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Good morning!
The tunnel rocking horses are super fun 🙂 She did great! And she gave great feedback about handling!
Your connection was spot on, she was happy with that 🙂 On the sends to the wraps, she gave excellent feedback about which leg to use 🙂 Ideally, you would use your dog-side leg to send to the wing wraps in both directions. All she needed was one little step, and that was when she got it every time. But if you slammed on the brakes and did NOT use the dog side leg? She had commitment questions in both directions.
She had a question at :22 (dog side leg was not used) but nailed it at :29 and :38.
Being able to outrun her to show the connection and line to get the wrap to the left was really hard – mainly because the wing was a little too far away for now. When you added the left turn wing at :32… it was too far away and you freaked out a bit trying to get ahead, so there was no real connection, your arm pointing high, and that turned your chest to the wall and that is where she went. I can relate: Fast Young Dog Panic Syndrome hahahaah! You had better connection and were a tiny bit ahead at :40 but that wing was just too far away for now, she needed you to be further ahead to show the line to it. So you can pull it in closer to the tunnel (4 to 6 feet further away) to help her learn to look for the line.
Breaking it down was great – she kept you honest about your leg for sending on that side too 🙂 If you did not use your dog side leg (right leg), she had a commitment question. If you used the leg? No problem, she committed 🙂
I got a bunch of screenshots so you can see the leg use – it is hard to feel in real time but much easier to see on a screenshot. The key to avoid that is to keep decelerate into the sends rather than try to stop – we often stop on the wrong leg, but the correct leg is involved in the deceleration so she reads it better.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/18hJpTt210km2RALxs8PriYXsSSnoWBVINEMoa5QW8OM/edit?usp=sharing
And no worries about her running around the tunnel on a couple of reps on the left turn side: that is totally normal young dog processing stuff. She was trying to do the GO FAST thing but was not quite as able to process it all on the left turn side to make the turn, go fast, AND get in the tunnel. And, it is entirely possible that her adolescent brain told her that she nailed it 🙂 So keep rewarding! And when you slowed to down to help her out, that was effective: it was one less variable to process (handler motion) so she was able to read the line and get in the tunnel.
Great job! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning!
I am sorry to hear about your senior girl, I hope she is feeling better! I know how it can be so hard to train when one dog is struggling 🙁
Bazinga was happy to be doing her barrel wraps! Her commitment looked great in both directions. Super! She was really excellent about reading the cues… so be super clear with your connection, or she ends up on the wrong side:
When you finished the FC and made the strong connection, she was able to read coming to he correct side. When you finished the FC but didn’t really connect and ended up pointing forward (at :23) – she read it correctly as a blind cross and ended up on the other side. That side happened to have the toy in it, but she was not being a naughty toy-grabber 🙂 She ignored the toy perfectly on the reps when connection was clear! So after each FC or spin, remember to point your hand back to her and make eye contact as you move, so she knows where to be.Your connection after the spins was particularly excellent: So clear! She was able to nail it each time, even on the last rep where you were a little late (it was not your comfy side).
Because connection is a visual thing (literally haha) I grabbed some screenshots of when it looked good, and when she had the question. I also added some visuals so you can see it from a different angle:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1DqdrytOWtPeJuGctSq8cVT94PbNG3BQWS3RKynBCF0E/edit?usp=sharing
>>I need to dive in & try some of the games we haven’t started yet! I think the Backside Slice will be next.>>
Yes, that is a fun one! And I also recommend trying the tunnel rocking horses – those are FUN LOL!!! You can skip around a bit, a lot of the games work together nicely so you don’t need to do them exactly in order 🙂 I have not yet done the backsides with my puppy, but this week I played with the tunnel rocking horses and simple decels 🙂
Have fun! Great job here!
Tracy
Hi!
This is also a really strong session! His right turns on the threadle side are *definitely* getting better!Be sure to have your dog-side leg step forward when you send him on those: at :16, you had it back so he didn’t go. Compare that to :59 where your right leg was forward and he sent perfectly! The angle you sent from at :59 was also great – that is a good angle to start the right turn threadles. The left turn threadles can start on harder angles, they are easier for him.
He seems happier with the collar grab here, maybe because it is happening right before he gets to run run run 🙂 If you used a cookie lure to line him up (boring cookie :)) would he still chase the ball when you threw it as the reward? That can help him come right into the line up position for the next rep, rather than keeping away and wanting the tunnel cue 🙂
Great job!
TracyHi!
This was a really good session! His stays were better – you didn’t feed him from your hand so he didn’t try to move with you when you walked away 🙂 The only time he broke the sit was when you said “very nice” – he might have thought it was the release LOL!The only suggestion is to not click when he sits, but rather click right before you throw the treat. Everything else looked great! Super!
Tracy
And a session from today – the simple decel game.
He had a couple of fails on the stay – I need to stay connected as I walk away, that helps him! He did a great job of seeing the difference between the wrap and the parallel path: GOOD BOY! I only did one side today, will hit the left turns next week at some point.
Some type of distracting scent drifted into the field today – he got distracted and needed to investigate. It looked like a scent catch rather than a stress response, based on how he picked it up in the air. There are a LOT of smells happening around my property atm – lots of deer and other critters now that it is warmer, baby cows in the field that he can see, local farmers moving hay around… good stuff. So no worries that he needed a moment to investigate. I just let him do it, because he was not likely to be able to engage until he investigated.
You might notice that my sessions are getting a little longer. This one was about 5 minutes long, which is fine for him provided it is the only brain session of the day 🙂 At 6.5 months, one 5 minute session is plenty.
Tunnel Rocking Horses: FUN!
Here are 2 short sessions with Ramen. I think you will see him run around the tunnel – this is normal (and entertaining) with baby dogs. They are trying to GO FAST and DO THE THING… and sometimes it doesn’t all come together. And, it is possible that their adolescent brain is telling them that they 100% nailed it! So I don’t make a big deal of it – chuckle, reward, set him up for success on the next rep. It is all about helping the pups sort it out!
Hi!
>>I guess I think of these games in terms of future agility or obedience trials so I’m focused on engagement games we could do back and forth from the ring for example, and manners minder or squeaky toy wouldn’t apply.>
Yes, but also no 🙂 The higher priority is getting resilience and comfy in any new environment – then it is much easier to go to the agility or obedience trials. And I have used the MM and squeakies near the ring!
>>I’m unfortunately new enough in SC that we don’t have that many doggy friends. We don’t yet do any group classes but we will eventually and will meet new people.>>
Where in SC are you located? I can find you some good dog peeps to hang out with 🙂
>> Of my own dogs, Gabby would be the best candidate but she’s a barker
It depends on why she is barking 🙂 But generally a quiet dog is better as the helper dog LOL!
T
Good morning!
His commitment on the 360s looked really good! The hardest part was the line up – you wanted him to lineup to turn to his left, but he was asking to turn to his right 🙂 So be sure you work both sides equally in the early stages.
The only other question he had was when you were starting a few feet away but moving too slowly – sometimes he would end up on the other side.
So… you can add more of your motion to really support his line (walking faster, then build up to jogging) – just be sure that you are not blocking the wing. He needs to see the whole wing, so your line should be more towards the opposite side of the wing. For example, at 2:31 you were walking the entry edge of the wing so he had to widen his line to go around you (which he did, because it was a right turn, his current fave LOL!) Compare that to 3:12 where he can see more of the wing and went directly to it (you were more centered on the wing, but can be moving more towards the jump cups there).
>>Should I now be starting verbals on this?
Yes, you can totally add your backside wrap verbal! And each time you add a more motion, take off the verbal for a couple of reps to make sure he understands the motion, then you can put it back on.
The lateral sends are looking good! Yes, the first 2 reps had the opposite arm/leg 🙂 But the rest were great!! he did well with his stays too – the one thing I notice on the stays is that if he is in the sit and then you reach for a treat from your pocket, he always moves outof the sit. So either have the treat ready to deliver, or don’t feed him in position for the sit – that can help build up the stay even more, because it means the rewards come when you are further away 🙂
He committed really nicely on these! My only suggestion is to not throw the reward toooo far because we do want him to turn on that cue (and not jump straight). So you can throw the reward more towards you rather than straight ahead.
>>I haven’t done a lot of work on the resilience games because he wouldn’t take treats. I take him out a lot to various Home Depot/Tractor Supply/Pet Smart/parks etc but he is unable to take a treat in those situations so it’s frustrating to try to work these games. >>
This is interesting about the treats! Not taking treats is a sign of arousal state being non-optimal, so he can’t eat. The first suggestion is to see where he can eat a treat, in proximity to new locations – 50 feet away? 100 feet away? Bring insanely high value treats, the best you have – and just offer them to him to see if he will eat. And with high value treats, use tiny bits and super short sessions because too much will give him GI upset.
And, you can see what else he will find motivating: fur toy? Squeaky toy? Manners Minder? Ball? Bully stick or chewy? All of these games can be modified to use whatever the pup finds motivating. My Contraband started these games in really hard environments with 2 frisbees because he was too stimulated to eat (cheese was not motivating enough).
And also, you don’t need to do the pattern games – in challenging places, you can do the world watching resilience walk (from week 1) or the sniffaris (from week 12 :)) neither of which require food or toys 🙂
Does he have any dog friends that he loves (and who love him back) who are really relaxed in different environments? For example, my Voodoo is always happy and appropriate in new places, so he sometimes accompanies me and the pup to new places – it is like a stable pony accompanying the young thoroughbred to the racetrack LOL but provides a TON of social support to the pup.
On the other hand, I never bring my pup anywhere with any of my dogs who might be worried or reactive. So, my baby Ramen will NEVER go on a field trip with Crusher who is definitely NOT an appropriate role model LOL!!!
>>He’s getting better with treats as we’ve trained more so I think my plan should be to work him more in non distracting places (i.e. the driveway, front walk, even front of the road as he gets better hopefully)? Does that sound correct?>>
Yes – build up the love of any of the treat-based games in an environment that is less challenging, which will help him be able to do them games in a more challenging environment.
Great job! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning! I love that you rewarded yourself and him with some fun barrel stuff after the box games!
He doing really well with the box! You seemed to be staring at the box, which allowed you to mark those back feet – so by the end of the box session here, he giving you the split rear foot behavior we will look for on the dog walk. YAY!! Yes, he is still bouncy and his head is a little high but that is not important yet – he seemed super happy and confident to get those rear feet involved and keep moving. That is key!!!
Next step is to introduce the mat – it is possible that a yoga mat will slip on the turf, so you might have to do some arts & crafts – put a grippy rubber surface on the bottom of it?
>>One thing about the box work: when I tried to get a little lateral distance, he didn’t go out to the box>>
If you were stationary, you might need to line him up at your side and give him a little bit of a release to go to it.
He has great commitment to his barrel wraps! The sideways and backwards sending looked great. Definitely use verbals here – it looked like he was releasing from the stay on the hand movement, but you want him to release on a verbal (verbal wrap cues are also releases). There are no releases on the demo video because those pups were not in a stay 🙂
When you play the barrel games, ramp up your connection as he exits the barrel so he knows exactly where to be. He was going wide on the exit of the FCs because he could only see your back – so he didn’t know which side to be on. When dogs don’t have side info and connection, they tend to drift wide and center themselves behind you (like a water skier behind a boat!), waiting for info.
For example, he committed perfectly at 1:04. At 1:05, he exits and can’t see side info in the form on connection because both of your shoulders are closed forward, and your eyes are looking more towards your side and not back at him.
He picks up the correct side when you present the toy at your side, but we don’t want him to learn to look at the toy.
Compare to 1:08 and 1:12 after the spin when your left shoulder was open back to him and your eyes were on him more. But on the FC at 1:16, both shoulders were closed forward so he was wider, not knowing where to be. So, he was waiting for the toy to show the info.
And if you are late with the toy and running kind of sideways like at 1:23… he can’t pick up the new side in time for a smooth line (double gold star for him coming back to find the correct side there).
So to get clearer side info to him so he can be tight and not looking for the toy for the info:
– point the dog-side arm back and down to his nose
– look for his eyes
– keep the toy hidden til he is on the new side – or use cookies only haha! That will force you to connect and give you feedback on whether you are connected or not 🙂 and if he ends up on the wrong side? You were not connected enough or you were too late (reward him anyway if he ends up on the wrong side, so far he has always been correct and he works his butt off to find the new side).I like to reward from the opposite arm, across my belly, because it really helps open up the connection:
Bear in mind that seeing him peripherally and being connected so he can see the line are two entirely different things – it is not about what you see, it is about what he sees! When I mess up connection, I can still peripherally see my dogs… but if they don’t see the proper line, then I didn’t connect properly.
To give you more visuals of what I mean, here is a video of how to be very clear on the connection:
And I got some screenshots of when you were connected versus not connected, plus what it should look like to the dog when he is behind you.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1xXqK_KCi5sHuA4Ms1_Kpd7Q6F2gjB7GwnLRGKvAgDCk/edit?usp=sharing
The lateral lead outs look great! You were clearer with the verbals for sure and his commitment looked great. I think the releases had a bit too much motion happening before or simultaneously, so I think he was releasing on your motion and not on your verbal. Try to separate the verbal and the motion more:
– you can say the release, then say the word “and” to yourself and then do the motion
– or you can do the opposite: put your arm and leg in position pointing at the barrel (moving slowly, don’t be explosive in this movement or he will break). Then look at him, take a breath… then release.Both of these skills are good to have and will help protect the stay behavior.
We can talk about connection on the exit of the barrel here too: you were turning your back and dangling the toy here. It was timely enough that he wasn’t wide and knew where to be, but I don’t want him to be looking at the toy as the source of info. So the first priority on cross exits is to get your dog-side arm back and pointed to his nose and your eyes on his eyes. This opens up your shoulders and he will find the line. Keep the toy out of the picture til you have made the connection – otherwise, Bob will be saving your butt when the toy is visible haha!
(Funny side note: when I started flyball, they were all like: don’t connect! Dangle the toy and run, no connection! And now they are all like “CONNECT TO YOUR DOG, EYE CONTACT!!” because it helps the dogs find the jumps better and carry the ball better. I am all like DUH! hahaha)
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
He is getting the idea of how to do the stay here! Super!!!
A couple of ideas to help make it even clearer for him – basically, we can make your clicks and rewards more consistent, which will make the stay even easier.On the videos, you would often click immediately when he sat then gave him the treat at your side from your hand. We don’t need to do this anymore, you can take out the click and feeding for the initial moving in the sit. By clicking and feeding immediately, he seems to think the behavior is ‘finished’ (click often ends the behavior in training and definitely predicts looking for the reward).
Also, if you feed from your hand to his mouth, it builds in him thinking he needs to be next to you on this behavior at this point – that is why he was moving with you a lot when you would click immediately but not deliver the cookie.
So, for the sit: cue the sit and when he sits, move away but don’t click or reward until you have a short stay happening – then click and throw the cookie back to him.
On the video, you asked when to use the clicker: basically, the click says “great job, reward is coming now!” so the click happens after you have a few seconds of stay and you have moved away (varying how long and now many steps). You would then click and toss the treat back. You were starting to do that towards the end of this video, but you were clicking after you tossed – try to click before you toss.
You also don’t need to use a clicker, the ‘catch’ marker can replace it. But I like the click because it can be very helpful to the dogs. I think some of his confusion was that you were clicking too early – either just as he sat, or right before he sat. So even though that is what we did at the beginning, the timing of the click now can be later because it tells him the stay is finished and the reward is coming. When you clicked for the instant he sat but then tried to move away, he would sometimes move with you (because the click is a release to reward in this game).
You can also use a small platform to help him too – a square platform that is big enough that he can sit comfortably. That can help him understand the ‘boundaries’ of the stay behavior 🙂 You can add the platform in pretty easily – every part of the game is the same, except you add in asking him to sit on the platform and not on the grass 🙂
Great job! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning!!
He is doing well with the 360 foundations here! I think it will be easier for you if you have the clicker and cookie in the same hand – and that way the empty hand can send him to the pole and then also turn his head away to be able to click. that way you won’t have to feel like you need 3 hands LOL!!! This is a good game to do a couple of reps when you don’t have a lot of time, so keep revisiting it here and there. You can also add it to a wing now that he has the idea with the pole.
Tracy
Fabulous!!! That is soon, you won’t have to wait much longer. Tell Dr. Leslie that Hot Sauce says hello!
Tracy
Good morning! This weather has been GREAT!!!!
>> I pushed it one too far I think; he told me on the last rep that he was done.>
It might be that he was actually a little hot – the footwork of the minny pinny and the toy play can heat up the pups pretty fast, and they have not been alive long enough to experience “working” in 60 degree temperatures 🙂 I had my pup outside yesterday and he was definitely panting! No worries, they will get used to it as the weather gradually warms up – Baxter was still very zippy on the minny pinny!
Good mechanics of the verbals in the minny pinny, in terms of starting them, saying them in that conversational tone, then letting him go, He rocked it!
>>He’s not a fan of collar grabs but we keep working on them.>>
The trick to collar grab love is to line him up where you want him to be using a cookie lure or hand touch… then gently take his collar. You were moving him by his collar, which dogs universally tend to not like For example on the last rep, you moved him by his collar (from a down to a different spot next to you) then physically moved his hind end as well. A cookie lure into position will be both more effective to line him up and also more happy-making 🙂 And that way the collar grab is a game-starter and he won’t avoid it.
The 2nd session looked good too – the wings don’t need to be any further apart than they were in this session. He was powering through! Good boy! He has a big stride for such a little guy! And he was also turning really well – I didn’t see a side preference here; both sides looked balanced.
On this video, I thought your collar grab line ups were smoother – you were tugging with him basically back to the starting point, then he ended up straight and at your side. Then you took his collar to start – you might have moved him a step or two forward, but he was lined up and not being moved back and forth by the collar. He seemed to appreciate that a lot more!
Looking at the tunnel threadles: he was on FIRE here! He has found a new gear of speed. And there was definitely some hilarity as you worked out when to take the tunnel or not LOL!
Think about a cookie lure line up here rather than the grab-and-hoist into position. It looks like he was scooting away from the grab & hoist, so move to where you want him to be, line him up with a cookie, then gently take his collar (But don’t move him by the collar)
>> I think I am tunnel threadle challenged. I started with refreshing on just the baby dog version with the verbal, then attempted the advanced version. >>
You are not threadle-challenged LOL Your structure of the session was good and you rewarded a whole lot. My only handling suggestion is on the advanced/double whammy, that you don’t face him when he exits the first tunnel (like at 1:57), as that might have been part of what was cuing him to go back into the exit.
So be connected and calling him and threadling, but slowing moving forward (don’t let your feet face him at all).
>>He is running around the tunnel without hitting the entry. Am I too close to the entrance?
Bearing in mind that threadles of any sort are not intuitive to dogs and it is an entirely trained behavior – it is entirely possible that the humans get it right but the pup still has questions. No problem!
I think what you were seeing here were just typical adolescent dog brain development motor processing moments. In a nutshell – the brain cannot always process complex movement and get it right in time. Also, adolescent brains sometimes tell the dog that he has NAILED IT!!! but we adult humans see that he has, in fact, run around the other side of the tunnel LOL!!
It is no different than my brain telling me that I NAILED a blind cross and then I look at the video and see that I was late and did a front cross. LO!L!
So a couple of suggestions to help with the processing:
– Keep being patient, and have a chuckle at those “NAILED IT!” moments 🙂 Keep rewarding like you did. If you tell him he was wrong, but his brain tells him he was right… he will get confused and frustrated. But if he is wrong, make the next rep simpler so his brain and our reality can agree on what was correct LOL!– he appears to have a side preference on these tunnel turns: turning to his right when turning away from you appears to be much harder for him – he would turn to his left first on a lot of those reps, look at you, then process the cue, then turn to his right towards this tunnel (this is also the direction he would run past the tunnel entry). When he needed to turn away to his left, he had a much easier time! So for the double whammy reps where he has to turn away to his right, move very slowly so he has more time to process and your motion is not as distracting.
– You can shorten the tunnel (maybe squish to half length?) and meet him at the end for the threadles, so he doesn’t go back into the tunnel. And you can totally reward him from your hand for coming to you when you call his name and not diving back into the tunnel. He doesn’t quite understand how to NOT go back into it (and there is possibly an element of avoiding the collar grab), but that will lock into place soon.
Other than that – just give him a night or two to sleep on it (latent learning!) and a couple more short sessions… then he will totally have it 🙂
Great job! Enjoy today’s gorgeous weather too!!
Tracy
