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I just posted the reply – the battery on my computer croaked just as I was trying to post it earlier 🙂 You will see it above now 🙂
TracyHi!
I am glad she is feeling better!!! That just have been scary!!
>I finally found a toy that she really likes,>
She definitely likes that toy! It is a great toy!!
> but she still will take a brief “victory lap” before engaging with it.>
On this video, she came away from the treat area really quickly. Then I think she was maybe thinking “woohoo we are running!” And the toy became her focal point when you turned and ran the other way. The tugging looked good and happened pretty quickly. You can call her once then start to make silly noise or use a ‘get it’ cue to emphasize the toy – calling her name a lot might pull her focus away from the toy.
The other thing on this video which might is definitely subtle: she turned to her right to get to you, rather than to her left which would be the ‘easier’ side, based on where you were.
So maybe she was not doing a run-by or victory lap, maybe she just has not quite figured out how to turn left while running? You can test that theory by having her on your left side to chase the toy, and see if she gets to the toy faster by turning to her right.
>She also seems to want to run in circles…searching for food???>
Grab lots of video of this and we will see if there is a pattern or a reason behind it. The transition back to the toy is something that is built up and we have plenty of time to build it 🙂
> Am I worrying about that too much?? I just don’t want to create a pattern that will transfer into the ring in the future. >
Definitely nothing to worry about 🙂 It is just something to develop as you build up her reinforcement toolbox 🙂 And you can test different theories: does the running in circles only happen when a toy is present? Or if you took off and ran with a cookie, does it happen? Or does it happen after a bit of training regardless of what happens next? It might be her way of working through lots of excitement. It is all good, we will get it sorted out 🙂
Keep me posted!
TracyHi!
This went really well, with the in-then-out behavior happening really easily (nice reward placement!!). I think for her, doing this as a mainly toy-based game will keep it more interesting. The food rewards were ok based on her response… but the real fun was with the toy 🙂 And you can do it sitting on the couch for now, so she doesn’t have to reach up to hit the target. She will be taller soon, so you will be able to stand LOL!
>I think she spit up a cookie on the red where she was smelling under my feet. Was I right to just wait her out?>
It could have been a couple of reasons – yes, she might have spit up a cookie. But also she has to turn to her left on that side, so perhaps she was sorting out the left turns? Also, I think by that point in the session, there were too many cookie reps and she was a little under-stimulated by it all LOL!! So – you can use a start cookie and then the toy as reward, doing fewer reps but they will be more enticing for sure!
And if she loses focus for a moment, you can call her back and reset the next rep – then break off and play. That can also optimize arousal for this.
For the next session, start with the target in your left hand and see how it goes when she is fresh and spicy 🙂
Nice work here!!Tracy
Hi!
Each type of contact training definitely has challenges! If you have regular access to the contacts, you’ll have an easier time with the running contacts. If you don’t have regular access, you might find it is easier to train the stops.
But either way – training understanding and then maintaining criteria is key! I personally think the running dog walk takes a bit longer than the stops, because of all the striding and all the different exit. But it sure if fun and worthwhile!
>For running contacts, should I still plan on using an end behavior (Hit It)?>
For the running a-frame, the behavior is basically the same regardless of the exit, so you can use a general ‘hit it’ or even just the a-frame cue.
For the running dog walk – the striding into the end behavior changes based on what the exit line is (straight versus turn, etc) so you will probably need a couple of different cues 🙂 And those cues get delivered pretty early. For example, I use “run run run run” to mean full out extension and go straight on the exit, and I start that cue no later than the top of the up ramp. All of that gets trained in during the training stages.
let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning!
This went really well!! He was a super good boy with all the. Things here: looking at the bowl, lining up, playing tug , etc. Whatever collar he is wearing certainly made it easy to hold him and cue the forward focus – click/treat to yoU! You had really smooth mechanics so it was an efficient session and also very playful. Love it!!
>He did better at home. >
I thought he did great here! So if he as even better at home, that is great, you will be able to advance this skill really well!
He is a really fast learner so I think you can push the limits more 🙂 but moving the bowl further around by an inch or two, after each successful rep or two. That way you can get the bowl around the cone pretty fast, to add more challenge.
Since you are getting the forward focus really well – when the bowl is most of the way around the cone so he looks at the cone/line and not at the bowl, you can add a forward focus verbal if you like: say a cue (like ‘look’) just before you point with the other hand. And you don’t need to add a verbal if you don’t want more words to have to remember LOL!
>Thought toy would be easier. It wasn’t lol>
Yes, he was not as sure about getting the toy at the end but that might have just been he was in food bowl mode and needed to see that separately. Most of the session was ‘ignore the toy, look at the bowl’ – so definitely try the toy instead of the bowl at the start of the next session and see what he does.
Backing up –
This is a hard skill and he did well! YAY!! Nice job to you for keeping your hands nice and low, so he could maintain his neutral/natural head position and move backwards pretty easily. He might be in the all-legs stage but he handled those legs really well 🙂He had a short time right at the beginning where he was not entirely sure or remembering what to do – some whining and some flinging his butt back, so you can jumpstart the “it is about the mat” at the beginning by getting him all four feet on it and rewarding. Then lure his front feet off and let him step back on, and reward. He took a few seconds to ‘remember’ it, so that quick jumpstart moment can help at the start.
Once he got rolling, I like how he stopped tossing his butt backwards 😂😆 and instead was walking backwards. YAY!!! My only suggestion (besides keep doing what you’re doing) – you can break this up more, in terms of tossing a treat or toy away so he can move forward and move around naturally more. That will be less tiring as you add more distance away from the mat.
Great job here!
TracyGood morning!
Good for you for following up with the chiropractor!
>I think it could be his teeth as well. Not all of his adult teeth are fully grown in yet.>
Yes, can totally be this. We also see reductions in toy drive when the mouth is painful, for a short time.
He did really well getting on the inflatables, especially if they were new shape! As soon as he realized that it would be a little easier to balance, he really got rolling with the offering. Yay!
Great job changing your position after the tug break to get him to walk up with all 4 feet. He doesn’t seem totally comfy standing with all 4 feet yet (when he was standing on them both at the end, you can see how hard his body is working to maintain the balance – rocking back and forth, shaking a tiny bit), so I love that you switched to more of a back and forth pattern of cookie tosses to get him moving across the objects.
You can create an entire field of play by putting all of your stuff spread out for him to walk around on 🙂 As many random objects as you can find – the inflatables, a couch cushion, etc etc LOL!! And have him move back and forth while mixing in standing like you did here. You can also add a plank into it, so he has different surfaces/textures, stability-levels.
The field trip to the park was really good! Lovely weather 🙂 Great noises in the background! He seemed really at ease, processing the environment and engaging with you. The voices in the distance drew his attention but it was cool to see him be able to reengage without any apparent concern, then even move into a relaxed down.
While the weather is still good, you can do a mixture of resilience walk/pattern game/world watching in the park environment. World watching is simply sitting with him and letting him just watch the world go by. It is amazingly great for their brains! And the resilience walks/pattern games can get him to different parts of the park (closer/further from the interesting stuff 🙂 )
Nice job here!
TracyHi!
This is a great list!!!
>Jump Threadle Wrap: have not used this in the past, but would like to add to my toolbox (maybe DigDig?)>
The threadle wrap is insanely popular in course design right now, highly recommend a verbal for it 🙂 We teach the foundations later in this course 🙂
>Loose Turns of Approximately 90 degrees (Left and Right): Right / Left>
To be sure they don’t sound like loop or rye, change how you deliver each verbal. The wraps can be short fast repetitions like loop-oop-oop-oop (the L is hard to say rapidly so it might be easier to drop it when you are repeating it) and rye-ai-ai-ai 🙂 And then leeeeeft and riiiiiight can be stretched out so Carly totally hears the difference.
>Threadle Side Of Weaves Cue: Have not used this in the past, but would like to add to my toolbox (maybe Poles?)>
Sounds good!! This skill is starting to get more popular in court design.
>Question: would it be better to have a different end position cue for the AFrame and Dogwalk?>
If it is the same behavior, like a 2o2o, then it can be the same cue, no problem 🙂
let me know what you think!
Tracy
Good morning!
here are some video examples:
>Backside Slice Verbal (Back Back):
>Backside Wrap Verbal (DigDigDig)
>Jump Threadle Verbal (Close)
>Jump Threadle Wrap (In In)This one has both:
threadle slices:
Have fun!
Tracy
Good morning!
Oh no 🙁 I hope your partner is feeling better, I am so sorry to hear about her broken leg!!! That sounds painful.
Missing the WCO is a total bummer but of course, our loved ones take priority. Maybe you can come to the US Open instead?
The pattern game went well! You get a giant click/treat for your patience as she assessed the environment. There were some good smells and stuff, and some noises in the background. Birds? And letting her work this in the grass was great too! Different smells and she was able to sort that pretty quickly and return to engagement. She might be familiar with the noises but in the grass part of the video, she definitely had to assess *something* in the environment, probably a noise. Letting her drive the bus on this game is great for resilience and overall feeling’ good! You can take this game on the road when you have a chance – do super short bursts with crazy high value food.
Great job!
Tracy
Good morning!
I think this went GREAT!!!! Excellent first session on this!
You had really nice patience on the first rep to let her/help her offer going around the barrel – it had a big impact which led to a great 2nd rep!!!! And then she offered really well on the next reps. You made it slightly harder on the last few reps, and she did great!
>I still don’t feel like she’s driving in to go around the barrel. But, it’s definitely better. >
I think she is sorting it out by thinking through the puzzle rather than flinging herself headlong into it without a clear plan of what to do LOL!!! I personally like this thoughtful approach with the very young pups, because the speed gets added by the pup when they have seen this for a session or two. She is doing great!
>Was the empty bowl where you wanted it?>
Yes! You can keep it there if you think it was helping, or maybe start the next session with it, then take it out after a rep or two.
>I only did the right and she lost interest at the end. Turns out she needed a potty break.>
Yes, this is a challenging game in terms of the energy level: Outdoors plus tugging plus the running element of the game plus the thinking about moving away from your cue hand, ignoring the toy, around the barrel…. That is going to burn a lot more brain fuel more quickly than an indoor cookie session would. So you might only get 90 seconds or 2 minutes and work one side, then she needs a break.
I think at 2:47 she was like “I need to pee!” Which is why she appeared to lose interest. So you can do 4 or 5 reps, then take her for a break/pee. Then come back for another couple of reps on the other side.
Speaking of the other side – we don’t have a clear idea of if she is lefty or righty. This is fine, of course, because it means she is pretty balanced. In this game we sometimes see the pups asking to turn to the easier side by going around behind the handler to the other side of the barrel.
She did something like this at 1:17 – perhaps she was saying “I would like to turn left pleas.” Or perhaps she was saying “gimme the toy and cooke bowl!”. It is hard to know for sure til you try her on the left turn sides (starting on your right). That is a good place to start the next session. If she has trouble turning left, you can move the bowl towards her so it is a little more visible to jump start the behavior.
>Dot was extra spicy last night! We had to get up early for a medical procedure for me which threw off her usual schedule.
>Ha! Yes, pups do seem to get thrown off of their usual schedules and then they are like over-tired kids on a sugar high LOL!!!
>Oh, she goated herself onto a 16 in table to eat the hackberries that fell from the tree.>
OMG!! Confident little monkey!!! That is a total goat move.
Great job here!
Tracy
Good morning! I love that shirt you were wearing!!!
The session got off to a great start! Good catch on your feet on the first rep – the next reps were great!
You can extend your arm fully away even more, locking your elbow – as far as possible while still keeping it low enough to touch for now.
>>don’t go train in the basement when the husband is due home…big distractions above us plus the lovely driveway sensor which I thought had finished going off but no…>>
Then the daddy’s home distraction happened when you changed sides – didn’t he know you were training the puppy? LOL!!!!
I was expecting a bit more chaos and distraction based on your description but overall, he got back to work really really well!! GOOD BOY!!!!! And after that moment of distraction, he worked the rest of the session beautifully.
He did seem a little distracted so it might have been that his attentional state was a bit split by the distraction upstairs. But also, you had the toy in your hand for that part of the session which is definitely more challenging than the cookies in your hand. But again, by the end of the session, he was able to directly drive to the target hand even with the toy fully visible. Super!!!!
For the next session, 2 things to add:
– you can add a toy marker (“bite” or whatever you are using for his ‘grab the toy’ marker instead of ‘yes’
– You can have the toy attached to a longer toy, so you can hold one end and the other end can rest on the ground as he is coming in to the target. Or you can put an empty food bowl there – he will be happy with both as rewards and they will add plenty of challenge to prepare for the next levels too.You were smart to finish up when you did and the sensor at the end was funny LOL!!! I think you were more annoyed by it than he was LOL!
Great job here!
Tracy
Good morning!
She is driving ahead REALLY well! And finding her treats in the carpet so this session went really well. For the outdoor session, you might need to use giant cheese chunks or those orange crunchy cheese balls. Or… a toy! More on that below.
She is definitely a lefty 🙂 with the left turns being really good when you got to the new side early enough. Try can see that at :19 and :40 where you were far enough across the line that she was able to get to the left turn.
At :10 and :30, you were still on the right turn side when she arrived at the prop, so she correctly turned right. Great job continuing to reward, because that keeps her in the game as you work the timing. It would be confusing if she read your cues correctly and then didn’t get rewarded!
So to get consistent rear crosses, start right next to her and maybe a little further from the prop. Then as soon as she starts moving, you are going to cut behind to the new side (rear cross :)) as soon as possible, ideally no later than when she is halfway to the prop. And if you are using a toy to reward, you can start with a hand in the collar rather than a cookie toss.
When you do the rear cross to the right turn, which is harder for her, you can do the rear cross as early as possible and if she turns correctly – reward even if she doesn’t hit the prop 🙂 Since the right turns are harder, we can also have you help her with either a hand lure with the reward, or you can put an empty food bowl on the ground on the right turn side to give her a visual aid to turn to the right on the RCs.
Great job here! Keep me posted on how the other games go!
TracyGood morning! She did great! I love that she wa able to hit the hand target with complete focus on it, even with the beloved frisbee tucked under your other arm. YAY!!
Since that went really well, you can go to the next step: rather than have the frisbee (or any toy that she likes) tucked under your arm, you can hold it in your hand at your side. This will make it more visible and will ramp up the challenge: can Goose do the hand touch even with the visible frisbee? And then you can reward with the frisbee of course. That will set things up well for the levels where we add more movement and challenge.
If she can’t do the hand target with the frisbee more visible (frisbee is LIFE so it might be distracting!) you can start with treats in the other hand and visible to show her the concept, then work back up to the visible frisbee 🙂
Great job!
Tracy
hi!
The games build up on each other, so I think everyone grabs a minute or two here and there. You are doing great!!T
