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Good morning!
Lots of good work on the games here!
Turn and burn – very nice! She is totally getting the idea of wrapping that cone independently. Try not to say “go” because that is a straight line cue and this is a wrap turn. You can start adding your wrap cues if you like!
She did well here with the line on the exit, so you can start inching it around towards the entry. That will allow you to do the FC earlier and earlier 🙂
Strike a pose – she is doing really well with hitting the hand target then going to the reward. Try to keep yourself frozen the whole time so she does the in-then-out: you can toss a treat to get her to move away then come back to you, then after she hits the hand target the reward can be delivered from your hand rather than thrown. She did well with both the treat and the toy!
Stealth self-control: I think the cookie bag was a little too hard at first because she was leaving for it and looking at it. You can make it easier by having it a lot further away rather than next to her path, and up on something like a chair or table. Ideally, it is present but the pups don’t really interact with it. She ended up ignoring it (yay!) but starting with it being a little easier can get that happening even sooner 🙂
She was a good girl on the collection game! On this rep, she read the blind cross really well even though there was a visible toy on the other side. The only thing to add is deceleration after the blind so she can collect for the pivot. As soon as you do the blind and re-connect, decelerate so she sees it immediately.
Tunnel: I think she had fun! Nice job getting her through the tunnel! For the next session, you can squish up the tunnel even more so it is shorter – then shape her to go through it by letting her offer stepping into it then you throw the toy to the other end. Then you can start adding all sorts of angles and your motion too!
Great job 🙂
TracyGood morning!
>>We do all things tricks on the right- middle leg weave circle etc and that’s probably not helping.>
Yes – it will over-balance things to the right side and can create confusion.
Parallel path –
He did well sorting out the parallel path here in a new place with a lot of visual clutter and people/dogs around! Good boy!>I think I needed to move with him vs being ahead on the first reps before we took play break? >
Ye, I think that was a really nice job breaking it down for him and making it easy at first. It was a new environment with a lot going on so breaking it down was great.
You can start to add a little more motion (you moving a little faster) and also change your position: go all the way to the reward with him, wait while he eats it, then turn and start moving up the line again – that way he can start driving ahead!
Make sure you actively play at the end – you kind of put a dead toy on the ground, praised, and walked away. He and I were both like ‘wait, what?’ LOL!!! Get that toy moving and get the tugging going for real – play together then exit together, rather than leave him hanging.
Both videos here were the same – if there a different one?
Nice job!
TracyThat is fantastic! I bet you were proud of her! And she will learn to ignore her bestie when working 🙂 It is great that she is a friendly pup 🙂
T
Oops I was wrong, the next live is on the 28th! But I got the live private lessons info ready:
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScDxgW08hhu0HXCSIVVkiQsNxW1VY0kzXUMYZ1cuscDePr1kQ/viewform?usp=share_link&ouid=104182089305835532312Hi! Thanks for the update! I love the profile photo!!
>I was wondering if you think it’s okay to sometimes use a treat and train instead of throwing a treat? >
You absolutely can use a TnT, especially when the start is always in the same spot. You can also use a mat or a towel to toss the treat onto, to make it easier to see.
>I just wanted to ask in case there’s a reason you think a treat and train isn’t a good idea for these games.>
I think the only time I wouldn’t suggest the TnT is when the start position changes a lot, like on the Strike a Pose Concept Transfer. But you can change the TnT position each time, or use the TnT as the reward!
Keep me posted!
Tracy
Good morning!
>Recently, she is leaving training to go eat the leaves or grab sticks. I’m not that valuable yet.>
I think we should take a different approach to this: the puppy skills and engagement in the yard with the big distractions can’t be trained together, that would be lumping. It might be leading to too much failure on skills she is just beginning to learn, so she that is why you are seeing distractions come up.
With that in mind, let’s split the behavior like we would do with anything else we were shaping:
– puppy sporty skills can be done indoors or super simply ones on leash outside where there are no berries. There are plenty of things we can do with them without needing to be in the Land Of HackBerries.
– take a break from puppy sporty skills outside and shape engagement. This would look like going outside on leash and having her chase the flirt pole and play… then go back inside. Or going outside on leash and playing with a tug toy on a long line so it moves a lot and is fun to chase. Or doing pattern games outside with fabulous yummies.
You will see the needle start to shift: the backyard can take on a different meaning and engagement starts to come very naturally! At that point, sporty skills can come back in but for now – take those out of the backyard. It is too much pressure to try to get both the engagement and the sporty skills.
>I can try the prop and food outside tomorrow.>
Try it inside, not outside.
>The other toys aren’t holding much value at the moment. If I toss a toy, she’ll chase it, grab it and run off. She doesn’t want to tug with me.>
Teething does make things harder, so it can be more about chase and light tugging on very soft toys at this point. And take out the option of running off with the toy in the yard – all play is leashed and fun and short, without contingencies of having to earn it or possibly not being correct.
You can still play/train inside and toss the toy – then play a bit of hide and seek where you run to another room and she comes to find you with the toy, to get a cookie or another toy. It is a fun silly way to get retrieves without having to worry about anything else.
>She slept perfectly fine and put herself back to sleep after potty easily up until about 10-14 days ago. Since then sone nights she’s fine. Others she is not.>
Keep track of what her days look like leading up to bedtime, sort of a daily diary: what did he do on the days when she settled down to sleep really well, versus the days where she did not settle down? The answer will reveal itself in the form of a pattern. I see lack of settling down with my own pups over the years when dinner is late and they don’t get the Evening Wilding (usually about 8pm) of running around like a crazy animal. It might be different with Dot but jotting things down will let you know for sure. Sleep is a good thing so you’ll all be happier when this is sorted out!
And you can also ask the vet to do a urine test – she might have a UTI and feels like she has to urgently pee a lot. That is a pretty normal occurrence with baby pups.
>I bought a pool noodle today. It’s actually higher than my jump bumps. Did you say to cut it in half? I’ll see if I can get it even.>
Yes, I cut it in half lengthwise (mine isn’t even though, it is a little wobbly 😂)
Backing up video:
>I have a Cato board, but it’s pretty high off the ground. I’m not sure it angles evenly. Should I try that?>
I think the Cato is too high for her, so you can take a flat board and put something under to angle it so it is touching the ground and on a slight angle up.
When standing, leave your hands low so you can get the treat in (and moving between her front feet) as the first order of business. The click tends to stop the movement and get the pups looking up at us, so if we click then take a second or two or so to get the treat in… we get more stopping and looking and less backing up.
Getting low was great in the 2nd part of the video – it produces a better head position which produces more backing up! So stay low (kneeling like you did to sitting on something) and gradually get further away (an inch at a time) to get more and more backing up.
Great job!
TracyGood morning!!
>I’m still struggling with motivation to work with PoweR I think I need more live classes.>
I totally understand and relate. We have a live coming up this Tuesday the 20th! And I am going to be bringing back live zoom lessons – we can put together puppy groups to work live. Stay tuned – it will be different stuff than MaxPup and on my agenda to sort out this weekend 🙂 I have folks with pups the same age as PoweR who are interested.
Looking at his videos: nice adjustment on the backing up video to start yourself closer, so he could back up and not turn around to get back on. And you kept your hand lower to get a better head position too – brilliant!
After that – very nice! He was backing up to the side because the rewards were all coming from the right hand, so he was locked onto it and backing up relative to the hand and not relative to the center of you.
Easy fix – reward with both hands! You can have treats in both hands, with both hands centered in front of you and low like you had here. And alternate/be less predictable about which hand tosses the treat, and he will go straighter. And feel free to sit on something while you do this in case you back protests all the leaning over 🙂
Rear crosses: the hard part on this had nothing to do with your Rear Crosses or mechanics, those were both really good! At the beginning, the treats were misbehaving and bouncing all over the place LOL!! Then it was a little hard to get past his booty (it was blocking the road while he was eating LOL!)
When you did get past him, the RCs went GREAT!
I think you need a wider place to do this so you can get past him when he blocks the road with his butt 😂 he wasn’t being naughty, he was just eating the treat, good boy 🙂
You can also use the MM or a bowl as a treat target so he knows exactly where the start cookie is and doesn’t need to find it. But overall – he is reading the RCs when he sees you in the new position, and that is exactly what we want.
Great job!!
TracyGood morning!
These are going well – and he gets a gold star for really responding to the hand cues and not just running to the prop. Yay!
Tandems – I think this went really well! Entertainment in a good way! The best ones were to his left (first part of the video) and you were turning him away *then* cueing the prop by moving towards it (being a little past the prop was better than being next to it).
At the end, you did one right turn but you were trying to cue the turn AND cue the prop at the same time, so he was like…. What? LOL!! So remember to turn him and when he is turned then you go to the prop.
Lap turns: These were not as smooth as the tandems, for two reasons:
– you were a little too close to the prop so turning back to it was weird because he was not really past it. Be a couple of steps past it and it will feel much easier.
– the mechanics at the beginning were not as good as your mechanics at the end 🙂 At the beginning, you are totally cueing the turn and the prop simultaneously and disconnecting to do it on the first rep, so he did a fancy dance move between your feet LOL!!
2nd rep was good!
3rd rep was similar to the first.
But then after that, you were more precise with your mechanics (like at 1:15 and after that) and it went great!
So combining those great mechanics with being a bit further past the prop and you will feet it getting much easier!
Nice work!
TracyGood morning!
She totally knows it is *something* with the board! But doesn’t know exactly what 🙂 so we can totally clarify for her!
When you were too far from the board, she would come all the way off and turn around to get on it (“Look ma, I am on it!”)
When you were physically closer or had your hand closer, she did it! :36 and 1:51 are good examples of that.
So to get the behavior, I think it will come down to super precise mechanics with you pretty close to the board – and probably sitting on something, too, so your back doesn’t protest 🙂
We can start with just getting her front feet to back up regularly:
Start with you very close, and all four of her feet on the board. Lure front feet off and let her offer stepping her front feet back on. Puppies are very front-foot-oriented so she can have a big ‘aha!’ moment with the front feet.
When she can do that, you can lure both front feet and 1 back foot off (very slow cookie lure will do this, and no worries if you end up with both back feet off) then let her offer her back foot getting back on.
We have other options too, like creating a channel for her – like using long jump boards, or other similar stuff – but it is fun to see if we can shape it because it sharpens shaping skills for you both!
Nice work here – let me know how it goes!
TracyThe decel should happen pretty early, as soon as he exits the barrel. If he is not reading the decel… you are probably late 🙂 I think he reads it well when he sees it on time!
Then the pivot should be pretty slow so you can keep your head turned and eyes on his eyes, so he knows which side to be on. If we are too fast when we pivot, connection breaks and it looks like a blind. Let me know if that makes sense!
Tracy
Hi!
Yes, a two-pronged approach with a TON of reinforcement for simple behavior is great. And placement of reinforcement will be key. You can deliver the reinforcement so he continues to stand on the object – giving it to him just far enough away to also get his back end on.
Short sessions with SUPER high value food will make a huge impact – that way he can dive into the fun and we stop before he starts to think about it all too much. This session might have been a little too long, he was spending a lot of time sniffing and looking around at the end. So you can do 5 treats total for the session, with a tug toy between each treat to keep him excited about it all 🙂
He did well on the plank here – he was very happy to offer front feet, so you can toss each reinforcement a little further away so he puts back feet on too. Yo can also change your position – rather than straddle the board and face him, you can be sideways to the board so when you reward, he has more room to get his back feet on lengthwise. Trying to get them on in the smaller width of the board means he has to scrunch up, which is less likely for him to offer than a more natural position.
Great job!
Tracy
Hi!
He is turning away really well on both the lap turns and tandem turns, and hitting his prop after the turn too! Super!!! Your mechanics are looking good!We can speed up the start of each rep by making the start cookie more obvious:
Cookie tosses in the grass are hard to find and return engagement immediately, so you can toss a start cookie onto a mat or towel so he finds it immediately. That will get him driving back to you faster plus you can also call him to drive to your hand like you did at 1:15 and some of the other reps too.Nice work here!!
Tracy
Hi!
He is doing great with the forward sends on the target! Also great with the sideways and backwards – he was able to hit the prop rally well, even when you had the ready dance and the toy in your hand. Super!
>I’m struggling to get much distance, am i being too much?>
I think a couple of things were happening here towards the end: he was starting to get tired (2.5 minutes of a high energy game is a lot!) and then the added distance plus the distraction of the other stuff on the teeter… it ended up being a bit too much. So you can add a little distance earlier in the session with less distraction nearby. But also, we don’t need a ton of distance on this particular game 🙂
Great job!
TracyGood morning!
>My question is regarding backsides of jumps and threadles. With Lennan, I have a backside slice, backside rounded, threadle slice, and threadle wrap.>
These basically indicate entry (jump between you and dog, or dog between you and jump) and exit on the jump (enter & exit on the same wing, or enter & exit on different wings).
> I’ve been seeing some discussion recently where people are teaching backside directional cues that are specific to the side of the jump the dog must approach and then the direction to exit. >It seems these cues are then used for both push backs and threadles with the explanation of them being dog dependent backsides instead of handler dependent. I’m wondering what your thoughts are on this?>
Stuff like “backside circle to the left” versus “backside circle to the right”. Based on the current state of agility course design and the trends we see developing… I think they are redundant. There is an element of all of this already built into the existing cues, and also the bar indicates which way the dog should turn (context cues like bars are extremely valuable!). I have never seen a course map or exercise where I was convinced of the need to add an additional set of verbals – that would be 8 verbals cues for the ‘other’ side of the jump and I think it is not needed. If you have seen a course map or exercise where they are absolutely needed, send it my way! I am not against it if there is a need – currently no need and no examples of where it would be needed.
The barrel games are going really well! When you make the new connection after the blind, point your arm back to him more so he can see the new connection more clearly – you can see there was a slight delay on his side change when your new dog-side arm was at your side, blocking connection. You can see it mostly on the early reps (like at :27) where you did the FC more separately from the blind – when you did the FC and BC closer together as a spin, he had no questions because he was never really driving to the FC side.
He did well with the pivot at the end! You can decel as soon as he exits the barrel, so he can collect even sooner.Retrieves: He definitely liked chasing you with the toy! Yay! Good boy! And he was great about bringing it all the way to you to either tug with it or switch to the next toy.
He seems ready for the reverse retrieve where you send him to get it while you run the other way – it is a pretty easy extension of this game.Parallel path to the jump: he did a great job finding it! You can use a cookie toss start (cookie on a towel so he can find it in the grass, or a manners minder) so you can see if he will find the jump with you ahead of him, and even further away laterally. Starting with him got some lovely moving ahead of you to the jump setup. You can also add more of your motion in the form of jogging to help him find the jump with the excitement of more motion 🙂
Great job!
TracyGood morning!
>We can’t really move on as we aren’t proficient at the basics yet.>
From what I have seen, she has the basics in a position where you can be adding to them, progressively. She is working on turn and burn, and the games from that week and beyond, so you are in a good spot in terms of progress!
>Suddenly, she can’t function in the backyard as she’d rather eat hackberries and run away from me with leaves in her mouth. >
That is definitely something that can stall progress, and you can set things up so you can train and make progress without her running off. The berries might be very high value and easily accessed in the environment.
The first step is to set up the environment to be more structured so there is not unlimited access to eating the berries. If they are only in one spot in the yard, an xpen or landscape fencing (the cheap plastic stuff) can block it off when she is outdoors. If they are kind of everywhere in the yard – then she can be on leash (long light line is useful for that) to play the games and potty – to limit access to eating the berries. Yes, this reduces some freedoms in the yard but it helps build behavior you want so those behavior can build value to eventually outweigh the berries.
>Plus, she’s back to wanting to be up at 10:30 at night.>
When she wakes up at 10:30, does she potty when you take her out? It might be linked to the berry eating because it changes her GI tract) or too much water late in the day, or not enough decompression/running around in the early evening puppy ‘crazy hour’ or all of the above, none of the above. Definitely something to track so you can change schedules if needed, or so you can ignore barking in the crate if she does not need to go to the bathroom.
The pattern game here on the video looked great! She was able to ignore the berries, on leash. Perfect! High value food and a framework for ignoring them helps a lot. You can also use more food in training outside for now, in case the toy is not high enough in value to maintain engagement during those ‘in-between’ moments. The toy play might be a little lower in value at the moment because she is teething.
Let me know what you think! I know there are frustrating moments but she is doing well overall!!
Tracy
