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Good morning!
Really nice job with the serp foundation! It looks like she had no trouble coming in over the little bar, so I think Prytania is ready for the next steps: having the reward on the ground on the line of exit. That way she will come on then turn tp the next line. You can use the Manners Minder or you can use an empty food bowl (to drop the cookie in) to start with – then eventually a toy on the ground! The MM and the food bowl will help develop the impulse control needed to ignore the reward in favor of going to the serp first 🙂
The GO recalls also looked good 🙂 They are a lot of running for us humans LOL!! I think Prytania was not sure where to look (verbals from the momma but Annalise was running) so to get the best line, whomever is running should also be yelling the verbals 🙂 You can add in letting Prytania ‘run through’ the tug, meaning that as she catches up to you, you let her grab the tug and you let go. she will keep moving forward to the tug… but you can turn and run the other way so she chases you with it. That will combine the recalls with the retrieve games 🙂
Really nice job with the left & right – your mechanics were spot on: holding her til after you stared the verbals, then letting go, then rewarding on the correct line at the end. Click/treat for you!!
And yes, I can totally relate to the how the tugga cue sometimes becomes the “ouch that is my hand in your mouth” cue LOL!!!
Great job on these! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning!
The in in looks great!
When using the MM, you don’t need a marker if the MM beeps 🙂 One less thing to say LOL!!
The left turns were harder here for some reason – the right turns all looked super strong. She was a righty for that session 🙂 When you see her having a question about which side, you can start her on an easier angle to help the turn that direction be easier 🙂 What I mean by that is she can be on the same line as the jump bar, facing her line, rather than having to go around the wing to enter the threadle. Let me know if that makes sense or if I need more caffeine 🙂
The backside slice is going well too! Remember to keep our arm a little further back so you can make more direct eye contact – on the first session, Annalise was using her hand more than eye contact. On the 2nd session, Annalise had more eye contact (yay!) and Prytty nailed it 🙂 I always remind myself to deliver the cue to the dog, not to the barrel 🙂
And yes latent learning is a BEAUTIFUL thing – train a little then let the brain do the rest LOL!!!
She looks really strong on the tunnel threadles too! She is happy to do whichever you cue – going to the end of the tunnel she can see, , or coming to your threadle side. On the next session, add two things:
– your feet parallel to the tunnel and facing the entry side you want, rather than turned towards her (this will simulate the footwork she will see on course)
– the MM at the exit 🙂 That will accomplish 2 things: first, it adds challenge to the threadle approach because she will have toIGNORE THE MM to do it. LOL She will be fine because she can do it on the jump threadle game. And second, it will help make the in-then-tunnel of the threadle cue more automatic, so you don’t need to use hand signals or footwork to get her into the tunnel. >>Don’t feel like you have to rush feedback!
The first three here were easy feedback! And the next 3 are marked private so I can’t see them LOL! Let me know when they are unlisted. All of this is looking great!!
>>We also have named “Get Out” “Check” “Dig” “Sit” “Break” “BeepBeep” “WaHoo!” (remote reward) and markers “Yes” “Get It” “Catch” “Tuggawugga”>>
Fabulous! She is doing great with the skills and the words, so the more the merrier 🙂 And my favorite here is “Tuggawugga” hahaha
Great job :)
TracyHi!
He did well here getting into the higher arousal state! You had a good variety of action tricks and precision behaviors while playing with him, all of which really seemed to get him into a really optimal state (plus gives you stuff to work on in different environments, to see what helps him). The ‘reverse’ backing up was harder when he was more stimulated, so it is something to keep working on with gradually increasing stimulation.
And he was able to move into the sit immediately and hold it til released for reward. Perfect!
>>When I have him sit beside me more “formally” I tend to have him sit up straighter since he cues off of my hand position. When he sits more on his own, he tends to get into more of a hover sit. Does it matter?>>
Do you mean when he was in the sit here and you moved away, he would lean forward? It appeared that his butt stayed on the ground and he didn’t move any feet… so there is nothing to reposition or adjust. And if you did try to adjust him, he will probably not know what you are trying to change.
You can try to use the hand cue to cue a taller sit… but as you move away he might lower his head again. I have no problem with his head position here and he also didn’t move a muscle in the stay… yay!!!
The one thing to work on separately is a tighter sit so his back feet are more tucked into him. This is a conditioning thing and should be done separately from the stay: get a square platform that he can sit on easily but not too spacious so he can splay. And eery fews days, just do a session of sits on that platform so he pulls his feet in tighter to his hips.
Great job! Let me know what you think!
TracyPS – >>It looks like his one ear up may match the side I lead out on when he’s excited.>>
SO CUTE!!!! I love it!!!
Hi!
>>f you could have seen his face when he looked up at me. He had this expression like “what the heck are you doing human??? Not paying attention to me???? You always should be looking at me”>>
HA! Yes, that is exactly why we do this game: he needs to learn that sometimes we screw it up and it is all fine LOL!!
he did well figuring it out, no problem here either. You can move more (walking back and forth a bit more) and also toss the next treat sooner – you can toss it as soon as he gets to your side, rather than wait ti he curls all the way in front of you. Arriving at your side to look at you is great.
Nice work!
TracyHi!
He did well here, no trouble at all, both directions. Yay! And it was easy enough to add the verbals.
About the verbals:>>So I try to keep left/right long, slower and more like a question as you mentioned. Should I still try to get in a repeated verbal in this exercise or is it okay to stick with the drawn-out ones?>>
I think because you were not moving, you were drawing it more than you would normally draw it out 🙂 So try to get a couple of reps of the verbal in – you can get 2 or 3 reps in while still a little drawn out 🙂
>>I see sometimes where he is adding an extra step (particularly on his hard turn side between the last 2) or ticks the bumps. Should I do more with food to keep lower arousal a bit and help him work through getting all those long legs coordinated?>>
With the food, he was moving slower and hitting the bump as he was stopping. No big deal at all, that will go away when you add motion. When the toy came out, he was moving faster and moving correctly… but the footing is not grippy enough for him with that speed. He was slipping, which is why he was hitting the bumps. So for home training on the mats, stick with food. And when you get onto dirt or turf, you can bring the toy into the picture.
Great job here!
TracyHi! Yes, I think this totally made it clear that you wanted the turn to his right versus the turn to his left. NICE!
The main thing will be to make sure you run away on a straight line and not at all towards him, because it is that pressure towards his original start position that could cause him to read a rear cross.Great job!
TracyHi!
>>Another aspect I’m wondering about is how difficult it is to consistently see the correct criteria in motion so you keep the criteria clear for the dog. Do you find that for some people this comes easily and for others it is difficult?>>
Seeing the criteria? VERY CHALLENGING 🙂 It is a learned skill for the handler for sure! But also, learning to play flyball has helped me see it a lot more easily because the flyball box turn and the RDW criteria are similar… but the box turn is faster 🙂
T
Hi!
Yes, it is fine that she doesn’t finish the tunnel, because we will quickly move the reward to the tunnel exit so she will only stop for reward a few times, maybe one session total.
Have fun!
TracyHi!
>>Do you mean for me to stop doing the threadles on right turns & go back to only doing the “tunnel, tunnel” (dog/human/tunnel) exercise and put the MM inside (or toss a cookie inside)? Or would I do it for the threadles>>
Oops, sorry I neglected to mention the very important detail of whether it was a threadle or not lol!!!
Put the MM in the tunnel and then warm her up with regular tunnel sends so she knows the reward is in the tunnel. Then you can switch to the threadle side, but keep saying tunnel (and not the threadle verbal). I don’t want to add the threadle verbal on that side til she understands to turn awY for it. 🙂
Let me know if that makes more sense or if I need more caffeine 🙂
Tracy
Hi! Really super session here!
You got the skill going with cookies then went to the toy – lovely! She found the skill easy. Nice placement of reward to get the left/right turn on the exit of the Minny Pinny too! She was great with all of the things you showed her here: you standing still, countermotion, toy arousal, working both sides, etc – easy peasy 🙂One suggestion for the next steps:
When you add the left/right verbals: Hold her so you can say the verbal 3 or 4 times… then let her do the Pinny. When she is starting at the same time or before it, the verbal is not quite as impactful in terms of it being paired with and predicting the behavior.How tall is she, approximately? I am thinking you can spread out the bumps a little more so she has more room to bounce.
Great job! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi! These are definitely looking good!! He is offering really clear head turns on these! Your mechanics are looking good and he seems to have the idea of “turn your head and do it again” 🙂
One suggestion, to really isolate the best reps:
On each rep here, he is going around the barrel 3 times. The 2nd rep is the highest quality turn and head turn on each, so you will want to click that one and not ask for the 3rd time around.So for example, looking at the rep that starts at :15 – the first time around was fine, the 2nd time around was perfect, the third time around had some slipping. So the second one (right at :18) is the one to click. The 3rd one (at :19) was wider with less front leg coordination. You can see it on the last rep here too – at 1:08, first time around he was slipping a little (just the footing and he was trying to go fast :)) 2nd time around, tight, bendy, great head turn (1:10) – yes! 3rd time around was good but the 2nd one was GREAT.
This is a good one to practice in different places too (different surfaces) – but look to click that 2nd time around the barrel and not worry about getting the 3rd time around.
Great job! Let me know what you think!
TracyOMG that was Bazinga trying to climb the mountain of weirdness? HAHA!! I guess she is pretty resilient 🙂 It looks like she was like “what is that? OK cool I am going to tackle it” hahaha! Good girl! And was thank Frankie saying “this is definitely weird, I will hang back”. So interesting to see the difference in the dogs!
Tracy
Good morning!
>>He is an adorable puppy, making me laugh even if I don’t feel like laughing much.
Thank god for dogs, right? They lift us up!
He was such a good boy at the barn!!!
>>This was his third time in this barn, and finally he was able to play a little. We just did a little cone wrapping with this real fur toy he likes.
It was so cool to see him play with the toy!! Super!
>>And, as you can see, a major distraction behind us. I didn’t trust him not to run off, so again he had his leash on and I stayed very close to him. But I was really thrilled he played with the toy!>>
Once again, you did a masterful job of setting the baby dog up for success. YAY!!! Click/treat to you. Yes, you recognized that it was a new environment and you kept him on leash (smart!) and helped him. He froze a little at first, probably because he knew he didn’t want to run over to the distraction 🙂 but he didn’t quite know what to do instead 🙂 So you showed him a couple of times and then he was able to do it by himself. A winning session for sure!!
>>And I did a little stay on a platform. It’s not his platform, so I thought he did pretty darn good.
Oh heck yeah! This is the best stays he has had so far!! He gets up when you go back to hand him the cookie, so you can toss the cookie back behind him (he can release off the platform to get it when you cue it). He did a great job ignoring the distractions – that is really great and he made it look easy 🙂 YAY!!
>>I have signed up for Max Pup 2, and I don’t know how much I”ll be able to do in a timely manner, but having this class and Casper to work with helps me a lot on a day-to-day basis.>>
Perfect! And no worries about timing – we have about 5 or 6 weeks til this class is done, then that one starts in mid-march when you will hopefully have more access to be outside (bye bye snow :))
Great job on these! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
>>I was wondering. What are some of the factors you consider when you are thinking about training running versus stopped contacts? I don’t know if this is something you will cover later in class :).>>
We don’t really cover it any time soon, so we can definitely start the conversation!
It is a personal choice based on the dog’s structure and your goals and your access to equipment/training time. Running contacts demand a lot of time on the actual obstacle, and a lot of training (so, a lot of bang on the dog’s body). Stopped contacts require very little training on the actual obstacle (it is all trained on a plank at first) so it is easier, less access needed, and honestly the criteria is clearer to the dog. People claim that stopped contacts are harder on the dog but I 10000% disagree – if they are trained properly, they are much easier on the dog because there are far fewer reps (many injuries are from over-use) and also less speed so the forces of physics are safer for the dog.
So why to people train running contacts? Well, for some dogs it is really easy for them and doesn’t take much time at all. Your tall boy is not likely to be one of those LOL!!!! He will need to be trained to them. So them it becomes a matter of: can you find criteria that is clear, do you have access to the equipment regularly, etc. The reason to train running contacts is that they are fun 🙂 and also they are faster. Faster = easier to win. But faster also means harder to train and handle and all sorts of extra training/verbals are needed.
So it is a matter of preference. Running contacts are an excellent training puzzle as long as we don’t over-work the dogs 🙂
TracyHi! This is going really well too!
One suggestion: Try to ping pong the number of steps before you reward: you tend to do a two-step dance, where you both take 2 steps and then he gets rewarded LOL! So ideally you would mix in more reps with varying # of steps. And also, I think you can fade out your movement so he offers the behavior on his own. You can either stand still and let him offer, or you can try the ‘return to center’ approach by progressively throwing the treats more and more off to the side so he enters from different approaches and does varying # of steps to get back in front of you. At the very end, you you had him pivot to heel position which is great too – just feed hn with his head a little lower, so he doesn’t look up as far – that changes his hind end balance.Nice work 🙂
Tracy
