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Good morning! She was a super good girl here!!
The couch cushion worked great as a semi-wobble board LOL!!! She is still a little tentative about getting all 4 feet on the actual wobble board: She seems a little concerned about the movement? So we can help her out!
Using the couch cushion and the wobble board, put them right next to each other and put a bunch of towels under the wobble board so it moves less – then she had more room to get on with all 4 feet, and can put those back feet anywhere that she feels balanced and comfy (the wobble board is very scrunched for her).
That will allow you to mark lots of back feet getting on, and then we can fade the towels out from under the wobble board.Adding the tug breaks will help her keep a clear, relaxed brain about it all, so definitely add in lots of tug breaks.
Great job here! Let me know how she does with the couch/wobble combo 😀
Tracy
Hi again!
Since you have markers, you were correct to use markers for this game – you can use your ‘out’ to get the toy back (I think you did have the drop in there about halfway through) and then the get it marker (does get it mean from hand or thrown?). I don’t teach it with markers at first because generally the pups don’t have the markers at that point.
Wrapping the upright during this looked great – my only suggestion is that when you change one variable (standing up for example) you can bring the upright in a little closer to make that very first rep of the new variable easier. If she has questions, leave it in closer. If she nails it? Move it away again. You can definitely add in fully standing up (you were close to it here) and you can also move to using a bigger object like a barrel or laundry basket. That is a big variable change, so start off sitting again when you do that – either it will be super easy and you can get to standing within a few reps, or you can take a session or two to do it.
Either way – she looks GREAT! I just love her! She definitely loved the toys here and we can use that with the next steps as well.
Great job! Let me know what you think on all of these!
TracyHi!
Bowl game looks great, she totally got the rhythm of the back and forth 🙂 Mission accomplished! For the next session – move the bowls in closer to you, tucking them in next to your legs behind your knees when you are kneeling like this – it will help produce the turns when you add the upright, which she is totally ready for here 🙂Onwards to the next session below:
Hi!
Sends look great! No problem with forward, and sideways! And you did both directions, and it looks like she is balanced in in which way she was turningBackwards was a little harder (as it is supposed to be). It looks like you got a little closer to the prop which helped. I can’t see where you were looking but be sure you are looking at the prop and not at her. Also, she was having trouble leaving the clicker hand on the backwards reps, so try it with an empty hand and see how it goes.
For the next session… do it with a toy 🙂 The toy will add arousal and challenge commitment, which is great for teaching her to work in a higher arousal state 🙂
Nice work!
Tracy
She is definitely a whippy thrashing tugger LOL!
Toy races look super good and she is great about bringing the toy to you – as soon as you know she is going to win the race, you can be running the other direction – that adds an element of countermotion
Be sure to be clearly on one side of her or the other, and run straight towards the toy. When you do that, she turns towards you correctly. When you start on an angle that is not straight (and when she is not straight) she doesn’t know which way to turn and you end up behind her on a rear cross line (2nd to last rep). You might just need more room for that, a wider space 🙂
Great job here!
TracyGood morning!
I think the games are generally similar but there are a few things you can tweak to get more success, in terms of mechanics and rate of reinforcementL
Her acceleration is good but I don’t always know if she sees what she is driving too – so have the toy thrown just before you start (someone else can throw it). Also for the acceleration, these games were teaching her to drive past you by a bit which is valuable – but you should also be doing lots of starting with her and letting her drive waaaaaay ahead of you :
On the decels: she reads the decels beautifully so now do them all as pivots after the decel (slow pivots). The mechanics are different when you stop her at your side – her head comes up and she uses her shoulders differently than she would on a turn. Plus, decel should predict turn and that is why we add the pivots.
One thing about the decel, though… that is a handler cue that requires timing 🙂 There were multiple instances where you were too late for her to process the cue and make the adjustment, so you withdrew the reinforcement. That can be confusing for her, because she decelerated as soon as she was able to! So, if she goes wide on a decel, reward anyway with the reward from your hand (not at your side, reward for her coming back to you). And assume that you were very late 🙂 and try again being earlier. Definitely do not withdraw reinforcement and definitely do not turn your back on her – both of those will increase frustration and decrease behavior.
Two other details:
You don’t need to always do it from a stay – with you at a sprint… that’s a lot of pressure on a stay behavior for a puppy plus processing your change of motion (especially when you might be late). On the stays,she is leaning, and I think she was breaking on some reps? So you can do some stays but the bulk of this behavior should be done as a restrained recall or from a cookie toss (the cookie toss starts also serve to balance food and toy drive, while establishing a countermotion commitment foundation).For the blinds, add in the reward across the body and she will be even quicker on knowing where to go.
Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning!
He is definitely looking better on the plank! He is confident getting on it and pretty coordinated for his young age 🙂 He is also good at the position changes – your hand movements with the cues were a little slower here which is good because it helps him coordinate rather than throw himself into it 🙂
The turns are really hard but he is doing well! You were rewarding all efforts at the turns even if a foot slipped off. As he gets more adult and more coordinated, you will see that all 4 feet will consistently stay on, not just 3 🙂
2 things to add:
Tugging then having him hop onto the middle of the board, then releasing and tugging. This gets him to balance even when he is more stimulated.Raising the board a little if possible, just another couple of inches if you have something to put under it.
>>The toy races/recall is a different story. It is not my favorite exercise
For dogs with a lot of toy drive and a lot of ‘forwardness’, we don’t need a lot of toy race games. He has the toy drive, he is very forward (in a good way) and he is NOT doing any flanking – that is all great! Doing it from a sit stay was a bit too hard for now, that’s something to revisit with less of a toy throw because just putting the toy down will be hard – the throw was a little too hard 🙂 But it is a good self-control game for the pups if they can eventually do it fromt a sit, as long as it is built up slowly.
>>but I saw how nicely your Whippet was retrieving and got jealous
Ha! He is a shockingly amazing retriever, especially for a breed that is not really bred to retrieve LOL!! Confessional: he came to me from the breeders with the retrieve already installed, so I am doing my best to NOT screw it up.
But not screwing it up can be the same approach as teaching the retrieve during toy races: notice how whenever he gets the toy on the toy races, I am already running the other way. So just as he os grabbing the toy, the next part of the game is ON! He gets to chase me. And when he is definitely bringing the toy back (even if for just a few steps), you can whip out a reinforcement: a second toy would probably work best for Casper because the cookie might not be as exciting but you can definitely try a good value cookie!
A positive side effect is that we develop fabulous countermotion commitment skills by doing this because the pup learns to commit to task (grabbing the toy) then driving back to you.
Separately, I do lots of sitting on my butt and tossing toys, and encouraging the pup to bring them me (in a small room, like your training area in your house). When the pup brings the toy, I will play with it, then trade it for something, then toss the toy again.
So it is all play based and highly reinforced. I do my best to never take the toy away in a situation where the game might end or in a situation where I am going to put the dog immediately into “work” like doing a rep of something. There is a long-ish time spent with the toy and the trade, because taking the toy away too quickly after a retrieve is a definite retrieve-killer.
So it looks like Casper does start to wheel around towards you – so change the picture and when he turns with the toy, you can be running the other way, calling & encouraging. if he drives to you but drops the toy? That’s still great because it is shaping our way to the retrieve – definitely still rewardable.
I also give all of my dogs permission to run with the toy during sessions (I say ‘go for a run!’) and if they need to have a victory lap to decompress or think about the last rep, they take about a 5 second lap… then when they look like the lap is winding down, I call and offer the reward when they engage, then try the next rep.
It sounds counterintuitive, but adding these little decompression victory laps actually reduces the dog’s need to run around with the toy (the scientists tell us that it is a self-regulation of the HPA axis and it is a very good thing). When the dog doesn’t need to decompress? They won’t take the toy for a lap. A great by-product of allowing the decompression is the retrieve really grows nicely!
Nice work here! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
>>I do feel very behind on the games!
Haha, me too!!! I totally relate – I had a crazy work weekend and my puppy got to play but I haven’t done much by way of training LOL!!! No worries, it all builds up and we will all be fine 🙂
>> I don’t have a wobble board…I have a soft instability platform, can I use that for the Goat Tricks Moving & Noise baby level?>>
That will totally work! Or you can attach a yoga mat (duct tape haha) to a piece of wood, and put a small tennis ball in a sock and tape it to the underside – instant wobble board 🙂
>>Also, I need to watch your video again, but Bazinga has a back -up behavior, can I use the behavior she already has for this, or should I start from the beginning?>>
Send some video and we can build on it or check it off as perfect 🙂
>>Toy Races (Session 1)
I lost her attention to the treats.I think what happened there was that she didn’t realize she was doing toy races LOL! Like me, she is very into her food and when she turned around, the toy was already dead so she didn’t know what to do. At 1:12 you waited a bit longer to run and that totally helped – she still won though 🙂 So for the toy races with you running, you can take out the cookie mat (I think she is unsure if she should stay on it or not) . Instead, you can hold her and throw the toy REALLY far… and then start with her and try to win. Don’t be surprised if you don’t win, and that is fine 🙂 I love it when small dogs outrun the handlers!
>> I also think I let her get too much of the toy on the turns where I won. I may have become her servant. >>
Bwhahahaha! She seemed happy with that LOL! I think the play part of the session looked good, it was mainly a matter of sorting out the cookie part. We can just eliminate the cookie part of it for now.
Any Toy game: she has such great toy play! Perfect choice of toys too… those are really fabulous, tempting toys! She liked the toy in your right hand a little better. Because she has a little trouble ignoring food – you can use her BEST toys (got any with fur or sheepskin?) and take out one boring dull kibble or pocket lint, give it to her… then back to the toys. And also she gets hot easily when tugging,so you can keep tug sessions to about 45 seconds and then she will still be tugging hard at the end. 45 seconds is probably 10 seconds longer than it will take her to run a Standard course when she is grown up, so it is a pretty long time 🙂
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi! Super nice session here!! He did really well 🙂 Yay!
>>He will still scoot backward if anyone tries to reach for him when that person doesn’t have treats,
Thanks for reminding me about his scoot-away tendencies! We can add a tweak for him then, to make sure we build up the “come towards us so we can touch you” which is more important than backing up for now LOL!!!!
You will need to get rid of the clicker for this, you’ll need both hands free:
when drawing him to the start position between your knees, have him do a hand touch and *then* you can drop the cookie to start backing up rep.
Then we are going to build the hand touch into a chin rest on your hand… then you drop the cookie to start the rep of backing up.
then we are going to build it up to him coming close so you can touch his collar…. then you drop the cookie to start the rep of backing up.
It will take us a whole bunch of sessions to very gradually do this, but I think it can build value for both behaviors! The backing up is off to a great start so I think you should have an easy time of it.
Nice work! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
>>Well, now I feel bad that he doesn’t like the hard play, being touched, etc.
Don’t feel bad! That is why we video – so we can see the pup’s play style which is really hard to see during the actual session.
>>And with the behaviors, I don’t really elicit them. I just wait for him to offer. Like sometimes he’ll do a bow when we are training, all on his own, and I will click that and then work that behavior. But I don’t do anything to encourage it… I don’t lure him into it or anything. Same with the beg. Sometimes he will just pop into a beg, and so if I want to work that, I click and treat that. But when we begin a training session sometimes I just kinda let him decide what he wants to offer first, and then we go from there.>>
Aha! Since you were asking about verbal cues, we need to find out how to elicit each behavior. This doesn’t need to be a cookie lure – it can be a hand cue, or a body position, or something like that. For example, the thing that elicits the backing up is dropping the cookie relative to your body position. And with the other dogs, you used the lure when they had their back feet on the plank. So you can name the behavior when you can elicit it, in the order of: verbal cue, elicit, reward.
If we can’t elicit the behavior, then we can’t really predict when it they will do it, so it is hard to add a verbal cue. Plus, if a behavior gets clicked randomly, it will be hard to cue other behaviors that you might want to be training at that moment. So for the behaviors you are training, you can figure out what might be eliciting them (or how to elicit them) then we add the verbals.
When we begin training verbal directionals, we will be getting the behavior and then adding the verbal to it, just before eliciting the behavior.
Let me know what you think!
TracyHi! A couple of days of worked like magic, this looks great! It is normal for puppies to come back stronger than ever with a skill when we skip it for a couple of days 🙂
So, do everything the same as here for the next session except we are going to change your position: sit in a chair instead of on the plank. That will raise you up an make it harder… and is the step before getting you to be standing up.
If sitting in the chair is hard for him, you can do the whole session sitting in a chair.
If it is easy for him? You can stand up halfway through the session and see what he does. If standing is too hard, you can go back to sitting.
Great job! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
He was great on the plank here! Very strong with going back and forth and also he did really well keeping his feet on (especially on the left turns but you also got some really good right turns!) Super!!!!! For now, you can add in tug breaks: after 3 or 4 cookies on the plank, run to a different spot and whip out a long crazy tug. Then, after a little bit of tugging (10 seconds or so), run back to the plank and do more cookie shaping.
That tug break can help balance the cookie drive with the toy drive. Plus it will challenge him to have good body awareness even when he is more excited, which is GREAT for jumping in the future (and weaving and all the other agility things that need good body awareness :))Great job!
TracyHi! He did really well with his turns here 🙂 He did best when your hand moved a little slower and when he wasn’t chewing when you started moving your hand 🙂
You don’t need to say left or right yet, we add those verbals later on as they apply to turns on obstacles (unless you want them to mean turns on the flat?)
Nice work!
TracyHi!
He is definitely getting the idea of the toy races! Yay!For the treats versus toy…. leave them separate for now. For anything where we start with a treat toss then need to go to the toy, you can ask someone to hold him to do it. He is about to start teething and I don’t want to muddy the waters of treats versus toy for now.
On the 2nd and 3rd videos, it was toys only and he did a good job winning the toy! Yay!!!
2 ideas for you to increase the toy drive even more (the ideas are related :))
– use a longer toy, or maybe tie these 2 toys together so you have a toy that is 3 or 4 feet long. That is very exciting for puppies and he can really chase and tug! Plus it helps with my 2nd idea:
– you can let him do more of the tugging with you a little further away and with less body pressure of leaning over him. He can pull back more and your hands can move a little to swing the toy, but otherwise you can lean back and not as much over him. When you were leaning over and had the smaller toy, he was not as comfortable tugging. But when you had a quieter body language and leaned away? He was a great tugger!
A great example of this is at 1:05 of video 3: he was backed off the pressure and didn’t want to tug with you leaning over him. When you sat back and used quieter body language, he started tugging again 🙂 Yay! Dogs all have play style preferences, and this video is showing us his preferences.
Great job!
Tracy
