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Good morning! The rear crosses are going well – he was reading you correctly: when he was turning to his right when you were rear crossing, it was because you were cutting behind him late so he saw you on the right turn side as he was arriving at the prop.
At :38 then :41, you were sooner to get to the left turn side so he turned left 🙂 Yay! Then he was on to you and just started offering that regardless of what you were doing LOL! Good job just going straight to reset that so you could work the timing. The reps at 1:18 and 1:23 and the last rear cross rep all had you cutting to the new side sooner, so he read the left turn well.So the key will be to see how early you can get to his other side. You might end up pulling him off the prop (getting a turn on the flat) if you are too early, but that is fine for now and still rewardable.
Nice job with the goat tricks on the plank, that was easy for him! He was able to get up on the plank and balance himself into the straight line up. You can try this with you standing, so he can have his head higher (for better balance) and so he is not as likely to lie down. Turning around went well too – the slow hand cues helped him maintain his balance.
Since he seems to be doing well with the plank, you can add in backing up onto it and see how he does.
Great job here!
TracyGood morning!
The lap turns with a prop are looking really good! She is very fast driving into your hand cue, following the turn, then hitting the prop. Your mechanics were really strong and that really helped her.The next step is to have your magic cookie hand empty (it might have been on the last couple of reps but I was hard to tell because your transitions were so quick :))
When your hand is empty and your are going to give her a treat for coming too it, remember to keep your hand outstretched and feet together until she is just about at your hand (try not to move too soon).
She is driving back so hard to the hand on the strike a pose game that she is rattling her brain LOL!!! Don’t worry about the pounce, that will go away when we add a jump and motion. And she was GREAT about it even with the big new toy in your other hand – more arousal from the toy being used, but she was still super precise with the behavior. And fast!!!!
Nice mechanics on these – yes, another arm would make it easier LOL! But you were still able to make excellent transitions so there was never a moment where she had a question. Big click/treat to you!!!We build on this game next week so you can let it percolate until Tuesday 🙂
For the toy-cookie trades:
>>Can you explain this a bit more? At what point do I give her the treat? And how? I’m just sure the order of events for giving a treat to get her to bring the toy back.>>
You can experiment with exactly when it all happens, but generally you can throw a toy, and when she gets it, call her back. When she turns to you (rather than having a zoomer with the toy), you can mark and present a cookie from your hand. She might not bring the toy all the way back, but that is fine to start. Eventually you can shape your way to getting her to come further and further back with the toy, then you give her the cookie. She might pick this up really quickly and bring the toy back right away 🙂 Let me know if that makes sense!
Nice work here!
TracyGood morning!
It sounds like a fun weekend at EOTT so dar!!It was really cool to see her play toy races and the blind cross game in a new area – outdoors at the hotel! That is a really great opportunity for her to play her games but also to work with focus and engagement in a new place. She was terrific! She also went back and forth between food and toys, and didn’t run off with the toy. All of this is great!
The toy race at the beginning looked good, and she was quite perfect about reading the blinds (and NOT doing a blind unless you cued it). She also did well with the pivots – you will need to do the blind sooner, so you can decel sooner. You were decelerating right as she arrived at your leg, which made it harder for her to see up her collection for the pivot. So do t he blind right as she starts moving towards you, then decel right after you reconnect on the new side.
>>For Kaladin, I cue the threadle slice with “Come” and my off hand up a bit and across my body (it’s not usually very high). Works great for him. With Min I did the inside hand back and then switched her to the off hand even though she was smaller. Recommendations for Lift given she’s going to be small too? (and my threadle wrap is usually 2 hands and lower to distinguish it from the threadle slice)>>
I think it is always easiest for us humans to use the same cues for all of the dogs, so the threadle the same way as Kaladin is probably easiest. And I am sure she will read it. You can still teach the dog-side-arm threadle because that is a big part of the picture even when the full cue uses the off arm (the off arm also uses the dog-side arm a bit by pushing it back).
>>Tug- Stop tugging & wait for offered sit. Then “break” to release to tug. Is this a case where break releases her and the tug is the reward? Wondering about using “grab it” to get the tug or is it better to be very clear about using break and then presenting the tug?>>
The reason I use ‘break’ in this game and not the toy marker is two-fold:
– To build up the stay release as something to explode forward on (like we will want on the start line)
– To keep the release super precise because we humans tend to be more precise with the break releases than with toy markers.
That being said – you can also use this game to help develop markers, if you don’t move the reward before you say the marker. The ‘grab it’ is also a release, but it just has a slightly different meaning then break. So you can use ‘grab it’, but also make sure you use break too – and then you can mark the release with the grab it marker, or throw the toy for with the ‘get it’ marker too 🙂Great job! Have fun today!!!
TracyGood morning!
THE FEO went well! My only suggestion is to play with her on the way into the ring – she was definitely having arousal regulation questions on the way to the line! You can play tug, maybe do a trick – she is not quite ready for the all-business a a trial yet. She did line up and it was a good choice to do a short stay.
And the contacts and weaves looked TERRIFIC!!!!! And well done to you for maintaining contact criteria!!
Dod you hear someone in the background say “NICE AUSSIE!” At about 1:00 when she was on the way to the poles? Very cool 🙂 And correct too! Yay!
>>If the course looks nice tomorrow I’ll do FEO with a hidden toy. I’m having to talk to her a lot on the start line. She thought about leaving when the leash came off.>>
Because of her question at the start line today, I don’t recommend hiding the toy yet. Do another FEO (or as many as needed) til you feel her more relaxed on the start line. Talking to her is perfectly fine, but we want her to be a little more relaxed and engaged when the leash comes off (and not considering leaving). So no rush to hide the toy until she has more experience moving to the line at a trial.
Let me know how it goes today!
Tracy
Good morning!
>>We have continued to play lots of leash on/off games. We have progressed to being able to sit in front of a jump at home and working on the basic behavior at different places. >>
Yay! Sounds good!!
>>So, I changed that picture to doing circle work on leash. That is working. >>
The circle work probably has a lot more action, so finds it more exciting than the fake heeling. I am glad it is working!
>>We do some circle work, then some tricks, sit, reward, remove leash, do some behaviors, reward, leash on. And now sometimes leave her at a jump or tunnel. Sometimes I throw treats to her from the lead out side and release her to the treats – I mix it up releasing her over the jump and giving treats or tugging.>>
Terrific! You are building up a nice framework here!
>>This morning she worked in front of family – just with the tools above and nothing extreme. She did great. Of course, when I released her from our play, she ran directly to her dad and jumped all over him. I called her to me for a quick behavior and released her again – did this twice – and she was great. So, little bits of change are showing up.>>>
Working in front of the family and waiting til she was finished to go jump on her dad is a big win! That sounds like a big distraction in her world and she is making good progress!
>>I’ve also started giving her a tug when those times when she turns into a velociraptor and starts biting me. So, it’s only taken me two years to figure out what she needed to displace her arousal. >>
Yes – the tug is good! When is she coming at you and biting? I haven’t really seen that in the videos. Ideally, you give her something manage the arousal before she start chomping on you 🙂Thank you for the update, I am glad she is doing so well!
TracyGood morning!
>>So we didn’t make it to try outs. I’m bummed but also know it was the right decision. >>
It is a bummer but I hopefully you are feeling relief in knowing you made the right decision.
>>1. He is not going outside with anyone but Gibbs and Prue at the moment. He doesn’t display the same stalking chasing behavior with them that he does with Marky and Tic.>>
Great! No more rehearsals!
>> one thing he needs to do is stop turning around in front of Marky or Tic and staring them down, then waiting for them to move so he can chase. I don’t mind them running together but it’s the hard stare then chase and grab at the scruff that needs to stop.>>
Yes, that is a behavior that would be nice to stop! He might have to be on a leash for a while as you try to shift the behavior. The leash and being with you will let you reward behavior you want (like walking at your side) and prevent rehearsal of the unwanted behavior. Even if you can call him out of the unwanted behavior, the rehearsal of it is keeping those neural pathways finely tuned. Stopped the rehearsal will begin to help those pathways whither away.
>>2. Keep working on my outside the ring behavior. What I need is something(s) concrete that I can do with him that helps refocus him. >>He might need a combination of distance from the ring (the area at RSCR is possibly too small for him, no place to go to avoid being right next to the ring) and at a big distance is where you do most of your warm up and waiting. Ideally there is a sweet spot of distance where he can actually eat and play tug, because the games can be played there. The Hunt arena is Raleigh is MUCH bigger so might work!
Then as you get closer to the ring, something like standing/sitting on a bed or board or something can be a good waiting spot. That way he can have something to do and just hang out with you. The hand touch is his best ‘trick’ when he is close to the ring, so you can do some hand touch then tugging before you go in, and see how it goes.
And keep working the food value in training – if you slip food rewards into work (like do a short sequence, deliver some food, then tug) you will find the he becomes more and more interested in eating food.
Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning!
This is a challenging setup for sure LOL!
>>especially my 14-15 year old who’s talking here (her favorite thing at this point in her life) is intentional as that kind of barking/staring pressure just outside the ring is something that he doesn’t appreciate and is getting better at just ignoring.>>
That is why we place these games in a controlled environment 🙂 It provides the opportunity for arousal regulation games like this. It might appear like a stay game but it is really all about the arousal regulation needed when he is in more of a trial-like arousal state. The crazy lead out with the other dogs barking definitely changed his internal state (he almost broke his stay on the first rep) but then he was great!
And I agree that for now, he is an all-business dog as you lead out (at trials). You might find that as he gets more experienced, you can do the pink panther at a trial. The reason to do this is because the dogs go faster LOL! We time the difference on courses in training or when there are re-runs at a trial and the pink panther crazy lead out always gets more speed. I don’t ask for it early on because I don’t want to try it if the dog might not be able to hold the stay.
>>I have moved toward taking my leash off as soon as I enter the ring and do really like how he’s responded to that.>>
I personally prefer that too… but also if you do AKC, I believe it is not legal to do that. So you can tweak it to be head to the first jump, the leash off, then line up.
>>am definitely someone who in the past has asked the person coming in after me to “give us some space on the Startline” if the lineup is right in front of where they are anxiously waiting to come in – especially when I plan a longer lead out. And, in the past I’ve also asked them to let me get my leash on before coming in – especially when the course ends close to where it starts. There haven’t actually been any issues with that but it tends to worry me to have him coming in hot and not know how the other dog might react to that.>>
Yes, that whole Facebook uproar was a little silly. If there is a dog right behind mine at the start (especially a young dog!) then yes, I see no problem asking them to move back. And for young dogs, it is fine to tell the net person “hey this is a baby dog, first trials, give me a little space”.
I think the issue that blew up on social media was poor communicated and a couple of people trying to make things black and white in a situation where things are NOT black and white. The main issue as I understand it is that people do it for the entire career of the dog and also are trialing dogs that are not functioning well in the trial environment. This doesn’t apply to you and Ripley 🙂 I don’t think anything will change and there won’t be faults called, nothing to worry about.
Great job here!
TracyGood morning!
>>When she does not want to stop whatever we/she are/is doing! She will not go to the cato board at such a time. She recognizes all the situations where i might leash her up, except getting cornered in an enclosed space,>>
This is where the plan begins! If getting leashed up predicts the end of the activity, it also can predict the end of the access to reinforcement and also possibly predict that undesirable things will happen next (like going in a crate).
So we need to un-pair the leash from being finished. You can start with simple stuff like praising her, picking up the leash, then going back to do more agility for rewards in the ring. And gradually you can work up to putting the leash on, but still mixing in a LOT of taking it off again and going back to do more stuff. That will hopefully helping her past avoiding the leash being put on at the end of a run
You can also add recalls away from or out of activities she is enjoying – then reward and send her back to the activities (eventually putting the leash on gets built in too).
Two other things to build value for being leashed:
– shape her to put her head into a martingale collar or harness, so it is more of a fun trick to get leashed up
– do lots of end of run games where getting the leash involved means access to the BEST reinforcement. She loves balls, so it can be something like doing a sequence, get a cookie, get leashed up, get a ball!I would do all of these because they all hit on different aspects of the behavior. And avoid having her off leash in bog open spaces (like big agility rings) into she has more value for coming back (and so there are no ‘catch me’ games happening).
Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning!
I see what you mean about not having a stay yet – she is offering the sit but also offering a whole lot of other things LOL! I think she has more value for a down behavior (the value might be trained or intrinsic or both) then she gets a little frustrated when the down is not rewarded (or, you try to click the sit and she moves into the down as you click).A couple of ideas for you:
– to help her understand it is not a down, you can shape a sit on a small square platform where she has room to sit but not to lie down. That can help her to offer the sit more and hold it longer. Feeding her in position on the platform might be useful too.
– you can do sessions where you are only clicking the sit and not waiting for any duration. That can help isolate the it behavior.
– you can try it sitting down instead of standing up, because then she might be less likely to leap up when you are sitting in a chair.The lap turns are looking really strong! Only one suggestion is to keep your feet together longer rather than step back with your foot while she is still several feet away from you. Keep your feet together until she is within a couple of inches of your hand, then move the hand and foot together like at 2:09. That will set up a snappy turn and she will stay on a tighter line towards you. Stepping back too early will widen her line, and when a jump is added it might look too much like a throwback cue.
Tandems are going well too – when you have more room, you can be more upright for the first part of the tandem (moving away from her) and then bend down a little to get her attention on your hands, then turn her away.
And you can definitely add the prop to both of these now 🙂
Great job!
Hi!
This is a hard skill and he was driving ahead really well!
I think part of the question he had was that you were quicker to change sides when you wanted the right turn:
At 1:02 as he was arriving at the prop, you were already visible on the new side – same at 1:16!Comparing that to the left turn reps at the beginning, like at :16 and :29 and :43- you were not as visible on the new side when he arrived at the prop. You were just beginning to cut in behind him, so his decision to turn right had already been made.
Plus, he might be a bit of a righty!
So to get the left turns, give yourself a little more distance so you are tarting further from the prop. In this setup, you and Venture can start up against the back fence, but move the prop 4 or 5 feet towards the camera. Then, as soon as he gets ahead of you, cut in behind in to create the left turn, so it will be wicked early 🙂 You might end up turning him before he arrives at the prop and that is fine! He would still get rewarded.
So try it as early as possible, with the goal being that you are fully on the new side when he is still one stride for the prop. That should help jump start the left turns.
Let me know how he does! The right turns are looking great so getting you across the RC line sooner on the left turns should help him out 🙂
Nice work!
TracyHi!
>>Might have gone too long in this session with Roux. She is 8 months.?>>
Possibly! It depends on how long she had between sessions to rest. I think her reluctance to drive ahed in the last game was not a tired issue, I think it was a ring gate issue (see below).
The tunnel game is looking really strong turning to her left to enter the tunnel! Turning to her right was harder so tarting a little closer will help her start off with good reps. She figured it out nicely! But I think you ended up getting too far away from the tunnel entry on the right turns, because she offered a couple of left turns to the entry of the tunnel closer to her. So for the left turns, I bet you can be further away. But on the right turns, stay very close so she can be very successful (be sure to read the post about the 2 failure rule).
My only suggestion is to hold her collar and stay saying tunnel, so she can process it before she starts to move. This will be especially helpful on the right turn entry.
Have you decided what verbal you want to use for the tunnel threadle side of the tunnel? I use “kiss kiss” for that 🙂 And adding the verbal will help her differentiate which side you want.
The leg bumps were fun for her! She is ready for you start her on one side and have the toy all the way out past the other side of you, so she can hop over both of your legs.
She wants to go super fast through the ladder so I was happy to see her slow down to stat balanced. To help her stay balanced and not look at you, you can put an empty food bowl out 4 or 5 feet past the exit of the ladder, so she can trot through and use it as a target (rather than look up at you) as she is getting towards the end of the ladder. Then you can toss a treat into it when she exits the ladder.
Wrapping the stool looked good! Nice job with the verbals. She was also great with the decel and pivot in the middle, showing some really nice impulse control on the toy! Just remember to decel pretty early (right after she exits the stool) to get the tightest turns there. She also was SUPER with the distraction of people talking and dog barking in the background!
She did a good job ignoring the toy on the ground – you noted in the video that she wasn’t really driving to it. I totally see what you mean! She was fastest to it when you threw it before starting the rep, but then she was not really racing ahead of you. Try it again when it is not right in front of a gate – it is possible she was decelerating because she didn’t want to accelerate into the gate (that makes sense to me LOL!) In the ring you were in, you can go lengthwise so the toy was about 15 feet or more away from the ring gating, so she can accelerate to it without the gate causing her to put on the brakes.
Great job here!!
Tracy
Hi!
Hooray for good weather and going outdoors! This looked great – he drove ahead beautifully on the first rep (he fell on his head on the second rep so you won) then he completely left you in the dust on the 3rd rep LOL!!! Good boy 🙂 You can add the GO GO GO verbal here too, to help prepare him for driving ahed on a jump line (eventually :))
While the weather is still good, try the turn and burn around a barrel outside and see how he does! It will give you more room to run.
>>I found that I needed to not have any treats on me for him to be interested in the toy. >>
That is great for now! He can do toy-only sessions or have the treats really far away, so he can focus on the toy. Over time it will be easier to have treats in your hands or pockets.
>>I also had to try a few toys to see which one was of interest to him.>>
Good job finding the motivating toy – he really seemed to love it!
>>Teagan jumps up a lot, grabbing at things in my hands and counter surfing. >>
In situations where he has more access to counters or grabbing things from your hand, try giving him an alternate behavior. So in the kitchen, for example, you can give him a spot to hang out (like a climb with a bed on it) and when he is on his spot, he can gets treats and chews. If he leaves the spot to counter surf, his “prize” is quiet removal to a different room (not a prize he wants, probably). My guess is he is likely to choose to hang out in his spot!
What type of stuff is he jumping at in your hands?
Nice work here!
TracyThose are for sure essential, and since she likes food, I bet she will think they are fun.
Do you have a snuffle mat? She might enjoy that as a way to keep her brain busy.
Another fun game is teaching her to pick up stuff and hold it, like a retrieve but without tugging (for now) and more of a stationary hold. It is a fun shaping game!Tracy
Hi!
>>Sometimes I tend to work to long and you can see it with his wandering lol I definitely need to break more and play tug!>>
Yes, more tugging is great for both getting him to learn in higher arousal (very useful for his future trialing career :)) and also to reduce wandering. Interestingly, the videos below had no wandering. Maybe because he was on home turf? Or because he liked the food and action? Either way all good – definitely add in tugging and that will make it easier in new places too or with games where there is less action 🙂
The foot targeting looks really good here! Tossing the reward back and forth was great for training the behavior, but I also think he really liked the ‘action’ of running back and forth for the treats. He was really engaged for the cookies here for over a minute, which is a long time for a baby pup 🙂
The only think I would add here is tugging before and after, and also adding in a couple of tug breaks in the middle. This will help him learn in higher arousal, and will also set the habit of taking breaks for when you are doing a food-based game without as much action built in 🙂
The parallel path looked terrific! He loves his prop 🙂 This is another game where you can add in some tugging before/during/after. This session was another example of him staying super engaged with the food even with the longer session, because there was a LOT of action of running back and forth for the treats 🙂
Now that the parallel path game is going so well.. add in the rear crosses 🙂 Start pretty far from the prop so he drives ahead of you to it, then you can cut in behind him before he gets to the prop to create the rear cross.
Great job!!
Tracy
Good morning!
>>For what it’s worth, we also hike every day in the woods so he gets to figure out a lot of his body then with all the rocks, fallen logs and chasing Skye (my other Berner, who is objectively ridiculously agile for her size and I hope he learns a move or two while they are at it)>>
I love this! There is so much good learning that happens when a pup can do this with you and another dog. He will learn more about his body by doing this than any other puppy game!
The collection sandwich is looking really great! Your connection here was super strong – check out how he can see your face the whole time (except when you did the blind, where you have to turn away from him LOL!). And he was great about driving ahead to the toy – he really loves that toy and tugging in general, which is great especially because there are treats in the picture. He was even bringing that toy back really well!! Yay!
Now that you are adding distance being outdoors, you can show even more of a distinction between the acceleration and the deceleration – run like mad until he is halfway to you… then slow down a lot. I suggest halfway to you as the decel point because he is really fast so if you wait longer to decelerate, he will possibly go blasting past you 🙂
You can try to add the barrel to this game now (based on the Handling Combo we added on Tuesday)
Backing up to the Klimb looks super! He is remarkably coordinated for a young, big, dude 🙂 Finding the sweet spot of how far away you needed to be was hard – so another option is to create a bit of a channel for him to step back onto the Klimb so it is harder to step off the side. Maybe have one side of the Klimb next to the couch, and something on the side of it (like a box or x-pen). That can help narrow the field of backing up to get more regular stepping backwards.
>>totally focused for 10 seconds or so and then complete fry up/overenthusiasm/forgot what my body is about for the other 10 seconds.>>
The joys of teenage boy dogs! LOL!! Brilliance followed by “wait, what was I doing?” Followed by more brilliance.
Great job here!
Tracy
