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Hi!
>Or just plan on her debut being the mid-February Fusion UKI with Casey Keller.>
I think coming off the spay with very little time to run sequences, the February option is the best option. And she should be comfy with Casey in the ring, because she would have met Casey in the seminar! Seems like a good situation!
Her behind the back starts are looking great in both directions! She seemed to have no questions about going around yo then to the wing. Definitely something to keep playing with as she gets back to jumping! And it looks like the cue hand was empty? Hard to tell from the video but that is what it seemed like. If so – super! We want the hand empty so the cookie does not become the cue 🙂 If not – try it with an empty cue hand 🙂 You can also have the treats in your pocket and then sometimes you can do this as remote reinforcement too.
Great job!!
TracyHi!
This is why we start with a prop, to hash out all of the behaviors before going to the actual obstacles 🙂
>Moved onto sends and the biting is back. I know this is a tight space with dogs in this video but we did it earlier in the day at FF with lots of room and zero distractions and the result was the same.>
A couple of thoughts here –
>Also she’s gone into BC work all the time get real excited , throw balls , stalk things, nip the mamma when I said ready… so also combatting her brain now too lol!>
Yes, when she is aroused and maybe frustrated, she uses her mouth 🙂 She also got jumpy/sticky when you changed what you were doing rather than just continuing to train. So if something is not quite right ,reward her and either keep going like normal, making adjustments – or break it off entirely and change what you are doing.
She didn’t look frustrated here (til after you indicated that it was not correct) – I think this prop is probably too close to a toy. It is very grab-able LOL!
You can switch to a prop that is most definitely not a toy to grab – like an amazon box or frying pan or something. Hopefully she won’t be interested in grabbing a frying pan LOL! And that way you can isolate the foot smack. And you can mark and reward earlier, before she gets to it, so you can mark before she bites it.
As you work on this, I do think the other dogs can be in a different room. It is a lot of pressure and it is already a challenging behavior. I know it was similar at FF but no need to add pressure to it with the other dogs right there watching.
Nice work here! We will get it hashed out!
TracyHi! Seems warm for winter!!! Yay!
>I think I was getting my marker out at the right time. >
I think you got into the groove of getting it started when she was about a stride from the jump setup, which ended up having the reward moving when she was arriving at the uprights. You can now start it even sooner – when she turns and takes the first step towards the jump 🙂 That way you are marking intent to commit and forward focus, not just arrival at the jump.
>Interesting that the few failures she had were right after restarting after reloading? Not certain why>>
I watched to see if there was a pattern to those, and I think there was: all 3 of those moments (:39, 1:50, 2:24) were when she was on your right side and you were a bit lateral from the jump, with your shoulder closed forward (bent elbow at your side)… with the tunnel entry pretty visible behind you. She was looking at you on each of those, which is usually a request for more info. So it was probably position plus cloud shoulder (not enough connection) and the visibility of the tunnel. The tunnel might not have a lot of value yet, but it is a pretty big visual to process nonetheless.
You can staying a little closer to the jump after a reset, and open your shoulder back to her by having your dog-side hand pointing back to her nose more (this is what you were doing on your left side, where she had no trouble.
She had no trouble finding the jump while she was in the groove of doing it, and she got really fast at the end LOL!!! Nice!!!!
On the tunnel video – the tunnel part was the easy part, she did really well with that!
The first rep was great with tugging to the entry, taking her collar in position, then throwing the toyCompare to the 2nd and 3rd rep where you took her collar near the exit, tossed the toy, then walked her ack by the collar. She started to avoid after that – brought the toy back slowly. Add in the processing challenge of the other dog and she was not into it as much after that.
In the video you mentioned potentially putting more money into the grab… I don’t think it is that, I think it is more that she does not like being moved by the collar. So if you move her by the collar, you will want to pay pay pay cookie cookie cookie the whole time. Ideally, though, you do what you did on the first rep – tug her back to the position you want to start in, take the toy, hold her collar & give a treat (but don’t move her around by the collar), toss the toy, then start the rep. The other option is to toss the toy near the exit where you were, and have her walk back to the start spot with you while you reward with cookies. I think she will like that better than being moved by the collar 🙂
Nice work here! Fingers crossed for more good weather!!
Tracy
Hi!
>it was all cookies mostly delivered by hand. Today he is struggling not looking at my hand.>
No worries, we can balance things back again 🙂 Throwing the treats here with this game is already helping!
For the prop game – you can start the RC element by getting him charging back and forth with the parallel path game. And as you do that, be sure to connect by looking at him. When you are looking ahead, he looks at you (for more info) but when you looked at him, he looks ahead to the prop.
Looking at the rear crosses – he was turning towards you because you were still visible on the original side, which cued him to turn towards you. In both of these reps, you can see him turning to you on the original side:
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1hcISWt7TEnI1m-bywoA–eaGOFnLQ510f_XHFkA90ig/edit?usp=sharingSo to get the RCs, ideally you would be fully visible on the new side before he arrives at the prop – which means starting to get to the other side sooner and faster 🙂 You can also teach the RC concept with the alternate game here, which makes it easier to get to the other side to help him turn:
Great job here!
Tracy
Hi! This went great!
Nice connection and he found the new side after the blind cross very easily (and yes, he liked all the cookie tosses :))
My only suggestion here is that you can decelerate sooner. You were doing the deceleration as he caught up to you, so he was surprised and went a little wide. Ideally, you would decelerate right after you finish the blind so he has time to see it and collect. You can see how tight he was able to turn on the last rep – there was a little miscommunication so he didn’t recall immediately and that allowed you to decelerate sooner… and he was super tight on the turn! Yay!
You can move to the handling combos now, which involves the barrel wraps too!
Great job 🙂
TracyHi!
He has a lot of good tugging and is happy to bring it back! It looked like it was a little hard to get the tugging going in the beginning, and then when he was really getting into it and pulling back: hard to hold on (he looks strong!) And it looks like he as being careful around your hands, which is MUCH appreciated!I think a longer tug will really help! At the beginning, the toy was relatively small and moving fast and low – which required you to bend over him. That makes it hard to play! A longer toy (or two toys tied together) can give him easier access to the tugging part of the toy while also making it easier for you to hold on.
The only think I think he didn’t like was when you would let go of the tug while he was pulling back – that threw him off balance and seemed surprising so he kind of rocked back funny onto his butt (like at :32, 1:10, 1:22). And he didn’t really bring it back right away when that happened. So you can change that transition from tugging to letting go by tugging, relaxing the tug (but not letting go), then gently pulling forward as you let go so he moves forward and doesn’t end up on his butt 🙂
You can also add in throwing the toy further and then having him chase you a bit as he brings it back! I have my dogs chase me through the house LOL!
Great job here :)
TracyGood morning!
Video 1 – It is great to be able to practice coming into the ring while the previous dog is still working the sequence! Lift seemed perfectly happy to enter with engagement on both reps here. It was a little hard to see exactly what she was doing, but it looks like she had very confident body language and quick responses to cues. Yay! Definitely see if you can do this when you go back to classes 🙂
My only suggestion is to play any games where jumps are not involved away from the sea of jumps 🙂 We want to avoid any value shifts to following you instead of looking for jumps (ideally she looks for jumps when you are moving around a course). So if you do NFC without asking for jumps, stay behind the start line and go near any jumps (even if they are offset, we just don’t want to get her ignoring them 🙂 )Wing practice – She did great with the wing, of course.
Sometimes they don’t need to shake it off and are all business about getting to work – I think that is what happened at the beginning when she was like “don’t touch me, I want to wrap the wing” hahaha! She did do the shake and get engaged – I think that is part of figuring out her needs. It is possible that in some contexts, if she is engaged and does not do a shake-off, then she doesn’t need it. But if she doesn’t do a shake-off and isn’t really engaged (you can gauge that by asking her to bark or something), then you can try to get the shake-off with the backwards petting. Time and experience will let you know which works best, and what is needed in different contexts. Part of the joy of young dogs is we walk into various situations armed with a toolbox of things to do, but not necessarily knowing which tool is needed in the moment. Lots of adjustments happening all the time 🙂>I am undecided on when Lift should make her “NFC play in the ring and leave” debut. I want it to be on her home “turf” at Fusion so my choices are Jan 11-12, Feb 15-16 or May 3-4. >
I guess it depends on what you mean by play in the ring and leave 🙂 If it is go in, do a lineup (but not at a jump) then run to the food box, then back in to a lineup, etc – then. I think January is fine. I would do it near the food box but not near a jump, so there is no confusion or frustration about why she is not taking the jump when there are jumps right there 🙂 Think of it as all happening behind the start line and with people as distractions.
If you are thinking any baby dog sequence stuff then I agree with you, Jan is probably too soon only because she has not had enough recovery time from the spay to be able to practice real agility.
I am pretty sure you can remove a bar and do wing wraps, though!
>She is in the novice session with Casey Keller at Fusion on Feb 14 so I would leave her at home to chill out on Sat and then try NFC on Sunday for that one.>
Perfect, that should be good timing for NFC fun stuff.
> I am also secretarying a MAC trial at On the Run on Feb 1-2 but think I should try to get her in there for a mini seminar before a trial. (Jacque may have one on Jan 31 if her knee surgery goes well) Lift has tagged along several times when Kaladin is trialing there but hasn’t done anything in the ring, just a few short sessions on the practice jump when it was quieter and played in their back room. >
Do they have a food box there? You can also play it by ear and see how she is doing just before the trial.
>There is also a Mar 22-23 UKI trial at OTR that I am not secretarying but am considering for her assuming an earlier Fusion debut goes well. >
Perfect!!! That one should be on the calendar for sure.
>(Kaladin would stay home since it’s right before the Invitational) >
You might consider bringing him along even if he doesn’t run, as social support for her if she is used to having him around when you go to new places.
>And I have a longer term aspirational goal of having her ready to run the SS Challenge at MAC’s Classic at OTR over Memorial Day weekend. (maybe NFC but no food reward box for a Classic) >
Fun! That is a reasonable goal/time frame.
>Does MaxPup video review end on the 30th or the 31rst?
It ends on the 30th. My goal is to have the structure for the young dog support group set up today, hopefully, but we have decent temps and no rain and maybe even blue skies, so I need to get the dogs outside LOL!
Nice work here 🙂
Tracy
Good morning!
Happy retirement to Cody!
>I think he’s so close to getting it all together, just need to figure out the couple of missing pieces.>
I agree – he now just needs more exposure to different challenges and rehearsal in different environments. He is doing well!
>Plan going forward is: – pushing the distraction work in class>
Yes – first with reinforcement in your hand/pocket, then when he is fine with it, as remote reinforcement
>– music is good as a distraction??>Yes – it is a processing distraction for dogs (and humans haha)
>– keep building our chill and volume dial skills – keep working on find my face skills>Yes 🙂 And figuring out which work best for him, in different contexts.
>– going to give running my invisible dog this monday night>Yes, if he leaves to investigate a distraction, you keep running InvisiCoal 🙂 The reasoning behind it is that there is no reinforcement available for investigating, but also nothing weird or scary happens… but there is a LOT of reinforcement available for running the course with you! You can even reward you invisible dog 🙂
>– need to get back to working on end of run routine>Yes, but this seems to be a lower priority because he does well with this and is happy to get his end of run rewards.
>– keep building running in class with clean hands – treats and lotus ball in pocket>Yes, or handing off the lotus ball for someone else to throw. It is a good surprise for him! You will probably need to be very specific about when/where to reward but it can be very helpful.
>Looking forward to hearing your ideas for the support group. I would love to be able to bounce questions off you>
I am hoping to get it all put together hopefully today! Stay tuned!
Tracy
Good morning!
>even before we have “perfect” toy play skills. I’ve not had perfect toy skills with my previous dogs, so although I have some ideas of toy behaviors I’d like, I can’t let it sideline me from using toys for an extended time.>
Exactly! I remind myself that true play is ‘dirty’ 🙂 and even a bit silly. And If we spend too much time working towards perfect and precise, we lose the play element a bit and also we lose time in this super fun puppy phase. So yes, keep working on being as clean as possible with markers and transitions – but the main thing is to make sure there is no conflict or fighting each other over the toy 🙂 You and Skiz will develop a play style that is fun for you both, as well as super motivating/rewarding.
> reward marker that means “behind” the dog (for the stays, here). Hadn’t really considered it before, but can appreciate how that helps direct them to the reward.>
It has helped us build distance between dog and handler more easily, for stays, stopped contacts, etc. Super useful! And also very cute when we say the marker and they look behind themselves before we even throw the reward LOL!
> And for the stays, having a prop for duration is something I can get behind – I used one successfully to help a previous dog pass her 1 minute obedience sit (after many failed attempts).>
Perfect!!!! And since we have an eye on what family members needed, might as well use that to help Skizzle in advance 🙂
>Gives me empathy for when the puppy brain is unable to process information.>
Right LOL!! So true!!! It is impressive how much *I* screw it up compared to the dogs (who rarely screw it up) LOL!!!
Looking at the videos:
Yay for playing with the toy at the start!! And he enjoyed the toy play through the whole session. You will get a quicker transition to getting the toy back without holding his collar – you can get more passive in the tugging like you did, then reach into the pocket for a dull cookie to trade. Reward when he drops the toy, then bring him closer to the barrel, line him up (cookie lure is fine here), *then* take his collar. The collar hold is the last thing that happens and he is already in position to start (rather than getting moved by the collar).I don’t think he loves being moved by the collar (watching the change in his body language and how he started avoiding it) so the collar grab is the last thing to happen in each rep.
If he has trouble going from a boring cookie back to the toy, or even eating the boring cookie in the first place, let me know and we can make some adjustments to make it easier for him to eat and tug in the same session.
His joy at grabbing the toy behind him on the first rep (“NAILED IT!”) was hilarious. It was a hard challenge! Great job breaking it down – I loved how he would get the toy then finish the wrap and bring it to you. Wonderful!!!!!!
Skipping ahead to the turn and burn video:
It is fun to see him getting the idea of the barrel wrap game!! You were SUPER FUN on that first rep, heartily playing from :29 – :47, then making a quick transition to the cookie to get the toy back. Massive click/treat to you for the BIG play and quick transition – that was perfect for so many reasons. Primarily, the big response and big play was a bit surprising to him, which is likely to have brought on a dopamine spike and all that goes with that… which leads to more motivation (and movement!) to do the “thing”.He was great about offering it on rep 2! He got right on the toy as you moved away and dragged it on the next reps (even after a cookie!) – then loosened his grip when you stood up a little while tugging. He also likes to tug closer to your hand so he is more likely to let go when you stand up a little. Dragging the toy away from him for as long as possible (even if you change directions in a smaller space) and staying bent over for as long as possible (with apologies to your back 😁) will help keep him on the toy.
He is super clear about giving info about the cues he needs here: he was questioning if he should go around the barrel when upper body said wrap but your left leg (dog-side leg) said don’t wrap because you didn’t step forward. At about 1:34 to 1:36-ish, he stops and looks at all the cues. You can see him look up at you then down at your left leg. He did something similar at about 2:09 then he sat waiting for more info (the sit probably has more of a reward history :)) He did end up going around the barrel but having your left leg step forward or even be placed a bit more forward will help support him going around the barrel more smoothly without him stopping to assess the info.
Looking at the pattern game video – excellent warm up! And yes, he totally seemed to think the tossed hat was a toy to be retrieved. Good boy!!!! That is probably why he looked at it a few more times in the next part of the game (‘why did you throw it, human, if we were not going to play with it’) 🤣😂 He cracks me up! But he got right back into the pattern – at the very end, did he get the toy and play a bit? His cookie-to-toy in the previous videos looked good!!
Yes, the distraction can be added a bit more stealthily 🙂 And you can take this game on the road and see how he does outside or new locations.
>f you think there are specific games I should try next/soon – please let me know. I need to take advantage of the ridiculously warm/snow-less winter weather and also practice some outdoors when there’s enough light.>
A warm winter is great for puppy training! Some of the games that need more space include:
– Parallel path with the prop (and eventually rear crosses with the prop)
– The parallel path concept transfer to a “jump” – a rolled up towel can be his jump bar 🙂
– Taking the barrel wraps outside, so you can build into more turn and burn, and then rocking horses which have 2 barrels.Because outdoor time is limited, you can prioritize those for outdoors and everything else can be indoors 🙂
Great job here!!
Tracy
Good morning!
>While we had the ring to ourselves, it was a new place for him and it’s a boarding facility, so there were a lot barking dogs.>
Yes, I think some of the dogs in MaxPup 4 rent that same facility too – there have often been barking dogs and weird noises in the background and that has been challenging! Pattern games (from the resilience game here and the MYOB stuff :)) are very helpful!
I think he did great here with the collection sandwich!! Everything looks really good (blind, decel, etc) – there was one connection blip before the pivot on rep 2, but you fixed that for the other reps and they were perfect. You can add on the GO ending to this (throwing the treat or toy forward after the pivot and accelerating to it).
You can also add the barrel/cone wrap to this (you will see this in the Handling Combos game) to add in a bit of obstacle commitment.
Great job here!
TracyGood morning! Hooray for decent weather! I am hoping to get outside today too and enjoy the mudfest in the agility ring LOL!!
He did well with the serp on the left turn side! He had one question about going directly to the toy but it looks like you removed it so he didn’t get it. The other reps on that side were all strong! Because of his size and length, you can place the toy a little further away so he can accelerate to it more.
For some reason, he did not look too enthused about the right turn reps. He was looking at something over his shoulder at the start, then trotted through the reps without the usual interest in the toy. Not sure why – I mean, it seems unlikely that it was physical fatigue so perhaps there was a distraction in the environment? Wanted food reward? Or too many reps of the same thing, so he was bored? You can do fewer reps (one in each position, so the entire session of both sides is 6 reps) in case he finds it boring for now 🙂 It gets more exciting soon 🙂
The rocking horses definitely went well – that will keep you both warm in 40 degree weather! On most reps, you really emphasized connection so he could see it, because it is what the dog sees and not what we see 🙂 At :57 – that was the only spot you didn’t make connection that he saw, so he didn’t change sides. When that happens – don’t fix your errors 🙂 Missing a side change is a handler connection error 95% of the time (and 5% of the time it is a handler motion error :)) Keep going (freestyle for a moment!) then reward somewhere else. He did look confused when you stopped him to re-send, so we don’t want to mark things as incorrect (which stopping does) unless they are legit incorrect, otherwise we get frustration from the pups.
The turn and burn elements looked great and I think he really liked them 🙂
A question about your wrap verbals: when you are on course with Dellin, for example, do you say each word only twice, like ‘dig dig’, to cue the wrap on a jump? Or multiple times (dig dig dig dig dig etc) for the wrap on a jump? If it is only twice, carry on 🙂 If it is more than twice, start adding that here to rehearse you saying them more and him hearing them more.
Since it is going to be hot outside today 😁🤣😂 you can move the barrels a little further apart and move to the advanced level, which has deceleration into rotation and countermotion.
>I had to switch the toy from hand to hand on the rocking horse – it’s such a big toy that he could not ignore it in his face. A work in progress, if it was a smaller toy, it would have been ok.>
That is a big toy!! Switching hands makes it harder on us humans and also draws his attention to your hands a bit.
One of the good side elements of this game is that we teach the pups to ignore a toy in our hand until we mark and present it, even if the hand is right in front of their face 🙂 That relies on super clear markers, so you can be more consistently using your ’strike’ marker before presenting the toy. Sometimes I could hear the strike, sometimes you were quiet, and I think the toy was moving before the marker on all the reps. So you can use this opportunity to sharpen that marker, starting with a smaller toy like you mentioned so it is easier for him to ignore at first.
Great job here!!
Tracy
Good morning! He did really well working in a busy busy environment! SUPER!!!
Parallel path: he did great! Yay!
You can throw the rewards further to get even more speed on the parallel path. You can also throw a toy! Yes, toy throws tend to take longer so there are fewer overall reps, but they are super fun 🙂 You can toss a treat away so you are getting more lateral, then when he locks onto the jump, throw a toy.
>We do short sequences in his in person class and he walks. Jumps are at 12″ in class. He can go up 2″ a month starting on the 8th (18 months).>
Hmmmm….. if he is walking, I suggest taking the jumps back down to 8” and just get him running 🙂 No need to raise the bars until he is run run running in class. Higher bars will just make it harder.
Some questions to figure out why this fast athletic dog is walking in class:
Are you also running in the class? Are there a lot of distraction challenges? Are you using high value reinforcement like awesome toys thrown or placed on the line, or insanely yummy treats (lotus ball if you can’t throw the treats on turf). Are you getting him excited with toy play before his turn in class? Are there are lot of turns/collection the jumps in class?Ok, that is a lot of questions but I would like to get him running in class!!
Rotated sends: these also went well!
It sounds like you were using a ‘yessss’ marker, for cookies in hand. That is fine! But that is also permission to come to the hand when he hears it, so if you say it too early and he comes off the wing (like at :08 as you were rotating) you should reward anyway so as to not dilute or confuse the marker.>The tunnel we did last week was just off the screen to the left. It was tempting him and it did win 1 time.>
This was at :38 (and almost at 1:15) when you added a lot of distance on the backwards send. He didn’t know where to go, then as he came back to you, you leaned forward to the tunnel… which is a cue to go take the tunnel. Since he was not sure of what to do, he went to the tunnel. Good boy!
Getting closer to the wing definitely helped because he was successful on all the reps with you closer.
When you switched sides, I think there was some confusion about which wing you want (both are highly visible) at 1:35. The step back was to the wing you wanted, but the upper body was facing the other wing so he was not sure. He sorted it out but you can clarify things by having th other wing removed. To sort it out, he had to slow himself way down – so removing the other wing should help him go faster. And you can also play this game with a tug toy!
I think strike a pose went well! The reward hand was a visible distraction but he seemed to have no questions. Your position was dynamic so there was a little movement when you delivered the reward, but that was good! Yes, you can add a dish or MM on the floor. You can also use a toy in the reward hand.
And you can do what you did here with a jump for the concept transfer!
Rocking horses: These are going well too! He is hitting the wing a bit at the beginning and then also with the toy, so delay the yes til he has cleared it fully.
The advanced level is going well in terms of commitment – he had one question at 1:43, when you moved away before he was past you and moved the reward hands, so he stopped at your hands.
He was walking through most of this until the toy came out: he really drove for the toy! So to get more speed and less walking a couple of ideas:
– more toy play for sure!! Food rewards tend to chill him out too much 🙂
– move the wings further apart so you both move more 🙂
– do fewer reps of everything in training so that he is so excited to do it (rather than settling into a slower gait because there will eb a lot of food reps)
– He might have been being careful on this footing because there is not a lot of grip for tight turns. You can leave tight turns to great footing that he can dig into, and do extension stuff on the harder footing.Great job here! Let me know what you think !
Tracy
I put the toy inside the tunnel for Hot Sauce and Contraband when they were first learning this. At first, the toy was visible right at the entry (so they got the toy but didn’t go through the tunnel, with was fine). Then the toy gradually moved more and more into the tunnel then to the exit of the tunnel. I also did a lot of this with a squished up tunnel (and now I have a very short tunnel, which definitely made it easier).
And if she likes a manners minder you can use that too instead the Frisbee 🙂
T
Good morning!
>All different games today, but I will incorporate game-specific feedback in next attempts at the same or similar games.>
Perfect! Rotating games rather than doing the same ones every day will make for better learning in the long run 🙂
>feel like Skizzle’s so smol that I need to be right down there with him – but the final picture for dog sports has me upright.>
Right! It is a balance for sure! I think the early stages should be done nice and low like you do… and then when he is saying “I got it!” you can start changing the picture to get you standing upright.
>As for playing games with toys – I am interested, but for some games, I would like to have a clean toy release first. I haven’t done much to that end…with the retrieves, I’m only beginning to see the drop.>
You only need a semi-clean release 😂🤣 What I mean by that is you want to be able to get the toy back pretty quickly and NOT have to fight him for it or wrestle him out of his mouth. But it is totally fine to trade for a treat or another toy – that builds up to a super clean ‘out’ and also shows him the structure of the session – how the ‘out’ can lead to more reinforcement, both immediately and in the training. And it is good for sorting out using food and toys in the same session. The number 1 thing to avoid is fighting with him over the toy, that is definitely icky!
Looking at the videos:
Baby lap turn is going well!
Since the hand is a critical element of the cue, have your hand fully extend down to him before he turns back to you (after the cookie toss) so he can drive right back to it. You can see him waiting for the cue (sometimes still chewing LOL) so you can show him the hand cue sooner.
Remember to step back with your leg on these reps – you were stepping back with the leg on a few of the reps but most reps had your feet together. That step back is helpful for creating the tighter turn – if your feet are together, he has to ping away to the side.
You are ready to try this with an empty hand as a cue hand! That is the step between this and the advanced level.
For the tandems – they will feel smoother if you are already moving away from him as he goes to get the treat you’ve tossed. Then as he is moving towards you, you can get the hand cue visible so he is ready for the turn away as he is arriving at you. That is what you did from :45 – :49 and it looked great! Yay! When you were moving with him the whole time instead of ahead, I think things got a little tangled up 🙂
If that feels comfortable, you can also move to the empty cue hand stage 🙂
>I don’t have the value of food motivators or the timing of training (related to eating and daily activities) figured out yet.>
Yes, he is a harder “read” in terms of food value as a motivator. That is why the toy can come into the picture, if he will play with a toy with food in the picture too – that can build the food value enough that you can use it more consistently whenever you want because it is a more consistent motivator.
Adding the prop to the turn aways:
>And he seems so food-crazed that it’s not a clean training loop…too many extra spins, hops, frantic behavior.>
2 suggestions to get an easy fix for his questions!
– Before adding the prop, do a session or two with an empty hand as the cue hand. Because there were treats in the hand here, he was completely locked onto the cookie hand and didn’t realize that the prop was part of the picture. By getting the empty hand involved, it is a cleaner cue and the prop will be more salient after the turns away from you.
– Start every rep of the loop with a cookie toss so he is not starting next to you. The cookie toss starts buy you time to be able to show the hand cue and start the turn away as he is arriving at the hand. If he is already next to you, it gets a lot harder to do this on time and the mechanics are not as clear.
To be able to loop this, have a bunch of treats ready in the non-cue hand (4 or 5) so you don’t have to reach into a pocket to reload – he is too fast for that 🙂 Then after you do the turn away, the non-cue hand tosses the treat away as the reward – which means your empty hand is immediately ready to cue him after he snags the reward treat. Then break it off after 3 or 4 reps because you will both need to come out of the loop to have a reset moment and so you can reload cookies 🙂
That should add clarity to the cues and reward, so the rate of reinforcement will remain high and you won’t see the frantic behavior or extra dance moves 🙂
Looking at the stay video – I love how he was offering all sorts of sits and downs! Super!!! At about :54 he lost momentum so you helped a little with hand cues (raising hands). I think when he lost that momentum, he was still thinking about the treat that ended up behind the little bolster in front of the door – he kept looking at it and wanted to investigate it. If you see that, you can let him investigate it or even help show him there was nothing there, so it doesn’t draw attention away from offering sits or downs.
Your marker here was “ok get it” and the treat was thrown back towards him. We can clarify the markers to now start getting a tiny bit of duration: for me, ok and get it are both forward markers and that is fine but the reward should come forward. I like to throw the rewards towards or behind the dogs on stays, so I use a ‘catch’ marker to indicate that (they don’t actually have to catch it, but they can move to go get it :)) That can totally help him! And as you add duration, you might want to use a little platform for him to sit on so he has clear guidelines for where to be. That really helped his older sister Taq understand how to do a stay when she was a baby dog like Skizz.
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
Tracy
Good morning! She does love her frizzers for sure!!
She was doing well finding the tunnel entry here! It was on more of a rear cross line than a tunnel threadle line, so the next session can start with more of the threadle angle – you will be lined up alongside the tunnel with her next to you (and next to the tunnel). Your position can start relatively close to the first tunnel bag, then you can work to back up alongside the tunnel til she can go find the threadle entry with you almost at the exit of the tunnel!
And as you do that, take out your motion 🙂 You were helping a little here by doing a RC on the line which was fine to get it started, so on the next session you get to stand still til she is in the tunnel. You can place the toy at the exit of the tunnel to help her do it without you (and a nice impulse control of having to turn away into the tunnel first 🙂 ) And that way she won’t track the motion of your hands. Frizzer is life!
When you had her on your left side, it was more of the threadle position but she had a little trouble with that left turn. To help her with the harder turn, you can place the reward right inside the entry of the tunnel for the first couple of reps to get the turn away, then you can put it back at the end of the tunnel (a Manners Minder will work too, if she likes it :))
Great job here!
Tracy
