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Good morning!
>Yesterday was a break day for Dublins training. His stomach is having trouble again so he is on chicken and rice. >
Poor Dublin! You might need to alternate training days: one day is training with some food, then the next day can be toy-only stuff so his body can process the treats and not get overloaded.
>Well I have learned hungry Dublin and chicken rewards trumps toy.>
Yes, he was hungry but also I think he was into the toy too. Tugging at the beginning went really well and he started off great with the toy! The toy itself is really great and he drove to it really well but he was more interactive with it when you then grabbed the other end and tugged. Also, when you praised him before you also grabbed the toy, I think he was expecting you to give him treats. So you can grab the toy first then tug a bit then praise.
For the food bowl – he did a great job here! Since he did so well, you can move. The bowl further around the cone a little bit each time. That will help add challenge and also limit the # of treats in his belly while also teaching him the game š He did great and looks like he is ready for more challenge!
Great job here!
Tracy
Good morning!
>Its very cold outside despite being in FL (low 20ās with strong winds).>
I am currently in Brooksville, FL , it is currently 23 degrees. And I just hosted an outdoor seminar this past weekendā¦. EEK! Two of my friends were presenting and I was working my young dog. Letās just say I had 75 layers of clothes on and the wind was just evil! Brrrrr!! Bandit would have been blown away in some of those big gusts!
Onwards to good Florida weather coming this week!!!
Using his airplane bag as the wing wrap object was clever – it is pretty ideal for this! He did great with that. Note how he kept playing the bowl game as you went to get the barrel LOL!
The barrel was humongous compared to him but it looked like he said āChallenge Acceptedā and this was his best wrapping! Brilliant!
Ok then, letās add the next steps that will lead nicely into the next set of wrapping games:
Sticking with the barrel, change your position to sitting. You can be on a chair or anything that is comfy to sit on. During the sit sessions:
– if he is comfy with you sitting and continues to wrap, you can push the barrel a little further away to add distance. Just an inch or two at a time will be plenty of challenge. If he struggles, you can move the barrel back in a little closer.
– when you are sitting and he is wrapping, you can change the position of thetwo bowls. Move them back so they are next to your heals and not next to the barrel. That is the next step to begin fading them out.
If he is happy with both of those and is zipping around the barrel? Repeat the process with you standing up (starting with the barrel close to you). It might all happen in the first or second session, because he is really absorbing this game.
The plank game is looking fabulous! He is getting more and more coordinated with getting his feet on it and turning around. He was so cute offering the down even when you said sit (he is still learning the words) but was super comfy on the plank! And going from the down to the stand showed lovely balance. His turning around also looked strong.
Amping him up with the toy was perfect, because we do need him to think about using his body well even when he is in higher arousal. The only difference I saw when you got him back on the plank was that his responses were actually faster and more precise – that is FANTASTIC! He was not quite as perfect when you started asking him to run across the plank and you were moving faster too, but I think he was just surprised and not struggling. Higher arousal is actually helpful for performance as long as the pups can self-regulate and not get overaroused.
Since the weather is going to be cold for another day or two, you can make an indoor walkway by lining up as many of his balance obstacles as you can fit in one space for him to walk along, like a trail. Then when it is warm again, take some stuff outside and see how it goes (start easier when he is outside because that might change things).
Great job! Stay warm!
Tracy
Good morning! This went really well and was super interesting to see what he likes naturally and what we can build up.
Cookies in the hand – well, that was easy for him š The only suggestion there is to try to say the word then move the hand. That will strengthen the marker. We all move our hands before saying the word so it takes a lot of self-reminding to hold our hands still until after the word š
>Lots more work to be done getting Rusty to play with toys but at least I have a start.
I was happy with his toy play here! I donāt think the kitchen toys were in the video, but maybe he was not interested because he associates those with just hanging out in the kitchen?
He tugged really well with the toys that you had here. What was your marker? Sounds like you were saying āboingā haha but maybe I need more coffee š
For the 2 toy game, you can tie those smaller toys to something a little longer. The reason for that is partially so you can drag it more which makes it more exciting. Also, it is further from your hand (so no accidental tooth hugs if he drives in hard to grab the toy).
The longer toy with the white fluffy stuff on the end was perfect – he really liked that one. It was nice and long, and he was really into it. And he traded for a treat then got back onto the toy. That was fantastic!
Right before offering the treat trade, you can say your āoutā cue then show him the treat. The verbal happening before the treat appears will help us fade the treat to get the āoutā on a verbal only.
The āget itā marker was super good of course – I am not sure that was his favorite toy. Maybe it had food in it so he was not sure if it was for tugging or for eating? He seemed to like the other toys better.
He was SO ADORABLE with the dumbbell!! Maybe it was new and exciting so he had to put it in his moth and then he took it for a stroll over the plank on the ground at the very end LOL!! Young dogs do like novel things so it makes sense he would find it really interesting. Hopefully you will be dong obedience with him too!
Great job here!!
Tracy
Good morning!
The videos came through perfectly š
>Iām assuming we should still work on the older lessons. >
Yes, but you can move through them quickly because they build on each other. Based on how she did in these videos, you can go to the next game in everything (see below, I have more specifics on that š )
āØ>Iām struggling with my time since I work 10hrs days, so I am doing the lessons just not videoing them all. Would you like me to send all of them in?>
10 hour days are a pain! But it sounds like you are getting in short blasts of effective training and that is really all you need! You can send them all in if you like but if that creates time stress, then send in bits and pieces of the stuff that feels like it is gong well but definitely send in videos of anything that is harder or she might be struggling with.
Looking at the videos:
Video 1:
The foot targeting is going really well! I agree, she loves stomping her prop LOL!!Since she loves it, you can go to the next level: start off by leaving it on the ground with you standing still – let her going back and forth on it. You will mark each stomp with a marker and toss a cookie to the side as the reward, so she can then come running back for the next stomp and reward :). If she can do a couple of reps of those, I think you can immediately move to the sending games where she starts with you and you send her with your arm & leg to the prop to stomp on it š
Video 2: Forward focus to the thrown toy is also going really well. She is looking ahead brilliantly and driving to it as soon as you let her go. Onwards to the next step of you adding your movement (walking forward then building to running forward). I believe she will master that really quickly which will take you into the toy race games.
On this video, the toy was on a line – when adding movement and toy races, you will want to add more distance and throw it. That will mean either letting go of the line (then rewarding her with another toy or cookie for not running off with the toy or rewarding her for bringing it back). Or you can use a really long line if she is the queen of victory laps with the toy.
Video 3: The drive to handler was pretty perfect š The pivots on the last 2 reps in particular were lovely – she really decelerated and turned beautifully. That means you can add in more of your running, then decelerate as soon as she starts running towards you. That will show her the decel with more excitement (then pivot when she gets to you).
Video 4 was the same as video 2, let me know if there was supposed to be a different one there.
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
Tracy
Hi-
Yes, the noise definitely startled him! You can bring him into the session by playing with a toy – the higher arousal state will help him not notice the new noise.Putting the yoga mat under out and playing tug totally helped! He was able to offer moving it with food but I really think the toy play was the winner here.
So for next time, you can put stuff under the wobble board so it barely moves and barely makes noise. And you can try to do the whole session with a toy: just 30 seconds of tugging near and on the wobble board. That might help him not think about movement or noise!
Nice work here!
Tracy
Hi!
He sure did a great ob of getting all 4 feets on the plank! Nice!!! It is slightly narrower than his frame but he easily got on with all four feet. And he was getting the ābreakā really well too!I wonder if the plank was slightly elevated, would he turn around and keep all 4 feet on the plank? He was stepping off but that might be because it was just easy to step off because the ground was right there. Do you have anything you can put under each end to elevate the plank so he can try to keep all 4 feet on it and turn around. Plus, this will add more challenge to getting on it!
Great job!
Tracy
Hi! Hope you had a good weekend here in FREEZING COLD Florida!
Looking at the SSC game:
He was so funny here – very pumped up to train! Good boy!He was perfect for the first couple of reps. It was interesting how after a bit of choking on the cookie and then the treat tossed off to the side, suddenly the novel-neutral object came into his brain. My guess is that the arousal level changed (cookie choking!) and when that happened, the distraction became more obvious. Then once he got back into the game, he was perfect again! Super!
>Next time something bigger but not too scary?>
Yes – doesnāt need to be bigger, just different š And definitely not scary š
The wing wrapping looked great!
>I tried 2 toys but I think my mechanics were not so great >.
I think trying to do 2 toys while standing would be really hard because he is so little. It was hard to get the toys moving enough so using them as a tug break moment was perfect! Food is a great choice as the mai reward here.
It looks like you had some distance between you can the barrel. You can keep adding a little more. We will be building on this in the next set of games!
Looking at the blinds:
>We did this out in the gusty winds today!>
You are BRAVE!! It was brutal!
He is a speedy little dude, so you will want to keep getting the blind started as early as possible. I think it was hard to do that because you were not sure when he was going to finish the start cookie. You can put a treat in a bowl 10 feet away and send him to it – that might be easier for him to see and it gives you a good head start š
The decel after the blind set up the pivot really well! It is hard to stay connected when you pivot, so you can try to dip your shoulder down towards him because it might be easier to connect.
Looking at the toy races:
He had a BIG MAD when you stole the toy and that was the game changed š He had nice sped before you won, then he kicked in more speed so you would not win again on the next rep. then it looked like the wind noise made it hard to focus and I donāt blame him – we were out running dogs at a seminar in that wind!>I cheated & didnāt have a collar or harness on him. He was a little slippery.>
Ha! He is definitely slippery š This game is also great for building collar hold love so you can bring it into this game too.
Great job!
Tracy
Hi!
This went well too!
Turning towards you to the right, turning towards you to the left: both looked great! She is bending really well!
Turning away to the right was definitely harder – even after a blooper, you can line her up again with a treat so she gets rewarded for the effort even if it was not the perfect response.
I thought her left turns away from you were easier – one little blooper but maybe she thought pressure from the handling was cueing the other side? She was great on the next rep, though – left turns are her stronger side here!
Since left turns are the stronger side, you can help with the right turns away by placing a target – either an empty food bowl or the toy – between the first 2 jump bars to give her a visual aid/focal point. Then when she gets that, move it to between bars 2 and 3. Then I bet you can fade it out really easily.
Great job!
Tracy
Forgot to answer this:
>For the Set Point do I continue raising the bars if sheās doing well?
>Remind me how old she is? I scrolled back and couldn’t find it. Her age will tell us how quickly we can move the bars up.
T
Good morning!
The smiley face game is going great! I love how the play reward was twice as long as the rep itself. Fun!
You were really emphasizing connection to help her commitment. You donāt need to run hard to get to the wing, as long as you are connected like at 1:36 and 2:10. Yay!
>Sheās been doing more of the jumping up as she runs with me, so Iāll need to work on that. >
Those were connection questions. She was giving you some feedback about the connection – when you were connected by looking at her eyes as you ran, she was great with her commitment. But when you pointed forward and broke connection, she tagged your hand. That is dogspeak for āI canāt see the connectionā
At 3:09 the pointing turned your shoulders away from the tunnel so sh didnāt go to it, then she got sniffy because there was a stop and no reward.
On the last rep, you had moments of absolute brilliance about being connected and keeping your hands low – she was lovely on those lines! There were a couple of spots where your hands got high and were pointing ahead of her, so she jump a little leapy and tagged them.
So try to run without pointing ahead of her, just keeping arms low or pointed back to her and emphasizing eye contact. It might be hard at first, so do short sequences til it feels more second nature.
>During the week we did some of the tunnel exits. Thatās a challenge, especially going straight out to the wing. My phone died while videoing so didnāt get that. But I think I need to work on connecting with her and then getting her to drive to the wing. She was doing a bit of the jumping up too.>
It was probably a similar connection question, so you can break it down and send from further away to get ahead. That will allow you to keep your arms low and make connection when she exits the tunnel, which will help her find the line to the wing.
The reason connection work so well is because connection points our shoulders to the line we want, and pointing ahead actually points our shoulders away from the line we want so it is confusing to the dogs.
>I did something like the Pill Bug just around wings though because it was late and I didnāt want to move my tunnels. That went well and Iām thinking I should do more of that to get her used to running will me and not jumping up.>
Yay! I bet you were super connected!!!
Nice work here!
Tracy
Good morning! I am glad you are feeling good – I am hoping the knee issues are behind you and now you can really get back to the fun stuff!
The turns on the tunnel exits are looking great – he naturally wants to drive to you. You can give the exit verbals sooner for both the turns and the straight line run: try to let him hear the verbals starting while he is still 6 feet away from entering the tunnel. He was hearing them right before his head got in, so I am not sure how much he was actually hearing & processing them.
It is not as important on the turns at this stage because he naturally wants to turn, but it will really help the straight exits
You can also send to the wing and tunnel on those ārunā exits from further away, which helps you be a little past the exit while he is still in the tunnel. That way you can show him a big connection to get him to the next wing. When it was just an arm send like at :36 & :57, he had questions about where to be. You did have several reps where you were connected really well but had stopped moving, so he curled I to you. You can have the wing a little closer for now so he can see it even more easily.
Throwing the rewards straight for the ārunā moments were great for getting the straight line exits. A bigger reward (like a tug or lotus ball) might be even easier for him to see as you build up his acceleration forward out of the tunnel.
The moving target is going really well! The further ahead you can be and the earlier you move the target, the better because he is preparing to power through the jump (like the last 2 reps) If the target is stationary, he is preparing to stop so the form is different (like at :43). He also appears to be unbothered by your motion – not distracted by the running and still able to coordinate his jumping! Yay!!!
Nice work here!
Tracy
Good morning!
Did you see him jump *next to* the jump on the first rep? Young dogs are so funny! Good boy LOL! But he knew it was not quite right, partially because he felt it and partially because you didnāt mark it as fully correct.
>Lots of hesitation. Not sure why. I tried to make the setup easier by placing the jump closer to the barrel and the jump at an angle. Thankfully, he improves through the session.>
I think your setup was good (and you made it easier to help him out, which was perfect). And your connection and handling was very clear, along with the verbals. So why was he asking questions?
I think the freezing up was probably him sorting out when the toy was available and when it was not available after the first rep. I could see the gears turning in his head about moving towards the toy or not. You were clear and supportive with your toy marker, which helped and by the end, he had it š
You can test that theory by using an empty food bowl instead of the toy: does he drive right to it? If so, you can do a couple of reps of working the concept to the bowl – then switch back to the toy. That is where the concept work changes, and it is less about the serp and more about knowing how to drive to the toy.
Nice work here! Let me know what you think!
Tracy
Hi!
>Oh good lord, well, maybe round 3 of send n serp I will actually get it right! Oye! I will do that when I get home from the weekend trial.>
Serps are hard! We will revisit this setup a lot as we add threadles and eventually – layering!
>Today for the first time I asked a friend to play the role of leash runner at the practice jump while practicing his start line routine and stays. His mind exploded! LOL. He kept sitting facing backwards where she was standing. So I used a food lure and worked thru it. But he was able to do it! Mostly he wanted to say hello to her but also he really wanted to make sure he could see her too. Iām teaching him the same warm up routine that I do with Benni also. I canāt believe he is 11 months old.>
That was an excellent use the practice jump!!! He seems like a friendly, social little dude so adding the leash runner at this early stage was brilliant! Good job helping him out – that gets the behavior you want, while also making it a positive experience for him.
Stay warm!!
Tracy
Good morning!
She was flying through these today! Perfect!!! I loved her speed AND how well she was using her body. She might be a visual learner, meaning we can introduce new concepts with a visual enhancement then fade it quickly. Throwing the toy went really well here.
I agree that the right turns were pretty easy and the hardest part were the left turns. It was especially challenging on the reps where the toy was actually behind her and she had to sort out the correct direction to turn. That was SO HARD but she worked through it! Yeah Jazz!
Two other elements that were in this session two:
– TONS of harness grab/hold and I did not see her having any issue with that š
– The self-control element of ignoring the toy by doing a different behavior (like moving away from it) to earn it. She was great!>I ended with some reverse recalls with the toy ā she loves that game.>
This was a great way to let her blow off steam from all of the left turn thinking and self-control!
Great job!
Tracy
Good morning!
>So do you think I am ok to try to go next step and move at little around the cone?>
Yes! He looks ready!
>Omg love the egg McMuffin story lol.>
Yes – it made a big impact on her and now she is a 2-sport BEAST, filled with confidence. I feel like she needs a sponsorship from McDonalds or something LOL
>Sad to say being around my other dogs is work in progress. Dublin wants to play all the time and they donāt like it. >
Thank you for the info! It is hard to bring a puppy into the house but it sounds like you are slowly and carefully getting Dublin integrated. That is the smart way to do even though it takes a little bit of time and the management might be harder for now. The long term results will be really good though!
> Not sure my husband is on board to help do outing with ours. I will chat with him about taking Frisco out since he is most confident. I will also check with some friends. >
That sounds good! If hubby & Frisco don’t want to go, I am sure there are friends who would love a field trip!
>Lol wish I could do road trip to see you. I am looking for new job so I have the time>
That would be fun! I am in Florida for a few more weeks, trying to avoid real winter LOL
Have fun!
Tracy
