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Ah yes, he could have sensed your emotions and been concerned about you. That is our boy Border Collies! Girl BCs are different:
Girl BC: MOM GET IT TOGETHER!!!
Boy BC: Mom OMG I love you so much do you need a hug what can I help with do you need a cup of tea or do you want to just snuggle up.So you can totally lean on Sid, he is there for you ā¤ļø He doesn’t care if he does agility right now, he wants to help you feel better.
T
Hi!
>>Thanks for the music analogy. >>
I figured you would totally get it LOL! I almost put in a crack about ādonāt rush like a percussionistā but I restrained myself LOL!!
>>I think I tend to rush the treat delivery because Iām thinking about rewarding quickly and before they get up, as opposed to letting the marker cue due its thing and predict the reward.>>
Totally relatable! I often do the same. And that is part of the reason why we start with the goofy games as framework for markers, to get the mechanics and markers in place so it is easier to train the āfancy stuffā in the future š
The barrel wrapping is good! That was the easiest part of the session. The extra food bowl was great! She was leaping a decent amount here and trash talking before the toy race, so I have an idea for you:
She wants to do The Thing so at the beginning, I think she has trouble controlling her arousal and was leaping up. As soon as she was doing the thing, she was fine! And I am not sure she always considers toy play a part of doing The Thing so sometimes you get the leaping in that transition, until she realizes that yes, you are doing The Thing (whatever The Thing is at the moment LOL!!)
I think she needs a bridge behavior to step up and step downing aorusal level in and out of the games, so she is coming into the session, getting to do a not-too-arousing Thing while you get ready, then can get released right into The Real Thing. Then to switch back to toy play, we bridge her out of the session.
So what is the bridge behavior? I believe you mentioned she is working on stationing or standing on a bed or cot? That might be a great bridge behavior! For example, she comes into the training room, and gets right onto her cot (doing The Thing which also happens to be incompatible with leaping up :)) Then you can get your toys/cookies/etc sorted and release her directly into the session (doing The Next Thing) and reward that for a couple of reps. Then use the bridge behavior as a āstep downā out of the session – when you have done the last rep for the moment, you can send her to her cot/mat/bed and toss a cookie to her. Then release her off of it to do a toy chase or a decompression. Then back to the cot to start the next reps.
Let me know if the bridge concept makes sense, we have been using it successfully for dogs for a while. Works well for humans too, like when I used a bridge behavior (scrolling on TikTok in my driveway) to reduce the arousal of a 3 hour drive home in bad weather before going into the house and being a civilized person LOL! Worked like a charm!!!
She totally started the parallel path beautifully! Because the prop is so small, she wasnāt really touching it (riding over it) and that is fine š The baby jump bar was great!
>>My āget itsā were late.
I think they were good for this first session – they were really saying āYES IT IS THE WEIRD BAR THINGā šš¤£. She got it really easily! Any sooner for the first session might not have been as specific about the bar.
So on the next session, you can mark her intent to go to the jump with the get it. That will probably look like the moment she turns to look at the bar and takes the first step towards it. That should give you time to toss the treat so it lands refer she looks back at you.
>>Should I be using wingless uprights?
I think the wing uprights were great and she did really well!!
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
Tracy
Hi!
>>I have to admit that this is one of the harder skills for me. >>
It is a really hard skill!! There are a bunch of different ways to get the behavior, so I am glad you abandoned the first attempt which he clearly thought was a down cue š
He would shuffle back when you moved your hand towards him. But then he would still do the down šSitting in the chair took away some of the pressure from leaning over, and he was starting to make progress because his head was higher (which is more conducive to backing up and less conducive to the down :)) Yay!
You can split the behavior using the target even more:
Start him with all 4 feet on the mat, with a couple of cookies. Then lure his front feet only off the matā¦ then withdraw the lure. He is likely to step back onto the mat with a front foot or two and you can reward that. That can jumpstart the behavior even more by isolating that it is stepping back onto the mat. When he is doing that consistently, you can lure all 4 of his feet off, then reward for when he steps his back feet onto it.
Great job getting this behavior started! Keep me updated on how he does with it!
Tracy
Hi!
>>We did the decel game again & driving ahead with earlier devel on my part ā worked much better.
Yay! Super!
>>But what happens with this session? I think you are going to say it was too long & I let too many errors happen.>>
I donāt think it was the length of the session – I think he doesnāt like being held by the collar. He tolerated it twice but that was about he could do – then he was getting a little avoidant of it, then communicated it pretty clearly from 2:19 – 2:38: āplease donāt take my collarā. Note all of the avoidance and submissive signaling. Then when you took his collar again, he decided a better form of communication was withdrawing from the session – opting out of going near the tunnel. So while he did bring the toy back, he didnāt really engage with it when you got closer to the tunnel (because getting near the tunnel means you are going to grab his collar). That was pretty clear communication from him! Easier to see on the video than in real time, probably.
So, the main thing is that for now, donāt hold his collar during training of the tunnel or anything. He doesnāt like it enough for it to be helpful, and trying to hold his collar can be stressful for him.
Separately, though, it is a skill worth working on because it is a great life skill! You can work on it at meal time, such as holding his food bowl, putting a finger under his collar, then putting the food bowl down and letting go so he can eat. And you can do it when throwing toys he likes: show the toy, put a finger under his collar, throw the toy, and let go immediately so he can chase it (you can do it with treats too). Bit by bit you can build it up to reaching for him, holding the collar for longer, etc, until he is happier to let you hold the collar in training. And if you see any signs of stress or avoidance, back off so you are moving your hand near his collar and not touching him, if that is where he needs us to start.
Let me know what you think! āØ
TracyHi!
Looking at the tunnel videos – the first rep on each side on the first video was too hard (hard angle and a turn away I pretty complex) so it was smart to break it down and do some regular ones. You can also reward the rep where she went around to the other side of the tunnel because that is not really incorrect LOL!
On the 2nd video, the warm up with a regular send really help as did the placed reward. You can leave the placed reward there for the whole session, no need to change up reward placement – it is the reward placement that helps create the behavior so we donāt want her to start to think about where the reward will be š
>>Should I start using a threadle cue now?>>
I would let her sleep on it for a night or two (real sleep consolidates the learning). Then do a refresher session just like the 2nd video here and see how it goes. If it is all good, then you can add the tunnel threadle verbal.
The rotated sends do look good! Yay! Time to add the wrap verbals to those, and toy rewards so she is driving more (treats are nice but the toy produces the speed :))
The retrieving is also going well! Try not to have the tunnel in the thick of it all there, because we donāt want her NOT taking it but also we donāt want her taking it LOL! And you can use the tunnel for the retrieving – send her through it, throw the toy as the reward, then ask for the retrieve. The retrieve is going really well so you can incorporate it into the training sessions.
Now that there are so many games and they are getting more complex, you can start to set the training up on a rotation. You can play one of the games/train a skill then put it away for 48 hours so her brain can percolate on it, rather than repeat it every day. That way she can cement the learning (latent learning is awesome!) and you can cover a variety of games without doing too many.
Nice work here! Let me know what you think!
TracyWow! Well done here!!!
You were super connected and showed him every single line. The FC 2-3 worked great. I am not sure why he didn’t release immediately off the start line – probably the pole was blocking his view š But then he was a rocket: the FC was followed by a really right turn to 4. The middle line back to the tunnel looked great but most impresive was getting him to the backside to 12 at :33, with the tunnel literally right there! I mean, my dog could do it with the tunnel 15 feet away but I am not sure he could do it with the tunnel 3 feet away like Sid did here. Yay!Great job! Bright things ahead for you and Sid!!!
Tracy
Good morning!
>>Iām not sure I fully understand this part
āā¦.both of those involve movement and a Viszla needs movement as part of arousal regulation (I have never met a V that didnāt need to move as part of arousal regulation). So the reward process on the DW can look different ā or you can release and reward with movement.āTell me more about arousal regulation. Is it like decompression?>>
Arousal regulation is basically built into all of the games we are playing, that ask the dog to center themselves and not get overaroused (with our help :)) It is not operant, it is not a click/treat type of thing š it is training their physiology. All of the A.R.E. Toolbox games are about arousal regulation, using different frameworks to help the dog.
One element of arousal regulation is figuring out the needs of the individual dog. This is individual but also looks at breed characteristics and epigenetics (the way behavior and environment can change genetic expression, cool stuff!). One thing I notice in Vizslas and also in sporting breeds in general is that they need to move as part of their arousal regulation process. Asking them to be stationary is BIG DIFFICULT so for the behaviors that are stationary (start lines, stopped contacts for example) I like to build in motion as part of the reward. So I don’t recommend rewarding in position for her – a thrown reinforcement will be very effective both for the behavior you want and for the arousal regulation element.
So you would mark the correct behavior with a ‘get it’ then throw the reward. Just be sure that you get the actual real behavior (stopping!) and not one foot kinda sorta touching LOL!! Then after the thrown reward, you can reset for the next part of the sequence: do a little decompression moment of a treat scatter or snuffle mat (I carry a tiny one in my pocket sometimes!) then carry on to the sequence š
>>And, itās okay if I ācheatā n these situations to keep her attention? I could toss the Toppl which is highly rewarding to her.>>
I don’t think this is cheating. It sounds like it is highly motivating and easy to throw, which can help overcome the challenges of the environment (external and internal). Using a reinforcement/motivator that she loves will go a long way to helping her regulate arousal and tune out the environment. And since the Toppl might be very exciting, you can use a target on the contacts to help her stop properly so she doesn’t get it wrong. We really don’t want her to be wrong with an agility behavior, because that could really shift her arousal the wrong way when she is working really hard to handle the environment.
Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning!
I hope your mom is doing better!! Sprite has had a big few weeks and has been doing exceptionally well, so some downtime is actually beneficial when life springs other things on you.
I hear that Taq did really well at the dog show! Not surprising at all š And I am glad that Sprite was able to cheer on her friend š I would love to see the photo! You can share it as a URL here or you can PM me on Facebook. I need some cuteness to brighten up this dreary rainy day!
T
Good morning! He is doing really well with all his games – so fun to watch! And he seems to go back and forth between food and toys REALLY well. Yay!!!
On the first video:
Strike a pose is looking great! One small tweak is to hold the target hand out fully extended from your side so it is clearly separate from your leg – that is when he can see it and hit it best.I was going to suggest playing this with the tug as the next step but you did that at the end of the video. Super!
He seemed to have no trouble with the impulse control on the toy. Good boy! To help strengthen the markers, try to stay perfectly still and say ābiteā before the yes and the movement of the toy – the ābiteā marker is coming last right now after the yes word and the movement, so he wonāt be able to pair it as well with what we want it to mean. I find it really hard to stay perfectly still and say the marker, so there is a voice in my head reminding me of that all the time LOL!
Next step on strike a pose: have the toy or an empty food bowl or MM on the ground on the reward side, rather than in your hand.
He is also doing great with the decel and the driving ahead combo game! Because he is already very speedy:
Start your decel sooner, no later than when he is halfway to you. You can start moving away when he is on the way to the start cookie (walking away, if running is too distracting) then as soon as he starts coming towards you, run! That will give you more space and time to decel so he can prepare his mechanics. You were decelerating just before he arrived at you, so you can see him bouncing up a bit as he was trying to dial back the speed into collection. Earlier decel will set him up to turn really tight and smoothly next to you. You can add a toy to this too, throwing it for the go go go at the end of each rep.2nd video:
He is doing well with his stay! This game relies on very clear markers, so remember to say the markers then wait a beat then move the reward – you were perfect at :33-:35 with that, so keep doing the marker – wait – move reward rhythm.The toy makes things more exciting for sure, but that is exactly what we want!!
He broke the first toy stay when the toy moved so be SUPER clear with the mechanics there: stationary toy (for now) say the marker wait a beat then move. The toy moving before the marker might accidentally make the toy movement the release, which we donāt want. So you can definitely add a rhythm for yourself like āCatch – wait – throwā This is what the voice in my head says š
Driving to the tunnel was easy for him! Yay! When adding the tunnel threadle angles, because he has to turn away, start on an easier angle so he can turn away more smoothly (turning away is HARD for baby dogs!)
For all the verbals (tunnel and eventually the tunnel threadle verbal) – you can add them more cleanly too so he knows exactly when to move to the tunnel, and to get him to look at you less (he hit his face on the tunnel at 3:02 trying to watch you move and do the tunnel). You can do this by holding his collar – say the verbal 3 or 4 times, then let go. That way he can focus on the tunnel before he starts to move and the verbals will get added really easily.
The big zoom at the end means he probably needs more decompression mixed into the sessions (like a snuffle mat, or scattering treats around). And you can also use the decompression as a bridge at the end of the session, from higher arousal (like running through the tunnels) to āwe are finished nowā arousal š
Great job on these – he is SO FUN and clever too!
Tracy
Good morning!
>>She was superb at her dog shows. Happy friendly and confident. First time at a dog show, first time out without her crew. So many wonderful good things.>>
Oh, that is so awesome! Happy dance!!! And be sure to give her a day or two of decompression – sniffing around, leash walks, nothing hard, etc. Even though she was perfect, the dog show definitely fired up her internal physiology and that will take a couple of days to settle back down. The body doesnāt really know the different between good stress and bad stress, so we give puppies a couple of recovery days even after good times and big successes š
On the parallel path game: She is finding the natural line really well (and also reading deceleration well too!) She had a couple of misses so to fix that: add more movement. Your movement š You were standing still off to the side in the moments where she had a question (:05 and :15 for example) so she is not really incorrect to drive to you. To help support the parallel line, you can toss the cookie then move all the way down the line to where she is eating, then turn and move up the line again to set the parallel path. That will cue the line to the jump more smoothly.
Wow, she did so well with the barrel wrapping while you used your hand, that it took me a minute to remember that the hand was even a distraction. SUPER!!!! You were adding the wrap verbals on some of the reps, so definitely keep adding them – and you can say them multiple times (turnturnturnturn) to match what she will be hearing on course.
Tunneling is looking good too! For the tunnel threadles, wait longer before moving away to be sure she is fully turned. These are rear crosses so being too quick to move away might pull her off. Do you have a tunnel threadle verbal in mind? I think she is ready to have that added too: ātunnelā can mean to take the tunnel entry on the line, and a different verbal means to come to the other side of the tunnel. I use ākiss kiss kissā.
Rear crosses looked great! Yay! You can add the prop in now, to the spot where you t tossed the treats. You can bridge the session by tossing the treat onto the prop then doing the RC. And if she is happy with that, you can send to the prop rather than toss the treat, then do the rear cross.
Great job here! I am looking forward to the stay video!
Tracy
Good morning!
Good start to the session with cheese on the table, then off to the side, then right in front. She looked at the cheese moving when you put it on the floor, then went back to leg bounce mode. Yay! So it all falls into the category of āThings Are Different Every Day With Puppiesā LOL!!Down and sit with the cheese on the table was a little harder. I am not sure if it was the context of you leaning/crouching for the sit (I havenāt seen enough sit or down with her to be able to recognize a context or pattern) or if she does better with sessions starting before the impulse control element is introduced, then adding it once she gets rolling (like you did her with the leg bumps).
It is possible that processing is too hard at the beginning when the charcuterie is RIGHT THERE (I can relate) but it is fine to be added when she is already doing the thing. This is good to experiment with and track, as it can give us big insight into how she does best in training sessions, which will make things more efficient and reduce any potential errors or frustration!
So the next sit or down session can have the cookie bucket out of the picture and then try adding it once she gets rolling, to test the theory.
Side note: Super adorable when she was gently hitting you with her little feet! So cute!
>>Now it looks like I need to shift back to more rewards for the sit! She had a pretty snappy sit on cue several weeks ago but clearly that needs more attention.>>
Probably just needs a refresher session or two – she has been busy with other things š
>>Do I need more of a pause between marker and the toss? I feel like I pausing as I do it but the video looks like Iām running it together. >>
Yes – try to be perfectly motionless when you say the marker, *then* move your hand to toss it or otherwise deliver it. SO HARD!!! So yes, try to be ācleanā but we can also operationalize what the heck that means LOL!
Since you are musical, think of as having a largo or andante 3/4 or 4/4 time to it, with the marker on 1 and the delivery on 3 – and a silent motionless rest on 2 š We are all guilty of either saying the marker and moving the hand at the same time, or moving the hand *then* saying the marker. That all weakens the marker of course although the dogs learn it eventually because, well, they have us well-trained LOL!!
For example I was doing a demo video yesterday with a marker and a tossed reward, and the voice in my head was saying DO NOT MOVE YOUR HAND UNTIL WELL AFTER THE MARKER. It felt like an eternity but on the video it looks normal and has the pace of a slow waltz.
>>Itās also hard to hear me cue it sometimes so maybe I need to get more deliberate and a bit louder about the whole process.>>
Yes, the verbal on the downbeat can be louder but then donāt forget you have to rest on 2 (no tossing on 2 LOL!)
>>Sheās very boingy in general and it seems to be more frequent recently. (Not just when training. Sheāll bounce off the back of my legs when Iām standing in the kitchen. At first I thought it was a demand for attention but now Iām wondering if her brain is just overheating and she needs a bit of reassurance to reset.>>
The more we learn about young dog development, the more interesting it is! My young dogs all needed to move more during adolescence. Not in a bad way, but just more movement. Sometimes they have all this energy and donāt know what to do with themselves.
>>If I wait a bit and then crouch down and pet her she seems to relax into me and then trot off to go do her own thing with Kaladin or a toy. It may be a fluke but it also seems like she is more likely to grab the toy instead of jumping if I am on the ground and also if I bring her in next to me and touch her more first. >>
I am noticing this too with her, on the videos! She definitely seems to like the being held at the start of a tug transition. It is like a bridge behavior that settles the arousal into a good place. Keep trying it, adding it deliberately as part of the transition but also doing it in the lower arousal moments of everyday life, to keep it āneutralā. If you only do it when she is aroused or about to do something in higher arousal, then it will be associated with increasing arousal and we want it to have more of a centering effect.
It is fun to sort out the specific learning needs of each dog! She is really fun!
>>And sheās definitely in the throes of adolescence. More so than all my previous dogsā¦or maybe Iām just blocking out random behavior at this age with Tari and Kaladin was just more subtle about it. Lift is definitely not subtle! >>
Yep, adolescence can be a wild ride LOL!!! I do recall having conversations about stuff like this with Kaladin, but he was definitely more subtle and his questions were different. With him it was mainly about which reinforcement was best in which situation.
>>Last night I asked her to release from the crate and put her head through a leash loop while I was holding the full dish off to the side and her head exploded. Ran back into the crate and then out again but couldnāt do the behavior. I put the dish on the ground about a foot off her path and no problem. Head into leash loop. Picked up the dish and then she could do the leash loop again.>>
So this is a game she has been successful with repeatedly, then couldnāt do it yesterday, then could do it again with the bowl in a slightly different place? Ah, adolescence. Sounds like the processing parts of her brain were having a busy day, maybe? The more I learn about it, the more I am like āwow that is fascinatingā and less ā OMG I BROKE MY PUPPYā hahaha because the scientists are correct, it all turns out fine if we donāt add pressure š
>>I didnāt try the barrel with the toy since sheās been rather meh about the toy as a reward during a game unless it is the toy races. But Iāll try a left turn around the barrel toy race combo.>>
You can try it as toy races: holding the toy in whichever hand makes for easier throwing, you can send her around the barrel and as you do the FC, throw the toy and race to it. Then that can morph into lining her up near the barrel, holding her, throwing the toy, then immediately sending her around the barrel to race to the toy.
If you are training with other people at any point, you can have the toy on a line and they can be dragging it for her to chase as she comes around the barrel.
>>For the comment on the prop and having the food already there are you talking about having it down on the ground already or just on the counter so Iām not placing it before asking for some toy play?>>
Since the ignoring-the-food can be challenging sometimes, no need for the toy play when you are focusing on the ādo a thing with food on the groundā. You can just play with some prop touching with the cheese bucket very close by, making the cheese visible then putting down the prop. The prop coming into the picture last should (theoretically) make it more salient and therefore (again, theoretically š¤£) more likely that she will interact with it. Dog brains (and human brains) have a preference for novel things, which is why I like to add the prop in after everything else is set up and ready. The toy play can be added back later on when the impulse control is easier.
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
Tracy
