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Hi!
He did well here! And he even got on the tug toy with you sitting and not running around!
You can keep him moving by tossing the cookie away from the suitcase rather than multiple in the suitcase. Tossing a bunch of them in is making him think you want him to stand still, so tossing the treat past the suitcase will help him drive back to it and keep offering movement.I don’t think he fully understands ‘break’ yet when you are not moving, so you can say break, wait 1 second, then throw a cookie. That will help him understand that he should move when you say the release.
>I’m pretty pleased I kept this to ~2m despite me forgetting my timer haha.>
Yes! Your internal clock was keeping tabs on it!
Great job here :) Tracy
Yes! He is really great about switching. You can limit yourself to 4 or 5 cookies by only putting that number in your bag! Then go reload after a tug break 🙂
Good morning!
A first for MaxPup: a video featuring multiple camels as part of a game LOL! He did great!
It was really interesting to see the intro to the big critters. I think he was very confident but also smart about not flinging himself into things.>I am literally not able to not speak to him when we walk on leash so apologies.>
No worries 🙂 The higher pitched chatter already has a +CER for him (and adding the specific phrases in that tone helps too, as you mentioned) so it was useful in that environment and possibly has a social learning element as well. Letting him lead the way at this age is great (I tend to not let adolescents lead the way in this type of context) and he gradually got interested in going into the their pen LOL! Nice recovery from the snort too 🙂
Really cool video to watch! Thanks for sharing it!
Tracy
Hi!
This was a good review for her! She was cracking me up when she was hitting the bowl LOL! She got back into the rhythm nicely here. For the next session, you can start off where you ended here (getting her into the back and forth rhythm) and then after a couple of reps you can add the cone. Our goal is to get the cone back to where it was (18” away or so) and then get you to move from being on the ground to sitting on something to standing up. It will maybe take 2 or 3 short sessions to do this? She will let us know how fast or slowly to move through the steps, depending on how well she remembers about wrapping the cone.Great job!!!
Tracy
Good morning!
>Apparently I’m still on the video struggle bus, but think you can see the progression>
Not at all! These videos were great!
Good for her for driving to the toy in the new environment AND bringing it back! You did a great job of letting her start moving before you started really accelerating as well, so she seems very comfy driving ahead and directly to it. She go faster and faster on each rep.
Because this went so well – you can add starting to move as soon as you let her go to start to move – and race her to it a little. If you get to the toy first, you win the race and you can have a party with the toy (kind of teasing her). Then immediately start the next rep and she is likely to find a whole new gear of speed 🙂
She also was great with the decel and pivot! As she is going to get the start cookie, you can run away from her a bit more so she accelerates to you – then be sure to let her see you decelerate no later than when she is halfway to you, so she can set up her collection to your side.
Was she ignoring an auntie while she did this? Yay! What a good pup!! And it was a fun reward to send her to visit at the end 🙂
Great job here!
Tracy
Good morning!
>We had done a fun run the other day and played musical tugs in the ring. I honestly think he will tug anywhere. I will see if I can get ring rental at Dash or the farm this weekend. It is supposed to be brutally cold >
Fun! What a good boy!! And be careful in the cold and ice. The weather forecast is NUTS!!!!
> Let me known if you think I should try anything different or if you have suggestions for plan. Not sure if I will have helper to hold him but can check around.>
You can bring the bowls for the cone wrap! And you can try some cookie toss starts and blind crosses!
His prop sends are going great! He was hitting it beautifully in both directions! The only thing I would add here is a bit of engagement with you (having him come to you to do a bit of ‘ready ready’) before the send, That all get him more pumped up leading to even faster sends and snappier hits of the prop. Plus it helps him shift from handler focus to obstacle focus which will be super valuable later on down the road. And you can use a toy as the reward for this as well.
He was so funny trying to get into the basket when you were getting ready to do the wrapping game.
He did GREAT wrapping the new objet and he had no questions about it when you were standing. SUPER!! To help us prep for the games coming up, you can start using a tall cone or tall pop up laundry basket with you standing. I got my pop up tall laundry baskets at a dollar store (for 4 dollars LOL)
>Do you suggest repeating same side vs every other side?>
I like to mix it all up as long as the pup is not having trouble with one side. He did not seem to be having any trouble at all. Good boy!!
Great job here! Stay warm!!
Tracy
Good morning!
>greetings from cold (a relative term), foggy grey, and damp California.>
Hello from warm sunny Florida 🙂 I finally got myself together enough to be able to avoid a whole lot of winter LOL!
>Jazz spent this morning with me at my older fella’s coursework class. She does great while the other dogs are running, with focus exercises, short retrieves, toy grabs and tugging. >
This is SUPER!! Yay Jazz!!!!
The Wind In Your Hair game is going really well – she’s got some impressive distance happening here!
>A light bulb moment for me was seeing the difference in her commitment when I don’t use my arm to send; like you’ve been saying, stronger commitment when I connect by looking at her.>
Her commitment to the jump when you are connected is looking strong, even on the hard side! Connection is magic!
For the wing wrap sends: hold the step towards it longer so she is just about at the wing before you do the FC and run away (especially on the left turn wraps). When you step back too early (like at :12) she pulls off.
You can also mix in rewards for just wrapping – it is possible that her frozen moments by the wing were because she was thinking about driving to the jump and was not sure where to go when you turned too early. And keep an eye on the frozen behaviors: is that something that is common for her? The last time I remember her being a bit ‘stuck’ was when she had some soreness so we want to make sure it is not an indicator of being ouchy.
>She wasn’t that interested in the dead toy. I think next time I do this I’ll try tugging with her in the drop spot, getting her excited and then see if she’ll leave the toy.>
Yes – she was interested in the dead toy in terms of driving to it, but I think there was a bit of confusion about whether the reward the toy or the food in your hand. So for the placed toy, try it with empty hands – and when she gets to it, even if she doesn’t quite grab it, you can grab the toy and get her really excited about it.
When she understands that the dead toy is in play, then I think food in your hands will be fine as long as you don’t give her cookies when you are trying to get her to pick up the toy 🙂
Nice work here!
Tracy
Good morning!
>Rebel, the high arousal Doberman, is 3 now. >
3 years old is still young – she is a late adolescent! Plenty of learning still available in her brain 🙂
>recommended I reach out for privates with Rebel if we can’t get this resolved with her current class. She can do most of the arousal games at home, in class, and at seminars. She’s been running off-leash since she was a young puppy and has the best recall of any of my dogs. At trials, she gets into a headspace and can’t think.>
My guess is the missing link at trials is being able to regulate arousal in an environment that is twice as difficult: harder distractions AND no reinforcement (food/toys) in the ring.
It is something that we tackle in our BrainCamp work – my colleague Bobbie is a behavior specialist who teaches privates and we all collaborate on webinars. Bobbie and Kathy (the vet/neuroscientist) have a series coming up about getting dogs into the ring!
>You mentioned moving the bowl so she has to pass it to go around the cone. This is the exact skill I’ve struggled to teach and often give up on. As a result, I can’t leave toys or rewards on the ground during training, and I’d really like to change that. >
We are totally going to get this going with Rou and you can also teach it this way to Rebel!
>I didn’t use my hands during the session because when I do, she tends to focus on my hands instead of the task at hand. >
The empty hand becomes the cue, so it is a good thing to work on: stop watching da momma’s hands! It is part of what we are working through at this stage.
>In today’s sessions, she wasn’t looking at the cone at all; I believe she was just fixated on her toy. >
That means the toy was probably tooooo enticing 🙂 So you can do two things:
– Have the toy halfway around or fully scrunched up and kind of hidden on the other side of the cone. She will know it is there, but will have to look at her line to get to it
– To get her moving past something on the way to the cone and looking at her line (not at the reward), try working the entire progression with an empty food bowl first. The treat can go in the bowl after she is moving around the cone. That can get the concept going, then it will be easier to add a cookie placed in the bowl and a toy.>I’ve never used a “look” command before and don’t necessarily plan on using it. >
Based on how course design is evolving in every venue, I bet it will be something that becomes important as Rou starts running courses for real 🙂 It can be a hand cue or a verbal or both, but it is becoming necessary in AKC, UKI, USDAA (and I am sure CPE will follow suit soon).
> I’ve taught her to focus on her bowl or the reward in front of her, so I’m unsure how to communicate the switch to looking at the object or obstacle instead of the thing I’ve been rewarding her for looking at. It’s possible that I moved too quickly in this process.>
It might be that you are not waiting for her to look at the cone before letting her start to move. On the video from the other day, she did wrap the cone at the end when the dish was visible closer to you, but you let her go before she looked at it. Adding the hand cue is really useful (pointing at where you want her to look) because the hand enhances the line we want her to look towards. Then you can let her start moving when she even flicks an eye in that direction 🙂
Looking at the videos: She is a wobble board superstar! Confident and happy to move it all around. Love it! The positions changes were easy for her too. The tugging get her to shift her weight back which is ideal especially for a tall breed!
Have you noticed any noise sensitivity with her? If not, you can move the board so it is on a surface that makes a little bit of noise when she slams around in it. Yo can stuff towels under it to dampen the noise a bit at first, then if she is super happy with it you can take out the dampeners and let her be as noisy as she wants to make it.
The prop sends are also good for getting her to stop looking at your hands! She moves to it perfectly with the foot step, so you can add a small hand movement to it – at :51, you did have the hand movement and although it took her a moment to(she was looking at the treats in your left hand) she did follow the cue really well! So keep adding in a little bit more of hand pointing moving with the leg.
>I am still figuring out how to do a little play/engagement before we train without looming over her. >
Try leaning back a bit then doing a small crouch/ knee bend. I think she will really like that!
>When any props are out, she’s less likely to do personal play so we’ve been working on it away from specific training sessions.>>
She wants to work work work 🙂 which is similar to obstacle focus: obstacles earn the rewards, at this stage (according to Roy :)) so you can do a little crouchy knee bend then when she looks at you: send to the prop. That adds in a little bit of handler focus as the gateway to being sent.
Great job here!
Tracy
Good morning!
The inflation level looks good here! She got on during that first rep and then you can kind of see her thinking about it: “hmmmm, this is a different feeling”. She had lots of reps of front end after that but not quite hind end. I don’t think it was fully avoidance – seemed more like a bit of needing more room to comfortably sort out how to move onto and balance on the weird, unstable texture.
The plank was super easy for her and she was happy to get all four feet on, turn around, release off it, etc. Yay!
So what you can do to get more hind end on the inflatables is to change the configuration a bit: rather than a straight line which makes for fewer options to comfortable get her back end on, you can kind of makes them into a square or circle (with the inflatables touching) and you can even add the plank to it. That way she can explore different ways to climb around on it all and that will get her hind end more involved.
>More air out? Maybe the nubby side fee,s weird to her?>
You can take a little more air out so they are more stable. The nubby side is weird but the other side might be slippery, so I think we should leave the nubby side up for her to get happy on 🙂
Nice work!
Tracy
Good morning! He is doing really well here!!
He had the tunnel miss on the first run – I don’t think it was overarousal or anything like that. It looked like running past the tunnel was caused by slipping and couldn’t quite coordinate getting into the tunnel. He was much better on the 2nd rep and after that, where he expected it and coordinated himself to not slip earlier.
Yes, you were a little on his line as he exited the wing but that is not what caused him to go past the tunnel. But also yes – get off his line 😂
He did tell us that you are late with the cues especially on the tunnel exits 🙂 You can see him exiting the tunnel and looking at you: “What’s next, human!” And then the cues started after that. The cue for the wing can start just before he exits the tunnel and then keep repeating it as you drive forward. The last rep was the closest to the good timing and he looked at you less – until the left verbal came 2 strides after the tunnel where he was already looking at you and coming to you. And there was a little disconnect when you started it, so he did not find the wing.
In that moment… keep going! Yes there was a handler error but also yes, there is a wing out there that we would like for him to take even with a late cue. It is a bit of a grey area for rewarding or not: we don’t want to tell him he is wrong, but also we don’t want to reward him to not trying to find the wing on the line (turning away to it doesn’t count) so the best thing to do is connect strongly and continue, then reward when he finds the next wing.
>He’s getting quite amped about all this. Hoping it stays as a focused amp. Right now a cookie in between here and there helps take him down. He looks all nice and cute but you can feel the energy when you’re near him lol>
Don’t be afraid of the energy! He was actually in a very thoughtful mode here, looking at you for more info when it was not clear. Yes, you can use treats in the transitions but don’t worry about taking him down in arousal. Let him work through the arousal and learn in arousal because that is actually what helps dogs handle themselves best when they are in more arousing situations. He did GREAT here!! The energy is a GOOD thing!!
Nice work! Stay warm!
Tracy
He did really well on the blinds here!
As you finish the blind, try to look back at him a little more rather than use your hands as a target to drive to. The connection is what really solidifies the side change. When he is taller and going full speed with distractions around, he might not see the hand changes as well as he will see the connection changing.
>because the treat is in the hand that he is ultimately driving to. Is that ok or should I be calling him to an empty hand and ultimately rewarding from my other hand once he crosses my body?>
For this game, you can start having both hands empty so he is following the connection and side change (then pull out a cookie or toy after he finishes the blind). I think he will still be very successful because it is more of a connection game and not as much of a hand game.
Great job here!
Tracy
Good morning! He did really well here!
He had no trouble with the extra motion of you running – be sure to slow down sooner so he can decelerate before he gets to you.
>As long as it is strictly on a lure, he does very well. As soon as it is following empty hand, not so much.>
I think it was a bit of cue confusion – here is what I mean.
Rather than have him follow an open hand, keep your empty hand closed as if there is a treat in it – this can be a closed fist, or your fingers touching as if holding an invisible treat 🙂 it should look exactly like it would if a treat was in it – except there is no treat in it. Air cookie! And then you can pull out a treat to reward after he finishes the pivot.
When you did have a treat in it, you had the back of your hand facing him to drive to then you rotated it to deliver the treat after the pivot.
Without the treat you had your empt palm facing him, so it was a very different looking cue and he did not follow it as well yet. He seemed to be reading it as a hand touch cue and then was not sure if he should follow it into a pivot.
And for now, the other hand can be empty too: what he was cleverly doing was following the empty hand but then cutting in front of you to get to the treat hand LOL! Smart puppy 🙂 Having both hands empty for now and pulling out the reward from a pocket after the pivot will make it a little smoother
Great job here!
Tracy
Good morning! Lots of good work here!!
Driving for the toy:
This hallway is so perfect for this game – plenty of room and carpeted so he doesn’t slip.
His toy drive is really high – and now his food drive is also high. It looks like the word ‘yes’ has taken on big cookie value, I think 🙂 As soon as you said it on the first rep, he stopped what he was doing and turned back. And on the next reps he was going to the toy but then got distracted by the treats moving in your hand. So for now, let’s take the visible treats out of your hands to maintain the toy drive and retrieve. He will be able to have them all together soon, but for now I think he is asking about which one he is interacting with you for (toy or food), You can have some boring treats in a pocket and do lots of tugging/throwing – and if you want to trade the toy for a treat, wait til he has brought it all the way back to you 🙂 And you can also do toy-only sessions.
Goat game: Really nice session here!! Great job getting him on the toy by swooshing it around! He was wondering if perhaps he could have a treat LOL but you made the toy really enticing and irresistible.
He was a fantastic little goat, getting right on the board there. Then you had an excellent transition back to the toy (and picked up the board so he wouldn’t think about food). Super!
Since this is going really well, you can add other things for him to climb around on – different textures, sizes, etc. – to create a big playing field for him to walk over.
Cone wraps:
Great job getting him into the rhythm with the bowls then introducing the cone. He did a great job working past the food in your hands – his food drive has definitely come up which is great! And he was able to ignore lots of cookies.I think he LOVED having the cone there! He was moving faster and seemed to be more excited by the game when the cone was there. And you got it further away with no problem. Super!!! And he definitely wanted to keep going at the end – a sign that it was a fun activity. But you were good to keep the session short and sweet!
Since this went so well – start the next session with the cone close to you as a warm up, then move it further and further away. I think a good goal for now would be to get it about 18 inches away with you sitting on the ground. This might happen in one session, or it might take a couple of sessions. We don’t need to get it further away for now, because we are also going to start to change your position in a session or two.
Drive to handler:
He brought that little ball back really well even with the cookies present here! Super! Future flyball dog, maybe? 😆 he almost brought the bigger toy back too, but the cookeis were too enticing. He drove to you really well, so you can move to the next step here too: as he gets to your cookie hand, slowly pivot (turning away from him) so he turns with you and stays tight to your side. It might be hard to do this with the toy in his mouth, so you can do a food-only session to get the pivots added: have him follow the cookie hand as you turn, then reward him with the cookie.Great job here! He is doing well with everything and we will be adding more on Monday!
Tracy
The website liked your post so much, it posted it twice! LOL!! No worries, I took the duplicate out so you don’t have extra stuff to scroll through. Stay warm!
T
Good morning!
>We’re still finding our groove with that too~ Integration with my 2 older dogs & overnight potty trips sometimes make for full days & nights, lol!>
It sounds like it is a busy time but everything is going well! And those overnight potty trips will soon be a thing of the past and you can sleep 🙂
The games are going really well!
Driving ahead/focus forward:
>I tried to use a toy at first but she wasn’t feeling the love.>
Great job getting Sunnie engaged with the hollee roller toy! Moving it away and throwing it got the engagement – having your hand in your cookie pocket were drawing her focus away from the toy (you can see that reaching for the treat at :27 pulled her off the toy).
So at this stage try to play with the toy without any food present (other than maybe pulling out a treat if you need to get her to let go of the toy).
Since she liked it a lot when the toy was moving, you can tie a longer toy to the hollee roller and use that to swing it around for her to chase. I think she will really like that and be very engaged with the toy!
>That is why she’s sitting on the treadmill, lol! She does get cookies there so perhaps initiating toy play there wasn’t my best choice! Now that I’m writing this out!
She may have said screw the toys, I know you give me cookies here!>Ha! Yes, that could have totally been part of it! The toy was not really moving in that moment so she was in cookie mode. As soon as you got the toy moving, though, she got right into it 🙂
Prop game:
I agree – it was great that she smacked it immediately when you put it down. SUPER!!! She is definitely showing value for it, which is great!The sending when you stepped/pointed was a little harder – she had to leave your cookie hand and was thinking about it. I could see her calculating 🙂 But she did it and you got your rewards in nice and early!
And on that very last rep, she sent beautifully from your left side and hit the target really well! I think that last rep felt weird because she was looking at your right hand (cookies were in it) and kind if bumped into you before doing the beautiful send.
Her biggest challenge is moving away from the treats in your hand – she is totally on the right track here! Keep sending with an empty hand, and mixing in getting the treats thrown early and sometimes rewarding from your hand again. She is really locking it in!
Blind crosses:
She is reading the side change really well and you are really emphasizing connection which helped her see it. Feeding from the opposite arm made it crystal clear for her!To be able to get far enough ahead to get the binds – the cookie toss to start was very useful. That gave you enough room and enough time to get the BC done 🙂 Do you have a longer hallway (anywhere with carpet or mats so she doesn’t slip) where you can send her away to the treat toss even further? That will allow you to add even more speed to this 🙂 And you can try it with a toy crazy toy and not treats to get her driving to the toy as well.
>his weekend we are going to get slammed with a snow storm, expected is another foot or more on top of what we already have! This winter is crazy>
Watching this storm develop has been BAD!!! This whole winter has been gross. Feel free to play lots of games to tire her out LOL!!
Great job here!
Tracy
