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Hi!
This is the resilience pattern game – he probably thought it was the best and easiest game ever. Ha! Good boy!I know I mentioned that it was fine to mark and toss the cookie regardless of how the dogs approached us to re-engage…. but we are going to revise that for Golly G. His current default behavior is to go behind you and he did a lot of that here.
So let’s unwire that as the default, because almost all sport behavior involves being in front of you or at your side, and not wrapping around behind you. Since we don’t want to tell him he is wrong to do it (because it has been so heavily reinforced and we don’t want to confuse him), we can change the picture: put him on leash for this game, and walk slowly back and forth while you play. That should help keep him moving without offering the going behind you. And, separately, make sure you don’t work toooooo much changing sides behind you because he defaults to that a little too easily 🙂
His engagement was GREAT so that suggestion to add a leash and move a bit will help us take this game on the road.
Great job!
TracyHi! This was all off camera – I hear noises and stuff, but there was no dog LOL!!! Let me know if I missed something?
Hi!
This was turn and burn 🔥 – very nice! He is showing really super commitment and you were able leave sooner and sooner!!!
2 ideas for you:He found this to be VERY EXCITING 🙂 and when you took the toy back to start the next rep, he was grabbing for it and jumping up a lot. So, you can help him self-regulate his arousal by trading for a cookie (tossed on the ground will be helpful!). That way he can take a breath, get a cookie, and reset without pummeling you 🙂
The other suggestion is a handling suggestion:
Send and keep your feet a little more together, especially when he is on your left. You were stepping to the right with your right leg, which makes it harder to leave sooner and sooner.Great job!
TracyHi!
About that increased noise and surface sensitivity… that is totally normal for adolescent dogs! A less-is-more approach: yes, do some training and pair it with LOTS of treats and toys. But don’t over-expose her to things that she might be more sensitive too, because her adolescent brain can’t handle it. Things like this were easy when she was a puppy and will be much easier when she is adult. 🙂
Backing up:
This went really nicely! You don’t need any more angle on the cato board: the sports vet advise against any inversions where the pup is moving into a handstand-like position. But you can replace the stable board with something that moves a little! Just a little, though, so she is totally comfy with it.
You can also do this sitting down for now, to help her head stay low and for ease of reinforcement without bending over too much.Strike a pose:
Also very nice! Your target hand position was good – you can’t get it further away without getting it higher, and we don’t want your hand higher for now.Adding the toy went well, but the cookies were a bit too crumbly, I think, so she was distracted. What cookies do you have that she can just scoop up and swallow, no crunch crunch crunch? That way she can drive back immediately without losing her train of thought, and get right on the toy.
She needed the toy victory lap when there was all the background noise – the noise was challenging to her so she needed to decompress. More about decompression coming soon. So you can let her do that and then move further from the noise, or end the session.
Turn aways:
Yes, find less crunchy treats here too 😆 She was chewing basically the whole time, which divides her attention and spreads treat scent all over LOL!! So a soft, small treat would work best so she can respond more quickly. You won’t see a huge difference on the flatwork game because it was easy enough that she could chew and do it, but the prop game will be much crisper in terms of driving in to you and not stopping to sniff or chew.She did have some good prop hits, but definitely go back and revisit the parallel path game before doing more turn aways, because the exit line to the prop is a parallel path game.
I don’t think you were flipping your hand too fast, but you can keep it lower so she doesn’t pop up at all. And yes, you can throw the reward out past the prop after she hits it.
She is doing well with the retrieve games here!!! Playing in a small space like this totally helps build it up! When she takes the toy for a run (outdoors, for example), she might just need a head-clearing moment like we saw in the earlier video. So you can allow it in a safe place, and I also recommend you put it on cue 🙂 Let go of the toy and tell her to go for a run, and let her zoom zoom zoom around! It is a great way to help her self-regulate her arousal during training. And it actually improves the retrieve because we are removing any pressure and letting her blow off steam 🙂
Great job! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
Great job with the video, she did really well!! She drove ahead perfectly and your connection was spot on. Nice work adding motion – you can keep adding motion and more distance so she drives way ahead. 🙂She didn’t totally love being held or moved by the collar, so you can use some food to line her up, take the collar, give another cookie, then throw the toy. That can help her like the collar grab/hold a lot more 🙂
She did well with NOT trying to run away with the toy (the long line totally helped :)) and you can also build up the retrieve: as she is arriving at the toy, you can turn and run away, calling her. And when she takes even one step towards you… you can whip out another toy from your pocket and reward her for not running away 🙂
Great job! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning!
>> Yeah, it was a strange new place. I was smart enough to bring my “barrel” before I read your reply.
That was great, and totally helped! He actually did a LOT in the new location! And did some really good wraps. It is totally good to jumpstart the behavior by dropping the first cookie to help him, as if to say “this is the same wrapping game”. Once he got going, he did really well. And kneeling was a smart move, that helped too!
>> So no Turn n Burn for us yet 🙂 I could try to turn n kinda short burn at home lol.
No worries, you made all the right choices. You can try the Turn n Burn at home with that short burn 🙂 or you can wait til the next time at the barn (but it is really fun so I recommend the short burn variation 🙂
He also did well with the driving ahead, and that was an excellent choice to play to help balance the wrapping. I was especially excited by how well he went from kibble to the toy!!! When you throw the toy, you can also be moving forward so he gets to accelerate ahead while you are also accelerating. Will he let you hold him by a collar/harness or his chest? That will help build the fun of the hold and also allow you to play the big toy races 🙂
>> I think I over tired him. :p I did bring Dreamer and we worked his threadles too. I put each of them back out in the car in their crates when the other was working. Dreamer wanted to bark when Casper was working, and Casper definitely wanted to bark in the crate inside the barn when Dreamer was working. >>
Yes, I am sure he was exhausted! The games were not physically demanding but the travel, the waiting in the crate, and the brain power he needed to pay attention in the new place all probably caused him to be tired, mentally. But it was a great first experience in the barn and I think he looked great (and also super cute in his coat :))
Nice work!
TracyNote on both of the stay videos I am trying to use a variable schedule:
sometimes I reward immediately, sometimes I go a couple of steps, sometimes 1 step, sometimes 5 steps, sometimes 2 steps… the goal is to extend duration by using this ping pong concept without making it harder and harder and harder (which can be deflating for puppies!)And also note that I don’t care where he sits – if I ask for a sit (or he offers it), he can be sideways or facing me or anywhere. I don’t require he line up at my side or anything at this stage.
I also don’t use a ‘stay’ verbal for him. Sit implies stay. There is nothing wrong with using a stay verbal, but it might not be needed 🙂
T
And I did some of the more explosive stays too with the tug. I added in some food rewards too, because he thought this was REALLY VERY EXCITING and was chattering/clamping the toy a bit. I want it to be “exciting” but not yet “REALLY VERY EXCITING” hahaha!!
“Break” is the cue to move forward out of the stay position, and the “shhhhhh” noise means he should chase the toy in my hand. This is different from “get it” where I throw the toy away from me, and different from “bite” where he should grab the toy in my stationary hand.
Woohoo, the Brain Camp escapades (40 hours of seminars built from entirely new content) are finished so now Ramen can get some training on video.
First up, the clicker stays. I am strange, I LOVE to train stays LOL!!!
“Catch” is the marker for “I am throwing it back to you”
Hi!
The collection sandwich looked really good here! She was very keen to follow all the handling and she was pretty perfect! Yay!One handling tweak – make a faster connection after the blind, so she can make the side change sooner (the connection is the cue, so if you take an extra step, she is waiting to know where to be).
Since she was spot on here, you can pump this up 2 ways:
throw the cookie further and give yourself more room, so you can run run run into the blind before the decel 🙂
Then, make the decel like you did hree (it was great!) but with an empty hand and don’t give her a treat… do the pivot then go right into the toy throw and the go go go.
I think she is ready for both of those ideas and she will really like it because there is even more action 🙂
Great job!!! Let me know how she does!
TracyHi! Good question!
The cue to take the prop is your movement forward on the line like the parallel path game. Just like a jump: if we are moving towards the prop and it is on the pup’s line, the pup should go to it without us needed to do anything else. So it is the lap turn then move towards the prop, and reward for interacting with the prop.Tracy
Hi! The barrel wraps looked great, and I swear he got faster and more jazzed up when you stood up! It was like he said: wait, what? ….. OH YEAH I GOT THIS! Fun!!!!
So yes, you can move to the turn and urn game, but:
>>I’ll try the turn and burn later today when I head out to the barn>>
Be sure to bring this barrel, and also if he has never been to the barn before, you should ‘warm up’ the game with the barrel wraps like you did here. And if he ‘remembers’ them, you can try turn and burn. We don’t want to add new location AND new game at the same time. If he has ben to the barn and is comfy training there, then you can do a quickie warm up and move to turn and burn very quickly.
Keep me posted! Great job!
TracyI am glad you took the Puppy Plunge! Pry is amazing and it is so fun to watch you and Annalise play with her 🙂
T
Hi!
He did REALLY nicely with the tall cone! Super!!! When you move the cone further, the bowls can stay where they are (near your feet) because this adds even more distance to the wrap. And when you reward, drop in just one cookie 🙂 If you drop in several, it takes a longer time for him to eat it all and go to the next rep. So you can continue to play this sometimes, getting the cone further away.And yes, you can totally add your movement in the turn and burn game next! yay! Now things get FUN FUN FUN 🙂
Great job! Let me know how he does with Turn and Burn!
TracyHi!
I love the line up of objects here!! He was interested in the toy in the first video, but when it was just right in front of him it was not stimulating enough. So you can try having him chase it as you drag it along the ground (a longer toy can help). If the toy is wiggling in front of him, he doesn’t seem excited but I bet he would love to chase it!And yes, the game is highly associated with food yumyum! LOL! So he looked at you a lot – and stumbled a little because he was looking at you and not at the objects. So to help him. you can use a cookie on each on, placed down on the object – that will help him keep all of his feet on an not slip off. When he was looking straight and looking at the objects – he was great with his balance. When he was looking at you and the cookie, he would sometimes forget his hind end 🙂 On the 2nd video, you moved more slowly and that worked out better in terms of keep all of his feet on.
And then after a back-and-forth with the cookies, you can give him a break and throw the toy around for him to chase, away from the cookie area.
Great job!
Tracy
