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Hi!
Your ring entry setup looks awesome!!!! And he definitely found it challenging – he was not as snappy and quick to respond on the first rep, maybe even a little distracted. It is rare that we can reproduce trial struggles at home but you did a GREAT job with that setup!He found the 2nd rep with the cone easier, almost like he had a bit of a lightbulb moment: same game he had been learning, but with more pressure.
Overall, he was very successful even if he was not quite as snappy in his responses as usual (like when you have cookies in your hands). So yes – keep going with this. As he finds it easier and easier, you can add more outside the ring distractions: can you get family members to be an audience, sitting the in the chair outside the ring? Maybe they can be enjoying some snacks?
You can also add challenge by playing music or even playing YouTube videos of agility in the background – that can add a little challenge too 🙂
Great job!
TracyHi!
>>Definitely a brilliant training plan! And so efficient too!>>
Yes! My course maps are merely a suggestion – the concept is important, not the specific map 🙂
>>I totally took the last tunnel in the first rep for granted and she was quick to tell me about it. And in my mind I was saying right for the turn out of the tunnel way in advance of her going into it but it was clearly as she was entering and too late so the wide turn. >>
At some point soon, that will all be fine as she gets more experienced. But young dogs need a high level of precision and perfection in handling (which is why we train them to cope with our errors haha)
>I felt like I was going too deep to the jump before the wrap but that she needed it to not 0ull off.>>
Nope, you gave her exactly what she needed on the wrap rep!
>At home when I inhaled on the leadout her ears pointed forward more and I could see her tense her muscles. At Fusion I didn’t notice the muscle change from the front but can see it from the side in the video.>
It was pretty subtle when the muscle tension was not as clear – it is almost like she was holding her breath 🙂
>>If she is having trouble lining up in a sit due to arousal (or whatever), I have been either asking for a motion trick and/or tossing the treat to have her chase it. Is that a good approach if she gets sticky? >>
Yes – I think the motion tricks will be a higher priority in that context so she doesn’t rely on a treat being in the picture.
One other option is to cue a stay in any position… and lead out. That is an exciting game for most dogs because it is unexpected in a good way, plus it turns off the pressure of us hovering over them at the start line waiting for a stay 🙂 I do this with 3 of my dogs right now – so much easier for all of us.
>>And I’m assuming it is not an issue that I do sometimes do the tip toeing to lead out and then reward the sit by throwing the toy back?
As in the cartoon mashup doesn’t always precede a release forward but can be a release out of the sit to catch the toy.>>No issue at all! It brings a spicy fun element to it and makes the reward exciting.
>>We just drove by Fiery Gizzard Trail in eastern TN. Such a cool name. Might have to stop sometime to check it out.>>
That sounds fun!!! So many cool things I want to check out on these drives, never enough time!
Tracy
Hi! Lots of nice work here 🙂
Backchaining the send went well on the first video!!!
When you changed sides it looked like you were not quite far enough ahead to set the line and he hadn’t had the backchaining on that side, so he curled towards you but got it really nicely on the next rep!You can affirm the moment he looks forward/drives forward with a toy marker like get it, to reward the choice to drive ahead.
With the toy outside the ring, he is off to a good start – and was a little distracted trying to sort it out! It is a hard game!
I think taking the leash off and going directly to a line up on the first rep was a bit unclear to him and his attention was a little divided. Add in a bit of volume dial with some tricks as you move to the line and take the leash off to be sure you have engagement before trying sequences. You will see his attention shift more to you and less thinking about where the toy or treats are.
Running past the jumps was a combo of him not quite being ready (more volume dial needed) and his brain being a bit divided between the sequences and where the toy is located. I think more volume dial tricks will bridge that gap 🙂 He was definitely sorting it out by the end. Yay!!
Looking at the sequences:
>>which feels a little like a cheat, but it’s what fit, so we went with it)>
It worked out really well and added a different challenge, and was much better than dragging the darned tunnels around!
On the backside sends –
>>I feel like I wasn’t connected enough and/or I was flicking at the jump, so I pulled him off it or got a bar. >
It was connection! On the first rep, he was confused about the closed shoulder because that was pointing to the front of the bar. Your dog side arm was forward and your were looking forward, which showed front side then you hit the brakes to rotate which pulled him off for sure at :08.
You got closer to the entry wing at :59 so he got it but then you were in his way a bit on the spin (didn’t quite connect on the correct side soon enough) so he dropped the bar.
Looking at the backsides on the last video – much better connection at :08! You can see your arm was further back and you looked at him, which turned your shoulders to the backside line. You can now add in decel as you move forward to help support commitment. Keep moving forward in decel, and don’t rotate until he is basically at the entry wing. When you hit the brakes and rotated at the same time, he pulled off at :10 and 1:45. You had decel at 1:07 and 2:17 and that worked really well!
Running down the big line went well! He lifted his head a bit on. The first rep there as if asking “ARE YOU SURE?!?!” But he kept looking forward and did really well!
On the 2nd sequence be sure to call him before he enters so you can get a nice tight turn on the exit to set the ending line even sooner.
Back to the last video – the backsides were better on this one! You can give him earlier tunnel turn cues will let you get to the RC diagonal more clearly on the jump after the tunnel. It was a shade late so he dropped the bar adjusted.
When you changed the RC to the 2nd jump after the tunnel you were facing straight (left turn side) til just about takeoff on those reps, so he turned left (because the takeoff decision had been made even though he was not in the air yet). So you can get the right turn there by running to the center of the bar as soon as you get past the wing of the previous jump.
Great job here! We will miss you in Florida!!
Tracy
Good morning!
>We were too lazy to move the tunnels so tweaked the drive ahead course to be 2 jumps to another tunnel>
I think having a tunnel at the end of the line is great fun for the pups and also important learning too! So we will call it a brilliant training plan, not lazy 🙂
Nice leash off engagement on, on that very first rep! The bark on cue is almost becoming a game on moment for her and she is really ready to run.
On the runs: The cue to turn on the tunnel exit was a little late (I don’t think she saw the physical cue) so she was wide at :46 (also bear in mind that mats have less grip so she is likely to go a little wider on them for now). You can start further from the tunnel so you can still give her the cues when she is 6 feet away before she enters. And on the hard exits, you can meet her at the exit to set the line – the wider tunnel exit messed up your line, which messed up the line to the tunnel.
She gave you a little feedback before the last tunnel 🤣Your connection was too far forward and she let you know (note how the camera can really only see the back of your head when she was still behind you)
Your line and connection was better when you broke it down, really clear!!
She let you know when you walked away without connection at the 2:02 mark. Supporting the stay with a little more connection and some praise really helped her. You set up a very nice rear cross on that run!
I thought the connection up the line at 3:24 was lovely and the decel into the FC wrap was ESPECIALLY lovely, made harder with the tunnel out ahead – great connection, great timing of the decel, great patience on letting her commit – and brilliant to end the session there 🙂
Engaged chill went well. Yes, the chair was not comfy – definitely bring her a big cushy chair 🙂 But she might also need to move around when learning how to chill in harder environments, so the pattern game worked really well for her here. She looked relatively chill in her movements and body posture. And she was able to handle the party happening in the ring and still be engaged and chill. This is great practice for waiting her turn at a trial! You were smart to speed up the pattern game in the harder moments, but she also didn’t get overaroused or lose her chill when there was a lot of excitement in the ring.
She didn’t seem to dislike it when you had your hand on her… but she did start moving away a bit so that is good info. She did move towards you when you asked her to hop into your lap and she seemed very comfy there, so that is another great thing to add to the engaged chill toolbox!!
Looking at the lead outs: No hurricane in the forecast! It broke up somewhere over the Yucatan.
>>First lead out is the inhale. (I had more a of a reaction from her when I did this at home).>
I could see a change in her muscle tension here, in a good way! Very cool that he held her sit in that moment too, because she was definitely ramping up to go go go! What did she do at home?
She liked the cartoon tiptoeing too – held the stay perfectly then exploded forward. Yay!
>, but had to tell me about what she thought about lining up>
Yes, she was pumped up and lining up was getting in the way of the party LOL!
Great job on these! Have a safe trip and see you soon in Jacksonville!
Tracy
Good morning! Lots of a good work here!
Putting wing on that last jump way up the line really help her see it! She did really well with it once the wing ws on it. The warm up on the straight line went well.
Sequences: The tunnel exit set the line better when she saw and heard the turns cues before entering. When you were quiet and forward facing at 1:25 and 1:43, for example, the turns were wider on the exit which made the next line harder. When you began to call her and rotate before she entered (like at 2:03) she exited turned. Yay! You can meet her closer to the tunnel exit to really set the line to 3, especially when setting up for the RC. If you were too far ahead, the line got wider which made the rc line a bit of a zig zag.
For the RCs here and later in the video – remember to keep your feet pointing to the center of the bar on the RC jump. When you did that, she nailed it! When your feet pointed to the backside wing, she would get pushed off the line (like at 2:20 and 6:04). Plus we don’t want her cutting in front of you to take the front, when you do want the backsides on a line like this. But also, don’t pull too much towards the straight line – feet towards center of the bar til she passes you should work like a charm 🙂
She had really good commitment on the wrap jumps! You don’t need a Go verbal before it, you can start your wrap verbal as she is landing from the previous jump, and keep moving forward towards it as you decelerate. If you pulled away, she had questions (3:41 and 3:58). She was quite smooth when you kept moving forward in decel – then as she is collecting for the wrap, rotate and tell her what is next. When you said “yes” to her, she got wide and looked at you because she didn’t know where to go next. She definitely just likes the facts on course, not the praise LOL!
Going back down the line looked good on all of those!!!
The double RC worked well – nice backside and driving back down the line!
Good job with the BC timing at 5:26 and 6:34 and 7:00 and 7:34 on that sequence. You can add in making a bigger connection back to her using exit line connection so she knows which side of you to land on. She was wide there because she really only saw your back. Getting the dog side arm way back to her nose so she can see your eyes and front of your chest will help that a lot to set up a nice tight line.
Then decel and wait for her to catch up a bit for the RC at 5:30 and 7:03 like you did at 6:36 and 7:35, so she can find the front of the next jump and not the backside.
She didn’t drive the ending line as well at 6:40 – partially because she is tired and partially because you were reaching for the toy and doing a rear cross. You drove the ending line better on the last rep, but she was toast by then (adding extra strides) so remember to keep these sessions nice and short so she can be at top speed throughout.
Great job here!!
Tracy
Good morning and welcome!!!
>>Most of the dogs I have had in the past stress down and are very triggered by the environment. Pesto is my first stress up dog and so I am finding different challenges. >>
Dogs all communicate their frustration and arousal levels differently 🙂 I appreciate the communication from the dogs because then we can help them and fix what we are doing 🙂
>>With Pesto if there is a blooper and I make him re-do it, he will jump up and sometimes try to bite my clothes.>>
Yep – that is a pretty common frustration behavior. Stopping the dog to ‘fix’ assumes that the error was a DOG error and not a handler error. And, because we have such easy access to great video – 99% of the time it is handler error and the dog was doing the best he could with the info we were providing. And stopping is a punishment – so if he was correct based on the info he got, and you tell him he is wrong? Well, that is pretty confusing and frustrating. Some dogs sniff, some dogs get slow, some dogs get zooms… he gets bitey (I mean, he is part whippet… LOL!)
So how to fix this? The answer is to keep going, pretend it did not happen (because you know and he knows, no need to continue to discuss it). Reward a success later in the course. Then come back to the trouble spot to figure out what went wrong – I *highly* recommend that you watch the video before trying again if you don’t know what happened. Usually it is a connection error with young dogs (they need to see MORE connection and less arm pointing).
Stopping to watch the video will take a little more time… but your results will be so much better in terms of smooth handling and also eliminating frustration.
>>So the question is: if the error is mine do I ask him to repeat? sometimes you don’t know in the moment if you were late, disconnected etc>>
Just assume it was your error (because it probably was). If you don’t know exactly what it was, watch the video. That connection is the most powerful cue for young dogs and small dogs, so work on keeping your hands out of the way and big eyes on his eyes as you are moving and cuing. Better connection will lead to better timing and better use of motion.
>>but if you are trying to train a skill and reward them for not doing the skill that’s not great either.>
Withholding reward when info is not clear will actually do more damage than rewarding when the dog might had one of those rare moments of being incorrect. It takes a TON of rewards to build a behavior (think about the running dog walk haha) but only take a couple of punishments (which is what withholding is) to build up frustration and stress.
What you do after an error depends on the context:
If it is in the middle of a sequence, just keep going, reward something later on, then come back to the trouble spot. If things come to a big halt and you can’t keep going – reward him before he bites you. If there is already frustration built in (sounds like this is possible) then you can have the toy in your pocket. I know a lot of people blame the dog for errors on a sequence but the video doesn’t lie: we can pinpoint the moment when the handler messed up or the info was bad or late, so the dog had to make a guess.
If it is a training session, like you are training a threadle wrap or something – you can use a reset cookie to bring him back to you and try again. Before trying again, though. Make sure your info is very clear. And if he fails twice in a session? Whatever you are doing is too hard and you need to clarify it and make it simpler to reduce failure.
>>The more bloopers in a single training session the more jumping and biting. The more I ask him to repeat something the more he goes into lizard brain.>>
That is great communication from him! And he is correct to be like “THIS IS UNCLEAR I DO NOT KNOW WHAT YOU WANT”. So limit the errors to no more than 2 in the entire session. My guess is biting and frustration starts when you are well past 2 bloopers and he is working at a low rate of reinforcement and is super frustrated at the lack of clarity. So the first blooper is the warning light, telling you to clarify the info. The 2nd blooper tells you he doesn’t know what you want, and you need to fix the info 🙂
Some folks will say “the dog has to work through that” which is utter BS: he can’t work through it if he doesn’t know what you want! Plus, why would we want to frustrate our teammate to the point they bite us, then tell them they have to work through it? We don’t want to build in frustration, so we are going to help him. Living by the 2 failure rule will be an absolute game changer 🙂 He will be less frustrated and he will learn the skills a lot faster too!
>>Pattern games – Pesto will need to work this a lot in a non trial environment. When he comes into the building he is immediately fixated on every dog in the room and my whole prep is about getting him focused on me. I will start working on these – the food is going to have to be super high value. He is not a foodie.>.
Yes – get these super fluent at home and in easy places. I have been using small pieces of meatballs and rotisserie chicken (thanks, Costco!) for the non-foodie dogs.
>>I have not been doing pattern games so I have just gone straight to tricks. I start him out with limited motion tricks to get him to tune out the environment(all the dogs he wants to be best friends with) and focus on me. I get him into a down and using food we do something I call cross paws. He crosses one way – treat, other way, treat. His spins are also good for focus. We may also practice his line up which is to go through my legs, come around and sit at my side.>>
These are good tricks! But they should come after the pattern games, and right before the run – they are going to add more stimulation and the pattern games are a better way to get him to handle arousal regulation.
Plus we use the pattern games to very specifically teach him how to NOT bite us when when screw up – we are human, there will be errors, so if he has good arousal regulation, then he will not bite you when you screw up.
Those games are built off pattern games, so make the pattern games the highest priority right now.
>>I think the tug actually balances him well. >>
I agree! It is very motivating for him and gets him into a good arousal state right before the run.
>I’m not sure how that will work with AKC and if you have any thoughts on how to fade the tugging let me know. I suspect that without the tugging he would sniff – and it would be harder to get his focus to line up. >
I have lots of thoughts! But that comes further down the road – no skipping steps LOL!!! Start with the week 1 games and you will see how everything builds together so by the end of class he can go into the AKC ring with focus and engagement (and not biting you if you mess up :)) Without the foundation steps, though, you will run into the frustration questions so be sure to work through each step 🙂
>I have found, however, that if I ask for a spin he knows that he should sit. When he is over aroused he just stands there staring at me looking like he just escaped the insane asylum.>
The games here look at what the dog needs in each context – pattern games and volume dial all build up to develop a ritual coming into the ring, as well as a toolbox of how to help him at the start line.
>What are your thoughts on coming into the ring – without sniffing (motion tricks?), getting to to line up, and fading the tug…I’ve thought about working on getting him to tug on his leash.>>
Tugging on the leash is great! Don’t worry yet about the other questions – looking at the week 1 games, get the pattern games going at home with high value food to the point where he can grab the treat and immediately re-engage. And take a look at the volume dial game – that will be great for arousal regulation and will also help begin to set up how to enter the ring. The specifics of how to enter the ring will come when those pieces are firmly in place (and will be a lot easier too!)
Keep me posted!!
TracyGood morning!
>>Indy can continue running the courses for this term when Jake goes to play.>>
Perfect! The Senior courses will have plenty of stuff he can do. The PhD courses will be harder but also they will have fast, flowing lines which will be super fun for him.
He drove ahead really well here with the jump line the beginning! He has a big stride for a little dude: the reward pile was actually a little too close to the last jump, because he had to collect on that jump to get to it (without landing on it LOL!)
I think maybe because the tug toy was ‘dead’ it was not that enticing. I know he does tug, but in this case the lotus ball was the right choice because it was so motivating for him. He was very good about not running directly to it (only one moment of considering that but then he didn’t go to it, good boy!)
Adding the tunnel – when it was a straight line exit to head up the ‘go’ line, you can tell him his go cue sooner – before he even enters the tunnel. And keep your arms down and run run run (looking towards him) – you were quiet and arm was up and down, so he was not sure if he should go straight at 2:22. You were earlier with your ‘go’ on the next rep and had lower arms, so he didn’t have the same question 🙂 Super!
On the last rep, you can cue the tight turn on the tunnel exit sooner – let him see you rotate and hear you call him before he goes in. The tighter he exits, the smoother the ending line will be there.
Great job here!
Tracy
Good morning!
Yes, the placed reward was definitely hard – it is a remote reinforcement game, in a way, so you can treat it like that. Let him see you place it and then reward him for leaving it there (you can send him back to it, or have treats with you to reward him).
>He’s still a little slow on the first 1-4 and always seems to be like this in tighter spots.>
The opening of the sequence was a little technical with the backside and the tight turn on the tunnel exit, so you were seeing collection and that is fine. But he had plenty of speed on the line after it both on the straight line and the rear cross!
And yes, the rear cross was definitely showing more of the RC diagonal on the last rep there, he seemed to have no questions.2nd video: On all of these, as soon as he commits to the tunnel at the beginning, head to your next handling spot and don’t handle the jump after the tunnel. Yes, be connected 🙂 but if you are showing the line he should take that jump without you needing to support it specifically because it is right on his line. Getting too close to it was and rounding your line to pass it was making you late for the next stuff.
With that in mind:
>>I think I should’ve decelled and cued that turn sooner so it could’ve been tighter. Whether that would actually have been faster in the long run I’m not sure since he’d have slowed to get a tighter turn but still, I’m thinking more decel there, yeah?>
Yes, you can be sooner – you can get there sooner by sending to the tunnel and heading directly up the line (letting him find the jump after the tunnel based on your connection and motion up the line). Then as he lands from. The jump before the wrap, start your decel. You started it closer to his takeoff point so he turned after landing. Starting sooner to get the tighter turn will be faster, because he will run less yardage and he will land ready to power up the next line.
>>For the second run I messed up my plan so I just stopped and rewarded.>
Perfect! He was happy 🙂
>Third try was what I meant to do on the previous attempt and yet the serpentine felt kind of awkward. I think I was less sure how to cue it from that angle considering I didn’t want to go so deep close to the jump.>
For the serp, you will want to be sliding across the bar before he has to make a takeoff decision – that means when he lads from the previous jump, he should already be seeing the serp starting. That means you need to get there sooner… which means sending to the tunnel and heading there directly, trusting his understanding to stay on the line to the jump after the tunnel (or letting him tell us if he doesn’t understand it).
He got a little careful when you were late – the independent backside looked good, but he was being sure it was correct 🙂 You were smart to end on fast and fun, he was definitely ready to have a break – there are a lot of strides for the little guy!
Looking at the remote reinforcement video – he did really well here! Be careful that turning towards the reward station is not paired with the marker to go to it because he might pair turning towards it with the cue to get it. You can see he was thinking about that when turning towards it 🙂
For class, you can add this to something easy and fun, like a jump to a tunnel. And just one rep is al l that is needed on that environment (it is so much harder!) and you can have rewards with you for more of his turn. You can also hand a lotus ball or something to his instructor to be thrown somewhere on course – that will allow you to show him empty hands/empty pockets and surprise him (in a good way) with a big reward.
Great job here!!
TracyGood morning!
>>We did a lot today but in small doses, much better for all of us 🙂 >>
Yes! Short and sweet sessions are the way to go, with lots of sleep in between 🙂 And of course, days where you do very little are fine too 🙂
>He had another resilience walk – he saw and heard a passenger train from far away, that one was a bit scary, he needed to stand up on my legs and watch but he recovered really well. I suspected he might have been nervous of a train because he’s shown some worry (not scared just not fully confident) when he’s near cars moving when we’ve done parking lot outings, so I was prepared to support as much as needed. >
Yes, definitely support him and use distance as your friend if there is any possibility of concern. If moving cars might be concerning, get further away so he can watch from a greater distance where he feels more safe. We will be adding tools to the toolbox soon to help him process things that might be concerning. And make most of his experiences of the non-concerning kind of things 🙂
>>Bikes, NO PROBLEM, other people not petting him… missed opportunity to make new best friends, but he’s doing realy well focusing back on me for cookies. No video, I can barely manage puppy and leash and myself LOL, sorry!>
Yes, a third arm is required for getting video LOL!!!
>Really trying to back off the smack da baby stuff, you’ll probably see glimpses of it throughout, my older Aussie loooooves handsy stuff and gets really engaged and excited, so it’s pretty engrained in me and I have to very consciously stop doing it. You’ll see in here how much he loves ready ready dance!!!>
Yes, each new dog trains *us* on how to play with them LOL!!!
The decel game is looking good, I admire your knees and balance to be able to get the reward as low as he needed you to get it. Very nice!! He collected to your side really well, and the pivot looked great too.
The bowl game is going well too – look at how well he was going back and forth without needing you to show him th cookie drops! Super!! For the next session in a day or two, have an upright ready so he has something to go around. Start the session with a couple of reps with just the bowls to refresh the game, starting just as you did here. Then if he says he totally remembers it? Cool! Add in the upright to go around. If he doesn’t remember it and needs a longer session to refresh the game? This can happen with puppies 🙂 No worries, we add the upright at another time.
He definitely loves the ready dance! And he was able to leave handler focus (and the cookies) and drive to the prop really well! Super! It looks like the right turn was easier than the left turn here? That tracks with the bowl game, where moving to his right (towards you left) looked easier than moving to his left (towards your right). We will keep track to see if he is truly a lefty 🙂
Staying close to the prop, you can add in the sideways sends so we start building up the countermotion.
He did well driving ahead for the cookie!! And he reminded you to not smack him by standing still away from you LOL!!
>>he was struggling with wanting the toy today. >
It is possible that going right back to the toy after all the treats in that area was hard – there must have been a significant pool of scent from the food, and the toy was small/near your hands, which is less enticing. You can tie that toy to a longer toy, so you can be standing and dragging it around on the floor for him to chase: that is very enticing!
> I think my smart little puppy needs me to be really careful with my markers, because “get it” means GET FOOD, not get the dang toy! So when I used “toy” he went to THE TOY. Maybe coincidence but I’m still happy, he doesn’t really know/hasn’t really been trained for toy markers, but he’s started to pick it up because I add words a lot in everyday life.>>
It is entirely possible that he has learned ‘get it’ on the food context and was expecting food! So you can use the different marker for a toy and that can clarify things for him.
>> Also really pleased with the collar and chest hold- he’s also making progress on having his martingale slipped on over his head without trying to eat my hands (FOOD????) so all good things there.>
Yes! He was happy to move back to your hand for the next collar hold, and that is big progress!!!
The blind crosses are going well too. Your timing on the first part of the session was good (the blinds were coming as he was about halfway to you). When you changed the reward mechanics to the clearer connection, you were a little later – but the mechanics were so clear that when you were able to connect with him before he got to it, he immediately read the side change. Yay! So now combine that great connection (like on the last rep) with the earlier timing from the first couple of reps, and it will be perfect.
This is a good game to do with toys as well, to be able to use both in the session (and so it is not all about food). You can start with the cookie toss, then reward with a long crazy toy.
Great job here!!
TracyGood morning!
He did really well with these!
>>He thought it was dumb with the toy. Food was way more fun. Forgot to look at him sometimes!>>
He was definitely into it with the food! So we can build this behavior with food – he had a little trouble finding it in the grass when you were adding longer distances, so you can use a lotus ball or treat hugger to be able to use the value of the food in a toy-like and highly visible carrier. And you can tug before you start playing, and also after the session – that will be good for going back and forth between food and toys.
You can make the decel more obvious to him – 2nd rep was already sooner and more obvious so he was prepared for the pivot
The shoe box prop is a brilliant idea!!!! It worked great! He was hitting it really well and you had some good distance there too! Remember that this is not a loop, and to take a moment before each rep to do the ready dance: that will add excitement and help him be prepared for the send. Plus, it keeps things a bit spicy rather than too repetitive. So it will be a couple of seconds of ‘ready ready ready’ before each send – that can get an even more explosive response because he will be excited and ready for the cue.
The arm/leg/eyes on the cue looked great! I think you were saying ‘go’ but this is a turn, so we don’t want to use a straight line cue. You can have a temporary cue like “hit” or something, or send silently and see if he can do it (I bet he will have no trouble at all).
Great job here!!
Tracy
Good morning! He is so fun to watch!!!!
His prop game is going well – the Left turns looked great!
When he hits the prop, it moves a bit, so it ends up further away – so when you send him on the right turns, move closer to it. Turning to his right was harder here – he might be more of a lefty than a righty today 🙂 That is pretty normal, so for the next session start nice and close for the reps where he turns right so he can sort out his mechanics. Before doing that, let him ‘sleep’ on this game for a couple of days – latent learning will work its magic and you will see learning without training happen 🙂
The blind crosses look strong – you were connecting down low, which meant he could really see the connection change. To help make the toy mechanics easier, you don’t need to show him the toy on the original side he starts on – they toy can be scrunched up in your hand making it easier to run. Then you can do the blind and show the toy.
He is a fast little dude and getting faster every day… so give yourself more of a head start. Throw the start cookie t least 15 feet away so you have time to do the blind before he catches up to you. When he got it at the last minute or didn’t make the side change, you were a little late so he was correct to change sides – or not change sides.
Finding a treat in the grass might be hard, so you can put a towel down or a mat then toss the cookie on it – that way he has the clear visual of how to find it, and you can have an easy head start 🙂 And with the head start, you can begin the blind before he gets halfway to you so he can make the side change easily.
He did a great job hopping right on the thing for the goat tricks! You can take a heartbeat to get the cookies ready before putting the object down, so that first cookie can happen immediately after your click.
Because he seems so keen to offer behavior – after the first cookie, let him make the next move before you deliver another cookie. You can let him offer more feet on the object, or you can release him with a ‘get it’ and toss a cookie off to the side to see if he will offer driving back to it (I am sure he will :)) Rewarding a lot for not moving while he is on the object will get him standing still and not offering as much, so you can let him offer behavior and see what he does 🙂
Feel free to make a pile of stuff for him to climb around on – lots of opportunities to offer behavior when there is a whole pile 🙂
He was ADORABLE partying in the tunnel at the end!!!!
Great job here!
TracyShe is starting to get further ahead of you here! Yay! You were letting her go without moving as much so she was able to get a step or two head start. You can wait even a little longer so she gets 3 or 4 steps ahead.
Question: how does she feel about food? You can use this game to get her happy to go back and forth between food and toys, as well as get her to release the toy easily, by training for a small soft treat when you want the toy back. So it would be a quick process: throw the toy, let her drive to it, play play play, trade for a cookie so she drops the toy, then throw the toy again. That way you won’t have to pull her collar to get the toy back and she will be happy to release it and start the next rep.
Great job here!
Tracy
Good morning and welcome! She is adorable! BorderWhippets are really fun 🙂 Is she your first whippety dog? If so… just a heads up that they train like whippets more than they train like BCs 🙂 But that part of what makes them so fun and brilliant!
She did well with the forward focus game! Try to release her sooner – if you hold her too long, even a couple of seconds, she might lose her train of thought. That is what happened on the 2nd rep (she was looking at your feet for a moment). Now, if you do get to the toy first, you can have a little dance party with it and tease her a little and keep it fun, rather than use an uh oh marker or stopping the game (she is half whippet, you will want to scrub the uh oh marker from your vocabulary LOL!)
Since she is so young and still small, you can dial back your motion for now so she can leave you in the dust more: let her go to the toy without you moving, and then with you only walking. Don’t add any running til she gets miles ahead of you LOL!
Great job 🙂
Tracy
Good morning and welcome!! How is he 10 months already!?! Time is flying!
The driving ahead foundation game looks great: he is focusing forward, you are connected to him, and the best part: he grabs the toy and drives right back to you! Happy dance!!!
Adding motion went brilliantly: his behavior was exactly the same in terms of focusing forward, grabbing the toy, and returning it to you immediately. You were great about connecting too. Many young dogs will bow out when we add running and he was still very straight.
If you want to add a bit of spicy stuff to this: start the like you did here with the motion – and when he is about 2/3rds of the way to the toy, do a front cross and run the other way (back towards where you came). That challenges him to continue to commit to getting his toy even with the countermotion of you running the other way. This really helps with jump commitment! If he struggles with that, you can slow down and do it at a walk at first.
>My running is sad. I’ll work on that. My mind tells my body it is running but video evidence says otherwise>
Ha! Your running is not sad! You did great 😁 Your job is to just keep moving in the right direction. His job is to go fast 🙂
Looking at the drive to handler video – wow, he really collects to your side when he is driving to your right (with the cookie reps). You didn’t have to really decel (you had a consistent fast walk) and he still got right into collection, nice and tight to you.
The toy adds arousal of course, which makes the mechanics of decel harder. You added running when the toy was in play – and he definitely needed to see the decel sooner, so he could prepare the collection. When you decelerated late and pivoted fast, that caused him to go a little wider and not see the side to remain on. So, keep adding the toy to get the arousal -and when he is almost halfway to you, show him a big deceleration so he collects to your side. Then pivot a little more slowly, so he can read the connection and shoulder turn there.
Great job here!!!
Tracy
Good morning!
>>I started using cheerios as suggested, but I don’t think she cares, any treat seems to be motivation for her. She would sell her soul for a treat! She also LOVES the duck jerky from Costco. I’m now using a combination of the two.>>
Sounds good! Have you seen the freeze dried salmon treats from Costco? My dogs are bananas for this!
>>I tell Sadie to “get-it” and then just wait with no interaction except looking at the target. The first couple of times were hilarious. She circled, whimpered, climbed on me, and circled around for at least 1 minute or more. then she sat down with a sad little whine and moved forward and actually touched the target. YAY! good job. two more rounds of this and then it started taking less time and not as vocal on her part. we are calling it a success and we’ll see what tomorrow brings. We haven’t started the games that build off of this one yet.>>
This sounds good! Part of what you are experiencing, I believe, is simply teaching her how to offer behavior when shaping (rather than looking at the food or waiting for help). It sounds like she is getting the idea! Super!!
>>interestingly, she caught onto the nose touch game almost immediately (a large, flat, bright pink lego), >>
Yay! I have found that dogs are natural better at some games than at others, so this sounds like she has an easy time with this one. The lego is a very clever target to use!
>>so I think I will start with that one tomorrow and see if it helps her to connect the dots on the first one. >>
Let me know how it goes – It might get her into offering mode, or it might get her too focused on you hands. She will let us know 🙂
>>She also caught on to the drive forward/focus game almost instantly, but we have basically been playing that game for fun for a while.>>
Fabulous!!!! Keep adding distance so she can run run run 🙂
>>The other games are doing good as well. How long should a training/game session be? There are several to work on but I’m not sure how to break them up or how>
Generally, a session can be less than 2 minutes: short and sweet. And then you can switch to another game. Depending on your daily schedule, you can do a session or two a day so you might end up playing 2 or 3 different games, in very short blasts. And sometimes life is very busy and we only get one training moment in, or don’t get anything done – that is fine too!
Thanks for the update! Keep me posted!
Tracy
