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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!
TracyGood morning!
>I don’t usually use the outside arm for the tandem turn but I see the value here as a stronger connection to get the dog to pass by the prop on the advanced portion>
You can start with both arms to get the behavior, then fade out the outside arm if you like! Lots of folks use a dog-side arm and shoulder position to get these and to also get the threadle wraps. It is handler preference 🙂
>….oye does he love his prop which is a good thing. I wasn’t sure what to do about him just going to the prop when he wasn’t sent there…?>
Yes, he loves his prop! But his questions had more to do with your mechanics, part of which had to do with the session length – 6 minutes is a long time and also, you didn’t give yourself a break to reset your mechanics 🙂 So what was happening was as you were adding the prop to both the lap and tandem later in the session, the behavior was getting blurry for him (too much all in one session, he was like “which is it?”) and your mechanics were blurry because you were also trying to switch gears without planning it as well. So he was offering a lot of behavior and was getting a little confused.
When he was going to the prop, it was mainly because you were right next to it and the start cookie was also very close, so the mechanics of the cue were not clearly visible in time. And you were freestyling the cues, combining some, so it was hard to read :). That is why the break between each session will really help you both!
So ideally, set your timer to 2 minutes 🙂 Do one cue – lap turns, for example). Then take a break, let him take a break, and plan your mechanics for the next session (planning without him also working). Then set the timer for another 90 seconds or 2 minutes… then add the prop.
Then leave it alone overnight to let his (and your) brains wire in the mechanics. And do the other cues on a different day 🙂
For the lap turns where you are facing him, moving your hand slowly worked the best! And for the tandem, slowing down your motion as he is arriving at your hands also prepared him for the turn really well.
You can ‘loop’ right back into the next rep but throwing the reward even further, so it becomes the next start cookie. Be sure to throw it far enough that you have a moment to reset.
And when adding the prop, you can add it further away laterally, so it is easier to draw him past it – but throwing the start cookie further on those too will give you more time to set up your mechanics to draw him past it. And if he gets to the prop and not your hands? No worries, it was probably late mechanics, so you can reset by throwing a start cookie again and clarifying the mechanics. As you said, he is really good at doing the turns when he sees the cues.
>I wish I had one of those very short tunnels. Where did you get yours?>
I think it is a Galican! Someone gave it to me, so I will ask where they got it.
Nice work here!
Tracy
Good morning!
I totally recognize that place LOL!!
Thank you for the video of the zoomies with the toy! I think two things are happening:
– The ring at LU is huge and distracting: so much to look at! So many smells!!
– Tugging is not that high on the hierarchy of motivators/rewards (not yet) especially when good is around.
So in the big new environments, she generally comes towards you but also part of her brain is exploring the environment and not able to come in to tug. And the pressure of trying to get her to tug in such a challenging environment is causing her to move *more*, not less.
Now compare to the videos you got with the food reward: she came right to the food. Food is high up on the list of motivators/rewards 🙂
So what to do? A couple of ideas!
For now, bearing in mind that she is only 5 months old – keep the food and toy play separate, both from each other and in terms of distraction level.
In the more challenging environments, like the big ring at LU, use food 🙂 That will be very motivating to help her tune out distractions that are present in that ring.
Separately, play silly toy games with no food present. For example, at LU, you can have her on the mats, on leash, chasing the toy as you swing it around to let her chase it. That narrows the playing field by giving her fewer distractions to have to process (stuff in the environment and food and you running). And you can do it at the front of the turf ring at LU – but still on leash or dragging the leash, without food present, and just letting her chase the toy and be generally silly.
As the toy play moves up the hierarchy of valuable reinforcement, we can use it more and more in training. But for now, keep it separate as a fun game without having to go back and forth to food quite yet (or tugging in big distracting areas.)
Looking at the prop game videos: Holy cow that is some impressive distance! She knows that the prop is what you want her to hit and the distance on the first video was great. That was a left turn. On the second video, you were sending to a right turn and that was MUCH harder for her – I am guessing she is a lefty 🙂 because when was unable to get the behavior to the right, she sent herself to the prop and did a left turn twice. She did get a right turn at the end, but she was also considering grabbing the prop… so that is really good communication!
She was basically saying that she can do the bigger distances when turning to her left… but needs to be closer for now to figure out the right turns. That is good info! So the next session can have the distance challenges and maybe some countermotion when sending to a left turn (like on the first video). When you change sides, get closer to the prop (maybe 3 feet away) for the right turns, so she can work out the harder mechanics successfully.
Great job on these! Let me know what you think!
Tracy
Good morning!
>seeing progress with understanding what opinionated Jazz is trying to tell me >
I am so glad you are having fun! I tell myself every day that behavior is communication… even if I don’t understand what is being communicated 😂 But as long as we humans keep trying to understand, our pups are happy to keep communicating and that is when the teamwork really blossoms.
>My boy is a little too big to fly in the cabin and I won’t fly him in cargo >
I totally understand! Flying dogs has really gotten so much harder in recent years. I used to fly my 19 lb dog in cabin all the time, no problem. There is no way I would do it now! And flying in cargo? Yeah, that really worries me nowadays too, so I won’t be doing big travel with my large dogs. I wish there was an easier way!
Looking at the parallel path and rear crosses – good job switching to the get it marker! She was really starting to fly!
Adding the rear crosses –
>Especially when turning to the left she turns into me, making a tight loop before heading in the right direction. Is this because I’m crossing too late?>
Yes, a tiny bit late – the first couple were just a step late, she was already turning the original direction – and also, she was totally not expecting you to appear on the other side LOL!
>she only grabbed the prop once and only took one lap around the yard before giving it up.>
Behavior is communication LOL 😂😝😆🤪
The prop victory lap at :46 might have just been that we are changing the picture and she needed a moment to regulate, clear her head, and decompress. A change in the game and something unexpected can certainly activate her physiology in a way that she feels the need to try to balance it… and a way that many dogs balance it is with high energy behavior like running around. It is a form of decompression and that is great! What you can do, though, is direct the decompression into forms that do not involve running around with the prop 🙂 It might take some experimenting to see how different things help her, but decompressions can range from treat scatters in the turf so she sniffs around for 30 seconds or so, to giving her a wild tug session, to handing over the tug and telling her she can take the toy for a run 🙂
I build in these decompressions right into the session (rather than wait til the end) when we are challenging the pup! It is really cool to see the regulation happen. More on decompression coming later in the class 🙂
After the run around with the prop, she was better able to process the RC info and also, you were earlier on most of the reps after :58! Yay! You can see that at 1:00, 1:02, and the last rep you were cleary on the new side when she was still a stride or two away from hitting the prop, so she found the new side really well. SUPER!!!
For the next session, you can start further from the prop so you have more time to get to the new side: she is FAST (I had to watch the RCs in slow motion to see exactly what was happening) so giving yourself more room and more time will make it easier.
The collection sandwich is looking good! It think the blinds were more timely when you started from the cookie toss (you could get further away :)) But it was really great to see her holding a stay for a moment on the mat!
Nice connection on the exit of the blinds! I agree – your timing of the decel was easier, which set up really good collection for the pivot. Yay!Was she able to get back on the toy when you kept it moving? She was a little bit on food mode when you tossed it, so you can fade out the food in your hand for the pivot which should help the thrown toy be even more exciting.
Great job on these!
Tracy
Good morning!
>Also, she has no idea what “ok” means. So, do I say ok, pause and then toss a cookie or toy?>
Are you using OK as your stay release? If so then yes – you can say ‘ok’, pause, then present a cookie or toy. I don’t toss them, because my stay releases all involve coming towards me in some way, doing a thing with me 🙂 So I reward from my hand on those. And you can put it all in context, using the baby stay games. I start these with clicking the stay (which is also the release) then when she has a frame of reference, you can add in the release verbal.
> Would I also use the toy or food marker after the ok?>
You can if you like – I generally don’t in the first session so the pup doesn’t have a thousand things flying around their brain 🙂 I just make the toy presentation obvious (or cookie presentation) because the context cues of us presenting the reward are already well-learned 🙂
The baby retrieve is going well! Is that toy oinking? LOL!
You had quick transitions into the toss and then had nice long tug sessions when she brought it back… which is the key to keeping her motivated to bring it back 🙂 The retrieve is easy to ‘break’ if we keep taking the toy away too quickly to ask her to ‘work’, so keep playing for a relatively long time when she retrieves it 🙂The turn aways are going well – it is really cool to see her turning smoothly in both directions! I saw no side preference here from her. Yay!
When you were patient and slow with the turn away hand, the lap turns and the tandem turns were both perfect!!! If you were a little too quick, she didn’t have time to organize or read the turn cue. This happened at :41 on the lap turn and the first rep of the tandems. But those were the only 2 little questions and the rest were spot on!!! Super!!!!
For the tandems (and future threadle wraps): on the reps when she was on your right side (left hand doing the turn away) you had a nice decel before you turned her away… those were lovely!! The decel prepares her for the turn and she is reading them perfectly.
And click/treat to you for having your hands nice and low so she didn’t pop up to follow them.
You can try adding the prop to the lap turn game name – that one is probably easier to show her the difference between ‘come to hand’ versus ‘go to prop’.
Great job!
TracyHi!
The backing up looked great – He remembered it really quickly! YAY!!!
And the verbal cue is attached! Super nice! This was a nice short session too – they lose form pretty quickly if they get tired. You can revisit this here and there, in different places. We will build on it soon!Pattern game:
>He’s not shy to tell me how he feels 😃. This was harder than I anticipated for him>
Good boy! Behavior is communication, and I think he was correct. Quill and I agree that for most of it, we didn’t know what to do to get rewarded 😂🤣
>. He has done this 3 ways in a fenzi class. Food visible, food in arms like airplane and food hidden. He has big feelings about that food not being visible lol!!!>
The big feelings appear to be frustration from not knowing how to play this game to get the reward – and so the frustration bubbles up pretty quickly. I don’t know what the goal was in the other class, but we definitely do NOT want any frustration built in to pattern games or resilience games at all. This pattern game is not intended to have any element where the food is hidden or faded, or any specific behavior other than engagement and movement. The food can be visible, you arms can (and should!) be relaxed, and you can reward the instant he turns back towards you and re-engages.
I think you were waiting for something more (maybe a sit? Or impulse control after the sit? Eye contact? Not sure!), but then when he was sitting and looking at you later in the session, you were not really rewarding – which is why you got all that frustration behavior.
So whatever you did in the other class… toss is out the window LOL!! It is just frustrating him and it is not what we need for the resilience games. Do what you did from :39 – 1:08 then again right at the end which is having him move away to a treat and when he engages by looking at you on the way back, toss the treat to the other side. That was lovely! No sit needed 🙂
To give you a visual of where this goes – we use the pattern games to get resilience and fantastic engagement, even in crazy high arousal environments. And letting the dog continue to move is excellent for resilience and arousal regulation:
>Stealth control
Started with toy as I knew that would be easier than the food(or anything that means food!). >He did really great here! You can include playing with a different toy here, so he can get even more excitement into it. The bowl was harder for sure but it probably has more of a learning history (FOOD! YUM!)
> We he first came out he went to toy and grabbed it and brought it to me.>
He came out and investigated the bowl as the first order of business here too, and the impulse to immediately investigate something in the environment is something we can avoid as we teach him self-control. A tweak to the set up can do it – having the toy or bowl as the main visible thing in the environment drew his attention to it as you were walking out, so you can have it further away or placed up on something. And you can also bring him out on leash so he doesn’t have the option to investigate it as the first order or business – then start the game further away (like near the door as you come outside) – he can see the distraction but it is far enough away and you won’t be moving towards it, making it easier for him to ignore it 🙂
Nice work here!
TracyHi!
Yes, this went well!! Using the toy seemed to make the mechanics easier and he did great.
He had some great hits and then some leapy moments – I think part of that was he is a little stronger on his left turn side (for now) when you were sending forward from your right hand. So you can be a little closer to it when he is turning right (sending forward from your left hand).
Also you had some good ready dance happening!!! During the ready dance, which is all about arousal regulation – when he kept his feet on the ground, the transition was better into the send. When he was leaping up, he didn’t send as well (or he sent himself upwards to your arm LOL!). This is good to know! So if he leaps up, no worries, keep playing the ready dance but you can make it a little less exciting before the send. Then when he has all 4 feet on the ground – send to the prop.
I think you can add in sideways sending and backwards sending now too!
Great job 🙂
Tracy
Hi!
>Hooray for daylight savings, we’ve got daylight at the end of day!!>
You are getting into a lovely time of year!
He did really well with this game! He is happy to drive ahead to get to the toy first – I am glad you are not going to be able to win (although we can cheat to win if we need too :))
> I think that was more frustration at not being able to get to the toy than me holding his collar.>
I agree, I don’t think he was a collar hold issue (he didn’t seem stressed by that) – it was more about the stability of the mechanics. When your arm is straight and extended, it is harder to hold him. When you are holding him try to lock your elbow into a 90 degree angle before you throw the toy so he doesn’t jump around trying to start the game before you are ready 🙂 When you did that, he felt the stability of the mechanics and jump around. And be sure to be connected to him when you let go, rather than looking forward at the toy. Connection will help him stay on his line and also it will help as you build in the cue to look forward.
Since this is going really well, you can add in a bit of retrieve – just as he is arriving at the toy, you can do a FC and run the other way, calling him. When he comes back to you, reward either with the original toy (if he brings it) or with a 2nd toy. If he drops the first toy on the way to you, no worries, we can build in more carrying soon.
Great job!
Tracy
