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Good morning!
>Great idea with “gimme a second” cookie for when I can’t get the toy out. Holee roller toys are tough to stash on your body for training.>
I think I literally have said to my dogs “Gimme a second here” or “I need a minute”. Maybe that is a new marker LOL!!! Just kidding – we already have plenty of words 🙂
>Today I worked on some toy races, which surprisingly didn’t go as well as I would have thought. >
It went really well!!!! I have a couple of ideas for you, and also let her sleep on it for a few days and see what it looks like at the end of the week (whippets………)
What you were seeing here was the process of installing brakes on your sportscar 🙂 She was sorting out how to decelerate into the toy.
The pushback and run to the toy went well, good brakes and she was turning to prepare to bring it to you. Yes, small celebrations and mini victory laps when she won, but overall she was very engaged with the toy and you!
>>Then with the racing part she did beat me there, but overran the toy so I was able to grab it the first time, let her come back to get it the second (so she wouldn’t get discouraged/frustrated and start biting), and the third she choked on a cookie right when she caught up and passed me so I got the toy and some biting ensued.>
She was having trouble with her brakes when the cookies tosses were added. She was moving faster, you were very stimulating and moving ahead (which is distracting, you can see her watching you a little). So she didn’t quite get the decel in time to get low enough to get the toy. Plus she was sorting out this new variation on the game.
I LOVED how she committed to the cookie even with the toy out ahead and all of your speedy countermotion, that was excellent! Truly fabulous!!!!
So two things that can help with the cookie toss element (because we want the countermotion skill and we want her to accelerate past you when you are ahead and running):
– use a bigger toy, something that she can scoop up as she runs through it. Have you seen the extra large hollee rollers? That is perfect for this game – it will have a higher profile off the ground so she won’t have to reach down for it as much. The reaching down might be pulling her weight forward and throwing off the deceleration.
– you can also dial back your movement a bit by jogging and letting her get there first once or twice, so she goes “Oh! Got it!” then you can start to dial up more and more of your motion.
And if you do win, you can party with it on your own for a heartbeat (keeping the toy lower to reduce jumping up or bitey feelings) then let her tug on it as you go back to reset.
>I would put overrunning the toy when they are trying that hard to beat you in the same category of just not focusing on the task at hand correct? And we should avoid setting them up to do that repeatedly?>
I think she was focusing on the task at hand, and processing all the things. But yes, we can break it down a bit so she can learn how to win… then dial the excitement back up.
All of these ideas might be moot because she might come into the next session later this week and know this game fully and also have read ahead for the next 3 chapters in the text book LOL!!! Whippety dogs. But definitely the taller/higher profile toy will help.
>Worked some of the Decel exercise that I seem to struggle with and managed to get her to stop nice and straight after the first one. I didn’t have a cookie in my hand, it was just a target.>
These looked really good!! You can definitely add in the slow pivot – she will drive to you with even better decel if she predicts the next thing will be a turn.
Great job here!
TracyHi!
He was absolutely brilliant here, no problem at all! This is exactly what this level of SSC should look like!! Your novel-neutral objects were perfect. Side note: I love your pants!!!Moving forward: add some novel-neutral objects to any other game that he finds super easy. And for this cookie recall game, you can move to the next step (novel-exciting!) which we added on Tuesday. Great job here!!!
Tracy
Good morning! This is a good session!
Note how he moves into your hand A LOT!!! That is big progress. He did lose focus at the end, but that was mainly because the other dogs were telling you that there was a visitor 🙂 He moves away as you reach for him, so as you build up this skill, a couple of ideas:
Keep rewarding as he moves towards you, letting him target his collar/neck to your hand. Reward as he gets closer and closer. And don’t reach for him – let him put his collar in your hand 🙂 That will require a lot of patience but it is worth it!
Separately, you can use a cookie to get him to line up at your side, then when he is next to you, gently take his collar. This will be reaching down more than reaching towards him, which might entirely change the game! So you can line him up, put your hand on his collar, then release him forward to the reward (similar to the forward focus games).
When my Paps were puppies, I also used a small body harness to make this easier: they found it perfectly fine for me to touch the harness, even when they were not as comfy yet with me touching their collar. It is something to consider – putting a regular harness on for training (but mine could chew it so I didn’t leave it on when not training :))
Nice work here!
TracyHi!
I think these videos gave us a good look at Lift’s List Of “Do”s and “Don’t”s. She gives great feedback!
She had some trouble with the tunnel in this sequence. It is not that uncommon for Shelties and BCs to refuse tunnels – maybe because they can’t see us? Or this one was dark in the big curve and heading towards a way, away from the rest of the sequence? Hard to know for sure. If she can’t get into the tunnel, don’t keep asking – just abandon it and get her onto some jumps. Or do a stay in a different section and a straight line to release to something else. She did eventually get into the tunnel but arousal had tipped into overarousal at that point.
Running to the line was GREAT to get the arousal up! But doing it as remote reinforcement was too hard, especially if it was the first run of the day. I don’t think she has enough experience with remote reinforcement and sequencing and arousal regulation to start that far away from the rewards. Great info from her!
So- at this stage, do keep the start obstacle close to the remote reinforcement station for now, even if the reward station gets moved into the ring if the sequence starts 60 feet away. And minimize the amount of remote reinforcement work you are doing. The vast majority of training should still be rewards in the ring 🙂
Also, do keep the running to the line as a great arousal stimulator – but have cookies with you to help with the arousal regulation and the line up. The running dials her up, yay! And the treats in the ring will help her center her arousal. This is valuable for future trialing, where entering the ring will dial her up. And if she can’t sit? Just ask her to stay and lead out a little. Not being able to sit is great info that the young dogs are surfing that arousal curve and barely hanging on to the optimized state – and us humans staying there to get the sit just adds pressure to the situation, which tips them into over-arousal.
For example, at a trial yesterday, my little Elektra was PUMPED UP and barking her head off at the start line. She was in a stand in a relatively good spot when I took the leash off – but she could not sit. I asked twice – she said CAN’T! So I just said stay and led out… she stayed perfectly still til released, then she laid down one of her best Jumpers runs ever, smoking the class with perfect arousal and focus. So if Lift says “CAN’T SIT CAN ONLY YELL” then you can see if she will just stay put to give you a small lead out, then release and run. It is entirely possible that the best moments come when the dogs are like this 🙂 It is definitely outside the conventional wisdom, but CW doesn’t take into account arousal levels and neuroscience. And we don’t really care what position the dog is in, as long as they are happy and hold the stay til released 🙂 She offered a stand several times in these videos, so that is something to play with and see how it goes.
>Rep 2
This was after a snuffle mat and some hanging out on her cot behind the solid side ring barrier>This video is the same as the first one, can you repost video 2? I wanna see LOL!!
>. We did our pattern games/volume dial over to the ring entrance and past Kristin & Reacher. Both Lift and Reacher thought that was too exciting so add going by dogs to the homework list since I’d rather not resort to carrying her alot at trials. >
That is a great one to go to the top of the HW list as she is recovering from the spay! You can put Kaladin in a crate for example, and start with her moving past him with pattern games, then rewarding for just moving past. Then add in her friends from training and class, or have her doing it at the ring area if Kaladin is entered in anything coming up.
Video 3 – At hte beginning, I think she was confused about which jump was the start jump – she was facing the other one when the leash came off then she was unsure if she was supposed to move with you or not. And note the offered stand stay!
The opening of the sequence went well – then yes, there was a little disconnection and yay at :52 plus the pole is a weird visual for young dogs to wrap around. It might look like she is jumping head first into a pole, which is why she doesn’t want to do it. it has been very hard for her to wrap jumps near that pole, so it is likely a pole issue more than anythng else. I mean, I don’t blame her for not wanting to jump into the pole LOL!!
If she has a question, though? Keep going in flow to the next line. Stopping to ask her again or moving to restart somewhere else (especially restarting with a wrap) almost always results in a Big Mad moment.
She does really nicely when you start her in the middle of a sequencing a forward motion line to a jump, like what you did at 3:39!
Also, on the more cchallenging sequences, do a short bit of the hard stuff and reward early and often, so the rate of reinforcement is high in case one of the harrder handling moments goes a bit sideways 🙂
Since she trains and will probably trial at Fusion and other places with poles, we can address her pole question. 2 ideas for you:
Do you remember the turn and burn game from MaxPup 1 when we sent the pups around a barrel and did a FC so they could chase us for the reward? Take the jump out of the picture and play turn and burn with the pole to help her recognize it as basically a giant jump wing 🙂 Don’t worry about her offering it in the middle of the course in the future, we will have fading that option out by then 🙂
For wraps by the pole, do a shaping game – walk back and forth past it and toss treats for offering to take it. Think of it as Lazy Game: Pole Edition
>I have her signed up for a drop in class on Tuesday as her last training session before she gets spayed on Wednesday. My plan is to work on the TSA game past the dogs that will be waiting for their turn in the aisle near the ring gates and some super simple 2-4 obstacle sequences so that I can focus on the line up & end of run stuff and some remote reinforcement work (maybe bringing my chair and the dish into the ring? It won’t be there for a trial but I’m guessing that it’s good to move it around and test whehter she can work around it until being cued to go to it).>
I think the TSA game is really really super hard so try it at home with 1 or 2 jumps… but not in class yet and not yet past the other dogs (if she had trouble with Mochi, the other dogs will be tooooo hard for TSA) until she has a bunch of sessions of thinking it is the best, easiest game ever at home 🙂
Think of it as making one variable easier when another variable gets harder:
Stick to fun & easy pattern games and tricks for treats when there are new dogs around. the new dogs and the number of new dogs make it challenging!And make the class setting a super grand time with rewards in the ring – take the pressure off of the remote reinforcement work for now. It is super hard and depleting, so I think we need to balance back into the ‘woohoo this is easy!’ in the ring, as more distractions get added outside the ring.
Think of the remote reinforcement work and TSA game as being on the same plane as backside threadle wraps or crazy *ss weave entries:
yes, we need the skill to be pretty strong eventually so we start practicing it in small pieces now… but we don’t need it to be perfect any time soon, we don’t need to do it all the time and we don’t need to do it in harder environments – do the easy fun stuff as the environment gets harder 🙂
> I can put her in 4s or 8 at either the very beginning or end of the class to minimize the chaos of getting to and from the ring.>
Put her in 4S at the end of the class – make the jump height variable really easy because the other variables will be hard.
> Then after this morning, I’m questioning that idea as I think she’s going to need a lot more practice on how to navigate getting to the ring past the normal trial chaos.>
That can be all about food value, outside the ring. Rotisserie chicken, for example, can be life changing LOL!! A friend’s non-foodie Golden was incrediblly impressive outside the ring this past weekend when she dipped into my magic chicken bag (thanks, Costco!) and also, she grabbed a couple of little peanut butter and cream cheese packets from the hotel breakfast bar – total change in his engagement outside the ring 🙂
The other key thing as you develop NFC plans will be if she plays with a toy in the ring. My food-driven rental whippet (Larry :)) plays with a furry lotus ball attached to another long fur toy in the trial ring for short bursts provided I am running and dragging it (we don’t have food boxes locally). I am sure I could use a frisbee with him too, now that I am thinking about it. Lift is similar – what toy can she chase? If her answer is NOPE then it is a food box thing of go in, do a trick, run to the food box, go do another trick, back to the food box. The complexity of leash off-leash on doesn’t even have to happen and you can still get great things happening. Don’t think of any of it as doing a run – think of it all as different ways to get ring acclimation. She will let you know when you can add more sequencing.
>>And separate topic – since I keep blurting out “yays!” mid course, should I figure out a way to train around that? It might just be easier than my trying not to say it. >
As you walk the courses for her (and definitely walk the courses for her like you would at a trial for Kaladin!) plan the verbals very specifically and walk the course using them (like what we do in CAMP when we are trying to match our walk throughs to our runs). That will help avoid the extra yays 🙂
And because we humans still like to yell YAY! I think that the most important thing is to never stop and reward with the yay – we want to unpair it from reinforcement and that way she will learn to ignore your ocassional YAY moments 🙂
>>Wondering if I should try something like – cueing a trick – saying yay! – cueing another and then rewarding with tossed cheese>
I think that will still draw attention to you and the cheese, so I would not add any more value to the Yay 🙂
>> Also looking for things I can do in the early parts of the post spay recondition plan that don’t involve extended sprinting or jumping. (working on remote reinforcement with tricks on the flat and going by the station before cueing it is also on the list)
You can do some stationary tricks like lifting one foot at a time, or visiting classes to walk around outside the ring. And remote reinforcement is fine to do some of, but remember that it is just a fancy agility trick to do sometimes, and not a lifestyle 🙂
Nice work here! Let me know what you think!
Tracy
Good morning!! A lot of great work here!!
>We have been busy working the basics of getting to the line with a leash on and removing the leash.>
You had some good fun tricks happening!! The scatter right before moving to the line might have been confusing because he froze up a bit – maybe do the tricks then go right to the line with connection will be clearer.
>> We have been going to the line playing games and I did work on creeping away to keep him engaged.>
He seemed to LOVE that! He really exploded off the line!
>> The training at our training field included distractions. A dog he knows in an x-pen with a stuffed kong and another dog barking in the car. He was distracted but kept working. I had moved his remove reinforcement several times. I can really see his speed improving.>
Yes! All of that was really hard but he did great! And you can mix in running sequences with the high value reinforcement right there with you – you don’t always have to have it placed outside the course. Building speed and confidence is also helped by variable reinforcement and surprising him with it in the ring sometimes.
One thing I noticed was he was a little sticky on the release from the contacts on the first video. It is possible that he almost always gets a reward at the end of the contact, so you will want to mix that up too – sometimes yes, he gets a reward there. But sometimes the reward comes after the next jump, or later in the sequence. It is also possible that he was facing his magic cooler and that is why he was a little sticky on those releases 🙂
He did well on the 2nd video too! There was a handler blooper at :46 on the backside: he went to it really well but then your position (moving forward to the next line with a bit of a closed shoulder) and your connection looking at him past the jump) did not support the landing spot, so he did not take the jump. In that case, it is best to keep going rather than stop. Continuing can really foster speed and confidence, while stopping and restarting is really deflating even if there is a cookie involved. Those types of errors are 99% of the time handler errors 🙂 so it is fine to keep going.
You helped him a lot more there on the 2nd run – so if he misses on the first run because he needed clearer cues, no worries! Keep going to finish strong then fix later 🙂 because we are working for speed and confidence.
This sequence was also tightly spaced and very technical, so he could not really open up and run fast. So try to set up sequences (or modify, even if it means taking out a jump) so he can mostly run fast with bigger yardage, with a technical moment thrown in but sandwiched with big fast fun lines 🙂 Let him run run run more than turn 🙂
>I have figured out that decompression at its best is a full speed run in a uniques environment round the outside of the space. We visited a Sniff Spot with the intent of doing some low stress scent work. He was able to do pattern games out of the car but was having to work very hard with this environment. I took a new approach. I think I have been butting too much pressure on him. I did let him run and did not call him to me. The area is 3 acres. He came without being called when I feed my other dog cheese. I had let him run so I gave him a reward to coming and then released him to go play. A couple of minutes later I asked him if he wanted to go swim. He came running and we played in the hose. He then was able to stay engaged as I put both dogs in the truck to set hides. I work nicely when I took him out. I know this is much less stressful than agility but we have to start somewhere. He stayed engaged for the rest of our time there I let him run and play and he kept coming back to get cheese and check in. This was so much better than when I put a lot of pressure on him to continually come to me. He chose to come to me.>>
This is very insightful! He is a young sporting dog – and those dogs need to run! Free running and playing is definitely something you can add to his world as much as possible. Sounds like the sniffspot was great for that. Don’t make it all about work – play and freedom and actually just as important for work as training is.
>I believe I need to back off and relax. I tend to worry and keep recalling him even when it is safe and I have released him to play.>
As long as it is safe, let him run run run run run 🙂
>I hope I can find a happy medium where he does not have to run full speed for 10 mins. to decompress.>
You can get a long line and let him sniff, run, etc at a trial site, if there is room to do it. Or, find a run spot for him the day before and let him clear his head with big fun runs.
Great job here! Keep me posted!
Tracy
Hi!
WOW I think she really liked the big ring! WOW!! The first run was really strong and the 2nd run was even stronger! Wow wow wow!!!! I am excited for you, well done!!!!!!!
>. I was a bit stressefd as it was super hot and I had been working in the ringso everything abit rushed but she behaved like a pro. >
Well, that is probably how you will feel at a trial (stressed, hot, rushed) so it was good to let her deal with that. She was great! Your foundation work really shone through.
And it is really cool that you can bring food in too – I wish we could do that here in the US.
I really liked 5 big things here:
– she stayed engaged and thoughtful when you took the leash off. No running around, no jumping up, biting, barking, etc
– she had a good wait!!! And you were clear on the release.
– she was REALLY looking for her lines, even with bigger distances than she might be used to.
– you kept moving and did not stop to over-manage lines. I guess the course was so big that there was no place to stop but that is good – you staying in motion really helped her out!!
– you stayed connected. Your arms were pretty low (because you were running hard) and you were watching her. Perfect!
Finding the big huge lines is HARD and I think after the holidays, we will make a it focus for our young dogs (my whippets are having similar questions on the big huge lines and there is NO WAY that I can keep up with them LOL!)
So when planning the course – because she has a short wait, you will not want to start with a big long line that would be ideally handled with a 2 jump lead out. For now, since you are training, will they let you start by taking 1 backwards: meaning, start with you and her between 1 and 2. Send her to wrap the 1 jump (so she is taking it the ‘wrong’ direction). Then do a FC as she commits to it, and start the next line: you will be much further ahead which is a very good thing with her 🙂 They allow that kind of start here in training runs, so hopefully they allow it in NZ too.
>Plus thanks to alot of practise with your idea of using a small lid with amazing stuff we managed to get a measure of 2mm under the height change. she managed to stay still enougn and didnt freak at stick miracles happen>
This is also fantastic!!! YAY!! What a great day, you must be floating on cloud 9! Well done all around!
Tracy
Hi!
The sequence work is going well here! The handling suggestions are mainly about the subtle details which is really cool to be working at that level!!!
> I tried different things on the start lines just for information.>
He seemed pretty happy with what you did here – you can add in a longer lead out (past the first jump) with a cartoon silly connection and release, and see how he likes that!
Sequence 1 is looking strong – very nice connection and high energy, so both of you were very fast! The only handling suggestion is to do a blind cross on the exit of the serp jumps rather than rear cross the next jump. He read the RCs really well, but he will be faster with the blinds (all of the dogs will :)) because he will get to chase you.
Sequence 2 also went well – not as fast, but I think this was the “OMG I NEED TO POOP SO BAD” run? That would explain why he was slightly clenched during the run LOL!
One thing to consider on this sequence is turning him to his right on jump 6 (at 1:18) rather than wrapping to this inside, to his left. It is possible that it is faster because it is a full on extension line with fewer turns. It might look like more yardage, but if you walk it with all of the turns the other direction, I bet the yardages are either the same or very minimal in differences. I say “it is possible” because with small dogs, they can wrap so tight and fast that sometimes the wrap is indeed faster. With big dogs, the outside line and extension line is definitely faster. With small dogs, we try both directions and compare the times to see which is faster.
Watching round 2, you went to the outside in that section so I timed it – the outside is slightly faster – but not by a lot, because his turn was good on the wrap to the left too! Also, you did a blind to a threadle in round 2 on the jump after the tunnel, which might have contributed to it being faster. Definitely something to look at (and to possibly make different choices than large dog handlers would).
To get the serpy lines to be as tight as the blind to threadle line, you can do the blind on the exit where there is a side change – or where there is no side change, you can use countermotion to run past the exit wing s he sets up a tighter turn (rather than run parallel to the bar). And on the serps that do have a tight exit and side change, use countermotion there too – you would be running forward past the exit wing, looking back at the landing spot to support commitment then as soon as he looks at the bar – do the blind.
An example would be at 2:46 – it is a backside serp-to-blind (aka German turn). You moved parallel to the bar and so when you did the blind, you were still on the landing side. That widens his line (plus you are in his way :)) so ideally when you do the blind, you would already be on takeoff side. That does require sending him to the backside a bit more independently so you are moving to the middle of the bar and not the entry wing, but I bet he can do that!
>>Our next NFC try will be Dec. 15th (UKI trial) up at On the Run. I did just one day but 2 runs.
Great! You can try to get some fresh new rabbit pelt or something as his toy 🙂
And if you have ring rentals or classes planned, try to get people out and about with their dogs so he gets exposed to the more chaotic trial environment.Nice work here!
Tracy
Hi!
>I believe that speed and arousal are directly linked, he needs arousal to run fast, no or low arousal = ho hum, too much arousal and he can’t think. So it’s a balancing act keeping him in the right state of mind. >
Absolutely! If you are in the mood to google, check out the Yerkes-Dodson Law and you will how well it fits him 🙂
>>The work we’re doing here and pattern games in general is definitely building the levels of arousal he can work with, that’s a good thing!>>
Yes, and you are using your toolbox really well!
>This video is our typical per run work – some pattern game to chill to volume dial. he’s taking some looks at the ting action – a bit of LAT, but he does snap back to me.>
It looks good to me! And it is totally fine that he looks around – we want him to be comfy in the environment, and part of that is looking around. And also, part of that is indicating something he might not be comfy with, by looking at it multiple times.
> towards the end, when he does lock on a bit, there’s a big Rottie coming at him in the weaves =he did refocus on me fairly quickly – yay>
That is legit, a big dog coming towards him! And yes, he was great with his focus.
The real key will be to try this in different locations and get data about what works, based on how he runs. If this works? Perfect! If not, we can alter the order, or add something like a snuffle mat or a lick mat – those can be amazing for arousal regulation outside the ring!
Keep me posted 🙂
TracyHi!
It is really fantastic to have such a supportive instructor! Yes, start small but also – feel free to add some real trial-like distraction and see how it goes. Maybe he will tell us that the other dogs are the hard part, so then we can really isolate that!Keep me posted 🙂
TracyHi!
Before I forget to ask: Does your area have any fun matches? It would be great to get her to those. Sadly they are a thing of the past in most areas. But AKC, UKI, and USDAA have fantastic training opportunities!
Her work on the practice jump in the first video was great. This session definitely goes into the bank as a win! For practice jump moments… can you bring her over to the jump when there are other dogs around, other people, etc, to simulate the crazy environment by the ring? Or bribe friends to come be your ring steward, leash runner, etc at the practice jump 🙂 A couple of people walked by and she was perfect and the golden came over at the end and she was also perfect, so now you can see if you can add more challenges in that environment.
>I had her right where I wanted her and they called us back out of the ring because an inexperienced novice person combined with a gate not paying attention meant that a 4 inch dog needed to run.>
Annoying! But also a great resilience moment and it sounds like you handled it perfectly.
Entering the ring – your starting point was far from the gate, so you can keep the volume dial on high by running into position, or tugging on the way to the line.
I can understand why she noticed the judge… the judge was right behind her LOL! But you handled it great. She had trouble collecting for the tunnel entry with all of the visual clutter behind the tunnel (plus someone running in the other ring, teeter slams, etc). But you recovered and kept going and ended super strong! YAY!!!!
I love how the end of run routine went – she really came right to you and was great about getting the leash on!!
So really it is just exposure to the things she will be seeing in trials, which she doesn’t get to see at home. She is doing great! The more exposure she gets in a positive way like this, the more her runs will begin to look like what she can do at home. Are there any seminars or classes you can get her to? That will also help in the exposure-to-trail-atmosphere environment.
Great job!!
TracyHi! Lots of really strong work here!!!
Prop – This went well – he was definitely hitting the prop on purpose with his feet, so I think he is understanding! The smell on that one spot in the grass was definitely enticing so he had to explore it. You can break things up more and add in more tugging to keep the arousal high enough that smells fade away into the background.
The sending looked good when he started near you! The two spots he had trouble with were finding the cookie tossed out to the prop (that will go away with more experience finding cookies in grass) and jumping up at you when lining up for the next rep. The jumping up won’t go away on its own 🙂 so we can help him! On the sends, rather than toss a treat to the prop: have him come back to your hand and reward with a tug. Then after a bit of tugging, trade the toy for a treat and use the treat on his nose to line him up at your side. That should help smoothly get him into position without jumping up.
You can definitely keep going with the sends, adding the other side as well as the sideways and backwards sending.
> I am such a creature of habit and kept saying “yes” and “get it.” I didn’t realize I was doing that until I watched the video>
This is SO relatable! We all have way too many “yes” words slip out. And now that I live in the South, I say things like “yes sir” or “yes ma’am”. Someone needs to zap me every time I do that LOL!!!
He is off to a very good start with the decel! I agree that he has a long body and also, he is fast 🙂 So you can decel sooner (almost starting it when he takes his very first step towards you). And as you decel, punch your magic cookie hand into position – make it really obvious, and you can shake it too (and look down at it. That should help!!! And if he still shoots past you, do all of those things and add in rotating slightly back towards him. And as soon as he gets more stopping right at your hand, you can add the pivot 🙂
Baby blinds looked awesome! Great connection! Great timing!!! You were super clear so he was perfect.
>seemed to leverage some of the same set up aspects as the decal training.>>
Yes – the next step is the sandwich game 🙂 which has a decel and pivot after the blind, so you will decel as you do the blind and then add the pivot. He is ready!
The 2 bowl game looked awesome (especially in a new place) so it was great that you moved to adding the laundry basket. He definitely was ready for more challenge!
Because of the delay as you got the barrel in position. and also when you changed the angle and getting the cookies out, you can restart the game by dropping the first cookie. Otherwise he starts offering smacking the barrel LOL! And yes, have a bunch of cookies in your hands so you aren’t late dropping them because he is ZIPPY FAST going around it! Love it!! He didn’t have a problem wit hthe added distance between you and the barrel, and he didn’t have a problem when you changed angles. Super!!
Since he was great here and you are standing, I think you can do maybe a quick warm up session with the barrel and the bowls here (maybe 30 seconds) and if he says he totally remembers it… move to the Turn And Burn game that was added this week.
Great job here!!! See you soon!
TracyGood morning!
>I didn’t have anything in the ring with me on the first run.>
He definitely had questions here! I think it was too hard to go into the entirely new environment without reinforcement at all so he was a little stressed. Note the difference in the 2nd run where you had reinforcement and he was much better. When he is ignoring you, take it as a stress moment and try to gather him up and re-start with reinforcement (rather than trying to continue the course).
When he does start running, don’t fix anything – that can stress him out in harder environments. There is a lot to process! Assume errors are handling errors and just keep going.
Also, in new environments, don’t ask for hard stuff like stays or weaves – too hard when the environment is hard! He loves his contacts, tunnels and jumps and they are easy for him, so stick to those in the really hard environments.
>The first time we went out he was all over the place which is basically what I’m expecting on Friday at our first trial. >
For the trial, we want to avoid this rehearsal, so since you are running FEO: rather than try to actually run the course, pick an easy starting point and before the leash comes off, see if he can play, do tricks, and engage. If he can, take the leash off and start the course (don’t do a stay, just send and go). He cannot engage with the leash on? Then don’t take it off, because he is likely to leave. The tricks will be the indicator: if he can do some tricks and play with the toy a bit, then I think a fast easy line will work well at the trial. Remember that it is about getting him as comfy in that environment as he is at home, so don’t worry about the course or fixing things if he runs past them – just keep going and being connected and having fun, then exit the ring to the reward while things are going well.
You can also use your pattern games in the environment to help get him acclimated before the run. You can take him near the rng early in the day and play some pattern games, get some tricks going, etc. And you can also do it before the run. For the actual FEO run, bring in his toy tied to another long toy and start having him chase it as you swing it, to see if you can get his arousal up and engagement on the way to the line. That will tell you if he can engage in the run or not. And if you can’t get engagement with the leash on, do a couple of tricks and then run out for the treats – that is still an incredibly valuable learning experience!
Keep me posted!
TracyGood morning!
He was very happy to do the leash off engagement on game with the cookies! He was bouncy and having fun 🙂
Because this went so well, you can move to doing this without the reward in your pocket – let him see you place it on a table or chair about 10 feet away so you can move away and play the game. You had a container of treats up on the deck here, but you can turn that into a reward station – that can be something that you bring to trials and he can see where it is, to help make the reinforcement more predictable (which is great for reducing stress). I use a cheap folding chair as my reward station.
And for the next session, you can start immediately with the remote reinforcement/reward station rather than warm up with treats in your pockets. I think he will be fine with that 🙂
He did great with driving ahead on the 3 jumps! Great job back chaining it! You can start to move the reward even further away from the 3rd jump (this is the first step in fading it). When you are in class, you can either have it placed in advance of a big line, or ask your instructor or classmate to throw it.
When you added the wrap then the straight line, he didn’t see the lien as well – so this is a spot where you can totally throw the reward when he is looking forward on the line (and before he gets to the last jump, so he doesn’t look back at you).
Looking at the Rally class videos: he did great! Yes, he left the start line early on the first video but he might have been expecting a release instead of another ready verbal. He was perfect on the 2nd video. And it looks like the reward was outside the ring, which is great!
>forgot though to just take the collar off and run him. Going to try that in class this Wednesday. >
You can take the leash off, gently hold his collar, and then do a ready-set-go start! Collars are legal in UKI and it will help you hold onto him to make the start fun 🙂
>I had the leash with me and when he jumped I just put the leash down for him chase it and he decided to tug it.>
Super!!!!
>All the times before I went into the ring I did pattern games and had him bounce and spin. For my second turn I just chilled watching the person in the ring. Knight just laid down in front of me. Finally when we were exiting the ring, each time I told him lets go after I put the collar on. This is what I have always done.>
This is all great!! Sounds like he was really excellent and happy, even when all the people were added in. And it sounds like this was a lot of people but no other dogs in the environment. Maybe it is the proximity to the other dogs that makes it challenging for him? So the next steps would be to add one dog in (a calm dog :)) and see how he does. Then keep adding them in – at trials, they will be milling about near the entry/exit, barking, staring, eating, tugging, etc, so we can address that and see what he says.
Great job!!
TracyGood morning!
>With treats in a container. I’m trying to do more without instant rewards, but at her age, I’m inclined to treat more often as she is still learning.>
I agree! I think of training this delayed reward/remote reinforcement skill that same as training weave pole: it is necessary to teach the dogs, but we don’t do weaves for everything all the time 🙂 So yes, she should still get lots of rewards in the moment and in the sequences.
>Fortunately she, unlike what people constantly say about Whippets, can take plenty of reps, and still happy at the end. >
I have learned that people say all sorts of weird things about whippets! Maybe I will write a book of all the strange things people say about my 2 year old whippet when they learn I have a whippet…. Then how quickly they shut up when they see him work LOL! Same with the Lurchers – very serious working dogs who are also lovely to live with. I have found that whippets can take as many reps as we want to do, provided we are owning the errors as OURS (because they are) and not getting mad at them. This is how you train her, lots of reward, and she is happy to play for as long as you want.
>. It also occurs to me, I guess I don’t even have another threadle verbal, other than, “here”. I’ll ponder this.>
Yes, eventually you will want a threadle verbal that is different from the other verbals – but it is a lower priority for now, unless your main goal is to do UKI Masters Series soon (probably not your main goal, and it is not my main goal either :))
Looking at the videos:
She did great ignoring your leash on the ground at the start! That was hard for her previously and now she is finding it easy.
Finding the jump after the tunnel is hard, so you can use the beloved Manners Minder to help her learn the concept of focusing ahead on the tunnel exit (and you can use a GO cue before she enters the tunnel. Getting in closer to it helped but that also requires trying to outrun a whippet, so I think we can teach her the layering skill so she can work independently and you can move to your next spot on course.
When you back chained it, did you have a placed reward? If so, you can leave it there for the sequence. If not, try the placed reward (MM or Paul can throw something as soon as she exits the tunnel) and when we get the behavior, it will be easy to fade.
It will make more sense for the line to turn her to her left over 6 so she lands facing 7. Turning to her right pulled her off the line to 7 on the first 2 videos – on the 3rd video, you did turn her to the left and that made it a lot easier! It will be even easier if you don’t have to help with 4 – then you can be on the other side of 5 and just do a cross to get her on your right side to show the line to 6. So definitely work that drive ahead after the tunnel and it will all be easier!
Overall, you are running with lower hands and a lot of connection, which is great! She is driving away to the tunnel brilliantly, so I think it won’t take long to teach her to stay on her line to the 4 jump.
Great job here!!
Tracy
