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Hi! I’m so glad you had fun working the games! And it sounds like she is doing well, especially with learning to respond when arousal comes up.
We don’t have a maxpup 5, but the MaxPup “Get Connected” class might be a good winter class! It is some fun handling stuff and you only need 2 jumps 🙂
See you in MYOB!!
TracyHi! Both of these runs looked strong!
On the opening line, you can do the blind cross 2-3 sooner. When he is landed from 1 and looking at 2, you can keep running forward on the line but start the blind, so you can be finished with it before he takes off for 2.
On the first run (which is the 2nd video posted), as he was taking 3, he looked at the off course tunnel a lot. That was because as he was lifting off for 3, you were facing the tunnel which looked like the cue to go to it. You used the brake arm to help him but it was after he landed.
On the 2nd run, the turn at 3 looked great – it think it was because you used your outside arm and decel all before he took off for 3 to help him out. It was a really strong turn cue and helped him! The other options are to send to 3 and move to 4 sooner (hard to commit and leave early enough, and would totally depend on how early you could do the blind) or use a spin there so you have the strong turn cue and can be moving away. The faster you can get outta there, the less he will look at the tunnel. The brake arm totally helped and I think the spin would work too!
The drive back down to the tunnel looked great on both turns!!!
One other thing to consider – even jumping a low bar, he is slipping a lot on the mats. You can try wrapping his feet like a flyball dog for more traction, or using a spray (is the good one called “Show Foot” or something?) That way he can go fast without slipping since we don’t want him to hurt himself.
Nice job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
The rocking horse game is going super well! You can definitely add more distance between the 2 objects, so she can power through the sideways and backwards sends because she can chase you more on the exit 🙂
Is she was ending up going around 2 barrels instead of reading the FC – we can add more of a connection clarity moment. When you were making very clear deliberate connection to her eyes before sending her to the next barrel and maintaining that through the send: perfect!!!
When you went too fast and looked forward ahead of her too soon, she ended up on the other side of you (reading it correctly as a blind cross) and that’s where she will end up going around the 2nd barrel without a side change.
So the very clear eye contact (Hallmark moment LOL!) will help her read the FCs.
You can also add in a toy in your hand so you can be quicker with the reward and so she gets practice working with something in your hand. That way she gets the marker to get the toy and so we can layer in the impulse control element too.
Really good session working on the get out progression! She loves her prop so once you added moving up and down the line, the get out cue was super easy 🙂 it looked easier for you when she was on you left, with the right arm doing the opposite arm element of the cue. When she was on your right, you can point the left arm (opposite arm) more at the prop without quite as much rotation at your waist, so your right shoulder stays pretty forward too (and doesn’t open up back to her like a threadle)
Getting her past the prop and staying on your line was harder 🙂 so making the cue more obvious and a bit of a lure at first made all the difference. You can also use a toy as the lure/focal point for now, as that would be both more obvious and more motivating than the cookies 🙂
The initial strike a pose reps looked really strong from all the angles on both sides, so I’m glad you added the toy on the ground – that will allow you to keep your shoulders facing the jump (rather than turning to face the toy on the ground). Shoulders facing the jump as we add movement is actually what cues the next jump, so ideally she drives to the toy without you needing to move your shoulders.
Will she grab the toy on the ground only a verbal marker only? If so, great! You can keep your shoulders perfectly still and use a verbal marker – and when she gets it, then you can move 🙂
If she doesn’t find it motivating to grab the toy on a verbal only, then you can use a food bowl or manners minder that she might automatically drive to without you having to move your shoulders til after she’s at the reward.
Or, you can can have the toy in your reward hand and dangle it so it can wiggle a bit and be something she grabs. Frozen shoulders will be really useful when we add motion (coming soon!) and especially on threadles.
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyThis was great! I am not sure if you wanted him to get the ball you tossed at the very beginning, but you made the next toy more obvious and then things went really well.
You had a great combination of patience and encouragement, so he brought it back really well!!! And adding the snuggling as an element was particularly lovely 😍 because he seems to love it. And because he loves it, it is a double reinforcement and also means that he keeps the toy for longer after bringing it back. All of that really helps build up the retrieve.
You can add in throwing different toys in the same session so that he practices this on a variety of things.
Great job!
TracyGood morning!
He is a confident little dude!!! Yay!
This is off to a terrific start. He seems unconcerned about the movement and is happy to sort out backing up. Two small suggestions for you:
– the surface of the board is a little slippery, so you might want to attach a yoga mat to it so he has better grip. He almost wiped out when he tried to get on it the first time 🙂– if you keep your hands lower, his head will stay lower, and you’ll get more backing up and less sitting. You can see that when you have your hands high and you are close to him, he ends up sitting (which is correct based on head position).
I think the ideal hand position would be hands at your knees (so you’ll bend a little) so his chin is parallel to the ground or pointed a little downwards. That can totally get him balanced and moving backwards even more.
Great job here!
TracyGood morning!
The sending looked really strong!!!! I think the only hard part was figuring out transitions from the cato to the barrel. And even during the barrel wraps, she qas glancing at the Cato.
So try this: have the barrel can already in place in the room before you come in. Carry the cato with you and put it down near the barrel so there is no real stay needed. That way she can hop on, you can finalize getting ready, she can have a couple of cookies for stay on, then you can release her to work (and lean the cato up against the wall so it is not in play for offering behavior).And when that is underway, you can add in some toy rewards to see if she can build toy play into the training too, with the cato board as the bridge behavior. Let me know if that makes sense!
For the running contact mat: the bigger box is great to start shaping with. Then you can go to a smaller mat, like a folded towel, then eventually to the real mat for the RDW training 🙂
Nice work here! Let me know what you think!
Tracy
Hi! You are off to a great start here!!
He seems to think it is easy and fun!! The next steps would be to replace the click with a “get it” marker, and a cookie toss, so he looks at you less. Try to have your cookies ready so that you can throw immediately.
Then the next step is to fold up the mat so it is maybe a third smaller, to see if he can get his body onto a slightly smaller mat.
Great job!
TracyGood morning!
It sounds like you have really good opportunities at home to work through similar scenarios at trial, especially when he watches motion in other dogs but is not involved in the motion with other dogs.>>If I call his name to come to me he will look at everyone else to see what their going to do not me.>>
Last check to see if there is going to be any motion happening? Could be any number of reasons but what a great opportunity to use his name and other games! I am sure that motion frustration is part of why he likes to run with Tic and Marky but struggles when they are running but he is not.
Keep me posted!
TracyHe’s good when it’s only Gibbs and Prue so I’ll start reinforcing good behavior there and then maybe just add Tic before I add Marky into the mix. the 2 of them really have an interesting dynamic. Very competitive but they also love to run together. Which is also competitive I guess. More to come. Thanks
Good morning!
Yay for going outside! Since the outdoors is harder and you are trying to use lower value treats, you can break off the essay safer ever 3 or 4 treats and throw a toy around or let him run around. He did did really well, with a little bit of attention wandering (because the outdoors is interesting!). So more breaks will help maintain the attention and if he sits and looks at you – let him sort out it now and get moving again rather than help him get up by putting a cookie in the other bowl. Most of the reps here were really good (especially if the trash barrel was new to him), he had a really good groove going before you finished!
Now, if the Cheerios are too low in value to compete as a motivator with the great outdoors, you can use something higher value outdoors but stick to the Cheerios indoors.
>>I tried using the prop (the small tote bag) outside, but it was blowing away and then he picked it up to play keep away. As much as I’d like to use it, I really need to change to a more stable prop.>>
Yes, the tote bag would need something in it so it is heavier (I put paw pod thingies in my stuff to weight it down). You can change to a more stable prop but that would mean started over with value building for it (which is fine). I prefer to keep the original prop because it is requiring us to do some problem solving, which is part of what it is intended to do 🙂 Picking up the prop is no different than the dog that picks up the number cone to run around with it, so we have a valuable opportunity to sort all that out.
I think transitions are the key – bring him into the session when you are ready, using a toy or tricks with cookies. Then put the prop down then immediately go into the session so you can immediately reward. His first send here was really good, then things went a little sideways as you tried to get the prop to remain still, etc. I think he is in a quick-transitions-needed phase or he gets busy doing something else (like prop stealing LOL!!)
Nice work here! Let me know what you think!
TracyFeel free to get the tugging on video, so you can tug him right into the start of the session. He might be losing the added engagement from the tugging if the transition is too long.
T
Good morning!
I guess he really really loves his prop 🙂
Yes, you can totally lure him to your side with a cookie or dragging a toy. Add as much distance as possible between you and the prop, and lure to get the behavior started. Let me know if that helps! And you can use higher value reinforcement for staying with you on your line, and lower value reinforcement for the get out to the prop.
Keep me posted!
TracyGood morning!
>For some reason I found this exercise awkward. >
I find it awkward too, with the bending over to get the cookies in. He did really well, coming in for the start cookie then backing out – nice clicks and nice placement from you!!!
You can start clicking a little later (waiting for more steps) and you can also add a low mat for him to back up onto, adding a destination in the hopes that he can back up more and more steps over time.To make it less awkward for you, you can try remaining bent over (I rest my elbows on my thighs) with your hands low, so you can have an easier time with the rewards because you don’t have to keep bending over. Or, you can sit in a chair (that is my other favorite one!) so you don’t have to go up and down as much.
Great job there!
TracyGood morning!
Hope your toe wasn’t getting too mushed by the wobble board LOL!!! Good job reducing the amount of tip 🙂
>>. He wasn’t as confident as I’d like to see him, so we took a break and I started again with the disc>>
I see what you mean – he was putting front feet on but not really interested in back feet on either of the things. It is pretty normal that dog are great with these as puppies but lose some of the love for them as teenagers, especially when the focus has been on other things.
He was not worried about them, though, so I think his love for them will come right back with a few more session. A couple of things that. Can help him out:
On the wobble board, you can brace it with a bunch of towels (or your foot LOL!) and reward any interaction by throwing the treat the direction he is facing so he has to go over the wobble board to get it and not turn around away from the wobble board to get it. The treat would be tossed the opposite direction each time, so is going back and forth across the board, which should help engage his hind end. At first you can mark and toss for just front end, but then as he gets confident, you can wait for him to put his back end on too.
For the disc – 2 things that will help him feel more comfy getting on would be
– under-inflate the disc for now. That is much easier to get on than the fully inflated or over-inflated disc.
– If you have a second disc (or a couple more) put them all together next to each other, so he has a wider playing field to get all of his feet on. The single disc requires him to scrunch up and balance which is really hard, but letting him spread out into a more natural stand should feel more stable for him.Nice work here! Keep me posted!
Tracy
