Forum Replies Created
-
Posts
-
Hi!
Poor Draper! I am glad his carpus is feeling better and he is back to training!Driving ahead:
He was very focused on the toy 🙂 Yay! It was hard to see where you were looking, so be sure that you are looking at him and not at the toy 🙂You might find that he releases the toy better if you are not holding his collar – you can get him to release it (I posted a video on that yesterday to get releases without using food) then take his collar to start the next rep, or you can trade for a treat (you did a bit of that on the video and it worked great) then line him up before taking his collar.
You can add more distance to the throws, and more running too! And if he continues to drive ahead as brilliantly as he did here, you can add the “GO” verbal too 🙂
As you add more distance and he adds more speed, a higher profile toy will help prevent him from having to stop short on the toy. What I men by that is if the toy is big enough to be 6 inches or more off the ground, he can decelerate and scoop it up, rather than have to come to a complete stop (which is hard on their bodies). A hollee roller is good for that, or any big toy will be big enough for this too.
Great job!
TracyHi!
She did well switching back and forth between the 2 toys here! She seems to really love those toys LOL! Since this went so well (and burned off energy as you were saying in the video haha) you can add 2 things to it:
– instead of using the same toy, you an use 2 different toys. That can help build u the ability to go back and forth between different toys.
– you can add food! Using her most favorite toys, you can get the tugging started. Then you can give her a TINY piece of the most boring food you can find (half of a cheerio, maybe?) then go back to the super fun tugging (you ight need to get up, run around, or throw the toys to get her back onto them. This is a way we can begin to incorporate food into the games that also have toys.
Nice work here!
TracyHi!
Great job starting this with you low, then standing up. She did look up at you at first but then go right back into the game. She seems to have an easy time turning to her right (from your left to your right) and a harder time going to her left (from your right to your left).
The spots where she looked up at you when you stood up and the misses where she did not wrap were all on left turns. This is good to know!
So when adding distance, add it on the right turns (when she is on your left hand side) first – but pull the barrel back in close to you for the left turns. And when that is going well, you can inch the barrel out (literally an inch at a time LOL) when she is going to her left. That will help balance out the left and right turns.
And when we add tonight’s new game – start her on your left so she learns it going to her right at first.
Nice work!
TracyGood morning!
Driving ahead went really well! You got really good distance here! Keep working on throwing it further and further so she gets used to driving way ahead. That will also allow you to add the repeated GO GO GO cues – you had one or two Go cues so we can eep expanding on that. If you get a chance to train with other people, you can also let someone else show her the toy and throw it really far to add more distance 🙂
She was jumping around when you tossed the toy (yo can see it on the last rep) so you can keep your hand lower and your elbow locked, to help keep her feet on the ground. That way she won’t twist around or accidentally wrap your fingers in her collar.
Great job!
Tracy
Good morning!
He definitely liked tugging on that toy! And he did well looking at it and driving to it. You can add in throwing it further so he drive to it even more independently – and that all also allow you to add your motion, by walking forward as he is running to the toy.
The hardest part on that game seemed to be getting him to let go of the toy after tugging. You can try to get him to release it before you like his collar (usually puppies are slower to release if we are already holding their collar and/or pulling on the toy). I posted a video last night about getting the toy back 🙂 so you can get the toy back, then take his collar, then throw it.
The prop shaping for the foot target went really well! He was offering some really good foot targeting and you did a nice job with the clicks and rewards!
For his next session – you can keep yourself in one spot (a foot or two away from the prop), and let him go smack it – then you can toss the treat to the side, so he can get his reward then come running back to hit the target again 🙂 You can also fold the prop in half, so it is a little ‘taller’ which will make it easier to see as we add the other games.>I will start practicing this with different objects>
You can totally play this game with different objects, but for the games here you can stick with this one object – we use it to teach a variety of baby dog handling moves 🙂
>I also attempted to do the blind cross activity but my brain kept telling me to do a front cross so I will try that one again! >
That is totally relatable! For the blinds, to convince your brain to look forward and break connection with him, you can choose a spot in the distance ahead of you to look at as you start the blind, then reconnect on the new side. That might help you feel comfy doing the blinds and not the FCs.
>I really struggle with flatwork stuff when there isn’t a jump for context!>
You can use a leash or a line on the ground to be a jump bar for you – that way you have the visual of where a jump would be, but he doesn’t actually do a jump 🙂
Nice work here!
Tracy
Good morning!
>I had been working more with toys as I didn’t want to encourage a food driven puppy. >
You will probably see things swing back and forth for a while, in terms of her love for food versus her love for toys. Eventually it all balances out in early adulthood, but no worries if we see shifts especially during her adolescent stage – it is a totally normal part of brain development that there are variations in reward value.
>Treats have really helped with the leashing up – I agree that the gloves, while they protect my hands and arm, are another inviting thing to grab and bite.>
I posted a video of shaping the pup to put their head through the loop – my bitey puppy was the demo dog but he was not feeling bitey when I filmed the demo LOL!
>Working on getting the toys sorted out for the wing wrap with toys. I have one larger holey roller, and a couple of fluffy toys with long lines just need to get another holey roller.>
For that game, you can do 2 of the same toys, but also you can use different toys. There is nothing that really supports using 2 of the same toys (other than us humans being superstitious) but there is plenty of science that supports using novel toys/different toys even if they are slightly different values. So I think the hollee roller and the fluffy toy can work great! Plus, tonight we add a new game with the wing wrapping that only requires one toy.
She was a happy little girl on her resilience walk! Checking things out, exploring, being exposed to a variety of really different things. Super!
>At the start of the walk I was especially pleased with her willingness to investigate the plant that spooked her when the leash wrapped on it. Took me a bit to get the leash shorted out but she went right back to check it out. >
Yes! That was a definite resilience moment: something unexpected happened (likely activated her HPA axis even more) and then her body can practice bouncing back to baseline. She didn’t seem scared, just surprised. And she got right back into her explorations and visiting 🙂
>Hard to keep up with her so the video is kind of choppy… she’s a girl on a mission!>
It is like watching Jazz’s own reality TV show. She seemed surprised when people did not come visit her at the end LOL!!!
Great job :)
TracyHi! This session also went really well.
Excellent adjustment putting your foot on the plank so it doesn’t slide when he pushes off it for his treat! He has some nice power!
He easily put all 4 feet on this – good job changing the placement so he was getting rewarded for keeping all 4 feet on the board. That way he can follow your movement or hand as you get him to turn around on the plank or do position changes (stand to sit, stand to down, etc)
If you have something to put under this to lift it so it is a little higher, you can add that too! It doesn’t need to be much higher, just a few inches, to add challenge – but it does need to be stable so it doesn’t push out from under him. Or you can use a longer plank!
For these session, you can also break things up and add some tugging after every 4 or 5 treats. That keeps things exciting and interesting, while asking for coordination in a higher arousal state. It looks like he was asking you to do that so it is great to add in 🙂
Nice work here!
TracyHi!
He did a great job offering behavior on the fit bone and disc!
At the start of each session, you can make a toy-to-treat transition here too so he doesn’t pummel you or try to grab it off the chair – he really loved the toy in the 2nd video (10,000 squeakers!! So fun!) It can be the ‘aus’ then toss a cookie to the side, so you can put the toy down and then as he comes back to the objects, you are ready for the click/treat moments.
Really good click/treats for interacting with the objects in both videos! He was happy to offer front feet, and even a bit of walking across the 2 objects. He did not want to stay on the objects with all 4 feet though- he seemed to have an understanding that you wanted him to remain there, but he was adjusting his back feet so that at least one foot remained on the ground (clever pup!!). Two ideas for you to get all 4 feet on the objects:
For the fitness objects, usually having them fully inflated prevents the pups from putting all 4 feet on them and staying on – it is too hard to balance and they are too young to have the strength and coordination. You can see his back feet getting on then off the objects when he lost his balance. So for the next session, take out some of the inflation so the objects are a bit under-inflated. That will make it easier for him to get all 4 feet on it, then over time you can re-inflate them objects and as he develops adult coordination and strength, it will be easier to stand on them with all 4 feet.
You can also change the reward placement to get him to offer all 4 feet remaining on the objects, by delivering the treats in position on the objects. I think this is less important than taking out some of the inflation, but it is a good way to reward balancing on the objects.
Nice work!!
TracyGood morning! This went great!
It was hard to see your face so we will assume you were looking at him 🙂 He was definitely looking at the line around the cone – small head movements to turn his head and the camera angle showed his eyes looking at it.
You can add a cookie line up at your side so you don’t need to move him into position. And be sure to work the other side in the next session too.
The first several reps were really easy for him, he was focusing forward really well.
Great job moving the bowl around the cone pretty quickly – it kept the game from getting too repetitive and introduced good challenges quickly. The bowl got most of the way around the cone, so the next session can have the bowl starting where you left off, then keep moving it around so basically he has to look past and move past a cookie in a bowl that is right next to him 🙂
And you can swap out the bowl for the toy, so he has to eventually look past/move past the toy on the ground next to him.
Nice work!
TracyGood morning!
He did really well with you standing and with a little distance between you and the barrel. That takes us perfectly into tonight’s new game 🙂>. Reviewing it now, when he’s looking to me for information – it seems reasonable to cue him to wrap the barrel. He transitions from auto-wrap to checking in for information – first at 27 seconds, then again at 46 seconds. Probably similar to my previous comment – could use words or signals to help him out.>
For this game – I think the hold up was that he was chewing the treats, and lost his train of thought for a moment. I can relate to the ‘wait, what was I doing?’ feeling 😂
And since this game is an offering game and he is 13 months old with a strong learning history, it is perfectly fine at this stage to *not* help and let him think through the puzzle. Just wait and see what he does. He might get it right and get a big party… or get it wrong and get no party (no reaction other than no cookie). That can actually be the most informative and motivating rep of the session – the one where he offers a behavior and does NOT get a reward 🙂 Of course, too much failure means we need to help him… but one or two errors is perfectly fine to help him learn very specifically what gets the reward. And letting him offer rather than helping really builds up confidence and independence.
If he was 13 weeks old, I would probably suggest breaking it down more so it is easy to solve the puzzle. But he is old enough and super smart, so I bet solving puzzles is super fun for him 🙂
My only suggestion is that you use treats that are less chew-able and more slurp-able, so he doesn’t have to chew them as much. Little bits of cheese are usually perfect for that.
Of course we will be adding cues to the wing wraps, but the offering games are where he can solve the puzzle without waiting for our help 🙂 Sometimes in agility, we are too busy running the course to help with everything, to empowering the pups to solve the puzzle on their own really helps.
And the one cheating moment (he went between you and the barrel) was when he saw you put the treat in the bowl, so he was just following the cookie. You delayed the treats until after he made the wrap decision on the other reps, and that was perfect!
Great job here!
Tracy
Good morning!
Great question and I share your goal of wanting her to work for treats AND toys.>However, when I use a toy to reward the recall, she runs around….essentially “taking a victory lap” before engaging with the toy.>
To be sure I understand correctly: after grabbing the treat, she is not coming directly to you but instead running around a bit, as you do the recall?
If that is correct: try a flyball-style recall to begin with. Have a huge, long, fluffy, furry toy 🙂 and as you call her and run away, let her see you drop one of the toy and drag it as you run, bouncing it around. That can help direct her excitement to the toy and not just to running.
It would look like this:
Cookie recall to long toy (you can make. the toy more exciting and visible sooner): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6hmgT7OKs8Y
I can’t find video of me dragging a toy after a cookie recall, but here are some visuals of the big visible toy after a restrained recall (the dogs had just eaten a treat for lining up for the person).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g-5Ge3pTS8I (this toy can be longer so it reaches the ground for a smaller puppy)
https://youtu.be/iIIbLmjmNIQ?si=efmHVXx-HHiFdEZo&t=16 (this one has a longer dragging toy – apologies for someone’s dog screeching in the background LOL!)
Let me know how this goes! And if it is *not* what you meant, let me know and I will send more ideas 🙂
Tracy
Good morning!
She did really well driving to you – her engagement in the great outdoors is really lovely!
>And, my arm is still too far away! >.
I felt it was only far away on the 2nd rep of the decel without the pivot – you were reaching it out to her there, probably because you had to lean over to get the hand low enough. But on the first straight line rep and all of the pivot reps, your hand was close to your leg.
The pivots really helped her come in tight to your leg without swinging her butt out. Plus your cookie hand was right next to your leg on those, which really helped!
And a strong transition back to tugging worked great: high energy run to get the toy and then swinging it around got her engaged with it immediately.
>The last two reps had no food in the turning hand.>
Super! We build on this tonight in the live class!
>She’s still having some trouble finding treats.>
She was poking around the grass but did immediately come when you called her name. So when she can track the cookie, she might be eating it immediately but then sniffing a bit because it probably does smell interesting! And, she is still inexperienced enough to not realize that the cookie toss is actually a context cue to eat it then engage 🙂 No worries 🙂 You can use a towel or mat outside to toss the cookie onto, making it more visible and less interesting to sniff. And, we build on the eat-the-treat-and-engage-again tonight as well.
Great job here!
TracyHi!
He did a lovely job wrapping the flower pot and the primo pad! And it looks like the bowls are faded out. Fabulous!
There are 2 next steps that will lead you nicely into the new game coming tomorrow:
– get this wrapping behavior onto something taller that is free-standing, like a giant cone or laundry basket. Anything that is taller than him 🙂
– getting him wrapping the taller thing with you standing upBased on what he did here, I am confident this will take only a few reps in your next session. You can begin by sitting like you were in this video, and with the taller object. Then when he is in wrap mode after a couple of treats, you can stand up and continue the game. We can also add a little more distance between you and the object, but that is less important than getting the taller object in and you standing.
> but if I run here he kind of jogs with me.>
I totally see what you mean about how he He is a polite little guy! He drives really well when you send him ahead and don’t move until he has the toy. So we can take his strength (sending to it) and slowly add your motion:
– get him wild for the toy, hold his collar, throw the toy like you did here on that first rep. Then as you release him and he starts to move, you can start to walk forward slowly until he gets to the toy (then party with him like you did here :)) As he gets more comfy with you walking slowly, we can add more and more speed.Also, does he like balls or frisbees or things that roll? If the toy is still in motion, he will probably drive really hard to it even when you move. So you can use something like a tennis ball stuffed into a hollee roller, or a frisbee rolled on its side. If he doesn’t like balls or frizzers, ignore this advice 🤣😂
Nice work here! Let me know how he does with you moving very slowly on the toy races!
Tracy
Hi!
>I do have taller barrels! A narrower hamper and a larger leaf! I’ll have them on standby for tomorrow!>
Perfect!!!
>The wobble board got harder as he got older as it has lots of movement now that he’s much bigger! It makes a loud noise on the carpet because it’s tile underneath!>
Yes – part of it is that he is bigger so he has to scrunch himself up more to fit on it, and that probably feels weird. Plus, he is entering the development phase where is might get more sensitive to noise and movement for a short time, so keeping it fun and easy is key.
> Since he was showing some hesitancy I put it on his old donut bed!>
Perfect! And if you have a couple of other things you can put around it, you can expand the playing field so he doesn’t have to scrunch up as much.
On the video:
Wow, it is not often that I see a Golden clacking like he did at the beginning of the video! Ha! My whppets and whippet mixes clack like that, BCs sometimes clack. So I guess Quill is blazing a new trail in Golden clackers LOL!!
He was offering a lot of good behavior here even on the smaller wobble board. Because it was small, and because he was looking at your hands a lot – toss the treats back and forth so he can chase a treat and come running back to get on the wobble board again.
Plus that will get him offering even more feet on the wobble board: he was a bit glued to watching your hands and when your hands didn’t move, he was having a big mad LOL! But if he is moving to get the treats, he won’t be watching your hands as much. Plus, getting him moving a lot will add more stimulation… which usually helps the dogs not be as concerned about noise or movement.
> I introduce the Sheltie sized fit paw which he had never seen! He did great!>
The fitbones are fun! Because it was small, he definnitely had to scrunch up, making getting on the fitbone was hard with all 4 feet. You can help him by deflating it a bit for now so it is easier to get on. And you can toss the treat here too – he was following the cookie hand but running back and forth will get him to offer more feet on the bone.
Plankrobatics are going well! He had an easy time moving back and forth, and getting on and off. Super! He was not hesitating to turn around, but he was a little off balance. So when cueing him to turn around, keep your cookie hand lower: we want his chin no higher than parallel to the ground. Lifting his head up to reach a taller cookie will throw off his balance, which makes it harder to turn around without losing his footing.
>Jessica did a fantastic job with these puppies!>
She sure did!! They are all brilliant and so much fun!
Great job!
Tracy
