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Hi!
She looked great here! Good retrieves!
>> In our agility field she will sometimes make a loop before she brings it back – not really running around the field but just sort of one big loop.>>
No worries about that short victory lap – most dogs need to do that bit sometimes, so that they can decompress a bit and come back for the next rep.
And yes, try to keep the toy lower so she can pull on it more and shift her weight into her rear. But overall, the retrieves looked great! Keep making it super fun for her like you did here 🙂 Yay!
T
Hi!
The ‘yes’ marker works for the hand delivery stuff like in the backing up… but tossed treats need a different marker so yes, totally use the get it marker (and keep tossing the treats).I think to help her get the correct direction, you need to start further back so you can cut in behind her much sooner. For comparison:
Look at the very last rep at 1:18, where you started the rear cross and cutting behind pretty early, and she got it. You were pretty much done with the RC before she arrived at the hat.Compare that to :48, for example – she was just about touching the hat before you started cutting behind her (she was touching it and turning to her left, because you were still on her left).
The timing is the key on the RCs, so more room gives you more time to show her: ideally you are fully finished with the RC side change while she is still one full step away from the prop.
But, as instructed: you rewarded ALL the things because she was correct 100% of the time (even if you were not sure she was correct… she was indeed correct :)) Yay! All of that reward will help her be resilient to handling errors if we even make any, and also it helps her understand that the little bit of RC starting should indicate the turn the new direction.
>>I don’t want her to rehearse those spins but by the time I see that she is committed I am late in getting the reward in front of her
You were not late with the reward, because the reward throw does not create the behavior. You were late with the cue (which creates the behavior). So don’t worry about the reward timing, just try to get the RC started much sooner.
>>When should I throw it?
As soon as you cut in behind.
>>Should I say get it as I throw it?
Yup – get it is the better marker for this game.
Nice work! Let me know if that makes sense!
TracyGood morning!
I agree, this went really well! She did well with you relatively close to the bed so she only had to take a step or two. To start to add more distance, one thing you can do is have less room on both sides of the bed – you can put it up against a wall on one side and maybe put a crate or open on the other side, to narrow the playing field a little so she won’t step off the side when you move a little further away.
>>I thought I was being much better with reward timing and placement and sometimes I think I was, but in looking at the video I could be faster with it.>>
I thought you were good! You can have the cookies ready to go in the hand rather than having to pick the cookie out of the other hand, but overall you were fast for what the session needed – it is not a high energy movement so you didn’t need to be higher energy or faster. If you were going faster, she might get a bit frantic and lose her form. Your pace of reinforcement matched the situation really nicely!
>>I will get there and I think that will make things better for her.
She appeared to be happy with what was going on and not frustrated at all! So no need to try to go faster here.
>>Should my marker word come before I give the treat?>>
Yes, you would say the marker then move the cookie hand, which is basically what you were doing here.
>>Should my marker word come as she starts to step backwards or as she lifts her foot to put on the bed?>>
This can be variable: sometimes for that first step, sometimes for all the way back to the bed. But always toss the reward to the bed. Mix it up, as that will help her add more distance in a gradual way.
Great job!
TracyHi again!
More fun arousal work! I just love this. Look at how she was able to get stimulated with the toy and still maintain her body awareness and balance – even when she was clearly in a heightened state with more ,muscle tension. Just be sure that you don’t get heightened and move too quickly with the cues: when you wanted her to spin, your hands movements were sometimes too high and fast so she couldn’t process the cue. When you were using a slower and lower movement, she was perfect. So be sure that your cue remains super clear while she is up in that optimal (high!) arousal state 🙂
She had trouble with the down on the object and a little trouble with the down on the flat… good to know! We will work that skill separately as well. And, I bet latent learning will kick in here too and if you revisit the high arousal downs, she will be better able to do them.
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning!
Yay, barrel wraps in arousal! She is a lefty, I believe. Note how all of the left turns were just fantastic! You had good distance going and she had zero question: she was able to immediately go to the barrel and wrap to her left.
The wraps to the right was ever-so-slightly-harder and she ha a couple of “wait, what?” moments like at the start and then midway through the session. She finds it harder to process the rights turns, which is fine because dogs all do have a sidedness just like humans 🙂
So a strategy for working the barrel wraps in arousal (which was FABULOUS):
Move to the turn and burn game, but do the session ONLY on the left turns (she starts on your right on all reps).
The take a break. And do the back-and-forth game like you did here, starting on your left (so she turns right) but you will be very close to the barrel and not moving as much. You can warm up fro a few reps like that, and probably then go to the turn and burn, but at a much simpler level (standing still longer) than you did on the left turns.
The right turns will catch up to the left turns, but for now we will keep them a little separate so she can process.
And, it doesn’t really matter how it looks in that session so it if looks like crap? Cool! No worries at all, because these pointy creatures are amazing with the latent learning – even if a session looks poopy, keep rewarding and helping the dog and then the behavior will appear in the next session.
Working this in arousal is great because the science tells us that when the dogs encode/learn in this state, they will be better able to remember/retrieve the skill when they are in this state! And she will be stimulated at trials, which basically means she is going to be high, and aroused… and still able to produce amazing turns. It is cool to have the science on this and then see it play out with our dogs! Yay!
Great job!
TracyGood morning Deb! Hope you had a great weekend!
>>There was a disc dog event outside and Tarot was really distracted by the people coming in and out of the building and the sound of the electronic voice over the PA system.>>
Oh yes, that would be really hard for any dog! Even in a familiar building, she would definitely notice those distractions. Good for you for recognizing that it was hard for the baby dog!
With that in mind… she was a superstar here!!!
Warming up with the tugging was great. And then you did really short distances and LOTS of cookie rewards, also great!
If the tugging is more exciting, you can add it in after every cookie or two. You were really good about giving her the moment to look at the environment and choose to engage with you – that really builds great engagement and resilience! And you were patient when she ‘needed a moment’ like at 2:25 when she needed about 5 seconds to clear her head and sniff. You quietly let her do it, then she was able to re-engage without being asked and she finished STRONG!!!! YES! So in hard environments, you can let her have that little head-clearing moment – she was not being naughty she was just saying “whoa this is hard, ok now I am good, let’s go!”
Plus, I think the cookies on the ground lower her arousal a little o the toys will keep her more stimulated which is great for handling the distractions. In easier environments, you can do a bunch of cookie rewards in a row. But in the harder environments, you can tug after each cookie reward or after every 2 or 3 cookie rewards, to keep her more stimulated and help her to handle the distractions.
And in a less distracting environment, you can start to add even more distance for her to then run back to you for the decel.
I think you made really fabulous choices here for your baby dog and it really set her up for success. It was a true demo in how to train a behavior while supporting the needs of a youngster in a distracting environment. Big Click/treat for you!!!!
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning!
I agree, he is definitely part Mountain Goat. Yay! His confidence is just outstanding! We will keep playing these random goat games all the way through adolescence to make sure he maintains that confidence during all the brain changes that come with adolescence. So for now, keep doing all of the random rewards for getting on this when asked, and finding as many different surfaces as possible.
>>The other day he launched himself onto my rolling office chair and then parkour-ed onto my desk.>>
OMG! And I bet he gave himself 5 gold stars and told you he nailed it LOL!!!!!
>>Stillness on the other hand is a struggle.
He is just about getting to the age where the pups have enough development to start learning stays and stillness, so we will be adding that in soon. I train pups to stay by using motion and action, so they like the stillness and will offer it. Stay tuned!
>>Going back to toy from food was a no-go.
No worries – he was probably in a pool of cookie smells, so you can leave the room and throw a toy around in a different room to get the toy play. The toy play here is mainly to keep the arousal really high, so you can run to a different room, tug a little, then come back to shaping. It is worth it to do it because then the body awareness transfers so nicely to the ring when he is more stimulated..
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning! Hope you had a good weekend!
The driving ahead is looking great! The long line was harder to manage but you did a great job of giving him just enough agency to drive ahead and play with the toy, without soooo much agency that he was Abe to take the toy on a tour of the field LOL! Good job keeping the line loose so he was still feeling the freedom without being reeled in too much. Really fabulous!
O the 2nd video, he was actually moving back to you with the toy even faster and you made it worth his while by having a MASSIVE play session when he got back to you. So excellent!!!! You were great about play play play play rather than just taking the toy away to do the next rep. The other thing is that he found a new gear of speed when driving ahead of you 🙂
The only thing I would add is if he doesn’t come right back and needs to stop and chew the toy (he did that a little in the first video), you can let him chew the toy for 3 to 5 seconds… and then start to call him back to you. He might need that 3-5 seconds to self-regulate the excitement of running outside with the toy. If you give him those few seconds before encouraging him to come back with it, he will be more likely to come back and he will get great practice with the self-regulation!
He was a rockstar with the prop games! I think we are seeing latent learning in action here: in the live class, he was good but the food in your hand was definitely something he had to think about. So we didn’t see the full behavior in that first session. But then through the magic of latent learning, here it was! Yay!
He had some questions on the reps where he turned to his right (starting on your left) so at 1:07 on the 2nd video, you started him closer and got GREAT hits and you were also able to ad countermotion (which looked terrific too). Compare to the first video when you asked for some left turns with him starting on your right: he was able to do those with more distance.
Video 3 with you moving into the countermotion was really strong too – it took a rep for you to get your mechanics going but then you had it! Same with the new side – one rep to get your mechanics going then you had it. What worked best for him was when you rotated and did the countermotion and changed hands and pointed backwards and looked at the target. So if he started on your right, as he was passing you, you were rotating and then indicating the prop with your left hand and looking back at it (like at :28). When you kept him on the same arm with it crossing your body, your connection and indication was not as clear so he had some questions (:48) unless you stayed closer to the prop (:52). So to build up distance, the changing arms and pointing behind you should be super effective.
The wing wrapping with you in the hair went really well too! There is a definite element of self-control getting built in, because he REALLY wanted the cookies in your hands LOL! Plus, he had free access to the great big work! And yea, he figured out really quickly to go wrap the cone to get the rewards. Yay!
Watch the video in slow motion: look at him bending around the cone, turning his head to slide around it… that is an indicator that he is going to be able to turn amazingly well! I am excited!
So the next cone session can be with you getting closer to the cone and standing up, so he sees the picture of you standing. Then you can go to the turn and burn we added this week (you might be able to add that in the same session where you show him standing up.
Great job on these! Onwards to the goat games below 🙂
TracyGood morning! Hope you had a great weekend!!
>>Found it made a difference in MY arousal level and the work/play session because my attention wasn’t split.
That is really interesting! Maybe it felt good and was a relief to just enjoy the time with one dog. I am sure that they enjoyed it too 🙂
>>>> If he is in a stimulating situation, it can be all about him and then you can help him with the arousal regulation. <<< What is it I can do to help him with his arousal regulation? Definitely a lack of knowledge in this area on my part. It’s something that is a struggle for Roulez and I don’t want to repeat history.>>
We are actually building in a ton of arousal regulation without the pups (or humans haha) even realizing it. All of the back and forth between toys, and using toys before/during/after is about teaching the pups arousal regulation (using food-only in training does not work that as well).
Rewarding all the things is a great way t start teaching it too!
And check out the resilience game each week – the resilience wall helps, and the games we add each week are great for it too, even if you only play it once or two (they don’t need a lot of training 🙂 )
let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning!
Boring feedback for you today because once again, this looked great.
The reps where you made a little extra eye contact and less ‘here’s my hand’ were better, and Rogue was quicker to change sides. This was generally when she was going from your right side to your left side, and both of you might be more comfy turning that direction.
Her only question was at :27, when you made eye contact a little late so she didn’t quite get the side change. You had your new hand (right hand) out and in position, but blinds re eye-contact based particularly for small dogs, so she was staying on your left side til you made the big eye contact. You were a great trainer in that moment to reward her anyway because that was a handling error and not a Rogue error 🙂
So two things happened in that oopsie moment:she learned a bit of resilience to handler errors because she didn’t have all the info to respond perfectly, and you were like “that’s cool, you still get rewarded”. It might seem like a small thing but it is a BIG BIG thing because so many people blame their dogs and don’t reward, so the dogs then get anxious when something goes wrong on course.
The other thing was that you then aded more eye contact on the next blinds for the rest of the session, so it went really well! You’ll find with a dog her size that you want to keep your hands behind you as much as possible for blinds so you can seek out her eyes – that makes for great blinds with small dogs.
Lovely work here! You can totally try this with toys too!
Tracy
Good morning, hope you had a great weekend!
I am so glad you are enjoying the live classes! The puppies are all so amazing!The plank worked looked great and I loved Rudy’s “hold my beer, I can do this better” moment! Ha! Baxter looked confident but also maybe that it was a little boring LOL! He was happier when you were moving faster and that is fine 🙂 Will Baxter play with toys outside too? If so, you can use toys for this now rather than treats to see if we can get him more amped up about it (although having Rudy get the cookies certainly seemed to get Baxer amped up LOL!)
On the back up video: this is a really good first session!!!!
>>I’ve always had difficulty training my dogs to back up because they’re small, coated, and I have a hard time seeing their back legs move from my position.>>
I can see how that would make it harder to mark those small movements that are easy to see on dogs without coats! Working on the light colored sheet was very clever and definitely seemed to help with the cookie finding.
I think you marked plenty of good behavior here and he was definitely backing up!!
Have you tried this with you sitting in a chair or on a stool, so you can be lower to see better, plus your back with thank you because there is less bending 🙂 Plus, he will keep his head in a more neutral position (less looking up at you) if you are lower, which will produce more backing up too!
>>I’m wondering if having him back up to a “thing” very close would help me visualize and mark his foot movement?>>
Yes, totally can, and it is a game we add in the advanced version and the week 3 version. You can do something like start all four feet on a big flat dog bed, lure his front feet off, then reward him for stepping back on (front feet, because that is part of backing up :)) Then work up to luring back feet barely off, then letting him step back on.
I thought you did a good job on this video but yes, a ‘thing’ can totally make it easier to see the behavior for both of you 🙂
Great job!
TracyHi!
We missed you this weekend!! Next time we will figure out a way for you to come 🙂
She did really well on the wobble board! Yay!
Before you add noise, I think on these shaping games, you can add in more arousal in the form of more tugging before, after, and between the cookies 🙂 She is doing well with her body awareness so adding the arousal will help her understand how to do it when she is more aroused 🙂 Plus, I think she will think it is more fun LOL! So basically you can get her really high and excited with tugging, then let her offer on the wobble board for a few cookie rewards, then back to tugging. If she struggles at all with the added aroma (like loses her balance) then you can add in more stability to the wobble board (like putting towels under it) so that she remains in high arousal but has more body control in the moment.
Then when she is more aroused, you can add in the noise – and the arousal will help her not even hear the noise 🙂
Looking at the backing up video – she is doing tis really nicely too! She seemed to resisting the temptation to “hoist” her hind end up onto the board, and was inserted working it foot-by-foot, step-by-step, which is what we want 🙂 So… same idea as above: add more tugging before, after, and between cookies 🙂 That will challenge her to be able to do that same great form in higher arousal, which will translate to better hind end use in the trial ring when she will undoubtedly be in higher arousal 🙂
The prop game for the parallel path is also looking good! She is ever-so-slightly better when she in on your left side (in terms of the coordinated prop touches while moving), so she is probably a bit of a righty. When she was on your right, she was committing to the line of the prop but not quite hitting it as well as when she was on your left. That probably indicates a tiny side preference, which is fine – it is very subtle! So when she is on your left, you can be a bit further away. When she is in your right, stay a bit closer for now so she doesn’t have to press any added distance.
You also can drop the click now and use your ‘find it’ marker, which will really help ensure that she doesn’t look at you at all and keeps her eyes on the line.
And since she did so well here too… onwards to working this in higher arousal with toys too!
She was snappy and crisp and fast in the countermotion game – really nice! The toy play helps this skill a lot by raising arousal 🙂
And remember that you can reward for the “almost” moment. For example, at :48 she *almost* hit the prop – you can reward the effort of that and get a little closer on the next rep (that was the only rep in that session where she really was not looking at you when she started – it was like something caught her attention for a heartbeat). When you didn’t reward, she did go hit the prop again but then turned the ‘wrong’ way (away from you, to the right). It was good to reward that but rewarding the rep before it will get her to turn the correct way.
The rest of the session was strong! As you went along in the 2nd half of the session, you did less of that ready dance and more of the send following the toy release… and her responses were faster and more accurate following the ready dance. So definitely keep that ready dance in because it gets her primed to drive away from you with as much speed as she drives towards you 🙂
Turn and Burn – her commitment is looking really strong and you made very fast progress around the barrel here! She definitely loves the chase element as you mentioned – in the early turns and burn reps, she was slower going to the barrel, looking around a bit. But as the session continued and she realized that you were going to run the other way: she started heading to the barrel faster and faster (and with less looking around), possibly because heading to the barrel was predicting the chase-da-momma game which is very exciting!
Towards the end she had a little trouble fuzz-in-mouth-drama LOL and then lost her train of thought – it is possible that the session was just a tiny bit too long and she had trouble maintaining that level of focus in arousal – so you can do two things:– Time the sessions to 2 minutes or less so she doesn’t get tired
– Add in leaving earlier and earlier (doing the FC and running the other way), just as she is arriving at the barrel 🙂 That will be SUPER fun because she will drive to the barrel faster to get on with the chase game exit 🙂
Great job! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
She is doing well here too – as she gets more stimulated, she if shifting her weight to her shoulders and hoisting her hind end up to smack it down on the bed LOL It is adorable! But she is losing form of backing up as she gets more excited. In normal sport-mix style, she is working how how to go REALLY FAST without maintaining the form we want LOL!!!
So this goes back to your question about the toys… we can use her fabulous toy drive to help her learn to go fast AND maintain form, which is so important! For this game: replace the cookies with the toy, and you can use a release for tugging from your hands (between your feet) as the reward and reset for the next rep, or you can toss the toy to her if she will bring it to you to tug (I believe she will).
To start, go with the toy in your hands and REALLY close to the bed: we are ultra-stimulating her so we want to make form easy (just one step backwards) because internal state is much harder. The goal of the session is not to add distance, but to get her more stimulated and maintain the good form 🙂
Over the course of several sessions, you can add more distance but keep an eye on form: if she goes to the hoisting of her rear rather than the stepping back with her rear, remove some of the distance so she can maintain good form.
Great job on all of these! It is really cool that we can start working in higher arousal states at this early point in her training!!!!!!
Tracy
Looking at the plankrobatics. She is happy to get up there, happy to leap off it, and definitely improving with turning in a circle. So thinking about your toy question above: you can do this with a toy! Hop on – release to hop off to tug. You use a hand cue to help her turn around – release to hop off to tug. This helps her learn to be coordinated and thoughtful about her body even in moments f higher stimulation.
This will going to have more power from her, so you will want to stabilize the board so she doesn’t push it or have it slip out from under her or scare herself. You can switch to a longer, heavier board that is less likely to move, if you have access to one!T
