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Hi!
Very nice session with the foot target! He was hitting very nicely!!!! And no downs. Perfect! Since you were using a ‘get it’ marker, you can a skip the “yes” and just say ‘get it’ and toss the cookie. That way he immediately knows where to look. We humans tend to use ‘yes’ too much and it is not as clear as a ‘get it’ marker for the dogs.
For the next session, do a quick warm up just like this and then yo can try the sending that we added last night 🙂
He was very clever with the hand target session 🙂 He was adding the paw and trying to look at the magic cookie hand LOL! So smart! So…. have the target a little higher so he has to lift his chin to get to the touch (that can reduce the paw hits) and have the cookie ready in the other hand. That way when his nose is approaching the target, you can say “get it” and toss the treat from the other hand. That can help him stop looking at the cookie hand and get better hits with the nose. He is SO clever with his reward understanding already, that we are going to have to stay one step ahead of him LOL!!
Great job!!!! Onwards the next games, he is ready 🙂
TracyHello and welcome!!! A Cavalier – so fun!!! Quite a change from the Labs but I think you will have a blast 🙂 Keep us posted on how thigns go with Crew!
Tracy
Hi!
He is doing well with the foot targeting too! I could only see video 1 because video 2 was marked private.
As with the hand target, he wants to watch you and the cookies. Tossing the cookies TOTALLY helped him look at you less, and he likes the action 🙂
Let’s take out the clicker too, as clickers tend to make the want to look at us (and then they what the cookie toss which builds in more looking). So, just mark with a get it and have cookies in both hands, doing a quick toss back and forth.
I think you moved the target away from you a little too quickly – he took a while to find it LOL! Cutie! Then he got frustrated (barky). So try to keep the target closer for a few more sessions.
If he will default to a down, you can change the size of the target: make it a little smaller so it is different that any possible bed or mat for a down, and smaller makes it harder to down on anyway. You can also attach it to something like a piece of cardboard, to make it a little taller, so he has to step up maybe half and inch to smack it. That can help him understand the front feet element 🙂
Great job!!! Let me know when video 2 is unlisted so I can check it out 🙂 On the next session, try some rewards for hitting it with you standing up. And if that goes well, onwards to sending!
TracyHi! We will miss you tonight!
You are correct, we are using the hand targets as the future threadle slice – the progression involves making them super independent in terms of the in and out behavior, so this is just the starting point (if you recall, it builds up to not looking at or touching your hand at all, just threadling in and out). By starting with a hand target, we build value for coming towards you in drive. And when we move to the threadle element in a few weeks, the dogs see the hand position as a cue for the in and out, and not as something to look at or touch. Gotta start somewhere 🙂
He did well in this session! It was a good value build start! He wants to watch you (and the clicker :)) so we can build value for driving to the hand cue by changing the mechanics a bit:
You can have your hand with the target fully extended away from your body, elbow locked, so he has to choose: look at you and the cookies, or look at the target 🙂 If you look at the target and not at him, that will help.And when he touches the target, throw the treat away from you so he goes to get it. It might be easier to use a ‘get it’ marker and not the clicker, so then your cookie hand can toss faster. Plus, he might like the action of the cookie chasing a lot as part of the reward, as you mentioned below.
Both of these will help get him working at driving in without looking at you 🙂 Eventually we will hand you stand up too, but I think that will be in a session or two. 🙂
Great job! Onwards to the foot to target!
Tracy
Good morning!
She is SO FUN! Great sessions here. I love her toy and food drive, and her engagement. Lovely!
The targeting refresh session and the sending session went well. I couldn’t see where you were looking when you were doing the sends, but based on her responses (which were very strong) I’m guessing you were connected with her 😀 super!
3 small details:
—When tossing the treat or having her tug from your hand, you can start adding markers: get it for the toss, and something different (I say ‘bite’ for toy in hand). That helps clarify reinforcement placement and I think you have markers already for the other dogs. I’ll be posting more about it in the classroom soon, but she is ready now 🙂—now that she has a lot of speed with the send, I think the target needs to be bigger and weighted a bit so it doesn’t move as much. Bigger target (twice the length) will help her maintain the foot criteria because when it is really small, she either went to nose bops or had to slow down a lot. So a longer bigger target will help her maintain criteria and go fast 🙂
And, putting something in it or attaching it to something so it doesn’t roll will help her be faster and precise because she doesn’t have to ask where it went when you send her to it. Having it move less will help make the send more predictable.—she only had 2 questions about sending to it… and both were after she did something else before the send (getting on the peanut, doing a leg weave). Since she is so young, use the same ready dance setup before the send, so she can predict what is next. If she offers a freestyle trick or something, tell her she is a good girl and reward her in front of you for being patient during the ready dance before the send 🙂
Great job! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi! I’m so glad you came to the live class! And also, we will play some games where you don’t have to be super energetic and she will learn patience haha! We worked a bit of that in with some of the dogs last night, like Snap the white terrier mix and the prop sends.
Have fun!
TracyGood morning!
Great session here: snappy nose touches! And snappy rewards. Mai looked great! At the very end, you tossed the cookie: with this game, the next step is to toss the cookie as the reward for each nose touch, so you can do that too especially since she likes it. No need to do more with this game for now, she looks great and we will revisit it soon when we build on it.Is she happy to tug as a game or reward? Just curious to know what she thinks of tugging 🙂
Great job!
TracyHello and welcome! How is his recovery going? Fingers crossed that things are smooooth and he will be back in action soon.
TracyHello and welcome! She is a fabulous puppy!!
The video is looking good! One thing that will help her is if you look at the target, and don’t look at her 🙂
When you were looking at her, she was not really seeing the hand target item and she was perceiving things as “do tricks for treats” LOL! But I bet if you hold the target hand all the way out from you body (arm extended, elbow locked, leaning over a little so the target is nose-height for her) and if you make an exaggerated head turn to look at it when you present the target… she will go directly to the target 🙂
And if she gets caught in the trick offering, you can bring the target back in and put it back out, with the exaggerated head turn to look at it. She had a lot of good hits here!!Let me know if you want to upgrade to a live spot tonight! We have room in the Thursday classes 🙂
Great job here!
TracyHi!
>> I should be quiet until I have ended the targeting or should I be quiet only when I am asking for the behavior and then speak or play with her when I throw the treat? >
Think of the moments were she is offering the foot target as “work” and the tug moments as “party”. Be very quiet during work except for reward markers, so you can mark and toss the cookie but be quiet as that is still a work moment and you want her to continue to Target after getting the cookie. When you want to take a targeting break or end the session – the tug comes out and you should be as noisy and silly as you want during the tug dance party moments 🙂
TracyHi!
Sorry I missed this last night! You two were great in class last night!This session went well – the paw hits went away when you held the target a little higher, so it was easier to move touch and harder to paw hit. Yay! She wants to look at you a lot here, so two things that will help:
– you can toss the reward away rather than hand deliver (using a get it) so she looks for the reward then for the target rather than for you 🙂
– you can look at the target rather than at her, which encourages looking at the target and not at you 🙂Remember to break the session up and play tug after every 5 or 6 cookies, to help shape her to work in arousal even with these easy games.
Great job 😀
Tracy
