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Good morning!
You have to re-watch the RDW video and watch your other dogs’ heads. It was like they were watching a tennis match. Hilarious and adorable!!
She was very happy to play this and go back and forth. Since the value is there: I can bug you about criteria LOL 😂😝🤣
What is your planned criteria for the contacts? You were marking front feet for most of them, or marking before she got to the mat for a bunch, so you were getting a bit of leapy behavior. So if it is front feet – wait til you see the 2nd front foot. If it is back feet – wait til you see the 2nd back foot. I often just stare at the mat and count the footfalls: 1-2-3-search (with search being the 4th footfall, 2nd back foot).Both videos were the RDW game, ca you repost the barrel game?
Nice work here!
Tracy
Good morning!
He was doing lots of lovely things here!!
Backing up – he is definitely picking this up nicely!!! A few ideas to get more steps back and keep him straighter – no need to use a wall for that, we can get straighter with handler mechanics 🙂
One thing to add is keeping your cookie hands lower than your knees the whole time, rather than standing up then going lower to reward. That is causing him to look up at you, which restricts the stepping backwards (neutral head position/not looking up high is best for backing up) You can sit in a chair to protect your back from having to bend too much 🙂 Also, no need to click – that is also drawing his eyes/focus up to you – you can just leave your hands there as a focal point and use a verbal marker then a cookie toss.
As you reward, have cookies in both hands and reward from both hands, alternating – the pups get sideways when we only pay from one hand so they just lock onto that one hand (all rewards were from the left hand here, so he was focusing on your left hand)
You can also use a bigger target mat, like a low dog bed or something that he can easily fit all 4 feet on – that way he can target to it without scrunching it, and it is different from the prop which is all about front foot hits.
Parallel path went great, he is hitting the prop really well! You can add more distance way from it to see if he can hit it at a distance, and also you can start really far away (15 feet) to see if he can drive ahead to it. That will help set up the rear crosses.
Try to use a ‘get it’ type marker rather than yes for the thrown cookie, to keep him looking ahead – the ‘yes’ marker gets the pups looking up at us a lot.
On the rear crosses – he just needs to see the info sooner 🙂 You were starting to cut behind his as he arrived tat the prop, so his turn decision was already made based on where you were positioned. Starting further back will give him more room to drive ahead to the prop, and then you will be able to cut behind him when he is still a stride or two away from the prop – so he can see your new position and make the adjustment.
>Tribute focused on my hands and wouldn’t move ahead of me which made it challenging!>
Part of the hand focus was from the ‘yes’ markers, so I think the ‘get it’ markers with the tossed rewards will make a big difference.
Great job here!
Tracy
Good morning!
>Skizzle and I are playing the pattern/resilience game in new places. It’s going similarly well to the previous video.>
That is great! He is a perfect age to really have these positive interactions with the environment. You can play with reward value to see if it gets faster engagement – I have used 2 toys for this game with dogs that prefer toys, and I have also used SUPER high value food like bits of rotisserie chicken 🙂
He is doing great with these rotated sends!! He did have a question on the last one – you were sending with the right arm but not using your legs at all, so there was a bit of a conflicting indicator of whether to go or not. So if you are rotated, send with the arm and leg next to the barrel so he knows to go. You had your arms perfect in all the other reps and you can add the leg step to that as well!
2 suggestions for next steps:
– use a wrap verbal instead of ‘go’, because this turns into wraps on a jump.
– add distance 🙂 Start a step or two away and send. If he is happy to go to the barrel with a little more distance, add countermotion by slowing starting to move away from the barrel just before he arrives at it.
Great job here!!
Tracy
Good morning! Lovely work here!
I agree that the lap turn and tandems can be awkward when first starting them! There are a lot of handler mechanics coupled with not wanting to do it too early, because the pups are confused and read it differently.
Lap turns were pretty perfect here! Super!! I think tandems were the ones that felt weirder? But you slowed down the mechanics and got it. Yay! These turns all have decel as a critical element right before the turn away: decel as we show the hand cues, the deliver the clear hand cues. If we try to do it while going fast, it gets muddy 🙂 Threadle wraps are cousin to the tandems, and they also have decel.
You can add the prop here for both the lap and tandem turns!
On the stay video – I see what you mean by her offering a lot of other things (her favorites appear to be spins and lining up in heel position LOL!!) So helping her with a cue was absolutely the right thing to do.
>My method so far has just been reward often in place and release with “okay” drive to me. So this was fun to try something different. This is her first time with “catch>
The goal is to balance the release forward by providing a good reason to stay in the spot we asked them to stay in – the exciting surprise of a reward being tossed back! That can be quite the dopamine release surprise and that can make it very motivating to stay! The release forward is great too, of course, but we don’t want to over-balance releasing forward as the most fun thing 🙂 Going back to reward in position can get tricky if the pup moves her feet or stands up as you arrive back to her… criteria can be grey on that and we don’t want to *not* reward a great stay… so I avoid it by throwing the reward back 🙂
She was great on the video – the catch went great! She was actually catching some but doesn’t need to – you can aim for slightly behind her. And you can throw a toy back if you want! I don’t use a different marker for the toy or treat on this reward placement because dogs are brilliant and I already have a lot of words to remember 🙂 You can totally use separate markers if you like, but I have never seen a dog confused by only have one marker and that is one less thing to have to think about (zillions of things to already have to think about in puppy training!!)
Speaking of all the mechanics to think about… collection sandwich went great! Blind was lovely, you had clear and timely decel into the pivot so she was nice and tight!
>The toy throw definitely added enough complexity for me that the rest felt a bit sloppy. >
I don’t think it was sloppy! The only mechanics suggestion is to not have the toy under your arm – that is one extra step of mechanics to have to do after the pivot. On the last rep, the toy was in your hand so you were able to throw it a lot more easily and that worked great!! And it is great learning for her to ignore the toy on the blinds – and it also gives you feedback on whether your connection after the blind was clear or not. If she goes to the toy and doesn’t make the side change, you were likely not connected enough. Your connection was clear here and she made the side change beautifully 🙂
Turn and burn:
She was hilarious at :34 when you sent and she judged you LOL!!!! The look on her face was so funny!
What happened there was that you were blocking the line to the barrel, so she was like “send to what, human?”You can give reset cookies for that if she has a question – I always assume handling questions or ‘errors’ are *my* errors, so the dogs get paid somehow to put up with me 🙂 The left turns are easier for her so she went even though you were blocking the line a bit.
So about blocking the line – you were where she needed to be during the line up, so you can move over. I try to position myself so the barrel is full visible to the dog – that means my belly button is centered on the barrel or I am a little further over to the exit side and not the entry side. That gives the pups the full visual of the barrel.
That will help with the harder side, and you can also help with the bowl out there halfway around, or closer to the exit line, to give her a visual aid. More barrel visibility and the bowl can jump start the right turns here.
Great job on these!!
Tracy
Good morning!
>The food was NOT in my send hand. >
Try sending with a more open hand – Dot and I both thought there was food in the hand, possibly because that hand position has been conditioned to “cookie hand” probably since she was old enough to eat from human hands 🙂 There is a cool game we do with puppies to show this: the puppy is held facing the handler. The handler has some treats in an open palm, and the other hand is in that closed magic cookie hand position with no treats. Both hands are visible and extended to the puppy. If the handler calls the puppy and looks at the magic cookie hand, the puppy will go to the empty hand and bypass the obvious treats right next to it. The power of classical conditioning!
> Dot isn’t wanting to chew crunchy stuff the past few days including her kibble. I’m sure she’s teething>
Yes, she is probably getting teething going. The next couple of months will be about figuring out soft treats and toys to maintain food & tug drive without her saying “ouch!”
>We tried turn and burn. Ginger is twitchy and did too many reps! She left to go eat hackberries.>
Yes- stand perfectly still til she reaches your go line. Lining her up with the toy in the armpit really helps that – then you can take a moment to get the toy back into your hand before you send her. That will help with the twitchy 🙂 because part of what was happening was you were reaching for the toy, so she was seeing that motion and looking at your hands more than the cone. Puppy training has a LOT of mechanics LOL!! We all need 3 hands!!
And yes – set a timer to 1 minute then be done. That helps resist the just one more rep temptation! Better to finish wanting to do more than feeling we’ve done too much.
>I also redid RC. It still isn’t correct. I’m trying to immediately cross. But, she likes to turn right.
>I made a drawing of the handler line to get the RC on this game! One slide is the line you were moving along, and the other slide is the line that will show her the RCs more clearly. Apologies that it is a little primitive LOL but I am on the road and don’t have my usual fine art supplies available 🙂
Basically we need to change your line to help her consistently turn the correct direction – she isn’t presenting a side preference here, she is turning to where she sees your line. let me know if my artwork makes sense 😂
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/16TcU1bF4n4KOPv82xWhEZ-nyOUw2KWuVi_CcbQvrOgc/edit?usp=sharing
Nice work here! Let me know what you think!
Tracy
Good morning!
Lovely session with the parallel path game here! The goal is to get commitment to the baby jump on the line, and you basically nailed it with your click timing: you were clicking and throwing when she made the devision to look at and move towards the jump, rather than waiting til she got to the jump (or looked at you). Spot on to click for choosing to look at/head towards the jump! Yay! That is why she drove to it better and better as the session went along, and looked at you less.
>I have a hard time getting her on the toy when she knows that cheese may be in the picture.>
Cheese is life! I think part of that was yes, cheese was distractingly delicious 🙂 And the toy was a little ‘dead’, moving towards her and not enough of moving away from her. So you can get better & quicker toy engagement by dragging it away from her and even running away a bit with it dragging. That gets her chasing it and also gets her a little further from the cheese scent 🙂
>Interesting when I turned the video off (around 1:10) and was playing around she was into it so I turned the video back on and she did some nice sends to the toy.>
In that part of the session, the toy was really flying so she was on board to chase it 🙂 And was the cheese a little bit out of the picture? Either way, she was into the toy there and I think it had to do with how you presented it – having it flying over her head as she was running to the jump 🙂
>Really makes a difference to look at her till she commits (this reminder has been really helpful for my 5 YO especially with sends to a backside after a tunnel >
Yay! I am glad connection is helping your 5 year old! Connection is one of the bedrocks of handling – any handling. Motion and connection! And it totally helps with backsides 🙂
Great job here!
TracyHi!
He was an absolute Rockstar with the pattern games. Brilliant engagement in a busy environment! Well done to you for setting up his entry into the building, great rewards and supporting him when the dog in a crate was aggressive to him. His resilience shone through! And the patterns worked as they are designed to do… gave him a framework to assess what happened, be chill about it, and remain engaged with you.
>>Earlier in the day, I had him out and a friend came up to greet him and bent over to say hello. It was the first time I’ve seen him back away in fear. I asked her to stand up and then he was fine…>>
Yeah, many many dogs find it weird to have a stranger bend over them. Don’t let people do that. Tell them he is in training and he is supposed to engage with you, not them.
>> He is usually happy to meet anyone. And he was fine once she stood up.>>
He’s entering adolescence, so he will notice more weird things.
>>Also, having a big problem with him constantly play biting people who are trying to greet or pet him. Also, grabs clothing especially pant legs. IF he does finally close his mouth then he reverts to “Kissing”. He is non-stop movement.>>
Sounds like he doesn’t need people petting him or greeting him right now, as he learns arousal regulation. Use people as distractions for working on engagement with you, rather than getting him in too deep where he doesn’t know what to do with himself. He’s just a baby dog, help him out 🙂
> Do you recommend some sort of calming protocol of any sort or are the pattern games supposed to help with this?>>
Pattern games, tricks, etc. You can let him say a quick hello then call him away for a big reward.
>> I see many people sitting ringside with their puppies sitting nice and calmly and receiving treats for making good decisions.>>
Well, maybe they aren’t spitfire Rockstars like he is 🙂
> He is always on >the move. It takes a good bit of restraint for a minute to get him to stop and just breathe without biting, licking, wiggling etc. Maybe I have been remiss in addressing this. >>
If you have to restrain him, you’re probably frustrating and arousing him. That makes things worse. Teach him to be around people, but he doesn’t need to be petted or greeted. He can just ignore them! He needs that skill anyway!
>>I have been told by a couple of “professional dog trainers” to make him lie down with a very short leash so that he cannot get up and then just ignore him for however long it takes for him to completely settle and chill out and then to practice that a lot gradually increasing the environmental challenge. I have a feeling you probably don’t agree with that approach…? >>
Correct! That is absolutely terrible advice. It basically causes him to get hard corrections to his neck, over and over. Why on earth would be want to do that to his joyous puppy who is so great at engaging with you? Plus, OUCH to his little neck. And if course he could associate those neck corrections with people or dogs, which builds anxiety and concern!
>>I don’t know if there is a name for that approach so I am just describing it.>[
Yeah, compulsion and force. Nothing good about it.
>>I did practice his sit/stay ringside (on leash) with nothing much going on around us. He did do it. But he had a job to do. It’s when he just needs to do nothing that he has a problem.>>
Great! He’s a young puppy – he has no problem, just early in learning. He can do stays, or you can teach him to chill on a mat – but don’t let people come over and interrupt him being a good boy 🙂
>>He does well in his crate at shows but I cover the crate…but I always cover my dogs at shows anyway.
Just wondering what your thoughts are about this.>>I either cover or put barricades up, so they can really relax.
> He’s definitely not a lap dog at the moment!>
He doesn’t have to be. Outside the ring is not a lap dog moment, and he’s a baby still 🙂
Tracy
Good morning!!
Strike a pose went GREAT! This one is all about handler mechanics and you nailed it. Yay! Excellent job with your ‘pose’ 😀, target hand placement, reward placement, start cookie, etc.
And Bokeh was perfect.You can go to the next step, with a toy as the reward and then the toy eventually ending up placed on the ground.
Tunnel shaping went great too! You can add a toy to convince her to come back to you rather than back to the tunnel. You can also add the verbal before she moves, to pump up the understanding: hold her collar, say the verbal 3 or 4 times, then let her go 🙂
>>We went to an agility fun day and I tried the pattern game there. It may have been a little too much going on, but I thought she still did pretty good overall.>>
Totally agree! She did really well overall. This is a great application for the pattern game. There was a lot in the environment but she was able to assess and then re-engage with you! You can add you walking back and forth a bit as well.
Great job here!!
TracyGood morning! These are all fantastic. She clearly loves it 🙂 and you did a great job getting her to come back to you without taking the tunnel again. Brilliant work from you both!!
>>Instead of the opposition reflex, she just sits down. I don’t know the best way to handle that.>>
No worries, we don’t need opposition reflex 🙂 you can line her up, gently hold her collar or harness, start the verbal but don’t pull back or anything – then let her go. She doesn’t need to pull, as long as she explodes when you let go. A collar or harness is great for this – She might think there is too much hovering if you hold her by the chest, too much pressure.
The next thing add to her tunnel fun is your motion! Send her to the tunnel and when she is on her way: you can start to jog to the MM 🙂
Great job!
TracyGood morning!
I think the prop games looked awesome!!!
She has reached the speed level where the prop is too slippery when she really smacks it (you can see her front feet slipping especially on the rotated sends). So grab some cheapie yoga mat and duct tape so you can make a non-skid surface for her.
The rotated sends look really strong. She isn’t ready for you to move fast yet on the countermotion, so slide slowly away and don’t do any quick twitch movement for now.
>>Dot is VERY excited about the cheese in my hand and leaping up.>>
The send hand should be empty – throw the reward with the opposite hand, which will also help her not get too hand-focused. And remember to shift your gaze to the prop and don’t look at her cute face 🙂 to support the send.
>> Filmed a few parallel line and she’s still bypassing the prop. I’ll give that a day or two and try again.>>
The reps on the video looked good! Her only question was when you were past the prop as she started heading to it, so you can go all the way to the reward with her before you start moving the other direction, so she sees you a little ahead and we can build up to getting you really far ahead.
Looking at the rear crosses: the most important element is you getting past her and ahead of her, so when she picks her head up from the cookie, you are fully visible on the new side. What was happening when she didn’t read the RC was that you were still behind her and visible on the original side, so she correctly rotated to you on that side. The correct turns were mainly due to cookie bounces in the correct location 🙂
The location was perfect, so you can use a mat or bowl to get the cookie to land up against the wall – then instead of moving to the fence, you can get ahead of her on the new side. That should help her see the RC.
Great job here!
Tracy
Hi!
He did great with his tunneling here!One thing you can try is flipping things so that the auntie is holding/sending to the tunnel, and you are running with the toy 🙂
That will present a different challenge for sure.
It looked like he did well with the threadle side here – the angle was hard, so you can start him facing the tunnel a little more if you see any questions from him.Great job!
TracyHi!
The forward focus looked great, and you’ve got the “look” cue added too. Super!!!
The two toys worked perfectly when the high value toy was the reward! He retrieved the forward focus to you and then came directly to you when you whipped out the favorite toy 🙂 great timing with that!!The threadle/serp foundation also looks good 🙂 you can toss the start cookie, but then feed the reward cookie from your other ha nd after he hits the target. And hold that position til he gets to the reward rather than break out of it- I want him to see you facing him even as he goes to the 2nd hand, so he gets used to the in-then-out of the movement.
If he has trouble finding the tossed start cookie, you can use a mat to throw it to so he finds it easily.
Super job here!!
TracyHi! I think he did really well here! I love how well he started offering getting into the box! The mat seemed easy too.
You can elevate the box, maybe a little bit more PVC on each corner so it adds a couple more centimeters in height? That way he can hop in and out more which is closer to what he will do on the frame.The mat work looked great too! You can make the mat smaller and pick up where you left off with him going back and forth across it.
Nice work!
TracyHi! She did really well here!!
As you said, the first side was super. Nice tug break after it!
[he still heads to the prop when doing the left turn.]
On the 2nd side, what happened was that as she turned back to you from the start cookie: she saw you toss the prop to the ground. It is highly likely that she understood this as a cue to go to the prop LOL!! I mean, I can see her point 🙂 then the prop was on her mind after it. But she didn’t run off with it!!
So a couple of ideas:
Have the prop down on the ground before you send her to the start cookie. That way she won’t see it moving and thing it was a toy.
You can mix in more toys, even having her come to the turn hand with a toy in it! And you can tug between each rep. I think she got a little less interested in having all of the cookie reps, which could be part of why she couldn’t get the thought of the prop out of her mind lol! Adding the toy will allow you to do lots of reps, but it won’t feel like repetition to her because there are lots of parties mixed in 🙂
Great job! Let me know what you think!
Tracy
