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Good morning!
It was great seeing you last week at Brain Camp! You and both dogs were terrific šHe caught onto the stays for the ācatchā reward brilliantly. You can add more duration and more moving away, as well as a cue as so you can tell him if you want the sit or down. You can also use a toy as the reward (throwing it back but slightly off to the side so it doesnāt hit him :)) I like using toys for this a lot because of the arousal state: more arousal makes for better memory when they are in that higher arousal state on an agility course š
Leg bumps:
This went well too, he was very happy to chase the toy over your legs š He is ready for you to add in holding him on one side of you, then tapping the toy on the other side of you so he hops over both legs like a mini jump grid. If you have another person who wonāt mind sitting on the floor, you can also add them sitting next to you, so he has 4 legs to jump over.>>Re the Serp with food and toy. He has a harder time going to my right hand and then back to the left.>>
I totally see what you mean!! He was like: Must be the line up! You even tried keeping your feet closer together and he was like āok, I will still try to line upā LOL!!
The other side was easy peasy for him, and he was totally getting the in-then-out behavior because you timing of the reward placement was spot on. So for the next steps, move to putting the toy on the ground (or an empty food bowl or a Manners Minder) a few feet away on the reward side. It is the next step to the game – it should be a good impulse control challenge on the stronger side, and might help with the differentiating between the lineup and the serp by giving him more of a visual target to draw focus away from the lineup position.
Tandem turns are looking really good! Super nice job being connected with your dog-side arm back, so he could easily see your connection and your turn hand. Yay! Both directions looked equally strong so you can now go to the next step, adding the prop for him to ignore on the way to your hands but touch after you turn and move the other direction.
Great job on these! He is ready for the next steps on all the games š
Tracy
Good morning!
OMG look at her finding the jump after the tunnel here! Even when you tried to throw a treat on the first run, she was like NO WE GO TAKE JUMPS AFTER THE TUNNEL MOM! HA! Good girl! I am very happy with how well she was finding her jumps here! I am sure you were happy too!
She had a little trouble finding the middle jump (especially on the way to the threadle) but I think that was mainly because it is a complex handling cue that we have not really put into sequence yet. Great job breaking it down for her – the threadle is a good skill to have but not a super high priority (yet š )
>>I found that I was not ready to actually think and handle at the same time ā Oh, my ā I got a little flummoxed and was pretty late getting cues to her. >>
She forgave you LOL Your connection was strong and you didnāt let her fail a lot. Instead, you supported her and helped her out with the threadle, and kept going when she had the extra tunnel in the next sequence.
She experimented with offering to release herself from the start line on the first of the 2nd video (so helpful and kind of her to offer LOL!), but you declined to run when she did that and reminded her that it was not part of the plan. You did it in a way that she still maintained a really high motivation level AND did a GREAT stay on the next rep. Yay!
Holy sweet monkeys look at her whip around the line so you could EASILY get to the FC at :23!!! SUPER!!!
She will need a throwback or spin (and wrap verbal, it was hard to hear if you had that going) to cue the exit of that 6 jump – when you were facing it when she landed at :25, you were also indicating the tunnel so that is where she went. Good girl! Great job continuing and getting her back on the line and she found all of her jumps – especially at the end of the line at :31, where she had to adjust herself back to find the last jump (when it would have been a lot easier to run past it). SO LOVELY!
You turned away from 6 a lot sooner at :40 but she still had a small question about the tunnel (because you were facing it) but didnāt take it. She did run past the last jump here, but it was her only run-past blooper so it was probably that she needed you to turn towards the last jump sooner (before she takes off for the previous jump).
Overall, iād say this session was wildly successful! It will be interesting to see if she can find her jump lines this well when you can be outdoors at Keith & Suzieās place. You might have to do a lot of āfind the jumpā games outdoors (maybe it is more distracting/stimulating?) and more sequencing indoors, then the 2 will merge together.
Great job! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning!
I agree, the first sequence looked great! Yay!!!
On the first run, you went it closer to 3 to support it, but I think she didnāt need the help, and that put you a little behind for the threadle 4-5. Good job with the turn cue on 4! For the threadle cue, see if you can keep moving through it so you donāt get left in the dust on the next line (and keep running til after she lands before pulling the toy out, to protect that last bar).
On the 2nd video, trying to find the sweet spot for how far away from 3 you could be was challenging, and also getting the threadle was challenging.
Looking at jump 3:
You were trying to add a little more distance from 3 to get closer to 4-5, which is great! The key will be keeping the connection and parallel path until she locks onto it, even if you are miles away š
At :03 you had a high arm and that blocked connection, plus you turned to run to 5 too early, so it pulled her off of 3.
You were great at :25 – note the lower arm and eye contact, so she committed nicely!Now to be able to get that commitment from further away:
The reps where you were closer to 3 were easy (like at 1:17). When you were further away with god connection, like at 1:44, she got it! So compare to :25 here and :09 on the first video – that low arm, big connection really helps, so you can do that from further and further away as you maintain the parallel line til she sees 3.Looking at the threadle:
>>t seems that if I use my threadle arm to also send her to the jump after pulling her in, it works well. But if for some reason, I switch to trying to push to the jump with the other arm, we get the threadle but not the jump (or is it my motionā¦was I moving too far past the jump?)>The threadle should be a single cue (verbal and arm) for the entire in-then-out behavior chain, that you maintain as she is doing it. By trying to pull then send her back, you were having to rely on timing and position, so she didnāt always get the info in time.
It sounds like ācomeā is her threadle slice verbal, which should indicate both coming in and taking the jump after it. So when you say the word and give the arm cue, you can keep moving towards the threadle jump like you did at :11 on the first video and at 2:35 on the 2nd video – no need to send her back out or say go, you can just keep moving towards it until you see her head turn to lock onto the jump (that is your cue to move to the next line). Part of what was happening here was that as you were pulling her into you, you were getting progressively further away from it which took that jump out of the picture.
One other nuance of the threadleā¦ try not to turn your feet at all – keep them going straight. That makes the threadle (and the next line) easier to handle for you – but it is challenging to read for her because she has to choose your arm and verbal over your feet š So, using the 2 jumps as you broke it down at the end, you might want to walk through it at first then add more and more of your speed. A big dramatic upper arm rotation will help her see it too.
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning!
The backing up looked really good – very precise and no flinging as puppies sometimes do š She went step-by-step and that looked great! Nice job keeping it short and fun!
>>Got her to tug before doing the backing up session but let the play session go on too long at the end where she got distracted by a bit of cheese on the ground and then jumped on me.>>
One of my favorite things about video is we can track and quantify things. I am not sure she was distracted by the cheese as much as she was trying to regulate her arousal because the tugging had gone on for too long, especially at the end of a session even though it was short. On the video, the tugging starts at about :59 and she did well! At 1:15, she stops and looks up at you. At 1:24 she starts to sniff. At 1:30 she jumps up. So since we are being nerds about arousal regulation š¤£š I think that she has enough arousal regulation in her for about 8-10 seconds of tugging, then what happened was she was trying to self-regulate (first by stopping and looking at you, then 10 seconds later by sniffing, which is a great regulator). Then when the arousal continued (asking for more tugging) she jumped up.
Now this time frame might change depending on time of day, etc, but for now, get 5 seconds of tugging or so, then either move to the next reps or do a decompression moment of letting her win the toy or letting her sniff for some treats. The easiest way to do 5 seconds of tugging is to count out loud or sing it to her hahaha And we can use video to see how long her tugging threshold is, and how it expands!
>>I had stated to introduce ācatchā with offered sits and downs last week but spooked her when my tossed cheese accidentally bounced off her head>>
Poor girlie!!! The cheese attacked her!
Your adjustment here was really good – it was still towards her, but off to the side and kind of behind her, so it was reinforcing and not spooky.
She did well with her stay here! You can add in more duration, as well as you standing up after she is in the down, as well as the down verbal.
>>Iām going to stick with the food version of this game for a bit.>>
Sounds good – because she is rolling her hip into a more relaxed version of this, the food is better because it is less explosive. The toy will be good to add in when you are ready to work on fold-back downs, where she drives in and out of the position (no relaxing :))
On the tandem turn video – tugging went from :07 to 24 approx and ended with a cookie transition, so she did not jump up. The turns went well and adding the prop went well too! Her only question on the prop was when it was on the way to your hands, so she was an overachiever and ended up hitting it on the way to you š
One thing I notice here is that she drifts out a bit wide on the way into the MCH for the turn and I think it is because she canāt see the opposite arm until she is close to you and a little further away. The camera angle shows that your dog-side arm is a little too far forward, so it is possible that even though we can see your opposite hand from above, she cannot see it from below.
So you can make it more obvious by pushing your dog side shoulder back so she can see the opposite hand more, by pointing back to her with the dog side arm to open up that shoulder
You might want to do 2 hands in the cue (double magic cookie hands LOL!) for now, so she drives in close to you (like she did with the week 1 drive to handler using the dog-side hand) and then you can fade that to use the opposite arm only, on tandems and threadle wraps.
>>Plan for tomorrow is some goat Tricks and maybe the leg bumps since both should be easier for her brain.>>
Perfect! Rehearsal is great and easier for the brain, while she cements the learning of the harder stuff š
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
Nice job with the barrel game here! And it was good to add the verbals. I agree, he probably doesnāt really know what they mean yet, but that is fine for now.
He was having a little struggle in this session with wanting the toy, so he was chewing on your wrist a little before you let him go, then he didnāt bring the toy back at the end.
To help reduce the wrist-chewing, you can try 2 things:
– make a quicker transition to the thrown toy by starting really close to the barrel before you throw it, then when it lands, send him directly to the barrel. Even a few seconds or trying to move him a little was hard for him.– you can try placing the toy down rather than throwing it, then you can move to the barrel with him (using cookies to reward) him moving with you. That might not be as exciting as throwing it, but we might not need as much excitement if he is having trouble being held when you throw it š
>>he ish is for the occassional ass pass:
The accidental blinds where when you started running forward without looking at him (you were looking at the toy before he knew which side of you to be on) and that is exactly what the ass pass cue looks like š You can see it at 1:25 – as he was rounding the barrel, he only saw your back so he had to guess.
To get rid of the ass pass when you donāt want, be sure to make a BIG eye contact with him as he goes around the barrel but keep moving. That will get him on the correct side of you.Looking at the toy racesā¦ I think he is looking at the cookies in your hand (or hand near pocket, if the hand and pocket were empty). Cookies seem to be slightly higher value at the moment as we can see from the lotus ball toy races, so you can separate the toy races from the cookies š Using a barrel to start is great because then you donāt need the cookies.
>>I tried the beating him to it and stealing, but maybe Iām a bad thief and a lousy tease (will try again!).>>
Or, there might have been cookies in your pocket or nearby, and he is starving. LOL! So for now, you can keep the driving ahead for the toy in an environment where there are no cookies, then we can build them back together.
Strike a pose went really well! Your mechanics were good, no monkey dances happening š My only suggestion is to point your feet to the reward hand, not to the target hand, to show him the direction you will be moving on the serps and threadles.
He read the setup really nicely: You presented the treat a little too quickly on the 2nd rep so he did the full behavior without hitting the target (but is eventually where we go anyway, fading out the target hit š )
When you switched hands, I think the cookie hand was really obvious (and he had just gone to that hand) so hitting the target was hard (moving it really helped!) The other reps on that side looked really strong.
The lap turns looked great – he was able to drive right to the turn hand and then hit the prop. Love it! You can now try it with an empty hand: the empty hand does all the cues and turning so he is more likely to look at the prop after the turn, then the other hand can hold the cookie and throw it after he hits the prop.
One thing I notice here and also with the strike a pose game was that the first rep on the next side was hard. So you can break the session in half: do one side, take a tug break, then switch sides. That way he might not be thinking about the side he was just working on, and more likely to get the first reps on the new side correctly.
I am sure the tandem turns will go well too, he is ready to see those.
>>Iām going to be working on the shaping a toy retrieve that you posted, I really hope it helps streamline the sessions instead of me doing monkey dances to get the toy back.>>
Yes, those will be fun to shape! And also, when using a thrown toy, you can reward him with another toy for bringing it back. Retrieving can lose value if they bring it back and we take it away. We might be thinking about starting the next rep, but they might see it as a punisher for bringing it backā¦ so they donāt bring it back as well. Using a reward for bringing it back and get the retrieve going really well without begging or monkey dancing š
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
Hind end awareness is hard for any pups! At the beginning of the first video, I was not sure what you were looking for – he had lots of offered behavior but you didnāt click a lot. I think it was all 4 feet on the bowl? I figured it out based on you saying it LOL!! But there was not enough reinforcement early on, so you can see that he was confused and kind of wandered off. Compare it to the 2nd half of this session and the 2nd video, where you had a lot more reinforcement and he stayed really engaged. Nice!!You totally caught yourself about talking too much LOL! You can talk all you want during the tugging but then be quite during shaping so he looks at you less. When you were quieter after the tug break, he offered more getting on the bowl.
Good transition from the tugging into the shaping on the 2nd video here! Then be quiet when you want him to offer LOL Verbal encouragement draws him into looking at you, so you can be silent during the shaping part and stare at the bowl (not at his cute face).
So with the goal of all 4 feet on – to help him out, you can make a bigger playing field for him. That way it is easier to get all 4 feet on rather than squish himself onto the smaller bowl š If you have 2 bowls you can put next to each other, you can have him spread himself out on the 2 bowls (my guess is you will get more back feet on the bowls that way). Or, if you donāt have 2 bowls, you can use a couple of different things all touching each other, so he can get his whole body on easily (and gets used to touching different surfaces too!)
Great job here!
TracyHi!
He is touching the target really well! It was fine that he was trying to nibble on it a bit LOL!
One suggestion here is to have the cookies in your hand before you show him the target, so the reinforcement comes really quickly. By clicking then reaching over to get the cookie, he is watching the cookie hand and you can see him migrating over to it.For the next session, you can click the target hit then toss a treat (using a āget itā marker). That way he can then drive back to the target. That will move you into the strike a pose game, which is the game that uses the target š
Great job!
TracyGood morning!
>>See that a small piece of someoneās fur got him every time!!
HA! But it could have been cheese hahahahahaha. Good job just leaving it there for him to work through.
Nice tugging here! You can run away into the blind with more connection, more like what you did on the 2nd rep – make sure you have your toy ready before you hand him to his auntie so that you can make an immediate transition.
He is reading the blind crosses perfectly, so when you have this much room to run, you can do two blinds: start the first one as soon as he starts moving towards you. That will give you plenty of time to get the 2nd one in.
I love the amount of space you had – you can move some of the jumps out of the way so he is not learning to run past jumps at this stage. He doesnāt know what they are, but we will want him to commit to them later in life, so we donāt want him learning to ignore them now. We only want him ignoring little fuzz pieces on the ground LOL!
Great job!
TracyGood morning!
>>You can hear a little click as his teeth hit the tupperware lid>>
That is hilarious! He is clicking himself LOL! He drove right into the target hand and it is fine that he is tooth-hugging it for now because we fade out the actually target touching pretty soon š
>>I tried to switch him to a nose touch for a few days, then decided to give up on that and move on.>>
That was smart! There are ways to get just the nose and not the teethā¦ but it is unimportant to do so and with so many other fun things to do, I agree: better to move on and have fun!
>>although I think I wasnāt supposed to move at all until he grabbed the toy. >>
Correct, you can move less and use your markers for the toy in your hand versus the toy on the ground (I use ābiteā for toy in hand when I get to this stage, and āget itā for the toy on the ground, both of which replace āyesā).
Keeping your shoulders and feet stationary for now gives him the fuller serp & threadle picture and trains you to keep your shoulders open on these š
>>Also, the toy on the ground was really, really hard, lol.>>
Hard, yes, but not mind-blowing! He veered towards the toy then caught himself and changed path to the target. Super good boy! So it was a good level of challenge. You can shake the target hand a little to help him lock onto it sooner.
Also, he did a great job going back and forth from the food to the toy!
Great job here! We build on this game in the next week or two, so you can revisit it with less motion or put it away til then š
TracyGood morning!
>>I feel like this is finally coming together! He didnāt try to bite me or hump me once!!! >>
This is the most exciting part! The arousal regulation is definitely a ālearnedā behavior, but not in the operant sense š You will see him continue to get better with arousal regulation, with some days where he cannot do it mixed in too (adolescence is HARD lol!!)
Video 1: Nice tugging!! Nice mechanics!! Great job with the treat scatter mixed in there too to continue to regulate the arousal.
He offered really well, and was more explosive when you cued it. Great job adding the verbal too! You can add in throwing the toy rather than rewarding from hand (which opens up whether we need to work on retrieving or not :))
Since we are looking at arousal regulation with all the pups, you can look for signs that he uses to say he needs a break: he did one here at 2:15 approx, where he stopped playing and just stood still for a moment. That was a pretty long time into a high energy session, so he was asking for a break/decompression moment where he can go sniff or run around or something away from the structure of the session.
He did continue the session, but you can see how lining up was harder and also the tugging dropped off. So if he asks for a break, you can finish that rep but then give him a break. And to avoid him asking for a break, you can
Set a timer for 90 seconds total on the session – my mantra is āquality over quantityā! This is also important to remember when you are working in an in-person class or seminar: be sure to give lots of brain breaks!>>I felt like I was āman-handlingā him too much to get him into position, so I stopped so I could go back and watch your video again.>>
Yes, a bit of man-handling LOL!!! Border Collies will tolerate it (because it is followed by action) but I think it will be easier & better for you both if you line him up with a cookie, then hold his collar and tart the game. He doesnāt need to be perfectly straight in the line up or anything, just straight-ish and generally pointing the correct direction LOL!
Video 2:
The angles and threadles all looked really good! This type of session is less likely to be mentally āexpensiveā because the food is not as high energy as the tugging.
He seemed perfectly happy to find the tunnel from the angles and from either side of you, so you can add your tunnel threadle verbal for when he is starting on the treadle side. So a food-heavy session doesnāt need a 90 second timer because it doesnāt deplete him as much.
Great job here!!!
Tracy
Good morning!
>>Do you think I shouldnāt train at all for a day or two because it was tough for her yesterday? Or just move onto other things and try again on yesterdayās items in a day or two?>>
You can skip a training day or do something really easy. She doesnāt need to do things that involve new learning every day – sometimes rehearsal of what she already knows is perfect!
>>I off-leash walk her in nature 6 or 7 days a week, so she gets time to run and zoom and sniff. She loves it! And we also play just for fun several times a day too. I think sheās getting sufficient exercise outside of training.>>
Yes, that is great! That also burns glucose and oxygen in her brain, so it might require rest to balance it all (as you describe by how much she sleeps :)). And so you can try changing the schedule of training versus the exercise, or add in more alternating now that she is an adolescent.
>>Iām also amazed by how much she sleeps lol! She sleeps at least 9 hours at night. Then sheāll be up for an hour or two and then sleep for 4 to 5 hours. Wild! Then sheāll be up for 2 to 3 hours and want to nap again. Thatās the life lol.>>
I am jealous, I would love that sleep schedule LOL!!! I think human children/adolescents sleep like that too, during major periods like growth and brain development.
>>I usually do her training in the late afternoon/evening. Maybe Iāll try a morning session and see how that goes for her.>>
We are learning more and more about how the body cycles during the day, and certain hormones/neurotransmitters are lower in the evening (like cortisol, if my memory is correct) so you might see a big difference in the morning, when these are at higher levels.
There are also cycles during the day where the levels of hormones/neurotransmitters vary (I think in humans it is 90 minute cycles – really interesting stuff!)
The morning session went well! You had added some good distance and she had a really high success rate! Just one blooper and she adjusted on the next rep. Nice! And the rear crosses at the end of the session looked good too!
Turn and burn is looking good too! You were clear about verbal-then-motion and she had no trouble going to the barrel and driving around it, with more movement from you (and she didnāt hit the box).
Now, the parallel path and the turn and burn and the rear crosses are all challenging games in terms of having to do things that are not necessarily natural to her. So you can structure your sessions so that you mix in easier, more intuitive things (like blind crosses or toy races) so she is not doing only hard stuff. The harder the stuff, the more expensive it is for the brain, and the more we deplete teenage brains š so adding in stuff that is easier makes for great rehearsal and maintenance of those skills without depleting the brain.
>>I can see that her developing brain might be toast by evening time.>>
My non-developing brain is totally toast by evening, so I can totally relate LOL! Keep track of it and see how she does!
>>I made a DIY jump bump by cutting a wrapping paper cardboard roll. >>.
That was clever, it works perfectly as a jump bar! Do you have wings you can use? That can also help transfer the concept.
>>Iām not sure if my marker timing was good so let me know.>>āØ
My only suggestion here is to mark sooner and throw sooner, so she doesnāt look back at you. You were marking when she arrived at the jump, which was great for the first session. What was happening was that she was looking at you as she arrived at the jump (nothing else to look at LOL!) so to keep her looking ahead, you can mark her intent to go to the jump – this would be when she is still several feet away from it, but definitely moving towards it. Then throw the treat so it lands before she arrives at the jump š That can help her look ahead and not at you.Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
>>I need to go back and look at engaged chill so I can add that as well as decompression.>>
Perfect! It all helps with recovery.
>>Iāll try letting him be when I remove the leash until Iām ready to line him up. >>
Keep track of how long it takes him to line up. If it is pretty immediate, then letting him move around before the line up cue is fine.
>>I went to a stand at the start line because his sit is awful :-). >>
Got it! The other option is the down š Have you tried it? The stand is not terrible at all, but you will want to get lots of reward in for NOT moving his feet.
>> Iām thinking that he is always going to want to reset his front legs but donāt know how to let him do that without it bleeding into constant movement. >>
He might not even know he is moving in that moment. His brain might be so focused on the agility in that moment that he might not realize his feet are moving. We humans also have these small movements we do when we are focused and in a high arousal state.
>>But not to the point where I feel I can led out without constantly looking at him. >>
He is early in his career, so you will probably be able to soften that connection over time.
Keep me posted!
TracyGood morning! Great job with this session, Annalise!!
Prytania did really well moving away from the toy on the ground – you had her by the collar by she moved away easily and was completely engaged.
The first couple of “go” lines looked great – well done running hard until she landed!!!! I love how she was able to catch up and drive past you even when you were ahead of her. I think she bounced the distance at :45 – very powerful jumping!!!
On the last rep, you had a really good push to the backside of 3. Great job just continuing to the Go line š I thought maybe you wanted the other end of the tunnel, but you carried on smooth smoothly that maybe she took the entry you wanted? LOL!! If you did want the other end of the tunnel from the one she took: On the FC, you ended up stepping too far across the bar so she thought you wanted the line to the other end of the tunnel. And that’s where she went, very fast LOL! To get the turn over 3 tighter and set up the line to the tunnel entry, you can stay closer to the entry wing of the backside – almost on the landing spot. Then as she is getting to the backside, you would finish the FC and get out of her way š heading towards the tunnel. But the most important part was staying in motion and to keep going, which you did perfectly. YAY!!!
Great job here!!
TracyOh dang, somehow I missed this! Sorry!!!
SUPER nice job getting her ready for her run! The opening looked great! You over-helped a bit on the threadle at 1:03 – good timing to start it, but I donāt think she needed as much (or any) foot rotation towards her. That caused her to over-turn on the threadle jump.
Great job praising and rewarding!
So in that spot you can call her and use your upper body, but donāt turn your feet to her (rotate at the waist as you cue the threadle_ and keep moving along the line to the exit wing. You were much closer to that at 2:08 and she got it really well! You can experiment with seeing if she needs any foot rotation at all for the threadles, or just upper body rotation and arm cues.Your connection on both of these runs looked terrific!
>>**Oops I didnāt do the whole course! Sorry!>>
No worries, you worked the threadle section and it all looked good!
>>At class last night she ran away on the first run ā I have video. It wasnāt our best performance for sure even though she seemed to enjoy running fast everywhere searching for critters>>
Post up the video! We will make the most progress if we track what helped her, and what might contribute to her running off on that first run.
Great job here!
Tracy
