Forum Replies Created
-
Posts
-
Hi! Great job on all of these sessions – he is so fun!
Toy drive right side: Either my computer was acting up or there was no sound on these videos. So I will assume you said all the right things because he looked GREAT! AND he was great with the retrieve, what a good boy. My only suggestion is to look at him more (connection) before you let go, to practice the connection you will use on course.
He is DEFINITELY ready for more action here, you can add more distance, add your motion, and go to the advanced level of racing 🙂
Very clever to do the decel from crate games! He was fabulous here too – when you were stationary, he came in straight with no butt-swinging to the side. YAY! Excellent hand position when you were standing still AND when you were adding the pivots. He looked great on the pivots too, very bendy.
You turned a little sooner when he ws on your left (for the pivots) and that was great – you were a little later on the start of the pivots on your right, so you can be earlier by starting them just before he arrives at your hand.
>>Sid with fairly decent turns, think we worked too long
I think the length of session was good but maybe all the cookies chilled him out too much. So you can add more toy breaks – for example, do a recall to the pivot, reward with the cookie, then have a tug party to add more action and excitement to it all 🙂
Sending to the target looked great too. Your mechanics were spot on: good use of dog side leg and arm , and rewarding back at you for the turn. I think he can do this one with a toy too: The empty hand sends him and then the comes back for the toy in your other hand
One cool thing that was happening here was the beginning of coutnermotion. You were releasing the send before he got to the target on most of the reps, so he was seeing the commitment even though you were starting to move away a bit. He was QUITE good at going to the target on. These, I think he only had one where he stopped a little short when he saw you releasing the send arm and leg. You did a lovely job of sometimes tossing the reward to the target too. Yay!Try the next send session with a toy and see how he likes it!
>>Sid being, well Sid. AND yes he pushed it with his nose
OMG This video was great! He is so fun! I am so glad you got this on video, I love to see the pups being pups LOL! Then he got right back to work, backing up on it when cued and also sending when cued. SUPER! Good boy <3
Great job on all of these - let me know how he does in the next sessions!
Tracy
Hi there! Lovely session here!
At the very beginning, you made an excellent adjustment to wait til she was done chewing LOL! It always cracks me up when a dog chews.
She was a superstar to offer going to the other bowl without the cookie in it! I couldn’t really tell if she is a lefty or a righty, she seemed pretty happy to do both directions equally. That is great! My guess is that also has to do with your experience and skills in dog training – she is pretty coordinated 🙂
>>The session was a bit long given our other activities and training this morning so I stopped it at paw-in-bowl lol
The paw in bowl was pretty hilarious. And she had tried to whack the cone a few seconds before LOL! It is possible that the length of the session wasn’t causing the freestyle paw hits… it is possible that the behavior was too easy/reptitive and you needed to up the criteria. So on the next session, start with a quick refresh of where you left off here and if she remembers, add in the upright and immediately make it further away by a few inches, or try it with you in a chair to change your position. And if she is still doing well, you can add a little more distance between you and the upright, or change your position to standing up.
Because she is an adolescent dog, and not a baby pup we can change the challenges more quickly sometimes. But also because she is an adolescent dog, sometimes they wake up and their brains are totally different and they remember nothing you’ve taught them! No worries if that happens, just do something else and once back to it the next day 🙂
Great job! She is looking fabulous!
TracyHi!
She is such fun pup!! These sessions looked great!!!She definitely seems to think shaping = food! I can relate, a lot of my pups have been like that too LOL!!
So it is perfectly fine to use food in the shaping and build toy drive separately… and then eventually merge them together. No need to ask for toy play yet during food sessions, you can just give her brain breaks by being silly and having her follow your cookie hand to spin or run around.
The foot target looked great – nice value building to start and then the back-and-forth cookie tosses added action (which she really liked).
Based on how well she did here, you don’t need to repeat this session: you can give her a little warm up to refresh the value with the back-and-forth cookie get its that you ended with, then go right into the sending game we added this week.
The hand target also looks super. I think the cheese was refusing to leave your hand LOL!! But she was patient haha. Since she is a foodie, you can try a lower value crunchy food and I bet it is easier. But overall, lovely session! If you wanted to play with the gain, you can add different angles of cookie tossing so she comes to your hand from different angles. But then this can go on the back burner because we don’t need it for a few weeks. She looks great!
>>Is toy drive something we will go over in this class?
Totally yes! The ultimate goal is that the dogs have perfectly balanced drive for food and toys… that takes a while (my dogs often take a year to get that). And since it is all so individual, tell me what she enjoys to play with: anything that is not a toy? Does she still anything or do anything “naughty” like chase feather dusters (I mean, it is OK if you don’t have one because I don’t have one either LOL). Does she love balls or frisbees? Let me know what she likes and we can incorporate it into building up more toy love.
Great job here!! So fun to watch and I am looking forward to more! And oh, I forgot to mention: your timing was excellent when marking the behaviors in both shaping games, so definitely keep that up.
Tracy
Hi!
>>PS – Steve listened to last night’s replay and so he is now:
1) composing dance songs for the sends, and
2) translating her cursing into English for me>>OMG that is awesome! Every dog needs a theme song LOL!!! And I am sure she has big opinions about cursing haha
The session here was terrific – she was great with the cookie section and with the toy section, and you were able to get the upright in AND moved a little away. Hooray!
One thing worth noting: she has a right turn preference in this game (I can’t remember if we decided if she was a righty in the live class?). That is normal and fine – what it means for training is that you can increase the criteria more quickly on the right turns (in this instance, when she is heading to your right hand) and keep criteria easier for the left turns (heading to your left hand in this game). For the right turns, you can wait longer before presenting the food or toy reward. For the left turns, you can present the reward almost immediately, or if she gets stuck at your right hand you can help her out by plopping the cookie into the bowl or by tapping the toy to help her remember that she can turn left too 🙂
I think you will see this side preference even out very quickly, because by the end of the session here she was already turning to her left much more fluidly. SUPER!!!
So maybe dog one more session with you sitting on the floor like this session, and then if that goes well you can try it in a chair and work your way to standing up 🙂
Great job!! Keep me posted!
TracyHi! The audit element is for this side of the classroom, so it is questions only. Definitely post the questions though!
T
Hi!
OMG the bouncing is hilarious! A great distraction! I think maybe too much distraction LOL!
She does have value for the prop, so when the pup is distracted, get closer to the ‘job’ and reward for effort even if the prop hit is not perfect. For example at :41 and :44. She was pretty good about going towards the prop and not the person – I would have rewarded the effort and then moved closer to it so she could be successful. The game is more about the value than about distance, so no need toShe read the blinds really well! Yo can keep your arms in tighter so you are quicker and she can see the connection changes more. And yes, rewarding across the body is super important especially for the littles, in terms on getting connection 🙂
She read the blinds perfectly, ,y only suggestion is to do them away from any jumps – we will want her to eventually take the jumps so we don’t want to install any ignoring of them now 🙂
Great job!!!
TracyHi!
Since you knew the retrieve app was not installed as part of the factory settings, it was smart to use a long toy 🙂
Great job with this game. -she was focusing forward and driving ahead, and it looks like you were connected to her too. Super! She seemed to have no questions when you added your motion forward too – yay! Pretty perfect session.
So to begin add more distance and also continue to install the retrieve app, you can put the toy on a longer line and as she arrives at the toy, turn and run the other direction (or back up). Y Oucan be calling her, having a party, and you can even grab the other end of the toy as you do it. By adding motion away from the toy, she will automatically turn back to you and then you can reward the barest hint of a retrieve with a big tug party. And that will also allow you to throw the toy further and further, which I think she will love : )
Great job on both of these!!! Onwards to the next step, she is learning these really fast!
Tracy
Hello and welcome! I am so excited to see you here 🙂
The pre-games look really good1
She totally though the prop hit was a little BORING at first LOL! But she was super about hitting it 🙂 And if the thinks it is a little dull at first? That is fine – train the precision and value, then we add the crazy into it later 🙂
On the next session with the foot target, you can add in the sending game that we added this week. There is an element of action to it, which I think think she will find super fun.
The hand target look strong too! Holding the the target a tiny bit higher, so her chin was a little up, helped to get rid of any thoughts of foot smacks 🙂 You can try this game with you standing up next time. Otherwise, it can go on the back burner because we will revisit it as a handling game in a few weeks 🙂
Great job with these – onwards to the driving ahead!
Tracy
Good morning! Bummer about the video bloopers – I have done that and it is a pain LOL!!!
She looked great on the video here:
Great focus forward and you did a great job being connected/looking at her when you let her go!>>Yesterday when I did this game (video error) I used a 2nd toy to get her driving back to me which always works well. She usually races all the way back and drops the toy to grab the 2nd toy I have in my hand. Today I decided to see what I had if I didn’t use a 2nd toy (I did have one on me just in case I needed it) and I thought she did quite well! She loves to whack herself with the toy but she also loves tugging with me, so she has that incentive to bring it back. I try to give her a good tugging party for bringing it back hoping that will help with the retrieve.>>
I agree, she did really well here without the 2nd toy being visible. I think she will bring it back more directly if you move the other direction, either running away or backing up. Standing still is less enticing than you moving away, when the other toy is not present.
When you added a bit of going the other direction she did bring it to you more directly, (especially on the last rep) so you can start moving the other direction as soon as she gets her mouth on the toy.
And definitely keep playing the game where you have that 2nd toy, because it also helps solidify the retrieving.
You can move to the advanced level of this game! She is ready for some toy races 🙂
Tracy
Hello and welcome!!! 11 months old is a great age for this – you can add to foundation and also survive canine adolescence 🙂
Have fun!
TracyHi!
Yes, it is here:
The recordings can be found in the Course Syllabus section posted in the week that we do them.
Have fun!
TracyGood morning!
>>And I always have treats when I pick him up, and he’s happy about that!
Perfect! You will see the value build for being reached for and picked up!
He did super well with the decel!!! His butt only swung out a bit when you were straight – as soon as you added the pivots, he had perfect butt placement LOL!
One suggestion in mechanics: have your cookie hand so close to your leg that you are touching your leg. You were reaching the cookie hand out to him, so he was staying a little further away – use the placement of your hand to get him to come to your leg and even curl his cute little head towards you knee 🙂 This will help him be super tight on turns AND also help him get happy being close to you for being picked up too!
Looking at the drive forward video:
Yes, outside, things were different LOL! He did not like the touching as part of play as much (he was definitely backing away from being grabbed on the first rep) and the big distance between you and him on the first rep was too hard (distractions out in the great big world :)) You made man excellent adjustment, though, and immediately dialed back the distance to set up success and it worked like a charm. Click/treat for you! And since he loves toys, you can have a second toy: when he arrives at the first toy, you can be running away and then present the 2nd toy to get him to drive back. He doesn’t have to bring the first toy for now – it is more of a recall game then a retrieve game 🙂
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi there!
Lots of great work here!!!
Starting with the Zog zags – he is doing really well!!!! The main suggestion is a simple one: use a longer to so you can be upright and not bent over (your back will thank you for that LOL!!)Otherwise he was super! Be sure to keep him in the line up next to the wing – on a couple of the reps he was more center on the bar creating a straight line, so the line up on the wing is what creates the zig zags (like 2:05 was a great line up position).
On that rep at 2:05, he hit the first bar:
The line up was good and the angles were harder but a bit but the release had you facing him with the toy close and you bending over – all of which is a very strong “drive to momma “collection cue so took off looking at you and not the jumps, and hit the first bar on takeoffNote how on the next rep you were facing forward and moving forward – and he jumped it really nicely 🙂
AS the angles get harder, you can lower the bars to 6 inches so he can read the new angles without the challenge if height – then raise the bars up a little when he is happy with the new angles.
Looking at the Motion override videos – I think the challenges were too hard in terms of motion because it took several sit cues on each rep and he was able to do it when you stopped moved (or he would do a down). So – try it with less speed for both of you by having him next to you or only a step behind you while you move soooooo slowly (maybe even marching in place)/ Then you can say sit just once and keep moving at a snail’s pace – and reward when he sits.
>>What do I do if he lays down during the motion over ride? Just prompt him to sit up or reset?
If he goes into the down, you can release him to you, reset, and move more slowly on the next rep.
The moving target looked great! You can definitely use this for the zig zags or make the other toy longer – it keeps his head down without you having to lean over (and allows you to move forward pretty fast too!)
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning!
I am glad that the massage person was able to help him! He puts so much of himself into every bit of work that I bet he felt really good after the massage 🙂
Looking at the zig zag video:
>>He got through them. I’m just wondering if I flattened them out too soon? In some ways he looks like he’s struggling. Is it possible that a dog never gets to a very flat line?
I think he did really well on these – this is an incredibly hard skill, especially on 3 jumps!!
Small detail: On rep 3 and the last rep, the toy was a little too close so he hit the last bar going for the toy, so try to have the toy another 10 feet away from jump 3.
I agree that he is working really hard on these! You have gotten to the stage where the flattening of the angle will happen much more slowly – maybe one jump moves, per session. So he did get through the whole thing here but once he got to re p5, it was a hard angle. So you can leave it at, say, the position for rep 3 to start the next session, then move one of the jumps to a flatter angle and leave it like that for the rest of the session. Then the next session begins there and then one jump can get flatter. In other words – this game starts off easy enough that we can flatten things quickly to a point… then we slow it down to ultimately get it totally flat or almost totally flat (but that takes a longer time).
One other thing to help – I think on the harder angles, he is slipping just enough that it changes the jumping. – for example, at :43 on the front view when he lands from jump 2, you can see his left shoulder slip under him towards his chest the tiniest bit. I don’t see it on the side view but do see it on the front and rear views.
With that in mind – do you have grass or dirt that you can work the really flat angles? That can give him more grip and allow him to get the power bouncing going on the really tight angles.
Plank work looks fabulous on both the wrap and the slice!! He is well-organized and you are able to stay in motion, even as the bar gets higher.
Only one suggestion: on the slices, move the MM 6 or 8 feet feet away from the landing spot as the bar gets higher s he can land and take 2 strides to it.
He is ready for the fading process on these front side wraps & slices, but I want to show him the backside versions first so he doesn’t get confused. So the next session can be the backside circle wraps, and the backside slices. Then when he is happy with those, we can go into the fading games.
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
Tracy
