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Hi! Great seeing you on Zoom on Wednesday – you always ask the best questions!
>.So didn’t get much training in and will have to catch up with those games. 👍🏻>>
You probably got plenty of good training in on life stuff, so no worries about these games – plenty of time for these too!
>>So with our stays, we’d only practiced with food and catch, not release her to move forward yet. Also we’d been doing it with her between me and a wall to keep her straight. I may have been using ‘wait’, in which case I may not be clear with her in these videos..
She did really well here! So whatever you have already been doing transferred to this really nicely. Yay!!
>.She’s been pretty spunky lately. 😉>>
SPICY! I love it!
>>I failed the challenge twice, and made it easier for her on the next rep.>>
I only saw two instances where she released before you released, but then you made sure she was highly successful. The rate of success in these videos was very high and that was lovely to see!
>>With the toy, she definitely sits quickly like you said. In fact it seems like she ‘knows’ to sit when she releases the toy, at times.
Yes! It is so cool to see her do BETTER in higher arousal. It shows a lot of good things ahead for the future, when she will be in that higher arousal state and we ask her to do hard things.
>>So in baby with toy I thought I needed a treat to help her give over the toy, but when I tried it in the later session then she didn’t want to sit right away.>>
She was definitely working that through. I bet on the next session, the toy then cookie trade then sit will be very smooth.
>>Also, if I’m getting her aroused, doesn’t food bring her down from the high state? So I’m defeating the purpose of getting her high?>>
Good question! The only way to know is to experiment and see how she does 🙂 Most dogs get into the optimal state with toys and food used together, rather than toys only or food only. And geting her into that optimal state will depend on environment, what the behavior is, brain development as she matures, etc. So we have plenty of time to sort it out but trying different things and she what she tells us.
>>Oh and I’ve been getting her in the sit using my hand and sometimes foot to bring her back and line her up. That’s what you see me using my hand when asking her to sit.>>
She seemed happy with that! When you leaned over too much, she moved away a bit so try to stand up a bit as you are doing that (I know she is tiny :))
>>PS. I’m trying to embrace her barking as A) excitement for the game, and B) feedback
But still not sure what she’s try to tell me other than be more clear and get on with it!>>I think sometimes she is simply saying “YEEEHAW!” and that is fine 🙂 Her little barks here were sassy but did not interfere with the behavior, she did not appear frustrated, and she did not try to bite you 🙂 So we just let her chat a bit, if she has some chatting she wants to do LOL!
Looking at the videos:
Stays with food looked good – the hardest part was finding the cookie that you tossed, so aim for her front feet 🙂 Nice job working on both sides!! Remember to throw in a couple of short stays too, rather than just harder and harder ones in terms of distance and duration. She was highly successful here and happy to stay, which is 100% our goal.
Stays with toy – she definitely liked this toy! Big tugging and shaking and play! Love it!
She also sat pretty immediately and didn’t need the line up cues. She might have been having a little trouble letting go of the toy, so you can totally trade for a cookie as you mentioned. But even in the higher arousal, the stays looked great!!!!!Food & prop – the presence of the prop made it harder to get her to sit! And that is why we use the prop LOL!! One break, no biggie, you adjusted and set up a lot of success after that. Good job making it a little easier and then getting a bunch of successes as you started making it harder again too. Super!!! She did well with the release forward too – you mentioned that was a newer behavior and she did well.
Toy & prop – she was definitely spicy on this one!!! But still did really well. She was more pumped up between the tugging and the prop being present – but still highly successful. Yes, she had one failure but no worries – that one oopsie was handled like it was not big deal, and was followed by a ton of success. So in these 4 sessions, she had a rate of success that was somewhere over 95%… excellent!!!!!
Great job here! Keep playing these stay games in different places, trying to always release before she breaks!
Tracy
Hi!
The games are all looking really good! And hooray for the timer!!!Rocking horses – very nice! The Spin looks good! He has really good commitment so you were able to get it done early and smoothly. Super!!!
One detail: as you do these, try not to switch the toy from hand to hand – that is more distracting than you realize because it draws his eyes up to your hands and away from the barrel – and your brain has to process an additional movement. For example, at :44 when you switched and he didn’t commit to the barrel (your connection was not as good there either) as compared to 1:07 when you did not switch – better connection from you and less distraction for him to watch the toy moving around 🙂 He committed beautifully there!Adding the FC – Spin – turn and burn looked great! I think this game can go outside now so you can get more running going (but start with an easier version because being outside is harder).
Minny Pinny – hooray for being outdoors! He did great with the wings-only minny pinny and the verbals, so yes putting the bumps in was great. I think you loaded the wings-only video again instead of the bumps video – I am sure he did great with the bumps 🙂 but feel free to re-load it!
>> Mr. Reacher isn’t much of a tough guy and is clearly not comfortable sitting on grass yet!! I>>
That is so interesting! I guess he is just really inexperienced sitting on the grass! Good to know LOL! You did a great job of changing your plan and rewarding LOTS of just sitting 🙂 So yes, add more grass sitting to your schedule and especially make sure you add sitting on wet, dewy grass 🙂 He was figuring it out really well but I can see he didn’t love it yet. Bring out the highest value cookies and I think he will learn to love it pretty quickly ::)
Great job on these!! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
Rocking Horses (or maybe should call them Boxing horses haha) looked great – it looked like he had zero trouble transferring the game to the bigger boxes. Your FCs looked fabulous! Connected and clear cues!
1:31 was the only question he had – you were not quite as connected so he ended up on the other side of you. You don’t need to stop him or mark it when that happens – you can assume that you need to connect more, and keep going 🙂The spins are going well too – you can start them sooner, as he is arriving at the box and turning his head, so you are finished before he exits the wrap.
He only had one other question – at 1:39 he didn’t commit. That was because as you were sending, you were also reaching into your other pocket to get cookies out (dogs see EVERYTHING) which overrode the send cue. Most dogs think that our hand goin to the pocket signals the end of the rep. So have those cookies ready before you start the rep and that little blooper will go away.The stays are off to a good start! He wants to move with you as you move away, so be sure to throw the reward back to him as you are moving away. And, he might need one heartbeat to get settled into the stay before you move away – so you can cue the sit, let him settle into the position, then say stay, then move away. That is basically what you were doing when the prop was in front of him, and he did really well!!
The minny pinny went well too – very nice job with the rewards coming as he turned in front of you. Super! Because he picked this up so well, you can add the advanced level with the bumps sticking out of each box (to simulate 3 jumps). and add the left/right verbals too.
Looking at the head turning video – it will be easier if you are sitting on something, so you don’t have to lean over (which pushes him away a little) and so you can get your hand right in front of his nose).
The other thing to try is to send him and turn him with the same arm as the side he begins on. When he starts on your left, send him around the upright with your left, then as he gets back around it, show him your left hand down by his nose (like to put my left hand on my right knee, so the pup really sees it), and use your left hand to draw him across your feet and then slowly turn him away. It is fine to have a cookie in the hand so that he follows it 🙂 You had the opposite hand doing all the work, so it was hard to get him to tur away (right hand when he was on your left. Let me know if that works better!
Great job on these!
TracyHi!
It was fine to jump ahead to the stays – stays are FUN! And since you have already done lots of stay work, this was perfect. You got him excited and worked the stays – he was a perfect boy! My guess is that will be similar to the arousal state he will be in at agility trials, so it was great to see him be so successful 🙂Ready ready ready seems to be a pump-up or bark cue, so be careful not to use it if you want a stay 🙂
>.He’s not super into his prop, which I’m sure helped.>
Yes, no need to make it very hard at first. So you can add the stay in front of a barrel or cone or tunnel 🙂
Great job!
Hi!
The rotated sends are looking good!
I think he had a hilarious internal conflict from :26 to :31…. toy? barrel? toy? barrel? The toy was close and the barrel was further away. You were great and just held still so he could choose, then had a big party when he chose the barrel. YAY! Yes, you can be closer to the barrel to help reduce that internal conflict because that makes the barrel easier to get to especially on those right turns (the left turns looked easier for him.You can definitely move to the rocking horse games! He will like all the action!
Nice work 🙂
TracyKate and Estelle are great choices!! I recognize Lori’s name, now I need to remember where I met her 🙂 More caffeine needed LOL!!!
Hi!
On this video, there is more movement so you can rotate and shift your connection back to the wing even sooner. The deceleration into the FC can start as he exits the previous wing, so you are rotated and looking behind you as he is passing you. This is hard for us humans! As you got more and more speed here, you were facing forward to the wing for longer than needed – he is ready for you to start rotating earlier now.
He did really well with the race tracks!!! You can challenge him even more by adding more of your speed – pump your arms and run, and let’s see if he can stay on his line around the wings.
Great job on these! Let me know what you think!
TracyNice job with the first part of the countermotion/backwards sending!!! You did a great job shifting your connection back to the wing, which made it clearer for him to know when to go do the wrap. This connection shift was especially important as you did 2 in a row then 3 in a row at the end. So nice!!!
Adding the wing to the game:
Go line – looking really good! You can totally be saying gthe go cue sooner, before he even exits the tunnel, so he comes flying up the line 🙂Wrap at :54 was a little late – the decel and turn started as he was taking off so he turned after landing. Try to keep doing it like you did at :24 on the previous video – that was awesome!
The first RC needed more acceleration up the line – he stopped because you stopped. That is a handler error, so definitely reward him!
Next rep had the acceleration and he got it nicely!
The last RC rep had more decel so he slowed down – the middle RC rep here was super nice 🙂Good job with the backside 2:38! Nice !!! You didn’t clearly cue the tunnel at the end of that line, and he didn’t get rewarded…. definitely reward him becaue he was following your cues correctly. Especially with young dogs, we can assume that handling is creating errors, so we reward the dog anway 🙂 You held the tunnel cue longer at 2:59 and that really helped! So remember that his rewards should come whether you get it right or you get it wrong 🙂
Nice job on these!
TracyThis added the tunnel:
Go line here looked great, you can start saying go sooner (lots of good running here :))NICE transition into the wrap at :24 – this is your best transition of the wrap reps on these videos. Note how you decelerated when he was landing from the first jump as you continued to move forward, and he set up a great collection before the wrap jump. Lovely!!!!
Nice RC too! The extra momentum from the tunnel really helps.
The bar down at 1:04 was handler error due to really late connection (he was already jumping) and surprising him with the backside cue. Just keep going when that happens – he is a good jumper so if a bar comes down, you can assume that your cue was late and he was trying to adjust in the air 🙂
He was not as surprised on the last rep – you were actually later – so to get it earlier you will want to not go as close to the tunnel entry so you have a more direct line to the landing side of the jump. You had to go back around the jump to get there which made the cues later.
Tracy
This is the first part of the 4 Ways game:
Go line looked good – run more! The acceleration is a key component of GO skills 🙂
The wrap cues can start sooner – he was already taking off for 2 at 1:05 and 1:56 when you started it so he was surprised. You can accelerate then when he is jumping the first jump, start to decel so he can collect and turn before the jump – then when you see that collection, you can fniish the FC.
Now that he is starting to do more sequencing, remember to reward him ifsomething goes wrong, because 99.99% of the time it is handler error where he is following you correctly… and we don’t want to confuse or frustrate him by not rewarding when he is answering your question correctly (even if you are asking the wrong question in that moment LOL!)
For example, at 1:28 he didn’t get rewarded but that was a mainly handler error moent – he stood up to eat a cookie, you released, then as he was approaching 2 you stopped him. He looked confused there. If you release after he already stood up, just keep going and have a clearer release on the next rep.
The rear cross at 2:12 looked good, he probably needs more momentum so adding the tunnel will really help.
Nice clear push lines at the end! Strong connection and you showed him the backside wing – very nice!
He was a very happy dude on the wobble board – it was noisy, it had a ton of movement… no worries, he was happy to get on it, turn around, step backwards onto it, etc. Yay! The only hard part was stepping backwards onto it on the high side – he really had to lift his back foot up to find it , and he sort it out really nicely by the end. Do you have access to a teeter at the training center or at home? He is ready to start interacting with that.
Tracy
Hi!
He did well sitting right away! He was quick to sit and great about holding it. You can add more motion, moving faster – slow jogging then moving up to fast jogging eventually. As you add more, be SUPER careful not to move your hands up – the cookie hands were starting at your diaphragm level and moving up to above your heart on a lot of the reps – we don’t want him to read that as part of the cue (it should be verbal only). When you didn’t do that, he was slower to sit (on the last rep) but he did get it. Yay!
Great job!Tracy
Hi!
Strangely, these videos don’t have sound for me – not sure if it is the videos or youtube misbehaving. So I will trust that your verbals were spot on in the motion override game 🙂
She was really good at responding to cues in the motion override game, but I am not sure if it was the correct response (no sound LOL!) You were asking for sits, I believe, and getting downs (or maybe vice versa at the end when she sat really well but got rewarded for a down?) My guess is the toy was a little too stimulating, so she was mostly thinking about it being thrown which made the sit versus down less clear. So you can try this with food or a less stimulating toy, so she can have more success with the first cue. And if she does the down if you have cued a sit, try not to fix then reward because that can create an unwanted chain. You can release, move slowly, then try the sit again with less motion.
Backing up onto the teeter looked great! Just as I was typing that it would be be easier for her if you can be lower – you squatted and got to a perfect position. YAY! That put her head into a more neutral position (instead of looking up) and so her backing up looked awesome! The next step is to see if she can be this coordination and process the mechanics when you are using a tug toy as a reward : ) Higher arousal might make processing harder, so this is a good game to work on it!
Great job!
TracyHi!
Wow, he did great with his stay here! Good boy!!So the next step would be to have him start walking with you (not starting in a stay). Then after a couple of steps, you would cue him to sit (while you slowly keep moving). He should sit and hold the sit while you keep walking for a few more steps. Then either throw the reward back to him, or release him forward to the reward in your hand. That is much harder 🙂
So be sure to start moving really slowly so he can be successful. And when it is easy for him, you can start walking faster then build up to jogging!
Nice work 🙂
Tracy
