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Hi!
>>I’m a klutz and tripped over a dog cot hurting my knee and twisting my ankle.
OUCH! Hopefully your feel better today!
>>BTW, how are you getting to forums while course building and running? Superwoman!>>
I didn’t enter that many classes because it just gets too exhausting. Running at 8pm last night after being in the building at 4:30am to start building did NOT produce good results for my handling LOL!!
>P.s. Sprite practiced couch chill while I watched the US open. I saw you with HSM and Bandit!>>
Fun! I was halfway decent with them in Speedstakes. It was a challenging but fun course!
And I was trying to watch all of the dogs at the line to see if we had eye contact going – nope! We are basically “all business” and they do not need to give me any direct eye contact. We go in, we are looking at/towards each other, and then I ask for the stay position, then lead out. So yes, we are connected and looking at each other, but at no stage is eye contact something I wait for, if that makes sense.
And when the youngest (Elektra) needed to run in the rain, I asked her if she could sit and she said no – so I asked her to stand and stay and she said yes, so I led out from a stand. In a really challenging environment (2 rings close to each other, no real ring fencing, dogs and people everywhere, trialing outdoors for the first time, plus rain!) it was really important to help her out and not add any pressure. She was terrific in her run!
I mention all this as food for thought – you and Sprite will develop a communication system that works really well!
Leash off/engagement on looked good! She was engaged the whole time, which is great. This is something I do before all of the line ups with my dogs – leash off, engagement on (whatever we have hashed out as engagement) then into the line up cues.
>>I also did remote reinforcement. She wanted to eat hackberries rather than walk away with me. I could have put her leash on. But, I decided to add more energy and switch to a toy.>>
It looked really good! She definitely liked the higher energy! It brought her up to a more optimized arosal state and she did really well.
You can bring this magic chair as your reward station to class and trials – that can help make the reinforcement more predictable.
Next step can be to combine the leash off/engagement o n with the remote reinforcement game 🙂 She can be on leash, you leave the reward station, move to the jump – leash off. She engages? Cue the jump, then back to the reward station.
Pretty soon after that, if all goes well, you can cue the line up before you cue the jump, then back to the reward station 🙂
Great job here!
TracyGood morning!
The runs are looking good!First run – really nice opening! You can use more of her distance skills here to strategically get where you want to be 🙂
To get to the blind at the end even sooner, you can stick closer to the 3-4 line and send her to the #6 tunnel from further away – that way you will be right there to get past 7 to serp it more, and get the blind nice and early. At :13 she was jumping straight over the bar at you because you were just getting past the jump.Same with the blind between the 6 tunnel and 7 jump on the next run – send away to 4 while staying closer to 3, so you can be on a parallel line pretty far away from 5 so as she enters the 6 tunnel, you are basically already at the exit of the tunnel for the blind. That way you can start the blind before she even goes into the tunnel.
About sending away to 4: be super connected so as she is in the air over 3, you can be getting ready to end her to 4 as she lands. That will also help her keep the bar up by giving the turn cue sooner for 4.
3rd run – you wrapped to the left on 5 and she got it but ti set up more of a zig zag line 5-6. You can turn to her right on the outside of 5 (as a rear cross, or do a BC between 4 and 5) and that will set up a really smooth line for her.
4th run – Really nice! She found the shoulder turn (aka don’t take the tunnel cue) really nicely!
5th run – tunnel threadle – she is following this really well too, so you can move more directly to the tunnel to get it nice and smooth. You pulled your shoulders towards the jump, so she was heading to the jump. You can be cuing the threadle and moving to the tunnel entry to get the smoother line there – and that way she will go directly to the tunnel without needing an additional tunnel verbal (because “tunnel” in this scenario means to take the other side of it, so the tunnel threadle word should be the cue to come take the entry closer to you.
>>One thing I know is I really want that independent running A FRAME! I know that is beyond the scope of what you can and want to do here. Any suggestions for a class?>>
There are a couple of good classes out there – let me poke around the internet and see which links I can find for you!
Nice work here :)
TracyGood morning!
>>I have been doing a toned-down ready dance and it is definitely helping her control her arousal>>
Yes, totally agree! The first session looked really good! My only suggestion on that one is to be closer on the send, so you only do one step and not have to run towards it. So after you reward her with the tugging, you can tug her back closer to it then send from a couple of feet away.
>>Her arousal level was too high and she ran off with the prop>>
This was at :37 in the 2nd session – I think a bit of frustration sent her into overarousal there (these were 2 very short sessions, so unless other things happened in between, I don’t think it was a session length issue). The frustration was because you delayed the send for a side too long, so she sent herself (predicting the rhythm of it) and you didn’t reward – dogs are very clever at knowing when a reward is NOT coming, so she got frustrated and grabbed the prop.
So yes, it was arousal, but it is rooted in a lower resiliency (not being able to bounce back from the unexpected error or delay in the send).
No worries, we can build the resilience up! One way to do it in this game is to praise, call her back and give a reset cookie if she sends herself because the ready dance was a little long. And keeping the engagement just a bit shorter will help her be able to regulate the arousal.
>>She also has a history of running around the yard with toys. She enjoys it and I enjoy watching her, but it’s not ideal when we are in a training session, as opposed to a burning-off-energy session.>>
You can shape those sessions into cued reinforcement procedures, like “go for a run!” with the toy and then bringing it back for a cookie, then being sent off for a run again.
Third session – you can be walking away as she is getting the cookie, so when she eats it you can run then show the deceleration when she is halfway to you. That will get really nice collection into the pivot !
>>When I have her come to hand, she sometimes blind crosses on me, so I was trying not to turn too soon. Let me know if you think I am waiting too long to turn.>>
If she is moving to the other side of you, that is feedback from her that your connection is not strong enough 🙂
I thought you were strong here with connection so she stayed on on the correct side. You don’t really want to turn earlier – you were doing it just as she was arriving at your hand – but you can decelerate earlier to get her even tighter to your leg.
I love how she got right on the toy after all those cookies! Yay!!
>>I have worked separately on touching her and giving her treats since she likes to dance away if she thinks she is going to be restrained. I have also been touching her when we tug. Not in a rough way, but just a gentle touch. I like how that’s progressing.>>
Fantastic! Make being touched/help into a super fun party! And since she loves her toys and loves running with them, you can put her in a collar or harness and tug, touch the collar harness, then let go and let her run around with the toy. This will quickly progress to being able to hold the collar or harness.
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
Tracy
Good morning!
The bow on the plank is SO CUTE!!!!
Everything is going well here. For the decel game, you can decel even sooner. She reads it perfectly when you decel when she still has 2 or 3 strides to process it (like at :32, that was early and lovely!) So you can decel pretty early (maybe one stride after she starts moving towards you) and you will see the difference in how she drives into the pivot.
She is reading all the blinds really well! Yes, then can come sooner 🙂 You can toss the start cookie further away, or if she has trouble finding it in the grass: use a bowl to put it in, letting her see you put it in there, then sending her to it. That way you can get a bigger head start and do the blind cross as soon as she starts moving to you.
Tugging on wobble board is going well! She seems confident with it! To get more weight shift into her rear, you can keep the toy lower (just below her chin level) and move it side-to-side instead of up-and-down where her front end is coming up off the board.
Do you have a bigger wobble board, or a 2nd one? That will be even easier for her to get all 4 feet on the moving object(s).
Plank work looks good too! She is happy to jump on and turn around. I am not sure she totally knew you wanted her to jump off LOL! So you can use a release word then fling a cookie far away or toss a toy, to encourage jumping off.
Great job here!
TracyGood morning!
>>Frozen bone broth a couple years ago. To me, it has a strong styrofoam smell to it. >>
Could be the styrofoam smell! I wonder if the bone broth odor can last for years?
>>The video almost looks like I’m teaching mondio object guard which I find rather funny.>>
Right! That was funny!!!
Looking at the toy races – I see what you mean about him waiting for you to grab the two on the last 2 reps.
On the first 2 reps, he tried to grab it but couldn’t quite control his speed so overran it.
He totally cheated on rep 3 and I LOVE it LOL!
When he stopped picking it up, he was still driving hard to it, so it is hard to know if he was backing off because of the presence of the other dog on those 2 reps, or if he was predicting that you would pick it up and engage, or if he didn’t like the feeling of overrunning it.
So 2 things to add:
– He really likes the furry toy, so making it bigger & taller will also make it easier for him to grab. You can make it bigger/taller if you tie 3 or 4 furry toys together! Or you can stuff it into a hollee roller which is easier to grab on the run.– you can also let him win a little more but moving forward but not yet actively trying to win the toy race. That way he can grab it, then you can engage. And if he gets there first but overruns it while trying to grab it, you can encourage him to come back and grab it then play.
He has really good toy drive, but you can build it even more by doing a session of one rep – then that is it for the day. He will be definitely wanting more so you will be able to gradually extend the sessions while maintaining drive to the toy.
>>I see where not grabbing the toy could lead to not taking the obstacle.
Because he was driving ahead so well, I think obstacle commitment will be perfectly fine 🙂 It is more of the weight shift to be able to pick up the toy that we can help him with, which will help things like collection, weaves, etc.
Great job here!
TracyGood morning!
She was great here with the wrapping! No problem with you standing up and with the upright getting a little further away.
Changing to a cone – she had to think about it a little and had some misses, so for each new object you use to work this game, keep it closer for a full session til she gets it 🙂
Two toys – she is releasing the toy and offering going to the other side really well!
It took her a moment to realize the game was to go around the upright to get the toy, but then she had a big lightbulb moment at the beginning and was great after that! Super! Let her have a Buch more successful reps before you move the upright further away – that adds a bit too much challenge too soon, so she had a couple of misses.You can also add the cone to to this game! This will set you up really well for the games coming in the next couple of weeks, that have toys and a lot of action 🙂
>>Also, I’ve been trying to use the method you use for teaching the back up for months. I am banging my head on the wall because she is either not getting it, or just doesn’t like doing it. >>
Fortunately, there are a ton of different ways to work on this skill. The version of it posted in the lesson is one way to do it (people tended to like it better than the other way to do it, which is shaping it, see video below).
>>She will happily do 2on2off all sorts of things, but she faces it first and then turns.>>
So one of the other ways to do it is have her stand with all four feet on a low bed of low plank (touching the ground). Then using a cookie, lure her forward (but not off it) and when you stop the lure, she will probably lean back to get balanced n the object again. Reward!
Then you can then lure one front foot off – and then stop the lure so when she steps t hat one front foot back onto the thing – reward!
Then lure 2 front feet off, and reward for stepping both back on. Eventually you will work up to all four feet off, then stepping back on and rewarding for back feet off.
This will take a couple of sessions. And you can try a couple of thing to set up the environment to help her rep back and not turn around:
– you can be sitting on the ground instead of leaning over her
– you can have things that set up a more narrow environment, like 2 broad jump boards on either side of the thing she is on, or an xpen. This can create a channel and that can make baking up more easy.You can also use things to create a channel that is just a little wider than her shoulders (like an xpen). Using a cookie lure, draw her shoulders into the channel then reward when she backs out of it. Then lure her whole body just barely into it, then reward when she backs out (and so on, drawing her further and further in).
I also like to sit on my butt and shape it by getting offered behavior and tossing the reward. Here is a video example. This is not the pup’s first session, so I was waiting for more distinct back foot movement instead of hopping backwards. But for the first session of this, you can reward any movement backwards (and tossing treats helps keep the pup from moving into a down).
>>I’ve used narrow spaces and tossed food between her feet. >>
Do you have video of the narrow space or treat tossing? There might be a subtle easy tweak!
>>Or just leave it for a while?
That is the other option LOL!! Let her brain develop a bit more and then it will be easier to get the mechanics of backing up.
Nice work here! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
Very cool to see her getting on and offering turning around on the plank so easily! It helps that she is still small and narrow 🙂 You can add in asking for sits on the planks, and down too – those will be harder for balance and keeping her legs tight underneath her.
>>I can elevate it but wanted to keep it super easy>>
Yes, starting it low was perfect! Can you elevate it 2 or 3 inches? Just a little to add more challenge, but not too much for now.
On the prop sends: she is doing well with these too!
>>She’s still watching my hands quite a bit, but maybe that’s because we are so close to it?
While watching it with this in mind, I think it is a side preference thing:
When she is on your left hand side – she is not really watching at all! She watches you til you send her, then she looks to the prop til after she hits it.
On your Right side – she is for sure watching your hands more.
So my guess is that there is a side preference for you 🙂 in terms of using your left side over your right side. So a couple of sessions of sending her from your right hand and tossing the reward to the prop will help shift the value to looking at it on that side too.
Great job here!
TracyThis went really well! He totally seemed to like the action of this game 🙂 It is will be easier to work on timing outside in a bigger space, but he seemed happy with timing here and seemed to always know which side to be on. You can also call him after he gets the cookie (as you are moving away) so he gets the hang of grabbing the treat then coming directly back.
This is a good one to take outside into your yard, so there is more motion for you both!
Nice work!
TracyHe offered interacting with the object right away here – nice!! It was a quick transition from the tug to the shaping, and that really helps.
For all of these goat game shaping sessions when the object is relatively low (he doesn’t have to jump up on it) – toss all of your rewards off to the side using a get it marker. The more you reward in position, the more he gets stationary and then sits. So, you can build value for the object and keep him in motion by marking the behavior with a ‘get it’ and tossing a treat to the side.When you want him to tug, pick up the object – the object was too interesting and had too much food value for him to ignore the toy. But if you pick it up and then get the toy moving around, he is far more likely to engage with it.
Great job 🙂
TracyHi!
Good job getting him tugging in the presence of an entire bowl of food! He was really keep to get started here, so one tweak in mechanics: get everything ready and put the bowls down last, so you don’t miss any offered behavior (and so he doesn’t put himself into a sit :))He did really well with starting to offer the back and forth without the cookie being placed in the bowl in advance. As you move the upright into position, either throw treats away or lift the bowls up, so you don’t miss his first offers of going back and forth.
The visual of the upright might have made things a little harder, so for the next session have the upright already there when you sit down on the Klimb and before you put the bowls in, so he can get right into the rhythm of the back and forth. I bet latent learning will cement this in a day or two!
Nice work here!
TracyOn the opening, you ran straight for too long, so he thought you wanted the table and didn’t see the turn to the long jump – keep going when that happens. When you stopped, he jumped up (frustration behavior) so you will want to keep going and then fix the timing of the handling in the next run. The 2nd run looked really good! He was a little too close to jump 1 o dropped the bar, but you were clearer with your shoulder turn so he know to go to the long jump and not to the table 🙂
Great job!
TracyHe did well here too! He definitely is more relaxed – his jumping form is normal and not as ‘heads up’ as the trial where the environment is so much harder. Great job with the lines and weaves!!!!
This run went even better The blind looked great and you had more converging pressure into the 2nd to last jump, which helped him pick up the line to the last jump.
Great job!
TracyWow! Look at him working the big distance line to let you get the blind! That ending line was hard – a ‘get out’ might work there, before he takes off for the 2nd to last jump, to get him to shift away to the last jump.
Hi!
>>yes AKC will be the main venue. Thats why I like that we dont need a very structured routine- because what if the leash runner still have the leash in their hand (and we use 4H kids a lot) while watching and just forgets..>>
Exactly! I have had that happen with adult leash runners (the kid are usually great LOL!). And same with start lines – at the US Open today, I was on the line, leash off, ready to go… followed by a delay of a couple of minutes. No worries, we have a toolbox of things to do, so my dog still ran beautifully.
>>Is Sadie all business or volume dial? Granted she doesn’t need MORE speed as you say in volume dial- but she needs to focus and engagement. All business- I feel like she doesn’t need MORE arousal as her head will explode like in the herding example where her behavior got way way up there and she started to bark and become frantic.>>
The only way to know is to ask her! The answer can be counterintuitive 🙂 Try asking for an all-business start then see how she does, then play around with the volume dial start and see how she does!
T
