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Hi!
I think Max believes this the best and easiest game ever invented LOL!! He was perfect and your timing was really good! You can add moving around while playing this game (you can walk back and forth) and you can also add in a distraction in the environment (from the “Taking It On The Road” game posted more recently). You can play this game in a variety of new places, it really helps bring the dogs into different environments like trials 🙂
Tracy
Hi!
Looking at strike a pose:
I agree that he did great with here! And he really is happy to play any crazy game – always bring a smile to my face, he is like a ray of sunshine!!!>I wasn’t totally sure how much I should be asking for him to go to the actual target, I understand he doesn’t need to hit it with his nose but does he need to go towards it or just do the motion?>
I see what you mean about the line! When he was going directly to the bowl on some of the reps here at the beginning, I think what was fine baed on where this is going – you will eventually be moving 🙂 so he won’t need to come in straight over the bar. As long as he knows to come over the bar and turn, we are all good! You can help him understand that by starting him from the cookie toss to position 3 – that will give him more options to either come towards you over the bar… or go directly to the cookie bowl 🙂
Looking at the rocking horses: wow, look at that connection as you finished the FCs!! So nice! So clear! That really helped him zip right around those barrels. Massive click treat for you!
Yes, he was kind of into the toy but then had a little trouble restarting at about 1:00 – it might be that he needs more connection on that initial send and big step but less arm movement The more you used the arm, the less he left to wrap. But when you used a lower, more subtle hand movement (especially after starting with your hand on his collar) he was great. So my guess is that he needs big connection on the starts too and if you point forward too much with your arm, it blocks connection so he looks up at you.
When you add the turn and burn on the last barrel of the 2 or 3 wraps in a row, you can add in having him chase you for the toy. I think he will really like that! And he seems ready for you to add that here 🙂
>And then the get out prop game with the different hand shape. he was awesome here!>
Amazing how differently he reads a relatively small change in how you are holding your hand! He did great! Latent learning might have also help (he got to sleep on it LOL!) but he did great and is ready for the next steps: you are moving. You might want to mark a straight line on the ground with a leash so you don’t move towards the prop at all – then you can end him away with a cookie toss so you can start moving slowly up the line. And on some reps, give him the get out cue (you can add the “out” verbal) and on other reps, call him to you for the straight line.
He was doing well getting into the contact box!
>I only grabbed one bowl so we tried to do only one direction and he wasn’t sure he should have to go around instead of through haha>
Only one direction worked well because it can help him not look at you because he has to move away from you. You can delay the ‘dish’ marker and cookie throw until after he moves through the box and is heading to the dish – right now, he looks at you when you say dish. The delay will help create the behavior chain that is so helpful with running contacts. And you can move the dish closer to get it started. He might look at you when he arrives at the dish which is totally fine 🙂 and we will then move the dish further and further away.
Great job here! Have a wonderful holiday!
Tracy
Hi!
Her rocking horses are going great!
I am glad you opened up the distance right away, the 5 foot distance is too small for her 🙂 She did well at the bigger distance!She was great about reminding you to connect 🙂 For example, as she exited the barrel at :24, you were not fully connected in that eye-to-eye Hallmark moment style. So she stops moving forward and looks up at you. Then at :25, you looked at her directly (Hallmark moment!) and that opened up your shoulder and your connection, so she immediately when to the barrel. Yay!
You moved the barrels in closer but it was really a connection question, not a distance question from her. On the next reps, you really emphasized the connections and she had no questions 🙂 Super!!! So now you can add more distance between the barrels but maintain that connection 🙂 And you can also use your hands a bit – pointing back to her as she exits the barrel and t establish connection, then swooshing forward nice and low as you send her to the next one.
>And the noise in the background is Sly fairly close to exploding cause he hasn’t gotten to play yet>
Poor Sly! ABOOOOOOSE! LOL! I am sure he had plenty of play time 🙂
Great job here and have a wonderful holiday!
Tracy
Hi!
Looking at the tunnel threadle sessions here: Both sessions looked really strong and he was able to turn away to find the tunnel entry from pretty far back along the tunnell. Super!!! You were better about giving the verbal cue a few times before letting him go when he was on your left. When he was on your right, you only said it once or twice but you can definitely say it many more times LOL!
He looks ready for you to add your tunnel threadle verbal. You can line him up close to the entry on the threadle side, like you did here, and hold him so that you can say the new verbal 3 or 4 times then let him go. Hopefully he will recognize the context and scoot right into the tunnel, like he did here. If he doesn’t understand what to do, you can start adding the new verbal by saying the new verbal 3 or 4 times then while letting him go, say tunnel once or twice. Then we can fade the tunnel verbal pretty quickly.On the parallel path video – he was great about finding the jump! You don’t need to say ‘break’ because he was not in a stay (which might be why your brain didn’t say break LOL!!) You had his line here a more of an arc to the jump, and he did well – you also got your toy throws in earlier and he did not seem to look at you at all. That is BIG!!! For the next session, to add more distance – use a cookie toss to send him away from you onto the line to the jump, while you stay pretty far away. Then after he gets the cookie, he will see you moving on a parallel line to the jump. That will cue him to stay on his line – which you can probably work up to 15 or 20 feet away! Then you can use your ‘get it’ and toy throw as the reward.
On the SSC video – his face is so dark that it is hard to see where he is looking! But his nose was pointing to the bowl so I think he was focusing on the line nicely 🙂 And you can see his head turn clearly as the bowl got further around. The last rep was HARD but he did it! Yay!
>I’m dragging him around to get him in position and he’s not having fun. >
Yes, he put up with it but was not thinking it wa great fun. So what you can do instead is line him up with a cookie lure, gently hold his collar after he gets into position, then feed him the cookie 🙂 I think he will like that and you won’y end up pulling him around. You can have 2 cookies in your hand for this – one to lure/feed him with, and the other to drop into the bowl. Or, you can replace the bowl with a toy now!
>Would it make sense to do it standing? If so, should I use a taller cone?>
Yes, you can do it standing but I would still ask him to line up (or lure him with a treat) then put your hand on his collar after he is lined up. And yes, I think a taller cone (or a barrel) would be good if you are standing.
Great job here! Have a wonderful holiday!
Tracy
Hi!
>He injured his right rear leg – likely from trauma (not sure what) – where he had a laterally luxating patella. So he was initially hop-skipping to avoid using that leg. I’m’ still seeing an occasional hop-skip – mostly when moving faster than a trot (though I’ve mostly been trying to restrict to trotting or slower).>
Poor guy! I am glad he is feeling better. I have some luxating patella experience if you need any info.
The stool here is the perfect height! The pattern game went really well. Super nice timing with your get it marker: You were letting him engagefully before marking then throwing the next treat. You’ll find that this game can have a calming effect too, so you can use it any time you think he is getting a little too excited for the current state of his leg bubble wrap! You can add in the next step, which involves adding a little distraction (you will see it here:
https://agility-u.com/lesson/resilience-game-on-the-road-4/ )He also did really well with the prop game! At the beginning you were pretty close to it so when you got significantly further at :20, he needed a moment to find it again. And he did! Super!!
For now, we don’t want to add speed to this until he is fully cleared to run. But what you can do is add getting him to drive ahead to the prop by moving to the cookie toss reward with him – then wait there til he eats it and then tart moving up the line past he prop again. Then you can mark and toss the next treat. This will build in nicely to getting the rear crosses going.
>that it’ll take more video review and diligence to move to verbal reward markers…>
You had the get it marker happening here which is super! And you were also concentrating on getting the treat nice and low to help moderate his speed. He was not looking up at you, and that is our goal: to keep him looking ahead.
Great job!
TracyHi!
>But also about jump heights, what is your latest thinking on progression up to regular height for the young dogs starting NFC and trialing? I haven’t starting jumping him at 12″ in class at all yet and obviously need to start there, but not sure how to do it to ensure he still keeps confidence in his jumping ability and some speed. Considering right now speed is one of my bigger concerns, I’ve been scared to start jumping higher even in class.>
It is great that you are already doing it in grids at home – part of it is the conditioning work to make jumping full height easy 🙂
At home and in class, you can raise the height bit by bit (doesn’t have to be all bars all at once). On a really easy line that he can jump in big extension, put the bar on a jump at 10” and see how he does. Based on his response, you can start to make more and more bars 10”, starting with the super easy lines then gradually adding the hard lines like wraps and backside or threadles.
When he is fast & happy at 10, you repeat the process to very gradually raise the bars to 12, starting with the easy bars.
You can do one jump exercises at home at 10 then 12”.
For competition, I like to debut my dogs in the ‘for real’ runs at the lower height – it keeps me in check so I don’t have intrusive thoughts like “I CAN Q! I CAN WIN!” Hahaha! I mean, you can Q and win but I care less at that height 🙂
Then when he is happily jumping full height in class, you can do a little bit of FEO/NFC at full height at a trial. Then it all comes together, combining his experience running trial courses at a lower height with the class experience of running at the higher height.
>Well, I do happen to have a local really good friend and whippet breeder and serious racer – and her whippets even do barn hunt too – who I can definitely ask about this! I didn’t know they were often experts at this! I guess it never came up in our conversations! Maybe not a magic trick typically well-advertised. LOL! I’ll ask her about it. Probably more human bribery will be in order. >
This will either be the weirdest question ever for her… or she will totally know what you mean and have ideas LOL I actually have a video of it somewhere.
Tracy
Hi! It sounds like you have had a crazy end to 2024!!! Onwards to 2025 with only good things ahead!
>Although I made a lot of videos, I didn’t get any submitted. We had too many hearings with planning and zoning, as well as with City Council trying to defend and maintain the single family residence zoning of my historic neighborhood with 100 year old deed restrictions.>
I hope you won!! It sounds like a worthwhile cause!
>I injured my knee when doing a push wrap with a pivot in my rear foot to send to a tunnel. My upper leg pivoted, but my foot did not pivot. This resulted in a medial collateral ligament strain…I borrowed the laser unit from school. It is finally almost 100%… I can go up/down stairs normally again. >
Oh NO! Ouch!!! I am a weenie too, I feel your pain. I am glad you are getting back to normal!!!!
> I avoided front crosses, distance handling with Grady improved! >
Well there is a positive for sure! Distance is so helpful!
>Suddenly in the past two weeks found myself just automatically throwing in FCs when needed!>
Yay! And blinds are easy on the knees, just sayin’ 🙂
>I spent a lot of time playing with Ginger…she is back to retrieving and tugging. We did a seminar with Ami Sheffield and Ginger was fast and happy! The following weekend we had a young dog seminar with Cassie Schmidt…same thing fast and happy😁>
This is great news! She is feeling better too 🙂
>In the summer we did several NFC/FEO runs at UKI and NADAC trials. I will do the same at a UKI trial in mid January and with an AKC trial in February.>
How did the runs go?
>What would be a good course to sign up for next?
Stay tuned for a young dog transition to trials group of some sort… I haven’t quite figured it out yet but it will be an ongoing group for support and ideas and feedback for these youngsters!
Have a great Christmas!
Tracy
Hi!
>what if they don’t go around the cone and go straight to the toy after a look to the cone.>
You have a chuckle and take the toy back without much drama (have it on a long line or hold the other end of it so she doesn’t take it on a tour of the ring :)) Remember that when the toy is in a position where it is easy to cut across to it, or she has to pass it to go to the cone, you are not using your ‘get the toy’ marker til she is definitely at the cone and not grabbing for the toy. If you are early with the toy marker, then it is fine for her to go directly to it.
So when the toy is visible in a spot where it is a real challenge, you will be holding her with one hand and using the other hand to indicate forward focus to the cone. When she looks at the cone, you will let her go to begin moving and you can use your wrap cue. When she is definitely at the cone and not going to the toy, you can mark that decision with your toy marker.
And since this is concept work, you can teach the concept first with an empty food bowl so it is easier to learn (less frustrating/arousing). And when she can do it with the food bowl, then you can start again with the toy as the reward. Start from the beginning rather than just putting it where the bowl was, to avoid errors as you transfer the concept.
> Also how close should they be?>
2 feet from the cone, approximately – close enough that it is easy to get forward focus and to place the reward, but far enough that there is some level of challenge in terms of the bowl/toy being visible as it moves around the cone.
And definitely video it!! Have fun!
Tracy
Hi!
It is definitely the time of year for small space stuff!!
Your follow the magic cookie hand foundation really paid off here!
The lap turns without the prop went pretty perfectly! She knows how to turn herself thanks to the work you’ve already done (yay!) and your cues were spot on. Super!! She looked strong in both directions.
Adding the prop definitely challenged the processing of the cookie hand! The prop has a ton of value, so she will head for it first unless specifically cued otherwise 🙂
So with the added processing challenge of the prop, the more visible your hand was, the better she was able to come to it. If your cookie hand was too subtle, it was getting ‘lost’ against the visual of the prop.
A couple of ideas to help her out:– You can extend your hand further from your body to help make it more obvious and salient: lock your elbow so your arm is straight and reach your hand towards her while you bend over. Feel free to shake it a bit too 🙂
– You can shift your connection from her eyes down to your hand (let her see you do that). It can really draw her to the hand!
– And if she still needs things to be more obvious, you can call her name 🙂For the tandems- she had similar questions when the prop came out, in terms of the hand cues getting hidden a bit in favor of the visual of the prop. You can make the hands more obvious here too – try not to hide your hands in front of you – make sure she sees your hands. You can have your dog-side arm further back and rotate a little more at the waist, so she might end up seeing both hand involved in the cue. That will help attract her in to the hands, which will make the turn away even easier.
>And I think with slightly more space to toss a reset cookie she wouldn’t have gone to the prop so often, I think sometimes she turned around and the prop was just RIGHT THERE. >
Totally yes! The smaller space made it more challenging! But she still did a great job 🙂 and I think making your hands more obvious will make it all even easier.
Tomorrow you will see the next level of this posted – threadle wrap foundations (no prop 🙂 ) She is totally ready for that and I am betting you will end up using threadle wraps more than lap turns at this point.
Great job!
Tracy
Hi! It is so cool that you all set this up!! Extra thanks to Dean as leash runner and judge 🙂
Looking at the video – the ring entry stuff seemed to be the hardest part for him, especially at the beginning where
there was a lot of action with an exciting dog finishing and a loud handler 🙂 You can bring him in doing pattern games for that.
He did a lot better on the 2nd round! And you can see it was a little hard at the end, when things were very busy – note how he does a full body shake when entering in both of the hard spots at the beginning of the session and at the end! Letting him observe the ring crew was good, he worked it through nicely. Watching the other dog finish (at the beginning) was harder so that is when you can add the pattern games right in the ring and also do tricks for treats 🙂I know we are working to simulate what will happen at a trial but we can ease the transition into it with pattern games and food being visible the first couple of times a he gets exposed to a variety of new and different challenges. And definitely bribe/convince classmates or people at any upcoming seminars to help out with this too 🙂
Great job with simple sequences too, the challenge came from the environment so you didn’t need the sequences to be very hard. He did well with the noises and with Dean standing there! Also, he seemed to do well with Lift coming in and with the leash runner delivering the leash. And he did great with the weaves and ending line, with all the people moving. I am sure his brain ‘noticed’ these things and it was definitely challenging, but he was still able to execute the agility with a lot of engagement and speed, which is great!!! It will get easier and easier for him to actively ignore them 🙂
>He did better with a dog coming in while where were going out vs. the other way around (I am sure because he knows he gets his treats when we leave.)>
Yes – he probably associates getting the leash on and exiting with food 🙂 And the start area is a lot harder, because the next thing that happens is ‘work’ not treats. You can have him do one jump and then get treats in the situations where you are adding a lot of environmental challenges.
Looking at the stay video:
For the stays, it is about finding that sweet spot for each dog. For him, I think the main thing will be to lead out with connection doing that bit of tense body language… but not too pressure where you are leaning towards him. Think of it as leaning away, creeping away while watching him, but not moving or learning towards him. Looking at each rep:Rep 1 had no pressure (in terms of leaning towards him) but also no connection, so he released when you were lifting your arm and beginning to look back at him (dogs learn very quickly that these physical cues are the release if we pair them with the verbal release). Be very careful to not pair connection or motion with the release 🙂
Rep 2 – this one had sooooo much pressure with bending over him, doing a lot of ready ready then creeping away, so he got overaroused and could not hold the stay (and he said some curse words LOL!)
Rep 3 – this one was a better balance of connection by looking at him as you moved away and not a lot of pressure. He did well (you know it is exciting when the other dog joins in LOL!) I think this was my favorite rep!
Rep 4 – this was like rep 2, with too much pressure from leaning over him so he couldn’t hold the stay.
Rep 5 – not a lot of connection but a throwback reward – be sure to be connected even on these, so you don’t pair the marker with your movement.
Rep 6 and 7 – He held the stay here nicely! You can add more connection here and a little bit of creeping away – you didn’t have a lot of connection on these, so your release and movement were all close in time which could pair movement with the verbal release (ending up with movement being the release).
Rep 8 and 9 – I think these had too much leaning over him and too much ready ready ready, creating too much pressure (similar to rep 2)
So what is likely to work best is to be connected and watching him the whole time, saying ready quietly as you creep away with a little bit of tension in your body language, then release, then run. That seems to be the sweet spot, and you can gradually extend the duration of the stay as you add this.
>and I forgot to mention our other NFC class day victory was being such a good boy while standing under the wicket to get measured. We’ve been working on that but I was pretty sure would not be ready for prime time, but we had to get measured anyway and I was so surprised at how nice he stood for it! Measured 14″ which is good for UKI I think (for 12″) but bad for AKC so we’ll see what nice judges I can find for that!>
Hooray for good measurements!!!! Yes, 14” is great for UKI. For AKC – is it 14” and under for 12, or 13.9999 and under for 12”? I have some measurement tips for when it is time to get the measurement 🙂 Both of my girl dogs are right on the exact measurement number for agility and flyball so I did help them prepare on the day of the measure… but I also shaved the coat on the whithers. It was not a pretty look for a couple of weeks, but both easily got measured in. After all, the judge is measuring to the shoulder and not how much coat there is. For example: Elektra’s UKI measurement was 15” over and over, (with her full hair LOL!) but for Flyball she needed to be 14.999 or less. Shaved shoulders and some other things got her at 14.75 for both her measurements.
I have had multiple vets over the last 2 years try to find that testicle to see if we could move it and no one has been successful.>
Fingers crossed that they find the testicle so the surgery is minimal!!! Any whippet racing people in the area? I swear they can find any testicle, anywhere, any time, it is magical LOL!!
Great job here!
TracyGood morning! Sounds like a fun weekend!
Backing up onto the bed:
Getting only front feet off went great, so definitely do more reps before getting all 4 feet off all the way off. He was really good with stepping each foot back individually when only front feet off and with back feet barely off – but if his back feet came all the way off and a few inches away, he was not fully sure of what to do (and kind of scampered back sideways ))Looking at the cato board video – good job turning it so he didn’t have to be scrunched up, but yes, I agree that it was too tall for now for his back feet to step up onto. He can do it eventually! But for now, we can keep it easier 🙂 You did a good number of reps of just front feet and that was super strong – that is what you can do on the bed for now too, to work on the stepping backwards mechanics.
>I’ll need to get something else here- any suggestions for a flatter plank to try? Maybe just some plywood?>
A plywood square about the same size as the bed here would be great – and to keep it from being too slippery, you can get a cheapie yoga mat and cover the board. The pink board I use the in the demo is a piece of wood with a yoga mat stapled to it 🙂 and to make it wobble, I added more wood on the bottom (but started it without the wobble).
Get out game video:
>here he thought my off arm was actually throwing a cookie so he kept sprinting forward looking to it>
I can totally see his argument here that it did indeed look like the tossed treat LOL! If you watch the pointing hand, you can see your arm go from bent to straight very quickly, and your hand go from relaxed/curled to fingers opening fast… that is exactly what a cookie toss looks like.
When you slowed things down, it started to look different and he started to figure out that it was more than just find the cookie. But one tweak to help make it even more distinct for him
Rather than point with an open hand, you can keep your fist closed and point with a finger. That definitely does not look like a cookie toss action. And doing it more slowly like you were doing at the end here will be good too.
>I wonder if maybe next time I try this I should start with just basic send to prop reps to get that in his head?>
You can, but you can use a closed fist/finger point there too to help introduce that.
I went back to compare the get out mechanics with your normal sends – you did use an open hand on the sends, but the back of your hand was facing him so it did not look at like a cookie toss. On the get outs, your palm was facing him which does look a lot more like the cookie toss.
Rocking horses: This is going well and great job using both the toy and the cookies!!
>He thought there should be a cookie in the middle every time so getting the two barrels smooth was a little harder,>
Actually, he was asking about connection! When you looked at him directly before and during the send, he did great! When you were not looking at him when he exited the previous barrel then looked ahead on the sending… he had questions. So connection is key (connection with small dogs is hard because our arms can block their view)!
For example, compare :42 when he had a question (not enough connection, you were looking ahead) to 1:20 where you gave him a lot more connection and he got it very smoothly 🙂
And at the end, at 1:52 as he exited the barrel you were looking ahead without a lot of connection to him. You could probably see him peripherally, but he could not see your eyes. The compare to the last rep at 2:09, where you had your arm further back and looked at him as he exited the barrel and maintained that on the send, so he found the next barrel really well! Yay!
So really exaggerate the connection after each wrap and on the send. It gets easier as the pups get more experienced, but for now the connection will be super exaggerated 🙂
Speaking of connection… look at how great your connection was on the barrel wrap to the bowl! Perfect! He had no questions 🙂 That is the connection you will want as he exits the barrel in the rocking horse games. And good job not pointing ahead to the bowl 🙂
The strike a post concept transfer looked awesome!! He is ready for the next step – add a bowl on the ground (below where you were rewarding him here, with your left foot pointing at it) so he can slide in for the serp then go directly to the bowl for the reward. You can drop the treat into the bowl. This will also mean he probably won’t actually hit the target, but that is correct: as long as he still does the in-then-out shape turn, he doesn’t have to hit it anymore. And it helps up start to fade it out 🙂
Great job on these!!
Tracy
Hi!
I think he really enjoyed this game 🙂 You can build it up in a couple of ways since he was pretty perfect here!
You can add lateral distance on this game – throwing the reward at the same spot but you are increasingly further away from the jump
Or you can stay closer, and add more motion – jogging then building up to running!
And eventually you can do both – lateral distance and more motion. Fun!
As you add distance and motion, he is going to want to look at you at the jump (nothing else to look at 🙂 ) He was doing that a little here. To avoid building in looking at you, you will want to change the timing of the reward throw: when you see him looking at the jump setup, throw the reward ahead past the jump so it lands before he arrives at the jump. That will reward his forward focus on the line and help him not look at you over the bar.
Great job here!
TracyGood morning! This was a very successful session!
The coaching from your friends was hilarious! And he did a great job ignoring that tunnel out there!
You were really good about balancing getting him a little jazzed up and also walking/staying connected so he was very clean on all there barrel wraps. That is exactly what we want him to do: Rehearse great mechanics while going fast 🙂 Yay!
>I didn’t realize until I saw the video how far back I was starting him. No wonder we had a couple of misses.>
Actually, I thought your starting spot was a good challenge for him, and your timing of starting the FC was spot on for almost all of the reps – you had your line on the ground at just about the entry to the barrel, and you nailed it on all but 2 of the reps. He was lovely!!
On the 2 reps where he did not wrap (1:26 and 1:38), you were too early to start the FC. He had taken one step past you but was still a step or two away from the barrel when you started the FC, so it was just a little early. You can work up to that, by moving your line closer and closer to your starting point.
And only 2 misses in a session is actually a good thing 🙂 We don’t want to go past 2 misses though. We don’t need to have 100% success because the dogs do learn from sometimes not getting rewarded. When he does have a miss, though, don’t mark it with anything verbal (even if it is happy) because he jumps up at you. We don’t want to build that in, so instead you can call him back and do a quick cookie reset at your side. That gives him something to do (line up) rather than jump up when something goes wrong, but it is also a calm indicator that he was not correct. Plus it rewards effort because most errors are this point are handing errors (like being too early :))
For the next sessions with the barrel, you have 3 options (feel free to mix them all in to keep things spicy :))
– you can do what you did here, and add a toy and a little more motion (for more excitement)
– you can keep using food and walking, and work on starting the FC sooner
– you can move to the rocking horse games with 2 barrels 🙂Great job!
Tracy
Good morning!
>Now my ocd is kicking in bc I’m like I trained the things in order of the things and did the things correct so why did I mess up the things I trained LOL! Or more so it’s just Julee is processing things they way she thinks it was meant to be. .. I hope.>
I don’t think there is anything worth getting OCD over 🙂 There are so many things to train with young dogs that it is probably a shift in value towards the toy being on the ground as the cue to get the toy, then frustration when it was not. We all develop cues that we didn’t mean to develop – how many people have accidentally taught the release from the start line to be movement (like a hand being raised or head turning back to him) instead of a verbal? I sure have LOL
>>You mentioned not getting the toy always simply games- do you have one in mind bc yes toy races always paired motion run get toy so I want her to learn that difference.>
I think the fold it in game with the cone is a good one to start with because there is no control position to start with, you are marking forward focus by releasing her, then marking getting the toy. The toy starts off on an easy line but it quickly moves around the cone so it she has to pass it to get the correct entry. So when she looks at the cone, you let go of the collar – and then when she gets to the cone and starts wrapping, you can use your get it marker.
Also, strike a pose with the toy on the ground is a good one – she gets the toy when she hits your hand and you say the marker, so she doesn’t go directly to the toy on the ground.
T
Hi!
>Tug sit game and looking at toy if I drop
It you still have to wait for the break or get it cue. Toy place further ( past handler) directing in line with dog. Handler uses arm to teach dog to look at the toy and add a verbal cue – other trainers didn’t start the FF game like you did so I rolled with that. She’s still not allowed to get the toy until I say get it.>Right – but how it can be confusing when using the placed toy in “don’t just run to it” contexts is:
– there is a control position being cued in tug-sit-tug and in the forward focus game if is starts in a sit. Those, plus toy races, also *always* result in the dog going directly ot the toy once she starts moving. So it makes sense that her brain directs her to the toy when she is moving and looking at it.>Game 3- wing vs toy ( also started with seminars ) toy in front of wing where they would normally grab it after the wrap. Hand in collar and as close to wing as needed. Cue either get it for the toy OR the wing wrap. So basically a verbal discrimination. These games started early on and she thought they were dumb so maybe there’s still some of that and I did put it away until she was ready but she’s done well. >
If she thought it was dumb, possibly too much failure early on, so there is frustration built in? Or before her verbal cues/markers were strong enough, so it was frustrating? That is why I start with the very simple moving the toy around the cone (stealth self-control folding it in) and by living with the 2 failure rule.
>So yes she seems to think getting a toy on line is the answer but should be only on permission.>
I think it falls into the category of “what I think I have trained versus what I have actually trained” LOL!! And all of what you decribe as having permission begins with more control of the motion, and doesn’t have you running. Your motion is permission to get what is on the line, which is why slowing down your motion and getting the connection going will be super helpful.
T
