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One way to think of it is:
– chatter, talk, praise, make silly noises during play and reward moments.
– information-only to start each rep and during ‘work’ (information includes cues and markers)And a breath and eye contact between the two!
T
Hi! The clicker or verbal click are generally fine for the first session… then we can get rid of it for the next sessions and replace with placement markers 🙂
T
Good morning!
>>Gemma is 15 weeks today and has really grown. 17.8 lbs at the Vet today and about 16″ tall!!!!>>
She is definitely growing fast! And still soooooo cute 🙂
>>We’ve been practicing and are in weeks 3 and 4. I just can’t seem to get video posted. >>
Totally relatable!! Finding time to practice is easier than posting videos LOL! All of these are looking really lovely 🙂
First video:
She did well with the position changes, responding well! One thing to look at when doing this is getting her into proper form – she was movnig into thedifferent positions, but losing form by keeping her left a bit rolled out so that was affecting her form. It is pretty normal at this age 🙂 but for now, get the position changes on a stable surface so you can get the tight sit (all of her feets lined up properly under her) and also the tight down. That allows you to help he rrehearse proper form as she grows, and then you can add it back to the fitbone later on.Backing up is going really well!! Super! Yes – you can totally add a bit more distance – partially because she is ready for it, and partially because she has grown and is a bit scrunched up in that small space LOL! So you can inch yourself away frm the Cato board a bit, and you can also change up what she is stepping back to: a low plank, a big balance disc (under-inflated) and eventually a wobble board too!
The blind cross-then-decel game is also looking good! Only one suggestion: start the blind as soon as she starts moving towards you – that was when she was able to changes side easily (like at :46, that was perfection!) When you were a little late or not far enough ahead, she had a harder time finding the new side. The decel all looked lovely!
>>I couldn’t get her to chase a toy. She very much prefers food at this point. >>
I think there was a lot of food here so she was in food mode when the toy came out at the end. So, since we want to maintain and build up the toy play, two ideas for you:
– start each session with toy play, before she sees the prop or barrel or anything else you will be shaping with. This might mean play with the toy before she even sees the food rewards (and also be sure to play with toys throughout the day, separately from training and particularly :)) That will help bring the toy play into the training more, and also will accomplish our goals in terms of arousal management and state-dependent memory (both of which help her produce the trained behaviors even when – and especially when – she is more stimulated).
– you can do some sessions entirely with toys, no food at all. It looks like the turn and burn session was entirely toy based and that is great! You can do the handling combos with the barrel entirely with toys and that will also help bring the toy into training.
Turn and burn is looking good – I think the main root of her distraction was that she is a righty not a lefty (at least she was that day :)) Note how she kept offering going to the right even though you were trying to get her to go left. And on the first couple of offers, you called her back to go to her left and she couldn’t… so she checked out a bit.
At 1:30-ish she offered going to her right and you rewarded it then changed the rest of the session to be right turns… BOOM! No more distractions. YAY!!!! So for the next session outside, start with her right turns (on your left) and then after a few successful reps, change sides and see if she can do left turns. 🙂 And on the right turn side, you can start doing the FC and moving away sooner and sooner.
>>his is the only toy she’s been willing to chase. It’s actually a leash so I really don’t like it to for tugging due to the snap flinging around.>>
Yay for the tugging but also yes, it is important that she doesn’t end up with the snap hitting her or in her mouth. I have used duct tap over the metal parts of the leash that my pup loved. The new toys will help, and you can tie a bunch of them together (or to this leash) so it is as exciting as it was here.
Tunnel shaping is going well! She wants to look at you when she exits, (you have some fun things in your hands here :)) so you can pre-load the bowl and send her through the tunnel to it. That way she doesn’t look for you to put the cookie i nthe bowl. And the 2nd bowl will totally help you go back and forth really nicely!
This is another game that can be toy-only too. Will she chase that frisbee/ flying squirrel you were holding? You can hold her collar in front of the tunnel, toss the frisbee to the exit, then let go. Ideally she runs through the tunnel to get it 🙂 The toy sessions will be shorter because she will tire out faster, but that is fine because the toy brings more excitement and also brings toys into the training, in a context you are likely to use the toys in too!
Strike a pose is looking great too! Since she did so well with the game itself (touching the target then going to the toy), I think this is a great game to bring toy play into the same session as eating a cookie. At 1:11, you gave her a treat for letting go of the toy and then she was great about going back to the toy play. She was very engaged with the toy here!
Ideally, we would start her with a cookie toss so she is further away and on different angles, so she can drive to your hand to set up the in-then-out turn. You can use your cookie towel that you used in the blind cross/collection video: toss a boring treat to the towel so she moves away from you. Then you can do the target-to-toy that you did here! The cookie towel might be very exciing for her so you might need to be even more exciting with the toy (dragging in even more :)) That way we add the skill of cookie-then-toy-then-cookie into her toolbox while training something fun and useful for the future.
Great job on all of these! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi – another great session!
Since I was thinking about toys – she was great about running to the toy here! You can start the session with play before you put the toy down – that will get even more engagement right at the beginning.
Great job with the toy play after she got to it, then the transition into the line up at your side. Try to talk to her less during that process (less praise) so that your verbals can indicate the start of the rep. I think she doesn’t always know when to start! So quiet or a soft “ready”, followed by your wrap verbal and your arm and leg stepping to the barrel should be clearer for her.
The other thing that will make it clearer is to stop feeding her after the line up treat, kind of what you did at 1:10 – she got a treat for lining up and for NOT chasing the toy when you tossed it, then you sent with the verbal and she was perfect.
>>I’m not sure we’re ready to try transfer of Rotated Sends. I think we may need more of the work separately with our prop and barrel work. ??>>
You totally can try the rotated sends on the barrel work! Use the easier barrel and slight rotations, and see how it goes.
>> Yet in this vid, I can see about 35 sec she actually turns herself into my leg which to me is progress>>
That was GREAT! Yay! So now the next step would be to feed her for the line up and slide you hand towards her collar (but don’t really touch her yet) and then send. And if she is fine with that, you can slide yur hand towards her collar and put your flat palm on her neck (no real pressure or holding, just gentle touch). And we can build it up from there.
>.I’ve been thinking about my other dogs on the start line, none of them, not even my superstar, want me touching them, moving them around, placing them on the start line. They all like a swing start the best and are more motivated and run faster when we use it.>>
Most dogs don’t want to be touched on the start line. Some dogs will tolerate it (like the Border Collies who are “placed” in the stay by the handler – they don’t like it but they put up with it). So the ultimate goal with Mochi would be to have a happy-making line up that leads to a stay and lead out. Between your feet? At your side? Totally depends and we have tons of time to sort it out. But none of it needs to involve touching her – it can all be cued and fun!
>>BTW. We saw the Vet yesterday. Mochi’s still puking but not near as often. Vet thinks she’s fine and will grow out of it. Or perhaps if I stop driving like Mario Andretti in my van 🤪>>
I am glad the vet says it is all good! Is she only puking in the car now?
>>Also. I don’t have an agility ladder. Should I put something together that works like. Ladder for her?>>
Do you have cavalettis or thin weave poles? You can use those – maybe tape down some thin weave poles so she can trot over them (taped down so they don’t roll around under her feet).
Great job on these! Everything is looking really good!!
TracyHi!
Looking at the running contacts games: also going really well!
1st session with the box went well – she immediately figured out how that you wanted her to offer getting in the box. The 3rd video was also the box and she did great with it too. You can work to flipping it over so she has to hop into it, but that will be better out on the grass so she has a lot of grip and won’t slip.
Same with the mat – you put it down, she offered getting on it. Perfect! On this 2nd video and 4th video, she did well when you rewarded for moving across the mat. Super nice!
>> I know she shouldn’t be looking up at me. I think my timing is off?>>
It is the yip marker that you are using before the get it – the ‘yip’ is drawing her up to your face because of the higher pitch and also because it doesn’t imply location of the reinforcement. So she looks at you and then goes and gets the treat when you say ‘get it’ and toss it. So take the ‘yip’ out and just use the get it. And when running contact training starts for real, we will have a reward target (like a Manners Minder) so she won’t look at you.
For the next sessions, add a little more arousal and excitement with some toy play before the session! And you can add walking back a forth a bit too.
Nice work 🙂
TracyHi!
This also went really well!!!>>Also, she’d never seen the second barrel before.>>
Yes, she needed to figure it out and get some reward for the new thing, but she figured it out. I think that turning left might also be her harder side, so maybe put the easier barrel on the left turns and the new barrel on the right turns, which seem like her easier side
>>At 1:44 I lost her for a moment. There are French doors there. I don’t think I’d ever had the blinds open and she saw someone drive up.
That was fine, she came right back and finished strong 🙂
One suggestion about the transition into each send: Try to give her a bit more of a quiet moment, then a “ready ready” and look at her and stand still before you start each rep. You were praising and moving and then suddenly sending her, so she was surprised to see the cue. So praise as you deliver the cookie, then get quiet and still for a heartbeat, look at her, says something like “ready, ready…” then send.
Try one more session just like this and then we can decide which variables to add next! She is doing great!
The other thing to add here is to use toys more – I think too many food sessions become problematic because she gets full and also because food sessions are not that exciting 🙂 So you can do the rocking horses with toys only, or a low level treat to get her into the line up position.
T
Hi!
Parallel path is looking really great! She only had one miss but I think that was in the aftermath of extended chewing so she kind of missed the start of the rep. The rest was great! You can try adding a little more distance, and also using a toy as the reward.>>Perhaps we can get outside and get more space, although the distractions will increase.>>
Yes – but if you are moving more and using a toy more, it will help reduce distractions. Just don’t add distance yet if you go outside because we don’t want to change too many variables.
Strike a pose video:
The seat you used for the serp was great!! Clever! And I think it worked really well – she was able to get the serp from all the angles, even the hard ones. Showing her the treat (and using a bigger treat) before the toss seemed to really help her track it and find it (and when you did not do it when you got greedy, it was harder to find LOL!).
>>Perhaps I can sit now or get even higher?>>
Try it standing! And lean over with your target hand – but remember that we don’t really care if she actually touches the target, we mainly want the in and out behavior.
Great job!
TracyHi!
>>, we did some Parallel Path and Rotated Sends. He was anxious to start without me both times
He was great! It was like he was saying “I GOT THIS MOM LET’S GOOOOO!!!” He was on fire!
Parallel path commitment looks great. At this stage, only one suggestion: move faster and throw even sooner (OK, that is 2 suggestions). The reason I suggest it is because he was (correctly) reading your position/lack of motion as decel, so he was turning and for this game, we want straight line. So feel free to jog and to throw the reward as soon as he looks at and takes one step to the jump. And definitely take this outside with a toy or lotus ball! FUN!
The rotated sends are looking really strong too. You can add your wrap verbal(s) and you can also start adding more countermotion by sloooowwwwllllly walking forward as he is arriving at the barrel.
I think he is also ready for the rocking horses added this week (2 barrels). So you might want to get 2 pop up laundry baskets and see how it goes!
Great job 🙂
TracyGood morning!
Lots of good work here!!
Leg bumps are going well! She was a little more engaged when you used the toy with the other people around ,so that is good!!! She was not as coordinated with the toy, but that is fine – the coordination will come with more experience and the engagement is the most important part. You can enlist one of the other people there to sit alongside you, so she has 4 legs to bounce across in a line!
Backing up – this was harder for her. I think the board might be on too much of an angle for her right now and also maybe not stable enough. It looks like she was comfortable with interacting with it but not backing up onto it and she was actually avoiding backing up onto it a little. Getting on it forward, sitting on it, doing a 2o2o…. All good! But I think she needs less angle and more stability to feel very comfy offering hind end work. So a lower plank that is completely stable will work, or a dog bed that she can step back onto will work too.
Running contacts – very nice start here!! You definitely had good value building for the box! And she was a good girl to ignore the people distractions too!
Next steps on this one: no more clicker 🙂 because the clicker gets her looking up at you and watching the reinforcement. You can switch to using a ‘get it’ marker, so she doesn’t look at you as much and looks directly forward for the cookie.
You can also delay that marker now, letting her get back feet in the box before you say ‘get it’ and toss the treat. In order to get the timing of the back foot marker, I just stare at the box so. I can see the feet rather than watch the pup (which makes it harder to see the feet).
Strike a pose:
The hand target is a bit too high for her especially at the beginning, which is why she had trouble going directly to it (she had to jump up to touch it). So two options to help her:
– you can lean the target hand down more (closer to what you were doing when it was in your left hand – the lower the hand got, the better the hits got by the end of the session)– you can be sitting on something so you don’t have to lean over as much 🙂
You can also keep the cookie hand behind your back for now, to help minimize the cookie distraction and really enhance the target hand.
Parallel path is going well! Nice job transferring the concept!!
For the next session, 3 ideas to advance things even more:
– I suggest using wings on the jump, so it is a bigger visual for her to ‘find’.– With this game, you can also replace the clicker with your ‘get it’ cue (you were using search – is that for one cookie or multiple cookies? Use whichever marker means one cookie)
– you can now change the timing a bit: mark the instant she looks at the jump and takes her first step towards it, so that the cookie lands out ahead of the jump before she looks back at you (this is marking the intent to go to the jump, not the actual arrival at the jump)
Since this is going so well, you can also add a little bit of lateral distance!
Ladder 1: Yes, this was hard! She wants to go fast it is too hard to go fast and still get into the ladder here.
When luring, the luring hand needs to be lower – the higher head changes her gait. You can also change the approach to the ladder – instead of straight down and back, which is hard, you can have her go across the center. So if the ladder is on a clock face and the first run is 12 and the last run is 6… you can have her go across the center on the 3 to 9 axis. That way she can sort out her feet and not have to do the whole thing. This will be especially useful when you turn the ladder over.2nd video:
>>Ladder session 2 – only 1 day later and so much better!>>
Latent learning for the win! Yay!
And your lure hand was lower too at the beginning, which really helped her keep her head lower. Your hand started to get high, so be sure to bend over and have a low hand if you are luring – her chin should be ever so slightly pointed down to the ground and not lifted up.She had a little trouble when you turned it over – so now you can do that 3 – 9 axis across the center and no need to lure it. You can reward the back and forth like you did at the end. Doing it on the 3-9 axis will be easier because she doesn’t have to maintain the coordination for quite as long.
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning!
These handling combos are all about handler mechanics and timing 🙂 and above all else – play 🙂
Looking at the first video – she did great with her disc! Yay! A couple of changes in mechanics will make it all feel smoother:
– before tossing the disc behind you, line her up fully facing the wing so you don’t have to move her by the collar or physically turn her body. I don’t think she is a huge fan of that, so it will feel smoother for you both if she is already lined up at your side (you can tug her to position or use a cookie), then you can use the other hand to toss the disc. Then after the disc lands, you can let go of her collar and step to the wing to start the rep.
>>, but she was not really interested in getting it before me. >>
I think she was trying to get there first, but when she had a clear line to it, it took a moment to pick it up because it was flat. And sometimes you were blocking it so she couldn’t quite get to it – she had to go wide around you to get a path to it but by then you were already at the disc. So think about running straight past it and not straight to it, so she can have a clear path to get it.
Also, set a timer on these sessions for about 90 seconds – there is a lot of running for the pups especially when there is tugging involved and she was fried by about the 2 minute mark (note how long her tongue was at the end!) So try to be finished before she is finished, so she can maintain the high energy and not leave the session before you. There is a LOT going on with the puppies, mentally and physically, so even 2.5 minutes can be too much.
On the 2nd video, she was very happy to run to the food too! I think the food target was also her disc, which was a bit confusing as to where she should look or what to do – so a food bowl or flat target that is not a toy will clarify that for her.
>>in the beginning I was dragging her away from the food and in retrospect I should have probably lured her away with the food I think.>>
Yes, the food lure would work better because it is more comfy for her and also allows for a bit of agency: she can follow the food lure, or leave the lure to get the cookie on the ground 🙂 It helps build in some self-control even with the lure!
>>I also decided to try the decel and turn, but noticed that I was not moving prior to the “decel” so this did not look right either. >>
The decel is a timing challenge for the handler: as she is exiting the wrap, you can already be showing the decel cues: slowing down and showing her the hand to drive her to you.
Also, since this is a handling game: assume all errors are handler errors – resist the temptation to mark them as wrong and always reward her for her effort, even if it appears to be an imperfect response.
For example, at :51 based on your motion and where you were facing, she was correct to go straight to the target so that was rewardable.
At 1:14, the decel cue was a little late and she responded as soon as she could process it… but didn’t get rewarded.
And that culminated in her going straight to the target at 1:23 because of the confusion of the previous reps. So even if she is wide or ends up someplace you didn’t intend, tell her she is a good girl and reward as if she was 100% correct (because she probably was reading the handling correctly 🙂 ).
And if things continue to be different that what you planned, you can end with a reward and watch the video – that always gives us great info especially about timing.
By the end, it was so much smoother because you were earlier, which allowed her to see and respond to the decel cues even better 🙂
Video 3 – This is going well! You can start the BC element of it sooner – as soon as she was exiting the wing. I think you were waiting for her to almost get to you, which made the timing a little later than she needed.
Even if you are late, carry on as if it was totally correct so she gets rewarded for her responses (marking yourself as late can often delay the reinforcement and confuses the pup – “what is mom saying there??”)Video 4 –
>>I can feel when I do not decel well enough >>
Yes, on this one you can slow down earlier, timing it as soon as she exits the wing so that she sees it nice and early.
Using less forward motion will really help as you move away from the wing, because then you won’t end up right over the food target (she was not sure if she should turn with you, or look at the target when you were decelerating on top of it). You can do that by sending to the wing from a step or two further from it and taking only one fast step – so that way you are fully stopped and connected with her when she exits the wing. That can give her the info early enough to process it into a nice, tight turn 🙂
>>I wish I could have a coach on my shoulder giving me a blow by blow commentary so that each additional run would improve with the constant reminders.>>
One thing you can do to help nail the timing is mark spots on the floor with a tiny piece of tape or a cone off to the side: you can mark where you will send from and where she needs to be for you to decelerate (like a piece of tape just past the exit of the wing). The visual markers will help get the rhythm of the timing and then it will be easier to make adjustments. And if needed, you can take a video review break and look at the rep – freeze the moment when she is at one of your markers and see what your handling was telling her?
And of course, reward all the efforts 🙂 99% of the time she is simply correct per the information. Sometimes she might actually not be fully correct, but that is rare LOL! And even in those situations, a reinforcement for lining up to try again will help keep her working at a high rate of reinforcement 🙂
One other reason to reward all.the.things in handling: we humans mess up our handling at all levels of the sport LOL! So building in reinforcement for putting up with us and our lateness is GREAT for resilience for the pups (I actually teach my dogs what to do in the ring when I mess up my handling, so they don’t get frustrated with me haha!!). So no worries if your handling is a work in progress – we all have to re-learn handling with each new pup, no matter how good we are with our current adult dogs 🙂 And during that re-learning process, the pups are learning too! That is why we pump them full of play and reinforcement 🙂 and we cut ourselves some slack as we learn how to handle each new pup 🙂
Nice work here! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning!
I love running contact training too, even when it drives me crazy LOL!!!
>>Unlike some running contact trainers I do not require a split rear foot as the ultimate goal. For my dogs that I’ve tried that with it was always less clear to them IMO than just front feet on.>>
I think the split rear foot criteria is very useful for certain builds of dog – and structure is the one thing we cannot change through training LOL! So my more angulated that can get lower as they move do really well with the split rear feet. But my dogs that are straighter in the front or have really long forelimbs (whippety dogs!) do a whole lot better with front foot hits. Schnauzers are bit more along the lines of the whippety dogs in that respect so the front foot hit makes sense.
>>Maybe it’s not as fast but I think I get more reliability and that’s my goal vs. speed.
And as long as it is clear to the dog, it is PLENTY fast 🙂 It is the understanding that gets speed – not simply flinging themselves across the DW and hoping for the best LOL!
The session is going well here! A couple of ideas for the next steps:
– no more clicker 🙂 He is building in hitting the mat AND looking at you because the clicker naturally draws his focus to you, and then he has to watch your hands to see where the reward will be. That was also contributing to backing up if you were a little late (because he was looking at you, rather than moving forward to the reward placement). So, no need to use the clicker, you can replace it with a ‘get it’ marker. That marker will both be less likely to get him to look at you, and also tells him specifically where to look for the reward.
– attach his mat to something so it is a little elevated, maybe an inch or two off the ground (just be sure it doesn’t slide around). That will continue to solidify the understanding because he will have to do more to hit the mat (stepping up onto it).
And you can totally build in changing your position: sitting on the floor, in a chair, on a couch, standing, walking back and forth, etc.
Great job! Let me know how the next session goes!
TracyGood morning!
Great session here! Nice job “activating” the new toy here just as he got to the toy you tossed! You can see the retrieve starting to really percolate! Bearing in mind that it might take a while to percolate, you should take this exact same low-pressure, super-fun approach to any time you toss a toy (have a 2nd toy available to activate as part of the strategy to build up the retrieve). Eventually you will be able to trade for food but I am not sure how balanced his interests are in food versus toy right now.
>>Pesto has a very bad recall at the moment.>>
For the recall, especially now with adolescence approaching: build in a ton of random name recalls throughout the day, with cookies. You can have cups of treats placed around the house (up high so no one else grabs it) so you can randomly reinforce response to his name. And you can also call him and run to another room, to reinforce name response and chasing you 🙂 In more distracting areas, you can use a light long line so you can prevent any skedaddling away while giving him lots of reinforcement for head turns and moving towards you.
Great job! See you in class tonight!
TracyHi!
He is doing well with this too! I really like how quickly he is offering the sit, and looks pretty darned happy to be doing it 🙂 And good job to you for starting the game wherever he sat, even if it was not where you might have wanted him facing.>>I feel like I get a better and more engaged stay with a toy.
I agree, and also you want to do toy OR food (not both) in this game so he knows what to focus on. When you started with the toy but then used a food reward on the first rep, he was a little surprised. The other reps were all toys and those were smoother for sure!
>>If he breaks given we don’t want him to be wrong, what is the best way to handle it in the moment?>>
You can handle it happily bringing him back to the start spot and trying again, with the understanding that you need to ask for less distance and duration on the next reps. I think you were trying to get too many steps away here, so he broke once and he moved when your arm moved on another rep. You can take more of a ping pong approach: sometimes release/reward after 1 step, sometimes after 3 steps, then 2 steps, then 4 steps, then reward immediately, then 5 steps, then 2 steps, etc. That will help prevent anticipation errors and also gradually make things harder (rather than all at once).
Great job!
Tracy
