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Hi!
Looking at both tunnel videos:
She offered really well on the first video as you moved to the tunnel right at the beginning. Then I see what you mean about staring at you. When you started her on an easier angle on the 2nd video with the toy (she as facing the tunnel entry more) she had an easier time. When she was perpendicular to the tunnel and not directly facing the tunnel entry, she took longer to offer.You can also lure this behavior for a few reps: line her up facing the tunnel and gently hold her (she might need to wear a collar or harness for that), throw the toy or treat to the other side of it, then let her go. You might get some good lightbulb moments there and also then you can start to add very simple angles.
That can also help add the verbal. Gently hold her, throw the toy, start saying the verbal, then let her go.
I don’t mind a couple of lures for this behavior, because it is easy to fade the lure because the tunnel becomes so fun 🙂 I totally taught my youngest dog (the BC mix) the tunnel with a few quick lures because he needed to understand to NOT look at me. Right now she might need the lure as a visual target to help direct her gaze to the tunnel and away from you and your cookies/toy 🙂
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
She did well getting herself back on the raised mat! She did better when you were not moving your hand back to her and she just offered it. When you hand was moving, she seemed to just be thinking about your hand 🙂 But when you out down the start cookie then let her step back on her own, she got some really good reps in!The distance you had in the middle was the best, so she could have a short distance to step back right onto the mat. When you moved further away at the end, I think it was too far so she was more likely to turn around to get on the mat than she was to step back to it.
Nice job!
TracyGood morning!
The link you posted took me to your YouTube page, but I think this is the link to the video:If it is the wrong link, let me know : )
The pattern is looking good! When saying ‘Get it’ – try saying it then moving the hand to toss it. You were moving the hand then tossing it which makes it harder to attach the verbal ‘get it’.
She was responding brilliantly the back and forth as well as the up and down at your feet, and offering engagement really quickly. Yay!
You can add in walking back and forth with this game, so you can take it on the road when you will be moving. And since she is doing really well, you don’t need to do a zillion reps so she doesn’t eat too many treats 🙂
Take this game to new places to help transfer it to different environments.
Great job!
TracyGood morning!
The rear crosses are coming along nicely! Part of the challenge is the timing to show the RC line and get to the other side early enough, which you did at :09, :19, and :45 so she got it really well. Yay!
You were a shade late at :26 and :31 so she turned to her right before turning to her left – as she as beginning to hit the prop, you were still on the right turn side. So especially for the left turns, you might need to be crazy early for now so she can process the cues and mechanics
Plus, we have another rear cross game being posted today that can help make it easier for you both!
>>She seems to think spinning on the prop is fun even on the straightaways.>>
Yes, on those reps, I think she was following you/looking at you then was almost past the prop – and her thought bubble looked like OH CRUD I NEED TO HIT MY THING so she went to hit it but ended up on the other lead, so did the spin. No worries! That will go away as we do some concept transfers (starting this week!!)
The tunnel shaping looked really good! You can add the tunnel verbal now since she seems to be reliably doing the tunnel: hold her collar gently, say your tunnel verbal a few times, then let her go to do t he tunnel while you keep saying the tunnel verbal (and throw the reward like you did here :))
Great job!!
TracyGood morning!
Good job adding the verbals to the wrapping! To help attach them separately from your motion, you can hold her collar, say the verbal a couple of times, then let go and indicate the barrel. That way the verbal and the motion are not simultaneous and she will be better able to process them individually.
The wraps looked really good, especially with the toy on the ground behind her! She ended up on the other side of you at :49 – on that rep, you didn’t have quite enough connection before the take it marker so she had not yet gotten to the new side. And since ‘take it’ means to go get the thing on the ground out ahead… she was correct to go take it.
Looking at the turn and burn: check out how she is not hitting the box anymore! Even with the toy! Gotta love whippet latent learning!
Like with the handling game, you can hold her collar, start the verbal, then let go and indicate the barrel. That will help her move to the barrel cleanly when adding the verbals.
I agree with your assessment that the bowl helped her sort out the left turns, but now she has it and doesn’t need the bowl anymore. We can always bring the bowl back if she has a question, but so far, she seems to have gotten it nicely 🙂
And you are using the toy and tugging a lot more in all of these sessions – looking great!! You both look more comfy using the toy 🙂
Looking at the tunnel shaping:
>>I was especially thrilled with how well she did with the toy! Just a few days ago she was having a hard time doing anything with the toy in my hand, and now she’s offering the tunnel, which involves quite a bit of movement away from me!>>
Yes, it is REALLY exciting because a sighthound wants to see the toy and the momma… and to do a tunnel, she has to take her eyes off of you. And she did brilliantly! (Border Collies and similar herders have the same struggles, making tunnel shaping harder). BTW – her ‘out’ behavior is looking good too!
The bowl and the cookies were a great way to jump start behavior. And I am glad you went to the toy really quickly – it cracked me up when you said “this is going to be hard” and she was like um, no, it is easy” LOL!!! Good girl!
So for the next tunnel session: add the verbal, the same way you’ll do it with the wraps. Get her pumped up, gently hold her collar, add your tunnel verbal 3 or 4 times… then let go and see when she does. If it is hard, you can say the word once or twice only, and calmly 🙂
And if that goes well, you can add more of your motion – walking past the tunnel as she is offering, then building up to jogging then running.
Great job here!!!
TracyGood morning!
Strike a pose is going well! She did well finding the target with the food bowl there and also with the toy on the ground. And also, because you were in a hotel, you were quieter than usual and she did well with that too!
Was this a before-breakfast session? The might explain the leap/grumble when you moved the bowl as well as the leap up at the end when you wiggled the toy. Definitely feed her a little bit before training in the morning, because it will actually help her food drive and focus rather than hinder it. We don’t want her to be hangry LOL! (Or the scientific explanation has to do with glucose in the brain as well as the brain prioritizing hunger over other behaviors).
An idea for the toy play when it is on the ground for this game (she didn’t really dive on it):
You can revisit some “get it’ dead toy games starting with the toy further from you (like toy races) and letting her see it thrown. Then you can go to putting it down so it is less stimulating (then make it really exciting when she moves to it). Then you can put it down close to you like here where it is at your feet – and work ‘get it’ without working other behaviors too. You don’t need to do a lot of that and you can make the toy really exiting when she moves to it, but it will help her grab it when it is ‘dead’ and in close proximity, like in these serp and threadle games 🙂Great job!!
TracyGood morning!
Yes, the food bowl is really motivating for him to drive to so he was leaving you in the dust. SUPER!!! Yo can also do this with a manners minder if you have one.The food bowl allowed you to have a fast-moving head start so you could get the blind really well – he is moving faster, so you can decelerate sooner. The decel can start when he is just a stride or two into driving towards you, and that will give him more time to shift into the collection before the pivot.
>>Toys just don’t have high enough value to reward for work. yet. I hope.>>
We have plenty of time to bring the toys into training. He plays with them when food isn’t around, yes? So you can keep playing in a variety of food-free situations, then go into a food training session. That will help get him into the arousal state we want, plus it will help to bring food into the games. For my foodie dogs, I would start the toy play in a different location (like a different room) then run to the food training room. And then you can end on the food training (no need to go back to the toy yet) because food is plenty stimulating for him 🙂
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning! She was so great with her releases game here! FUN!!
On the first rep, you moved to the start line without the leash after tugging on it (UKI-style) and the 2nd rep, you moved to the start line with the leash (AKC-style). She was a rockstar on both – no problem ignoring the reward station and perfect stay & engagement. LOVE it!
I think she is ready to see a variation on this game: get her pumped up like you did here, then do the moving lazy game with cheese throws like you have been doing when you are working sequences outdoors. She is ready to see that game in super high arousal.
Then you can start doing variations on it: getting a couple of jumps in a row without cheese throw, then the let’s go cue to go back to the reward station.
Then you can approach the what I think is the hardest thing for her: finding a jump after a tunnel. Get her pumped up like you did here, then put your stuff on the reward station – then send through a tunnel and walk past the jump. Try to put the jump on a pretty obvious line and let’s see if she can find it!!
Great job here!
TracyGood morning! The sequences looked great!
Seq 1 looked great with the blind after the tunnel!
Seq 1 with serp after the tunnel was a great save moment! Yes, you were not quite where you needed to be but you stayed connected and got it done, which is a really important rehearsal.
Seq 1 with rear cross – good job going in closer to the tunnel to set it up. I think that put you a little too far behind here, because he decelerated – so you can experiment with being on the same RC line but a little further ahead, so you can be closer to the landing line and accelerate to the last jump.
You added more of a ‘go’ verbal on the next rep and it totally helped!
The last rep was the serp – great job getting to serp position! He gave you a ‘woof’ there at 1:17. It might be partially because the serp is really exciting 🙂 and partially because he needed a bit more upper body rotation towards the center of the 7 jump to indicate the turn to 8 sooner.
You can see he landed from 7 then turned to 8, having to adjust on landing. So a more rotated upper body can cue the turn before takeoff to 7.
Percolating another idea for you:
>>trying to incorporate more accel/decel even in these short sequences.>>
He is really self-propelled on these smaller space sequences, so on parts of it you are not needing to really hustle. But on the big trial courses, there is significant hustle (especially the big UKI courses LOL!). And it would be great to rehearse the ‘significant hustle’ factor at home, because it will help your timing and connection (those are easy when you don’t have to run full speed). And it will help him rehearse his collection/jumping/line focus/etc mechanics too, in the arousal state and with the motion challenge he will see when you are in true hustle mode.
So a couple of options here:
– you can build the sequences with an extra 10 feet of distance, which should add the hustle factor for you both 🙂– you can run closer to the lines on the simpler parts of the sequence, which will simulate the hustle needed on the bigger courses, and add more challenge to getting away to cue the next part of the sequence
– Feel free to add in a challenging backside or threadle on the jumps so you have to handle a certain spot, then drive to the next one. So on the middle pinwheel jump, you can make is a threadle slice. Or a backside push! Having to be there to handle it will make it more like a ‘real’ course for him 🙂
Let me know if that makes sense or if I need more coffee to explain the idea LOL!
So much great stuff on the trial video!!! TONS of great rehearsals.
I am really liking his ringside and ring entry behavior (ignoring the tugging dog before him, for example, fast line ups, ignoring ring crew, etc.) And his end of run behavior looks pretty polished: he is driving directly to his leash then bringing it to you, without seeming to want to come back at you before the leash (and not looking at the other dogs).
All of this is an expression of arousal regulation and he has really come a long way! Yay! The work you’ve done to help him out is really coming together! So cool!!
The GO ON lines are great rehearsals in NADAC, yes, but also for UKI which has a LOT of that concept as well.
>>He was able to sit on the Startline for everything except Tunnelers. That one is sooo hard. But, I got a standing Startline even in Tunnelers. And, he only broke his start once (in a different class but hoop tunnel start so same challenge).>>
It looks like yes, it is harder to hold the stay in front of all the delicious tunnels but also he is releasing/moving early because the release and the reconnection are being paired, so he was moving when the reconnection happened before the release.
What I mean by that is when we humans lead out, we often are disconnected or using a very soft peripheral connection. Then at trials we often reconnect and release basically at the same time, with the reconnection often coming right before the release. So then, the dogs begin to thing the reconnection is the release in that environment and we get early releases. And it might only happen in trials, because that is when the release & reconnection are simultaneous because in training, we are often ‘cleaner’ with those cues.
So try to unpair the release and the reconnection: stay connected as you lead out, or reconnect but don’t release until after praise (or a stay reminder) and a couple of seconds later, release.
Great job here! What trials does he have coming up?
Tracy
Hi! I am so excited that she is coming home soon! Yay!
>>Engaged Chill (to use outside the ring)- Do you have more examples – Since it seems food is lower arousal for Sadie- Ask if using the small snuffle mat for her as her “chill” but Id have to keep putting a treat in the mat correct?>>
Using the small snuffle mats would involve putting crumbs of food in them. it can be pretty high value food in tiny crumbs, because it is more about the sniffing around that it is about the quantity of food. And if food is lower arousal/less stimulating? Perfect 🙂 And doing this further from the ring at first can help her get into it. And definitely practice this at home a whole bunch then at class, so she is familiar with it all, and it is well-rehearsed.
The other options besides the snuffle mats and slowing down the pattern game is to use things that she really likes when it is just her and you. This can include different forms of quiet physical contact, or some dogs are happy to stand or down next to us. Anything that does not require a ton of cookies to keep her doing it (unless she is snuffle matting, that is fine to use food because of the olfaction element).
>Or should I just teach her a behavior?
Teaching her the pattern game so she is very fluent, then slowing it down to get the ‘chill’ is probably going to be the most effective for her at this stage.
>> I would just have her at my side and I would have to keep feeding her and “attempting” to keep her attention so it doesn’t go to the dog or person next to us as we wait>>
That is why we want her to chill, so you don’t have to have rapid-fire treats or toys going, and so she knows how to simply watch while regulating her arousal. Engaged chill is a big arousal regulation game!
>> if I use a snuffmat- would that create more guarding behavior? And if another dog grabs it?>>
Does she resource guard food at home or in other places? If so, then you will want to be really far from other dogs. And if you see another dog coming over to you, tell them owner to move the dog away – the snuffle mat will be right at your feet so there is no reason for another dog to be there.
And when you are not using it, you can put it on top of a crate or table so other dogs cannot enjoy it 🙂
>>Step 1- Reward station- take a few steps away- ask for 1 trick- mark with “lets go” and run back to the reinforcement (Question: What if she learns the pattern and runs back before I get a chance to go with?>>
She might totally ask that question at some point LOL!!! In the early stages, two important things will answer that question for her:
– The food or toy should be up high enough on a table, and food should be closed up/covered, so it is harder for her to go grab it without you.
– work this skill on leash at first, so she is moving away from you on leash. This will help prevent access to the rewards if she anticipates, and also it adds in the leash mechanics because you will need to be doing this on leash at training and trials.
Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
It is SO HARD for us humans to keep going when something goes wrong – for so many years, we have been taught to stop so now we are re-wiring OUR neural pathways LOL!!! It also involves a bit of acting so we appear as if the blooper was exactly what we wanted 🤣🤣
And yes, you can put all of your videos in one thread, so it is easier to follow her progression 🙂
Tracy
Good morning!
The volume dial and cartoon game on the release looked GREAT! He was definitely more stimulated, probably closer to what he will be like at a trial. Then he held his stay really well and released with speed and engagement, all while ignoring the reward station behind him. Love it!
You probably will not need to lead out using the cartoon mashup at a trial because the environment will provide the stimulation, but this as a terrific rehearsal of practicing in the highly aroused internal state for him. Well done!
Then adding it to the sequence was great too. Because he was more stimulated, he needed an extra moment to settle into the sit before you started the lead out. When he was settled into his sit, he was perfect with the stay as you added excitement on the lead out. Then he as SUPER fast on the release, but still incredibly focused on course. You were quite clear with your cues and very connected too! Wonderful!!!
Great job here!
TracyGood morning!
>>We are NOT allowed out when that dog runs. There’s a similar Golden in her other class. No dog is allowed out when he runs. Both of those dogs are reactive and unpredictable.>>
Ah, that is a bummer, thanks for the clarification. Hopefully other dogs in the class can provide the rehearsal opportunities. And, training buddies can do it too, even if it is not ‘real’ agility and they are doing wild things with puppies! The neural pathways we want from good rehearsals will still be developed. She is really well-prepared in so many ways that I believe this is the last thing she needs to complete the puzzle.
>>So, should I enter the late Dec trial? It will be 2 rings again and is AKC?>>
Sure! Enter it with FEO plans. You are getting closer to being able to fade the toy and run for realz. Any UKI coming up? It would be fun to try some jumping and speedstakes with her too.
>>P,s. It was the judge that said “nice Aussie” in the first video. She came over and told me as well after the run. That’s particularly nice as they don’t pay much attention to FEO runs.>>
That is so nice!!!! And she is correct of course 🙂
Tracy
Hi!
It was so fun meeting you in person and seeing Synnie work! She is so fast and so smart and so fun and SO CUTE!! Love her!>>Extended Chill information, as I’m thinking it is something that I really need to work with Syn.>>
You can find it here in this class too:
Nice job setting the line from the tunnel exit! To get the last jump in the straight line on this set (like at :17) , you will want to converge towards it more and amplify your connection to hope push her out to it.
When you were setting the good line on the tunnel exit, she didn’t always fine the 6 jump as you noted.
>>I can’t seem to figure out how to have her NOT slice jump 5 which puts her line around jump 6.>>
To help her out, you can also use a little brake arm (opposite arm) to get her to turn on the 5 jump (:44) as well as a name call to help be sure she turns enough to take the front of the jump.
You might actually be saying “go” too soon there and at 1:06 – she hasn’t fully turned yet, so since go means ‘stay on the straight line’, she is staying on the straight line she is looking at and goes past the 6 jump (she is a very literal young lady LOL!)
At 2:02 (and :15, on the first rep) she found the #6 jump really well because you turned really early. That allowed her to see you facing the line to 6 a stride or two before she took off. So it if that is possible, you can turn early like that. But if it is not always possible to turn early, the brake arm and name call will help you get her lined up for 6. And then when she turns to see 6 and locks onto it, you can start the go go go cue 🙂
>>Synnie went into season over the weekend, I usually don’t have dogs that are at this point and not spayed. Do you do anything different…not train as much, etc.?>>
It depends on how she is feeling. Some of the girls are totally business-as-usual, so you can keep training (I give them more rest in between). Or, some girls are more emotional or struggle more… so I don’t train. My girls have always been an absolute pleasure to train when they are in season – they are in a really good mood LOL! But that is not the case with all girls, so play it by ear and see how she feels.
Great job here!
TracyHi!
I see what you mean by him looking at you during the parallel path game!
You can warm up the session by doing a couple of sends to the prop so he moves ahead of you to it.
Then when you go to the parallel path game, you can do three things to get him looking at the prop more:
Two things about the reward:
– use lower value food so it is easier for him to look away from it, or feed him part of his meal before training so he is less motivated for food.
– Use a ‘get it’ marker before you throw the reward, so he gets into the habit of looking forward for the reward.
And one thing about the prop:
– give yourself a bigger working space, so the prop can be further away. Right now, it is so close to you that he can touch it AND look at you. It is too easy 🙂 So move it 5 or 6 feet away from your line, so he either walks next to you (no reward) or looks at the prop and moves to it. And when he looks at the prop and starts heading towards it, you can say ‘get it’ and throw the cookie before he even arrives at the prop, to reward the choice to look at it and not at you.
>>here is Teagan on his bed in the kitchen while I was making dinner>>
Perfect! This is a much better ‘job’ for him, than helping you by turning on the stove LOL!! He looks really good here!
Nice work!! Keep me posted on how he does with the parallel path game.
Tracy
