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Hi!
I am glad she liked 8 inches! I figured she would 🙂 try 10 inches next time!
Either I had waaaaay too much coffee (always a possibility) or YouTube is being insane or the first 15 seconds of the video is a strobe overlay of some sort! Things were clear at 16 seconds and after – she did well with the lap turn! There was only one rep, so only one suggestion: shift your gaze, moving it from her eyes downwards to your lap turn hand. That will get her driving very directly to it, making your timing much easier.
Nice work! Let me know if there is a clearer video of the first 16 seconds LOL!
Tracy
Good morning!
Great job lowering the toy to the ground with lots of reinforcement for holding the sit! Very nice! He did well with the stay element and that helped him be successful as you added your movement on the flat. You were able to get further and further away, as well as start releasing AFTER the toy was dragging. Super!
To make it easier as you add the jump, start him closer so you don’t have to lead out as far – and then get the toy on the ground and dragging before you release him. You were releasing him then dropping the toy as more of a reward, but for the jump grid purposes we want the toy on the ground and moving before the release as a focal point (like you were doing on the flat).He is definitely ready to see the moving target game added to the set point!
Smiley face is looking good too! The pattern game at th every beginning was great to help him be ready to focus. One detail: make sure you connect very clearly wen he eixts the tunnel, with your dog-side arm back so he can see the connection. You were looking forward a bit and arm pointing forward, so he was not sure where to be. When he is not sure, he jumps up a bit or reaches for the toy (both valid answers from him LOL!!) So adding the connection will help, and stuffing the toy in your pocket so your hands are empty will help too! We don’t need precision rewards for this game, so you can reward a little later on these 🙂
The 2nd video here was also included in the first video 🙂
Great job! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
>>I think it was before we started??? I let her off leash first and then went into turn. Didn’t work lol!>
Yes – I like puppies to come off leash after I have their attention 🙂
It is also a great routine to establish – get attention, leash off, reward more attention, don’t leave the momma 🙂>>I may need to do a sniff and explore the new areas first on leash and then put her up in crate for her “real” turn. She really likes to sniff and check out new places!>>
This is where the pattern game can be SUPER useful! It is not always possible to do sniff walks in new places, so it is great to teach the pup to assess the new environment with that resilience pattern game from MaxPup 1! I use to with all of my dogs to bring them into new places with focus and engagement – they get to check out the environment, sniff, and offer engagement.
>>I think another “key” is to keep the sessions super, super short. I rewatched my videos and at around the 2 min to 2 min 30 sec mark she was more likely to disengage.I had the sessions just over 3 minutes. I have to remember that the tugging time counts also!
Yes! Timer at 2 minutes – then be done! Especially in the heat, because she is doing a lot of running and will wear down fast as it gets hotter for now.
>>She is “slower” to warm up. Typically takes a good minute to get her tugging very well!
The pattern game will help this too: when she is engaged and not feeling the need to assess the environment, the tugging will be easy and immediate.
>>She is not a fan of the heat at all!
Totally relatable! Plus she has never had to ‘work’ outside in heat, so it will take a while to acclimate.
>>I do have a timer!!! I need the timer lol!! I will put it to use! We will figure out her exact “recipe for success” just like promise😊.>>
Totally! The timer will help but also before you try to train, work the pattern game in the new environment and let me know how she does 🙂
Tracy
Good morning!
>>>>And you can also try to see if he likes toys!
He doesn’t really like them very much in this context, but is a supreme cuddler, which I why I thought that would make a great alternative, but you are right he didn’t seem to like that and he gave me valuable information on that point so I switched things up today.>>Part of the reason we start with these simple games it to get that feedback from the pups, Thanks, Reacher! Noted! LOL!! It was worth a try to see if he likes the cuddling during training and he said “no thanks, it is ALL BUSINESS here” 🙂
And you can build up toy love separately from training – just tossing toys around and generally playing but not having him “earn” them or anything 🙂
>>I did get inspiration for a “toy” he might like and I think I might have hit on something… Turns out he really likes my sweaty weight-lifting glove!! Ew, but whatever works! >>
Yay! But ewwwww. But also YAY! haha!!!
Looking at the videos:
Prop shaping – nice session! The glove was a winner! When you are breaking off to play, move him away from the pool of scent from the treats but running to the other side of the room and throwing the glove around. You can also use other non-toy items such as big old socks, the cardboard from inside paper towel rolls, anything he likes 🙂
This is a great size prop! Remember that we only want foot touches – you might have been looking for both front feet, but he was convinced it was a bow or a down LOL!I think rewarding sooner will help (he started offering the down/bow when he hit the prop but you didn’t reward) and also standing up will help (because it will be inefficient to lie down or bow when the cookies are coming from much higher up.
The target-in-hand game looked great! He is hitting it nicely! This game can go on the back burner now,until we need it in a few weeks. And the ending of the session looked good too – a couple of treats then off you go LOL!
Looking at the drivnig forward video:
>>Again I used the “very used” weight lifting glove and he seemed motivated by that.
Yes! I wonder if he will still like it is you tie it to a light leash or something so you can drag it for him to chase? And have you tried one of those flirt pole type toys? He might like the glove tied to a flirt pole, something similar to this:
https://www.cleanrun.com/product/chase_n_pull_dog_toys/index.cfm
Also, does he like balls? Just trying to figure out what he might like 🙂
>>I realize this session was a little long so will set a timer next time, but I wanted to show the complete session.
I think the session length was great! 2.5 minutes as a full session including the before and after? Great! And plus the dog gives feedback: if he had lost interest, then it was definitely too long. But he seemed fully engaged all the way through, and did the entire session for a ‘toy’ LOL! Yay!
His focus forward looked terrific too! You can add more distance and also add more motion from you (walking forward as soon as you let him go). Having him wear a collar will really help as you start to be upright and adding motion.
Great job on these! Let me know what you think!
TracyWelcome and OMG a BC/Frenchie! SO CUTE!!!! How big is she? I am looking forward to hearing more and maybe meeting her someday since you are in NC now, right?
Tracy
Hi!
>>I think I went a little too long during this session. I did have toy play sessions but edited them out. I probably should start setting a timer. >
I am a big fan setting a timer and doing the session, then not even bothering to edit it – just post it all up LOL! Those in-between moments are just as important as the skills moments 🙂
But I don’t think you went too long here! She had a few questions, mainly because she couldn’t quite pick the target out of the other visual sensory input.
We can help her “see” the nose target by changing how you present it, to help her drive right to it. A couple of ideas for you:
Good job moving the bowl of treats away, it was too hard for her to ignore it in favor of seeing the nose target when the treat bowl was in front of you. BIG yummy treat bowl versus tiny target… treat bowl won LOL!
When you want her to touch the target, put it in your flat open palm, hold your hand fully extended out away from you, locking your elbow (she can see you extending your arm) and this is the important part: as you extend your arm away, also let her see you shift your gaze to look at the target. Don’t look at her, look at the target.
By moving the target away from you, it takes out the other visual stimuli and she can really see it. And plus, when we look at it like it is fascinating 🙂 the dogs also look at it and often move to it (it is a non-operant form of learning called enhancement). And then you can get your click/treat going. And as she runs to get the treat in the next session, bring your arm in close, hide the target… then after she eats the treat, you can extend your arm and look at the target again,
That will get things rolling, and then it will be easier to leave the target hand out to the side, and she will keep hitting it.
Great job on these! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning!
She did really well here!!! Yay!! What a fun puppy – smart and drivey!! I am especially excited that she can do from toy to food to toy so nicely!!One tweak to the shaping session: start with play like you did, transition to food like you did… but keep the prop hidden til you are ready to begin the shaping part. Then when you are totally ready, with the cookies and clicker and you are situated where you want to be: then put the prop in. That will really highlight it for her, so you will get immediate interaction and less looking at you 🙂 If the prop is out there the whole time, it fades into the background for her 🙂
For the next session, try this with you standing up! That will lead us nicely into the first official game with the prop 🙂
Great job!
Tracy
So great to “see” you in class!!!
Yes, I’ll post the recording shortly – it takes zoom a few hours to process it so I don’t get it till the morning 🙂Hi!
The skills here looked great but the most impressive part was how Prytania was so fast and focused in a new location! And it is a really challenging location, and it was hot too – yay Prytania! She looked great! I notice there were no chickens LOL I wonder if the chickens are the source of distraction at your house?On the videos:
The rear crosses are looking good! Left is looking really good- she was still thinking a little but she got it! The rights are a little harder (especially wen you call them left hahahaha) so if you are training with someone, you can ask that person to toss the toy as Prytania is trying to sort it out 🙂 It sounds like Carrie, she is an excellent toy thrower!
The Smiley face game looked great too! She had that one blooper at the beginning on the wrap to the right where she didn’t fully come around the wing – probably because you were going fast and turning right is hard! But everything else looked great – you were connected and fast and had your verbals going, so she nailed it! Yay! You can definitely do the Diamond game and also take a look at the tunnel threadle game I added today 🙂
Great job!
TracyThe next class is called MaxPup 3: Putting It Together and it will begin in mid to late June (date will be finalized soon!)
Hello and welcome! Feral is my favorite! And she seems spicy too, also a great thing 🙂
>. She doesn’t love training yet.
She will learn to love it, we will convince her that it was all her idea LOL!!! She was GREAT in your video below!!
>>She will lose interest after 3 reps.
She did really well in the video here – you had lots of good fast clicks/treats then went to the toy really quickly. Does she lose interest after 3 reps with food only? Or also with toys? We will take a look to see why this is happening.
>> Loves toys, not really food. Will NOT train for kibble only special treats>>
It is pretty normal for BC babies to not have a lot of food interest (the 2 demo dogs in this class both did not start with a lot of food interest, I built it up). So to help build it, play tug after every 1 or 2 cookies in training especially these introductory shaping sessions. Sure, it might take longer to shape a behavior like the foot target, but it is totally worth it to build up the food value.
And will she eat kibble from your hand or on the ground (not in training, just if you offer it). We can play a little game of “swallow the kibble, get your toy” to raise the value of kibble too! But she needs to swallow it and not put it in her mouth to spit out later LOL!
The pre-games looked really good! Great job with your clicks/treats – it is hard with baby dogs! As you move to tugging, be sure to get the foot target out of the picture immediately, so she doesn’t have to ignore it in order to tug.
With the target in your hand, you can make things more efficient by dropping the ‘yes’ and only using the ‘find it’ marker – this will also strengthen the find it because it means both “you are correct and cookie is over there”.
Great job! See you in class later!
Tracy
