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Hi!
>>I haven’t done any of the games with toys yet. My dogs are all 99% food drive and 1% toy drive. I’m working on building toy play but as soon as they realize we’re training the toy becomes meaningless. I’m open to suggestions there!>>
No problem! Food-driven dogs achieve at the highest levels in dog sports! And you can keep building the toy play separately and Kiva might end up really enjoying it as part of sports 🙂
Two ideas for you:
– incorporate food-carrier toys as part of the reinforcement system. Lotus balls are awesome because they can be attached to a long toy and thrown around like a toy… but they are food and we get the same excitement from them as we do from tugging. I have a fur-covered lotus ball attached to a tug bungee that my foodie dog is wild for 🙂
-keep using your different markers to tell her where to find the food reward. You had “yes” and “get it” happening in the send session and that will be very helpful for her! We might add a few more, like a ‘run-to-bowl’ marker to get her driving ahead when we start those games.On the sends – she is hitting her prop really nicely! I think her questions have to do with *not* looking at the food and she can kind of look at the food AND hit the target (talented girl LOL!!) So you can challenge her a bit more by raising the target. Can you attach it to something low so she has to step up onto it to hit it, maybe have it be half an inch tall? That will take more of an effort and she will look at it more (which makes it easy for you to see). I totally agree that the nose part of it is a throwback and it is fine that she sometimes does it.
You can play with the sideways sends and backwards sends now too! Stick a little closer to the prop so she doesn’t have to work distance into it yet.
She did well with the bowls at the end of the video – you can now put an upright in between the bowls so she is wrapping something.
Separately from adding an upright, you can start to change your position: try the 2 bowl game with you sitting in a chair. And if that is easy for her, you can move to standing! That will set you up nicely for upcoming games.
Great job here!
TracyHi!
>he was actually going out ahead of me and beating me to the toy every time.>
That is awesome! Even from this angle, I could see him outrunning you. Super! We want him to leave you in the dust, like he is chasing a bunny to murder LOL!
And doing a few extra warm up reps is great – he had fun and the skill is looking strong.
And he got ahead of you even on the line after the tunnel. That is great!
You can start to mix in thrown rewards sometimes instead of the placed reward – throw pretty early, like when he lands from the first jump after the tunnel. And you can still have a placed reward out there on some reps – start to move it further and further back, to begin fading it out. He dropped the bar on the last jump of the last sequence, probably because the reward ws a little too close with all that speeeeeed!
He got the RC on the first try! Super!
That was at 2:18 – you were late getting on the RC line (he was looking straight and adjusted over the bar) – to set it sooner, as he is landing from the jump after th tunnel you can be facing the center of the bar of the RC jump to drive to it, rather than running straight then cutting over.
The last sequence looked great! Nice job showing him the backside then he drove ahead on the ending line again. Super!!
You can alternate the straight line then the RC then the straight line again without a break, just to keep him on his toes and make sure you are cuing it correctly. This will be most effective when you are throwing the reward, so the placed reward doesn’t tip him off.
Great job!
Tracy
Hi! He is on fire with his course work!!
First sequence looks great – starting with the jump made it really fun and you were really connected throughout. Lovely! And making up sequences added spice to it!!
It was hard to see the one jump off screen (the Choo Choo jump 🤣😂) but he had a great line to the teeter and the teeter performance looks great! I love how he drove to the end of it even when you were behind him!
And I loved his big jump send at 1:45! I definitely think you can consider giving him a spot in the league if there is one – there is a level that should be novice-level, right? He looks like he is ready for more 🙂
And you can definitely move to the driving ahead lines on the next set of sequences – that will get him driving to the end of the line for the end of the courses.
The running dog walk is looking great! It looks like he is running deep through the yellow. The more he experiences it, the more he will open up his stride and really gallop over it. One of the ways I get the dogs to really open up in the running dog walk is by doing one single repetition, for incredibly high value reinforcement (like an entire meal 🙂 or a frisbee). That made things very exciting so I got them really driving. And then I started raising the height, so they could adjust the striding to the higher heights.
>>I keep saying Yes then Ok instead of saying Ok then Yes.
That’s totally relatable! “Yes” slips out all the time for all of us 🙂 Try to tell him what to do next, maybe add a jump for him to continue to – then you can give him info and the ‘yes’ will fade away LOL!
Great job here!
Tracy
Hi!
>>We need help on the backside handling. I worked on it earlier in the day with just a single bar and we both did great. But I struggled here to get the information to her.>
What was happening on the backsides was that your rotation for the FC was a little early – you sent then hit the brakes hard and rotated before she was committed so she came off the jump. Commitment is generally when the dog is getting pretty close to the backside entry wing – when you did the FC after that, she got it perfectly!
The key will be to add deceleration into it so you are still supporting the line but ready for the FC when she arrives at the backside commitment line (just before the wing). You had the decel at 1:39 and 1:54, and she committed really well, setting up a great FC!
At 2:44 you got the front of the backside jump – a little disconnect and arm turning your shoulders in a curve which showed the front. That was the only time it happened – the other reps had great connection and parallel line motion to the path you wanted her to take.
You had good connection again at 3:23 but hit the brakes and rotated too early. When she jumps up on you, you were already rotated and she was not past you yet. At 3:50, your rotation starting was more subtle but it was too soon and she saw it and came off the line.
Another way to think of it: keep facing foward/moving forward as you decelerate – but she will give you permission to rotate by arriving at the entry wing of the backside. It will get a little sooner as she gets more experienced, but the transition into deceleration before the rotation will make a big difference.
The other thing to remember is to let her see the wing – don’t block it. On the 2nd part of the video, you were blocking the line to the wing so while she got it at 2:08 and 2:26, it will put you on her line in other contexts or potentially send her past the backside.
One other section here that we can smooth out:
She was a bit wide on the exit of the tunnel at 2:12 and 2:28 which set up a zig zaggy line at the end. You can tighten the tunnel exit with more decel before the rotation to cue her there is a turn coming, and a turn verbal too. Then get closer to the tunnel exit line to make a big connection and set the line to 5, which will make the ending line smoother. You took off in acceleration after the tunnel, which widened the line of exit a bit.>>I just read the cartoon mash up. Can we take bets on which way Taq needs me to leave her?>>
$100 dollars says you will need to leave calmly LOL!!!!
>> One question about this. would you use different methods depending on dogs mood or is the idea to know which one works and always be consistent?>>
I put them both in my toolbox and use them according to the dog’s needs in the moment and what I want on the opening line. So if the dog is feeling very wild and the course is technical? Yes, a calm lead out. If the dog is feeling less excited? Cartoon time? If the dog has a great stay and I am trying to win a speed class? Cartoon mashup!
>My excuse for not giving the stay command is that my previous 4 dogs (not farmdogs) all were trained that sit meant sit until release. Taq has never believed that any position of her body should be still and unmoving so of course there is no cross over. >>
I agree that sit should also mean stay… but Taq disagrees LOL! And since she is the one who has to do it, we can defer to her choice there, so remember your stay word 😂
>I do want to make sure I am clear about this since she has such dancing thoughts. She is like me listening to ACDC without bobbing my head or Abba without belting out sining to join them. Impossible.>
I love it! And of course we have to sing along. The best thing to do is make sure the release never comes at the exact same time as sudden movement. So you can be moving for a bit and release while moving. Or be stationary and release…. Then move. It is when we accidentally pair the release with suddenly moving forward that the release will become the movement.
And LOTS of rewards for the stay are always good (you mix them in, which is great) because we humans often pair the release with movement so continued reinforcement will help her not get mad at us 🙂
Great job here!
TracyHi! Didn’t miss you 🙂 Just waiting for halfway decent internet on the way to Florida for the Open. It should post any moment now!
T
Hi! He did really well with all the games here!!!
Leash off/engagement on is going well. To help override that initial distraction impulse, take the less off and just get the cookie to him immediately, especially in new places. No need to wait til he engaged with you at the beginning of this training progression. That will help condition him that the leash coming off means amazing things are happening! He was great after that so we can really focus on that first leash-off moment.
He did really well with the remote reinforcement game! Nice engagement when the leash came off and total focus in the sequence! It looks like you had a cookie with you as you moved to the line here – you can now fade out having the cookies with you (leaving them with his water sprayer) to make it closer to the real thing 🙂 (If you didn’t have a cookie with you, great!!) Nice job marking the moment you were going to run back to the water sprayer. Definitely bring that to trials!!!
He was also really fast and engaged with the reward on you. That is pretty normal – it is definitely harder when the reward is not out there on course! And it is fine to mix things up and sometimes have it with you in a pocket, sometimes have it outside the course. When you do have it with you, you can randomly reward him on course. Choose something that will surprise him, like a reward for a jump! The dogs generally expect we will reward contacts and weaves 🙂 so surprising him is good!
Great job here!
TracyHi!
I can totally relate to being nervous handling the young dog! I just expect it now…. It doesn’t matter how many years I’ve been doing agility, I still get totally nervous when I start the baby dogs LOL!!! I am more nervous for my baby dog’s NFC runs than I am for running an experienced dog at a big event.
It sounds like you made it a really good experience for her and it will get less nerve-wracking, I promise (then you will get your next puppy and be a nervous wreck all over again 🤣😂)
On the video, think of things differently: At this stage in training, only one team member gets to run fast into turns. And since Lu has elected herself into that role… you need to slow down and show the decel, and wait for her to give you permission to leave for the next line.
What do I mean by permission? You hold the cue and don’t run forward again until she is collected to take off in the correct direction. The bloopers here were mainly from you running too fast, so she didn’t get the full turn info.
You were moving to the next line too fast at :07, so she correctly read it as a rear cross.
At :36, 2:54, and the reps after that, you got the cross before it but then accelerated into the wrap, so she drove forward to the tunnel. That also happened at 1:15 with the wrap to the left. You got the toy involved at 1:52, which kept you there longer and showed more decel and that really helped!
But then look at 2:13 – you got decel into the wrap jump and she turned really well, then found the last jumps through the box brilliantly! Yay!
You started the crosses earlier on the jump after the tunnel after that, so she correctly did not go to the pinwheel jump.
So how to run more slowly so she gets the info? When she exits the tunnel, you are supporting the line to the pinwheel jump. When she lands from the jump after the tunnel, cue the pinwheel jump & the cross (the early ones were finished before she landed from that jump).
Then, as you exit the cross, wherever you are positionally: decelerate towards the wrap wing. You can set up the spin but the decel is the most important part: if you are moving fast through the whole thing, the details of the handling info get lost in the acceleration. So you will want to decelerate into the turn by the right turn wing of the wrap jump – then hold that position, don’t move, don’t run forward, til she gives you permission to go by collecting and turning her head to the correct direction. That is your cue to run to the next line.It might feel weird at first but it will make a big difference in the info she sees! The decel before the turns will get the collection and help prevent the off courses.
Nice work here!
TracyHi!
>>Did pattern games in various places at Obedience trial today ( but they are quiet and boring) she had no issues and ignored all dogs. >>
This is great! Quiet and boring is the perfect place to start 🙂
>>I don’t know a chill for her. I can pet her but if I want her to chill I have to down her and then pet her since I get worried with lots of dogs around. What else should I try for chill?>>
Bear in mind that the ‘chill’ outside an agility ring is not actually going to be relaxation 🙂 It is more of a ‘just hang out next to me without obsessing on the ring or other dogs/people, and without demanding non-stop cookies or tugging’.
I agree that down doesn’t seem like a great option in a crowd of dogs. If she will put her front feet on your and tay there to be petted, that might be useful. You can also play the engaged chill game where we teach the dogs to be chill while we slowly fade out the pattern game up and down cookies. The goal is that she is able to stand in front of you, basically look at you, without needing rapid-fire treats. That might be the most useful one for you.
Tracy
>>She totally called me out the right side stuff 🙂>>
HA! Yes she totally made sure we all knew her feelings on the right side value LOL!!!!
Hi!
I agree, she is really fun!!!!And the camo hat works great 🙂 She did really well here!!
>She quickly figured out the game with the new prop so we did some forward sends.>
Yes, she absolutely figured out the new prop right away. Super!!! For the sends: Try not to do more than one step to the prop 🙂 You don’t need as much distance for now, because we want to isolate that one step rather than multiple steps or accelerating to it. I think she is also ready for you to do a sideways step and a backwards step!
>>I think the ready game sort of freaked her out.>
I think she was not sure if it was praise & play, or getting ready for the next rep. So you can clarify it by using a bit more muscle tension, bend your knees a little rather than move around a lot, ask her if she is ready ready ready…. Then step to the prop. That way she will see that the ready dance is about getting ready to send (not getting a reward or playing).
>>Question…how particular should I be about foot hits? On the hat, or is in front of the hat close enough? >>
I think if you are sticking closer for now, you will have better hits especially on your right side (that seemed to be the harder side for her). You don’t need to reward the misses, but it is important communication from her: If she misses the hat, it gives us info that it is a little hard. If she misses the hat twice? You will want to make the challenge easier to set her up for success. And when she misses, no need to mark it as a miss (she knows LOL) – you can just call her back and start the ready game to send again, or make the game a little easier for the next send.
Nice work here!!
Tracy
Hi!
>>Julee is an easy dog and bc I didn’t get her for sport , I feel like her and I just well- Screw around a lot.>>
You might not have gotten her for sport, but you’ll still want to have that solid foundation (not as much screwing around LOL!) for when you decide she is an awesome sport dog and want to do sports with her 🙂
>>clearly we had errors it was actually me I was dizzy literally.>>
OMG this might have been a hard game for you being foggy and dizzy LOL! I think the session went well, though. The errors were small handler bloopers and paying her was the right thing to do. She gave you important information:You need to do more training with her on your right side 🙂 The work on your left side was pretty perfect but she really was not quite as strong on your right. Is that because she is a righty? Or because you put a lot more value in working on your left? Both? Doesn’t matter why as much as it is good to know 🙂
All of the reps where she was on your left side looked great – you could even pivot FAST and she was tight to your leg with no questions.
She is not as strong about staying on your right side. Even at the beginning, she offered lining up on your left. When you tried to pivot fast, she lost the connection and couldn’t quite sort her mechanics. No worries!
Just pivot more slowly and give more connection like you did at 1:13. That was lovely!
Same with the FC when you go from your left side to your right side: Make more connection when you do the FC then pivot slowly when she is on your right.
And I agree that it was still a fun session – it was short, lots of rewards, we got great info from her and everyone left happy (and maybe a little dizzy :))
Nice work here!!
Tracy
Hi! The video is marked private – can you set it to unlisted so YouTube lets me watch it? I am looking forward to seeing him!!
Tracy
Good morning!
>I think I’ll try just setting a timer first.
Timers are great!
>>He seems to never want to turn down a training session but I really like to give my puppies full brain resting time,>>
Yes – some dogs are so motivated by food, toys, or “work”/play that they will also appear ready to train. My 9 month old puppy doesn’t want to leave the training area, he just sits in the corner waiting for me to come back LOL!!! But being motivated and being ready to learn are 2 different things so we want to make sure the pups have limited training time to maximize learning.
>> if we do outings that day do you also train? On days with no outings do you train multiple times that day? Just getting some ideas of how to juggle all the things…>>
It depends on how much brain bandwidth I think the pup used. Going to the vet and having a nail trim? Yes, that is A LOT so I won’t do any hard sessions for training, maybe just focus forward for a toy. Or if it was an extra extra lot, busy day, etc? I don’t need to train, we can just play. Depletion is a real thing with puppies (their brains burn a lot of oxygen and glucose!) so rest is actually one of the most important elements of learning.
Yes, I might do a few sessions a day especially if nothing else is going on – maybe a little in the morning, a little in the evening. I mix it up so they don’t get on a training schedule (demand behaviors can result from that). I tend to not train later in the evening, because they are tired by then and getting ready for sleep.
>As for food being high value: ALL FOOD is the BEST FOOD. His regular kibble is a little less exciting but it’s tiny and he can’t find it when tossed. I seriously haven’t found anything he doesn’t go nuts for. Yesterday he jumped up on the table to get a, what I thought was boring, chew I placed there>
This is good to know! Cheerios are a great kibble replacer and easy to see. I also like chopped up pieces of green beans, so the pups gt a good crunchy snack and not a lot of calories to burn 🙂
Keep me posted!
Tracy
Hi!
>>What is this voodoo training you are teaching us? 🙂>>
Ha! Connection is a powerful cue, and the dogs really don’t read our hands that well – they read where our shoulders are pointing, so using where we look (at the dog, usually) and keeping our hands out of the way can really help.
> >This comment blew my mind! I had never thought of it like that or it’s never been described to me like that!!I always remind myself to talk to the dog and not to the obstacles – this helps me keep the connection the dog needs to see and points my shoulders and feet in the correct direction. The obstacles usually ignore me when I talk to them 🤣🤣
The other voodoo is the arousal stuff – but that is actually just neuroscience LOL! So it is more nerdy than it is magical 😁
>>What really blew my mind was when my adult son opened the door into the garage and my PWD stayed focused on me and did not even acknowledge my son!>>
That is so cool! Yes, optimized arousal can make distractions fade away entirely. Your PWD is an adult, so it is easier for him. Wayne is an adolescent, so his brain is still developing and he is still learning arousal regulation, so it might not be as easy.On the video – he has a lot of toy drive and plenty of good tricks!
And he loves his line up cue – so keep your feet together when you don’t want him to line up LOL! The hand touch is not as strong of a behavior when he is excited and the opportunity is there.For the drop: you can set up a ritual of tugging then trade for a cookie while he is still tugging. That will keep arousal nicely balanced and make it fun for him to let go of the toy. You can toss the treat to the side to both reset for the next trick and help him not jump up for the toy. It looks like his toy drive is strong and he won’t have trouble getting back to tugging after eating a treat.
He did really well with the tricks (snappy responses!) when the treats were in the picture more than the toy! But the toy brings the arousal and speed, so working with both in the same session is great.
The more you experiment with this, the easier it will be to figure out what works best in different environments. The tugging then tricks-for-treats worked great here! But you might need to use treats only, or tug only, in different environments. So bring this game to different places and see how he does.
The remote reinforcement game went great! I love your “get a prize” marker 🙂 and you kept the game very exciting. It seems like he has no trouble working with you without food in your hand, so you can try this game with a toy. And you can also try the newly posted versions of it, building up to the jump!
Great job here!!
Tracy
Hi!
>>Shuld I be trying the decompression after training sessions at home?>>
Yes, you can add it right after training, or as part of the weekly routine – it depends what kind of decompression you want to do. A snuffle mat is great for right after training. And a nice long walk can be scheduled any time.
>I really noticed a difference in her commitment on the pinwheel today after sleeping on the lazy game last night.>That is super! It might just be a skill that needs revisting every now and then. She did well here on the video – you can start to delay the rewards, now, to be sure she takes the jumps and is looking forward.
>I swear she is listening to your videos! Yesterday on our walk and before we started the Lazy game, she decided she loves tugging on the leash! >
Ha! She has decided that she is a grown up agility dog now, and leash tugging is part of that.
>I’m going to keep going with it so we can use it as a forever toy when we go into the ring but I am terrified about teaching her the impulse control needed for this activity!>
No worries! Work it into your remote reinforcement game, to include tugging on it, letting go of it, putting it back on and ignoring it during the actual run 🙂
She did really well with the pinwheels when you added them into the tunnel discrimination video! She totally had it!! She dropped the pinwheel bar on the last rep – maybe a bit fatigued or the turn cue was late? But she still had great commitment to the jump.
One suggestion: You can set her up on a slice angle for jump one and release her with a wrap verbal, so she jumps in collection. She dropped the bar on the first rep because she might have thought she was going straight and tried to adjust in the air.
Nice timing of the threadle cues for the tunnel! She had time to process it and set up the turn really well – and you didn’t add any extra shoulders pulls, so her line was perfect and she didn’t have to look at you at all: she just ran directly to the tunnel entry. Super! She understood the difference between your “go tunnel” cues and the tunnel threadle cues brilliantly in both directions. Really great session!
>>One more question. What are some ideas to train a lineup so I can position her happily? Maybe the sit between the legs as part of her action tricks?>>
I just put this together for the current MaxPup 1 class, you can skip to the line up section:
Here is a between-the-feet line up video with more explanation:
It is a fun game for the dogs and can totally be part of the tricks! One of my dogs turned this into a fun weaving between my feet trick 🙂
Great job here!
Have fun!Tracy
