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Hi!
Lovely sessions here! Roux has really good body awareness already and a lot of confidence, so we can add extra stuff to continue building up the skills 🙂For the body awareness stuff – the main next step is to add more arousal so she can maintain the body awareness in a higher arousal state… just like she will be at a trial 🙂
Roux was very happy to make the upside wobbler move! She looked super confident so do you have a bigger wobble board where she can stretch out a bit? If so… get her to tug with you on the wobble board, keep the toy low so she can shift her weight back. If not, using this wobbler, you can tug before she gets on, reward with food, then tug (it is a little too small for her to tug on).
The training plank work looked good too – getting on it, backing up, turning around… easy peasy! So add tugging before and after each cookie reward too, to get the body awareness strong in higher arousal too.
Backing up – she is doing well here too so yes…. Add tugging 🙂 The toy can be the reward! When using your cookie hand as a focal point or the toy, you can lower you hand a little bit (maybe 6 inches) so that her head is slightly lower. It doesn’t need to be much lower, but a little lower will help her back up even more fluidly. If her head is too high, she might end up pushing off her front and bouncing a bit.
Trading toys and getting them – all good! Do you have a ‘grab toy in hand’ marker? She is a powerful tugger so I think you will want one so she knows to look for the toy in your hand and NOT accidentally get your flesh (ouch!) For powerful tugging dogs, a “bite” or “strike” marker helps them know when to differentiate coming in to the hand for the toy, versus coming in much softer for a treat (I use “snacks” or “yeessssss” for that).
Toy races – she was surprised on the first one when you ran too but then she seemed very comfy with it! She was happy to drive way ahead which means you can now try toy races! Your goal in toy races (from games package 2) is to try to win, so you might have to cheat a little 🙂 It will help her dig in even more!
Upright wrapping is going well – she TOTALLY liked the toys!!! And she was still precise and thoughtful, even in higher arousal. That is exactly what we want. Yay! You can stay closer to the upright for now, so she doesn’t have a difference in speed leaving you for the upright versus driving back to you (we want her speed to be equal). Adding distance too soon can get a bit of slowing down, so work this about 4 or 5 feet away for another couple of sessions – you can also build speed driving away from you to the upright by rewarding her with a thrown toy on the other side of the upright 🙂 She will like that!
And great job with the verbals there – those will be very helpful in the future!
Nice work here! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
I see what you mean about her being slippery LOL!!! She is very happy to drive forward to the toy and very speedy, so we can use this framework to work on some lining up and some gentle restraint to start the game.
It is about handler mechanics that feel comfy for you both. She didn’t like being physically moved into position, so we can work a line up into the game. Yes, your idea to put a harness on her is great! So what you can do is something like this: tug tug tug, trade for a cookie, line her up using the cookie as a lure (we can fade it pretty easily) and as she gets into position, put a finger under her harness to hold her. Then feed the lure cookie (make sure she swallows it LOL!) then throw the toy and race to it 🙂 You might find other variations that feel very comfy for you both, so feel free to experiment!
This will also help build in the back-and-forth between food and toys, which is also super useful for training.
>>We can get good distance but I still cannot follow/run after her. She will either go flat or leave the toy and run away.>>
You can stay at the walking/strolling level of motion for now 🙂 As she is driving ahead to the toy, you can very casually walk forward, not pressure on her line and not a lot of motion. We will build all that in over time – the smaller dogs often don’t appreciate the pressure of us humans running!
And you can ‘split’ the behavior of YOUR motion into just walking, then leaning forward as you walk, the leaning forward and moving your arms faster, and so on. That can gradually add the picture of you running while keeping her happy with it 🙂
Then when she gets to the toy, you can turn and run the other way so she might bring it back (but no worries if she doesn’t, we will work on the retrieve separately). But you running the other way should be really exciting so if she chases you, you can reward her for that 🙂
Great job here! Let me know how she does with the harness and lining up!
Tracy
Good morning!
The wrapping game is going well! No need to add more distance to it, we will start adding in cues soon as we add distance. You can move to the wrapping different things (see Games Package 2 for that).
He had a question about the beginning of the session – I think he mistook the first cookie for a down reward. You can either bring the bowls back in for the start of the session, or you can use a moving reward to get him started so he doesn’t offer a down.
Decel to handler is going well too! You can decel sooner so he can decel sooner too – note how he was popping up a bit as he arrived next to you. That was his momentum not quite having enough time to stop pr shift his weight into his hind end. So, even in a small space, start your decel no later than him being halfway too you (and getting your hand nice and low too :)) You can also take this game outside, to add more room to run for you both!
Driving ahead: so fun! Nice toy drive too! He was happy to leave you in the dust here 🙂
One suggestion about the start of each rep:
He doesn’t love it when you move him into position next to you by using your hands to move his body (he was a little mouthy and a little wiggly), so try to line him up without touching him (can be with a cookie lure) then hold him, then throw the toy.Take this one outside too to give yourself more room, then you can add in the toy races from Games Package 2!
Prop game – he loves his prop! Yay! For the ready dance – keep your feet still because if you take a step to the prop then yes, he was correct to go to it. So you can do the ready dance with just your upper body, then do the big step and arm send. Try not to say go because eventually we will be using turn verbals 🙂
He was great about going to it when cued, so you can add in using a toy and also add in the advanced level with sideways and backwards sending!!
Great job on these! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning!
He did really well here 🙂 What a cutie!!!
On the decel game: Moving super slowly helps him lock onto the cookie hand even more – be sure to keep that cookie hand very visible (rather than have it in front of you or tapping your leg) so he has a focal point. When the cookie hand was visible – he was perfect, great job keeping your hand low! When you didn’t have it visible, he was not as locked on or as sure of where to be – he was looking up and even popped up at once point.
For the toy play and driving ahead: moving the toy away always get engagement. He backed off when you moved it towards him, so keep moving it away to get the engagement (rather than pushing into him.
And because he is so young – release really quickly when he is looking forward. If you held too long, he was not sure of what to do (like at 1:00 approx, where you were adding more chatter and he lost his train of thought a bit :)) So you can line him up, throw the toy, and let him go to it as it is landing.
>we’re struggling a bit with the toy release (my boy can really clamp his jaws shut!!). So I added some food, which allowed us to work on the switch from toy-food-toy because that’s been really hard too.>>
Perfect! Working on toy-food-toy is a good thing to work on (there is some new info on that in the reward procedures in the Week 2 set of games). You can use lower value food (lowest value that he will release the toy for :)) and a higher value toy, if he struggles to go back to the toy after treats.Or, vice versa if he struggles to eat when a toy is present. He did really well here so I am sure you will be able to convince him to let go of the toy even more smoothly.
Great job! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
This is going well too!
One suggestion at the start of the session and in the in-between moments: Have your cookies and bowls and toy with you (maybe on the klimb or near it), so you can end the tugging and go right into the training. He seemed a little confused as to why you walked away after the tugging or when you walked away to get the upright. Everything should be nearby so you can make quick transitions.He is doing well with the bowls – no sits or downs here! Yay! So the next step is to quietly place the treat in the bowl, so he is not following the sound of the cookie drop. You can lean in and place it there, or use soft treats. Then, you can wait til he offers going to the next bowl before adding the treat to the bowl.
Adding the upright went well! So definitely emphasize fading the sound of the treat so you can get him offering even more.
Great job!
TracyGood morning!
The nose targeting is going well – you can help prevent the default sitting by rewarding sooner – mark and toss the cookie as he is moving to the target rather than waiting for him to touch it.He did well going back to the toy after the cookies! Super!
For the toy play – a longer toy that can move more will help get engagement. You can slide it across the floor for hims to chase, which will get better engagement than waving in front of his face where he is less likely to engage.And remember to listen to your timer LOL!! If it goes off, end the session within a rep or two. In that last minute, you ended up getting more sits and not as much targeting, so remember to keep the sessions short and sweet 🙂
Nice work here!
TracyHi!
>>We struggled in the early stages of this, as standing as you directed, as she’s been taught to go around, then through my legs when I stand that way.>>What you did here to get her started was perfect – You had a great start to this here!! One thing to change – rather than reward from your hand, you can toss the treat before she stops moving (and pitching the treat on the ground so it kind of rolls through her front feet will help her keep backing up). It looks like she was stopping and offering other behaviors (the bowing and stretching was adorable!) because she was getting rewarded from your hand, which was causing her to stop moving.
>>she came back and offered up a couple more. This was very exciting for me.>>
Yes! She was terrific, that was a superstar session. And letting it percolate for a few days will help grow the behavior so she will be even stronger in the next session.
Great job!
TracyHi!
>>For now I’m letting it rest>>
Yes, I like to let things rest and try again in 2 days or so – whippets in particular are amazing latent learners, so letting things rest and percolate is always a good idea.
The plank work looked great – she was very happy to get on and turn around! You don’t need to click this, because she likes the motion a lot – you can just deliver the treats and also do tug breaks between reps. The tug breaks will help her body awareness when in higher arousal (like when she is eventually running across the planks :))
Great job!
Tracy
Hi!
She is hilarious with her play style – she loves it when you mop the floor with her LOL!!
Great job with the wing wrapping! 2 next steps:
While sitting on the stool (which was perfect), you can slide the bowls further back by your heels, so she has a wider arc on her wraps and has more room to turn around to find the upright (I think that is why she had the one little oopsie moment – the upright had moved out and was harder to see).The second thing to add is, after a couple of back and forths with you sitting on the stool – bring the upright in closer to you (so that variable is easier), and change your position to standing 🙂
>>. First I tried with an inflation toy on a bungee, but after the first rep, she wasn’t picking up the toy.>>
She drove to it really well but then either she doesn’t like the inflation or she got a little turned off when it hit the wall on rep 2. Try it in a different location to see if she likes it again 🙂
She TOTALLY loved the other toy, driving ahead to it beautifully and even bringing it back (mostly LOL!)! So using this high value toy, you can move to toy races (posted today). Have fun!!
Great job here!
TracyThis is an awesome update! he sounds like a really good pup 🙂
And yes, at his age, the amount of energy (brain and body) he uses in a short session will certainly set him up for a good nap 🙂 I don’t guarantee that will continue through adolescence LOL! But it sets up a good routine, happy crating, and good learning.
Great job with your structure – it sounds so perfect!!
Keep me posted on how he is doing!
Tracy
This is good to know at this stage! And we will use this game to help teach her self-regulation.
Do a minimized version of it, like a slight bend in your knees like a “game on” crouch, just the tiniest bit… and then use a ‘get it’ marker and toss a cookie off to the side (the movement to get the treat will be a nice way to help regulate arousal.If that goes well, you can gradually build up to adding more arousal and stimulation, a quiet ‘ready’ word, etc and continuing to deliver food for the absence of jumping up/grabbing.
We definitely want the arousal regulation to be one of the biggest pieces, so for now you can use a toy for the prop sending, which will include some arousal regulation but will also give her an outlet for her mouth 🙂
Tracy
Yay! Thank you for the update! It sounds like everything is going really well 🙂
The blinds are hard because we have to turn away from the pup (hard!) and reward across the body (really hard!) so yes, adding practice without her is smart 🙂 Keep me posted on how it goes!
Tracy
You can deliver cookies to him for staying in handler focus, that will help if he has trouble with it. 🙂
Hi!
The Decel is looking good! And there were some crazy-sounding distractions in the distance! The only hard part was getting enough of a head start. Yes, you can put the cookie in a dish to make it more visible on the grass. Or, you can do it as a restrained recall where someone holds him as run away – then you call him and the person lets go so he can start running to you.When he gets to you, try to have your cookie hand even lower so his chin is parallel to the ground or even pointed slightly down. I know, you will half to bend in half to do it LOL! But he will grow fast so you won’t have to bend as much for long 🙂
Great job!
TracyHe was great with his driving ahead outside, what a good pup!!! You can let him start running to it before you start running to it, so he gets used to being ahead of you. Then you can check out the new version of it added today – now, with that in mind, you will be able to win the toy races because he is so small, so you don’t want to win a lot – maybe just once – then let him win all the time to keep his confidence high like it was here.
Great job!
Tracy
