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Hi!
Wowza, we are beginning to see how explosively speedy she is going to be! Watch her as she exits the barrel to chase you – so cool!!!
When you are planning to run away fast, be SUPER patient for now and let her get almost all the way around the cone – marking it with a line on the ground will help you stay patient. If you moved too soon, she didn’t commit to finishing the wrap. Motion is exciting!
The other thing you can do is add in doing the FC and leaving sooner, bit by bit… but do it at a calm walk (or fake calm haha) so that your quickness doesn’t cause her to stop going around the cone. You can slide out to he new direction at a slow walk and then when she finishes the wrap, you can start running.
Left turns are harder for her, so add more connection like you did at 1:13 and 1:38 and keep your arm low (so you don’t block the connection). 1:38 in particular was fantastic!
She might have needed a warm up rep on the backing up at the beginning (a really easy rep to remind her) but then it was so exciting to see her reach back with her foot to find it! AWESOME! The board definitely helped her! You can start the board nice and close, then fade it out by just moving it gradually further and further off to the side, so she is backing up with less help from the board.
Because she is an adolescent, be prepared that some sessions like this will have great back foot use, and then the next day she might forget she has back feet 🙂 No worries, all normal, so you can use the boards to help her out in that case.
Great job on these!!
TracyHi!
> Still having trouble with the last, three step prop, one. We are working on it, but giving it a break.
No worries! A break is good – let her sleep on it for a day or two, then we can come back to it. Post a video if you have a moment!
>> Brought out the barrel for our new word, “wrap”, with treats first, then a tug. She took to that instantly! Just a very quick session, and speedy! Fun!
Perfect! And yes, fun – this is where the wrap games start to get really exciting for humans and pups 🙂
>> I will let that simmer for a day or two. I’m just so happy with this! After 1/2 hour of limited success (all on me, btw) with our last prop, video/training piece.>>
Yes, let it simmer – it is amazing how puppy brains can learn it when we let it simmer LOL!!! You are doing an awesome job!!
Tracy
Hi!
I love her resilience walk! And the “hey shorty” was SO CUTE! She seems like a really happy, confident pup. Bombproof indeed!!!! And charming! She seems to have a natural resilience, which we will maintain through adolescence.
The targeting in pre-game 2 went brilliantly! Love her! And yes, she understood it immediately. When we build on this (on Tuesday) I think it will be easiest to have you on a low chair or cushion or stool or something, so you don’t have to bend at the waist as much.
The 3rd video here was marked as building sends, but it was the drive to handler game. It looked great! You can add motion to it – as she is chasing the start cookie, you can be moving forward. Then decelerate as she turns to move towards you, and get the cookie hand in nice and low 🙂 Then you can also add in the pivot when she arrives at your leg.
She seems to be a bit of a sponge, so feel free to move to the next level of these games pretty quickly. If she gets it right 2 or 3 reps in a row? You can try the next level and see how she does.
Great job here!
TracyHi!
>>Yesterday Venture said he just couldn’t work so we took a break. We had already had a couple outings to the pet store and Tractor Supply. He got lots of pets and love from all the shoppers and I think that was the limit for his adolescent brain. Black Friday with a puppy!>>
Depletion is real! Black Friday shopping takes a lot of mental energy for humans and puppies 🙂
>>I’m unsure about the “You can throw the toy on the exit of the blind here: when he gets to the new side, you can throw the toy ahead and let him drive to it to get the cookie out of it without you”. The timing would be? Throw forward as soon as he’s close to the toy or should he be at the toy before the throw?>>
I think as soon as you see him locking onto the correct (new) side, you can throw the reward forward so he accelerates past you to get it. So he will still be a few feet behind you when you throw it.
>>Backing up to the Cato board – it’s 4″ high when on a solid surface inside. In the grass it sinks and is quite a bit lower. Ven is about 14″ tall so far. I expect he’ll end up about 15″ tall. Is 4″ too tall or should I try it out and see?>>
I think in the grass it would be OK. But probably too high on a solid surface to start with. A one or two inch height will be easier for him 🙂
Keep me posted!
TracyHoly Wow, she was really zippy around the barrel here: “I GOT THIS, MOM!!” Perfect! Tight and fast in both directions, with no questions. Super!
Because she was so good, the next step is to work up to you standing while she does this. You can split it by doing a few reps in a chair, then moving to standing up (and still dropping the treats in the bowl). If she is happy with you standing: definitely move to the turn and burn game posted this week (that is where wrapping really gets fun). If she has questions, you can stay with the bowl game for another session (but somehow I don’t think she will have questions).
Great job here! Let me know how she does with you standing!
Tracy
Hi!
Mingo is getting big now! Fun!
Super nice job with the blinds here!! Lots of good running from you both and double happy dance for getting that last canine out LOL!With her speed, you can start your blind as soon as she starts moving towards you because she will be catching up fast LOL!! Whippets and BWs have different timing than non-whippety dogs 🙂
You were doing the blind when she was a little past being halfway to you, which is probably why they felt late. So if you start them when she begins moving towards you, the blinds should feel more comfy. You started earlier on the last rep, and that seemed to be the smoothest one.
It was hard to tell when she would start running towards you, so you can use a soft treat she can slurp up then call her name so she turns to you more immediately.
Great job with your mechanics and connection on the exit of the blinds – she had no questions about where to be! YAY!!
Great job here 🙂
TracyHi!
>>I can sort of feel him locking onto me and then remembering his toy sometimes – I’ll try next time giving him more time
Plus he is a complete newbie to the game – when he sees it once or twice, he will better understand where to look and then it will be easy!
Nice session here!! Your mechanics were really strong: fast transitions in and out of the toy play, you were holding the item so it would not move, and he offered immediately: and your treats were ready so there was really no delay with the cookie reward.
>> I picked this object because he has never used it before but in review of the video – I think this had too much movement-instability>>
Yes, it had some extra movement but you helped by holding it and he was very GAME ON about offering behavior. I think he was trying to offer pivoting on it? Good boy! You can start to make a goat trick trail in that hallway: all sorts of various items for him to walk across and on as you both move back and forth along the hallway.
>.Also we needed more space – he bumped his head tugging>>
Poor little guy LOL!!!! I am not sure he noticed, though LOL!!
>>since i didn’t have my clicker I should have made my verbal markers sound more like a marker with less chatter>>
You were generally quiet during the offering, mostly just saying “yes” then the marker with a “good boy” mixed in here and there. The majority of the chatter was during the play, which is fine with me 🙂 I like the various noises and chatter because it is very engaging! It was a really great session!
Side note: where did you get the rug in your hallway? I need rugs like that which won’t move under the pups 🙂
Great job here!
TracyHi!
I am super glad she likes the leash! But yes, she needed a bit more work on ignoring it. Since she finds it so fun, you can use it like the reinforcement in the remote reinforcement game: begin by just taking a step or two away from it then marking that success with the marker to go back to it 🙂 Then you will be better able to use it in sequences.
When you did the sequences without it, she looked great! The Go and the RC both looked really strong!!
On the second video, she did a good job ignoring the bowl on the ground (I think that was what she was supposed to ignore?) This is a good setup for teaching her to ignore the leash: take the leash off, move away from it, mark and then go back to it to play. Then you can add in wrapping the cone, etc – all building up to her being able to ignore that awesome leash while running courses 🙂
Nice work here!
TracyHi!
Good job rehearsing coming to the line on leash and tuggig on it at the end! Yay!
His go lines are looking really good, both at the beginning and after the rear crosses. The bowl is a good target (even if the cookie was not in it at first LOL!)
You got a really nice turn on the tunnel exit to get him on the line,
As you get furher behind, keep saying go go go so you don’t get too quiet (which migh cause him to ask questions).The rear cross is really tricky here – you can basically set the line from the tunnel exit and start facing the rear cross line at basically the same time. At 1:55 and 3:50. you were facing srtaight for a few steps then tried to set the RC, which made the RC late.
At 2:48, you seemed to get more directly onto the RC line and he was able to make the turn before he even took off. Wow! So definitely plan for the earlier rear cross pressure so he can set up the lovely turns.
Great job here! Hope you have a nice Thanksgiving!
Tracy
Perfect that you are using markers! And also relatable that it is hard to spit them out AND do the handling AND try to do it all at whippet speed 🙂 I really love her drive, her brain, and her movement – such a cool pup! And yes, it will all come together with age and practice.
And you can also let her burn off some of that energy by run run running before training sessions – if that gets success, then it is exactly the rehearsal that is needed 🙂
Have fun!
TracyGood morning!
>>RC are not my forte>
Well, I would say they are becoming your forte!!! This session was great. Your very first rep was a little late (you were being careful, perhaps) but then on the 2nd rep – NAILED IT! And you were clearly getting more and more comfortable with driving into the pressure and cutting behind her pretty early but still maintaining the line so she committed AND turned.
The real indicator that you were nailing it was the first rep on the other side: after all of the rewards for turning left, you had to cue a right turn at :24 and if you did it late, she would turn left. You nailed it and she turned to her right. SUPER!! And after that, you were getting even earlier and earlier, so both of you were even more confident with it. I am doing a happy dance here! Super!!!
Great job here!
TracyGood morning!
Really nice job with the backing up!!I think having the mat slightly further from you worked like a charm, giving her room to back onto it. Nice! Keep revisiting this every couple of days and you can use the wobble board for it too – just prop the wobble board with a bunch of towels under it, so it barely moves at first.
Speaking of the wobble board – she was happy to slam them around while tugging! Since they are relatively small, she is unlikely to stand on them while tugging. But you can use food to encourage her to get her front feet on one of the boards and back feet on the other one 🙂
She wants to offer a bow/front end stretch so pretty please reward that in a non-backing up session 🙂 that is a great behavior to shape! You can use a different pat or something to get her to do it – something smaller will help because she can “anchor” her back feet on it and stretch out her front (and reward nice and low, close to the ground).
The mini course looked great! On the first rep you pivoted too quickly, so she read it as a blind cross. On the other reps, you slowed the pivot just enough that she could stay on the correct side while turning. Lovely! And doing it from a restrained recall is also great, because it adds in more speed AND offers a layer of impulse control: ignore the people and run with the momma! Is that Ginger being your holder? Hi Ginger!
Yes, this is a good one for the trial environment and so if the prop game. Have a blast! Great job here!
Tracy
Good morning!
>>The interesting thing with her is that I’m not seeing signs of overarousal/brain frying while she is working for food. If it is there, it comes out when we try to switch back to the toy.>>
You are unlikely to see it with food (unless the dog is hyper-obsessed with food, which she is not :)) for two reasons:
– food in training is generally associated with lower arousal behavior so less likely to tip the dog into overarousal
– food in training has a different influence on the dog’s physiological state so also less likely to tip the dog into overarousal.Toy play is generally associated with higher arousal behaviors and more likely to stimulate the internal physiological state into higher arousal that food. And you can see it happening, almost like flipping a switch.
There might also be a frustration component of leaving the food for the toy in that transition moment, so you can slow that moment down and add distance in time & space from the food training: take a little longer to present the toy, and move to a different place in the room or house, then start throwing it around.
>>Lift likes to smack the gate with her front paws so that it crashes to the ground (at which point Demi bolts in the other direction and Kaladin just stares at her in confusion). Then she trots right over the flat gate to escape. So I’m not anticipating issues with adding sound, but will do it slowly incase she’s having an adolescent moment.>>
That is hilarious! I feel like she needs a bell to ring, to call for her household staff LOL!!!
>>I told her if she wants to stop growing at 12.5 or 12.6in and focus on fur instead that would be just fine with me,>>
I am sending 12.6” vibes!!!!!!
The collection sandwich video looked good! It was a really fun way to go from cookie hand to grab the toy. Your mechanics looked really good with the blind,decel, pivot. Fun!
The running and chasing you and the toy seems to provide a really nice outlet for her arousal, keeping her in a pretty optimal state! I like it! So you can definitely be using the throwing of the toy in your transitions in other training, to help her go from food to toys without pummeling you 🙂And keeping the session short was great – fast, fun, be done! Yay!
On the backing up video is also looking good. It took a couple of moments to sort out the mechanics of how far to draw her off the mat but you kept rewarding so she was happy to keep trying it. You nailed it at about 1:49 when you drew her front feet off but left her back feet on the mat – that allowed her to step back and it jump started the behavior for the rest of the session. LOVELY! She was not quite ready for all 4 feet off, but 2 feet then 3 feet off worked really well!
Yo can start the next session like you ended here, with 2 feet off, then 3 feet off… and I bet you can get all 4 feet off too.
You can do this from a chair so your back doesn’t get angry from the bending over 🙂
>>Not a really high state of arousal but she was thoughtful and switched back and forth between food & toys.>>
It was actually the optimally high arousal state for the task! For this precision behavior (especially since it is new and really challenging) we don’t need her to be in the same arousal state as the BC games 🙂 In this session, she was exactly where she needed to be in terms of state of arousal (you can see it by the really sustained engagement). And the little bursts of toy play helped maintain it without pushing her over the edge into overarousal. Yay!
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning!
>>This was very challenging and difficult in a small space.>>
Yes, it is challenging especially in a small space and ESPECIALLY with a whippet! When I did this with my baby whippet, I was always shocked at how quickly he could get to me (the speed of light LOL!!) I mean, I don’t know why I was so surprised, he is a racing whippet, but all those years of speedy non-whippets (even a half whippet!) did not prepare me for whippet speed LOL!!
The main goal of this is to give the handler the opportunity to get connected with the pup, practice fast then slow then fast, as well as the mechanics of using the cookies and toys. It is actually pretty easy for the pups but super hard for the humans 🙂
I think you did GREAT!!! It might have felt a bit awkward with her speed, but your timing was pretty strong! You clearly expect her to get back to you really quickly so on the first video (all that whippet experience is serving you well!) so you did the blind as soon as she started moving her first whisker towards you. And you kept your pivot slow, she she could stay tight to you as you turned.
I think the hardest part for her was knowing when to grab for the toy. You can see it especially on the 2nd video, where the BC was good too – I think she believed the toy was for her to grab after the blind. Same on the 3rd video – she finished the pivot and thought it was toy-grabbing time LOL!
So that is something we can clarify for her by adding a toy marker. The goal is that she ignores the toy in your hand until you give the marker that she can grab it. I say “bite!” as my toy marker, which means that dog can go ahead and bite the toy 🙂 And I try to say it every time I want the dog to tug from my hand (‘get it’ is for when I throw the toy). That has been really clarifying for the pups, because they can follow the handling and other cues without asking when they can have the toy so they are less ‘grabby’.
Plus, being less grabby for a toy has helped preserve my flesh – I don’t get any accidental tooth hugs or bleeding moments because I am preparing for the jaws coming at the toy, and the pup is looking at the toy when I saw ‘bite’.
So the next step would be to pick a word that means “you can tug from my hand now” and use it as consistently as possible when starting tugging. If it is new, no worries if you sometimes forget it, just keep reminding yourself to add it.
Great job here!!!
Tracy
