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Hi!
>. I may use tequila for Bazinga! hahahaha
With her speed, I suggest strong coffee or espresso LOL!!!
>>I feel like your feedback about looking at the dog & not the line and using magnet hands (no flailing) are 2 huge holes I’ve had in my handling. I am committed to working on this and improving!>>
I think all of us instructor types spent a few years (2013 – 2017, approx) telling folks to look at the line and ‘draw’ the line with our hands. OOPS! Turns out that was not quite right and didn’t help the handlers. Sorry! So that is probably where you heard it and learned it. As we got better at figuring out what the dogs needed, turns out direct eye contact to the dog as we move is best, and low arms is best too especially for smaller dogs. Motion and experience helps the dogs figure us out when we do it wrong, but puppies demand very clear connection 🙂
>>I’ve been watching your videos to see how you accomplish this & how do you keep your bearings on the course while watching the dog? You are brilliant at it.>>
Thanks for the kind words! It has improved thanks to lots and lots of practice – the more I look downwards at the dogs, the more my field of peripheral vision is expanded so I can actually see the obstacles on course better. And my good behavior gets rewarded when the dogs run well! And my 10 year old dog used to punish my bad behavior of disconnection or flailing by trying to bite me LOL!!
>>We worked on set point. I moved the MM further away and it increased the difficulty of the stay. >>
Yes, the MM has a lot of value and the getting low to it was very exciting for her! I wonder, since the MM has a lot of value, if she doesn’t need you to get lower to it anymore?
>>Do you think I should do some less challenging setups with the MM closer (even if it is not the best position for her jumping) to be sure she is successful? >>
She was pretty darned successful here! Try the MM in the same spot, with you standing up when you release her – release then click the MM. See if that helps her both hold the stay and have the good jumping form.
her jumping is looking good! I want to try the set point 6 inches smaller and see if that is the sweet spot – you can also have her a few inches closer to the first jump, about 3 inches away. It might not make any difference but we can play around and see if she can be more centered in the gap between the 2 jumps.
>>We had a few false breaks. I said the “no” word in this session & died inside. Bad human. I don’t want to do that again. 🙁>>
I watched for that and was expecting to hear some big bad momma voice coming out… you were very polite when you said no! You marked the break very quickly and very nicely (on the 2nd one, she re-sat herself, it was kind of hilarious). So you can mark it as long as you are as sweet about it as you were here.
>>I think her form looked good when she jumped. The rug was moving beneath her when she pushed off, so I’m going to remove that for our next session. Maybe I’ll keep the one in the center so I can do some “catches” and she can find the treat. That did not seem to give her an issue.>>
Agree! her form is organized and powerful! And yes, I don’t think she needs the rug anymore. She is doing great!
>>Our wheels came and I tried them out but it didn’t speed Bazinga up. I think I can’t move them fast enough to mimic a toy. Is it ok if the MM is just moving in general or does it need to be a chase? I let her get used to the moving MM and tried 2 reps from jump 1 to see how it looks & there is a short clip below.>>
It looks fabulous! We don’t need to speed her up or have her chase it – we just need to keep her head down (she is already VERY fast in the grid). So, you can use the rolling MM and now start rolling it before the release so it is moving the whole time. You might need to show her that on the flat first, with her in a stay while you beginning rolling the MM, then releasing to it.
Great job! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning!
>.We were at the Vet this week and she weighed all of 6.9 pounds. Woohoo!
Almost 7 pounds! Getting big!!!
>>Then yesterday I noticed she’s in full Heat, her first cycle. Is there anything we should do differently training-wise with her being in heat?>>
Generally no, we can continue training but she will let you know. Most girls are their normal selves while in season, but some do get weird and hormonal. If that happens, we give them a break (usually a week during the middle or last week of the cycle). I bet she remains normal 🙂
>> She sometimes jumps up to try and get her toy, before we start a rep etc. I’ve got it in my hand for ease of delivery, HR or favorite tug. If it’s in my pocket I can’t get it out in time to reward. The only thing I know to do is give her a treat for Not taking it.
I don’t want her to keep jumping up to take her toy. Do you have any suggestions?>>So during the ‘in-between’ moments she is jumping up for the toy? Yes, we can totally work on that. One thing you can do is tug with her as she is entering a session, or between reps – and tug her to the start position, trade for a treat, line up, and go into the next rep. That does mean quicker transitions, so you will need to be ready to go as soon as the toy comes out of her mouth. As part of the reset, I often toss the cookie away from the pup to go get, which buys me precious seconds to get ready for the next rep – when the pup comes back after getting the treat, I can either line her up or start the next rep (depending on the skill).
If you are throwing the reward and it is not a tuggable reward (like the dumbbell that she likes or a ball) then you can trade for a tug toy and then reset as described above.
Another suggestion is a ‘station’ like a dog bed or cot or cato board for her to wait on before you start or send to between reps, so you can get ready then call her into the session.
I think part of it is that she doesn’t like to be touched to line up, and it is in that collar-holding moment that we can get ready without her jumping up for the toy. She has several classmates here who also don’t like to be touched! So on my to-do list for today or tomorrow is to put together 2 things:
– getting the pups to like being held/touched more
– alternate line up games so you can make those transitions without the pups jumping up to grab toys or bite mommas 🙂>>For the Wind game, I used the HR and gave her kibble to leave it, just like you said. And outside of one blip, she got the idea and was able to leave it and work the game. Yay!>>
SUPER!!!!!
>>So, I’ve noticed it’s when she’s SUPER high, super stimulated, super aroused, that’s when she grabs for the toy and sometimes gets my hand. After a series of games, reps we just played fetch with her orange dumbbell. Then I asked for a simple behavior like right and she WENT for the toy, getting my hand. She’s so high she’s just grabbing at anything? Dogs don’t really get defiant do they?>>
Correct, they do NOT get defiant. They DO get aroused and stimulated, plus she is a full-on adolescent which means the executive decision-making part of the brain is not fully formed and gets overruled by the impulsive part of the brain most of the time 🙂 TOTALLY normal. Annoying? Sure! But normal. And grabbing at things is a sign of over-arousal, perhaps some frustration (because she wants to start NOW and do the things NOW and doesn’t know instantly how to get the toy).
So if you played fetch for a high value toy, you are doing something that is very stimulating! And when you asked for a behavior in that level of arousal, the science tells us that it is highly likely that she did not understand the cue even if she has done it plenty of times (google “state dependent memory” if you want to go down the rabbit hole LOL!) And so the arousal + frustration of either not understanding the cue or not understanding the context = grabbing at the toy, and accidentally getting some flesh too (ouch!)
>>Should I end our sessions by bringing her down with a Licky Mat? I’ve always used a fun game of fetch, just plain to give them some Non-thinking fun.>>
The fetch is definitely fun and requires no mental heavy-lifting! But it seems to really stimulate her, so yes – try ending sessions with a licky mat or a snuffle mat or a bunch of treats scattered in the grass. Then observe which of these seems to best help her chill out after training.
Keep me posted!
Tracy
Hi!
>> But now I can see that it is a question! She is looking to me to figure out what is next vs. knowing what is next & just continuing on. INTERESTING!!!!>>
Yes, it is the most counterintuitive thing about agility: if we look at the dog while we move, the dog looks at the line. If we look at the line, the dog looks at us. I am sure it has something to do with how it lines up our shoulders.
>>She did not want to trade for food. What? Yes. Would not trade for food.>>
Wow, Bazinga Bunny Chaser! Love it! That will be a great type of toy to bring to UKI rials for NFC runs when she is ready!
>>Now my challenge is to work on a cooperative “out” because when I try & snatch the toy from her, she jumps after it so high and I don’t want her to get hurt.>>
Yikes, yes, definitely keep the toy low so she doesn’t mush herself. She will figure it out – to get the toy back, she has to let go of the toy 🙂
Looking a the tunnel exit video:
I am loving her commitment and speed speed speed!!!Think of the two of you giving cues to each other: you cue something like the tunnel, and keep cuing it and moving to it until she cues you that she’s got it and you can move to the next thing. She will cue you by looking at and stepping towards the line you want.
On the first rep she didn’t have a chance to cue you to leave because you left before she could look at the tunnel. Compare to the reset/send on the next rep – you supported a lot better and so she went to the tunnel perfectly. 🙂 So be patient and let her give you the thumbs up that she sees the line before you move to the next one.
To Go exits looked really good at the beginning! She had a couple of questions when you revisited them a about 1:00 because you were looking ahead of her and throwing later, so she looked at you.
Definitely try to look at her at the exit of each tunnel even when you are behind her (look at her butt haha) and that will really support the line.
For the left and right exits, you can call the cue a little sooner (about 3 or 4 feet before she goes into the tunnel) and also change the volume – make it more conversational so it sounds very different than the big loud GO cues.
>>I tried to control my arms on the soft turns (left & right) but I still had them high. >>
Yes, and when the arm is high and you are ahead, it is breaking connection so she can’t necessarily see the line. If you are close enough to the wing, she is getting it but at :34 and 1:17 when she exited the tunnel, your back was to her and you were turning away a little, so she did not go to the wing. That is still rewardable, either with the toy or by continuing, because bloopers like that are all handler errors 🙂
Better connection on the next reps helped her, but I think we can ge your arms even lower. Think of it as magnet fingers pointing down to her nose on the exit of each tunnel, and I think she is ready for you to do this:
I think you did this with Frankie? Or am I making that up in my head? LOL!
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
Tracy
Hi!
I can totally relate to the feeling of having to much to do while training you dogs. It can be overwhelming! Trying to keep up with concepts is the way to go and far more important than keeping up with all of the individual games 🙂About the collar hold – yes we should work on it 🙂 using it as part of agility training is nice, but it is more useful as a general life skill to have when he is stimulated.
And it is pretty normal to see pups that don’t want to be touched when in high arousal, especially if there is a medical history that required being touched when in pain.
When he was a wee pup, do you remember playing forward focus and toy race games with him? That was when you’d hold him, put a toy down, then immediately let him get it… and then gradually extend the amount of time you held him, and the distance you threw the toy.
If you recall those games… how did he do with being held?
If he was fine with the quick holds, you can start by revisiting that and then we build from there.
If he was wiggly about that, 2 suggestions:
Reverse the order of festivities with the toy races game (using a toy or the manners minder): he is in a sit, place the toy, and we begin to systematically shape the collar hold by slicing the behavior really thin:
– move your hand towards him
– put one finger on his neck or side, but not actually holding him
– put a finger on his collar
And so on.The 2nd suggestion is to use a simple, non-restrictive body harness, maybe even with a small tab line on it. This might be a blank slate approach and he might find it less intrusive?
Let me know what you think!
TracyHello!
Ah yes, the moving target gets the jumping work significantly better! Yay!!! I agree, moving the toy before the release is the next step. Just be sure that his front feet are a little closer to the first bar (maybe 3 inches away) because on the last rep, you were dragging the toy before the release but he was a tiny bit too far from the jump, so he did a little front-foot-tap before the first jump.
Click/treat to you for training a great stay to make the moving target so much easier!
Question – was he looking a the toy when you released him, or at you? Ideally, he looks at the toy so you might need to release as soon as the toy hits the ground.
We can’t do jumping work on jumps every day (too much for baby pups!) but you CAN work this concept on the flat every day, by just doing the moving target pre-game on the flat: starting from a stay, you drag the toy about 15 feet ahead of him, then release him to drive to it. This doesn’t need jumps to continue working the head-down, rounded form we are liking – then it will appear on jumps when you do jumps once or twice a week.
The Wind In Your Hair game is looking good! Yes, we want him to drive ahead but part of the cue is acceleration from you – so now that the wing is pretty far away, you can add running. As he wraps, stay by the wing and wait for him to finish the wrap… then start running and saying GO GO GO like you did here, and connecting and throwing the ball when he looks ahead (only 10,000 things to do LOL!!). That way he drives ahead of you while you are running – using that whippet speed!
>>I tried using a ball instead of a tug because he will go after the ball and not take a victory lap. Let me know if you think a ball will make him hop too much.>>
I think the ball worked well and you were throwing it nice and early, so he wasn’t looking back and he was not being hoppy over the bar. Yay! Yes, he was a little hoppy when he arrived at the ball but that is fine 🙂
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
This was a really good session – she gives excellent feedback about your timing!The GO cues were consistently on time and really clear (nice and LOUD! Plus plenty of acceleration). SUPER!!!
The turn cues were harder for her – you can totally give them sooner (and nice and quiet, as compared to the big loud GO GO GO). Try to start them when she is about 6 feet away from entering the tunnel.
But more importantly, I think her questions were about the physical cues on the turns.
For the “turn” exits (left turns) she did really really well when you had clearly begun your physical turn before she was in, like at 2:04 – so nice!!! You got your ‘turn’ verbal going just before she entered on that rep too. I think you can do both the physical and verbal cues one stride sooner!
In general her ‘turn’ reps (left turns) were better – not because she is a lefty, necessarily, but because your cues were clearer and sooner.The swing cues for the right turn on the exit of the tunnel – that was harder for her indeed!! Like the turn cues, her question was based on the physical cues as well. On the first part of the video (the first session), you were decelerated as she was wrapping the wing, then you accelerated as you said “turn”, so she went straight.
You started fixing that in the 2nd session on the video – definitely getting the cues in sooner. She had her best right turns when you stepped backwards like at 1:46 and at the end. What I think will help more is if you accelerate out of the wing wrap so as she exits the wrap before the tunnel, she will see you decelerate and make the turn to the wing… all while she is about 6 feet away from entering the tunnel. That should get the swing turns as tight as you were getting the left turns. Placing the toy got the turn, but it creates the behavior even if the handling doesn’t – so when the toy wasn’t there, she was correctly reading the handling.
Nice job here!!! Let me know what you think!
Tracy
Hi!
He did really well here, and he seems to be understanding the concept that he needs to process cues in order to determine if it is the wing or the tunnel (rather than just go to the tunnel :))He was very successful here, and he was reading it off the physical cues. That is fine for a first session, especially because you were using post turns for both the tunnel and wrap physical cues, so the cues were different but similar enough that he had to differentiate.
And he is also definitely listening: at
1:01 you started with “tun” then switched to the check so he was confused and looked back at you: “which is it, human?” LOL! You can reset with a treat there because he made a really good effort to sort it out.Now, the next step is to make it on verbals only 🙂 The way to do that is to hold his collar so you can say the verbal 3 or 4 times before he moves… then you let go of him so he starts to move. This allows the verbal to really pop out (without the collar hold, he is moving with your motion and ever-so-subtly waiting to see what you do). With the collar hold, you can get the verbal into his ears, then let him start moving before you move.
If he needs you to move to support the verbal, that is fine to start with. Then it is easy enough to fade out your motion so he does it all on a verbal.Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
>>How do I continue to make progress on games from week one while the week 2 and beyond gets posted.
The games generally build on each other, so think of it more as concept building over the weeks, and less as trying to get each game perfect. He will learn the concepts that transfer to all the different games, even if you don’t get to play each game more than once or twice. And if you skip something, no worries, we will come to it again in a later game.
>>Do you want to see some if the fixes I try to implement or do I just live in and continue to work things on the side (so to speak). >>
Because time is limited and we can’t over-train the pups, you can either implement the fixes with a re-visit of the game, or by adding them to the next game (depending on how much time you have :)) So for the wing-tunnel games, for example, we want to get him looking at the line more and at the momma less by changing the placement of reinforcement. You can do that with another round of smiley face games, or in the next game with handling (like the tunnel exit games). It is more about training behavior that will work on any sequence than it is training specific sequences.
If it helps put things in perspective, when I filmed the demos, I believe my youngsters only saw each game once or twice, I didn’t have the time to do multiple sessions of the games. And they were able to transfer the concept forward to the next game.
>>Do I keep moving g my tunnel from smile to straight and ba k to work this stuff? It concentrate on one set of games at a time.>>
You can keep things spicy by switching the games up – more fun for the pup and gives a broader foundation.
>>Can I set up the pill bug with other stuff or is using agility equipment the best?>>Anything that is big enough to run around is great, like a bunch of wings in a circle. You can also use trees and stuff like that 🙂
>>Do you suggest to work up to advanced levels over the course of the upcoming weeks?>>
Yes, there is a lot to play with – you can start with the baby level and see how he does. If he says it is fine and easy, you can go to the advanced level in the same session or in the next session. If it is hard, you can stick to the baby level for a bit and revisit the advanced level later on.
Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning!
I think the set point is looking great – her form is really strong and she is holding her stay even with the lead out and dragging toy. YAY!!!
Her form is better when she is a line closer to jump 1, in terms of getting balanced between the 2 jumps. At 2:03 and 3:26, she was a few inches too far away so she landed a little shorter/closer to the first jump which causes her to be shorter/closer to the 2nd jump too on landing. So, stick with the closer set up point (3 inches approx) and it will be perfect!Next step for this is to take it outdoors. There are 2 reasons for this:
– to get her jumping on a different surface, which is pretty important and changes mechanics
– to get her ready for the next grids which will be a little too big to do indoors 🙂Great job!
Tracy
Hi!
This went SUPER well! She is SO SPICY here at the beginning! So much to say! LOL!!!
>>There’s no time for me to say Tunnel more than once and get out the directional, just not what I normally do.>>
You might get a chuckle out of this… you were actually too early on a lot of the reps, which is probably why you were feeling rushed 🙂 You were tending to start the turn cue when she exited the wrap, which is a bit too soon and probably why it felt rushed. You don’t need to start it til she is closer to the tunnel (4 or 5 feet before the entry at the earliest) which should give you time to say tunnel a couple of times then switch to the directional. Feel free to put a cone out to the side or a line on the ground, to mark the spot where you need to start the directional.
On the videos:
Video 1 – She is reading this really well! You are a little early with your left verbal on the tunnel on the first rep, and had better timing on rep 2. One thing to be thinking about: the forward verbals like TUNNEL and GO can be loud, and then you can be softer with your left verbal (and other turn cues) to help her process the difference using volume and pitch, not jus the actual word.
Video 2:
The turn verbal was a bit too early on rep 1 here 🙂
O the wrap after the tunnel, to get better commitment as you move away, you can shift your connection: look at the landing spot behind you as you move away from her (not at her). You will find that the initial training of countermotion is helped when we look behind us as we move forward.2nd rep – better timing of the turn cue! She was closer to the tunnel but not in it yet. You held position at the 2nd wing longer to get the wrap there, but you can leave at the same time as the first rep and shift your connection behind you to the landing spot.
Video 3: wow, after getting such nice turns, you had great timing with the GO and got straight lines on the exits. This is excellent!
And GO is very stimulating so she might need a quick victory lap to the pool after each rep LOL!
2nd rep – your verbals were good but your physical cue turned and left her before she had a chance to finish coming around the wing so she (correctly) followed the line of your motion. That is rewardable.
Compare to the last rep where you supported the line to the tunnel til she looked at it and then had good timing of the GO verbal too!
>>I didn’t realize until your last critiques how much she looks to me for eye contact and direction. Since I’m prone to running into wings etc>>
Yes, connection is key to handling, especially with pups! I bet your older dogs rely on connection a lot too, but with their experience it is probably much easier for them to see a bit of it and know what to do With Mochi, she doesn’t have the experience to pull information from, so she needs the full connection for now.
>>Trying to look at her nose, such a cute nose
keep my arms/hands low and shoulder open to her.>>That little nose is SO CUTE!!! I thought your connection was GREAT! The only spot to change what you were doing with connection was on the countermotion moment on the 1st run of the 2nd video.
Great job here!!!
TracyHi!
This pill bug game is harder than it looks! And you both did a great job. And yes, starting on a wing wrap instead of a cookie throw is great – she seemed to understand the assignment at the very beginning when she took off to run around the tunnel instead of wrapping the wing LOL!! Smartie!
The connection to keep her on the side you want is challenging with such a little dog – it worked best when you had your arm down and pointing at her nose, like at
1:38 – 1:43 and on the reps after that. On the reps before it, when you were doing regular running, she didn’t see the connection as well so had a question about which side to be on. When you had your shoulder back to her, she had zero questions (something happened at the end of the last rep, not sure what it was, but it seemed like she read you well there too!)You can experiment and see if it is easier to get this great connection like you did here, or by locking your elbow with your arm extended back and down to her nose. There is a time and place for both in agility handling!
The only thing to adjust here is. To call her name less, maybe just once or twice at the beginning of each rep – too much name call might get her looking up at you.
>>I’ll need to figure out the connection and path at the same time. One of my instructors taught me how to spot points to know where to go and when to turn, but now those spot points may be behind me.>>
The lower you look, the more you can see! Looking downwards to her will expand your peripheral vision. And, spotting the points works great – now you can use points behind you to spot when you are connecting back to her.
You can play with the more advanced levels of this – feel free to use wings or barrels to replace a 2nd tunnel 🙂
Great job on all of these!! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
He is doing really well here! It is super fun to start running baby dogs on this stuff because it tells us how much or how little we need to help them.
Turns out, Chip doesn’t need a whole lot of help 🙂 Yay! And when you help too much, you either get in his way or you over-help him and that causes questions. When you let him fly and trust him? Perfection!!!
1st rep – Very nice! You pretty much trusted him and cued the lines and moved to the next one, so he had no questions. Only one detail – try not to transfer the toy from hand to hand as you do the FCs, it delays you from finishing the rotation. You can leave the toy in the same hand, or have it in a pocket so you don’t switch it around.
2nd run –
>>I’m probably handling him too closely, so he a$$ passed me – lol.There was a little of that here (handling too close), at :15 where you walked into the FC on the tunnel, and ended up on the wrong line so he had to go around you and he vocally gave you some feedback LOL! The dude has opinions! LOL!! On the other reps where you cued him to the tunnel and left for the next line? No questions from him and no verbal feedback from him 🙂
On the ass-pass moment at :22 and later on at 1:02, 2 things happened to accidentally cue it:
– As you were exiting the FC, you were moving laterally to the other side of the tunnel, kind of backing up a bit, so he read that as the line you wanted.
– And the connection can be clearer as you exit the FC (keep it very direct but keep moving forward), so it took him a moment to process the connection. When he processed that and you moved forward instead of laterally/backwards, he realized which line you wanted and went to it, good boy! (ending up behind you to do so)
Compare those moments to the wrap on the other wing at :57 – you sent him to it, rotated, connected immediately, and moved forward, so he had no questions and did not ass pass LOL!
The rep at :57 was more like adult-dog handling, and he rose to the occasion. Yay! The ass pass reps looked like you were trying to help him more than he needed, so you ended up over-helping him.
When you added the racetracks and left/right turns, I think you were over helping by getting all the way to the wing to push him around it, then using the ‘right’ verbal then ‘here’, because the here pulled him between the wings.
You didn’t use the ‘here’ on the next rep (left turns) and he was great! You can use more of a parallel path for him, running parallel to the line to the wing so he can see the whole wing – with your connection and a parallel line, I bet he finds the wings easily!
Overall, your connections were really strong and your arms are low – both of those are HUGELY helpful so keep up the good work with that! And you were getting all of those verbals out too – lovely!!!
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
Wow, he is doing so well! Yay!!! Lovely commitment from him, he is driving the lines really well and turning beautifully. And your connection looks terrific!!!!
You can start giving all the cues sooner – for example, you can be giving the wrap cue (or left/right) as he is exiting the tunnel so he drives directly to the wing and doesn’t look at you at all. For example, at :13 your ‘check check’ was pretty timely (as he was exiting the tunnel) so he drove pretty directly to the wing, versus the ‘cap cap’ at :17 which was late (he was almost at the wing) so he did a little zig zag into you before going to the wing.
His race tracks for the left & right turns looks great!
Nice spin timing at :21, you were decelerating as he was passing you and rotating before he got to the wing. Nice! Keep the verbals going – he seems very verbal and when you get quiet, he looks at you (like at the exit of the spin, he hesitated until you said tunnel).
The 2nd run went well too! I think you were running out of steam from all the running, you were getting quiet and decelerating 🙂 But he is reading motion really well and his commitment looks great!
The only wide turns were on the exits of the tunnel, because the info was a little late (after he was in the tunnel). I added a tunnel exits game this week, so you can totally work on that and add it into the other games 🙂
Great job here!
TracyHi!
On this video with the racetracks, I felt you were in that sweet spot of being connected and moving along the lines, so he committed beautifully! Yay! And his wraps and tunnel commitments look strong too (his only question is a little zig zag to the tunnel at :31 when you were not as well-connected and you didn’t say tunnel, so he was waiting for more information and curled in a little.I will bug you soon to add more directionals on the wings (wrap verbals and soft turn verbals) but that is a lower priority for now than the placement markers to get his eyes more on the line. The markers can be thrown in anywhere you see him looking forward, no need to wait til the end of a sequence. You can surprise him with a reinforcement for looking forward to any element of the sequence, which should help build up the looking forward behavior 🙂
Great job on all of these! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
On these race tracks, I feel like you are having MUCH better connection, almost too much because it is causing you to not move as much so he was not sure if he should stay on the line the you moved away (like at :10)You had the toy here and he was definitely aware of it and watching your hand – so we can use this simple game as a framework to teach him the fine art of looking at the toy does not get the toy – looking at the line gets the toy. So when he looks at the line, you can toss the toy forward on the line to both mark and reinforce the looking ahead. Using a ‘get it’ marker or any marker which means “reward is out ahead” will help, and also when you do reward from hands in other games, using a “reward from hand” marker will help clarify where to look.
For example, I train alone so I do all of the reward throwing 🙂 I figure you are in a similar situation! I emphasized the ‘get it’ marker for thrown toys, and I tried to consistently use a “bite” marker which means ‘come get the toy in my hand’. This clarification really helped my herdy dogs know where to look so they end up looking at the line a lot better and at my hands/face a whole lot less.
His commitment is looking really strong, so we can totally use this game as a framework to add markers for the reinforcement placement and getting looking at where he want him to be looking. And then you can add verbal directionals too!
Nice work!
Tracy
