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Hi!
>>She was way stickier than usual for whatever reason. >>
Terrific! Could be that the ‘out’ was being associated with having to work again (which is a leading contributor to toy-out-stickyness :)) or could be that she is entering adolescence and physiological arousal shifts make the out harder, or could be anything LOL!! But practicing extra outs-for-treats was 10000% correct to do.
>>I’ll look at the advanced rocking horse now and try it with her after work:)>>
Perfect! And have a great Christmas!
Tracy
This is a great update too! It is really unusual that a puppy can go to new places and play games/produce behaviors the same as she can at home… unusual in a GREAT way. I am really excited to hear it! Is she able to play with toys? Eat treats?
Great job 🙂
TracyHi!
So you were using the Christmas tree as the weirdness gauntlet? Brilliant! Too bad there is no video but it is GREAT that she investigated it and went about her day 🙂 That is exactly what we want!! And hopefully she is getting great Christmas presents!!Tracy
Hi!
Poor Djinn, I hope her belly feels better! And yes, it is very smart to work toy-based sessions til she is feeling back to 100%. And we can tweak most of the games to be toy-based games 🙂
For the backing up – she is definitely showing value for the mat!! The sitting is working well. One suggestion – don’t reward her from your hand 🙂 She is smart enough to back up just far enough so you can deliver the cookie to her mouth (and she won’t offer backing up further, based on the reward placement). So, when she backs up, either toss or place the cookie between her front feet and onto the mat. You might have to lean forward more, but that should help her back up even more because it becomes more about the destination (the mat) and less about watching the cookie hand 🙂
Tug practice – ah, sooooo much better for you both!!! She is getting a better grip on it, and your hands are safe! You can tie two toys together so you can get the same play without bending over as much. I recommend flyball toys, which are long and exciting 🙂
>>She still likes to pounce/chase/pin more than she does a full on tug but she obviously loves the toy>>
It is fun to see her play style!!! There is a place named TugAwayCuWin (or something like that) which makes super long toys that are enticing and also flatter, so the small dogs can really grab them. I will go find them and grab the link.
For the parallel path – try throwing the toy as the reward 🙂 That will help get her eyes off you and onto the line. You can move the prop to the center of the room (so it is more visually obvious to her) and then as she is heading to it, you can say “get it” and throw the reward for her to chase. I think she will like that!!!
>>Djinn got really worked up after this session and had a hard time calming down again – panting and pacing around her playpen. I gave her a bully stick and she finally settled down and chewed. My takeaway is have something ready for her to chew after a session especially if she seems amped up>>
Great job with the bully stick! Pups usually need some type of decompression after a high arousal training session, so the bully stick is a great choice. When her tummy is better, you can also use a treat scatter in the grass or a snuffle mat. Another option that is better for her tummy is to take her on a sniffy walk in the grass, or let her run around like a nut in the yard. All of those can provide really nice decompression when the she is amped up.
Great job here! Happy holidays!
TracyHi!
I have heard that rabbit poop is delicious! You need to borrow a whippet to chase off the rabbits LOL!
He was tugging really well at the start here! And he committed really well – the more patient you were, the better he committed 🙂 The great outdoors is really distracting, so letting him just about finish the entire wrap was what was working best for him. He was better on the right turn than on the left turns so for the left turns you can be really really lose to the barrel to start (your belly button almost touching it). Then, since he was driving to the barrel really well – you can slap the toy on the ground as he gets to the halfway point and let him chase it the rest of the way around.
Another option is to put an empty food bowl out as a visual aid – it on the exit side of the barrel, so he can see it as he is maybe halfway around). You can still use a toy, but the empty food bowl might be super useful for helping him drive all the way around.
His pattern game looked terrific! I think it looked exactly the same as it did indoors, which is GREAT! The cheese worked perfectly, both in terms of it being high value and super visible. You can let him wear the leash the whole time, to help prepare him (and you!) for having to deal with the leash being on when you are in a new place. And definitely take this game to new places, he is ready for that!
Great job here! Happy holidays!
Tracy
Hi!
>>if I’m not paying attention he gets into constantly jumping on me and then humping me – so I’ve been trying to keep his tugs low and focused on the toy>>
He definitely can use bridges, then – in those in-between moments, you can use a bed or cot, or a snuffle mat, or a treat scatter. And also teach him the pattern game from the resilience track, because we add that into a game that teaches an alternate behavior to jumping/humping for those moments when we disconnect or screw up or the dog is frustrated 🙂
Looking at the video – the dog under the Christmas tree is the cutest thing EVER at the beginning!
West’s parallel path game looks fantastic. He is very happy to drive to the jump! At this point, you can replace the click with your ‘get it’ marker, and mark/throw as soon as you see intent to move to the jump. You can also start right next to him so you can mark/reward him for focus forward and driving ahead to the jump!
If you feel like you have enough room, you can add in jogging and then even running. If your weather is decent, you can take this game outside! If you go outside, start with walking because the environment might changes things. But if he is happy to do it, you can add in your motion there too.
>>Transitioning from prop to jump bump – was trying to get the cookie out before the head turn – felt we were making an arch rather than a straight line, is that ok?>>
Yes, totally ok! And using a ‘get it’ rather than a click will help too, because clicks often get them eyeballing us a little. The get it should help him continue to look straight. But the main goal is to have him go find that jump, and he nailed it!
The first rep of focus forward was great (and also so funny that he drove to the snuffle mat LOL!)
2nd rep – yes, look at the dog as you noted but even if something goes wrong, you can totally pretend it was perfect and engage with him (he was great on that rep) so you don’t get tackled 🙂3rd rep & 4th rep – looking at him was great and note how he never had to look at you! Super! Backing away from him was very inviting to get him to bring the toy back.
Decel game – this is going well! You made a great adjustment: the decel was a little late at first so he shot past you. But then on the reps at 2:03 and 2:09, you decelerated much sooner (basically as soon as he started moving towards you) so he was super tight on the pivot. Lovely! The last reps were great too!
>>I meant to do it without food lure but forgot and had food in opposite hand the 1st couple tries>>
No worries, he was responding beautifully with and without the food lure. Good boy!!!
Great job here! Hope you are enjoying the holiday!
Tracy
Here is your Saturday reminder to use your verbals 🙂
The pattern game from the Resilience track is VERY useful for helping her not be a looky loo 🙂
Have fun!!!!
TracyGood morning!
>>A mix of grilled chicken and ham.
YUMMY!!!
>>So do I just say “get it” and toss a treat right away even if she’s not looking at me? >[
Yep! I show the treat and then say get it. You can start it in the parking lot or just outside the door.
>>What do I do if she ignores the treat?>>
Move back to where she *could* eat – parking lot, doorway, etc. Or use 2 toys!
>>Is there something “wrong” with letting her sniff or do you just want to see if she’s able to fall into the pattern more quickly the next time around? Like assessing her comfort level?>>
It isn’t wrong, necessarily, but it is not realistic in the sports world because you will almost never be able to let her sniff all around the ring before asking for engagement. So we don’t want to have that as part of the process because it won’t be accessible all that often. The pattern games are always accessible and they give us insight into what is going on internally, so I like to get those going early on.
>>On Sunday we will go the a facility she’s never been to. >>
Great! Make sure today is a rest day so she can re-fill her resources. It has been a busy week!
>>I usually allow sniffing at first so she can acclimate and process the space before expecting her to get to work. Do you suggest that I try to start the pattern game immediately?>>
Yes to starting with the pattern game. Sniffing around is not a bad thing but as I mentioned – not always realistic to do, so we can teach her to process the environment in the pattern games framework rather than sniffing her way through it. Processing through pattern games will be a useful skill!
>>And yes, she slept for 4 hours after haha!>>
Good!! Sleep is where the magic happens!
Tracy
Hi!
Great job systematically working through the forward, sideways, and backwards sending on both sides! She was great! And nice work with your connection, markers, and wrap verbals. Yay!!!The only thing I’d add to this more reinforcement for the out – she started to take longer to release the toy, possibly because arousal was increasing, or possibly because she was not getting reinforcement. Either way, a cookie for each release will help maintain the speedy outs 🙂
She looks ready for the advanced level of the rocking horses, where you see rotate sooner and basically send her backwards to each barrel. I bet she nails it and you’ll be able to add more distance too!
Great job here!!
TracyGood morning!
>>Video!!! use of the outside arm – I was re-watching the discussion of the get out game because Ven is struggling with not going to his beloved prop.>>
PERFECT! I had forgotten it so much that it took me 5 minutes to even remember what you were talking about hahahahahaha
>>going through mat – second session but first time with TnT. I think it throws him off when the reinforcement is off my body.>>
I see what you mean! This session was more about getting him to go to the TnT than mat training. The mat part was great! He was targeting it, and you made it really big so it was easy. About the TnT: No worries – at this point, YOU have more value than the TnT and that is a high honor 🤣😁 He loves you more than the treat dispenser! Don’t get used to it LOL my guess is with a few more sessions, he will realize that the TnT is LIFE and he will leave you in the dust. You can increase the value of the treats in it by mixing in a couple of stinky smelling ones that he likes – the TnT is hard to get really high value treats into because it can be so persnickety about dispensing them, but the good smelling ones can rub off on the ones that are in there.
The RC game might have felt awkward but you sorted out the most important part: getting visible on the new side sooner, so when he finished getting the treat he could see where to go. On t he first 2 reps, you were still visible on the front cross side, so he turned the FC direction. At :36, you you started to get far enough up the line so you were easily visible. The first rep that started on your left was particularly perfect! And the rest of the session after that was really good too – you got to the correct side sooner and he got the side change nicely.
Only one suggestion: Use a reset cookie to line him up for each rep – he was a little tentative coming into line up position at your side, so you can use your hand (with a cookie in it at first) to get him to follow it and line up, then take his collar then deliver the cookie. It will be smoother for you both and he will be happy to get the cookie 🙂
Great job here! I am going to find that video right now 🙂
Tracy
Good morning!
>>likes all things that have cookies on them.>>
I can relate, I also like all things that have cookies on them LOL!
He did really well with the ladder! It is often harder for adolescent-aged dogs because they want to rush through it, but he was very god about working each foot and you made sure he didn’t rush by placing the low cookies. Super!
You can add a food bowl at the end, maybe 6 feet past the exit, so he can trot through to a food bowl. The food bowl might be very enticing, so you can start him very close to the end (have him enter from the side) so he works the exit, then back chain back to the beginning so he trots through the full ladder.
Looking at the parallel path: After the first rep, he had a big lightbulb moment! He is a little better on your left than on your right: when he is on your left he looks at the jump and not at you. When he is on your right, he looks at you more than he looks at the jump, which is part of why he missed the jump at the end here.
So if you get a miss, just keep going: turn around and walk back towards the jump (as if he had gotten a reward, but he did not :)) and reward when he gets it on the next rep. You can add distance when he is on your left side sooner than when he is in your right side, so you might have to do a bit of getting closer when he is in your right and moving away when he is on your left.
>>After the video ends he ran off for about 10 seconds,
Did it happen immediately after the miss here? Do you have video of it? How long was the session before it happened? Feel free to post those moments too, as they are as important (or MORE important) than the skill. Often that happens when they are frustrated – but one miss in an otherwise high rate of success session should not be tooooo frustrating. But that is great info about about his current teenage level of frustration tolerance that we want to work through.
On the video, he only had the one miss – if there were other misses before then, you will want to keep your position closer for the rest of the session. Have a 2-Failure rule, where if the dog fails twice, then I don’t make it harder until I have a longer history of success.
If that blooper at the end was his only failure and then he took off, we can add some shaping games to help increase his frustration tolerance for when he does not get rewarded. You were not punishing at all here at the end, you said good boy and it looks like you were reaching for a treat as the video ended. So I am curious to see what happened right after that to help solve the puzzle 🙂
>>I’m wondering what you think I should have done at the end of the video once he ran off. Should I have taken a tug break before giving it another try? >>
I am glad he came back! Was it in response to a recall, or did he decide to come back on his own? Either way, it was good that he came back. You can definitely have taken a tug break to reset both of you, or you can get right back into the flow of it with high value cookies (making it a little easier) if you had an easy time getting back into the flow.
>>Should I have stopped the session and given him a break in the car before moving on to a different game? Once Mason ran off I was was making up my plan on the fly and that didn’t seem to be helpful to him.>>
I call that “Freestyling” LOL! And it is generally fine as long as the dog is getting rewarded. I generally to bring the dog back to engagement and play or do a little something like a few more easy reps, rather than go back to the car. If the dog continues to fail and I can’t make it easier, then I will just play and not try to keep training.
One thing that can be very exciting to him and reduce frustration level is using a toy he loves, like a ball or something. Yes, there will be fewer reps because toy play (and getting the toy back) takes longer, but those reps will be really high quality. You can also go to incredibly high value reinforcement like chicken or something so enticing he works through whatever frustration he might feel because the reward is so motivating.
Nice work here! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning!
Hopefully the cold weather goes away!
It appears that Teagan thought this was the easiest game *ever*. He was perfect! You can add a ‘get it’ marker if you like: say it when he looks back up at you and then toss the treat. You can also start to add your movement back and forth.When the weather clears up a bit, take this outside. You can also. take this to new places, as a way to help him engage in new places too.
Great job!!!
TracyHi!
>>she was super excited thinking people would be inside lol. Then she was a bit confused that it was just us>>
Ha! That cracks me up! LOL!!! She is a social girl!
>>She was a bit hesitant to eat food at first after playing with the toy, but was able to switch with just a little more time.>>
What type of food were you using? You might have to go up in value 🙂 or go to a human-food moist treat of some sort.
She did really well with her toy play and her tunneling!!! It looked super high energy and a lot of fun. She did well with the high energy cookie patterns and was great about going back to the toy after that and chasing you (nice blind in there too!) It sounds like the whole trip was a bit win and it was a great exposure to the environment for her. YAY!!
>>I brought her in on leash in the ring and let her sniff around for about 2 min. >>
Next time, you can bring her in with a pattern game and see how she does without the sniffing first!
>>After, we went for a trail walk with Lazlo and she had a great time!>>
Perfect! Sounds like a nice decompression. And hopefully now she is sleeping LOL!
Great job :) Tracy
Hi! These all look great!!!
Starting with the barrels: super nice commitment! She only had one question, at the beginning:
If she gets stuck on a send, you can draw your hand and foot back in, then re-send in that moment. She did best when you were decelerating a little later so you ended up closer to the barrel. And, she probably needs a bit of a warm up – do a rep or two with you facing pretty straight to the barrels to get things rolling, then you can start to add in the early rotation. I think her question at the very beginning had to do with her needing a quick refresher on the barrels before adding the hard stuff 🙂 And remember to add your wrap verbals, she is ready for them.
>>Re the target mat. I definitely had no ability to send her ahead even when I introduced a pre-loaded bowl. Time to break out the manners minder? >>
Yes, it is Manners Minder time! She doesn’t have a lot of focus to the bowl yet, even with the dish marker – so you can work that separately (just say dish then send her to a dish with a cookie in it, easiest game ever haha!) But the MM should be an easier visual for her, so definitely introduce it separately and see how she feels about it.
>> She randomly through this session (3 times) ran off to kiss her mom on the nose outside the fence and then raced back to work. So maybe a bit too much distraction.>>
Is it normal for her mom to be present/visible during the session? If not, then it was probably too much distraction (but she worked through it). If she is normally there, and Taq left the session – was it after a couple of failures? If so, it could have been a frustration behavior so keep the success rate higher. And her re-engagement did look great!!
>>Conquered our rear cross demons. Of course the answer was I am late… 100% on rears today with more space to cross>>
Yes! The RCs looked terrific, no questions! And your timing was 👍lovely!! The more she sees the rear crosses, the easier the timing will be because she will be able to process the cue even sooner.
Great job with the stays! She was rock solid with NO foot movement. YAY! She looked so serious too LOL!
>>. I was not sure how to handle the mistake. I made it easier but …>>
That was at 2:39, which was also the only rep where you did not stay connected to her as you moved away. On that rep, you walked away with no connection, then looked back at her… and she anticipated it as the release. You were fine to reset her, and then you were connected on the rest of the reps as well. So, keep reminding yourself to stay connected as you lead out. The ‘catch’ and the ‘break’ release both looked lovely!!
Great job here!
TracyHi!
>> I’m realizing I’ve lapsed on re-visiting other basic behaviors like collar grabs and sit….
I thought you were great about recognizing it and immediately adjusting to make it more rewarding for her. Click/treat for you!
>>I know you said the prop is getting phased out in a bit. Is it still serving its purpose if she targets it and goes over (without touching) or near it for what we need?>>
Yes- over it and near it are still good and rewardable! The games have morphed a bit in that the deliberate foot smack is only needed for the tight turn games. The games where she is moving more (like parallel path, rear crosses, get out) will have her generally striding over or near the prop. We transfer it all to the barrels, then wings, then a jump bar 🙂
Tracy
