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Good morning again!
>>Today’s episode of “How the F*$& Do I Run This Dog?!”
The answer to that question is two-fold:
First, be sure that your motion and verbals match! Plenty of the errors were because of conflicting indicators: voice said one thing, body said another, so she had to take her best guess.
Second, live by the 2 failure rule (that is 2 failures for the entire session, not necessarily in a row). If you get a 2nd failure, that is basically her saying that what you want is not clear so the rest of the session must be broken down to help her understand what you want.
And when you get that 2nd failure, the first thing to do is look at the video so you can see what she is seeing. So on the first video, you will see that the decel was a bit too “forward facing” and not enough motion the new direction, so she was seeing parallel line motion to the tunnel entry you didn’t want.
And, stopping to look at the video after failure 1 and definitely failure 2 will keep you from getting cross with her and using negative markers or withholding reinforcement. That stuff plus repeated failure will make her careful or frustrated, which we don’t want.
Ideally, when she lands from the pinwheel jump, the brake arm would be more visible towards her (opposite arm moving towards her and dog side shoulder moving out of the way) as you decel and turn to the line you want.
The video will tell you if you are doing this (or not LOL!) and if she can see it 🙂 Otherwise you will end up pulling waaaay away from the line you want to get it done on shoulder turning, which is what was happening along with adding other things like spins or rotations towards her (I don’t think you needed either 🙂 )
Yes, it is a pain in the bum to stop and watch the video, but if you are getting off courses you can assume it is a handling question – and if you get the error twice, definitely look at the video.
So I think this skill might be something worth breaking down, first on the jump before the tunnel then starting on the pinwheel jump so you can time the cues of the threadle then driving to the tunnel entry. Do it all at a walk first, so she can read the info through the motion, and so you have an easier time showing the line of motion and not pulling too far away from it.
When she is getting it and the handling is solidifying… end the session rather than try to put the whole thing together 🙂 Trying to add more speed to put it all together can make it harder for your both, but ending the session and both of you sleeping on it will allow for a lot of learning without working hard 🙂
Nice work! Let me know how the seminar goes!
Tracy
Hi!
She did really well here – lots of success!
Yes, I think being calmer and more deliberate with your words and motion helps! No need to get her more aroused when the leash stuff is already pretty stimulating. You can do the happy voices and jumping around during the reward moments 🙂You can also be more deliberate with the cookie delivery when the leash is in play – you can have cookies in your pockets, but try to have empty hands and don’t have a hand in your pocket or have cookies in your hand in front of her nose 🙂 All of that needs to be faded out anyway, so we might as well fade it out now LOL! You don’t need to do it as remote reinforcement- you can still reach into your pocket to pull out a treat after the leash is off (or back on) but empty hands is the next step for sure.
Adding behaviors before the ‘chips’ marker is good! Remember to mix in some rewards for engagement when the leash comes off, so it is not all about making things harder. Easy reps mixed in with harder ones will keep things spicy in a good way 🙂
Great job 🙂
TracyGood morning!
>>I’m envisioning sustained chill outside the ring while waiting for her turn. So, it would be after leaving the stash.
It would probably be used in the time between leaving the main reward station and the last ramp up to go into the ring, so you would likely still have cookies or a toy with you. The order is something that you will sort out in coming weeks and as she starts trialing, but to give you an idea: I generally bring the dog to the reward station, let the dog seem me put the stuff down, then I get closer to the ring but I still have cookies or a toy. Then, depending on the dog, I will go do some engaged chill near the ring. Then into pattern games, then into Volume Dial, last cookies used up, then into the ring.
That is a general framework and is slightly different for each dog/each scenario – there is no way to know exactly til we ask the dog 🙂 And then as they mature, you will see that some elements won’t be needed in the lead up to the run. Stay tuned for more on that coming soon 🙂
>>Here’s pink panther creep. She thought it was fun. But, other than barking sister she’s not too excited in the backyard.>>
It is great to work this when she is not too excited – that sets up a lot of success and also stimulates her into a different arousal state. Even just getting her physiology to ‘rehearse’ getting stimulated and then returning to baseline is hugely helpful. This is all good rehearsal for working in the higher arousal state at class and trials! So while you might not ever use the Pink Panther at a trial, you can still train her in that state by using it in training. And training in that state is great for trialing in that state!! It is also good for obstacle skills – you can use this game with weave training, for example: can she hit and hold her weaves, after you do some pink panther to get her blasting into them? Fun! Anything that can mimic trial arousal states is good to have in training.
Great job here!
TracyGood morning!
Good job with the focus forward game! You can now start to move the bowl further away, so he can start moving further ahead of you. You can start the bowl right in front of you, put the cookie in it (while you are holding him), the slide the bowl away – if he looks at it, you can let him go.
Adding distance will make using the bowl a bit unwieldy at some point, so you can switch to using a lotus ball or treat hugger (much easier to throw!) or a tug toy for this game. That will really help you expand the distance he can drive ahead.
>>was trying to lead him around instead of moving him into position. I think it worked a lot better but I need to work on his just following my hand I think.>>
Lining him up is the hardest part of this, because he doesn’t really want to follow a cookie lure to line up. So here is an idea: he was fantastic with the decel game and drive directly to your side. So you can mix that in here to help with lining up! After he comes back to you and you want to start the next rep, you can toss a treat behind you and then have him drive forward to your side for a cookie. Then you can gently take his collar and he will be in line up position for the next rep of driving ahead 🙂
Looking at the 2 bowl game:
>>I didn’t really point but felt like he was going to the bowls better tonight.>>
Yes! He was offering a LOT of behavior, going back and forth really fast! Super!! And he was not relying on your placing the cookies as a lure – he was offering to go back and forth before you put the cookies in. Super!
He is ready for the next step: if sitting on the floor like that was comfy, you can sit on the floor and put the upright in front of you for the next session.
If sitting on the floor like that was NOT comfy 🙂 then you can sit on the Klimb and try the 2 bowl game. If he is happy with that and goes back and forth easily, you can add the upright.
He did really well with the decel game too! One thing this will also help is the lining up at your side – he wants to dance around in front of you or be a little further away to ‘do the thing’ so this game of driving to your side can really help get the line up position to be valuable too!
You can definitely add in the pivots to this the next time you play, and you can also try it outside or in a long hallway, where you both have more room to run before decelerating 🙂Great job on these!! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning!
You and Hazel were great here! One thing I really loved was that after that little ‘ready dance’ moment, she was pretty explosive to the prop. That is what we want! Yo can add a little more excitement to the ready dance to get even more of that quick-feet drive to the prop.
She was looking forward to the prop really nicely here too! It looks like she is ready for you to do the advanced level with the sideways and backwards sending.
Great job here!
TracyHi!
Good job getting the rhythm started! He was offering a lot of good behavior, with a couple of sit moments mixed in. I think that after 2 or 3 back-and-forth moments, he loses his train of thought for a moment, perhaps, so ends up in a sit.
So for the next session, try getting 2 back-and-forth from bowl to bowl… then either break off for a tug moment, or toss a cookie out away so he leaves, then comes back towards the bowls for another couple of reps.You can also let latent learning kick in – rather than daily practice with these games, you can rotate them so he sees each game every other day or every 2 days. That can be really effective for letting his brain cement the learning (and it will be easier to do this as we add more and more games 🙂 )
Great job on these!
TracyGood morning!
>>First off, thank you for all your replies, even while getting up at the crack of dawn and staying late to course build at the US Open. >>
Thank you for the kind words! Things are nuts this week LOL!!
>>I don’t know how you are doing it. >>
I could lie and say it is good time management, but the truth is that it is a lot of caffeine LOL!!!
>>(BTW, I was not able to open your first Wobble Board video, it said Private)>>
Thanks! I will try to convince YouTube to let me fix it.
Looking at the wobble board – I think he was keen to eat the treats, but the board itself was really hard so he was not comfy putting his back feet on it. He was more interested in the toy, so you got more front feet which is good! He did get his back feet on it a couple of times with the toy but then he immediately took his back feet off, which means he was not entirely comfortable with that.
So the next step is to help him want to put his entire body on it: start by stuffing all sorts of towels under the wobble board so it barely moves. It will be a tiny bit unstable but generally won’t move more than 1/4 inch. And that way you can use food or toys to help him jump on it, run across it, etc. Make it really easy for now then when he is really happy to put his whole body on it, we can start fading out the towels and stuff that is supporting it.
Nice work!
TracyGood morning!
Really nice session here, especially for the first time with this challenging skill! You got the behavior going immediately by being quick with your reinforcement and precise with your placement – that is really awesome!
>>Her coordination of eating and working with the cookies so close together got messy. Next time I’ll do short cycles, just a couple reps then break to reorganize her mouth!>>
Yes, that was the only hard part. I don’t think you need shorter cycles but you can slow down the quickness of the cycle: cookie between your feet, she backs up, gets another cookie… then you can stand up for a second or two which will get her lift her head and swallow her cookie 🙂 Then when she swallows, you can bend over, put the next cookie between your feet, and so on.
The other option is to use ‘slurpable’ treats that require no chewing, like little bits of cold string cheese. That is both visible and easily swallowed 🙂
The next step is to start to mix in reps where she backs up a little more (and some reps where she only needs to back up a step or two, so we are only gradually increasing the challenge).
Great job here!!! Baby girl looks great!
Tracy
Hello and welcome! He is super cute 🙂 Is he a Pizza 2.0?
I agree – cross training can make each individual sport better! Elektra does both flyball and agility, and I can see how the skills work together for both 🙂
I am excited to watch the videos! They are listed as private – can you change them to unlisted so they are visible?
Thanks!
TracyHi! I’ll watch the videos below when there is more coffee in my system 🙂
But for seminars: first and foremost, be an advocate for you and your dog. Avoid using any punishment or unfair practices. Limit the # of failures to no more than 2, so her rate of success remains very high. Break things down if the challenge or environment is too hard.
Reward all the things 🙂 and listen to her for feedback 🙂 and, watch your video between turns to get an idea of what was going in.
Try the various crazy handling options 😜 as long as she can be set up for success.
And enjoy the ride! Most seminars with fast baby dogs don’t produce a lot of clean runs in the seminar – they produce short blasts of brilliance and good homework lists 😀Thanks! I’ll look him up! The game has been around for a while because we’ve been using patterns like this for a long time 🙂
Good morning!
>>How do I post videos? Do I put them in here or on my youtube with a link?
Yes, you can put them on YouTube then copy/paste the link here.
>>Do I keep playing until I get mastery or just go on and keep revisiting?
Play each game maybe 2 or 3 times til you have it pretty good/roughly right and lots of value, then move on. No need to get mastery of it.
>> Will I be able to keep doing new skills without mastery of each one>>
Yes, many of them build on each other so that will help develop the skills fully.
Tracy
Hi!
Looking at the video in reverse – all of the reps where you were on the far side of the wing in the 2nd half of the video looked really good! The only challenging stuff was when you were on the takeoff side of the wing and she had to send a little bit past you.
I think a couple of little tweaks will help her out:
>>After I watched the video I can see that I am too pointy & I did not start with my dog side leg & arm back a little.>>
Yes, a little too pointy towards the jump, and you can point to the takeoff spot more than at the jump.
Also, as you indicate the takeoff spot , be sure to look at her cute face and not at the jump. When you looked at her, she got it pretty well! When you looked at the jump, she didn’t get it. For example, at :57 it seems like you had connection to her and she got it. Compare to the next rep at 1:00 where you were looking at the jump and pointing at it, and she did not get it.
So definitely connect more and point to/step to the takeoff spot.
Also, because this was hard and she will turn naturally, you can tweak the placement of reinforcement a little so that she has more value of the jump: toss it to the landing side of the jump rather than deliver it near you.
>>To commiserate, I stepped in dog poop 3x in the last 2 days and it was my own yard!>>
Eek! I can relate, I have done that at home. And after the little bit of public shaming on Facebook yesterday, suddenly the grounds here are MUCH cleaner – I have not seen any random poop anywhere! LOL!
Nice work here :) Tracy
Hi!
I have asked some folks for more ideas on who is local to that area. To reach Karen, you can try http://www.oncourseagility.comT
Hi!
I am glad the Cato board is helping! Keeping making it a high value place for rewards and you can use it eventually as part of the remote reinforcement game too! And her chill looked good as well 🙂
One thing for classes and agility in general – the front clip harness that sits across her chest & shoulders can restrict her movement, so you will want to take it off for running sequences so she can move naturally. That will mean practicing the leash going back on using a neck collar in agility, like she would see at a trial.Nice work here! Keep me posted on how she does!
Tracy
