[Tracy Sklenar]

Good morning!

>. I started out looking at her thinking connection, but didn’t feel a whole lot of connection? So I ended up just letting her go after saying ready too many times.>>

Think of connection as a handling cue, not as engagement. Connection is just where you look at her 🙂 Engagement is when you think she is paying attention and working with you.

>>She was WTF you are grabbing my collar with hand that smells like treats but nothing good happening.

HA! Yes, as a terrier, there were definitely F bombs in there. I don’t think she minding the holding of the collar – it was more that she was not sure about being moved around by the collar. I will walk my pup around by the collar, but I really don’t use it t move him into a start position because it is a weird thing for the pups and often gets them into an opposition reflex moment.

>>Interesting about the MM beeping. I wear hearing aids and a few times I swear I didn’t hear it either but just attributed it to my bad hearing after it looked like she was getting treats, but maybe those were leftover treats from a previous rep??>>

I could hear the grinding of the gears on the reps but I couldn’t always hear the beep. MMs are great but they are also temperamental LOL!

>> I felt weird just standing there, like how boring is this and did feel like I should be doing something.>>

And tugging between each rep will help too – it is more active and engaging for you both 🙂

>>WHAT IS THE VERBAL FOR TUNNEL THREADLE? I was looking for it and I couldn’t find it??? I was using assignment from Week 4. Is this in Week 9 which I haven’t done yet?>>

Yes, week 9:

Strike A Pose Part 3: Concept Transfer For Threadles (Slices)

>> So should I start doing Week 9 at this point although keeping tunnel at this length until I figure out how to support it extended out more?>>

Yes, the tunnel is pretty long so you can go to the next step of the tunnel games.

>>Sometimes I can’t tell with her, she really loves toys, all toys! 🙂 But I will pick something and try it, and also promise to play more between reps when she comes back to me.

Try something with fur an a squeaky as the higher value toy – that is often the winner LOL!

>> When she started noticing other things, it never occurred to me that might have been fallout from the collar grabs. Thanks for pointing that out!>>

When the pups start to notice other things in the middle of a training session (especially when those things were present at the beginning) then it is usually a response to *something* – low rate of success? A stressor? So I keep an eye out for that.

>So, will redo tunnels, Minny Pinny and Parallel Path before moving on to some of the other games.

I don’t think a redo is needed – you can do the next step, incorporating any tweaks. Trying to redo things that were good but trying to make them perfect will end up making you feel like you are stuck at the beginning 🙂 Minny Pinny doesn’t really have a next step in this class, so you can redo it or you can leave it in favor of other games (we have more minny pinny stuff in maxpup 2 :))

>>My number one reminder is more play and engagement. She is such a fun little partner always ready and happy to go out and play with me. I want to keep it that way. I do a lot of nosework with her, too.>>

Yes! Play and engagement are so important! And the more we learn about the science about sniffing, the more we realize that nosework is really important too!

Have fun 🙂
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Wow! I am impressed that you were still awake! LOL!!!

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi!
It looks like he also is really enjoying the tunnel game! So you can a gentle collar touch as a game starter for the tunnel games too – start on super easy angles were you are sure he will be correct, touch his collar then immediately say tunnel tunnel tunnel and let go.

For the harder games (like the threadle here) – no need to add the collar hold to start it yet – just start him on an easier angle on the hard turn side, so he has a high rate of success. Then it will be easy to add the collar holding back in as a game starter there too. He did well finding the entries here and he will keep getting better and better! Time to add more tunnel bags as he keeps getting bigger and faster 🙂

Great job!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Good morning!

>>1st I just want to say, collar grabbing had a bad meaning at this time. When Charlie is doing something he should not be, I come and grab his collar to stop. I need to spend some time to feed right after grabbing collar, that I can overpower bad memories. For now I can see he is shutting down on me grabbing collar.>>

Ah yes, that is a good catch!! We definitely don’t want him to feel that collar grabbing is a bad thing, because we need him to want to put his collar in your hand as a happy thing! This is an important life skill, not just for puppy games LOL! 2 ideas for you to help deal with puppy badness 🙂 without damaging the collar love:
– when something is happening that you don’t want him to you, you can totally reach for his collar, gently interrupt, then redirect into something fun. So if my puppy is chewing on something he should not be chewing on (because, puppies….), I will gently take his collar to move him away and then immediately give him something better to chew on.
– you can also let him drag a light in the house, so that if you need to redirect him or stop something that is happening, you can pick up the leash and move him away.

With both of these, I am always very neutral, I don’t say anything good or bad to the pup even when I am really mad LOL!, I just interrupt and redirect. And yes, do lots of feeding and toy games with the collar grab too – my 10000% favorite collar grab game is toy races: get his favorite toy or ball, gently hold his collar, throw the ball/toy, then let go. The collar grab then becomes a game starter 🙂

The video here is the tunnel video, can you repost the rocking horse video?
Thanks!

[Tracy Sklenar]

Good morning!

The let’s go is going well! He was super engaged and easily ignored the stuff on the chair. YAY!!! He might be going around the chair because the game is very simple and the tunnel is there, so he is trying to approach the chair from the other side? It is a superstitious behavior, but nothing to worry about.

With this game, either hold the leash or take it off – dragging it is a middle ground that he doesn’t need to process 🙂 So you can add taking the leash off to this game and if he sticks with you, you can do the ‘let’s go’ marker and run back to the reward. That will simulate the leash coming off at the start line!

Serps – look at the stay at the beginning! Woot!! But then soooooo many questions from him – More on that below. First up, the serp part of it:

Thinking about the serp mechanics – by trying to work the stay and the serp, you sometimes rushed the serp mechanics so it was not always clear. To get the serp behavior, you needed to be more visible between the uprights (like at 3:54 and 4:13) and looking at the target hand. That is when he was very successful! Yay!

If you were too far past the jump (like at 1:21), or moving (like at 2:19), or looking at him – he had questions and errors. So keep the clean mechanics and you will see a higher rate of success.

One thing to reconsider, though: working too many skills in this session: serps with proper handler mechanics AND stay clarity. By trying to do both, they both got muddy. So to keep things clear and successful, make it one or the other at this point: serps or stays, not both. The serps can be done with tossed cookie starts like you did at the end, or with a holder.

One the serps, for now, because of his age and newness to serping – don’t use a bar because he was touching the bar while trying to figure out the serps and we don’t want touching the bar to be something that we accidentally build in. A bump or a pool noodle is better, so he can sort out his mechanics without us worrying if he touches the bar or not, even if the bar is locked in.

And if something goes awry, I TOTALLY would use a reset cookie at 1:22 and after other errors – I think you were trying to train two things at once here, which changed your energy when he was sometimes not correct (which he perceives as a marker for being incorrect). At 1:19, for example, you were past the wing so he really didn’t see serp position, plus you were looking at him and not at your serp hand. Since this is a handling game, assume dog errors are related to handler errors and always use a reset cookie.

Quote of the day:
“I think you should be doing a reset cookie in general.”
~ J. Juckett

I agree, it does keep frustration lower by keeping the umbrella rate of reinforcement very high as he learns the skill. Jamie was giving good advice & coaching! And the two failure rule is critical to follow: it means that the pup doesn’t understand what we want, cannot produce the correct answer, so we need to change what we are doing (or end the session to plan a different approach). The ideal rate of success should be at or above 90%.

Looking at the stays – work his stays while you show serp position away from the jump. What was happening was that he was unsure of the release because it was being paired with your hand movement when you said the release and moved your hand into position at the same time. So he was starting to release on the hand movement: sometimes rewarded, sometimes told he was wrong. At 5:00 you asked if he was confused and yes, I think he was. We definitely do not want to build in any frustration or confusion into the stay behavior! Be SUPER protective of that stay and take it out of any handling training for now, to keep it a really fun and not confusing or frustrating thing.

So, separately from the jump, ask for a sit, put your serp hand out, say a quiet “gooooddddd” then follow it with a ‘catch’ thrown reward or a release to your hand (and reward). When you have multiple sessions of this under his belt with a high success rate (90% or higher, ideally) then you can replicate the session in front of a jump – but not releasing to the jump, just rewarding the stay.

Any time you are tempted to add a stay into the handling games from now… remind yourself of the long game we are playing here and keep the skills separate 🙂 Use a thrown cookie or a handler for the handling games.

Side note: my puppy just turned 6 months old on the 23rd and I have not yet added a stay to ANY of the baby dog handling games. I have just started dangling a toy to lower to the ground, or showing the target hand – all just in a stay, no jump or anything involved yet.

And note the difference when you started with the tossed treat: you were able to show clearer handler mechanics and he was far more successful. The only thing I would add is to look at the target hand and not at him.

I think it was a little too much to add in the threadles at the end here, it set up a few more errors which we want to avoid – partially because he had done a lot of reps already, and partially because he had just gotten a lot of ‘come over the bar’ reinforcement.

Part of that was his starting position too – so if he has trouble seeing the treats in the grass, you can go to the cheese balls like you mentioned, or put a towel out on the ground to toss the treat to, so it is easy for him to see. That will help get him to grab it and then come right back for the serp or threadle, whichever you are cuing. When you are doing serp AND threadle in the same session, you will want to use the threadle verbal to help him differentiate – so be sure to do a couple of sessions of that to attach the verbal if he hasn’t heard it yet.

On the second video –

The pattern game looked good! You can add walking back and forth, and definitely take it on the road to new places 🙂

He also did well with the rocking horse games! His commitment looks really good and he is also giving great feedback about the handling cues!

A couple of ideas for you:
To start a rep, use a cookie lure or hand touch to line him up at your side then slip your hand onto his collar, rather than collar holding and moving him into position by the collar. At 1:19, he was flailing a bit when you did that, so the mechanics of starting that rep were not as clean or smooth for both of you.

Make massive connection on the exit of each wrap – very direct eye contact. When you pointed forward and didn’t connect, he didn’t know where to be. For example, at 1:27 you had a big disconnect as you moved forward so he ended up on th other side, with the toy being the visible thing. Same thing happened at 1:44 but and 1:52. Compare that to 2:15, 3:07, 4:34, 4:37, which all had great connection! Yay!! He was not being naughty about the toy, he just wasn’t seeing the connection.

Putting the toy away is fine (because it prevents you from switching it from hand-to-hand :)) but his questions were more of a connection issue. A general rule of thumb is that if the pup ends up on the ‘wrong’ side of us, then we were disconnected and the pup was guessing (and not being naughty :)) so you can reward and then strengthen the connection on the next rep by using more eye contact and less arm/hands.

Also be hyper protective of your stays here (I know, I know, I am a PITA hahahahaha) – at 4:08 you cued a sit, so he did, good boy! And he stayed, SUPER good boy! But then at 4:11 he moved and then you started the handling so that rehearses a broken stay. If you ask for a sit, be sure to release it before he moves. Or, don’t ask for a sit 🙂 If you need to plan something, he can mill around for a moment, then you can line him up to start when you are ready.

>> I started with pattern game and then the barrel– he was walking!

I think at the end he was indeed hot! And he is not used to working in heat or humidity. And also using food as not as stimulating as the toy, so you can have the toy in a pocket then whip it out at the end of the rep to keep things super fun 🙂

Great job here! Let me know what you think!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

and one more thought – because of her age, you can continue doing all of these games on barrels. That will help keep her lines nice and round, no hitting wings 🙂 There is no need to put her on the wings any time soon 🙂

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi!

I am not worried – I went back and looked to see what was happening and it looks like it was on the left turn wraps, and at the exit. So she was probably chasing the toy, because it was already visible 🙂 The right turn wraps looked like she didn’t touch anything, but let me know if I missed anything. So on the left turn wraps in particular, you can add a little less speed when the toy is visible. And, you can also add more handler motion but hide the toy until she is all the way around, then whip it out. Eventually we will marry the two together and she will be perfect 🙂

Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi!

On the first rep, you had the arm swing that is good to use for threadles, and it definitely helped him! Good job keeping your feet moving forward on the 2nd rep AND getting the arm in position AND looking at your threadle hand… all of that combined to help him get it while you were moving – super!!!! All he needs is the threadle slice verbal and you will be able to add more and more motion.

Great job on all of these! Let me know what you think!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi!
More threadles here – as you add more motion, definitely add your threadle slice verbal and look at your threadle hand, I think that will help him a lot! This is a hard skill because it has to override motion. Also, keep your feet facing the reward and not him – you had your feet facing him on the first rep, but facing the reward more after that.

T

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi!
This was the threadle – the remote cookie dispenser was hard on the first rep but then he was great on the second rep! Super!

2 things to help build up the threadles:

– release with a threadle verbal, to help him differentiate it from the serp which uses the regular “break” release.

– And, look at your threadle hand (and you can swing the hand/arm back on threadles, which also differentiates it from the serp).

T

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi –
This was one rep of serp with some movement – you can keep moving and you don’t need to swing your shoulder back as much (on serps, you won’t want to swing your arm back at all, ideally.) As you release, you can look at your serp hand but you don’t need to move it back – it can stay locked in position as you move forward.

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi –

Concept transfer of wrapping the wing was easy peasy for him. Yay! You were able to add the turn and burn both directions. It looks like when you were trying to leave fast and early on the left turns (1:27, 2:03) he had more questions than on he right turns. So on the left turns, two options to smooth things out: you can leave early (as soon as his nose is arriving at the wing) but sloooowly (walking). Or, you can leave a step later (after he turns his head to start the wrap) and leave fast (jogging). It looks like you can leave fast and early on the right turns 🙂 It is normal that turns would progress at different rates, based on the subtle side preferences.

Nice work!

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi!
Hard to tell a side preference because he was turning to whichever side the ball was rolling LOL! Darned ball was misbehaving LOL! He turned to his left more time than he turned to his right, but that might be based on the ball direction. You can try rolling the ball into a corner to see if you can get more of a blank slate about his turn preference 🙂

His retrieving was perfect! And he thought it was weird to tug on the ball at first, but then he go more comfy with it! He would make a fabulous flyball dog too, to add to his busy schedule 🙂

T

[Tracy Sklenar]

Good morning! Hope you had a good weekend!

>>, I was able to do some of these over the weekend, not all.

Doing some is the correct thing 🙂 Trying to do ALL would result in too much work and both of your brains would be too tired 🙂

Looking at the tunnel videos:

They are all looking good!! She definitely is liking her tunnel!!
One suggestion: replace saying “ready” with the tunnel verbal while you are holding her so she hears tunnel tunnel tunnel 3 or 4 times before you release her (to better attach this verbal and also make it easier to attach other verbals) using the same framework. You did this use of the verbal at 1:40 and 2:16 – she doesn’t need to look forward, as long as she goes to the tunnel when you release her 🙂 You might be waiting for her to look forward when you say ready? But she doesn’t need to, especially when you are on the harder angles.

>>should I be looking at Hola or at the tunnel entrance when saying Tunnel! Tunnel! Tunnel! ??>>

You should be looking at her (practicing connection), she can look wherever she likes 🙂

>> except one thing I did notice is that she wasn’t as zippy when going in from the left side of the tunnel and on some of them sort of stopped at the end of the tunnel. I’ll try this again and see if she still does it. When she worked from the right side of the tunnel she didn’t do that. Could that be a factor of turning to her right? Was I doing something different?>>

She was less zippy in a couple of instances when the food was involved and it was only coming from the MM. She might find your lack of motion to be not stimulating so she goes to the MM mostly but was not that amped up about it all. A couple of ideas for you:

– you can play tug between each rep after a food reward so it is not just a repetitive thing with the MM. The tug will make it more fun and will also help you line her up – when there was only the MM reward, you were doing collar grabbing and moving her into position by the collar, which does not seem motivating to her (see below for more on that). A tug game or another cookie for coming back can help her line up.

– make sure the MM is beeping – I did hear it sometimes, but not always? Se might find the beep helpful about where to look.

– add motion! as soon as she commits to the tunnel, you can run to the reward even if the reward is the MM. That will be more engaging.

– on the left turns, it might be a harder side for her (this is normal) so you can stay closer to the entry for a while longer.

She was not slow at all on the left turns when the toy was involved, which supports the theory of the MM-only being not-so-exciting LOL!! So definitely incorporate more toy play and less moving by the collar into the tunnel games.

When she is on the threadle side, you can now add your tunnel threadle verbal to replace saying tunnel on those reps. Use the same framework of holding her, saying the verbal, then letting go. Start on easy angles as you add the new word, and her rate of success will tell you how soon you can add changing positions.

>>When I used the toy she had some big runoffs with the toy all the way to the far end of the field, but did a huge loop and ran right back to me.>>

She did come back, but took a little while – it was about 25 seconds on video 3. You can add in running the other way and calling her back to you with a higher value toy, then play play play play play 🙂 The problem with having 2 same-value or identical toys (even if they are well-loved toys) is that she can choose to have an easy big fun romp with the toy… or come back and work for the same exact toy. Ha! Any terrier is going to choose to have a victory lap if the value of reinforcement is identical LOL! So, you can have a lower value toy thrown as the reward, cue a quick victory lap… then move the other way and call her back to you for a higher value toy 🙂

>>Should I stretch the tunnel out more the next time? I definitely need to buy more tunnel bags, what you see is all I have.>>

Not until you have more to secure it with so it doesn’t move from under her. You don’t need to buy expensive tunnel bags – I bought playsand from Lowe’s and put it into giant heavy duty garbage bags and attached them with old sheets across the top… tunnel bags for $2 LOL!

Minny pinny –

>>On the Minny Pinny I held her by the collar but since I was holding the treats in that hand it was a little distracting for her on some of the reps. I know you said to treat with the same (send) hand which is why I had them in that hand. Should I just keep them in my pocket and try to get one out in time when she comes back around?>>

Nope, keep them in your send hand 🙂 Part of the learning is that the dog leaves the reward to do the thing 🙂 Otherwise you will end up with rushed mechanics to get the cookies out which can be even more distracting. She will figure it out and did well here!

Good job saying the verbal a few times, then letting her go, then continuing to say it and rewarding her for the correct turn.

She was NOT a fan of the collar grab here where you used the collar to move her around to the start position, She was avoiding it (which could be part of the reason she romped away at :46 and also why she was not always bringing the toy back during the tunnel games) or lookin away as it was happening. Good info from Hola!!

So instead of using the collar grab as a way to move her into position (doesn’t look like a fun line up!), you can change the mechanics: after the reward, use a cookie or hand target to line her up at your side (no hand on collar). When she is in the line up poition at your side, slip a finger under her collar (but don’t move her around by the collar), give her a cookie, then start the verbals.

You can also add in the turn and burn exit now where you do a front cross while she is doing the minny pinny, take off and run so she chases you for the reward. That will be fun!

Parallel path –

>>For the Parallel Path game the tossing of a treat away first did work better to keep her from looking at me. When I tried tossing treat and using a toy to throw over the jump she choked on the treat a few times because she didn’t eat it first before jumping and grabbing the toy. So on the last few reps in the video although you can’t see it I put a big cone out to send her around instead of using the treat. >>

The cone works well as a starting point if she is not swallowing the treat. Soft treats are generally better to use, but some dogs don’t swallow those either! So, the cone is great 🙂

>>Should I put a verbal to this exercise like Go! Go! Go! ??>>

No need to add a Go verbal yet – you an add a verbal “get it” marker (I couldn’t hear if you had one here). You can add in changing your position and motion: on some reps, startcloser to the cone so she drives ahead of you to the jump. On some reps, send her waaaay away from the cone so you are past the jump before she gets there. And on all reps, you can start to jog and build to a run 🙂

One training mechanics thing that I notice here about the retrieve, which could be part of why she takes big victory laps… when she brings the toy back, you tend to take it away, disconnect, and get yourself set up for the next rep. Watch her face in those moments LOL! Most dogs find that to be punishing, even if we hand them a treat. The removal of the toy and the handler disconnection override the treat.

Instead, when she brings it back, play! Either reward with the other toy, or tug with the one she has brought back, or send her on another victory lap. Don’t just take it away and go back to work. You played more at 2:01, this is more what I think will be fun for her! On most of the other reps, you tended to take it away immediately then turn your back on her and go back to work. So try to make the engagement with the toy longer and more exciting when she returns (you can tug and stay engaged all the way back to the starting point) then go right into the next rep with the same high energy and engagement.

Nice work here! Let me know what you think!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Good morning! Hope you are having a fabulous couch day today!!!

>> I did a little bit more today (Sunday), but Casper had diarrhea last night. I gave him the ham off my sandwich yesterday… that is what I trained with in the video; it was really high value. Last night (Saturday night), though, he woke me up at 3 am and 5 am with diarrhea. And today he threw up in his crate a couple of times so he wasn’t feeling very well.>>

Poor guy! The ham plus travel plus being in the new location can definitely throw off his system. I hope he is feeling better today!

Looking at the videos – yes, he was not as into it as usual, and that is probably because he didn’t feel well. Food is the motivator as well as the reinforcement for him here so if he wasn’t feeling 100%, I can see why he would be a little lukewarm about it. But he did well and did a couple of stays on the platform. And he ate a couple of treats and did some barrels for you in the next video, but you can see when the food is not as motivating how the distractions come up in the environment.

>>When I watch the video I really hear all the different sounds. I tend to tune them out when I’m actually there, since they are so normal for me I just consider them background noise. I’m sure they are very strange and distracting for Casper.>>

Yes! All sorts of different sounds and visuals and probably a TON of smells. When the food is motivating and he is feeling good, his brain will prioritize the food and the activity over the sounds/smells/sights (like the Saturday videos). But when he doesn’t feel so good, and the food is not as motivating… his brain will avoid the food and that leaves room to prioritize the sounds/smells/sights which is why he was sniffier and also looking/listening to the environment more here. I am pretty sure the noises and smells are very similar to the Saturday noises and smells – but he was tired, not feeling well, and not finding food motivating so you can see a difference in his focus level.

You were wise to just let him sniff and do a thing or two, then stop. Yes, he was able to work a bit which speaks to the high value of the “work” and engagement with you <3 Yay!

>> And it could transfer to the car too if the coat/harness happens preceding the car every time. >>

Right! We don’t want to chain together coat/harness/car.

You might want to try coat OR harness, instead of coat AND harness? Maybe having the sensory stimulation of both is too much.

>> I’ll keep clicker training it to get him to offer to put his head in with super high-value treats. Then after he’s getting it on, I can combine it with a super fun thing that he will love.>>

Maybe don’t clicker train it at all, that gets both of you really focusing on The Dreaded Harness (his words, probably haha). Maybe put it on super fast (you can have cream cheese or something on his nose to help with that) then immediately go into whatever thing he loves the absolute most. Does he love to run with one (or more) of your other dogs? You can take a ‘social support’ approach: If Jet or Connor or Dreamer are happy to have a coat or harness on, and they like to run with Casper, let Casper watch one of them happily get a harness on. Then put Casper’s harness on – then open the door and they can go run in your yard. Or any activity they can engage in together 🙂

I need to do this with flyball wraps and my baby dog, Elektra. The plan is to set up near my back door to my dog yard, with the frizzers next to the door. I will wrap her BFF, Contraband (he will be thrilled to be wrapped to play friz!) then I will wrap a foot or two on Elektra… then open the door and let them run around and play frizzer. I will get this on film if it ever stops raining 🙂

>>My parents always just wanted me to deal with stuff when I was a kid, but then they could also put me in situations that were so uncomfortable (mainly social situations I hated and couldn’t handle when I was very young) that it was pushed too far. So I want to be aware and not push things too far to make life more difficult for him.>>

1000000% relatable!!!! And we, as adults, remember those situations and not in a good way. We humans are much better able building resilience in dogs and helping them gradually enter situations that are hard, to help build up those positive associations. You are doing a great job of “reading” Casper to help him get confident and happy in situations where he might have questions 🙂

Tracy

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