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Good morning!
Really nice sessions here – both of these games require a lot of mechanics for the human and the pup, and you did a great job working to sort those out while also keeping his rate of reinforcement really high. Yay!!On the plank video:
He does like the personal play! With the opportunity to offer behavior on the plank right there, you can keep the play shorter so you can move into the training before he steps away to sniff (dog-speak for ’that’s a little extra’) or offer getting on the plank. He liked it when you were moving away a little and he was moving towards you.Nice rewards on the plank and transitions to the release off it! The mechanics of throwing the release cookie were spot on – he had no trouble getting it and then coming right back. Super!!!
To get all 4 feet on it in a stand more easily as well as the turning around without stepping off, try a wider plank for now and feeding him lower (so he doesn’t need to lift his chin to get it). He was putting himself into a sit to balance and to be able to reach up to get the cookies (SMART!) and had trouble following the hand to turn around. So a wider plank (or two planks side-by-side) can make it easier and the lower cookie hand (especially on the turning around) will make it easier too. He is at the age where processing mechanics is HARD so we can make it easier as he develops the mechanics.
Backing up is also really hard and he was so cute coming through and turning around (“that’s what you want, right mom?” LOL!) He was convinced!
You can make it easier by sitting in a chair (easier for your back, because there is a lot of bending over with small dogs. Plus, with a chair, he is less likely to go all the way through then turn around. That way you can place the cookie right between your feet like you did at 1:40 and the chair will help him not want to go all the way through. (And you can do this with your back to a wall either standing or in a chair, so the wall helps him consider options other than coming all the way through).
The other option is to use a destination like a dog bed with low sides or a mat (anything big enough to stand on). Start him with all 4 feet on the destination, then lure just his front feet off… then reward him for stepping his front feet back onto the destination. Do that a couple of times and then if he is doing well with stepping his front feet back on, you can try luring his off even further so his back feet come off… and see if he steps back onto the destination.
There are a couple of other ways to get the behavior going, so try these and if he stills things it is a turn-around game, then we can try a different approach 🙂
Great job here!! Let me know what you think.
TracyGood morning! Hope you had a good weekend!
>>We hosted my sister’s family (with 3 little kids) and it was pure chaos lol. I tried to do some training but always got interrupted, >>
That is actually a lot of training for the dogs – handling the excitement family and kids! Fun! And looks like there was some kid “stuff” in the training area, which provides a perfect low-level distraction.Parallel path is looking good, I love how she went out of her way on the first rep to go get it. If she misses – no need for a marker or turning around to go back to where you started… just keep moving forward (no marker/no cookie) then turn and go back the other way. The lack of ‘get it’ and lack of cookie will speak volumes, so we don’t need a marker or to go back to the start point. She will likely make an adjustment and hit it on the next rep.
Rear crosses – these are harder so you can ‘warm up’ the session with a few reps of the parallel path game. And, give yourself more room for the rear crosses. You will want at least 10 to 12 feet, so you are both moving forward up the line (rather than sending) so she can see you changing sides before she needed to make a decision on how to hit the prop. She figured you out when you went to the left turns 🙂 but more room will make the right turns easier too.
Turn and burn is looking really good! I am glad you went to the toy, it is perfect for this game and she did really well. And she is going back and forth for food to toys really well too!
She is ready for the toy on the other side (right turns) too – just wait longer for her to go all the way around before you take off and run. That way you can fade the bowls out completely.
Time to start thinking about your wrap verbals! Which wrap verbals do you have for Laszlo?
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
I think this will be much easier after a session or two of the ideas above for the sideways sends. His first rep her was really strong (right side) but yes, it is too hard for him on your left side. My guess is you have built extra value on that side and/or he does not turn as well to his left as he does to his right.So the change of reward placement to being tossed to the prop (and looking at the prop) will totally help this, so try it first with sideways sending with your right side, then go to left side. When you come back to the backwards sending, start with a bunch of reps on your right side before switching to you left, to build up a reinforcement history.
Nice work!
Tracy
Good morning!
He is doing well sorting this out.
Before each send, remember to use a bit of a ‘ready dance’ to get him lined up on front of you and expecting the send. You started adding this at about the 1 minute mark in the session and he did really well!I think you were too far away from the prop so he wasn’t entirely sure what to do (which is why he offered the sit then the down). So a couple of ideas to help:
– start really close at the beginning of each session to ‘wake up’ the behavior then gradually add distance. If he fails twice during the session – you are too far and need to get closer.– two things to get him looking at you/your hands less and at the prop more:
Try looking at the prop when you send him sideways. And, let’s change the placement of reinforcement to build value for the prop and lower the vale of your hands 🙂 The hand that sends him should be empty (because it is really hard to ignore cookies!) and the other hand can have a cookie in it. When he hits the prop (or gets near it), the other hand can toss the reward out to the prop (on it or near it or past it are all good, because it might feel like you need 3 hands LOL!!)Nice work here! Let me know how it goes with the tweaks!
TracyGood morning! These are looking REALLY strong!! No worries about not having a lot of space to video, it was still really easy to see most of what was going on. She was a lovely combination of drivey and thoughtful 🙂
I think the parallel path is looking good! She had a couple of misses but quickly corrected it on the next rep. If she misses, do what you did at approx :31 which was to keep going, no marker/no cookie, then just turn and go the other direction.
One thing that helps this is to look at her while you are doing walking back and forth (that connection opens up your shoulder to the line you want her to be on). It was hard to see where you were looking on this video, so if you were looking at her: click/treat! If you were looking at the prop, add in looking at her more and see how it goes.
Countermotion is going well too. The only thing I would add is a heartbeat of a delay after she gets her cookie and before you send her again. As she gets back to you, you both stop moving, connect, take a breath… then send. That delay makes sure you are both ready and gets even more snappy behavior!
Oh wow, you got the rear cross really nicely!!! YAY!!! You gave her more room to get ahead of you and so you were able to get to the other side early enough for her to do it. Nice! If she doesn’t turn the correct direction when you practice this, it likely means you are late showing the info and need to use more room and cross behind her sooner.
Great job! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
Great job on the FEO runs!!! I am especially excited about how good his weaves looked!!! And on the first run when he found the entry from way ahead of you and stayed in… SUPER!!!Some general suggestions:
– be sure to give a clear teeter release. The behavior was different on each teeter and we don’t want to lose criteria.– on the Rear crosses, plan to run directly to the center of the bar on the RC jump so he can see the turn cues.
– He is jumping a bit with his head up (at the beginning of run 2 in particular) because he is not used to the bigger distances and you are not as in the picture as much – so if you get tentative, he is asking questions by lifting his head. But when you started really driving lines, he was also driving lines. So – run hard, stay connected, really drive him 🙂
I think he is ready to do a “real” run. This can be either T2B or JWW. Looks like these bars are at 16″ – is he measured into 20″ or 16P”? That would be GREAT!
Of course, the goal of a real run would be to get around smoothly with connection and supporting him. We aren’t worried about a Q at this point 🙂 And now that I am thinking about it, I think JWW is a better place to start because you won’t have the a-frame! And you can enter T2B and do it for real if it has a teeter, or do it FEO if it has an a-frame.
Great job! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
This one went well! I still think the FC was late so he has to check up and make the turn on landing – if you see him checking up, you can try a blind instead and see how it goes. You will be surprised at how many places a blind will be really effective 🙂Good job staying on the line to the tunnel (and remember to use multiple go cues rather than being quiet or saying it once).
Great job on these!!!
Tracy
Hi!
The FC was better timed on these reps but still took a longer time to start and finish, which made handling the next line late. It is a fun place for a blind 🙂 The straight line on with him on your left was hard (might be how the tunnel was placed here) so when you changed sides, the connection has to get really ramped up or even use a ‘get out’ cue to ge the correct end of the tunnel (based on exactly how it is set)
When keeping him on your right side, be sure to maintain connection so he stays on his line, don’t pull away or disconnect. That seems to be the easier line for him here!
T
Hi!
The cross to the other side of the tunnel works well here but then the FC takes too long to start & finish – you would need that to be a blind so you can start it sooner and get it finished before he has to choose a takeoff for the jump. You can see him checking up on the FC and turning after landing. I think the BC can start earlier and finish earlier (because it is quicker than rotation) so might work best here!The rear cross can work there too, as long as you set the line to the center of the bar of the RC jump. You pulled a little too much to the right turn wing, so he thought it was a right turn there.
Tracy
Hi!
It was a little hard to see the handling from this perspective on the first run, but the decel into the wrap can start sooner, then he needs more connection to the last tunnel on the line (looks like he was correct, so definitely reward him even if it was off course)
The 2nd wrap was earlier and he had a nice turn there! The wrap at 2:13 needed more decel so the rotation would be a little later (you were early there). But the last one was great – nice job with the decel starting on time and the rotation too! He turned really well!!!T
Nice job on the 2 runs here! Just add more repeating of the GO verbal so as he is moving up the line he is hearing it to support the entire line: Go Go Go Go rather than just one one Go. Without the added verbals, he is driving to the bowl which will make it harder to get turns on a straight line.
Good morning!
Well, getting into a standing position was certainly not a problem – she was just as zippy and focused on the wrapping as the previous session! And you added more distance – a pretty significant amount – and after she took a heartbeat to think about it, she was perfect again. SUPER BIG HAPPY DANCE!
>>She got lost once but then not again!
I think she was chewing and lost her train of thought… I can relate, I too sometimes get wrapped up in chewing delicious food then forget what I am doing LOL!!!! You can try softer treats that she can slurp down rather than chew. But she got herself back on track without your help, which is actually a HUGE moment. Any time a pup can have a failure then reset without frustration? That is a big win in the resilience department. Yay!
Yes, she is totally ready for turn and burn – that will involve toys, so you don’t need to worry about chewing 🙂 Start nice and close to the barrel. Have fun!
And also, time to start thinking about what you want your wrap verbal(s) to be (agility has a LOT of words nowadays). Ideally you will want 2 different wrap verbals: you can go with one verbal that indicates that she should wrap to her left and a different one that indicates wrapping to her right. Or, you can choose a wrap-towards-me verbal and a wrap-away-from-me verbal.
Commonly used verbals for this include ‘checkcheckcheck’ or ‘digdigdig’ – any short consonant-heavy verbal that is easy to repeat.
And if you are thinking “OMG SO MANY WORDS WHAT THE HECK” that is relatable! No worries, we slide them in and then it is easy for both you and Mingo.
Great job here! Let me know how turn and burn goes!!
Tracy
Good morning! I agree, the first session went well! She is so much fun! She definitely liked the toy – you can try a longer toy (or tie this one to something) so you can swing it around more so she can grab onto it rather than just chase it 🙂
>>I am still resisting the temptation to lure as that is how I taught Djinn’s mom>>
You did a great job *not* luring! There is nothing wrong with luring, it just depends on what the goal of the session is. Since this is about getting her to think about interacting with various objects, it is good to not lure.
With this in mind, you can change the delivery and placement of the reinforcement to get more interaction with the object. One way to think of it is:
if you were going to lure it, where would you place the food to get her to get into the box? I would place it right in the box so she goes into the box to eat it.
That is where you can place the food here too, just change the timing of the delivery of it to put it down after she interacts with the object. And interaction in this shaping session can be anything like looking at it, sniffing it, moving to it, etc. When you see that tiny slice of behavior, you can toss the treat into the box 🙂 Then is she gets into the box or on the object and wants to stay there, you can toss a treat off to the side to reset her position for the next rep.
In this session, your timing of marking the behavior was really strong!! You were delivering the treat to her mouth from your pocket, so she was wanting to hang out near your pocket and didn’t necessarily realize that you wanted her in the box. So, in the moment between the tugging and the box going to the floor, grab a couple of treats from your pocket so as soon as you put the box down and she goes to it, you can drop a treat in it.
Let me know if that makes sense or if I need more coffee to explain it LOL!
>>The second round didn’t go as well, I tried to give her a 10 minute break, work with her brother and come back. She seemed almost scared of the prop so I will try it again another day.>>
That is odd! Do you have it on video? She certainly did not seem worried in the clip here. But, puppies do stuff like that as they enter adolescence – suddenly seem concerned about something that was perfectly fine 10 minutes ago LOL!
>>I had an issue with her brother (I didn’t video since I only have one spot) where he was so amped up with the toy that he wasn’t interested in the prop. I put the toy away and he frantically looked for it instead of being interested in treats. So that’s something to work through!>>
That is great information from him! You can do some games that help his body learn to self-regulate his arousal state. You can play with a lower value toy and then trade for higher value treats. And instead of just one treat, you can scatter a bunch around so he sniffs around to get them: sniffing helps bring the arousal state back to center so he will be more settled and less frantic.
If needed because even with high value treats he has trouble ignoring the toy, you can do this in 2 different locations: toy play in one location, then leave the toy there and go to a different location to play with the treats. I have done this with several of my dogs and it really helps the dogs learn how to go back and forth between food and toys, regulating their arousal. Keep me posted about how he is doing!
Great job here!
TracyGood morning!
>>I used a couple of flexiness bricks that were just under 2″ high and he was doing well.>>
That sounds perfect!
He did really well getting on and turning around on the plank!
>>I noticed turning right on the plank was way harder for him than turning left.>>
Yes, he’s a lefty 🙂 But it is a slight side preference because he is able to turn both directions. Some pups can only turn one direction at this stage LOL!! And it will balance out pretty quickly.
His head was a little high watching your cookie hands and I think that contributed to him losing a little bit of balance especially to the right. When he was turning left, he was lowering his head (this was right before you made the plank wobble :)) and it was really lovely and balanced!
The plank movement did not seem to both him at all – he needed a little bit of help with the right turns so you can keep your hand lower (nose level) to help him out on the right turns. He doesn’t really seem to need that on the left turns, he seems to have figured out how to balance easily on those. It ps perfectly fine to let him do the left turns on his own, and help him with the right turns with a low cookie hand for him to focus on and keep his head a little lower.
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning!
Backing up is looking good! This is a game to revisit every 2 or 3 days, just to keep building it up. You can also check out the game where we get the pups backing up onto a moving board (posted on Tuesday).
Sending is going great – you are beginning to add countermotion by doing the FC before she arrives at the prop. SUPER! You can add more to this by sending sideways, so you are already halfway through the front cross and can start moving away a little sooner 🙂
>>I tried a toy reward with the prop and it did not go well in this space so I went back to click and treat.>>
Yes, that will go better when you have more room, so try it again in your yard and see how it goes there.
Rear crosses are the hardest skill so far, because they are the least ‘natural’ for the pups. They are build off of the parallel path game, so do a warm up of the parallel path for a few reps with you starting pretty close to her, so she is driving ahead to the prop – then as she is getting ahead of you, you can slide in behind her to change sides before she arrives at the prop.
What was happening here was a combination of a high arm send being a little confusing to her (you were sending and trying to go behind her, so she was looking at you) and then she you did use the parallel path, you were still on the FC side when she arrived at the prop.
>>Hopefully in a large space???>>
Yes – more space will help, especially a longer space so you can both start further from the prop 🙂 That will give you more time to get her moving forward and give you more time to get to the other side behind her 🙂
Turn and burn with the barrel is going really well!! I love how she tried to go over it early in the session LOL! Clever! By the end of this clip, you were able to do the FC and move away when she was about halfway around the barrel. Super!
I think she is ready for you to start adding your wrap verbal(s). Ideally, she has a verbal that means wrap-to-her-left and a different verbal that means wrap-to-her-right. What wrap verbal(s) do you use with your other dog?
Great job here!!
Tracy
