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Hi!
> compared to in the backyard, his toy play is less enthusiastic away from home. >
You can make the toy wilder by having it tied to something long so you can really swing it for him to chase 🙂
>Skizzle’s offered play is also shorter or not at all when he’s worried about barking/whining. >
Yes, that is pretty normal – he might be able to get into chase mode in those moments, which is just a different play style than tug.
>If I’m reading this right (?), you’re suggesting I use play (increasing the time and moving away from the barrels) to help him get to an arousal level that’s optimal for the game?>
Yes, keeping arousal optimized and also giving a break from the repetition of the game.
>So if I notice him taking off instead of wrapping the barrel, I can play longer and attempt again?>It really depends on what he is taking off for – something in the environment catching his attention? Then more play might be able to help. But if he is taking off because he thinks you are going to throw the toy, then less play might be the better bet 🙂
>In general, I try not to up-the-ante with higher and higher value rewards to keep his attention. >
I think of it is as the environment will dictate the level of reward value. If it is easy, like indoors at home? A pretty low value of great. But if you are in a harder environment then a higher value reward will break through the processing challenges – it is not as much about him making choices and it is more about breaking through environmental challenges.
>I haven’t really thought about this in the context of toy/play – though I like to use different toys regularly so I have many options. Fortunately (or maybe not?) he doesn’t have a toy he’s dying to have.>
I do the same! For my adolescent dog who will be working at a national event tomorrow while 2 other rings are running (and no real ring gating other than some decorative lattice :)) , I have a special raccoon pelt tug toy and chicken nuggets ready for his rewards. Big environments need big rewards! At home, he is happy to work for kibble or maybe some string cheese, and a fleece tug toy.
>It feels like a balance – accepting the information he’s providing vs. upping my excitement level to up his.
Curious to hear your thoughts.>I think of it as fighting fire with fire. Or, pay check commensurate with level of challenge LOL! If I need to increase the value of a reward (either better food, better toy, or more exciting me) then I will TOTALLY do it. If the pups struggle to engage, it is more about them asking for help so higher value rewards totally help!
Let me know what you think!
Tracy
Hi!
>He’s full out teenager now with boundless energy lol!>
Ha! Yes, I would like to put some of that adolescent dog energy into my morning coffee!
He is doing really well with the forward sending. The sideways and backwards sending is where he has questions. He was able to do it when you arm went all the way around the barrel too, but that will make the next steps harder so we will get the behavior without your arm needing to be as much of a big part of the cue.
>I also think he has some confusion on when that reward is available.>
Yes – I think what we are seeing is from a combination of conflicting indicators: reward in your hand, and your body turned the other way. So he is having trouble understanding that yes, he will get rewarded for going the other direction. Then he gets BIG MAD and bites the barrel. Ok! Good info, thanks Quill 🙂 We can totally help him!
I think a few things will help:
– For the rewards, you can play tug before and in between games, but have your hands empty of food and toys during the sending for now. We don’t need to be super precise with the rewards, so you can cue the behavior with empty hands then reward after he does it. We can add rewards back into your hands when he understands the behavior better (and then we can add the markers too, highly recommend markers :))
– To help him know that it is ok to leave your position to go around the barrel we can use something that will be a visual aid: the bowl that you orginally used to shape the behavior with! You can put the bowl halfway or 2/3rds of the way around the barrel, then send him around the barrel. Start with sending forward (will be very easy) then change to sideways and backwards.
He will use the bowl as a visual aid, but you can whip out a toy or cookie and reward from your hand when he goes around the barrel. That way you can easily fade the bowl out again.
– You can use a big cone for this rather than the soft barrel. There are 2 reasons for this: it will be easier to go around and see the bowl with a cone, and he is less likely to bite/tug on the cone 🙂 so more likely to wrap it.
Let me know how it goes! Nice work getting him to this point and I think the tweaks will get him to the next steps 🙂
Tracy
Hi!
Great job shaping the box here! He very quickly figured out that he needed to put his feet in it AND keep moving – nice placement of reward to help that! The ‘get it’ marker is the most important – you don’t need the ‘yes’ marker because it delays the important info of the ‘get it’. The ‘yes’ was probably just creeping in because he was being great and that happens for all of us 🙂
>because there’s a franken-monster in there that loses it sometimes. I tried to throw away from the crate.>
This is possible, so you will see even more drive to it when he is outside and won’t be blown away with crazy winds.
>At 1.34 ish the pathetic keening of the Weedith can be heard.>
Yes, she was providing the soundtrack to her film “Why Do HE Get A Turn When It Should Be ME” hahahaha
Nice work here!
TracyYikes!! That does beg the question… why do they hod it at this time of year when the weather is so crazy? Maybe a few weeks earlier or later would be better?
T
Good morning!
Looking at the
Shpile:
It is ok for them to be a little careful at first – one of the goals is exploration and he was definitely doing the in the first video. The ice cream was extra motivating so he was more interested in getting on the moving objects/higher piles to get it 🙂 It was nice to see that he could still play tug even with ice cream in the picture! This game is something to revisit every now and then in different contexts as his brain and body continue to grow 🙂Backing up:
He seemed to be understanding that it was about going backwards. Yay! But it is possible that the object was a little too narrow to back up onto, so he was being cautious to avoid stepping off the back. There was a limited space for his back feet, so that is also pretty good proprioception to know that he might step off the back! A wider object that can easily fit his whole body will probably get him offering more backing up.The same platform was small enough to be used for sits so I can see why he would not trust backing up onto it 🙂 He did do a few nice sits! But yes, it is indeed a workout – usually it is done in sets of 5 for a young dog so it makes sense he was finished at that point especially if it came after the other games 🙂 The games can all go into your training rotation, but separate them by doing one a day – they are challenging for the body so he might get tired easily.
>Unfortunately he doesn’t always think that string cheese is delicious which is very inconvenient,>
Oh no! That is VERY inconvenient LOL!!! Does he like cheddar? Perhaps he has more refined cheese tastes. Or maybe small bits of chicken?
He is doing well with the pattern game here – there were some voices in the background and I am sure there were all sorts of good things in the environment, but he looked relaxed and was able to engage easily. Do you have any trials coming up or event he can go to, to play some pattern game at a decent distance from the action? The higher value food will be helpful there for sure.
>He seemed quite into the reverse retrieve, although for some reason didn’t like when I tossed it in the one direction at first.>
I agree – he was having fun!! I think on. The first rep he just didn’t realize what was happening so ran to you, but then he figured out the game and was all in. There were some voices in the environment that distracted him a bit in the middle (he looked up) but it was great to see him immediately return to the game! Yo can add some different crazy angles (like out to the side) on your toy toss so he retrieves and brings it to you from a variety of different directions.
On the barrel wraps – he definitely did better when there was excitement before the send. Running into it helped commit him because those were all mainly forward sends, with rotation happening after he was at the barrel on the right turn sides. On the left turn sides, you were more rotated as you moved to the barrel which is why they were a bit harder. You can add more of the ready game to get the excitement before rotated and backwards sends – and you can also put a food bowl out about 2/3rds of the way around the barrel so he has a visual aid for the wrap – he will recognize the bowl as a bit of a target from the foundation game, and will be more likely to wrap the barrel even with you rotated and not running into it. And then you can reward with the toy like you did here, which will make fading the bowl out easy 🙂
Parallel path: this looked great! He seemed to have no trouble with it so you can start to add more lateral distance, getting yourself further away but still moving parallel to him. The tricky part might be getting the start cookie to be visible, so you can either place it on a mat and then send him to it, or you can have it near you and he can curve away from you to go find the jump!
>I said we were done after the jump…but he said what’s next?>
Ha! This is where you can also use decompression: big treat scatters in the grass or letting him run around with the toy in an unstructured way, or a long sniffy walk 🙂
He did great with the simpler games here (toy races and pattern games) and they are a good way to wind down from the other games but they are still ‘work’- so even if you he says he wants more more, you can be like ‘you need to decompress’ LOL!!!!
Great job here!
Tracy
Hi!
You are 100% correct, he rocked these 🙂
Ooh the ladder added to the shpile game was a fun twist! Love it! He did great. I bet you can add cavalettis too – make a crazy trail of stuff, get him wild, and have him walk across the trail. He already has good proprioception so we can really crank up the challenge!
Turning away in the ‘u’ turn was pretty perfect with you standing still – he looked pretty balanced on both sides! Super!
The circles were also really strong and you were moving too! He had no trouble so you can ramp it up now: be moving more on both the ‘u’ turns and circles. For the “u” turns, you can toss the treat back so he gets used to going one direction while you are going the other direction. For the circles, keep moving the whole time and see how fast he will let you move 🙂Great job!
Tracy
Hi –
Yes, shots and vet visit stress will knock them out a little for a couple of days. Backing up was a nice low-key game! You can scoot yourself backwards a tiny bit, so she backs up a little more 🙂 Then when she can do that… scoot back even more! She is doing well so you can start to add more distance.
Nice work!
Tracy
Hi!
>Please tell me there’s a break week coming up! Lol>A couple of lighter weeks ahead, but also multiple weeks at the end for catching up 🙂
>he’s doing fine but the one person who’s done it the last two times says he’s still biting food hard. His body language is softer but clearly it’s a lot. Should I be doing something different?>
It is interesting to note but probably nothing to worry about other than the mechanics of the person giving him the food 🙂 ask them to give it to him in an open palm rather than from their fingers. A hard mouth just means he is stimulated – that doesn’t mean it is a bad thing if he is happily going to the person 🙂
T
Hi!
> Today is “groom one of the other poodles” day (we have a trial this weekend)>
That’s relatable. Today was supposed to be Groom The Papillon Day for a big event this weekend. And I did not do it… so tomorrow is Groom The Papillon Day. Or maybe Friday hahahahahaha
>No treats or toys on me for the Remote Reinforcement. I guess she’s just one smart poodle!>
She is a rockstar!!!!
Great job with the threadle wrap foundations! I think it was easier for her to turn to her right (off of your right hand) – you both looked more comfy! The left turns started off looking like you both had to think about it but then looked a lot smooth by the end! Yay!
This went really well, so you can move to the advanced level where you are moving too – cuing the “u” turn as you move forward, and then if she is happy with that, you can do the full circle while you are moving forward too.
Great job!
Tracy
He did well here but yes – give him a smaller space 🙂 You can start with low arousal when give him a tiny space, but then get him into high arousal pretty quickly – if he learns it in high arousal, he is more likely to be able to do it in high arousal. If he learns it in a different (lower) arousal state, he is less likely to be able to do it which might be why you aren’t seeing as much progress as you like.
And as you add more arousal, you can totally wear gloves! That way you can still give him feedback if he touches you but it won’t hurt or break skin. I totally wore gloves when I was teaching my youngster to tug on a tennis ball, where my hand was basically inside his mouth.
One of the things he might struggle with in terms of hand grabbing is when he re-grips it. So you can add that to the games too: when he lets go of the toy, leave it there and move it up slowly rather than lift the toy up fast – that will add more self-control on the re-gripping.
Let me know how he does!
Tracy
He did well here too – he had an easier time sticking with you on your left side (probably more value there?) and he wanted to offer the prop hit on your right side – the little bit of extra hand cue to keep him with you was very helpful.
He was drifting a bit on your right side, but he stayed on the same lead (coming towards you) so he was still correct 🙂 His last one was perfect!
The ‘get out’ part was super easy for him! You were very good about trying to keep your feet straight – it is NOT easy! The lines on the floor from the mats help give you a visual.
You can add more distance laterally away from the prop here to see how far he will send out – and more motion too!
As you add more of these running games – it looks like he has a harness that sits across the front of this shoulders/chest, which can restrict movement a bit. You can take it off for these so he can move his shoulders/front end freely 🙂
Great job!
Tracy
Hi –
Rocking horses are going really well! When you were connected, he had no trouble going to the wrap in both directions and had a lovely turn and burns too!
His only questions where when you did not have clear connection at :35 and :51 on the sends, so he curled into you. Compare to the rep at :55 where the connection was very clear and he was super smooth. The reps after it all had the clear connection and you were able to do the FCs, post turns, and spins!You can add a little more distance between the wrap objects here and you can also add the wrap verbals (I thought you might have been saying them but you were quiet so I was not sure :))
Great job!
TracyGreat job getting the RCs going here on the first side!You moved up the diagonal line so when he lifted his head from eating the cookie, you were ahead of him and easily seen – and he turned the correct direction.
The second side starting off just sorting out how to get to the correct spot in time and when you did, he turned correctly each time. Super! You probably needed just a little more room on that side.
If you have a longer hallway, you can give yourself more room and can run to the position – I think he is ready for more motion on these.
Nice work!Tracy
