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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!
TracyGood morning!
>. I’m not holding her collar as she still gets real bitey with that. I use food to help line her up instead of collar hold.>
You had a bit of harness holding right at the beginning and she did well! You can line her up with a cookie, put your hand on the harness for a cookie but don’t hold her or move her by the harness – it is an easy way to keep building in collar touch without biting 🙂
She is doing well with this game! She is also communicating when things are not clear 🙂
>. She does a lot of jumping up to my hand when I’m using food – not sure what to do about that.>
I think she had some questions about what was next and clarifying your connection and markers will smooth all of that out:
For the markers, you were using ‘yes’ and I believe she processes that to me “cookies from da momma” so she looks at you and moves towards you. That was drawing her focus away from the toy in the first part of the session. When you did more “go go get it”, she was focusing on the toy a lot better, especially when you ran to it as well and played.
And, be sure to use go go get it to mean the reward on the ground only – at :30 you said it then gave her a treat from your hand, so she was not sure if she should continue to the toy or not 🙂
So you can give her treats for moving away from the toy on the ground and towards the barrel, giving her the last treat just before the send. Then as she exits the barrel, connect and run, saying ‘go go get it’ to help clarify where to look next if you want her running to the toy.
She had a couple of questions at the barrel, at :45 and :57. I don’t think she was jumping up for treats – it looks more like you were disconnected as you sent forward (which changes the line of your shoulders, which is qhat she is mainly cueing off of), and moving away too quickly – so those caused her to look up at you. When she went smoothly to the barrel, you look at her more as you sent her to it, and you faced the barrel for a few heartbeats longer: that was a nice clear cue for her, so definitely keep doing that!!
About the parallel path game:
>Should I reward If she drives forward past the prop but doesn’t touch it?>If she is going towards it and over it, loking forward? Yes, reward 🙂 You are seeing extension and that is great for this game.
If she is looking at you and trotting past it on either side, focused on you rather than the prop? I would not reward it but if she fails once or twice, make it easier by getting closer and rewarding for heading to the prop.
>She did that 3 times in a row and I didn’t reward… her response was to grab the prop and take a few laps around the yard. I got the message – she’s not subtle.>
HAHA!!! As they say… “behavior is communication” hahahahahaha I guess grabbing the prop is her way of saying “I know it is about the prop, human!” And the prop laps are why we use the prop at this stage plus it is better than barking or biting you arm or something LOL!
Nice work!
Tracy
Good morning!
>. I was thinking when we were out yesterday that we need more adolescent world watching now.>
Yes, we need to revisit lots of things during adolescence but also not be concerned if the pups have different feelings about them. That can change day to day and it is normal.
Strike a pose went great! You can separate your feet in the serp stance so it might be easier to lean over and get your target hand low? The hand position was spot on and your feet were pointing the correct direction, so it is really about what feels most comfy for you 🙂
He was doing the behavior really well so starting it with treats got the ball rolling nicely. He also might think all-treats is a little too chill, so you can get more excitement for driving into you being stationary by tugging after each rep when you are using treats only – or you can toss a treat as a start cookie and use a toy as a reward 🙂 That can make it super fun for him while maintaining the lovely precision he had here.Great job!
Tracy(I recommend a few more verbals because Gruff is built for speed and has the drive/temperament to be incredibly fast while also processing all sorts of cues. This is exciting!!)
Got it! The other thing I recommend is to have a front side soft turn left/right – that would be a 90-degree turn that has collection to it, but it is not a wrap. It is one of the most useful cues lately especially as agility course design is trending towards tons of jump discriminations.
Happily it is really easy to teach and we do teach it later in this class too 🙂
Good morning!
Lots of good work here! I love your energy level and engagement with her!
>1st session of Strike a pose ,my feet were wrong.>
Easy fix for next time, no worries. She did well with this game – it is a hard one especially with the visible toy!
For the targeting – add in having an actual target in your hand because she will see it better when we add all sorts of movement. And it will stand out against the big exciting visual of the toy 🙂
Question about the markers:
Is ‘yesssss’ your cookie in hand marker versus ‘get it’ for toy in hand? Or is toy in hand something else – there was a bit if ‘yes’ and ‘get it’ the toy too and we want to clarify what it is for when things are moving faster and she is more aroused. And since you ratted yourself out earlier this week about marker confusion, I figured I could bug you about it 😂>Too much sideline interference.>
Yes, creeping in and barking at your sister then stealing her hand target opportunity in the first video is both hilarious and distracting LOL! Audie, you’ve been voted off the island LOL
But I totally relate to the pressures of making sure all the dogs have time to run around and train when the weather is good and before the daylight is gone, while also not wanting interference in the puppy’s session…
I use songs to help with this! One dog comes out of the house/crate/xpen, and their turn lasts the length of exactly one fun song (2.5 minutes or 3 minutes, no 20 minute songs allowed hahaha). Then when the song is over? That dog goes back in, and the next dog comes out to do something fun. Sometimes it is training, sometimes it is just running around to burn off steam. So with limited daylight, you can get in a bunch of rotations and everyone is happy… all while bopping to fun songs which puts everyone in a good mood (there are some interesting studies about dogs & music lately, and we already know that humans respond well to music!) Plus I feel like I am getting a small workout, switching out dogs a lot LOL!!!
I also don’t ask the other dogs for a stay – because then if they move, my attention gets diverted from the puppy which is not what I want. And if they move and I ignore it, they end up in the way LOL
Turn aways:
Without the prop:
Nice lap turns here on the right!! Pretty perfect mechanics on your right side with good timing, the low hand and the stepping back with the right leg. Your left sided mechanics were not as smooth – you had your hand high on a few of them, or sometimes had the low hand but didn’t step back. If your left hand is not your dominant hand, practice this without her so it feels as smooth as your right side does 🙂 But the low hand and letting her get to within 2 or 3 inches of the hand is key: that way it will be easier to step back and turn her away.When you added the prop – I think you were trying to indicate the prop while turning her away, so she was not always sure of where to be or what to do.
When the prop is in the picture, you can still have her come in to an empty hand and do the lap turn exactly as you did it without the prop. Then after she does the turn away, just walk by the prop and she will hit it – then you can toss the reward. So basically pretend the prop is not there and focus on the same mechanics – then after the turn away, the prop will be on her line and she will go to it independently.
Nice work!! Let me know what you think!
Tracy
Good morning!
These games all went really well! Yay!
On the sandwich game:
Your connection after the blind was generally strong – only one spot where you didn’t make clear connection (1:18) so she didn’t change sides – BIG click/treat for rolling with it and continuing so she could still get rewarded!
After the blind – she is driving at you nice and fast, so the decel needs to come sooner which allows her to adjust her stride and allows you to get your hand in a little lower. You were generally a little late, decelerating just before she got to you, which is why she was a little wider away from you and she was popping up a bit. Your earliest decel was at 1:39 – and she was able to drive right into you. Yay! So you can basically start your decel as soon as you finish the blind. I don’t think the cookie in hand or empty hand was an issue for her at all, she was great – it was about the decel timing.
It is great to having someone throwing the toy so you don’t need 3 arms for this game. Her best responses were when Tina was running and you were running, but we can get even more acceleration out of the pivot:
Think of it as a toy race, where you start to run, saying GO GO GO (or her get it marker) – if you get to the toy first, you get to tug with Tina. And she has to watch – which might make her BIG MAD and then she smokes you on the next rep 🙂
And please video this for the hilarity LOL!
Parallel path on the prop – going great! The get it marker really helped her not look up at you – yay! You can add more distance away from it laterally. Also, you can move further from it but start right next to her, so she drives ahead of you to it… which sets us up to start the rear crosses.
She also had strong value for the rotated sends! My only suggestion is to add the ready dance to get snappy behavior – the ready dance will get her excitement up for it so when you cue her, she will really pop to the prop 🙂 She was offering it nicely but you were chill, so she was chill. You can be a ready dance nut and then send her, I think she will enjoy that and you’ll get great prop smacks 🙂
Great job!
Tracy
Hi!
Strike a pose is going well! I think he liked the action of the running back and forth with the toy as the main reward 🙂 and he looked balanced in both directions. Great job here with the physical position and the reward placement!!
As he is heading back towards you, the visible toy makes this a hard discrimination especially when the toy was still swinging. When you looked more at the target (like at 1:15 and 1:27 and 1:57) rather than directly at him, his target hits were fantastic! He was driving in to the target hand and not considering the toy. So you can definitely watch him get the start cookie and then shift your gaze to the target hand.
He was pumped up for the toy here, so you can actually slow the transitions from the toy play to the tossed treat to start: have your hands low when you cue the out, then let him release and back off the toy for a few seconds, then slowly lift it to reset for the next rep. You were quick in those transitions, which was getting a bit of re-gripping and jumping for the toy. So the slower transitions will give him a moment to fold in some impulse control too! And then he will process the ‘get it’ for the start treat – he would miss that sometimes if it all happened to fast and he was still focused on the toy.
Great job getting the verbals added in – I think the markers were really effective, especially when you had the toy in your hand. You might need to emphasize the difference between “take” and “get” as well, if it all happens really fast and he misses anything 🙂 As he gets more experience with this game, you won’t even need to point at the toy on the ground.
I think toy on the ground was actually easier for him than the toy in your hand! He did SUPER well! So you can keep going with that, moving the toy a bit further away so he has more room to turn to it and take the next stride.. And of course you can use a food bowl on the ground too!
Lovely work!
TracyHi! This is a great list of verbals!
Are check and dig more of the L-shaped turns as opposed to the ‘around’ which is the front side wrap? Or are check and dig front side wraps and around is the backside wrap? I need more coffee for early morning verbals 😂
>Would like to add a lead change cue.>
We are teaching a lead change cue here in a couple of weeks, to teach the pups to shift away on the line to pick up a different line. Stay tuned!
>Have considered changing Table to Box.>
Box does sound different from the other T verbals. I like it!
Tracy
Good morning!
Ping Pong looks strong! Doing it outside was a good ‘next step’ – the grass has some good scents and I am sure the treats added some good smells too! So he got in good rehearsal of assessing the environment and engaging with you. Super! Since he already has a good history with this game, it is a good one to take to different environments in day to day life: indoors, outdoors, different rooms, and even when other dogs/people are around. It is a useful game for sure!
Great job :)
TracyI just posted the reply – the battery on my computer croaked just as I was trying to post it earlier 🙂 You will see it above now 🙂
TracyHi!
I am glad she is feeling better!!! That just have been scary!!
>I finally found a toy that she really likes,>
She definitely likes that toy! It is a great toy!!
> but she still will take a brief “victory lap” before engaging with it.>
On this video, she came away from the treat area really quickly. Then I think she was maybe thinking “woohoo we are running!” And the toy became her focal point when you turned and ran the other way. The tugging looked good and happened pretty quickly. You can call her once then start to make silly noise or use a ‘get it’ cue to emphasize the toy – calling her name a lot might pull her focus away from the toy.
The other thing on this video which might is definitely subtle: she turned to her right to get to you, rather than to her left which would be the ‘easier’ side, based on where you were.
So maybe she was not doing a run-by or victory lap, maybe she just has not quite figured out how to turn left while running? You can test that theory by having her on your left side to chase the toy, and see if she gets to the toy faster by turning to her right.
>She also seems to want to run in circles…searching for food???>
Grab lots of video of this and we will see if there is a pattern or a reason behind it. The transition back to the toy is something that is built up and we have plenty of time to build it 🙂
> Am I worrying about that too much?? I just don’t want to create a pattern that will transfer into the ring in the future. >
Definitely nothing to worry about 🙂 It is just something to develop as you build up her reinforcement toolbox 🙂 And you can test different theories: does the running in circles only happen when a toy is present? Or if you took off and ran with a cookie, does it happen? Or does it happen after a bit of training regardless of what happens next? It might be her way of working through lots of excitement. It is all good, we will get it sorted out 🙂
Keep me posted!
TracyHi!
This went really well, with the in-then-out behavior happening really easily (nice reward placement!!). I think for her, doing this as a mainly toy-based game will keep it more interesting. The food rewards were ok based on her response… but the real fun was with the toy 🙂 And you can do it sitting on the couch for now, so she doesn’t have to reach up to hit the target. She will be taller soon, so you will be able to stand LOL!
>I think she spit up a cookie on the red where she was smelling under my feet. Was I right to just wait her out?>
It could have been a couple of reasons – yes, she might have spit up a cookie. But also she has to turn to her left on that side, so perhaps she was sorting out the left turns? Also, I think by that point in the session, there were too many cookie reps and she was a little under-stimulated by it all LOL!! So – you can use a start cookie and then the toy as reward, doing fewer reps but they will be more enticing for sure!
And if she loses focus for a moment, you can call her back and reset the next rep – then break off and play. That can also optimize arousal for this.
For the next session, start with the target in your left hand and see how it goes when she is fresh and spicy 🙂
Nice work here!!Tracy
Hi!
Each type of contact training definitely has challenges! If you have regular access to the contacts, you’ll have an easier time with the running contacts. If you don’t have regular access, you might find it is easier to train the stops.
But either way – training understanding and then maintaining criteria is key! I personally think the running dog walk takes a bit longer than the stops, because of all the striding and all the different exit. But it sure if fun and worthwhile!
>For running contacts, should I still plan on using an end behavior (Hit It)?>
For the running a-frame, the behavior is basically the same regardless of the exit, so you can use a general ‘hit it’ or even just the a-frame cue.
For the running dog walk – the striding into the end behavior changes based on what the exit line is (straight versus turn, etc) so you will probably need a couple of different cues 🙂 And those cues get delivered pretty early. For example, I use “run run run run” to mean full out extension and go straight on the exit, and I start that cue no later than the top of the up ramp. All of that gets trained in during the training stages.
let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning!
This went really well!! He was a super good boy with all the. Things here: looking at the bowl, lining up, playing tug , etc. Whatever collar he is wearing certainly made it easy to hold him and cue the forward focus – click/treat to yoU! You had really smooth mechanics so it was an efficient session and also very playful. Love it!!
>He did better at home. >
I thought he did great here! So if he as even better at home, that is great, you will be able to advance this skill really well!
He is a really fast learner so I think you can push the limits more 🙂 but moving the bowl further around by an inch or two, after each successful rep or two. That way you can get the bowl around the cone pretty fast, to add more challenge.
Since you are getting the forward focus really well – when the bowl is most of the way around the cone so he looks at the cone/line and not at the bowl, you can add a forward focus verbal if you like: say a cue (like ‘look’) just before you point with the other hand. And you don’t need to add a verbal if you don’t want more words to have to remember LOL!
>Thought toy would be easier. It wasn’t lol>
Yes, he was not as sure about getting the toy at the end but that might have just been he was in food bowl mode and needed to see that separately. Most of the session was ‘ignore the toy, look at the bowl’ – so definitely try the toy instead of the bowl at the start of the next session and see what he does.
Backing up –
This is a hard skill and he did well! YAY!! Nice job to you for keeping your hands nice and low, so he could maintain his neutral/natural head position and move backwards pretty easily. He might be in the all-legs stage but he handled those legs really well 🙂He had a short time right at the beginning where he was not entirely sure or remembering what to do – some whining and some flinging his butt back, so you can jumpstart the “it is about the mat” at the beginning by getting him all four feet on it and rewarding. Then lure his front feet off and let him step back on, and reward. He took a few seconds to ‘remember’ it, so that quick jumpstart moment can help at the start.
Once he got rolling, I like how he stopped tossing his butt backwards 😂😆 and instead was walking backwards. YAY!!! My only suggestion (besides keep doing what you’re doing) – you can break this up more, in terms of tossing a treat or toy away so he can move forward and move around naturally more. That will be less tiring as you add more distance away from the mat.
Great job here!
Tracy
