintaining the commitment as you took off and ran. Yay!
> I’m hopeful we will see more confidence and speed next time around.>
I think the right turns here were easier than the left turns – he was thinking hard about the left turns, which is great! I would rather he think about his mechanics and not touching the barrel and completing the wrap, than plastering through it or chasing you or falling on his head or all of the other things some puppies do LOL!! And you can already seeing the speed develop especially on the left turns – he was finding it easier and easier so was getting faster and faster.
You will get more of the cohuntermoion effect if you start up close on each rep rather than adding distance away from the barrel. That will give him a bigger visual of you moving away the other direction sooner, which adds a nice layer of challenge that he is ready for.
To help with that for the next session, add a line on the ground (you can draw it in this footing :)) so you can see when to leave earlier and earlier. Wihtout the line being very visible, you were starting the FC at basically the same time (he was about halfway around). With the line drawn, you can add in leaving when he is 1/4 of the way around, then just as he arrives at the barrel, then just before he arrives at the barrel.
> It’s amazing how much time can elapse with just a handful of reps. After I cut out all the tugging and resetting, my 6.5 minute video turned into a little over a minute of content. >
So true! Any game using toys takes longer to get the reps in, but that is fine – the fast & fun element brought by the toy is well worth it.
Looking at the prop game:
>The prop game with parallel lines was less successful. It still went very well, but I’m not seeing those “lightbulb” moments with him. He seems to have the idea, but his hits don’t feel as intentional. What should I adjust here?>
I agree, it went really well! When you are doing the parallel line, the hits will appear to be less of a foot smack, because his striding is correctly carrying him straight – it is kind of like seeing extension over the prop like we do over a jump, rather than the collection that the sends cue on the prop (or on a jump :))
The only really trouble he had was finding the cookie when it was tossed near the back fence. But it was worth it to have more room outside.
So nothing to adjust in terms of what you are rewarding, it went well! Interestingly, he was faster and had better hits when he was on his right lead (your left side) than on his left lead (your right side). He is a righty this week 🙂 It will all even out.
You can add in more excitement 2 ways:
– Tugging before you start and after very 2 or 3 treats. Keep that arousal high so he is more likely to drive to the prop rather than trot to it.
– You added lateral distance here which was great, so you can add variables with that – sometimes you toss the treat and turn to the next rep, getting way ahead. Sometimes you go all the way to t the tossed treat with him, and turn with him so he drives ahead of you. This sets up the rear crosses nicely!
– You can also add more motion – jogging then build up to runningGreat job here!!
TracyHooray for outdoor toy races! He is looking forward and responding to the go verbal really well.
The one race where he lost to you was a bit of a game changer: he smoked you by a lot on the last 2 reps. He did have trouble seeing the lower profile toy when it got further away, so you can try a higher profile one like a big hollee roller!For the next session, you can add a little countermotion: as he is passing you on the way to the toy, do a front cross and run the other direction calling him. Can he maintain his commitment to the toy then bring it to you? If he struggles, do it at a walk til he gets the toy, then you can take off and run run run 🙂
Indoor games: more morning tunes, thanks! I had yesterday’s tunes in my head all day 🙂
Prop games are looking good in terms of his prop touches with the sending. You can add in more of the sideways and backwards sending as well as the countermotion here too: as he is passing you to the prop, you are moving the other direction.
You had more arousal added in here – he was perfectly fine with it *except* when you touched him. That is when you are getting a bit of bitey mouth action which we don’t want of course (that is usually the pups telling us they don’t like that in that moment). So you can get the arousal up high by tugging and touching while tugging – or without tugging, do the ready steady dance with hands in the picture but not touching him. That can really help him regulate his arousal without delivering any tooth hugs 🙂
Cone wraps are going well with the bowls and the distance.
Sending to the cone was easy peasy when you were close and turning left. Turning right had more distance and you are turning your shoulders away, so he couldn’t quite process it. He even offered going around to his left, clever dog! So for the right turns on the cone, start really really close and face forward (no shoulder turning) until he is at the cone.The other way to help the harder side is to leave the bowl out on the other side of the cone for that direction turn.
Since the left turns are easy for him, you can start turn and burn using left turns for now (dog-on-right). It is very systematic with the line on the ground at the exit, and timing, plus starting really close and holding him to add the verbal. That will get lots of good countermotion commitment and also, but starting with staying in position til he hits the exit line, he will learn to not touch the cone as he wraps.
And, use the toy when you go outside 🙂 He will really like that!
It is here:
>I had already reached my quota of Way Too Cold for the day after the toy races, though.>
I have reached my quota of too cold for the month LOL!
Great job!
TracyGood morning!
I like his fancy coat! Adorable!
Good job warming up the prop value! And the sends were very clear with your arm and leg and connection. Yay!
I think you added distance away from it a little too quickly at first, which is why you got the line up on the first sideways send rep. That was cute though 🙂 Great job getting closer then building back up to the distance you ended at. You can start close and add the backwards sending now!
About the ready game and adding arousal – at the end (2:00), you had just the right amount of ready game: a little muscle tension, a quiet “ready” – he responded by matching that: arousal and engagement without jumping up. Then he had a great send!! We can gradually add more and more arousal but I really like what he did there.
When you had too much excitement, you got the jumping up, like at the beginning with the exciting ready and then at the very end when the game was over and you were saying “good job”. So before he can jump up in between reps or at the end (we want to protect your face!), do a decompression: have a snuffle mat and scatter treats in it. Or if there is no snuffle mat around, scatter treats in the grass as part of the reward for the last rep. That will get him to be able to regulate arousal a better and reduce the jumping up.
And it is ok to give him a prize if he jumps up at your face. The prize can look like catching his collar, holding him away from you quietly. Game over, womp womp. It is not emotional at all, but it should clearly say that jumping up at you gets a response which means the reinforcement is no longer available. Or, if you are close to a crate and his sister, he can win the prize of going in his crate and Artie come out to play. Definitely a womp womp moment!!!
Ideally you get the decompression in before he does that, but you can also consistently let him win the game over prize if he jumps up at you.
The race ya game was hilarious! He needed a moment to figure out that he was being sent to the treat first and not the toy but then it was so great to see him drive past you and accelerate ahead. If you have a Manners Minder, you can use that instead of a cookie toss – it might be clearer for him. But I really liked how he remembered exactly where the toy was and smoked you (gotta love field dogs!!)
The decel was hard to time on that rep because he lost the cookie.
>But his arousal was getting pretty high when we got to the decel game. I thought about doing some pattern games to try to put his brain back in his head>
He looked like he was in a good arousal state on this video, not jumping up. It is possible that finding the cookie was like mini snuffling and helped with arousal!
And yes, doing a pattern game is always helpful if you think things are tipping into overarousal. And even if things are not tipping into overarousal, you can use a pattern game to move him from point A to point B when restarting a rep, so he can move and not jump up at you.
Great job here!!!
Tracy
Good morning!
I agree:
He did awesome here! Well done to YOU for marking the moment he looked ahead! That really helped him as the bowl got to the harder positions!! He was working really hard to figure it out and was fabulous 🙂He had a really high level of success – only one semi-blooper 🙂 but then he got the rest of it correctly, even when he had to pass the bowl to get to the cone. SUPER!!!
Since he did so well, you can try it with him on your right side. And you can also try it with a toy!
Great job here 🙂
Tracy
Good morning! This looked great, you are doing it correctly and he is having an easy time engaging. Yay!
This basement version of it is a place to revisit the pattern game every now and then, after you have taken it on the road and into higher arousal locations. By playing it at home in this environment as well, you will keep the game neutralized. If you only play it in high arousal environments, it will get paired with arousal, creating more arousal which we don’t want 🙂
And yes, you can take it on the road to easy environments and with great treats 🙂 I think it will be easy for him but we still want it solidly in place. And for home training, check out the new game that builds on it that was added last night:
Great job!!
Tracy
Good morning! This looked great! Your countermotion on the 2nd rep looked really strong. The only thing to add here is looking at him when you throw the toy, so you can see if he is looking forward, and so he can get used to looking forward when you are looking at him 🙂
All of the pieces of the games are looking really good (decel, driving ahead, blinds, etc), so you can add the handling combos from last week and this week, where we are sequencing the flat work into mini courses: first on the flat, then adding the barrel wraps.
Great job!!!!
TracyGood morning! Great seeing you in class last night! She did GREAT!!!
The balance here looked really good – I like that you are moving very slowly so that she is not trying to move fast either. We want slow careful movement at this point. You can build on this in two ways:
Using this same set up, work it in higher arousal. It is simple to add it: just do tugging before you ask her to hop up on the balance objects. That will incorporate more arousal regulation in proprioception, which is great for her future in dog sports: can she be running fast, very exciting, and still have great balance and footwork?!?! This helps build it 🙂
The other thing to add is make a pile of crazy stuff that is different in terms of texture and movement – and get her tugging then let her offer walking around on it for treats. That can also help with balance and proprioception in higher arousal. We will be doing it soon in this class, but there is what it looks like:
Great job! Have fun!
Tracy
Good morning!
Thanks for the run!!I think he did really really well – it was a hard sequence!! The end of run stuff sounds good too. And that is great news about his crating at class getting easier, because that will help overall arousal and engagement.
>Do I own the disconnect at the start? Left him on the line for a while getting rid of stuff.>
Yes – when he entered the ring he was engaged and ready to roll. You got to the start line at :15. You can give bigger praise for the hand touches and tricks, that can help get arousal going there too!
The dog doing the tunnel behind him was hard but he stuck with you! That was at :21. I think 6 seconds or so to get off the line is great – that will maintain the engagement.
When he took off for the other ring, it was at :48. That is a solid 33 seconds after getting to the line and that is the length of a full standard run 🙂 So he came in with good engagement but that went away during the long wait. So try to get to the line fast and get him moving fast.
He stuck with you nicely as you got moving and also as you worked through the in in – that is hard and he was great! The sequence worked looked great so I think getting into the line and releasing to start as quickly as possible will really help him.
Nice work!
TracyGood morning!
I think she did well entering on leash and leaving the toy outside the ring. It is something to do in practice but you can also mix in having rewards in the ring with you, to keep the balance of value very high in the ring.
Will she tug on the leash? That is like bringing a toy into the ring 🙂
One thing I notice with her – she is very clever and learns the sequences by the 2nd or 3rd rep. So you might be trying to change handling or timing, but she has learned the sequence so the handling matters less. You can mix up which sequence you do more frequently, so she does’t know which one you are going to do – and you will get better feedback from her about the handling and timing.
Overall things went super nicely! The hardest part was the darned pole LOL!
Sequence 1 – great lead out position to make the next line easier! Be sure that you set her up in her stay so she is angled facing the tunnel – when she was facing straight on jump 1 at 1:38 for example, it was harder to get the tunnel because she had to turn (she barked at you there) and you had to step to it, which negates a bit of the lateral position.
Be sure to give her exit cues for the tunnel before she enters, rather than wait to cue as she is exiting – you got a bit of a head check on the way to 3 on the first rep. She did not do it on the other reps, because she knew the sequence 🙂
2nd rep – Getting the last jump behind the pole was the hard part of this sequence. Be sure to keep your threadle arm back and keep moving to the jump until she commits to it. When you did that like at :38, she got it easily. When you pulled her in and tried to sent her back out, it changed your line so she had trouble finding the jump.
Sequence 2:
Being lateral on the opening is great! Be sure to face the tunnel longer at (3:01 and 3:17 for example) and tell her about it sooner (as she is looking at 2 but still a stride or two before takeoff) so she jumps 2 looking at itFor the FC: you can use your lateral distance to be past 5 and start it when she lands from 4 and looks at 5. It was a little late at 3:21 and 3:53 (starting when she was jumping. The BC worked well there at 4:19 – it can be sooner too, but because it is quicker to finish a BC than a FC, you were able to show her the new side sooner.
As soon as you finish the FC or BC, go right into the decel and wrap cues for the next jump. Stepping forward sends her wide (like at 3:24 :)) after that she figured out the sequence, but you can get a tighter turn there with the wrap cues coming as soon as she finds the line after the cross. The BC probably makes it easier to start those cues.
Seq 3: this has a similar FC as the previous sequence and your timing was definitely earlier at 4:40 and 5:16! That created a really nice turn and the rest of the sequence looked lovely!
On the wrap – you were a little late at 6:02 and using a post turn made it hard to get the smooth line.
I think the spin worked great there and that is what you used on the rest of the runs. You can do it sooner by decelerating as she exit the tunnel and starting the rotation before she passes you. That way the spin can be finished sooner and you can be moving up the line to the next jump (towards the exit wing).
When the spin finished a little late, you pushed back towards the next jump which is what pushed her around the pole to the other side (like a backside cue). If you keep moving forward rather than stepping into her, she should find the front easily even with the pole there 🙂
Great job here!!!
Tracy
Good morning!
>Determined that leftover turkey is yummy and enough to keep her fairly engaged to go by other dogs in the class (including a pretty energetic Doberman and a barking mini Aussie- the latter took more turkey).>
That is a good variety of dogs to learn to ignore!!
> And that the 5 rabbit fur tug toys I tied together for a monster toy was not to her liking in the ring even though she thought it was super awesome at home. >
It probably falls into the category of different arousal states making sensory things feel different. Might have been perfect at home but toooooo much in class. It is worth it to try again at some point, as she gets more experienced in class!
> I used lots of turkey & cheese in the ring, but figured it couldn’t hurt to also throw in running to our happy hour station after we were done each time.>
Absolutely! Great way to build value!
Looking at the first video:
There were a lot more challenges in the environment here, which is good! New dogs, the instructor very close to the opening line, ring crew, etc. All good challenges!And when the variables ramp up, we can assume a young dog brain will prioritize processing those – the science says that those things can literally look bigger than reality, making other things look smaller or not even really visible. So the instructor might have looked HUGE to her, making everything else look smaller. The brain does strange things LOL!!
So what I think is happening is that when you are insanely clear about setting the line from ahead of her (or in motion beside her when she is already on the line) then she is able to process. You had some of that happen on the first run!
But if you are not clear, either starting right next to her (which doesn’t really set the line) or turning your shoulders away from the line too soon – she can’t find the jump or tunnel. And the tunnel under the frame was hard visually – she did it well at first but then it go harder as arousal came up.
> but that was clearly too much delay of game and she cussed me out after that. >
I don’t think it was the delay, per se – it was more all of the processing challenges and then you didn’t really set the line to jump 1, with the instructor right there. That made it hard! Definitely normal processing challenges with young dogs.
>She did take her first panel jump and double though. >
Yay!
>Then wasnt’ sure she could put her head through her leash.>
When the other variables are harder, you can make that easier by luring her through with a giant cheese nugget 🙂
Run 2:
>She also seemed to like having a chance to shake after I took the leash off and before we started.>
Yes, that is a great re-set in that moment!
All sorts of pressure moving into the ring with the people walking in and out and the gate slamming. Very trial like!!
Moving past the instructor with the tunnel under the a-frame? HARD! Especially the 2nd time on your left. She definitely avoided the line that put her between you and the instructor. Not sure if it was because of the pressure of the person, or with the tunnel under the frame, or both. Instructor moved away – Lift hesitated then said she could do it. Very useful info!!!
That tells me that she should do pattern games in the ring, getting closer and closer to the ‘judge’ who will generally be hanging out near contacts. Then when her engagement is super duper snappy – you can lazy game lines where there is high pressure, to help with processing: tossed rewards for finding the obstacle while you walk past without perfect connection, but with he distraction in the environment.
Getting the leash back on and the line without pressure (jumps with the one ring crew person in the chair) looked great! So this is all really great info about the pressure in the ring and how we can help her out.
>After this we practiced a a few minutes of engaged chill with her standing on my thights while I was crouched down and also with her in my lap while I was sitting in a chair.>
Awesome!!!!! !
>I watched her video from the Loretta M seminar we did back in August where she was running 10 obstacle sequences mostly silently and comparing that to the last few weeks and I think her pop rocks moments are happening more often now.>
I think it is a combination of things – mostly pressure being added in the form of more people/dogs around, and more remote reinforcement work (which is also pressure). It is a balancing act – if the environment adds pressure, you can dial back the other pressures by doing things like simple short sequences, having the rewards in your hands, games near the pressure but without obstacles, etc.
My guess is that the seminar with Loretta was a pretty typical quiet young dog seminar! And she can do 10 obstacle sequences in those environments 🙂 So in the hard environments, you can simplify that element because the other elements have gotten a lot harder 🙂
And teaching her to deal with the pressure of the added challenges is definitely stuff you can do while she is recovering from the spay!
Nice work here! Keep me posted!
Tracy
