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Good morning!
>Motion. YES—She is continual motion always at all times. We did platform when she was wee and she waited well, outgrew the platforms and seemed to get really frustrated with waiting.>>
Time for a bigger platform 🙂 that can be used in training loops. That can make the waiting element fun because it predicts reinforcement and predicts action. One issue with constant motion is that it can be self-stimulating for high arousal. The other issue is that is causes us humans to rush so our mechanics get sloppy…which is frustrating for the dog, and frustration builds higher arousal. So to break that cycle, using a platform in a training loop will help: she waits on the platfom (standing on it is fine, doesn’t have to be a sit or down), you get into your start position for whatever skill. you release her to you to the start position. You start the rep, reward her, then send to the platform (rward again) and do the next loop. The platform can be added to the start position, or off ot the side, depending what the skill is. And tons of reinforcement for being on the platform will help too!
>>She does not wait well in an open crate, but sends herself to any crate frequently.
It seems like she likes crates! So you can play old school Susan Garrett-style crate games too, to work the waiting in the crate too. Those can be super fun! A high rate of reinforcement helps build up that skill as well.
>> have held her collar before rights and lefts. Holdback like that brings her up more of course.
Does she amp up when your hand goes on her collar, or when you use opposition reflex? I don’t use a lot of opposition reflex with collar grabs, so you can just put your fingers under her collar, hold it gently, and then let her do the left or right after you have said the verbal a few times. It should be almost boring 🙂
If she amps up with just your hand on her collar in the presence of “work”, you can play a resilience game of collar grab then treat scatter for her to sniff a bunch of treats out of the grass or a snuffle mat. That (the sniffing) practices the self-regulation and bounce back from higher arousal (from the collar hold).
Let me know what you think and how she does!
TracyHi!
>>One funny thing is that your Max Pup Music is now a trigger. He knows it means something is coming. Cracks me up.>>
Ha! I have heard this before from other pup owners LOL! The MaxPup music changes with each class level, so you will be able to have new tunes to listen too LOL!
Looking at the first part when the barrels were someone close together:
The rocking horses are going well! He is balancing speed with turning – not slipping, not smashing the barrels, not grabbing for the toy. You were connected and cuing clearly – it looked really good!This is the stage where I would add the wrap verbals – less handler motion means it is easier for both of you to process the verbals.
And for the race tracks, you can send and leave sooner, so you are not right at the barrel turning with him.
I think on some of the more complex reps here, you were making it up as you did it (meaning, deciding which handling to do in the heat of the moment) so your cues were a little late. Give yourself a walk through before you do the rep with him, so your plan is at your fingertips.
When you spread the barrels apart…. holy cow that was a massive leap in distance between 1:12 and 1:15! The distance went from 2 strides to about 5 or 6 strides – It was a bit too much, and there were errors. His commitment is strong so we don’t want him to start looking at you too much because the barrels are much further apart. Move the barrels apart more incrementally so that there is only a stride added at a time. That will maintain the flow and accuracy (the speed is already there so I am not worried about speed :)) That will also help you maintain your connection and spit out the verbals because you won’t have to run as much all of a sudden LOL!
>>I kind of feel like both of us are being pretty careful and feeling each other out for lack of a better way of describing it. Is that right for where we are at or should I start adding more excitement/running? >>
I don’t think you were being careful, I think you were being clear (especially when the barrels were closer). He was lovely when you did that – smooth, correct, fast, and not really touching the barrels. Yay! You don’t need more excitement – that is his job LOL! And he is already very speedy so we don’t need to ask for more – we just need to help him understand what we would like him to do 🙂
>>I want to make sure he is having fun.
He seemed to be having a great time, and he got lots of rewards. I didn’t see anything in his behavior or body language that indicated he was stressed or sad or frustrated – he seemed happy!
>> I’m wondering about the balance of us (meaning me 😉 ) getting it together (not rushing things) while also letting him feel the “wind in his hair” and enjoy it. Not sure if what I described makes sense?>>
Totally makes sense! This game is about turning, so there is a bit of wind in the hair in the race tracks and he was great. He is not frantic at all, from what I can see. Because he is not acting frantic, maybe it feels like he is not having fun? But frantic is not fun – he was fast and accurate, and definitely engaged, so I think he was feeling the wind in his hair and having fun 🙂 The straight line games like the recalls and toy races have more good wind in the hair moments too.
Nice work! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
The recall is going well too!!
Remember to run around the holder – you were sometimes running around her, sometimes doing the old school agility recall which is not as exciting 🙂 One big thing on these: let him ‘run through’ the toy. What I mean by that is as he reaches the toy and grabs it, you let go so he has it and you are not holding it. That will eliminate the high speed torque on his neck and spine (you can see t at :22). Then when he has it, you turn and run the other way, for him to bring back to you for more playing. So it works the recall AND the retrieve 🙂 and is much safer on their bodies. I know that a lot of people in agility AND flyball still “catch” their dogs on the toys that way, but running through the toy and not getting yanked is much better for their bodies (and easier for us humans).You had another dog walking around while he was doing his recalls, and he was 1000% focused on you. SUPER! So when he is the helper/distraction dog, you can be playing the pattern game to help him not get too excited about the motion of the other dog. Food is easier to play the game with, but might not be that interested in that context – so you can play it with 2 toys 🙂 The pattern game while watching other dogs run is a great foundtion for waiting outside the ring at an agility trial!
Great job!
TracyGood morning!
>> I noticed in the video the tape wore off of his tags. I’ve retaped them but didn’t notice while we were at Suzie’s.>>
I noticed it too LOL!! Yes, taping them is one less thing for the adolescent brain to have to process.
He did well here! The bending is looking generally good (see below abou the spacing) and your reward placement is good too. My only suggestion is to hold his collar more consistently to start the verbals, so he hear them first then starts to move. You started doing it more on the 2nd part of the session, but he was not sure if he should move immediately (like in the first part) or wait til released. So the more consistently you hold his collar to say the verbal a few times, the less he will try to pull your arm out to start 🙂
>> I’m wondering if I should keep them at the same spacing until he gets his footwork consistent between each section/direction. Not sure how much that matters?>>
It matters for now – keep the spacing the same and no need to spread the wings apart yet. He was having some trouble with the footwork for the 3rd bump/bar in each direction, losing balance a little and having to sort out strides. So you can keep the wings together for now, we don’t really need to spread them out at all any time soon 🙂 and that way he can sort out his foot work. You can also try it with food rewards so he doesn’t try to go quite as fast yet.
Great job!
TracyThis is the rocking horse clip:
Ah yes, I see more of the constant motion from her here – all action all the time, starting the reps before you are ready, and not offering being stationary (what would she do if you asked her to stop moving? Would she get frustrated/aroused? How does she do with her stays?) As a side note: does she have an off switch in the house, when she is not training?Stopping for the treat seems fine, she does it, but she keeps moving right after it. I think adding in the cato board or some type of platform for her to wait on will really help – ‘waiting’ then becomes a fun bit of ‘work’ so she doesn’t want to stay in constant motion. That will also give you a moment to reset your mechanics, which makes things smoother too!
Being able to teach her some stillness is actually going to hugely help arousal as well! Let me know if she has any platform training underway (or waiting in a crate with the door open) because that will make things smoother for both of you!
As you add more to this give, you can do the spins/blinds sooner (start them as she is arriving at the barrel). That will allow you to have more time to show her the connection, like at :29 for example: it looked like a spin because there was a blind but the blind needs to start just as she arrives at the barrel so she can see the connection on the next side before she exits. There was another right at the very end, but the video cut off before she exited the barrel.
Nice work! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
>> I’m not always such a low energy mom
The energy here was correct for this particular game 🙂
She turned left and right really nicely! You can stretch out the verbal (lehhhft lehhhft instead of leftleftleftleft for example) so help her differentiate it from wrap verbals. Nice reward placement too!
One thing I notice is that she seemed to want to stay in continuous motion between the reps – is that something you notice in training? Ideally, for this game – you start with her stationary at your side, with your hand on her collar, say the verbals, then let go so she can start. Will she allow a collar touch in this situation? You could split it and shape it, with the reward being the action: your hand moves towards the collar, then send her through the setup. Eventually, you put a finger on the collar, then send her through the setup (my guess is action is more reinforcing than a cookie in this context).
And to get the standing still and lining up, you can use a platform like a Cato plank or something so she can get on it or stay on it after the reward, so you can reset and then cue the next rep. The cato plank or board can be in the starting position so she gets rewarded for the minny pinny then you cue her to get back on the plank then you reward that. Let me know if that makes sense!
Nice work here!
TracyHi! It is good to see the videos!
short clip of backing up here – she did well! One suggestion is to toss the treat low and towards her front feet, to get her head a little lower and to get even more distance/more steps on the backing up.Onwards to the next ones!
TracyHi!
>>Technology and I are not close friends, or maybe I’m not following the rules.
My guess is that it is technology, because there are not that many rules here LOL!
>> Finally I can almost hook to her collar without a dropped treat or licky mat. She’s good at “get dressed” so we can get into an over large collar or her Brilliant k9 but attaching the harness is hit and miss. >>
Have you tried shaping her to put her own head through a big martingale, so you don’t have to wrestle or potentially be mouthed or muzzle punched? The martingale is not the best for control but it is certainly easier to shape her to put herself into it so you can walk her a bit.
>She is still way over aroused when the toy is there, still avoids bringing or yielding toys and I don’t have a workable plan for overcoming this yet.
Will she trade for another toy or treat scatter?
Also, once the foundation resilience games are in place, I recommend playing the resilience games with the toy as a distraction. The toy can be in the room, up high on a counter, not used…. just simply having the toy in the picture while the resilience games (pattern game in particular) help her deal with the arousal.
And of course, the overarousal struggle can be physiological, meaning the training alone can’t help her completely. Many dogs do amazingly well with behavioral help in the form of pharmaceutical intervention, to get the ball rolling 🙂 It is something that I would not hesitate to do with my own dogs. Plus, the collar/leash/harness issues might be a form of resource guarding (dogs can resource guard their own bodies) so behavioral help can certainly make big progress there too.
>>But know this class has helped me tame my own demons a bit and my puppy is having a blast.
Yay! And definitely prioritize the resilience games, as they will be the biggest factor in dealing with the arousal issues.
Tracy
Hi!
This is going well too, with a couple of reps in each direction. Very nice! She is sorting out her footwork but I do think having the bars a little closer together will be easier. Julie (hi Julie!) gave great advice to lengthen the verbals because that will help Snap differentiate the left/right turns from the wraps or GO lines.
My only other suggestion is to hold her collar so you can say the verbals before letting her start moving 🙂
And since this is going so well, you can add in some countermotion, in the turn-and-burn style: when she is going around the minny pinny, you can do a FC and start walking the other direction (just like yu did on the barrel with the turn and burn game). This will challenge her to maintain her commitment even while you are moving the other way.
Great job on these!!
TracyOne rep here to the left, she was a good girl ignoring distractions! It is hard but she was good to come back and finish the left turns 🙂
T
Hi!
This had several reps, they were really strong!! She does well to her right but I think you will find the bouncing is more powerful if you shorten up the distance between bars (see above). The verbals sounded good – one thing to add is gently holding her collar, saying the verbals a couple of times… then letting her start moving. That will help solidify the verbals as a cue.Onwards to the next video below 🙂
TracyHi!
She is doing well on these! This video is just one rep – one thing I see on this rep (and on the next video too) is that this setup is challening for her footwork! She was all like “WHERE DO MY FEET GO AND HOW CAN I STILL GO FAST” haha 🙂 So you can help her out by shortening the spaces between the bars, so she can bounce the distances rather than try to stride the distances. So the bars will be more like 3 feet apart from center-to-center so she can bounce more.
Tracy
Hi!
Backside wraps: he did well on these in terms of commitment, but he did have a couple of questions that I think will be easy to answer:
>>a consequence I think of me setting him up incorrectly.>>
Yes, I think the start of each rep was not as clear as it could have been, so he was not able to respond as quickly. Try to line him up in a clear, consistent start position for each rep. You were doing something different on each rep and starting each rep before either of you were in the right spot 🙂 I suggest holding his collar, making sure you in the right spot relative to the barrel (so he can see the whole barrel), start saying the verbal cue (and don’t say “go” before it 🙂 ) and then let him go. When he starts to move, then you can start to move as well.
At :59 for example, he was wide with a question, but it was caused by mechanics – he was looking at you, you were looking at the barrel, you were blocking his line to the barrel (which pushes him wider because you are on the tight line), so he was not sure where to be then you started moving… he got it but we can make it smoother by letting him see the whole barrel for a moment, hearing the verbal, then starting the rep.
You can also make it more predictable by starting in the same spot on the same side of the barrel each time in the session – the reps started in different places a lot, so he had to figure it out anew each time. If you start in the same spot, he can focus on his mechanics and not have to focus on your mechanics as much 🙂
Perch work – he was all about the sit on this one, the sit has a LOT of value 🙂 so you can start each session by rewarding anything other than a sit: if he sits, throw the cookie to the side so he doesn’t not get rewarded in the sit position. You won’t want to withhold the reward if he is quick and sits, but you can make the sit inefficient for him (response cost) but tossing the cookie off to the side if he sits.
He was moving his hind end a bit when you moved (yay!) but he definitely was thinking about the sit 🙂 I think the ‘return to center’ approach will actually be easier for him – you can sit in a chair, tossing treats to the side so he gets on the perch, pivots back to center, and then you toss the treat to the other side. This will also lower your hands a bit which might help him not want to sit by lowering his head position. The higher head position with you standing was tilting his weight back to his rear (which makes the sit easy to do). And a lower heigh position (with his chin parallel to the ground will tilt his weight forward a bit more, making the sit less easy to do.
I think the ‘return to center’ approach will actually be easier for him – you can sit in a chair (which lowers your hands a bit)
On the minny pinny – he definitely seems to understand the setup! Yay! So now you can solidify and attach the verbals even more: start by holding his collar here too, saying the verbal and then letting go so we can attach the verbals. So basically anything with verbals attached (the left/right, the backside wraps, etc) so start with a clear line up where you hold him, then stay the verbals, then let him move. Hearing the verbals first will help establish them as cues (otherwise they become too much “blah blah blah” if the pup is already moving LOL!)
And remember to reward with him sliding across in front of you, between the wings and you so he ends the minny pinny with the additional turn (and he won’t lose the cookie in the grass because you can reward from your hand).
No need to expand the wings any further, but what you can add is a bit of countermotion – turn-and-burn style! As you send him through the pinny n one direction, you do a front cross and start walking the other direction to challenge him to complete his commitment while you are going the other way 🙂Great job! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning!
The rear cross session is going well, you were able to get in lots of good reps on a really hard skill!! One suggestion:
Have him wear a collar so you can hold him while you throw the cookie – then when it lands, he can lock onto it, you can let go and both of you can move to your spot for the RC. Doing this without a collar is like holding a greased watermelon LOL! And that makes the start awkward, so a collar will help things be smoother for sure.Perch work – shaping getting up on the perch to build value for front feet on it was the main thing happening here at the beginning, and once he got that going, things were much easier. He was moving around it nicely but his head was a little high because you are tall and he is not tall LOL! So when you are standing and moving around, try to bend over so his chin is parallel to the ground. If his head is too high, he will end up shifting weight into his rear which makes it hard to pivot around.
The other option that I think will work with him is to have you in a chair and do the ‘return to center’ version of this, where the rewards are thrown off to the side. Being in the chair will keep his head lower and also he seemed to already be offering the return to center so I think it will be easy for him.Cone wraps:
>>Was he turning the right way on the sends? I felt like I was sorta doing some awkward version of a FC instead of how nice and smooth yours looked>>
Yes, he was correct! It is basically the 2nd half of the FC. On the first rep I think you wanted him to turn the wrong way but he was like “no momma, I got this!” LOL!
The right turns were very easy for him! Left turns are harder, so keep being patient about not moving away too quickly. Great job dropping the reward right at the cone exit at :30, that really helped him solidify the understanding of the left turns!
I think he has reached the stage where this cone is too short, he can basically get his head over the top of it. Time to switch to a big barrel! And also be sure to add in toys so he gets lots of toy play in these games too 🙂
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
Tracy
