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Good morning!
Thanks for the play update! I see progress here! Yes, she has a run about with the toy for a bit but does bring it back relatively quickly when you are moving away and when you have the other toy. It appears like she turns towards you to see if you have the other toy? But at least she is turning towards you and bringing it back quickly enough.
Is it an immediate retrieve? Nope. Does it need to be? Also nope 🙂 She is happily playing with the toy, and bringing it back soon enough for now. So keep playing like you did here (making it fun to bring the toy back). Separately, have you started the other retrieve game of shaping retrieves with a clicker (on any object, can be a toy or something different). That can make a big difference too!
Looking at the rocking horses:
Yes, she is pretty chill but that is what we want for now: thoughtful behavior and not recklessly throwing herself at the barrels.
She was looking at the toy a lot (so was I haha!) because you were holding it at the center of your chest or under your arm and switching hands, so she was not sure if the hand switch meant “toy time” or to continue. So to clarify that, you can keep the toy in the same hand and don’t switch it. If that is too hard for her, leave it in your pocket for now. And when it is toy time 🙂 you can use a reward marker so she knows it is time to go to the toy 🙂Her only question was at 1:02 when another dog moaned about the injustice of not being allowed to run too haha but otherwise, she was great! You can move to the advanced level!
She did well getting in the box! It is really small with high edges, so if you want to use it for running contacts, I suggest a bigger box with lower edges so she can move faster in and out of it.
She is hitting the mat nicely too! There were a couple of reps you didn’t reward even though she hit it with her back feet too, maybe because she was turning to you? She does want to look at you here with the mat and also with the box, so that can be the next step: “don’t look at me” 🙂
Two things can help get her looking forward:
Instead of the yes or clicker, you can use your get it marker and toss the treat. And, you can use a target out front as a focal point and reward station, such as a manners minder or empty food bowl – that way she always knows where the reward will be coming from and look at you a lot less.Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning!
Backing up – he is making progress here for sure and getting those long legs moving backwards! Yay! This will take a couple more sessions to get even more backwards steps, so revisit it maybe once a week. Only one suggestion: It worked better when you had cookies in your hands, because you could reach in and out to get the rewards going faster. When you had to reach over to the cookie bag, things were delayed so he did other things (like sit). So you can have 4 or 5 cookies in your hands then break off with a toy game while you reload.Stays are definitely making progress too! He is able to hold position now for a few steps and seemed happy to offer the sit. I think you are adding too much by also having him sit at your side. Let’s just get the stay going from anywhere… then you add it on your side (he broke every time you moved he was on your side, it is possible he needs to see your face at this stage). So for now, he can sit anywhere he likes as long as he holds it til released for the catch reward – and over time we can fine tune it to sitting at your side or a line up.
You can add a little more movement – both as you are asking him to sit and during the release – that way there are no long pauses (in dog years LOL!) where he gets ramped up and wants to anticipate the release
The resilience game is going well! The distractions on the ground were visible but easy to handle, so he was able to offer engagement and not concern himself with them. Super! So the next step here is to take it on the road a bit, and use this game as a framework to explore the world 🙂 Great job here! See you in Mississippi soon!
TracyHi!
He is doing a great job following your cues to turn away on both the lap turn and tandem turn cues. Yay! And he stayed engaged even when another dog came to visit LOL!Since he is doing so well, you can go to the next steps:
– for the lap turns, use a cookie toss so he moves away from you to start the game. That way, when he is done eating the cookie, you can be stationary in position and showing the lap turn cues (feet together, arm extended towards his nose). That will give him even more speed coming towards you, and will challenge your timing to be able to turn him away.
– for the tandem turns, you can also start him with the cookie toss so you can show him decel before turning him away for the tandem turn. Also, you can go to the Advanced level with the prop, where you use your hands to draw him to you past the prop, then cue the tandem turn so he turns away and hits the prop when he is moving the new direction.
Great job on these! Let me know how he does with the added challenges!
TracyHi!
You can try to recreate the ladder, or grab some time on one if you see one in your travels. I’m not sure the cavalettis will look or feel quite the same, but that is fine because we can keep playing with cavalettis 🙂
THi!
He did really well here – nicely balanced and not rushing!
Cavalettis are a bit of a different thing than ladders, because the height and spacing is different. It looks like the bars here can do one notch lower, so keep them really low for now since the spacing is tight (there is a formula for cavaletti spacing but he is a little too young to get too deep into that) I am glad you took the leash off, so he can control his footwork without the leash pressure. He did really well! He didn’t know where to look at the exit of the cavaletti (would start looking up at you) so you can add in an empty food bowl about 6 feet from each end so that he has a focal point (then you can drop the treat into the bowl.>.Bob says entering from the middle is dumb, so we only did it once.
Yes, it doesn’t work with cavalettis because he can’t trot over the cones. So no need to enter the middle of the cavalettis, but it would be great if you can show him a ladder! The spacing is really different, which is a nice challenge in a different way.
Great job!
TracyGood morning!
>>I just need the other sound. I couldn’t hear yours in the video to get a feel for it. Do you have a video with you saying both?>>
I will see if I can find a video that is easier to hear, but it is basically a short hiss of a noise, with my tongue right behind my top front teeth: tss tss tss
>> but I started saying “get it” for food thrown ahead which was supposed to be for toys only. I felt like I needed a very specific food on the ground marker so she doesn’t look for things on the ground randomly, but I’m defaulting to get it every time I throw something ahead. Do you think I need to be that specific?>>
I have found that the dogs let us use ‘get it’ for thrown food and toys, because they are so good at context 🙂 And the reward markers and pattern games help them look for stuff on the ground a lot less than if they didn’t have those skills.
>>I never thought about Bostons having a smaller range of peripheral vision. I bet you are right. I have only ever run Bostons, so I may not have noticed a difference.>>
It is definitely something to consider… our human heads had a smaller field of peripheral vision than dog heads do, based on head shape/structure/etc. And my sighthounds can certainly see things differently that my little apple-head Papillon does… they ar ebred for wildly different functions. My Paps are built more like Bostons and move their heads/necks similarly, so my guess is that we can consider breed & structure differences on this stuff too. It is fun to think about!
>>We took a trip to a field that we rent to practice sometimes. I was curious to see if Bazinga could do her stuff in a new place. She had no problem.>>
YES! This is huge!!!!!!! Happy dance!
The blind cross foundation looked awesome – she read the blinds really well, you were super connected but more importantly: she was 1000% focused and not distracted by the obstacles, new location, or the holder. SUPER!!!
She found the parallel path to the jump with no problem here. Nice!!! And good job getting the toy thrown pretty early on most of them so she didn’t look back. I think she was not quite as sure about the release to the jump from the stay – it looks like she held some of them, and left early on some of them. You can incorporate the ‘catch’ rewards on this game too, so staying in position in front of a jump gets a ton of value as well. I use toys as ‘catch’ rewards too!
If you have access to a holder again, you can give yourself more of a head start on this to see if she will find the parallel path even when you are ahead, and then add in more of your running too.
Great job on these! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning!
Serps are looking strong and the pet tutor worked well – you can click it or mark the reward moment as soon as she turns over the bar so she doesn’t look at you as much as she is moving to the PT.
You can be closer to the jump as well, so she turns a little more before the bar and less on landing side. Getting there sooner will help too: When starting with the cookie toss, be near your position before you throw the cookie, so you are not trying to run to position. Trying to get into position was sometimes making the serp cue late, and sometimes landing you in the wrong spot relative to the jump which is potentially going to cause confusion with threadles and also caused her errors here (like at 2:14 where you were not in serp position so she was correct to just come to you). It was easier on the next couple of reps when you were closer to position and she could see the serp cue between the uprights. Nice!!For the next set of serps, you can add wings to the jump! And we build on this game tonight 🙂
Toy races are also looking good, she is driving ahead beautifully! You can add the go go go verbal now too, to help pump up her response to it and understanding of the verbal. This is a good game to take on the road, because it is great to increase toy engagement and also gets a lot of focus and excitement in new places.
“” I realize it takes me a while to get into frame, but I promise I’m running. “”
I can see you in the mirror on the back wall 🙂
>>Next up I’m going to work on some of the prop handling. I have done any of that since class, continue with stays and start the RDW foundation games since I can start that at home. Mostly this paragraph was a note to myself. I’ve been going back through the class material trying to pick up what I’ve missed.>>
Sounds good! And also – the resilience games 🙂 Those are probably the most important thing we do in this class 🙂
Great job! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning!
The indoor countermotion game looked great! My only suggestion it to be clearer that you are about to start by making eye contact and saying “ready” or something. She was sometimes still in play mode when you were beginning to send, so the start ofeach rep was not always smooooooth 🙂
And since she did well, you can add your wrap verbals and also move a little faster.>>I first attempted to do the start line work outside, but there was a pheasant moving around in the driveway and it had Caper very distracted.>>
Well, that is understandable!
>. but I did want to mention that I did the pattern game several times with her and that definitely brought her attention back to me and what was happening and not on the pheasant.>>
Super!!! So the session was still a ‘win’ even if you didn’t really work stays. You worked on attention with a BIG distraction!
The indoor stays looked good! Easy peasy. She seems to anticipate that when you stop and look at her, you are about to release… so you can be a little more variable about the release by sometimes doing it while walking or sometimes standing still.
You can also play this game with a toy – that will create more internal stimulation, which will make the stays more challenging! And you can take the game outdoors again – but rather than move directly to the stay, yo ucan start with the pattern game and see how she does in terms of focus with distractions, then ask for the stay game if she is able to ignore the distractions.
Great job!
TracyGood morning!
Looks like lots of games in new places! Yay!
The rear crosses to the left are starting to come along nicely. The rear crosses to the right are still really hard, with the success rate a lot lower. 2 ideas for you on that:
– definitely try the flatwork games from the stay that I posted above so you can specifically isolate that right turn without getting left turns first.
– also, use her name call a later – when she is heading to the cookie you tossed, you are already calling her name so she was hearing it strongly in her left ear… which can cause more left turning. So on the right turns in particular, call her name after you are on her right side (but do the stay game foundation work on this before trying again with the movement).Parallel path is going really well! And your best toy throw was on the last rep – nice and early, so she didn’t look at you at all. You can be moving more on this game, so she is finding the line while you are in motion rather than from a stay. She was driving ahead of you here, so you can be further ahead of her to see if she can find it from behind you as well (without just chasing you).
Tunnel threadle: she is definitely loving the tunnel! Yay! On these, you handled the threadle side by facing her like a lap turn. It mostly worked (more on that below) but since we don’t want to build foot rotation into the threadle cue, the next step is to get her to do the tunnel threadle with you facing forward (feet not turned to her but instead you are moving forward on the same line of motion you would be if she was going into the non-threadle tunnel entry). Have her between you and the tunnel (closer to the entry you want) with you both facing the same direction, to help her learn to find the threadle entry without you facing her or handling it with hand or foot cues.
When you were facing her but neither of you were closer to the threadle end (like at :46 and :58) she did had a legit question about which side you wanted. You had shoulder pressure to the entry she took, plus facing it strongly and without a clear arm cue to come into you. So to handle it by facing her, give her a really strong lap turn arm to help her know to come to you. And, also practice it without the foot rotation so she begins to understand how to threadle past the obvious tunnel entry (although it might take a few sessions to get her to be facing the obvious entry but NOT take it).
Get out: She really thought it was the parallel path game based on the setup! Resist the temptation to put this on a jump yet – I have a concept transfer coming to help add it to a jump but in this session, but it was more like the parallel path game here because your feet were turning to the jump when you cued the out and even when you were calling her past it (your videographer was correct to note how you were cuing the jump unintentionally). So she took it on a relatively straight line… but then was confused when you didn’t want her to take it. We don’t want hre to bypass jumps that look like they are on her line so for now, leave this game on the prop and I promise we will get it transferred to the jump soon 🙂
Nice work on these! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
This is part 2 of the rocking horses , with lots more distance.
The first rep was a matter of sorting out mechanics so he was looking at you a little bit but then you nailed it at :27 and he saw you accelerate, decelerate, then rotate to send him to the cone. You had a perfect connection shift there – letting him see your eyes move from his eyes to the ‘landing spot’ past the cone. That is why he drove to the cone so nicely!
So definitely keep playing this rocking horse game 🙂 And have you thought about what you want your wrap verbals to be? I think you can start adding them now.
And since he is a big dude, you can also go to something taller to wrap around like a laundry basket to garbage pail 🙂
Great job on these! Let me know what you think!
TracyThis is strike a pose – looks great! On the first couple of reps, he wanted to leave the stay when you arrive in position and re-connect so try to walk to position as if you are serping the jump, staying connected. He settled into the stay nicely after that, so he probably needs the extra connection when he is most pumped up.
Good job looking at the target after the release, that helped him. He did a great job coming in to hit the target even with the toy visible in your had – good boy!!!
The next step here is to have the reward on the floor to get the in-and-out action even smooth. It can be the toy if you think he will successfully resist it 🙂 or you can start with an empty food bowl or manners minder to help him maintain his great serping even with the reward on the floor.
Great job!
TracyGood morning!
He is doing really well with his cone wraps here!! The hardest part is ignoring the big toy LOL but he did that too. Make sure to have a longer moment of connection after the wrap, o he is 100% sure which side to be on. On the 2nd rep, you looked forward really fast and he almost ended up behind you. That extra moment of eye contact will smooth that out so he knows exactly where to be.Nice work! I see more of this below 🙂
Tracy
Yay! Thank you for the stay update! And the tunnel work sounds lime it was fun and he did great!!!
Looking forward to seeing you this weekend!!
TracyGood morning! Happy New Year!
Looking at the cone wrapping videos:
She is doing well on all of these! And committing really well!
Small details to add for the next session:Let her finish chewing before you give the next cue 🙂 She was a little slower to get moving when she was still chewing 🙂
You had cookies in your hands on the 3rd video, and she was fine with that – you can leave them in the same hand rather than switch from hand-to-hand and that will help her focus even more on the cones.
I couldn’t see your connection but she seemed to know exactly where to be, so keep up the good connection!
She is ready for more distance between the cones, to add a little more speed 🙂 I think you can think of it in her body lengths between cones You can go to two body lengths between the cones and if she is happy with that, you can go to 3 body lengths. And if you have taller things to wrap, like laundry baskets or garbage cans – she is ready to see that too.
Have you thought about which verbal directionals for wraps you want to use? Common ones are things like “dig dig dig’ or ‘check check check’. She is ready for her verbals directionals to be added!
Get out also looks good! She has really good value for the prop and seemed to have no questions.
This first part if definitely awkward when we are standing still, so you can totally add motion now – adding motion will keep your feet straight, so your motion is on a parallel line without stepping towards the prop (and your eyes, outside arm, and verbal deliver the cue :))Placing a line on the ground (like a leash) will help you keep moving forward straight without migrating towards the prop. It will feel weird – you are basically walking straight forward and upper body sends her to the prop.
The stay session was definitely stimulating for her – the toy makes it spicy for sure! She had some trouble with the stay position while the toy was involved and her arousal came up, so two ideas for you:
– after you get the toy back, give her one more heartbeat to settle into the stay before you move away.
– release her from the stay then move the toy (ideally after she moves), so she doesn’t pair toy movement with the release (I think the toy movement is what she was locking onto here, so got frustrated when the toy was moving but she was not supposed to move).And since the toy is so stimulating, you can bridge the gap using food: start with a little toy play, then play this game with food rewards and the toy in your pocket, to bring in a little more arousal but also help her understand how to stay when she is stimulated. Then over time we can fade the food and she will still be able to hold position even when really stimulated.
Nice work here! Let me know what you think!
Tracy
