[Tracy Sklenar]

Ah, the joys of hormones! That can definitely contribute to the 2nd day struggles – brain tired, harder content, hormonal. I can TOTALLY relate LOL!!!!!

Keep me posted!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Good morning!

>>The only thing I could think of is if there was a weird smell or maybe the smell of a coyote? It does border a forest and I’ve seen deer and coyotes there in the past. I’m guessing she has smelled wildlife on the trails, but who knows.>>

It is possible she smelled something weird. And She might have a bit of riding-in-the-car anxiety that bubbles over into the first moments in a new hard place. Hard to know exactly what it is. She might be feeling a bit hormonal and there adolescence might be kicking in, so these behaviors are commonly seen in this time period.

>>“What type of treats were you using?”
I had some freeze dried salmon treats that I opened last night for Lazlo’s nail trim and she was going bananas over them. I gave her a couple and she was very into them, so I brought those to the baseball field. And some chunks of feta cheese.>>

Was she bananas for the salmon treats at the baseball field too? The feta cheese sounds yummy LOL! How did she react to it?

>>For example, yesterday I took her to a book store where she had never been. It was just her, and she was super happy and wiggly. We played the back and forth game in a few aisles, then left. Not nervous at all. More often than not, she’s very confident when alone.>>

Keep track of how she does indoors versus outdoors. She might be more comfy indoors for now.

>>I do have the time at the park on video, if you wanted to see it, but no worries if not. >>

I am interested in seeing it! It is always good to get multiple sets of eyes on pups when they are asking a question.

>>I had planned to bring her with me to Lazlo’s ring rental on Friday. I thought I’d bring her in the ring for a couple short sessions. Do back and forth, maybe play with the baby tunnel (since she loves that and it’s easy for her). >>

Perfect! That is several days past when she was concerned, so her physiology is likely to have reset. Yes, do some pattern games with mind-blowing food, and also bring a long crazy furry toy that you can swing around for her to chase. She doesn’t have to earn it in training, it can jut be play play play. If we can get her whippeting around after a toy, she is likely going to be a very happy pup!

>>The main goal is just to practice engaging and working in a location away from home (she’s been to this facility every week since she came home for Lazlo’s class). >>

Prioritize the engagement and don’t worry about the work 🙂 Toy chasing (not necessarily tugging) and pattern games! And if she is completely engaged and happy to be there, you can add a simple game. But no worries if you don’t add a training game.

>>I also signed her up for a drop in session on Sunday at a facility she hasn’t been to. Now I’m wondering if I should just scrap all of that. I’m worried she’ll be nervous. Thoughts?>>

If she is happy on Friday, I would take her to the facility on Sunday! Is it a class or something? If it is a class, make it super clear to the instructor that she is a baby dog that is learning to have a grand time in new places, so the priority is on the party. And then do whatever is needed to get the party going (amazing treats like rotisserie chicken and fur toys swung around on a long line so she can chase). And then if training happens? Cool! If not? Also cool! And end each session way before you think she is ready to be done. 5 reps or less!

And advocate for her – if you are asked to do something uncomfortable or plain wrong for her, or if she seems uncomfortable, advocate so that she only has happy experiences and no pressure.

And keep me posted 🙂

Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Good morning!

>>Quick outside run past your toy trial. It was much harder outside so I lowered the criteria and she did well.>

Super nice dog training here – the game is hard & the outdoor environment is stimulating, so you made it slightly easier and she nailed it. She seems to be understanding the assignment 🤣 of do the thing THEN get the toy. Super!!! She was fast and happy. Your cues were clear – nice use of the verbal too!

This transferred over nicely into the rocking horse game! I’m glad she loved it – this game is a foundation that can help all sorts of different sports, not just agility.

You had really lovely connection throughout the session, and nice low arms! That helped her a whole lot.

I think the bossy barking is a combination of excitement (obviously haha) and not wanting to wait til you were ready to start: MOM I KNOW THE GAME WE GO NOW! Especially if you had a small movement towards the barrel (see below)

The first rep was lovely – nice connection and cues! I don’t think you will have time for a ‘yes’ marker in these games, because she is a speedy lady! So the next cue will act as the reinforcement for what she just did. And the “tug” marker is the reinforcement for whatever she did that you are rewarding in the moment.

You also won’t have time to transfer the toy from hand to hand as this game gets built up and she g gets even faster 🙂 So you can leave it in one hand (which provides nice impulse control training because she will have to pass it on the way to the barrel) or you can stick it in your pocket (in case switching it from hand-to-hand is something you don’t realize you are doing).

The 2nd rep was also smooth and lovely! At the start of the 3rd rep, the transition from the tugging to the send was not as clean (:49) and she was a little off-center so ended up turning the other way on the first barrel. Rather than reset her, you can reward her as if it was correct (because the dog is reading us correctly 99% of the time :)) and then she won’t get Big Mad 🙂 That is what was happening when she was offering the barrels and giving a bit of sass barking (I love all of that, by the way LOL!!).

The thing with offering the barrels (at :50 and then at 1:17ish) is that the pups are learning that any indication towards a barrel means to go wrap it – so as you were trying to gather her up to reset, you were having little steps/arm movements to the barrels… so off she went to the barrel. GOOD GIRL!!

So if there is a blooper, assume it was human error (which the video will confirm) and reward her, then re-set her for the next rep. And after each tug moment, since she reads even tiny movements as a cue to go to the barrel (which I also love) – you can use a cookie to reset her and line her up. I believe she is good about going from a cookie to the toy, so that cookie line up can help her reset into the right starting place, while buying you time to get ready for the next rep.

For the next session – add more distance between the 2 barrels to challenge her to drive away from you even more.

Great job here!!!

Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi!

>>I’m trying not to catastrophize this in my brain haha!

Ha! We are dog trainers, catastrophizing is definitely something we do well 🙂

>>but she was very nervous and I’m not sure why. She was shaking and even making dandruff. She wanted to either be held or sit in my lap. She’s been there before several times and there was no one else at the entire park. I stayed for about
10 minutes thinking she would acclimate and feel more comfortable, but she never did, so I carried her to the car and we left.>>

Good for you for just taking her home! Was there anything in the environment that was different or weird? High winds? People? Just curious.

>>She did eat some treats, but I could tell she was still stressed.

It is good that she ate! What type of treats were you using?

>>She never seems nervous when Lazlo is with us, it’s always when she’s with just me.

Lazlo is her stable pony LOL!

>>A few days ago she did get really nervous on a walk, with dandruff, but I kinda thought it was a fluke. Now that it’s happened again, I don’t want to just shrug it off.>>

Was it with just her, or with Lazlo there too?

>>Any advice? I was thinking of keeping her home for a few days and only walking her with Lazlo, then try taking her out alone again?>>

She is definitely giving good info! And we can help her. I don’t know why she was feeling nervous, but I am glad she told you.

Before bringing her back out alone, do several sessions of the back-and-forth pattern game from the resilience track and from MYOB. And after 2 or 3 home sessions of it, add a novel distraction like a pillow or something (like in MYOB).

Then take her someplace really comfy (like your hard) and play the game with high value rewards and see how it goes.

If it is all going well? Take her to the baseball field and play the pattern game with SUPER high value treats – rotisserie chicken comes to mind! Yum! And see how it goes.

She is also a good candidate for playing pattern games with moving toys – letting her chase a toy around to replace the cookie in the pattern game.

This can help give her tools to handle whatever is worrying her.

Let me know what you think!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi!

Yes, he is clearly starving hahahaha!

>>would you use a cue word to take the cookie from the bowl/MM, or just let him grab it once it is available?>>

I think the cue word for the MM would be simply letting hear the gears grind or the beep 🙂
For a cookie in the bowl, you can use your get it cue if you are tossing it. Or you can add a “bowl” cue so he knows to go to it. Either way, he will figure it out super fast 🙂

Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi!

Wow, a double stacked plank, no problem says Oakes! That takes a lot of balance and finesse – he did great! He has so much drive and energy for the work that it was great to see him using balance and finesse here. I love that so much! You can see if he will turn around slowly on the double stacked planks here – that will be hard but I think he can do it!

The 2nd video was a single plank and he had no trouble at all (my guess is this was filmed before the double stack 🙂 ) He also had no trouble doing it after tugging (balance and finesse, even in high arousal!) and he did well turning on the board. If you want to challenge him more – see if he can change positions: sit then stand then down then stand. He would basically have to keep his feet pretty motionless to do that. And it is perfectly fine to use a cookie lure to help him out with it.

>>If I toss a release cookie, there’s a good chance Oakes will fling himself at it pretty hard. I try to set it down in place, but it would be nice if I could drop a cookie without worrying that he’s going to face plant into it or frantically chase it. Is this just his nature or am I doing something to create it?>>

I see what you mean! He has a TON of food motivation and he also wants to work, so he totally drives to the reset cookie without much thought about whether he is going to mush himself getting it.

I don’t think it is anything you have done or are doing in the moment, I just think he very motivated and that is great! And he is clearly starving haha! And it doesn’t help with the cookie bounces away.

So options to keep him from flinging himself into the ground:
You can release him to a toy, play a little tug, then use a food bowl to put the cookie in (or toss towards) if you want to use a ‘start cookie’ for the game.

Has he seen a manners minder? That is another way to do a reset cookie and he is far less likely to fling himself at a manners minder.

Great job here! Let me know what you think about the alternate options for reset cookies!

Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi!

This is going well!
You were great about paying close attention to the timing and markers and tosses of the treats, making them all very distinct. He seemed perfectly happy to sit until you tossed the treat LOL!!! Good boy!!!

So for the next session, you can start to delay the click to build up some duration, and also add in a tiny bit of walking away. Keep going with your super clear catch-then-toss! And I think you will be able to fade the click pretty soon too and just use your reward markers.

One thing to add in the early stages is the toy, so he gets into the mode of doing sits and stays while a more stimulating motivator (toy toy!) is present 🙂

Great job!!!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi!

>>I originally wanted to have her working while Kaladin was lying on the bed, but his presence made it too hard for her to tug at the beginning so he got a kong in the kitchen instead.>>

I can see how that would be too hard – ignoring brother AND proprioception? Hard!!
You can start with something even easier like just a hand touch for a cookie while he is on his bed.

This session ended up being more about “yes, you can tug while The Thing is still visible”. The look on her face at approx :58 when you put the thing on the table and asked for tugging was hilarious! I loved your energy of running to the other side of the room and she found it irresistible, so came over to tug. YAY!!!!!

Then it was easy to get her to go back to the work. Scrunching to put her back feet into the box was hard – is she able to put all 4 feet into something slightly larger? If so, you can warm up the concept with that larger object at the beginning of the session so when she has 4-feet-in-the-thing on her mind, you can switch to this one and see if she can scrunch herself up to get into it.

The proprioception element was really hard here so at the end, she had trouble bridging into the tugging. You presented the toy differently at the end by presenting it as you moved to the new spot. You can either present it like you did at the mid-point by running to the new spot and then presenting the toy. Or, you can use a bridge like the mat, so she can get on it while you clear the box out of the way, then move to the new spot, then release her to join you to tug.

>>How about the box lined with a yoga mat from Jordan’s class so she has to stride over the lip to get in and out?>>

Yes! That should work well. You can have a yoga mat on both sides and have it upside down at first -stepping up on it to stride across is a good starting point, and probably easier than striding through it by getting in and out. When she is happy to stride across the top of it, then you can turn it over and have her step into it as she strides through.

Great job here!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi!

Holy wow she is a barrel wrapping BEAST!! So fast!!! She was definitely pumped up but she still maintained excellent commitment!

On the regular rocking horses where you are sending her forward to the barrels: spread out the barrels so she has more room to run run run. I am thinking maybe 12 feet between them, then onwards to 15 feet!

The rotated sending is going amazingly well too! She particularly loved it when you did 2 barrels in a row, because there was more motion even though you had a nice timely rotation to send her back behind you. So spread the barrels out for that game too – yes, you will be running more because you will want to send, run, decel, rotate and send, but she will love it and I am confident she will do well!

For the contact session –

>>For the contact trainer I will switch to a clicker I think since her little feet are so quick.>>

You can add a clicker, but that might cause her to look at you (because clicks tend to draw their attention up to us, so we have to make reward placement really obvious). Since she seems to have the idea of “do a thing in the box” and she wants to go fast, so let’s add the next step: put a bowl about 8 feet past the box on each side of it, so she can start at one bowl, go through the box, then you toss a treat into the next bowl (and so on).

Be sure that you stare at the box (especially as you start moving) and say “get it” (or click, but I think get it will be more effective because it will help indicate that she should look ahead at not at you) when you see her back feet in the box. Watching her cute self makes it really hard to see what her feet are doing, but staring at the box makes it much easier 🙂

Parallel path to a jump – easy peasy for her! Not surprising at all, she is great with figuring out these little puzzles and she was great with this on the prop. Yay! You can revisit this and gradually add more lateral distance to help her understand to stay on her line even when you are not right there.

She was happy to go across the mini teeter! Yay! When running across it, always have her start on the end that is touching the ground. If she jumps up on the end in the air, she has to stop and shift her weight before proceeding across the board, which will slow down her run across the board.

Also, since she will be a 4on dog, you can add a target right at the end of the board so she knows to stop at the very edge of the board. For my small 4on dogs, I have used super fancy targets (not!) like a strip of duct tape at the end (across the last inch of the board) for a foot target, or a spoon taped to the underside of the board so it sticks out a little and the dogs can target it with their nose while their feet stay on the end of the board.

Great job here!!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi!
I will look around for nice flyball people to send you to!

The ‘away’ looks awesome! She has the concept of lead-changing away from you to pick tip a new line (the prop 😁). And she was quite perfect on all the balance reps too! Super! We don’t build on this until MaxPup 2 so you can let the behavior “rest” for now.

>She had a hard time dropping her toy during our play break, which is unusual for her. >>

It looks like the trouble with the out here was caused by a conflicting indicator: the verbal said out but you were pulling up on the toy when you said it, which cues the tug to continue. So the physical cue overrode the verbal cue.

Try relaxing the toy and lowering your arm position to see if she can let go of it (and trading for a cookie is great either way).

It cracks me up that she still loves to be dragged around by the toy like a Swiffer LOL!!

>>Do you think I should have ended the session there? Or was it ok that I tried a couple more reps after?>>

It was perfectly ok! Her behavior was very successful after it. I don’t *think* it was an overarousal question from her, but even if it was – that is GREAT to work through rather than just stop the session. If she was not able to function after it, you can do an in-session decompression (quick snuffle mat moment or let her chew on the toy for a bit) then carry on and see how she does.

Great job!!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi!

About the start line: as you work on getting her happy with it in a new environment, definitely teach that behind-the-back start because it is fun and easy!!

Sounds like the first seminar day went really well!!

On the 2nd day – it is entirely possible that her brain and body was depleted from the first day that she just couldn’t do a 2nd day. That’s why you saw the stress response (especially if the topic was harder).

>>[ So, I stopped running her. Right, wrong, or indifferent, I used our last “turn” to work her pattern games inside the ring on leash.>>>

Good for you! That was 10000% the right thing to do.

>> I hope I didn’t destroy all of the progress we’ve made.>>

Nope, you didn’t destroy anything and in fact, you helped her end on a good note! Yay!!!!

Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi! This all sounds like a great plan. Play it run-by-run… if you start with FEO and he seems to be his normal happy self, then the next run can be for real. If he struggles with FEO, then do another FEO run. Same with day two: start FEO and then make decisions based on how that goes. Keep me posted!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi!

This is perfect indoor game when the weather is poopy!
Your second rep made all the correct adjustments based on what was hard about the first rep 🙂 You start the blind a lot sooner (as soon as he started coming towards you, it was great timing) and the pivot was slower so he could maintain the connection and stay on the correct side. Super!!!

The blind cross timing was super on all of the reps after that one, too! And some of the pivots were also slower. Some were a little too fast (like at :35) so he ended up doing a blind because that is what your shoulders were telling him. So keep the pivots a little slower so he can stay on the correct side.

And I think he really liked the string cheese 🙂

Great job here! If the weather clears up, take it outside so he has more room to run 🙂

Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi!

I hope you had a great weekend! It looked like a super fun event!

>It went well so I transitioned to the ground. I feel like I totally have something to work with now!!>>

Perfect!!! And I am confident you will have great start lines and a great running dog walk.

On the video: She is definitely figuring out the stay position. Yay! He also does best when you give a little hand signal with the sit cue (seems to really be clear for her). Only one suggestion as you continue to build up the duration:
Try to clarify the markers/rewards: you will want to separate motion from the reward toss and marker – so you can either be perfectly still and say get it and *then* move your hand to toss it, or you can be moving the whole time and say the marker and then toss back as you moving forward (movement is fine as long as it doesn’t all happen at the same time as tossing the treat or releasing her forward).

And really good session on the mat here! Your ‘get it’ markers can now be delayed ever so slightly until you see her back feet on the mat (then mark and toss it). Fingers crossed for the rain to hold off! And you can also attach the mat to something a little elevated (maybe an inch off the ground) so she has to step up all 4 of her feet onto it – better proprioception for her, and easier for you to see her back feet 🙂

Great job here! Let me know what you think!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi!

>>And she is definitely all about “The Thing” and stopping to tug is just preventing her from doing her thing. >>

Yep, she loves doing The Thing and gets The Big Madz when prevented from doing it. But because we will want stimulus control and all of those other fancy things, we need to gently break the news to her that sometimes what she thinks is The Thing is not actually the thing. LOL!!

>So if I keep asking for the tug away from the Thing and then creep it closer I’m hoping/assuming we’ll be able to convince her that tugging can be part of the Thing too.>>

Yes – just do it really gradually so it eventually all gets folded in and she barely notices 🙂

>>(before we realized how much that broke her current set of rules)>>

I think she is doing a very. Good job of training us to her rules LOL!!

On the strike a pose video – she was very good sitting on her mat while you got ready! And it seems like the release and the lifting of the mat is a cue for her that you are starting the game. She seemed totally on board with that!
The food bowl as a target was a good challenge but not overwhelming and she figured it out. She was doing the exactly right thing on the left turns by fading out the touching of the hand and doing the in-then-out behavior – yay!

>>Was pretty impressed with how well she did her first time going to the right. >>

Yes! She was great in both directions here! You can say your cookie cue as soon as she hits the hand on the right turns (she was hitting then staying there) so you can say “get it” as she hits the hand and then drop the cookie in.

It would be interesting to see how she feels about tugging in the room after a cookie session: you can transition into it by putting the mat back out so she gets on it, then grab a toy and put the treats away (and put away any training props so the toy becomes the THING to do) and see if she will play.

On the 2nd video –

>>And I see I’m a bit of a fashion disaster here in my post work even comfier clothes.>>

Definitely not a fashion disaster! It looks like true winter comfy clothes!!!

She did really well here and was moving really quickly too. Your reward throws were good and she was looking pretty straight (that is HARD to get at this level of the game!!) To maintain the good looking ahead, you can put an empty food bowl about 8 or 10 feet from each side of the plank, and the cookies will get thrown into the bowls in each direction.

>>Since she’s not flailing as she trots/lopes across it, they hold together nicely. >>

Herm movement looks really confident and balanced for such a young dog!

>>Were you thinking of something a bit more elevated for her?>>

This setup is perfect for maybe one more session (the banana line where you are on a straight line that is lateral and she has to banana out to the plank). Then the next session after that would be great to have the plank a little more elevated to add more challenge.

>>I did the up & down pattern game with both Lift & Kaladin this morning – they give it 4 paws up>>

Super! It is a great tool for the toolbox!!!

Great job here!

Tracy

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