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Hi!
>>just has to check the hands between bowls.>>
Yes, that is the hardest part – ignoring the treats in order to get the treats LOL!
Interestingly, the sound of the treat dropping into the bowl didn’t really seem to help him – he is more of a visual little dude. So, you can help him at the start of each session by establishing the rhythm by dropping the treats in each bowl then you can tap the bowl you just dropped a treat in. That might help him catch onto the pattern of it, then you can fade out the bowl tapping and let him start offering.
Great job! Let me know what you think!
TracyHello and welcome! Quest is so fun!!
He is very food driven so when the food was in your hand, he wants to look at your hand. To smooth this out, you can make a small change to the order of festivities:
Put the empty bowl on the ground first. Then line him up with a cookie lure so he is facing somewhat forward and happy to be lined up (he was a little slippery and didn’t love being moved into the line up).Then drop the cookie in the bowl (watching him as you do so). He will look at it pretty immediately, so be prepared to say “get it” and let him go immediately. That will help him sort it out and then you will be able to get even more distance!
You can also do it without the bowl – a lotus ball or treat hugger can work well for this.Nice work!
TracyGood morning!
>>I decided to skip the goat tricks since Mason will put his feet on anything you put in front of him. We’ll pick this game up in week 2.>>
Perfect! Just keep revisiting it here and there, so as his body and brain develop he can maintain that confidence.
>>The first new video is the wrap shaping game. This is our third session. The first two were slow and boring. He figured it out better once I added the toys. I wasn’t sure what I should do when he got stuck staring at the dead toy.>>
It is interesting to hear that he thought the food sessions were boring – he likes his food! LOL! The toy session here was great! He didn’t really get stuck staring at the toy, he just kind of lost his train of thought LOL! You were patient and kind of slid the other toy out of the way, then he remembered what to do 🙂 But overall, I love how he could offering going back and forth around the upright for the toys. Super!
The next step would be to get you to be higher up, like sitting in the chair that was behind you in this clip. Then we get you standing. The toys for this would be in your hands, but it might be easier to use slightly longer toys so he still keeps his head relatively downward-facing.
The blinds also look good!
>>The way the camera is set up I couldn’t really tell if he had his eye on the toy before I did the side change. At the time I thought he was looking at it, but in the video I wasn’t really sure.>>
I thought that he was following the handling nicely! On the 2nd rep, he hadn’t quite found your connection to know which side to be on after he ate the cookie, so he didn’t really do a side change. So you can be more connected for a bit longer as you move away to be sure he picks up the side you want. Then do the blind – and since it will all happen fast, you can give yourself a BIG lead out to be able to stay way ahead of him 🙂The best part about this was his ability to go from food to toy play with you! I know that you have worked on this – especially getting the toy play with you – and he is making BIG progress even in just a week! Super!!!!! This game is a low pressure, fun way to get the food-tug-food game solidified and he is doing great!
Nice work here! Let me know what you think!
TracyHooray for outdoor training!! He was reading the blinds really well! Nice connection from you!
He had a little trouble finding the cookie in the grass which messed up the BC timing, so you can put a towel or something down that is really visually obvious, then throwing the cookie on it so he can find it faster.
>>Any suggestions on how to get Teagan to stop jumping up at my hands?>>
Use a long toy for this 🙂 Having him run full speed to a cookie in your hand is recipe for him ending up jumping up for the cookie. So a toy reward will be more visible and safer for your flesh. And for the jumping up for the cookie as you are walking out to start the session, you can use a toy as well to tug on the way to the start spot. That will give his teeth a good thing to do while you are getting ready :)
Nice job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyHe is hitting the prop really well! Instead of ‘yes’ (which draws him to look at you), switch to a ‘get it’ marker when he hits the prop – that will indicate he was correct AND that he should run to the cookie you are tossing. I think for now getting all of the cookies out of your hands and tossed around, even on the sends, will keep him moving even better (he is already dramatically improved with offering behaviors and not offering sits or downs!!!!!)
When sending, start a little closer for now – you were a little too far so he was not entirely sure of what to do (and chewed your hand a little). He was keep to go to it, so you can use a shorter ready dance 🙂 The moment at 1:44 was a perfect length for it – one ‘ready’ moment, then you sent him. Yay!
It was hard to see your face on the video, so one other thing that can help him go to the prop is a little ore connection, looking at hm as you send forward (this is different than when you get to the sideways and backwards sends).
Nice work!
TracyThe pivots are going well – try to turn more slowly though. You are stationary then whipping around really fast, so he is getting a little wide or ended dup on the wrong side.
At :48 and 1:22 you were nicely decelerated for the pivot and it looked great!
Next step is to add more of your motion by sending him to his cookie and then you start to jog away. The instant he starts coming towards you, make a big deceleration so he can shift into collection and be ready for the pivot when he gets to you.
Great job!
TracyGood morning!
Drive to handler is looking good! Easy peasy! For now, keep your cookie hand lower (below your knee) so his chin is parallel to the floor or even pointed downwards to it. That way the skill will be easily transferred to collection and turns! It will be easier when he gets taller 🙂
Onwards to the pivots!
Hi! This is going really well! He was able to offer a lot of wrapping random things, with you standing up. YAY!
My main suggestion to you is a hard one: be quieter while he is working the bowls LOL!! The more you talk and use different praise words, the more he looks up at you. So you can either silently drop the treat in the bowl, or use a specific marker (such as “bowl” or something :)) but you want to otherwise be quiet and not praise or draw his focus off the different wrap objects. You can save the praise and happy voice for the tug breaks (which you should definitely be adding in if you aren’t already doing them, so things don’t get too repetitive)
>>He had a few questions here and there.>>
Yes, but not too many questions. I think some of the questions were about your happy praise voice causing him to look at you. And some where just him figuring out how to wrap the different things. So for each new thing you show him, pull it in tight to you so he doesn’t squeeze in between you and the new object 🙂 After he has seen the new object for a session, you can start to move it further away in the next session (but no big rush on that, because this is more about generalizing and less about adding distance.
Great job here! Let me know how it goes with toys!
TracyHi!
Walking and turning on the plank looked great! And yes, she gave a big “no thanks!”to sits and downs on the plank. I am guessing she is happy to sit and down on the ground? If so, you can try a sit on something wider, like a planks put together so she has more room, or a bigger piece of wood on the flat (something big and square, like the top of an agility table?)
>>I did another session with the prop with her on the right and she was still very much looking at my hands. We’ll keep at it for another session or two and then show you how it’s looking.>>
Sounds good! Keep me posted!
Wrap game:
Video 1 with you on the stool and moving the bowls back looked good! And nice tug break, she is doing well going from cookies to the toy!On the 2nd video – the look on her face when you stood up was HILARIOUS lol!! But she got right to back to the game, Yay! Try not to exuberantly praise her when in the cookie-dropping stages, because it causes her to look up at you. Stay quiet 🙂 so she can keep working the bowls.
On the 3rd video – she did great wrapping the new box, but definitely be quieter during the shaping 🙂 You had a lot of praise chatter so that definitely drew her eyes up to you and away from the bowls & box. Save the chatter for the tugging, where it is really useful and fun.
For the next session, you can start being standing the whole time and not using the stool at all.
>>I am using the toy as a reward for her “out” sometimes and am also weaving in her “chase” (chase and grab the toy I drag on the ground) and “bite” (grab the toy in my hand) cues.>>
This is all great! It was high energy and you were both really engaged. Only one tug mechanics suggestion:
When you say out, don’t lift the toy up to your chest – the movement of the toy upwards triggers some jumping up (a bit of prey drive) so keep the toy low as you say out, so she lets go of it and is not tempted to jump up for it.
Toy races looked great – I think she even grumbled at you on the 2nd rep where she won LOL! I guess she caught on really quickly that you were likely to cheat to win, so she decided to not let you win, ever LOL!
Definitely take this outside so you both have more room to run! And you can also try to cheat-to-win by having someone hold her so you can lead out by maybe 10 feet and get a head start by throwing the toy and running – she will learn to drive past you 🙂
Great job here!
TracyHi!
Plankrobatics:
He was very happy to hop on and off! Super! Great job doing it on both sides of the plank. You can add in luring him in a slow circle on the plank, and even try asking for a sit on the plank.One other thing to add is tugging before/during this game, so he gets to practice his coordination and proprioception in a higher arousal state – good practice for agility and other sports! So you can tug before and after a couple of food rewards, take another tug break 🙂
The Any Toy game is going well! You might need to make the higher value toy less visible (hide it in a pocket) when bringing out a different toy so he can interact with the new toy (rather than keep the higher value toy in his mouth and try to grab the new one too LOL!!!!) And then when he plays with the new one, you can bring the other one back out as a reward.
The new toy can move more so he chases it, and you can also throw it to get it even more enticing.
Goat tricks on the inflatable are looking good! Do you have a bigger disc, or a couple of discs, so he can get all of his feet on then? The Bosu ball is going well too – it is a hard balancing act for a pup on it, so getting all 4 feet on a couple of under-inflated discs will be easier for him to stay on and now slip off the side 🙂 You can make a ‘field’ of things to stand on, combining whatever smaller inflatables or fitness stuff you have.
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
I think we can split this behavior/change the session setup and get the backing up going!
The wobble board her is a little too angled and a little too small for now. So to get the backing up going with her turning around to get into 2o2o:
– use something relatively flat and stable that she has no history of 2o2o on
– use something that is big enough for her to easily stand on with all 4 feet, with plenty of room to stretch out a bit. She is little, so something that is 2 feet x 2 feet can work and it can be something like a flat dog bed for now.Start her with all 4 feet on the object in a comfortable stand, with her front feet kind of near the edge. Lure her forward to get her to put one front foot off the object, then withdraw the lure: when she offers putting that front foot back on the object – reward!
So we are not starting with back feet at all, we are mainly working on the “don’t turn around” and “step backwards” elements by keeping her hind end out of the picture and isolating her front end.
Then when she quickly puts her front foot back on – lure her forward to get both front feet off then withdraw the lure… and reward when she steps her front feet back onto the object.
If she starts turning around at this stage, use the long jump boards to narrow her space and see how it goes.
Eventually you can shape your way to luring 3 feet off and rewarding stepping her back foot on – the all 4 feet off. At this stage, a lure will work to move her forward r a hand touch.
It might take a couple of sessions but it should help split the behavior more.
Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
I am glad you are having fun!!! You and Taq look terrific!
>>I need to up the cookie since she would rather chase me on the blinds! She is not always eating them.>
You can be slowly walking away while she is eating, and when she has swallowed it: run! That can actually reward eating LOL! No eating = no running 🙂
>>I have 2 little wobbles so maybe I can set them both out. I also have a small pivot for that plank- not sure if I should use that?>>
Two little wobbles next to each other can work, and I recommend stuffing towels under them both at first so there is a little movement, but not a lot and it is easily controlled.
The cookies in the bowls session went well – it was hard for her to pass by the cookies in your hands to get to the next bowl, but she figured it out! Yay! So the next step would be to place the cookies more quietly and stealthily, then let her start offering the behavior before the cookies get plopped in. Then it will be easy to add the upright.
With the toys: Crawling under your legs was SO FUNNY!! She is so clever LOL!
>> How do I get puppy to release toy one?
Try tugging then relaxing the tug hand so the toy goes ‘dead’ (but don’t let go of it). After maybe 2 seconds of ‘dead’ toy, you can start tapping the other toy – she should release and go to the live toy. I also like to ooh and ah over the new toy, really focusing on it so the pup focuses on it too. The ‘dead’ toy moment will become the cue to out the toy, and she will start offering going to the next side.
>>Also maybe identical toys until she gets it.
It might make it easier to have to same or similar toys, so she is not focused on the higher value toy only.
>>Should I just try without a wall first? I think I have done that with her successfully in the past. >>
Yes, it is a good one to work on separately – in the reward procedures posted on Tuesday, I have a demo on switching back and forth between 2 toys. And finding a comfy way to sit so the toys are low but she doesn’t go under or over your legs will be helpful too! Kneeling or sitting with legs crossed might help? Or sitting on something really low to the ground?
>>I was also trying to im prove my tugging behavior so please comment on that!
This is an awkward game for tugging mechanics, so that part went really well! One toy being ‘alive’ and snaking around on the ground can be really enticing to her 🙂
Hi!
>>However, after I “win” the race and set up for another rep, she takes the toy and runs off with it on that next repetition. I’ve only managed to beat her to the toy twice during our games and this has happened both times.>>
What you are likely seeing is a bit of arousal self-regulation. There is pressure when we start adding handler motion, so the pups often decompress with a quick runabout.
>>Because I saw a behavior change that I wasn’t expecting, do you feel like I should not “win” the race for awhile and keep working on developing the game? >>
I think it is a good thing when the pups decompress, so you can still win every now and then (you don’t want to win a lot, just maybe one out of every 10 times spread out over the course of multiple sessions). But on that next rep, you can help shift the decompression towards you by turning and running the other direction as soon as she gets the toy, then offering a second toy for coming back towards you.
Let me know how it goes!
Tracy
Hi!
>>I tried this at 6 inches & we had some dropped bars. It seemed like if she was set up too close to the bar, she dropped it & if the reward (moving MM) was too exciting, she dropped it.>>
It looked like it only happened at the beginning, when she was in between the 2 jumps. And when she started from the first jump and did both, things went much better (looks like she did not drop a bar on the last 2 reps but maybe the camera angle hid it?)
>>Should I go lower?>>
Nope! Do another session with her starting in front of jump 1 and using a slooowwwllllly moving MM, and see how she does. She might have just needed to sort it out on this session, and will be perfect in the next one 🙂 Let me know how she does!
Tracy
Hi! Thanks for the update, I am glad she is doing so well!!!
>>When it was our turn she was focused and ready to go. Did that diminish with time, yes. We kept things very simple and rewarding and shorter as time went on.>>
Great! Keep the sessions really short and easy – ending way before you think you need too – in order to help her be able to maintain her focus and engagement.
>>Did not use xpen or crate, she doesn’t do well in either. But happy to sit in her chair.>>
How does she do in a crate when she is not in the ring? Or when you go to trials? We definitely want to help her be able to settle in a crate.
T
