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Good morning!
> I have added in the resilience games and a sort of snuffle mat thing at the end of each session.>>
This is great! And sometimes you can just go back and forth between tugging and a snuffle mat, so her physiology ‘rehearses’ bouncing back to baseline/
Looking at the rear crosses:
>>She doesn’t understand what I want and I am not sure what I can do differently.>>
If you freeze the video on each rear cross moment (see below) you will see that for most of them, she had already arrived at the prop and started turning towards you before you started the RC info. So to her, it looked like the turn and burn game (front crosses) on the prop. Which is why she had the same response as when you play turn and burn 🙂
On 2 of the reps (1:16 in video 2, 1:32 in video 3) the RC info was starting before she arrived at hte prop, so she turned the correct direction.
So in the next session, move the prop further across the room so there is more distance between your starting point and the prop. And do a bit of parallel path warm up like you did here, that looked great! Then try the rear cross, with the goal being that you cut behind her sooner, so she sees you on the new side when she is at least a full stride away from arriving at the prop. That should help! And if you are too early and she doesn’t touch the prop? No worries 🙂 reward anyway 🙂
Here are the RC moments to freeze on the videos:
Video 1 –
:36, :44, :54, 1:08 124, 1:34Video 2 –
:59, 1:08, 1:34, 1:46Video 3 –
:33, :44, :55, 1:12, 1:43, 2:03, 2:14>>Two sedate ready dances earned me some instant feedback. She nibbled at my knee! And then later grabbed my pants. I feel bad that I am frustrating her, or causing whatever emotional state that generates the gentle attachment of poodle teeth to clothing.>>
She probably needs an outlet for the ready dance, which can be practicing it with a toy in your hand so you can then let her tug hen the arousal state changes. That can protect your clothes and flesh 🙂
Nice work! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi! You are doing great – definitely not behind! And it is good for the pup’s resilience to take days off – it helps the body rest and reset 🙂
Tracy
Good morning!
She did really well in the new location! Her engagement and responses were basically the same as you have at home: SUPER!!!
After the blind crosses on the first video, be sure you decelerate almost immediately. You were running til she was very close to you then doing the decel into the pivot a little bit at the last minute, so she had to slam on the brakes. Decelerating sooner (after her first of second stride towards you) then doing the pivot will give her time to coordinate the collection into the turn.
She did a great job with wrapping her box then driving to the toy! SUPER!!!
On the 2nd video, the parallel path looked really strong too. For the rear crosses being close to the prop made it easier for you to show the rear cross line, and she did great! YAY!! When you don’t want to do rear crosses, you can practice this game with more and more lateral distance.
Super job on these! Remember to build in a day off here and there so she isn’t doing this stuff every day – we want to let her brain reset in between training days (lots of science behind the physiology of stimulation so we want to give the body a day or two to not ‘work’ so it can reset itself for baseline.
Great job here!
TracyI am glad he did well with his bed in the kitchen!
For jumping up at treats or toys in your hands, you can try 4 things in the training sessions:
– in the transitions, like when you are removing the toy/treat and moving into offering or a cue, you can give him a bridge behavior of tossing a treat on the ground for example, which can give you a moment to get the toy and treats situated for the training or next rep.
– keep your hands quiet when you are holding the toys/treats during training and while he is offering. The quieter your hands are and the less they move around (for now), the easier it will eb for him to ignore what is in your hands,
– having the treats or toys less visually present can help too, even if it means putting your hands behind your back for now. Eventually we will be able to have them very visually present, but starting them a little less prominently can help him learn to ignore them
– add in specific verbal markers for when the reward is available from your hand A marker for “now you may take the toy” and “now you may have the treat” can really clarify when he should try to engage the reward versus when he should not engage it.
Let me know how he does!
TracyGood morning!
Good job getting toy play in the yard!
When you send to the barrel, stand totally still and let him offer – he was trying to figure out how to go around it and move away from the toy, so the more stationary you are, the easier it will be for him to offer moving.You had a lot of pointing and verbals and moving, which drew his attention entirely back to you, so he was watching you and not considering offering on the barrel.
>>I decided to take a step back and try the Wrap exercise using the tug toy, which I had not done in the past.>>
This was a really smart training moment! Yay! You recognized that there was a step that could help him and switched to that without abandoning the session, and then he was really successful. Click/treat to you 🙂
Note the difference on the second video, where you were a lot quieter and more stationary, and he was able to offer a lot more! He is better when turning to his right on this, so you can do a couple of reps in a row of turning to his right before asking him to offer to his left. He did get it really well! You were moving the visual of the toy away a little more and that helped too!
For the next session, repeat what you did here on the 2nd video (but with more right turns to get started before asking for left turns) and then I bet you will be able to add in turn and burn really easily.
Great job!!!
TracyGood morning!
Seems like EOTT is going well!!!
The first rep was super hard because between you moving to the position and the big toy, the had target was not as clear til after she was on her way to the toy.
You were clearer o the 2nd rep (and it was to her stronger side like you mentioned). On the 3rd rep, you were stationary before she finished finding the treat and that made a world of difference – she was not processing motion, so she could much more easily “see” the hand target. She drove directly to it on that rep, and also on the last rep where you were stationary and she was moving to her less-strong side. SUPER! And a big gold star to her for ignoring the giant dangling tug toy, in favor of hitting the little target. NICE!!!
You can move to adding an empty food bowl as a reward target on the ground and then the toy can eventually be the reward target on the ground.
How is she doing in the amped up EOTT environment?
Great job here!
TracyGood morning!
Tugging on the first video then the treat scatter went well! And the strike a pose game went really well too – he drove right into the target hand on both sides, and good job getting the reward placement across you, so he got the 2nd turn of the serpentine line too 🙂 And back to tugging at the end (looks like throwing the toy was a good way to re-engage after all the cookies :))
I didn’t see any overarousal moments with the toy or any humping 🙂 on this clip – just really good transitions and training mechanics. YAY!
You can do th strike a pose game now with a toy as the reward – a cookie toss starts the game (or a stay) then the toy is the reward after hitting the target, placed just like you did with the treats here
Lap turns are looking good – remember to see your feet together until he arrives at your hand, then move the hand and foot back together to set the turns, When he as turning to his left, your leg was back too early on the first couple, which tends to get the pups turning towards us (and not away). Then after that, you starting moving your leg later, and he was Abel to turn the new direction easily.
Tandems looked great! You had one rep where you moved your hands too high and a little too fast, so he didn’t turn – but all the other reps were slower and hands were lower, so he was great!
Adding the prop went well too! He was able to find it easily after the turn away. With the lap turn here, delay the foot step back til he is a couple of inches from your hand – when you were too early, he didn’t turn away but when you were slightly later: perfect!
And the toy play looked harder for him here in this session, but he didn’t get overaroused from what I could tell (not grabbing or humping).
>>although I continue with my struggle to get him to tug with me. Sometimes it seems to me he is looking for the food.>>
I agree, I think it is hard for him to tug in a smaller area where there is sooooo much food scent on the ground and in your hands. You don’t suck at it! Even training in another room or moving from room to room to split the area between cookies and toys will help! And being able to train outside will help too. The main focus is the arousal regulation, and he did well here (bearing in mind that since he is entering adolescence, that might not always be the case LOL!).
Nice work!
TracyGood morning!
Tugging on the first video then the treat scatter went well! And the strike a pose game went really well too – he drove right into the target hand on both sides, and good job getting the reward placement across you, so he got the 2nd turn of the serpentine line too 🙂 And back to tugging at the end (looks like throwing the toy was a good way to re-engage after all the cookies :))
I didn’t see any overarousal moments with the toy or any humping 🙂 on this clip – just really good transitions and training mechanics. YAY!
You can do th strike a pose game now with a toy as the reward – a cookie toss starts the game (or a stay) then the toy is the reward after hitting the target, placed just like you did with the treats here
Lap turns are looking good – remember to see your feet together until he arrives at your hand, then move the hand and foot back together to set the turns, When he as turning to his left, your leg was back too early on the first couple, which tends to get the pups turning towards us (and not away). Then after that, you starting moving your leg later, and he was Abel to turn the new direction easily.
Tandems looked great! You had one rep where you moved your hands too high and a little too fast, so he didn’t turn – but all the other reps were slower and hands were lower, so he was great!
Adding the prop went well too! He was able to find it easily after the turn away. With the lap turn here, delay the foot step back til he is a couple of inches from your hand – when you were too early, he didn’t turn away but when you were slightly later: perfect!
And the toy play looked harder for him here in this session, but he didn’t get overaroused from what I could tell (not grabbing or humping).
>>although I continue with my struggle to get him to tug with me. Sometimes it seems to me he is looking for the food.>>
I agree, I think it is hard for him to tug in a smaller area where there is sooooo much food scent on the ground and in your hands. You don’t suck at it! Even training in another room or moving from room to room to split the area between cookies and toys will help! And being able to train outside will help too. The main focus is the arousal regulation, and he did well here (bearing in mind that since he is entering adolescence, that might not always be the case LOL!).
Nice work!
TracyGood morning!
The narration on the video was great LOL!
The handler of the dog before he was LOUD and also those big loud NO NO at the end… well that was hard! I think you also send something like “I am not going yet” because of the end of run ruckus of the previous dog – that was appropriate, I would not have started the lead out process either.
The run itself went great. She seems faster in trials than she is at class which means your cues have to happen sooner & faster. And at the stage of running her, you are probably splitting your focus between “what is she going to do, behaviorally, on contacts, etc” and getting the info to her super early.
So everything you described as having gone wrong just goes back to the cues being late. When she is moving that fast, she is going to make choices earlier (jumping, lines, etc). And the hard part of running an inexperienced dog who is fast like Sprite is that she needs the cues early, but she also needs extra time to process them because she is still learning to work in that environment.
So if you feel like running an inexperienced dog at the beginning of her career is hard? I agree! It is hard! And it gets easier for you both 🙂
Good job accepting the line up even though she was slightly sideways. Her brain (the back of it, in charge of emotions) might have felt a bit unsafe after the ruckus of the handler yelling at her dog as Sprite entered the ring. So that part of the brain was in biological ‘stay safe’ mode and would not allow Sprite to turn away from that person/dog entirely.
>>I tried to play either her, but I struggled to get her attention.>>
Yep, her amygdala was probably temporarily in charge there – stay safe! Stay safe! But that was only a couple of seconds then she was back into a pretty good attentional state.
Looking at the middle of the run:
>>Then, I didn’t cue the turn from 4 to the teeter and she locked on a line clear across the ring. >>
At 1:34, you were accelerated and facing the line, so the cues told her to do exactly what she did. Good girl! She came back to you (find my face!) with a “we nailed it!” expression on her face 🙂
>>A few bars fell. Might be slipping versus just not paying attention to her form versus late information. >>
Looking at the video: late information. She was totally paying attention and she was not slipping. The first downed bar was at 1:35 and she saw you slam the brakes as she was in the air, so she dropped her feet but it was too late to adjust the jumping or line commitment.
The 2nd bar down was at 1:45 and it was a conflicting indicator there too: you had decelerated (which predicts turn) then as she took off, you said “poles” and accelerated. So she tried to adjust.
I am not sure if you wanted the tunnel after the weaves, but you were moving and facing it as she was exiting the weaves, so she was correct to go to it.
Gorgeous handing line from the end of the weave area to the a-frame. Wow! That is a look into what is coming soon at trials! So great from both of you!
>>We need to work on RC as she turned the wrong way on the jump after the AF.>>
Yes – late info 🙂 At 2:13 when you released her from the frame and cues the jump, you were on the right turn side of it and moving forward on that line – the RC info did not start til after she took off, so she could not adjust til landing. Ideally, you would be closer to the frame and even a little further ahed before you release, so you be running to the center of the bar to set the RC before she has to make a takeoff decision.
But even with these little bloopers (and they really are little bloopers, due to getting used to her speed and being in the trial environment) – note how she never shifted into overarousal, she always was able to ‘find you face’ and was easy and happy to re-start for the next session. The contacts and weaves looked fantastic!!! YAY!!!
So looking at the before-run and entry to ring moments:
>>Not sure what else to do to get her to pay attention as we walk in.
>>She’s still very distracted in the ring.She is definitely finding that being near the ring while the dog before her runs is hard, and the moments in front of the jump before the line up is hard (she is not finding the line up itself to be that hard, all things considered, and that is GREAT!)
So for a general “what to do” – this waiting ringside while exciting dogs run needs to be practiced in class while the exciting dogs run 🙂 I don’t think she is that strong in class with this skill yet, so it makes sense that it would be harder in a trial. So at class, seize the rehearsal opportunity and start playing your pre-run games while her exciting friends are finishing their turn.
If my memory is correct, doesn’t she have a couple of exciting and maybe loud Aussies in her class? You can use these canine friends to help rehearse these moments right before the ring entry. Start as far from them as needed but even if she is not perfectly controlled, no worries – practice makes pathways! And you will see the arousal regulation kicking in more and more.
In a trial, for today (for example) – you can keep her a little further back then move into the ring quickly when they need you in… but no need to rush into the ring or get close if the person before you will be screaming NO NO at their dog (I mean, I would not bring my novice dog into the ring if that was going to happen! If the judge says anything (which I doubt he will do) you can just tell him that the other handler was screaming at her dog and it is unfair for your dog to be subjected to that, in a trial environment. It is a pretty classic example of why it is sometimes perfectly fine to delay entering the ring.
If you are running today you can do a little experiment outside the ring – try a snuffle mat while the previous dog is running. And as that dog is finished, maybe your videographer can grab it while you move into the ring. That might help her out in that situation a lot!!
And, interestingly – she is more stimulated and frustrated here with the leash on… so when you get into the ring, take the leash off as soon as possible. She is a little less aroused with it on. Take it off and go into the line up and see how she does!
Overall I think she is looking fantastic! And if you run today – maintain the lovely connection you had here, and if she goes off course, assume it was a late cue 🙂 and carry on like you were doing.
The one piece that she is struggling with is the piece that is the least rehearsed (waiting while exciting dogs run) so we add that piece to the puzzle and boom! It all comes together 🙂 and that is really exciting!
Let me know how it goes today!
Tracy
Good morning!
This went well! The tunneling had the intended effect of really stimulating him so you could then challenge the stay behavior to see if he can do t in rial-like arousal.He could line up beautifully. A sit on the flat ended up being a down (we can blame his BC heritage for that LOL!). And it is good info because if you want this sit stay in this context, you can use your line up which seemed super solid in all reps.
And adding the silly lead out also was fine for him, no problem at all holding the stay. Super!!! Aroused, yes. A little twitchy here and there? Yes, but still really successful with the stay behavior.
At 3:10 he did have a question – he had done the game had a good jump, you said yes, and moved the toy… then asked for a middle line up. He was confused and was looking around. The line up was out of the regular context so it didn’t make as much sense to him there.
He was able to do it, but it falls into the category of conflicting indicators: everything about the context leading up to the moment and the way you were praising/moving seemed to indicate toy play coming… then the line up cue conflicted with that so he needed a few extra moments to process it. That is similar to when our physical and verbal cues don’t match, so the dogs need to try to sort us out 🙂
You can also do this with targeting on a plank for lots of quick, high arousal reps of end behavior on contacts!
And, is it also great for end of run behavior: 10 tunnels in a row, then praise and run over to the leash, then onwards to the reward station.
Great job here 🙂
TracyHi!
>> He doesn’t like it and lays his ears back when I ask him to “walk” (not pull). I want that to be more positive.
Yes, definitely add toys/treats when you arrive to the destination but also you can use treats or toys along they way, if he is pulling and there is conflict when you want walking and he wants pulling 🙂
>>I’ll also practice all the outside the ring behaviors more regularly at home.>>
Practicing these get and behaviors away from agility and with increasing levels of arousal (also away from agility) will help when you are outside the ring at a trial. The proofing with arousal game can be helpful for that, and the behavior you “proof” can be eating treats, for example.
>> Once Liz is back from EOTT I’ll see if we can get some people together that he can watch doing agility so we can practice. He’s been to a couple of seminars where he’s better but far from where I hope to be so maybe I can conquer these smaller scenarios first.>>
Great! Seminars (even if you just audit), classes, etc – all are great build ups to trials. Keep me posted about how he does!
Tracy
Good morning! The rear crosses are going well – he was reading you correctly: when he was turning to his right when you were rear crossing, it was because you were cutting behind him late so he saw you on the right turn side as he was arriving at the prop.
At :38 then :41, you were sooner to get to the left turn side so he turned left 🙂 Yay! Then he was on to you and just started offering that regardless of what you were doing LOL! Good job just going straight to reset that so you could work the timing. The reps at 1:18 and 1:23 and the last rear cross rep all had you cutting to the new side sooner, so he read the left turn well.So the key will be to see how early you can get to his other side. You might end up pulling him off the prop (getting a turn on the flat) if you are too early, but that is fine for now and still rewardable.
Nice job with the goat tricks on the plank, that was easy for him! He was able to get up on the plank and balance himself into the straight line up. You can try this with you standing, so he can have his head higher (for better balance) and so he is not as likely to lie down. Turning around went well too – the slow hand cues helped him maintain his balance.
Since he seems to be doing well with the plank, you can add in backing up onto it and see how he does.
Great job here!
TracyGood morning!
The lap turns with a prop are looking really good! She is very fast driving into your hand cue, following the turn, then hitting the prop. Your mechanics were really strong and that really helped her.The next step is to have your magic cookie hand empty (it might have been on the last couple of reps but I was hard to tell because your transitions were so quick :))
When your hand is empty and your are going to give her a treat for coming too it, remember to keep your hand outstretched and feet together until she is just about at your hand (try not to move too soon).
She is driving back so hard to the hand on the strike a pose game that she is rattling her brain LOL!!! Don’t worry about the pounce, that will go away when we add a jump and motion. And she was GREAT about it even with the big new toy in your other hand – more arousal from the toy being used, but she was still super precise with the behavior. And fast!!!!
Nice mechanics on these – yes, another arm would make it easier LOL! But you were still able to make excellent transitions so there was never a moment where she had a question. Big click/treat to you!!!We build on this game next week so you can let it percolate until Tuesday 🙂
For the toy-cookie trades:
>>Can you explain this a bit more? At what point do I give her the treat? And how? I’m just sure the order of events for giving a treat to get her to bring the toy back.>>
You can experiment with exactly when it all happens, but generally you can throw a toy, and when she gets it, call her back. When she turns to you (rather than having a zoomer with the toy), you can mark and present a cookie from your hand. She might not bring the toy all the way back, but that is fine to start. Eventually you can shape your way to getting her to come further and further back with the toy, then you give her the cookie. She might pick this up really quickly and bring the toy back right away 🙂 Let me know if that makes sense!
Nice work here!
TracyGood morning!
It sounds like a fun weekend at EOTT so dar!!It was really cool to see her play toy races and the blind cross game in a new area – outdoors at the hotel! That is a really great opportunity for her to play her games but also to work with focus and engagement in a new place. She was terrific! She also went back and forth between food and toys, and didn’t run off with the toy. All of this is great!
The toy race at the beginning looked good, and she was quite perfect about reading the blinds (and NOT doing a blind unless you cued it). She also did well with the pivots – you will need to do the blind sooner, so you can decel sooner. You were decelerating right as she arrived at your leg, which made it harder for her to see up her collection for the pivot. So do t he blind right as she starts moving towards you, then decel right after you reconnect on the new side.
>>For Kaladin, I cue the threadle slice with “Come” and my off hand up a bit and across my body (it’s not usually very high). Works great for him. With Min I did the inside hand back and then switched her to the off hand even though she was smaller. Recommendations for Lift given she’s going to be small too? (and my threadle wrap is usually 2 hands and lower to distinguish it from the threadle slice)>>
I think it is always easiest for us humans to use the same cues for all of the dogs, so the threadle the same way as Kaladin is probably easiest. And I am sure she will read it. You can still teach the dog-side-arm threadle because that is a big part of the picture even when the full cue uses the off arm (the off arm also uses the dog-side arm a bit by pushing it back).
>>Tug- Stop tugging & wait for offered sit. Then “break” to release to tug. Is this a case where break releases her and the tug is the reward? Wondering about using “grab it” to get the tug or is it better to be very clear about using break and then presenting the tug?>>
The reason I use ‘break’ in this game and not the toy marker is two-fold:
– To build up the stay release as something to explode forward on (like we will want on the start line)
– To keep the release super precise because we humans tend to be more precise with the break releases than with toy markers.
That being said – you can also use this game to help develop markers, if you don’t move the reward before you say the marker. The ‘grab it’ is also a release, but it just has a slightly different meaning then break. So you can use ‘grab it’, but also make sure you use break too – and then you can mark the release with the grab it marker, or throw the toy for with the ‘get it’ marker too 🙂Great job! Have fun today!!!
Tracy
