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Hello and welcome back!!!
I remember seeing on Facebook, I think, that you had broken your arm but I had no idea it was 5 breaks! Ouchie!!!!!!!We will of course do whatever is needed to train JJ and keep your arm safe and protected. I am excited for you about the Greece trip!!!
>>I do not type fast or well right, but I will do my best until I get out of my cast and am allowed to use my hand again. The first video is of the wrap verbals.>>
Since typing is a pain at the moment, feel free to talk into a camera and just post the video 🙂 That should be easier and faster.
>>Since I only have one hand available, collar grabs are to a minimum along with tugging and treat dispensing, JJ’s other owner is going to have to work her at times.>>
We can definitely work around using collar grabs and tugging – she was having no questions about those so we don’t need to worry about it until your arm is cleared for use (although other owner is definitely welcome to train her!!!). We can do cookie toss starts, some cookie lures, platforms to send her to, etc – creativity is the name of the game LOL!
Looking at the videos:
The wrap video looked great! JJ got tons of correct reps and the substitute handler did a great job with the releases, rewards, verbals, and adding distance. (Let me know Substitute Handler’s name LOL!) JJ is definitely ready for the game being added tonight using wraps.>>We had used RiRiRiRiRi.. as a sound for a right wrap and LeLeLeLeLe…as a sound for a left wrap with the other dogs. Do these sounds seem to close to each other or to our Right and Left directional commands?>>
Maybe… it will depend on how the words sound when you are running. For the wraps, you can emphasize the consonants like you did here. And on the soft left/right, you can emphasize the vowels so instead of ‘right’ it would sound more like “aight” and “ehft”, both of which would be very drawn out and not choppy like wrap verbals.
The moving target games looked great! Her stay is looking great, she was focusing on her toy, and tugging like a maniac 🙂 She might have started releasing on the inhale before the release on the first video and definitely released the stay as you started to move on the 2nd video, so add in some praise for the stay as well so she doesn’t anticipate and release before the actual word or when you start moving.
You can do a bit of trading for the release of the toy – say the release once and then trade for a treat
Repeating the process with the jump bump went really well! She had no questions on the first video. Good job adding the moving target before the release on the last video – the extra “wait” cue before you started moving it was a good reminder, and clears up any confusion about whether motion was part of the release or not (it is not part of the release LOL!!)
Great job here! She is ready for the new stuff we start tonight.
Have fun!
TracyHi! She did really well here on the different steps!
>>I felt strongly to protect her Stay, We needed to work through these with treats. But I find elevating it on something, like you taught us, gives her Real success.>>
She did well here with the toy on the ground. The trick to protecting the stay is criteria maintenance and not making things too hard too quickly. At this point, there is no need to feed her in position when the toy is on the ground – the toy should be the focus and we don’t want to draw focus away from it or move her out of the stay if the food falls. The release is the reward and she really liked the toy! Yay! This will become more important as you get further away from her and can’t easily deliver a food reward. And it is really fun that she is big enough to get her mouth on a bigger toy.
>>So, With a high value toy, I think she’s just not ready for this Moving Target game. We hadn’t worked much with a Holee Roller, and if so it was the tiny one.>>
The hollee roller looked pretty high value! You don’t need anything higher in value than that for now.
>>Watching this back, I’m talking too much again.>>
You can probably say “good” less frequently but she certainly did not seem confused and it did not hurt her behavior at all. Maybe it helped because it as a bit of a ‘keep going’ signal?
1st video
She did just fine holding the sit while you put the toy on the ground then drove to it beautifully when released! YAY!!2nd video – this was also easy for her because it was very much the same as the first level, except the toy moves after you release her. She did really well here too!
3rd video – she was a little mentally fried here early on(not quite as quick to sit or hold the sit at the beginning). Because there is indeed a lot of self-control involved, you will want to resist the temptation to do multiple sessions of this or to do long sessions, especially when the jump gets involved. So now that the foundation is in place, you will want to do maybe 4 or 5 reps over a jump bump and that is the entire session.
>>Are we ready to move to the advanced level with a jump bump?
Yes! She looks ready to me!
>>Also, I’ve already seen the different ways you have me doing things compared to my local instructor is problematic. But it’s a group class and I don’t to appear to contradict her. So for now, while in class I’ll comply unless it’s a safety issue.>>
Different might not be a bad thing, it might just be different. The main thing is that you will want to live by the 2 Failure Rule which is exactly what it sounds like: no more than 2 failures, total, per session. If she fails once and you think she can get it right? Try again. If she fails twice (doesn’t have to be in a row), make it easier for her to be successful.
Great job :)
TracyGood morning and welcome back!!!
Really nice session here with the wraps!!
>>This was the first time we got more distance other than right next to the jump.
You got a LOT of distance going here. Yay!
>>And I must admit, I got greedy and went for more distance. It seemed she then needed a bit of help with the left.
She only had one error, then was correct after that, so one error is not a big deal at all.
>>So I think it’s best for me to use two words which make sense for my brain, Rit,Rit,Rit…and Lef,Lef,Lef.
That works well, as long as you use different words for the soft turns that are not wraps.
>>On the rep where she turned before the jump, my instructor here ( Not Kodie or Amy ), had us teach them to spin ‘Right’ and ‘Left’ right in front of our feet. So she may have thought we were doing that. I know😉, problematic.>>
I agree that teaching spins in front of us using the wing wrap verbals could be problematic, but I am not sure that was the issue here – it was probably just a blooper because the wing was further away. You stepped to the wing on the next rep and she did really well!
>>BTW. Still difficult to get the tug from her without trading for a treat. The only benefit is perhaps it saves time?>>
It is perfectly good to trade for a treat immediately when you want the toy back (say your out cue then offer a treat) because it makes the out into a habit, rather than a fight 🙂 Eventually it won’t be a problem but for now, in this adolescent stage, definitely keep trading 🙂
Great job!
TracyHi again!
The moving target game looks great too – the sit stay is the best part of it and will be very helpful as you work her skills! She was a SUPER good girl, holding the stay even while the toy was moving. She had no problem with the game added in front of the jump as well, even with the ball moving before the release: click/treat for you BOTH!!The only other thing to add here is more of your motion – you can work up to jogging then running! It is not a big priority for now to do that, you can do it eventually, because we will be adding the moving target games to the jumping games starting tonight!
Great job! Have fun!
TracyHello and welcome back! She is in the all-legs stage of development 🙂 and looks great!
The wrap pre-game looked great. She was having no trouble with the wraps and was very driven to do them, even when you added distance. I loved the rep when she almost missed it then caught herself then got it right. Brilliant! Great job – we build on this tonight.
Tracy
Hello and welcome back!!! yes, there is a bit difference in development between 6 months and 8 months – you will see a lot of progress coming up! Fun!!!!
See you in class!
TracyGood morning and welcome back to you and brother Pesto!!
>>1. He is very hoppity in his jumping style and I am wondering if get him to be less bouncy can be addressed in the foundation work.>>
Yes, 100% yes to this. The Pizza 1.0 litter was also a bit upright/inverted so the tweaks in the jump foundation here are based on addressing that specifically. Check out the moving target pre-game, as that will be incredibly useful.
>>2. He naturally wants to look at me after doing a jump instead of looking ahead. He doesn’t understand the idea of the go – line or and his drive ahead requires a reward to be placed in advance instead of tossing it, particularly is there is a second jump before the reward.>>
That is normal and fine 🙂 We will be working with either SUPER early rewarding (especially if you are in a place where someone else can throw it) as well as placed rewards. He is only 8.5 months old, yes? So no worries, we will get him looking forward.
>>So far we have worked 2 jumps and a tunnel – he is very fond of his tunnels and he has no problem going behind me to steal them.>>
Well, that is a skill we work on and he is not stealing them… he says your info and connection is not clear enough 🙂
>>I have a mostly solid startline so that is one thing in my favor.>>
That is SUPER and will be really helpful 🙂
>That’s my list (for now). I am sure the list will get longer as we move through the lessons the next few months.>>
Perfect! He is right on track!
>>Last question, regarding live classes, it is starting to get darker earlier, will be working outside in the live sessions?>>
Some of the sessions are good for outdoors, some are good for indoors. But they can all be done indoors if needed. We will be doing the running order and games in order of daylight amounts, so stay tuned.
See you soon!
TracyHello and welcome to you and Makai!! Have fun and keep me posted, I am looking forward to seeing you in action!
Tracy
Hello! Great to see you here with your two girls!
And it is funny how they are so different – that will make for different training adventures for sure. We can tweak any of the games so that Miracle is super confident playing them, while keeping Merry confident as well 🙂
Have fun!
TracyHello and welcome back!!
Training will be interesting for sure, but I am game to figure out how to keep things fast & fun while advancing her skills… without you having to move too much 🙂 Challenge accepted!!
And we can play with ways to add motivation to the things she finds poopy (stays/line ups before movement, collar holds) by casually and informally pairing them with things she loves loves loves 🙂 And for training skills, we can totally use the cone wraps and body wraps or cookie tosses so we don’t lose her motivation with stooooopid stays 🙂
See you in class tonight!
TracyHello and welcome back!!!! Great to see you here!
The wrap pre-game looks really good 🙂 His commitment looks lovely!!
The only thing to add would be holding his collar before you start the verbal, then letting him move. That can solidify the verbal being attached to the behavior because he is hearing it before he moves.And yes, great distraction work if he was hearing The Daddy in the garage and still doing his wraps! Good boy!
Have fun!
TracyHi! Great to see you and Vibe here again!!!
>>I also tend to keep training sessions short with lots of rewards, so she doesn’t disconnect.>>
Perfect! She is only 6 months old, so you are just beginning the crazy ride known as “canine adolescence” LOL!!!!
Have fun!
TracyHello and welcome back! I can’t believe he is a year old already!!!!
Because there is so much to do with puppies at this stage, I recommend scheduling your training on the calendar 🙂 You can alternate days: Maxpup handling/jumping stuff on days that alternate with contact stuff, so you do try to do it all in one day. And if you miss a day, no worries, keep going with the schedule and it all evens out.
Have fun!
TracyGood morning! Welcome to class, great to see you here 🙂
The wrap pre-game is going well! She doesn’t always go to the wing if your dog-side leg is back. So to help her always propel to the wing after you let go of her collar, you can let go then take one step to the wing (then reward when she goes around it 🙂 ). Good job with the verbals!
>>She can be iffy about things that involve collar holding so at some point we made need to adjust.
She did well with the collar holding here. You can do a lot of very quick collar touches then let go so she can go do a thing, like chase a toy or a cookie or run through a tunnel. The collar holds don’t need to be long in duration – quick and fun is the key. And, for now, it might really benefit her if you took her collar and gave her a treat every time you touched her collar during training.
>> For example we don’t have a stay, so how do we work the pregame moving target?
2 ideas for you:
– you can toss a cookie away so she moves to get it then as she is on her way to you, you can begin the moving target game.
– begin working on the stay to get her happy to hold position. She is a good age for it! It can be a stay on a platform like a Cato board for now, or you can shape the stay with toys or treats. Super short duration for high value reinforcement is key here. I prefer to use the release as part of the reinforcement, so you can begin by releasing and rewarding the instant her butt assumes the sit position, then build up more and more duration over time. We don’t want to rush the stay behavior, but we certainly want to get it going.Many of the games can be done without a stay or without a collar hold because you can start with a cookie toss or a wing wrap. And, separately, you can build up the stay and collar hold so eventually it all comes together 🙂
Have fun!
Tracy
