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Hi!
Congrats on the title!!! That is fantastic!!
>So as to be expected throwing the toy behind him blew his mind. Had to stay very close to the barrel.>
Yes, that is a BIG challenge and staying close to the barrel is great! He did great, almost perfect! The look on his face was hilarious 🙂
There were only 2 little bloopers: at 2:22 and 2:59. On both of those, you didn’t really step to the wing. As you released him, you started turning away so he said “ok cool, no barrel!” On the other reps, you stepped to the barrel and faced it longer so he went to it – that makes all the difference at this stage. In other words – don’t be twitchy 🙂 Make sure he is heading to the barrel before you turn and go to the toy.
Since he has such good toy-food skills, you can also put the toy on the ground then walk to the barrel and feed him high value treats for moving with you then lining up at the barrel. That is a different challenge but also a good one!
Looking at the stay video:
>as he cannot stay still in any position when asked for a nanosecond.>
Then this is the perfect approach for him! It basically makes the stay behavior the pup’s idea, and not something we humans insist on LOL!
You can add in turning yourself forward as if you were about to lead out, and taking a step or two away *as* you say ‘catch’ and throw back.
>I see a couple times he didn’t get up but did scooch back a notch>
That was mainly because you were standing there facing him so he was probably wondering if he should offer something else? Scooching back is not a problem at all for now, and it will go away as soon as you face forward and add your motion a bit.
>Should I work on duration first or change my position compared to him or what?>
Both – start facing forward and moving away slowly (which adds duration) but in a natural way and mark/throw back very quickly as you move away. So he sits, you start moving away but after the first step, you mark/throw. Then ping pong the # of steps to gradually increase how far away you get. Since this is a very new behavior, keep it easy and reward before he breaks.
>Also am I supposed to toss the food to try to get him to catch it or just toss it behind him? He is not a skilled catcher of food just yet.>
You can toss it towards/behind him – he doesn’t have to catch it. The marker just means “coming your way!” So he learns to love staying where he was. And once you say the marker, he is allowed to move so it is also a release word.
Nice work here!
TracyHi! Great question!
>Dog is on your left, dish/toy is straight ahead, holding collar with your left hand. Indicating with right arm/hand.
Why would this not be a left arm/hand cue to wrap left to right and hold collar across your body with right hand?>
You can totally point with the dog-side hand! And when it goes on jumps, we generally do point with the dog-side hand or both hands. For this game, it is usually easier for the handler to hold with the dog-side hand – it might be hard to hold with the opposite arm. And, having the opposite arm makes the impulse control a little easier at first because it acts as a bit of a visual barrier to the bowl or treat, as in: “don’t go there, pup, go around the cone” 🙂
But really it is handler preference and so you can play with both ways and see what feels more comfortable:)
Tracy
Hi!
>I’ll see if I have some toys I don’t care about to leave outside.>
I’ve got lots of cheapie dollar store and amazon toys – they don’t live outside, they live near the door and a few go out with us (one in the mouth and maybe also one in my hand :))
>It’s more that she’ll grab a branch or a small piece of a chew and play keep away. That becomes worrisome as I don’t want her to swallow it. She threw up a piece of bark last night in the middle of the night.>
Yes, absolutely worrisome! It might be long-line time and her drivers license for free running in the yard gets temporarily revoked til the chewing/eating/coming in gets directed more the way you want it. I do lots of rewards for coming in, of course – but at least as many “let’s go right back out!” moments so the pup can’t predict that going inside is the end of the fun and then start to avoid it. And you can change up the rewards for coming in – play with Sprite, or something cool and active in the house with you or a chewy.
>Potty training is slow as she won’t go when she’s outside and then wants to come in and pee in the kitchen. So, I’m taking her out constantly.>
That is hard! I can relate. Maybe a change in potty location will help, like if there is a place in the front of the house you can take her out on leash? She will get the hang of it soon!
Backing up is going well here! You can add in the next step, which is using a target mat for her to back up onto. Use something low and also big enough so she can start with all 4 feet on it. It will help add more distance!
You can see it in the “Adding Challenge” section here:The resilience game also went great, no problem at all! If the toy was the item-to-be-ignored, then it makes sense why she had a little trouble tugging on it. She was in ‘ignore it’ mode and focused on the food – you can make that easier by tying the toy to a long toy so it swoops around more and the food hand is further away 🙂 And, you can use a different toy for the tugging so she has an easier transition back to tugging.
Great job!
TracyHi!
The turn aways on the flat looked good! The lap turns looked particularly easy for her to read.
The tandem also went well –
>I think I’m rushing the tandem turn and bringing my hand up too high which brings her off the ground>
Yes, you can keep your hands lower (probably needing to bend down a little) and have them visible as soon as she starts moving to you, so she sees the cue sooner and is ready for the turning away.
>the prop is much more fun than any toy and off she went when it hit the ground and she was released. Didn’t include the video as she wasn’t going to give it up>
Definitely send the video, even if it is only a rep or two 🙂 There might be one small adjustment we can make to help it go more smoothly.
>Should I change the prop to something that doesn’t move?>
Nope 🙂 Her communication is with her mouth 🙂 so if she picks it up, something is sideways in the cue timing or something else. It could be something as simple when you put the prop in the picture, and how long the session already was, etc.
> Save my cheese for prop only sessions?>
Yes, value of reward can also be part of it. You can also use a toy reward.
> Send her back to Minnesota? (Just kidding – I love this pup)>
Ha! Nope, send her to me, she is adorable!!!
>I also did some hand target refreshers to get ready for the serpentine strike a pose. She’s a funny girl. She gave me two great hand touches and then started giving me paw touches instead (We have NOT done any hi 5 training). >
Paw touches are behaviors we see usually when the pup is excited or if the target is too low or the reward too late or the placement of reward needs to be adjust or all of the above 🙂
>When that didn’t get her a treat she started biting the card. >
She communicates with her mouth!
>This happened on both sides – 2 touches; paw touches and bite the target.>
Rather than withhold the reward, toss it off to the side and use it as an opportunity for problem solving. You ight need to just raise the target so feet are not as easy to lift. Or reward sooner, just before she touches it and before a foot hit. And reward with a tossed treat, so she stays in motion and is less likely to want to hit it with her feet. The game this builds to helps get rid of foot pawing at the target anyway, but it is fun to use shaping games to problem solve a bit.
> I know with my other poodles I’m not able to repeat things as they start to get creative and offering all sorts of behaviors — forget that some things are genetic. Thoughts?>
Yes, there are genetic tendencies for sure! I wouldn’t think 2 reps is too many in a row, but there might be something she is reading about the setup or something when she gets pumped up that causes her to want to add her feet into it. Definitely get it on video, it will be fun to sort out!
Nice work here!
TracyHi!
Yes, this is looking really good! The next step to add is have her starting further behind you, coming to you as you are moving – then as she is on her way, you are slowing down so when she gets to your hand, you can turn her away for the tandem turn. The slowing down really sets up the turn away so he is expecting it, so even if you are running (which she will like :)) be sure to slow down before she gets to you.Great job!
TracyHi!
Good job focusing on your markers!!
>From a prior comment about my verbals–
nice or good is encouragement only>I think using praise can make the markers muddy, so be careful to praise after the marker and when she is at the reward.
>yes is food to mouth or toy to mouth>
This might not be as clear, if you have both with you. It is one of the places I like separate markers because we often carry both food and treats. Plus, the approach to get a treat versus the approach to get a toy (coming in hot for a toy!) and I don’t want any hard contact with my hand if she comes in hot for a treat.
Parallel path – her value was great and she was wonderful about finding the line to the prop!! I see what you mean about saying the ‘yes – get it’ combo! The ‘get it will definitely help her look ahead and not at you, so plan for that for the next session – there was a lot of yes good girl so she was looking at you 🙂
Rear crosses – she is hitting the prop beautifully, so now you can start giving RC info sooner:
>> Rear cross– she consistently turned incorrectly no matter the side she was on .>
Based on the timing of what she saw, she was turning correctly. So you can
start a lot further from the prop, maybe 20 feet away, so that she drives ahead of you which gives you time to then get to her other side… all before she gets to the prop. She was at the prop when you started cutting behind her to the new side here, so she turned to the original side then turned to you. Getting you to the new side when she is still a stride or two away from the prop will get her turning to the new side really well.Having the toy nice and close to tunnel really helped! You can also use it as a framework to get her to bring it back – as soon as she grabs toy #1, you can whip out toy 2 and move away, calling her. The goal is to shape her so she eventually grabs toy 1 and immediately brings it back 🙂
Stays – nice job getting these stays started!! As you start these, the little bit of motion the whole time you get a step away but mark/throw a reward back pretty early on is where she was most successful.
Standing still for too long especially if you weren’t really looking at her was might have been making her think she needs to offer other things. So you can cue a sit (or let her offer it) and be slowly moving away the whole time – but reward very quickly with the marker. Be sure to say the marker before you move your hand, though – she was leaving the sits when your hand would move 🙂
Great job here!
TracyHi!
A quilt retreat – that sounds amazing!!!
The predictability video is the same as the stay video. It looked really good, his stays were lovely! He already had a foundation for this nice stay, right? He did really well with both the reward thrown back to him and the release to you. Since this went so well, you can ramp it up by adding more arousal to it – this can be in the form of using tugging before the sit and then as the reward to throw back or to release forward to. You can also add more of your motion as you lead out – instead of walking, maybe a gentle jog? Eventually you will want to be able to start running as you lead out, before you release him 🙂 For the more-motion challenge, I think food is probably a better reinforcement than toys: both because it is high value and it might not be as stimulating as the toy 🙂
The tandem turn video is the pattern game/predictability video. He was fabulous – easiest game ever, according to PoweR. The pink spracy bottle was only interesting to him because as you moved, he might have been thinking you wanted him to offer behavior on it LOL!! When you were further away, he ignored it completely. He was also solid with the frisbee on the ground.
You can take this game on the road, to more exciting/distracting places – agility trials, the park, anyplace he might go where you might like him to ignore outside distractions. Be sure to use high value food.The handling combos with the TreatnTrain went GREAT! The TreatnTrain might be the biggest distraction out of all of the distractions LOL! But I am super proud of how well he stuck with you at the cone and when you pivoted
There was one blooperd at 1:09 and I think it was a late pivot cue 🙂 You took a big step towards the TnT so he was locked onto it, then you pivoted, so he was already on the line to the TnT. He was perfect on all the other pivots where the info came earlier.>With these I realized I did not use the “Ready” between reps. I think he would have been better if I had remembered that.>
Yes! That was really his only question: when, exactly, to go to the cone. A bit of ready ready followed by the send to the cone will clarify that for him.
Since this went so well and he really liked it 🙂 you can add more room between the cone and the TnT so he gets to really run run run when you cue him to go to it.
So the missing video is the tandem turn video – let me know if you have the link to it.
Great job! Enjoy your week!!!!
Tracy
Hi!
She was pretty perfect with touching the target hand, and she did great with grabbing the start cookie and coming to the target. Your reward placement was really good!>agsin she spent time sniffing the grass when there was nothing to find.>
The video was really useful here for this!
She seemed to think that your reward hand movement was the same as a cookie toss motion, so she was looking for a tossed treat. And it does kind of look the same 🙂 The markers are not that consistent (you had a mixture of yes and get it), so she is relying on hand motion to tell her where the treat is. So you can be very consistent with the markers (I think your ‘get it’ is great for when you throw it, and you can use a different one for when you want her to eat from you hand – ‘snacks’ is a fun one 🙂 and make the ‘eat from my hand’ movement really obvious by shaking your hand and showing her the treat.Interestingly, she did the same sniffing back-and-forth when you were extending the target hand in the 2nd half of the video – I think she was reading the target hand as a tossed treat motion too! So by starting with the tossed treat away from you (and it can be tossed onto a towel or mat if she sometimes sniffs for too long), then as she comes back to you – show the target hand and look at it. That should take out her thinking you tossed the treat – when you did it like that, she did not sniff around, she went directly to the target.
Nice work here!
Tracy
Hi!
This went well! She has no questions about the handling – it was more about ignoring the treats 🙂>So I’m trying bc to do more outside as she seems to be more distracted and sniffs the grass more even when using big or light colored treats.>
You can teach her the pattern game outside – that one is great for getting rid of sniffing evn though the treats are tossed. And doing more with a toy will help a lot too.
>She did better with this exercise if I hid the treat under the target.>
She definitely knew the fastest way to the cookie was to run directly to the target LOL! You can help her by rewarding her with more cookies for walking away from the target and towards the barrel. For example, put a medium value treat on the target, and then use high value treats to reward her for moving with you to the barrel (without holding her). That will help her be able to ignore the treat target.
Let me know how she does with the toy! Nice work here!
TracyHi!
> It’s interesting that she did do the send to prop. But, food is more calming.>
Yes, I think it partially had to do with the value and actual temperature of the food (cooling!) and also the prop could be done in the shade 🙂
>The running around is in general. She will grab something she shouldn’t have and zoom zoom all over the yard. No interest in coming to me as she knows I’ll take it out of her mouth>
> she’s started to steal things she can get her mouth on and run away with it. Normal puppy behavior.>Totally normal! And most pups do it because it fulfills the need to have something in their mouth and run around 🙂 You can give her that outlet and direct it in a way that works for you both by having an assortment of toys she can carry and run around with – and let her choose one in any situation where she might grab something and zoom around with it. That can be at the door to the yard, or exiting her xpen – any exciting moment might need something for her to carry. And if it is a toy, then she can indeed zoom all over with it and you won’t need to call her back… so she won’t play any keep-away 🙂
>. It’s not necessarily training related.>
It isn’t, but it is 🤣😂 because those neural pathways are probably same/similar to the ones for retrieving during training. Plus it is probably something that you don’t really want.
>I do play with her with a soccer ball or sometimes just sit while she runs around. If she checks in I give her a treat.>
Those are also good outlets! The soccer ball might be too big to carry while she runs? I use a whole bunch of cheap/flat toys without stuff (but they do have squeakers) that are available for any dog that needs something in their mouth when exciting things are happening 🙂
T
Hi!
The oinking is great! So funny! The baby stay video went great! You can add in a little more duration with some praise, a little bit of moving further away – as long as you mix in a lot of easy peasy reps and allow very little failure 🙂
Looking at the turn and burn video:
In the first moment at the beginning when you asked if she was ready and she moved away and sat? You asked, she answered LOL! She answered with a ‘nope’!
The barrel in the sun so she didn’t want to leave the shade perhaps? Too hot from having just run with Sprite? Too many days in a row of training things? The games are easy and fun and she is successful… but puppies do need a day or two off from structured things because it can still be depleting.
Plus, the barrel was in the sun and all of her behavior was taking her back into the shade. So I would put it away from a day or two and then bring it back out in a cooler time of day, in the shade, and see what happens.
>She’s started running around the yard and doesn’t want to come in as the run ends.>
Is this in general in life, or only in the turn and burn session?
When you did the prop sending – part of the prop was a little more in the shade so she figured out how to stay in the shade, which also leads me to think she was hot and avoiding being in the sun.
> I had trouble with her switches sides. Not connected enough?>
Behavior is communication so when she was cutting behind you, what was she saying? She was pretty insistent about it… her line as she went behind you and the part of the prop she was heading towards were all in the shade 🙂 She is a smart little monkey!
During the countermotion – that pretty much kept her in the shade so she did it without questions. Food reward sessions are generally tolerated better if the pups are hot or depleted because they are not as tiring and they don’t get as heated up as tugging gets them.
When she took off with the toy – that is usually a pup asking for some decompression, plus she was heading towards the shady part of the yard. It all says she needs some good running around – playing with Sprite is a great decompression! I do play walks with my pup – he plays with the others while we roam around the yard, and I sporadically call his name and reward him with cheese. Yes, all the others come running too and that is great social learning for the recall 🙂 while keeping the training less structured sometimes. Running, treat finding in the grass, sniffing, etc – all great as a balance from learning.
So no worries that she did not want to do turn and burn – just good info! You can build in a day or two off from any structured training each week – it is hard for us humans and great for the pups 🙂 The other games looked great!
Tracy
Hi!
>, I let everyone play together.Did afew things with Audubon and Roulez and then took them inside. It satisfied my need to spend time with them all together and then training individually.>
That sounds perfect!!
>. I feel like I am cheating because my puppy came with tunnel performance installed. Hahaha!>
Ha! Definitely NOT cheating!!!! The baby dog tunnels were hilarious!!
During the tunnel session – she definitely has value! Be sure to hold her collar so you can say the tunnel verbal 3 or 4 times then release her. You were saying it after she was moving so that doesn’t attach the verbal as well.
> Interestingly, when she went in tunnel with her on my left ,she came out of the tunnel curving back to me.We will work on that>
Was the toy out there on that side too? If so, it might be that the food value was higher and she knew you had food. Or, the get it was late. Or the toy was too far. Or all of the above LOL! You can help her out by throwing the reward, so it is flying as she exits the tunnel and she will drive to it.
On the lap turns – things went best when you stepped your leg back – those were smooth and fast! Sometimes your leg didn’t move and that was when you both felt a little awkward about it LOL
My favorite reps were the last 2 on the video: you let her get close to your arm and leg then you moved them both, with a nice low hand. Then you moved forward and she drop by herself to the prop. Lovely!!!! Yay!
And tossing the treat after the prop hit really helped her look for the line, ahtre than at you!
Great job! Onwards to the tandem turns!
Tracy
Hi!
Are you seeing the same bit of running around before playing with the toy? If so, then yes, keep them separate for now – just play with the toy in a different place so there is no concern about gping back and forth yet 🙂T
Good morning!
It is awesome to have a puppy auntie who is happy to run run run for puppy training! Yay! Aelfraed drove very directly to the toy which is great.
Since he drove ahead so well, you can add this to the toy races game: you will also start moving forward when you let him go. Whoever gets to the auntie first gets to tug with the auntie 🙂 it will be silly fun if you get there first!
And you can add this to the handler combos too – he wraps the barrel and then after you a FC, she can take off running for the go go go section of it.
And chase the auntie out of the tunnel did look like great fun 🙂 It looks like it took 1 rep for him to realize that he was allowed to leave you, then it was GAME ON. He was finding the angles really well!
He was also very happy to take the tunnel on the way back to you 😂 so you can add a little more to the game. After he plays with the auntie, you can change your body line by putting yourself between the tunnel and his line – the using the arm further from the tunnel (and connection :)) try to convince him NOT to take the tunnel on the way back and reward of course. You might have to make yourself really visible to convince him. He was not wrong to take it on the way back, but we can use it as an opportunity to show him the difference between the cues to take it, and the cues to come to your side.
Great job here!
Tracy
Hi!
He did really well with the tunnel!
He was happy to find the tunnel from different angles – super!>(think he liked the toy better in the second quick video).>
The toy definitely has more excitement to it, but he was really turning on to the MM here too. I think the MM is a little too close so he had to collect while he was still inside the tunnel. You can move it further so he can run more when he exits the tunnel.
He had a little trouble tugging when he MM was present! This is good to know, so you can have the MM sitting around even when you don’t use it, so he learns to ignore it and can still tug hard like he normally does.
And you might need more compelling treats to be able to line him up when he sees the MM LOL! That will help keep him from leaving you to run through the tunnel to the MM before you are ready 🙂
He also really liked doing the tunnel to get the toy!
>I didn’t throw it just for time sake to not have to chase it down but I realize throwing the toy is optimal. Sometimes for video you just want efficient!>
Yes, I like efficient but also – you can allow reward placement to take priority 🙂 Fewer reps with good placement get us to the desired behavior faster, so it ends up being more efficient overall. Definitely throw it – then you can also work on getting the toy back with some rewards for retrieving. It is a 2-for-1 session which is great!
He was happy to find the tunnel here too – just needed one more heartbeat to find the turn away into it on one rep! You had the tunnel cue starting. And since he was able to turn away from you (when he was on the inside arm, between you and the tunnel) to get into the tunnel, you can add your tunnel-threadle verbal too: just be sure to hold him while you say it a few times, then let him go to turn away into the tunnel.
Great job!
Tracy
