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Good morning!
Great job with the sideways sends! She has a ton of value to the prop (yay!). I love the energy you bring to the game, and your transitions from the ready dance to the sends looked great.
2 small details for you:
You can be a shade further away from the prop so the ready game doesn’t bounce her onto the prop LOL Plus, she is ready for more distance anyway 🙂During the ready dance, you can keep your feet together so when you do the step to the prop, it is big step that stands out – which will help her really drive to it. You did that on the last rep and her prop hit was super snappy!
Onwards to backwards sends!
Drive to handler: she did great!
I think the hardest part of the drive to handler game was finding the treat in the grass 🙂 You can use a big mat or towel to throw the treat to, so she can find it more easily. And you can call her back to you if she is taking her time looking for more cookies LOL!
As she is driving to you, try to have your hand lower (at or below your knee, leaning over to do that is perfectly fine). If your hand is too high, she is popping up a bit and that changes the weight shift (she doesn’t need to sit when she gets to you, because you can start the pivot just as she is arriving to you).
And you can start adding your movement too: as she is getting the start cookie, you can be moving away. Then as she starts moving towards you , give her a big decals she can coordinate her deceleration too. We will be building on it soon 🙂
Tossing the toy ay 2:08 was a bit too hard for her to ignore (the leave it happened as she picked up the toy) but she did really well with the toy on the ground when you placed it there. So the tossed toy has too much value – I think placing the toy on the ground in kind of a boring way will work great 🙂
Great job here!
Tracy
Good morning! He did really well with all the games here!
Forward focus to the toy:
>Food is a higher value for Tribute but he does like to tug so I used a toy. >
He definitely does like to tug! It was a good choice to use the toy.
>he third time, I think I tossed the toy too far away and he did have questions. >
I think his question was mainly about moving to a stationary toy:
He was super engaged with the toy when it was moving and you were tugging. He was not as engaged when it was not moving, so when it was further away he didn’t run to it as much. No worries, we can totally build up the love of running to a stationary toy! For now, you can release him sooner to run to it – throw it long enough that he can track it and release before it lands so he is moving to is as it is still flying through the air 🙂That might need a bit of sorting out which toy is best for throwing or even rolling, so it stays in motion long enough for him to chase, and is still easy to tug with. Does he like a hollee roller? That might work nicely!
>In addition, there are people/dogs outside and he is aware of them.>
He did a great job ignoring them!
Drive to handler: this is going well! You can make your hand more obvious by shaking it a little, and keeping it lower will mean he doesn’t have to reach up for the treat when he gets to you. For now, because he is little 🙂 you can keep your hand at or below your knee so he can shift his weight into his rear more and not pop up to the hand.
You can add motion now: as he is finishing the start cookie, you can be moving forward. Then as he starts moving forward to you, you can decelerate so he sees the transition from you moving fast to you slowing down. Then when he gets to you, adding the pivot will also work really well – keeping your hand low and close to you as you pivot will keep him nice and tight to your leg.>Out of curiosity, should I be luring Tribute to circle around me? I have food in my hand so didn’t know if that was correct.>
Yes, that is perfectly fine in these early stages because it gives him a clear focal point and builds value for the pivot.
Hand touches:
>Tribute is reasonable comfortable with touching my hand>
Yes, he did great! The next step is that you can leave the target hand out and extended away from you (with the target in it) then when he touches it, your cookie hand can reach over and deliver to the target hand (rather than the target hand reaching over to get the treat for him). That will set us up really nicely for the game this turns into!
Great job here!!
Tracy
Good morning!
>I think I can either take the exercises to the higher levels and try them in novel locations – or both. That would hugely benefit Skizzle.>
I generally start with easy levels in new locations… and then let the pup’s success guide me as to whether I try for a higher level or not. If Skizzle says he is all good and is super successful on the easier level? You can totally try a harder level! If the pup is slower to execute a behavior, or makes 1 or 2 errors… then I will stick to the easier level in the novel location. If the pup is fast and pretty accurate? Cool! We can ask for something a little harder 🙂
>Just out of view are the 90 cars covered with shade cloth. There wasn’t too much happening at the edge of the parking lot, but I am proud that he settled into the work quickly in that environment. >
That is a challenging visual! He did great!!! Plus the long line adds challenge because it is a little in the way for you both. But the session looked great!
He immediately knew to grab the treat and chase you, so you need a bigger head start LOL!! You can show him that you have put a treat in the bowl – then you can move him away 6 or 8 feet (or more), send him to the bowl… then run away 🙂 That will give you more time to decelerate before he gets close to you, so he can also collect into the turn.
And as he arrives at your side, you don’t need the hand touch – you can just have him follow your low hand into the pivot.
>I gave a tongue click – where I should say grab (marker for biting tug in hand).>
Yes, you can use your ‘grab’ marker instead of the tongue click because it tells him he is correct and at the same time, gives him permission to grab the toy 🙂
>I should also try this – as you suggested – outside with room to run – where I make him work to catch up with me – really running (no leash/harness needed).>
Yes! He would love that – I bet he loves to run 🙂 And in new places, we can eventually add in someone else holding the long line That frees you up to run and not need 3 hands 🙂 and it adds the challenge of ignoring people!
Great job 🙂
TracyHi!
Look at his lovely engagement outside! Super! And great job alternating food and toy play.
His only distraction question was when he had a little trouble finding the start cookie – you can use a big mat or towel to put the cookie on, so it is easy to find and he won’t have to look for it in the grass. And soft treats will make it easy for him to swallow and not cough back at you when he gets to you LOL!
Moving to the driveway too out that question of finding treats in the grass, and he did great there.
For the collection/decel: he had the best collection when you did a big transition when he was still a few strides away from you, like at 1:09. That was obvious and early, so he was able to collect nice and tight to you, and pivot beautifully. When you were later (decelerating as he arrived at you, or staying in the same amount of motion) you can see he was a big wider when he got to you because he didn’t have enough advanced notice to decelerate 🙂
So you can add more of your running and then no later than when he is halfway to you – show him a big decel.
Great job here!
TracyGood morning!
>I accidentally started a new thread…oops…going to try to delete it but if I can’t then maybe you can. Sorry about that.>
No worries, I will delete it.
The wrap shaping went great! My only suggestion here is to have your treats ready before the bowls come out, so you can reward his first offer. He was very keen and started offering before you were ready LOL!
He started wrapping the upright very easily. Super! You were able to add a little bit of distance which was great.
Nice tug breaks! I love how well he goes back to the toy after all the cookies. And it kept a lot of energy in the shaping/cookie moments of the session too. Fantastic!!
>So do I just keep using that same prop and move it further away or use maybe a large cone instead? >
A couple of next steps for you – I am sure he will pick these up very quickly.
– using the exact same setup as you have here (same upright for now), you can let him offer going to the bowl before you put a treat in it. You had the treats in the bowls before he offered here so now you can go to the next step of letting him offer before you put a treat in the bowl.
– when he is happy with that (probably less than 30 seconds of doing it LOL!!) you can add a little more distance with the upright a little further away. You don’t need to find the pool noodle, this upright is perfect by itself and we will be using other things very soon.
– the next important step is to get you off the ground. So you can go from sitting on the ground, to sitting on something low (like a Klimb or an inflatable ball or a low table). Then if that goes well? We get you standing up 🙂
When you are changing your position, everything else remains the same and the upright should be close to you. We don’t want to add the challenge of you standing up AND distance away from the upright at the same time.Getting you from the ground to standing might take a couple of sessions, or 1 session. Let his success rate drive that: if he remains fast and accurate, you can add the next step! If he slows down, freezes, or makes mistakes – proceed slowly so you can keep a high rate of success.
>use maybe a large cone instead?>
We will be putting a cone in there very soon (like on Tuesday LOL) so you can put the cone in while you are still sitting on the floor, or come back to that after you get to standing with the current upright. Totally your choice, whatever keeps it fun is great!
Nice work!
TracyHi!
This is looking really strong too! She is so much fun!
She is very keen to drive to you, and that is great. Because she is so small, we will want to keep your hand lower (at your knee or below it). That way she can decelerate into the hand cue, rather than hop up to it. It will require some leaning over for now, but she will be tall enough soon that you will be able to stand up more 🙂
You can now add more transition from fast to decel into this game. You can start jogging away as she is getting the cookie. Then when she takes her first step towards you, you can show a big transition into slowing down into a slow walk. That will help her prepare her hind end to collect to come to your side and pivot.
This game can go outside too so you have more room to run then decel into the transition.
Great job!!!
TracyGood morning!
>yes I was often very late.>
Yes, she is already quick on her feet so you can start the blind cross as soon as she takes that first step towards you. When you were earlier with the timing, she read them perfectly! Super!! And great job with your connection back to her.
And, if she ends up on the ‘wrong’ side of you – reward her anyway 🙂 The reward should not be contingent on if *you* get it right or not 🙂 If you are late enough, she is 100% correct to stay on the original side (like at :18) so you can totally reward her.
You can add in more running and a toy! You will probably want to do that outside so you both have room to run run run 🙂
Great job!
TracyGood morning!
>Will try to add in some quicker collar grabs when he is receptive. Up until now this has not been possible as he is exceptionally quick to move away from the hand and getting hold of his collar before he thinks about it has not been possible.>
Another way to look at it – you don’t have to be quicker with your motion, it can be more like sliding your hand in to the collar area as part of the play without as much of a distinct “and now I will take your collar” transition from the toy to the hold. You can also reach to it, then *not* take it and keep playing, so that hand movement doesn’t become paired with always taking the collar.
> Even when he has been seemingly super excited and engaged in play, he has been very quick to drop the toy and deke out of reach. >
It is an impressive dog skill that they can be close to os, but also just far away enough that we can’t actually touch their collar LOL!!!
>Lennan taught his little brother that the disc is an extremely important part of life >
Thank you Lennan!! Social learning is super helpful so we can definitely use it 🙂
>He does enjoy rollers when his mama can throw them well for him…which is not always, but yes, we can try to do more of that.>
Ha! Yes, I relate. My pup is not on rollers yet because my throws are beyond terrible.
>His brain tired responses so far have been either increased barking or excessive chasing of my feet and legs.>
That seems like more of a normal Sheltie thing than air scenting. I wish we could know what caught his attention and his nose in that moment!
Looking at the video:
Excellent job with the goat tricks! I am the happiest with him being able to go back to the toy after the treats!! That is awesome!!! Trotting towards the camera with the toy in his mouth at the end: cutest thing ever.He was very happy to put his front feet on then in the the basket. He was not as happy to put his back feet on or in at first, he was being careful. You were able to get his back feet in, then at the end he got on it, and then he was fine with it. So you can get more back feet action sooner by keeping the reward placement moving sooner: after a cookie or toy for front feet getting on or in, you can toss the treat off to the side so he trots through/over it to get the treat. The added movement will get him putting his feet on/in it without having to keep them on or in it. Then you can change the reward placement back to delivery in/on the object, and then I am sure he will be happy to keep his rear feet on or in it 🙂
>The first picture at the start of this video, I included for you as this is what happens when I turn on the demo videos. He suddenly appears, extremely alert. He would like to go through the phone to go play with you.>
That is hilarious and adorable!! I guess he likes the weird noises on the videos LOL!!! So cute!
On the send video:
He did super well with the sends, even with you sideways and backwards.Very nice transition from the ready game & cookies to the sends! He seemed pretty balanced in both directions (on your left and on your right). And good job getting your ‘eat’ marker in there too!
He did great with the toy too! The second toy rep at 1:34 had a smoother transition where he stayed engaged, you gave him a ‘ready’ moment, then sent. I really really appreciate how great it is that he can use food and toys together!
The only thing I think he didn’t love was when you tapped him on his side during the play. He kind of stepped back and didn’t move into the hand. That is good to know – many dogs don’t love that, so we can take his feedback about it LOL!
You can keep adding a bit more ready dance between the end of the cookie delivery/tugging, to build up that excitement and magic word even more. And you can add a little more distance away from the prop too.
Great job here!
Tracy
Good morning!
>Quill’s focus last night in the brand new environment was exceptional!!! I was SO impressed! >
What a good boy!!! Boy dogs do have hearts in their eyes for their human mommas so we do see lovely engagement 🙂 I am excited to meet him someday!
Looking at the video:
He was very happy to drive to you, and pivot with you. Super! He seems to really understand that there is value in decelerating with you. Good job building that up!!Two little tweaks in mechanics to add as this game expands:
As he arrives at your side, we want to keep his jaw/chin parallel to the ground rather than pointing upwards. If his chin is up, he will pop up to the cookie hand (which doesn’t allow of the weight shift into his rear). So the easiest way to get that is to lower your hand position – your hand was at the top of your thigh here, and you will get the better head position if your hand is at your knee. That will probably mean leaning over for now, but that is perfectly fine 🙂 And fortunately he will continue to grow and your hand position can move up so you don’t have to lean over 🙂
The other suggestion is to decelerate sooner – this will make more sense when you add running into the game! So when he is getting the cookie, you can start running. Then as he takes that first step or two towards you, let him see you shift into a big obvious deceleration: running to walking. That way he has plenty of time to prepare his hind end to tuck into collection at your side (with the low hand helping him too).
You can also have someone hold him for this (Annalise, I volunteer you LOL!!!) because that way you will be able to show even more running before the big decel.
Great job!
TracyI forgot to add that I loved your energy of the ready game before each send to the prop! Great job!
T
Good morning!
Are you using a tie-dyed shoe as your prop? I love it!!! LOL!!!
He did great of course 🙂 Good boy! On the reps here, he did a little better when he started on your left side (turning to his right). He was not quite as perfect on your right side (turning to his left) – so he might be a righty, or he might need more experience working on your right side, or both 🙂 So on your right, you can start closer to the shoe for now so he looks at you a little less. And on the easier side (when he starts on your left) you can add the harder elements like being sideways on the send 🙂
>for the food in the bowls on either side – we are doing Vito’s game for an in person class but in that we don’t cue we just let the puppy go back and forth and the energy is low and calming. I assume this is different?>
For the wing wrap game, it is great to be able to play same/similar games in a group setting! I am not sure exactly how the in-person class has you playing it, but I am sure it is relatively the same 🙂 with the food bowls, it is pretty low energy and once the dog understands to go back and forth, don’t cue it (just letting the pup offer, which sounds like what you are doing in class). We add the energy to the game soon enough 🙂
> Since I’m not sure I’ve just been doing it with 2 toys which has been a lot of fun.>
Using 2 toys is a different approach because some dogs are not interested in food enough to keep offering the back and forth between bowls – and because 2 toys can be more fun than the food for dogs that like toys :)So it begins to bring in the higher energy level. I am glad you and Dean are enjoying the toy approach!
The 2 approaches will merge in another week where we fade out the bowls and go to higher energy fun. This week (starting tomorrow) we start to add things between the bowls for the pups to go around, so that is definitely something to add for him. I save the wing itself until the pup is fantastic about going around things in both directions.
Nice work here! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning!
I am glad your covid recovery is going so well!!!The toy game went really well! 2 suggestions for mechanics that will be more important as the game gets “bigger”:
She seemed perfectly fine with your motion! Super! After you release her to the toy and you start to move, try to run parallel to her rather than behind her. Running behind her will possibly cue rear crosses which don’t want quite yet 🙂 So you can throw the toy on a line straight in front of her and yo stay a little off to the side.
She had a question about the restraint element on the 2nd rep – wiggling and trying to pull. For the restraint, I think the arm position on the 2nd rep didn’t give as much support to staying in position. There was a slightly different hand position: It looked like your palm was facing down on her collar on that 2nd rep, as compared to the first rep at :14 where you palm was facing up and the restraint was more stable.
If she wiggles around not matter which hand position you have you can mix in shorter tosses and shorter toes before the release so the distance and duration of the hold gets longer more gradually.
>In a week or so she might be okay outside with the distractions.>
You can see how the tugging goes outside, and start with the basic dropping it down in front of her to move the game to the great outdoors 🙂 I am sure she will do great!
Nice job here!
TracyGood morning!
It is so fun to be able to train in a group! This was a good choice of game to do in a harder environment: fast and fun fun fun!
And these reps looked great – very nice connection on your side change and great toy placement 🙂 Quill REALLY liked it when you ran more, so feel free to add more distance so you can run more. And sometimes you can do a ‘regular’ recall (no blind) so he keeps reading the info and doesn’t guess that it is always a side change.I also liked how he was laser focused when Carrie was holding him! It helps him learn to ignore people in the environment and work with da momma. He was a rockstar!!!!
Great job 🙂
Tracy
Good morning! Her personality is really coming out now and she is so fun!
She was totally into those duck nibs! It makes sense that the toy would drop in a value when faced with so much deliciousness 🙂 but you can start with the toy before the treats come out, then after a few reps you can go to a new spot with no treats and bring the toy back out 🙂
She was driving to your side really well!
>Finding tossed treats is a work in progress.>
Yes, but she liked the treats a whole lot so she was game to find them fast! The best finding treats moments were when you showed her to the treat at nose level for a second or two, then let her follow it in your hand then you tossed it (:27 and :47 for example)
>I need to keep my hand closer to my leg especially on the left side. >
Yes, and also a few inches lower. The lower hand helped her glide directly to your side and set up a nice pivot. I think the best hand position is at or below your knee. Anything higher was causing her to pop up a bit. The low hand and a slow pivot produced lovely work, like at 1:19 – 1:24 and the empty hand rep after it. Those were terrific!
Fortunately, she will grow so you won’t have to have your hand that low forever 🙂
Great job!!
Tracy
