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Hi!
He worked beautifully here in the snow! Eek!
He was definitely working to sort out the rear crosses. You can start the session by having him go straight past the prop (no RC) just to get him driving ahead, which makes the RC easier (and mix in some straight reps throughout the session to maintain the driving ahead).
When adding the RCs: You can get the info to him sooner by staying closer to him at the beginning (no need to step away laterally because it puts you further from the line). Then as he starts moving forward to the prop, you can cut behind him and keep moving forward. That way he sees you on the new side before he arrives at the prop. On the early reps here, you were waiting til he was at the prop before cutting over. But on the last few reps you were staying closer and cutting in behind him a lot sooner – that last rep in particular was spot on and he got it! Yay!!!!
Nice work here!
Tracy
Hi! The turn and burn game is off to a great start here! For this game, you can use his toy (or frisbee) to get him really excite to chase you when you do the FC.
For the next session, add the line on the ground (can be a leash or something similar) at the exit of the wrap – when he gets to the line, you can do the FC and run 🙂 Then the line and progressively move bit-by-bit around the barrel back towards his starting point, which means you can do the FC earlier and earlier.
Nice work here!
Tracy
Excellent question! The easiest way to do it will be to get you low enough to the ground that Briny can touch your hand then go to the toy. But we don’t want you to be bending over to do this (so your back doesn’t get angry 🙂 ) The easiest thing to do might be to get something low and comfy to sit on. I have used things like a low ottoman, or one of those inflatable balance donuts, or a hard plastic cooler that carries my snacks and drinks to trials LOL! Eventually you will be standing without having to bend over, but for now we don’t want the jumping up so a comfy sitting position is the best bet.
Tracy
Hi!
You and
Scholar did great here!! He is a strong tugger and easily focused forward on the toy. Perfect! He didn’t seem to mind your movement at all which is great!!You can use a longer toy so you don’t have to lean over as much 🙂 as well as have a 2nd toy available to whip out in case he takes off with the first one.
>It was short and he got away from me in the end. I will be working with him in short sessions multiple times a day>
The length of the session here was PERFECT. At his age, going much longer than this can tire their brains out! Your plan of doing multiple sessions spread throughout the day is spot on.
Great job here!!
Tracy
Welcome! We are happy to see you here! The pace of the class means you will have plenty of time to catch up.
The 2nd and 3rd windows in the thread were blank, let me know if you had anything posted in them.
Thanks,
TracyGood morning!
>this time is was my fault he had a beef cheek to chew on when we visited with some friends at a brewery. >
Ah yes, that would do it. I am glad he is feeling better!
>What should I have done differently then? He normally is very big into coming back with the toy.>
He might be teething so you can tilt towards games that are easy for you to use a long toy and pick up the other end to get engagement and help him come back. You can also use toys that are made of harder materials so they are easier to bring back and less tempting to chew (but those toys might not be great for tugging)
On the video – the get it is going well 🙂 You can encourage him to bring it back. When you praised him, he brought it back faster than when you were quiet. You can even add a ‘bring it’ cue to help maintain the retrieve.
When mixing food in, you can slow down the transition back to the toy: you were quick and he didn’t always swallow the treat. So you can toss the treat, praise, wait a few seconds to be sure he ate it… then go back to the next part of the game.
You might notice that he starts shredding the toy at about 2 minutes – that is probably an arousal regulation/decompression moment which indicates he needs a little break. 2 minutes straight can tire his brain out!
The tug it marker is going well too! Using it when rewarding after he retrieved worked nicely. Adding the tug marker to the reward for the send to the foot target went great too!
>It’s hard for me to drop the YES sometimes. >
TOTALLY relatable! We all do it when we get excited so this is more of a human training game to use the markers instead of ‘yes’ – it is hard! LOL!
Great job here!
Tracy
Hi!
>Crazy that you are in FL experiencing this cold right now – I assume you are just visiting? >
Yes, spending about 8 weeks here to avoid the cold haha!! It is definitely warmer there than home, though.
>I would love to learn more about agility training venues that you recommend in Central Florida. I live in Orlando and goto a practice facility on the East side of Orlando (Practice Makes Pawfect). But would like to expand to other venues that are in the area (both for diversification of environment and to learn from experienced trainers). >
The place I am at has classes and seminars, you can find more on the Facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/1399743951063718I will see if I can find links to other fun places!
He did really well with you sitting! I can see him looking up at you and processing it, then he got into the groove really well! Going under the chair was pretty hilarious – clever! It probably indicates a side preference, meaning he is more of a lefty than a righty because it was easier to turn left and go under the chair. He did not go that when the left turn was what we wanted. No worries, it is good to know about his side preference! For the next session, sit on something he can’t go under or behind you 🙂 When he can go both directions, you can add standing up and see how he does with that.
He also worked through the distraction of the other dogs barking – that was hard!! Good boy!
The trail setup was great! And I agree. – food works better for this. When the toy was in play, he was thinking about chasing the toy so there was a little bit of leaping around LOL But the food basically asks him to offer behavior – I don’t think you even need to lure him. You can move along the trail slowly and let him hop on and walk along it. And you can toss a treat off to the side after every few steps so he got to get it then gets back on the trail. You had more of this happening in the later part of the video and he did great! Tossing the treats will keep his head low and looking forward rather than looking up at you (which makes it harder to balance).
You can change the setup and add different things (pillows, inflatables, etc) to keep it new and exciting.
Nice work here!
Tracy
Poor little girl! Teething hurts! You can totally stick to soft treats and games that don’t need a lot of tugging.
T
Good morning!
Finding the jump went great! The setup worked well – he only had one question:
His little question at the beginning and at :36 (turning right and not finding the wing immediately) was because he thought you wanted the jump that was right there and because you were blocking the line to the wing 🙂 Moving over to be sure he sees the wing will resolve that.
You can use more verbals, such as a GO verbal before the tunnel and you can use go or jump as he exits – you did have a jump verbal going but you can add more and be louder with them so he gets used to the energy of it 🙂
>What was cool was there was another tunnel about 25 feet from the jump off camera. I did it as sequence and he nailed it!!! >
YEAH! He was flying!
>Let me know if I totally messed this up and I will redo.>
Not messed up at all! The only thing I would suggest is to change th reward delivery. It looks like the reward ws placed out on the line here, so for the next session mix in most of the rewards being thrown as soon as he looks at the line. We don’t want the placed toy to b the cue to get on the line, we want the verbal and motion to do that 🙂 Apologies if you were throwing the toy and you were very stealthy about it 🙂
On the 2nd video:
I agree that the collar grab was no issue. Yay!>Wanted you to see how he regrips and jumps up… ideas??? >
I totally see what you mean. OUCH! It doesn’t make it fun to play tug! When he touches you with teeth, have you ever done a high-pitched yelp and stopped playing? I would definitely stop playing when he bites you for the toy like that, even if it is just walking away and going back in the house. That makes a statement.
The main regripping seems to happen when the toy gets high. When you are pulling out a treat, no problem – it happens when there is no treat. So a couple of ideas for you:
Yes, sometimes pull out a treat to trade for the toy. If I am trying to train something else, you can avoid the rehearsal of leaping up: trade for a treat and throw the treat so you can put the toy away and do the next rep
You can keep the toy low and keep him pulling back on by gently tapping him near the ribs with your foot as he is tugging.
Most importantly, we have to teach him that as the toy moves: do NOT regrip AT ALL. It is an impulse control game, so you only need the toy:
Get some tugging, then say out and let your hands be passive. When he releases the toy, wait for a second (keeping the toy stationary) then if he doesn’t regrip: mark that he can grab it again.
When he can do that, we start to slowly raise the toy. He can choose to stand or sit or down, as long as he does NOT regrip the toy. Impulse control on it gets you to mark and give him the toy for more tugging or to run around with. Do it in tiny increments so he can be successful.
If he regrips, jumps up, and grabs you: game over (insert sad trombone sounds). There are a lot of ways to end the game but one can be having him on leash when you do this – if he grabs your hands, pick up the leash, let go of the toy, back into the house. If it hurts you can use and OUCH or yelp – that can be useful info – as long as you don’t do more than that (no yelling at him LOL!) but also we don’t want him to regrip by leaping up, get a cookie, then keep playing.
This needs some sessions separately rom trying to train anything else to get the impulse control going.
Here are two videos that show it:
This one shows the pup learning to offer a sit to get the toy back, instead of grabbing for it:
And this one shows me working to slowly be able to raise the toy up and the pups learn to NOT jump up for it:
Let me know what you think and how it goes!
Tracy
Hi!
He started off super happy and hungry here. You are 100% correct that after you tossed the treat off to the side, he did not come back with the same joy. His movement was ‘off’ as if something was hurting. So I watched the first part in slow motion to see what happened, and I think he hurt himself.
>I thought that when I reviewed the video that I would discover that the board had pinched one of his back feet but couldn’t find the evidence.>
You were correct but it happened really fast and probably not visible at normal speed.
If you want it in slow motion – at :24 you will see his right hind toes get crunched under the board as his front end stepped. And the floor is slippery so at :29 you can see a bit of splay/twist on his right front.
I lean towards thinking it was the toe crunch at :24 that hurt then he slid on that foot when chasing a cookie.
He came back strong though! Good job keeping it fun for him!!!
So for the next session, use super high value food and encourage him to step on from the part of the board only that is touching the ground. If he steps on from the elevated part, he might crunch his toes again.
You can also do the next session in a different area, just in case he remembers the ouchy!
Nice job here! Let me know what you think!
Tracy
Hi!
The collar grabs on your right side looked great. She seemed very happy to let you take her collar there!
I see what you mean about her wanting to come to your right hand! Are you a righty? Maybe there is more reward history on that side. For the next session, start on your left hand and see if it has anything to with the side you start on.
If she still says the left side is hard, you can have her follow a cookie into a line up at your side, then take her collar. That might make more sense to her.
The SSC games are going great! The object was very obvious but she was easily able to ignore it. Super!
You can play any of the games she really likes and add random novel things into the environment. We build on this soon!
Great job!
Tracy
Good morning!
Looking at the wobble board video:
The sound startled her at first – she was able to eat the treats and get her front feet on, but she was being a little careful. We can bridge the gap and add more sound more slowly by sticking a few towels under it so she can still move it to make noise but it won’t be quite as loud. And the treats for this should be the Best.Ever. 🙂 Favorite high value food will really help her want to slam it around 🙂
One other thing you can do is use a fun toy to chase or a ball: when she slams it, throw the ball away from the wobble board, so it is like a hit-and-go. That can be super fun and she will come charging back to slam it again for another toy throw 🙂
The folding it in game went really well too! You got the bowl pretty far around the cone!
As the bowl moves further around the cone, you can delay the ‘get it’ until after she is at the cone. Otherwise, get it does mean to come directly to get the reward so she would not be wrong if she went directly to it 🙂 So instead of ‘get it’ when you let her go to start moving, you can use your wrap verbal.
Nice work here!!
TracyGood morning!
>He really likes the minny pinny for whatever reason. He liked it in the last course and he still likes it now. We were not working on it today but it was still set up and he offered to show me that he knew how to do it as we walked past to our other activity.
That is so funny! I didn’t think particular game was so exciting but I am glad he loves it!
>I’m not certain he will find it motivating to have mixed in reps of just chasing the reward for being held instead of doing the minny pinny but we can give it a try and see what happens. He will be sure to be clear on his opinion either way.>
He will let us know 🙂 Being held is a bit of pressure and release of pressure to move away can be quite fun for pups!
Looking at the find the jump video:
When you had the blooper moments, you had 2 variables that we harder: distance (literal & ahead) and less connection. The less connection part was not deliberate, I think it was because of the winter coat. But after a few rewards and a rest, he was pretty perfect in the 2nd session! Your connection was stronger throughout the 2nd session too, but he was also more locked onto the jump which allowed you to change your position more and change distance more.
This is a fun one to keep you both warm, so keep adding distance and more running 🙂 You can add a jump verbal too, that will help lock him onto the line.
The zig zag also went well!
>This one was trickier for me as I tried to figure out my motion.
In these earlier stages, the motion is “whatever needed to get the behavior”. Your movements were very clear and that went a long way to him feeling very confident and moving faster. The earlier you moved, the earlier he could change his line in both sessions (and the second session did not need as much dramatic movement from you)
He seemed to be balanced in both directions! Super! When you revisit this, move the wings in a few inches closer so you both have to move faster 🙂
>He disagreed with my “all done” information and went and lay down beside one of the wings and stared at me.>
Ha!!!! He felt you needed more practice , maybe 😂
Sends and serps is off to a great start. The reason he got the first 2 reps really easily were that you were turning your shoulders like a post turn. When you did more of a serp line which kept you parallel to the bar, it was harder for him. Sending him to the start wing from further away will help because you will be visible between the uprights doing the serp cues. You were starting with him t the wing on these, so he was ahead of you which was more of a 180. Getting ahead to show the serp should help him see the line and not go past the jump when you are moving parallel to it.
Nice work here!
Tracy
Good morning!
>I think I have trouble with that even with my older ones. I need to work on keep my hand back and shoulders pointed where she should go. >
Staying connected is the hardest part of agility! Emphasizing eye contact is what helps us keep our shoulders pointed to the line we want.
>Carmen had her 10 month birthday today. She’ll jump 24″, she’s about 26″ at her shoulders now. I’m not in a rush to have her jumping 24 and I’m totally fine with no jumps when she’s learning things.>
Happy 10-month birthday Carmen! If she is being 12” on the set point, that is great for now! She is still really young. And even though she measures into 24” you might consider 20”P for AKC because their typical yardage might not give her enough space to fit her big stride. The height difference will change her landing point and a lower height gives her more room to fit herself into.
>She loves chasing the toy I throw as she comes out of the tunnel.
She was finding the jump quite brilliantly here! Keep moving up the line parallel to the jump as you throw it, so she doesn’t ignore your decel and keep running straight.
>She wasn’t as zippy doing the wrap to the tunnel.>
That might have been that you were a little off the line to it, combined with a little but of FOMO singing from your other dogs 🙂 She worked really well ignoring them, only one moment of her being caught up in their sad song LOL 😂
I think the hardest part was bringing the toy back 🙂 so you can run. The other way and reward her for bringing it towards you or even all the way back to you.
She had a couple of questions about going into the tunnel – be sure to keep moving towards the tunnel with connection so stationary position doesn’t dilute the tunnel cue or any decel cues. And if she misses the tunnel, keep going:
She gets deflated when there is a handling blooper – like at 2:32, you were saying tunnel but your feet and shoulders were already pointing to the other side of the tunnel so she was confused and deflated when you stopped. In that moment, you can assume the question is related to. Handling error and keep going to the jump then reward. Usually errors like that are because we are not connected or turned away too soon, so you can fix it with more connection on the next rep after the reward for the jump.
>Today my friend came over to train with her dogs too so that added a little more challenge. I kept things short and made things easier. I’m happy that she will work with others around and comes back to me. It’s harder when we’re training with her puppy friends around though.>
It is great that she had the opportunity to have other people & dogs around! Yay!! Keeping it short and easy was exactly correct because the other challenges were harder 🙂
Nice job here!
Tracy
