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Hi!
The prop game is going well! Good job rewarding first on the target the moving to the ‘get it’ marker.
Sending went well too! You were nice and close, which is great because it set up a whole lot of success. Yay! She was looking at your hands a lot, so now add a little more distance and have the send hand be empty 🙂 Or, you can use a toy as the reward for the send!
Speaking of toys –
>I don’t really know what I’m doing regarding tugging, since I’ve never had a real good tugger, so open to your feedback).>>
Let her do more of the movement with the toy than you 🙂 You can move your arms less in the tugging, so she is pulling on the toy. You can do a slow side-to-side with a gentle pull, so she can lean back and pull too. Let her do most of the pulling, don’t try to pull it out of her mouth or move too quickly up and down or back and forth, because she will probably let go.
The decel game is looking great! When you are standing still, try to have your cooke hand in position one stride sooner, so she can lock onto it a few strides away and decelerate. This will be especially useful in your right side (where it seemed like lining up was as a little harder). You had the hand coming in sooner when you started the pivots, which really helped her! Yay!!!
The blinds are going really well!! You can add in throwing a treat t start the game, then rewarding with a toy 🙂 And take it outside so she has more room to run run run :) >>I understand the “reward across the body” thing, but it feels so funny to me.>>
I think it might have felt weird because your dog side arm was in the way LOL! The key is to have your dog-side arm way back (as far back as possible without over-rotating at the waist). So when you do the cross arm reward, you can point the dog-side arm alllll. The way back to her cute nose 🙂
When you rewarded with the dog-side arm, the first couple of reps did have that arm all the way back (the last rep had it a little more forward) so you don’t need to use the reward across the body as long as you really emphasize the dog-side arm being back and pointing to her cute little nose 🙂>>So if you think I should try an exercise with toys as reinforcement, let me know. I do tend to just stick with food by default.>>
There should be toys involved in all of the games 🙂 Either the toy is the reward (like for the prop sends or blinds), or you can use it after every few cookies for games that are better suited to cookie reinforcement (like the 2 bowls). But get the toys involved in every session and you will be very comfy with them!
Great job here!
TracyHi!
The driving forward is looking good! Great job releasing him while he was looking forward at the toy. If you feed a treat, let him finish it entirely before you take his collar so he is not grabbing the toy while chewing LOL!!
>>He is not yet bringing the toy back.>>
That is fine, there is no retrieve criteria on this game LOL!! So when he gets to the toy, you can go over, pick up the other end, and play 🙂 You will probably have to keep moving your feet back and forth to get him tugging, he is in the puppy stage of wanting to lie down and chew it 🙂
You can add more distance to this game now, throwing the toy further and further (be sure to watch him as you throw it so you can see him looking at the to). And if he likes the distance, you can start adding your motion too, walking forward when you let him go, then eventually progressing to jogging.
Great job here!
TracyHi! He is so cute! This was fun to watch.
>>Teagan does not easily offer behaviors. He seems to prefer directions.>>
Actually… he offered a lot of behaviors but I think you were waiting for too much before clicking, so he offered looking at you 🙂 Rather than waiting for a foot hit, you can split the behavior a to more – click and reward for any interaction with the prop, like when he bobbed his head to it at :30 and 1:00 and 1:23 Those were good offers! When he didn’t get rewarded, he backed up and offered sitting and eye contact (good boy!) You also don’t need to wait of a perfect paw hit – if he touches near it, you can reward him.
And talk to him less, especially after a click – that draws his attention up to your face and we want him looking at the prop 🙂
We can change the structure of the session too, so you can more easily capture the offering on the prop:
Rather than have him interacting with it before you enter the session, hold the prop until you are in position, cookies ready to go. Then, put the prop down – he is going to immediately be drawn to it, so you can reward something right away.On this session, he was interacting with it until you walked over, and that all important first click was for looking at you, so he offered more looking at you 🙂
Also, the frisbee is a toy so it already has a history on it – try to switch to something with no history, so it is easier to shape him to touch it 🙂
Nice work here! Let me know what you think!
TracyHello and welcome! He sounds like a ton of fun, and a little different from Mats and GSDs 🙂
>>I have a question about the first game. Driving ahead. Normally Rev loves to play and tug but he is teething. I noticed that he is not playing with much gusto. I imagine it’s not comfortable right now. Should I just continue and play gently, he will play just not as usual, or not play this game right now?>>
Great question! You can use a soft toy and play the game – and then when he gets to the toy, you can very gently tug, or just engage by dancing around with him while he holds the toy (goofy, yes, but pups like it :)) No need for hard tugging til his mouth is more comfortable. And, you can also play this game with food because I am sure he will love to drive ahead for a big cookie.
Keep me posted!
Tracy
Hi!
The pattern is looking great here! Since he doesn’t really need the sound of the treats dropping into the bowl anymore, you can go to a treat that he can slurp down without chewing.
For the cone… yes, putting something for him to go around is definitely the next step! Yay! Two adjustments for him, for the next session:
– this cone is a little too short (we don’t want the pups to see over it easily because it changes how they use their head/neck to turn),– resist the temptation to get it too far from you, the distance created a few too many questions from him.
So, go to a tall skinny upright of some sort and keep it pretty close to you for now – we will be changing your position and changing what he goes around (to generalize the behavior) before we add more distance.
>>I don’t know what this weird thing is that I am doing with my mouth, so please try to ignore (although I realize by pointing it out it will only call more attention to it, lol!)>>
HA! I didn’t even notice. I do all sorts of weird things with my mouth too when I am concentrating on training LOL!!
Nice work here!
Tracy
Hi!
He was great about focusing forward on the toy!! Yay! You can add more of your motion moving forward towards the toy as well, so he gets used to driving straight as you go faster and faster. Start with a walk, then go to a jog, then eventually a run 🙂
A couple of things with the mechanics that you can do more slowly to create even mire drive and excitement: He lets go of the toy during some of the tugging – I think can get better grip by being less up and down with the tugging, and more of a slow side-to-side with gently pulling it, so he can lean into it and pull back 🙂 Th fast up and down makes it harder for him to hold onto, so a slower side
On the line up – he avoids the collar holding a little because you were pulling him into position. So, you can line him up before you take his collar so you don’t have to move him by the collar.You can gently hold the collar and throw the toy whichever way he is facing, without pulling him into a lineup.
>>, except for the fact that he does tend to run off with the toy. >>
As soon as he gets the toy, you can start moving the other way and calling him to you, to bring the toy back. And when he starts to come back, you can whip out another toy to reward that with 🙂 That is a good game to do in a hallway or something, so there are limited options for running off with the toy and lots of options for coming back!
Prop game – he is a little bit of a lefty so far! That is why you see good paw hits when he is turning to his left, and more steam coming out of his ears turning to the right (or going around the book).
>>Also, there were some reps where he was going all the way around the prop without touching it. I think this is because I’ve been doing some work sending him around a cone recently.>>
I think that was partially him offering the going around behavior, partially him trying to sort out the mechanics of turning to his right. A bit of practice on this and it will all even out 🙂
You can totally use a toy on this! It will definitely be more exciting that treats, so try it and see what he says 🙂
For the ready dance, you don’t need to tease him with the cookie or toy, it is just a bit of eye contact, crouching, silly words… then the sending. I think he was not sure if he should be looking at your cookie hands or not 🙂
When you start this with the toy, start a lot closer to the book, maybe 1 foot away from it. You had a little too much distance away from it in this session, so he had to think extra hard. We want him to be able to just smack the book 🙂 so starting closer will help (and distance can be added further down the road).
Great job here!!
TracyHello and welcome!
She is a Camper daughter, yes? That makes her a half sister to my Elektra, who is the little black/white pup in the demos (Elektra was about 10 weeks old when we started filming the demos).
Nadja is SO CUTE and really fun!!! And you posted the videos perfectly.
Driving ahead – I am loving your energy and her tug drive!! She was driving ahead brilliantly! One thing I notice: when you had her lined up, tossed the toy, and did not move or touch her again… she focused ahead at it and did not look at you. If you lined her up, tossed the toy, then touched her with the other hand or moved her… she looked at you before looking ahead. So for now, once you throw the toy, don’t move or touch her again, just let her rip 🙂
I think she is ready for you add even more distance on the toy throw, and to keep adding more motion (like you did at the end) as you both drive forward.
Prop shaping: That is a really good choice of prop – very distinct and she has to really make a deliberate foot lift to hit it. After a couple of cookies, her lightbulb came on and she had it perfectly! Yay! So you can use your ‘get it’ or ‘search’ marker (instead of a yes) so she is looking forward for the thrown treat, then she can drive back to the prop. You can also move the cot form the area, because she was not always sure if you wanted her to hit the prop or get on the cot LOL!!
I think she is ready for you to start the sending game that we added last night! Start the session with a quick refresher to make sure she remembers to hit the prop, then go into the sending game 🙂
She is so fun to watch at the beginning of the bowl game – she was like, “wait, there is another cookie already?!?! YAY!” Her facial expression was so cute!
She was definitely getting the idea of this – by the end, she was clearly going back and forth. SUPER! We start to look for a side preference in these early stages: is the dog a lefty or right? She seems to have an easier time going towards you right hand on this (having her right shoulder next to you) and it was a little harder when she had to go from your right to left hand (she would sometimes lose her train of thought or take a little longer). You will also start to see a side preference in the sending game – let me know if it seems like she has an easier time turning to her left (working on your right side).Back to the bowls 🙂 Start the next session like you ended here, to refresh the pattern, with the obvious cookies. Now that she has the pattern going well, you can probably go to a softer treat that she doesn’t have to chew as much 🙂 And when she is offering going back and forth, you can go to the Advanced Level!
She totally liked the toys! I think she liked the toy in your right hand better… or it is harder for her to move to your left hand (which we saw a little in the 2 bowl game!) You can do an experiment and switch the higher value toy into your left hand and see if she drives to your left hand more smoothly for the higher value toy.
With the 2 toys, she is definitely ready to go to the advanced level of adding an upright so her to go back and forth around.
And feel free to check out the other games on the course syllabus page. Have fun!
Great job here!! Let me know what you think!
TracyYes!! That is awesome, Kris and Allie are fantastic 🙂 Allie is a sportscar!!! I love her!! You are in for a FUN ride with Obi!!!
T
Hi!
You and West were fantastic in class last night – what a fun pup! And you are doing a great job with him ❤️>>our biggest struggle is becoming overstimulated and jumping and humping me if the games get exciting. >>
We saw a little bit of that last night! No worries, it is normal, and we are going to start teaching arousal self-regulation right away 🙂 Two things to add to his games:
– when you do the ready dance, dial it back to be a little less exciting. Mayne just bend your knees and look at him. And if he can be engaged and not jump up or hump? Hooray! Food or toy rewards. We can add in more craziness to the ready dance games, but we can teach him to self-regulate a bit more before we do that 🙂– a snuffle mat! We can use it to teach his physiology to come up in arousal, then regulate back to baseline. It is VERY cool and we start it really young to create the neural pathways. And it is easy: tug tug tug tug, then just put a snuffle mat down so he snuffles for cookies. Do that in little mini sessions, and you can also incorporate the snuffle mat into any game that is very stimulating (like driving ahead/toy races, or the send to the prop). You can do a rep or two of stimulating stuff, then let him snuffle for a minute or so. You will start to see a difference in arousal level!
>>And he can be hot and cold about tugging – I’m trying to get better at predicting that.
No worries! He likes food and tugging, so you already have a great toolbox. If he seems ‘cold’ about tugging, you can try throwing the toy or dragging it for him to pounce on or chase. And he is struggling to tug when there is good food nearby, you can tug further from the food.
Keep me posted now how he is doing!
Tracy>>Oh, and this morning, treat for tug swap, 100%. 🤷♀️ Puppies ☺️
Yay! That is so funny, she must have been reading the forum here and decided that salmon and beef hearts were worthy of a swap LOL!!!
T
Hi! Thanks for the update!!
>>The first game, well that’s already her strong suit!
I figured she would love that one LOL!
Sounds like all the games are going well!
>> trying to engage, jazz her up gets me 100% hand biting 🙄🙄 This is a bitey litter. >>
And that is why we work in the arousal and engagement really early… so we can teach them self-regulate their arousal and NOT bite us. So try this: Using food, do a tiny tiny tiny bit of jazzing her up, then stand still for a heartbeat. If she also stands still (not biting!) she can have a yummy treat. So you will be barely jazzing her up, maybe just bending your knees and saying the “R” of ready LOL!! And so we are basically saying to her: we know this is exciting, but it is better to engage without teeth then it is to engage WITH teeth 🙂
Over time, you can add more and more engagement with lots of rewards for the self-regulation of NOT biting you 🙂 And we will also eventually add a toy, but for now I figure food is better to start with because it is less exciting.
For the sending game to the prop – don’t do a full on ready dance yet, if there might be tooth hugs… just do a little standing still, eye contact, freeze for a second… then send. That will get your sending going really well without her accidentally bubbling over in excitement and biting.
>>I may gather more from that. I’m thrilled with the material so far!>>
I am glad you are liking it! And there are other games posted on the course syllabus page that we didn’t do last night (and some have baby whippet demos too!)
Have fun!
TracyA Beaglet! I love it! Beagles puppies are SO CUTE!!! I am glad you had fun playing last night! Keep me posted on how she is doing!!
Tracy
Hi!
The pre-games are going really well!
He was definitely sorting out that touching the ‘thing’ is what would get the cookies to move out of your hand (he seems to really like the cookies :))
If he likes to tug, mix in some tugging and some action after every 3 or 4 cookies, because otherwise he gets very chill if there are a lot of treats without much movement. The tugging will help keep him in a nice active state even with all the cookies 🙂
You can also go more “get it” tosses and less feeding in a stationary position. You were working towards that here, so definitely keep adding the ‘get it’ so he can start adding in the more speed back and forth to the target.
Next step: standing! Start the next session as you left off here, then move to standing and see how he does. If he is happy with that, you can then move to the new game where we send them to it. And you can definitely use a toy for that too 🙂
For the hand target, try it standing up and see if that helps – you can play a little tug, have the cookies ready then BOOM! The hand target appears out in your extended arm. It seemed to get a little lost, visually, by having it right in front of you so he was offering other behaviors but not really targeting. So, standing then having it all the way out to the side with you looking it can jumpstart the behavior even more 🙂
Great job! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi! You can see the gradual widening of the turns here too when he was very little motion input – he is waiting for more info and that contributed to running past the jump at :50
You even motioned it at 1:02: “More motion from mommy” LOL! Yes!
And not using a lot of motion is what made the BC harder – when he lands from the yellow jump at 1:52, you need to send to the pinwheel jump and accelerate away to the BC – but if you are not using a lot of motion, it gets aa lot harder to do that 🙂
>>One thing I noticed was he was less interested in the let’s go than before. I thought it might be because it was the last runs after a break and he/I were tired or perhaps it was arousal from the longer runs?>>
I think it was a combination of fatigue and a lot of reps (the sequence is a lot of the same, from the dog’s perspective). Plus, he likes the interactiveness of a live toy, so he probably won’t drive to the reward station without you. You can run to it then present the reward to him 🙂
>>Do I need the brake hand on the directionals when the tunnel is in play? >>
Do you mean a brake hand before the tunnel entry? Or when the tunnel is an obvious off course? I think it depends on the context – he might not need it if your motion is clearly indicating the next line.
>>And….. how do I keep the brake hand distinct from the tunnel treadle hand? >>
The brake hand is part of a low, 2-handed, palms down, downwards moving cue (belly-button height or lower), shoulders turning away a bit. The tunnel threadle is one hand and very high (a move shoulder height) with palm to the dog, upper body rotating towards the dog. It should be quite distinct looking.
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi –
He is doing well with the tunnel threadle work! Remember to be showing more motion here so he can read transitions rather than staying in extension with you decelerated. You were taking little small steps so he should be considering collection, and we don’t want to teach him otherwise 🙂 I think by the 2nd rep, he had stopped following turn cues and was waiting to see where you were turning to, which made the turns a bit wider. So… run! No standing still in the middle LOL! Let him see changes in motion as part of the turn cue as well as hear the verbals.He did well with the ‘let’s go’ at the end of the sequence! It is a good thing to mix in sometimes, to help prepare him for what will happen in the ring 🙂 And be sure to run to it with him to get really active engagement on it.
T
