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Good morning!
>> I wondered if there might be a change in adolescence, in which I shouldn’t take anything for granted. I’ve been surprised at how she bounces back from her little crashes and unfortunate events.
Yes, I have been fortunate enough to have gotten a lot of info about adolescent dog brains from a neuroscientist veterinarian recently… and it turns out adolescence is unpredictable LOL! Dogs can get more sensitive to sounds or movement, and they take twice as long to ‘bounce back’ to baseline of emotion than puppies or adults do. So, we tend to get a little more careful in adolescence LOL!!!
>>Outside the scope of this course, I have to keep her from climbing onto the patio table, she has nabbed all sorts of things including my iPhone, twice.>>
She is definitely an adventurer! LOL!! When she hits adolescence, we might bubble wrap her a bit LOL!
>>I pulled out two fit bones last night, and the nubs on those didn’t bother her at all, they’re smaller, so she was all over that. She was oddly suspicious of stepping on the disc, I have no idea why, it was nubby side down. But it was losing air, so maybe if I put more air in it, it won’t be so smushy. Or maybe she’ll get used to smushy.>>
Excellent about the fitbones! And I bet if you put the discs in a larger field of things to walk over, all squished together, she will be fine with the discs too!
Have fun!
TracyGood morning! These look great!
She had no trouble seeing the side changes because you emphasized the connection on the new side with eye contact and the reward across your body. Super!!She also really liked the frisbee reward. Using the friz made the mechanics a little harder because you had to over-rotate back to her to give her the friz. So you can also try it with a long tug toy so that she has a lot to latch onto without needing as much rotation from you.
You can bring these blinds into the collection sandwich game, and also if you have a bigger space you can add more running room for you both. 🙂
Great job! Have fun!
TracyHi!
Focus forward looks great! He definitely likes his toys 🙂 Try this with a collar or harness on so you have a better hold on him – otherwise he is slippery! You can also add in a ‘get it’ verbal – and when the races begin, you can also be saying go go go as you run too!
Prop game – yes, small soft treats next time will add a little more efficiency to the game and fewer crumbs/smells on the ground LOL! He is definitely doing well with his prop value, so now it is time to stand up 🙂 If he can offer as nicely with you standing, then you can move to the send games with the prop. And, when you are standing and doing the send games, you can also use a toy 🙂
Blind cross with toy:
>>However I know why my dogs and I don’t do blind crosses well. I suck at teaching them >>
This is not true at all! The blinds went well! It was the cookie-to-toy element was harder: use a lower value and smaller cookie or sure on these, because the big crunchy cookie was too distracting. He did get back on the toy when you made the toy wilder so he could chase it! So use boring cookies that are small and easy to swallow, then when you do the blind, make the toy reward wild by dragging it all around so he can chase it. You might need more room for this, so maybe wait on the toys til you can be someplace bigger?
The blinds with 2 cookies went well! Just do the blind sooner: as soon as he takes one step towards you, do the blind. You were starting it a little later, so he didn’t have as much time to respond. But when you were doing it earlier, he was perfect!
Great job 🙂
TracyHi!
Nice shirt at the trial!!! And it was a particularly lovely run!!!!!!!! The question she had on the line from the table to the tunnel before the DW was just that your position put her on her left lead, and she needed to be on the right lead to get the tunnel. So a “get out” cue would help there, or you can handle that on your left side.
As for the ending line? Honestly, that course design is a bit much for baby Open dogs LOL!!! A dog walk then 3 jumps on a straight line is HARD ASfor Open level dogs and I bet lots of them had refusals and/or bars or at least BIG questions. So yes, keep training these massive lines to the exit – she has good Go skills but this line from the DW to the end is MASSIVE! So focus on all the gorgeous elements of this run (there were MANY of those) and put the big ending line on the to-do list 🙂 She will get it, but that was really hard for a youngster in Open. The organizer wraps looked really good! You don’t have to do these at full height (you can save the full height stuff for the fading process) – but you can definitely go to the next step now:
– no more feeding in the sit position, as soon as he butt gets into the sit, you can release and have her wrap to the remote dispenser.
– you can try to stay in motion the whole time, maybe starting closer to the wrap wing so you can move forward, decel, turn… all while you still cue the sit 🙂 It will look more like what the actual handling will look like. And you an also move faster before the decel, I think she is ready for that!Great job!
TracyHi! Start the backsides using the 6.6″ spacing and see how she does! That is a good distance for her so I think it will also be a good backside distance.
T
Hi!
Retrieve games: he did really well on both videos here!! Super! I’d say he is a pretty natural retriever too – chasing the toy is super exciting! You made it really fun to bring it back, so he was bringing it back faster and faster inside on that first video!
When you were outside, you gave him less room so I think you can throw it a little further now, he was pretty perfect 🙂 Also, you were very quiet on the outside video, so remember to praise him when he brings it back (just like you did inside) and you can also use a ‘get it’ verbal when you throw the toy.
One thing to add to the next session: start him on your left side too. On all of the retrieves on both videos, he turned to his left (probably because you started him on your right as far as I could tell). So, remember to switch sides so he turns to his right as well, so we keep him nice and balanced.
Great job on these! Let me know what you think!
TracyHe was so cute here! The edge of this box was a little high so it too him a moment to figure out how to get hi sback feet in, but he did! Super!!!
OK since this is going well too, let’s add a discrimination game. Let’s teach him to assess the situation and determine the difference between *in* and *on*. Using this same white box (as long as it is stable and won’t move from under him), do a session where you start by rewarding him for getting in it like you did here… then while he is chasing a cookie reward, turn it over so when he approaches it again, he switches to “get on it” mode. That can be a good brain-bender for puppies! And when he gets on it (even if it is just a front foot), reward and while he is chasing a cookie, turn it over so he will need to switch to ‘get in’ mode for the next rep.
And if this particular object won’t work, you can do it with the large black bowl you have, I think that is big enough and stable enough.
Nice work!
TracyHi!
I love his goat walk over all the things here! No problem at all 🙂 And a nice 2o2o by accident hahaha
He is very balanced and coordinated which means we can add a little more! If you have a wobble board, you can add it with some of the other objects wedged under it.
Also, you can play this game with a toy instead of cookies, so he is more excited: that will challenge him to be coordinated while moving faster!
And, with the cookies, you can also be walking back and forth – that challenges his head position, because he will want to look up at you, but looking at the objects will make for better balance and coordination.Great job here! Let me know how the next steps go!
TracyHi!
The wing wrapping looks super! He had one moment where he was extra licking the bowl but then go right back at it LOL! And since there was distance between you and the wing now, we can go to the next step:
rather than use this short PVC wing, do you have a taller laundry basket or barrel or really tall cone? That will give him something bigger to wrap, but it is also softer because he might touch it when we add the turn and burn game 🙂So using the bigger laundry basket or similar item, do one short session just like you did here so he learns to wrap that new item… the onwards to turn and burn from week 3! We don’t want to use a real wing yet, so definitely try for the pop up basket or something 🙂
Great job!
TracyHi!
It was really cool here to see latent learning in action: after a few days away from the training, he was really great with the plank game here! Of course, his coordination will change as he continues to grow, but I am really happy with what he did here!!! You can move this game to wobble boards, or you can stay on this plank and add toys to it rather than cookies 🙂 Using toy rewards will get him more excited so he is going to be more challenged to stay coordinated 🙂
Great job!
TracyHi!
YES! The retrieve really is rooted in play relationship 🙂>.Warning, expect frightening human growling! May not be suitable for sensitive viewers prone to hysterics.>>
Ha!!! The silly chatter, noises, growling, and occasional singing are all GREAT! I think all of the noises we make really deepen the play relationship for when we *don’t* have toys (like in the ring!). We can make the silly noise and play without needing the cookies or toys 🙂
She was fabulous here of course – looks like she was happy to play with the toy on your lap, or on your leg, or any ol’ way 🙂 Perfect! So you can add in some “bring that back!” to keep building to the retrieve.
Great job 🙂
TracyHi!
Countermotion – yes, the slow mo says you are leaving before she arrived at the prop on most of them – how cool is that!! Awesome! She didn’t seem to have many questions about the countermotion, but she was not always sure if she should go to it with you rotated like that. So, start closer and that will help her leave to go to the prop with more giddy up, which means you can also start the coutermotion sooner.
On the rear crosses:
>.On the first rears, obviously she has no idea so the spin is expected. Should I be jogging? I wanted to try to show up on her other side quickly enough to avoid the spin but maybe I need to chill and just walk it and let her figure it out?>>
Rear crosses are hard! She has really excellent commitment 🙂 So why did she not read the RCs? Watching this session… you were late 🙂 LOL! That is why she never turned the new way on the RCs. I grabbed a screenshot of what I thought the best rep was, where you started pretty far back and looked like you were earliest with the RC cutting in behind her:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Ei8WuvGmFs0cTDSRVpunol9uivI1Dxj19Wz6-mIVe2E/edit?usp=sharing
You can see that she is just about at the prop, she has decided to turn to her right, because you had not yet cut in behind her yet at all (you were still on the right turn side). So ideally, when she is maybe halfway to the prop, you would already be cutting in behind her so when she is at the prop as she is hree at 1:30, you would already be on her left side.
here are screen shots of timing from the demo video with my Elektra:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ZeCgOzhm4qSJwPxpFKUXnDZQGivQ3pnypWY1pI8LTxI/edit?usp=sharing
So it is not about how fast you move (jog or walk are both fine), it is more about how early you can cut in behind her. That might mean jogging LOL!!! And it might mean that her prop touches are not as perfect but that is fine, reward anyway 🙂
>>I gotta say: doing all this on a foot target instead of a jump or a wing is genius!!>>
I am glad you are liking it! It is easier for the pups and allows us to work it all out before going to the REAL STUFF LOL! And transferring to wings and jumps is SUPER easy 🙂
Great job!
TracyHi! This was a very strong session! You were both watching her and rewarding, and making plans to help her either by challenging her more, or making it easier if needed – all at a really fast pace. NICE!!! She had a TON of excellent backing up moments here in this short session!
>.Looking at the video, I’m thinking I ought to get the reward treat down under her chest before she looks up at me, although that might be more like luring?>>
Yes – you can do that by leaving your hands low, at or below your knees, That was when you were able to get the cookie in the quickest, before she looks up at you. When you are standing up more, or had the cookie hands higher (thigh level) – it was harder to get the cookie in fast when your hands were higher.
Now about the luring… I don’t have anything against good lures where needed as long as we fade them. But in this case, the lower hands/faster rewards are not lures because we are notusing the cookie to create the backing up behavior – we are getting it in FAST to reward her offered behavior while using fast placement to make sure she doesn’t lift her head up.
>>Also, markers.
I’m an old dog trying to learn new trick. I try but “yesss” comes out as unplanned as a fart.>> Ha! I am now going to steal that analogy LOL!
>> So maybe if we take them one at a time… what would be appropriate here? I’m delivering the treat to her in position but dropping it to keep her head down instead of delivering it to her mouth. 🤷🏻♀️
(Not promising that even if I know what I should say I won’t say yes at the weight shift but I can try.)>>In this shaping game where the cookie is being placed “at the source” where it is either in her mouth or right below it? I am fine with a yesss marker. When she needs to come forward to get the cookie between your feet? That is more appropriate for a ‘get it’. So let’s start with those and add more later!
Great job! Let me know what you think!
Tracy
Hi!
>>I didn’t see these things and appreciate your “eye.”>>
It is very easy to see as an outsider eye looking at video… it is MUCH harder to see in the moment or when we work with our own puppies 🙂 Plus, play preferences change as the pups grow, so she might play entirely differently in 6 months!
Looking at the baby goat games video: she did really well offering to get on the ‘thing’ and more importantly: nice job getting back to the toy after cookies! The pace of your session was great: tug, shape for a couple of cookies, then back to tug while getting the object out of there – very nice!
Only one suggestion: you were putting the object down and then getting the cookies from the pocket… which ended up causing your hand to stay in your pocket. She was watching you pocket, even offering behavior directed towards the pocket, which inhibits that first offer moment (because “mom’s hands are going to the magic cookie pockets! nom nom!!” )
So you can switch that: tug tug tug, get the cookies into your hand… then put the object down. Sure, she might look at your hand a little but that is a smaller visual than the hand-in-pocket, and can lead to a faster offer on the object and definitely will lead to quicker reinforcement placement – which means she will be less likely to watch your pockets 🙂 because you can get the reward in before she turns and looks at you.
Wing wrap games:
>>I wound up using toys because when I initially used bowls and treats, it looked too much like the “Bucket Game” we play to do her grooming. So, she would just down and stare at the bowl and wait for me to comb her.>
Ah yes, I can see her point there LOL! So we can call this the 2-Dragon Game instead LOL!! The grooming bowl game is a lifetime thing, so I would not want to change that because we fade the bowls from the wrap game pretty quickly. The other option is to use post it notes or something that definitely does not look like a cookie bowl 🙂
She did well here with the 2 dragons! (I just noticed she has spots in a row down her back: SO CUTE!!!!) The first video was all about establishing the back-and-forth pattern and getting her to drop one toy then go to the other one. On the 2nd video, she was dropping the toy more easily and the upright placed there was no problem at all. So, next steps: rather than tap the other toy immediately when she lets go of the first one… wait for a heartbeat. when she turns her head to the next toy, the other toy can come alive! Then you can start delaying the 2nd toy tapping longer and longer, so she builds up to offering going around the upright.
Great job!!! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi! Thank you for the info!!!! She sounds really cool and fun in many ways, and challenging in others.
One overall observation: based on what you said about her, she sounds like she doesn’t really know how to self-regulate at all. She gets “up” into arousal… and stays up there and can’t get herself back to baseline or that optimized state. It makes sense: she is from high arousal working lines (genetics might not have been geared towards self-regulation) and she is an adolescent.
So, prioritizing the training should make a MASSIVE difference!!
Step 1 – self-regulation in the form on the resilience games. Get those going for sure as the top priority. I have more coming this week! And I have found that nosework is GREAT for self-regulation1
Step 2 – very simple basic shaping where you take an easy, unimportant skill and shape it with toy play before, cookies during, toy play after a few cookies, then a treat scatter in the grass to end the session with her sniffing to decompress her arousal state. What should you shape? It doesn’t matter as long as it is relatively easy and NOT something you really care about for sports 🙂 because the goal is not about the shaped behavior, the goal is ALL about the self-regulation when ‘working’.
>> I am not playing 2 toy game with her at the moment as she is just too aroused and won’t end the game.>>
You can create a resilience/self-regulation variation of toy-one-tug then treat scatter in the grass then toy-two-tug then treat scatter in the grass. And you will be able to replace the treat scatter with a little nosework skill – all of that can help her practice the up and down of self-regulation. It is like building up a muscle!
When you have that magical self-regulation and resilience in place? BOOM! Everything else will come together very quickly 🙂
>>When out and about we use a 4-in-1 harness, usually chest attachment, though she is still a powerful pull. I do use a GL as well.>>
I have found that using 2 leashes like reins really helps: so you can have 2 leashes on the chest attachment harness, one in each hand and on each side of her body, so you have a little more control to help her out.
>>I am having trouble finding good footing places to train, and urgently need yo solve that problem. Kilah digs and drives at top speed and has no regard for her physical safety.>>
She should probably not be doing any of that type of training yet, til the resilience and self-regulation muscles are built up because the bad footing can be incredibly frustrating to dogs like her! Plus, if she can’t yet self-regulate then yes – it can be unsafe. I would replace the running activities she might be getting there with hikes on a long line, or long sniffaris (sniffy walks) an stuff like that.
Let me know what you think!
Tracy
