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Hi! It is good to see the videos!
short clip of backing up here – she did well! One suggestion is to toss the treat low and towards her front feet, to get her head a little lower and to get even more distance/more steps on the backing up.Onwards to the next ones!
TracyHi!
>>Technology and I are not close friends, or maybe I’m not following the rules.
My guess is that it is technology, because there are not that many rules here LOL!
>> Finally I can almost hook to her collar without a dropped treat or licky mat. She’s good at “get dressed” so we can get into an over large collar or her Brilliant k9 but attaching the harness is hit and miss. >>
Have you tried shaping her to put her own head through a big martingale, so you don’t have to wrestle or potentially be mouthed or muzzle punched? The martingale is not the best for control but it is certainly easier to shape her to put herself into it so you can walk her a bit.
>She is still way over aroused when the toy is there, still avoids bringing or yielding toys and I don’t have a workable plan for overcoming this yet.
Will she trade for another toy or treat scatter?
Also, once the foundation resilience games are in place, I recommend playing the resilience games with the toy as a distraction. The toy can be in the room, up high on a counter, not used…. just simply having the toy in the picture while the resilience games (pattern game in particular) help her deal with the arousal.
And of course, the overarousal struggle can be physiological, meaning the training alone can’t help her completely. Many dogs do amazingly well with behavioral help in the form of pharmaceutical intervention, to get the ball rolling 🙂 It is something that I would not hesitate to do with my own dogs. Plus, the collar/leash/harness issues might be a form of resource guarding (dogs can resource guard their own bodies) so behavioral help can certainly make big progress there too.
>>But know this class has helped me tame my own demons a bit and my puppy is having a blast.
Yay! And definitely prioritize the resilience games, as they will be the biggest factor in dealing with the arousal issues.
Tracy
Hi!
This is going well too, with a couple of reps in each direction. Very nice! She is sorting out her footwork but I do think having the bars a little closer together will be easier. Julie (hi Julie!) gave great advice to lengthen the verbals because that will help Snap differentiate the left/right turns from the wraps or GO lines.
My only other suggestion is to hold her collar so you can say the verbals before letting her start moving 🙂
And since this is going so well, you can add in some countermotion, in the turn-and-burn style: when she is going around the minny pinny, you can do a FC and start walking the other direction (just like yu did on the barrel with the turn and burn game). This will challenge her to maintain her commitment even while you are moving the other way.
Great job on these!!
TracyOne rep here to the left, she was a good girl ignoring distractions! It is hard but she was good to come back and finish the left turns 🙂
T
Hi!
This had several reps, they were really strong!! She does well to her right but I think you will find the bouncing is more powerful if you shorten up the distance between bars (see above). The verbals sounded good – one thing to add is gently holding her collar, saying the verbals a couple of times… then letting her start moving. That will help solidify the verbals as a cue.Onwards to the next video below 🙂
TracyHi!
She is doing well on these! This video is just one rep – one thing I see on this rep (and on the next video too) is that this setup is challening for her footwork! She was all like “WHERE DO MY FEET GO AND HOW CAN I STILL GO FAST” haha 🙂 So you can help her out by shortening the spaces between the bars, so she can bounce the distances rather than try to stride the distances. So the bars will be more like 3 feet apart from center-to-center so she can bounce more.
Tracy
Hi!
Backside wraps: he did well on these in terms of commitment, but he did have a couple of questions that I think will be easy to answer:
>>a consequence I think of me setting him up incorrectly.>>
Yes, I think the start of each rep was not as clear as it could have been, so he was not able to respond as quickly. Try to line him up in a clear, consistent start position for each rep. You were doing something different on each rep and starting each rep before either of you were in the right spot 🙂 I suggest holding his collar, making sure you in the right spot relative to the barrel (so he can see the whole barrel), start saying the verbal cue (and don’t say “go” before it 🙂 ) and then let him go. When he starts to move, then you can start to move as well.
At :59 for example, he was wide with a question, but it was caused by mechanics – he was looking at you, you were looking at the barrel, you were blocking his line to the barrel (which pushes him wider because you are on the tight line), so he was not sure where to be then you started moving… he got it but we can make it smoother by letting him see the whole barrel for a moment, hearing the verbal, then starting the rep.
You can also make it more predictable by starting in the same spot on the same side of the barrel each time in the session – the reps started in different places a lot, so he had to figure it out anew each time. If you start in the same spot, he can focus on his mechanics and not have to focus on your mechanics as much 🙂
Perch work – he was all about the sit on this one, the sit has a LOT of value 🙂 so you can start each session by rewarding anything other than a sit: if he sits, throw the cookie to the side so he doesn’t not get rewarded in the sit position. You won’t want to withhold the reward if he is quick and sits, but you can make the sit inefficient for him (response cost) but tossing the cookie off to the side if he sits.
He was moving his hind end a bit when you moved (yay!) but he definitely was thinking about the sit 🙂 I think the ‘return to center’ approach will actually be easier for him – you can sit in a chair, tossing treats to the side so he gets on the perch, pivots back to center, and then you toss the treat to the other side. This will also lower your hands a bit which might help him not want to sit by lowering his head position. The higher head position with you standing was tilting his weight back to his rear (which makes the sit easy to do). And a lower heigh position (with his chin parallel to the ground will tilt his weight forward a bit more, making the sit less easy to do.
I think the ‘return to center’ approach will actually be easier for him – you can sit in a chair (which lowers your hands a bit)
On the minny pinny – he definitely seems to understand the setup! Yay! So now you can solidify and attach the verbals even more: start by holding his collar here too, saying the verbal and then letting go so we can attach the verbals. So basically anything with verbals attached (the left/right, the backside wraps, etc) so start with a clear line up where you hold him, then stay the verbals, then let him move. Hearing the verbals first will help establish them as cues (otherwise they become too much “blah blah blah” if the pup is already moving LOL!)
And remember to reward with him sliding across in front of you, between the wings and you so he ends the minny pinny with the additional turn (and he won’t lose the cookie in the grass because you can reward from your hand).
No need to expand the wings any further, but what you can add is a bit of countermotion – turn-and-burn style! As you send him through the pinny n one direction, you do a front cross and start walking the other direction to challenge him to complete his commitment while you are going the other way 🙂Great job! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning!
The rear cross session is going well, you were able to get in lots of good reps on a really hard skill!! One suggestion:
Have him wear a collar so you can hold him while you throw the cookie – then when it lands, he can lock onto it, you can let go and both of you can move to your spot for the RC. Doing this without a collar is like holding a greased watermelon LOL! And that makes the start awkward, so a collar will help things be smoother for sure.Perch work – shaping getting up on the perch to build value for front feet on it was the main thing happening here at the beginning, and once he got that going, things were much easier. He was moving around it nicely but his head was a little high because you are tall and he is not tall LOL! So when you are standing and moving around, try to bend over so his chin is parallel to the ground. If his head is too high, he will end up shifting weight into his rear which makes it hard to pivot around.
The other option that I think will work with him is to have you in a chair and do the ‘return to center’ version of this, where the rewards are thrown off to the side. Being in the chair will keep his head lower and also he seemed to already be offering the return to center so I think it will be easy for him.Cone wraps:
>>Was he turning the right way on the sends? I felt like I was sorta doing some awkward version of a FC instead of how nice and smooth yours looked>>
Yes, he was correct! It is basically the 2nd half of the FC. On the first rep I think you wanted him to turn the wrong way but he was like “no momma, I got this!” LOL!
The right turns were very easy for him! Left turns are harder, so keep being patient about not moving away too quickly. Great job dropping the reward right at the cone exit at :30, that really helped him solidify the understanding of the left turns!
I think he has reached the stage where this cone is too short, he can basically get his head over the top of it. Time to switch to a big barrel! And also be sure to add in toys so he gets lots of toy play in these games too 🙂
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
Nice session here – She totally thought this was super big fun!!
>> This was her first time with the bump, she kept wanting to stand on it,
Ha! She was probably thinking it was a goat game at first 🙂
She did great here when you got her moving! It was easy to add the verbals and great job with the reward placement too. Only one suggestion: have her wear a collar so you can line her up at your side, slide a finger under her collar so she stays tehre, say the verbals a few times… then let her go. Hearing the verbals before she and you start to move will help attach the verbals to the behavior better, and will also prevent little oopsies like at L41 where she was not sure of where to be (if that happens, you can go to the reset cookie right away, line her up, and start again).
You can also add in the countermotion of the tune-and-burn style exit: as she is doing the minny pinny one direction, you can do the font cross and start walking the other direction to challenge her to maintain her commitment even as you go the other way.
Great job!
Tracy
That is odd! Are you getting an error message? Can you get a screenshot of what you are seeing and send it to support@agility-u.com and we will sort it out.
T
You are doing a great job! One thing that helps me is to make a note of the one thing I need to remember for each training session – for example, I will put “low hands” on a post it note for the perch work sessions 🙂 Or “hand position THEN release” for the serp and threadle games, so I don’t do them at the same time. Post it notes are great, or a white board with one of those markers helps too!
Have fun!
TracyThis is a great update!! He is doing so well!! Since based on your facebook post it turns out you have some time on your hands this weekend 🙂 Maybe take him on a resilience game field trip or two? That way we can have those games cemented before adolescence hits 🙂
Tracy
Good morning!
>> I just wanted heavy distractions
Great! She did well! One tweak – don’t hand her to the holder until you are ready to start, so she doesn’t start looking around and doesn’t have to wait too long. So – give instructions to the helpers, then hand her to the holder and as soon as the holder has a good grip – run around the back of the holder and then run into the recall 🙂
Snap was perfect here! So you can use your helpers to do more “head to head” and passing pattern recalls. By head to head, you will need 2 holders 🙂 And I am sure you have done this at flyball practice – one dog does the recall then the other dog. You eventually work up to both dogs recalling at the same time, but you will want the less experienced dog to recall first so he can be successful (which means in this case, Snap recalls 2nd because I don’t think she will chase the other dog). it might take multiple sessions to have them recalling head-to-head but that is fine 🙂
The passing pattern recalls are also fun: you need 2 holders again, and they will be set up on opposite walls and pretty far apart (as far apart as possible when puppies are involved). The handlers are running towards the opposite wall, doing a recall, but now there is another dog recalling “towards” them (but 20 feet away or more) . So the pups are not passing each other to start, it will be more like one dog returning from the box while the dog in the other lane is being sent. Then you can gradually move the holders to center so the dogs are getting more of a passing feel. Let me know if that makes sense or if I need more caffeine haha!!! I might have video of it somewhere with my adult dogs….
Great job here! I think agility dogs all need to play flyball recall games 🙂
Tracy
Good morning!
I was getting ready to bug you to see how she was doing 🙂 I am glad you posted!
>>I need about 4 (or more) hours to sit down and figure out what I need to do next, I’m feeling quite disorganized.
I will give you next steps to the games you posted here, so hopefully that will save time and help things not feel as overwhelming. Once we get past week 5, things build on each other really easily so you will be able to move through things quickly 🙂
>>Anyway, these are somewhat skipped around and I know I need to go back on work on some things, but here are 5 games for you to take a look at.>
It is fine to skip around! You can think of it as “tracks” rather than trying to complete an entire week before moving to the next one. For example, with the parallel path game, you can go to the backside slice game because it is the next step and you don’t need to finish all the other games in the other weeks before it 🙂
Tunnel shaping- this went well, using both the MM and the toys! Before stretching it out, add in holding her collar, saying the verbal tunnel cue, then letting her drive through. And when she is happy with that (will probably happen very quickly :)) you can repeat the process with her on the threadle side, then add your tunnel threadle verbal. It will be pretty easy for her and can probably happen all in one session or two sessions. Then it will be easy to add the double whammy game too 🙂
The high excitement stays were good! She didn’t seem to move a muscle, even when you were very exciting! Great job rewarding her early and often 🙂 Since she is doing well with this, you can move to the Happy Stays with the prop:
Rotated barrel sends – these look good in both directions! One small tweak: when sending sideways, use the hand closer to the barrel rather than the hand across your chest.
The backwards sends looked great – nice use of the send arm and shifting connection to the “landing” spot past the barrel 🙂
Now start to add the countermotion: start a couple of steps away from the barrel, send her to it and look at the ‘landing spot’. As she starts to move to the barrel, you start walking away from the barrel. You should probably wait til she is passing you before you start moving forward and definitely do it at a walk to start.And if you haven’t done the rocking horses yet… definitely do those! They build on this and are super fun too 🙂
Parallel path – she is doing well here! You can do two things to make this even smoother:
-toss a cookie away to start, so she is not ahead of your or facing you – and while she is eating the cookie, you can set yourself up laterally and be moving to set the line. She did well with the stays but was looking at you, so the thrown cookie starts will get her to look at you even less.
– switch to a thrown toy instead of a cookie as a reward 🙂
Since this is going well, you can move to the backside slice foundation:
It is based on the parallel path concept, but you will only have one barrel and a jump bump so it is easier to show her to the backside.
Minny pinny looks great! Nice job with the verbals and the placement of reinforcement! My only suggestion is to hold her collar, say the verbal 3 or 4 times… and then let her go to start moving. If she is moving before the verbal, she won’t necessarily attach the verbal as a cue as well as she will if you let her hear it a few times before you let her start moving.
Great job on these! Let me know what you think, especially about the next steps 🙂
TracyGood morning!
The signs were hilarious!! This session went well. She wants to start herself each time, so good job to you for making sure that you had a hold of her in the line up position so she wasn’t sending herself through before you were ready 🙂
The pool noodles also looked good – she can also use them as a tug toy LOL!
You can add a little bit of countermotion to this game – after you send her into the minny pinny, keep saying the verbal while you start doing a FC and a ‘turn-and-burn’ style exit so she is basically continuing to turn away from you. Do it at a walk to get started so she completes the line in the correct direction.The tunnel threadle looked good! The rights were perfect! Go back to a slightly easier angle and now add the verbal and arm cue, like you have on the left turns, then work your way back to the hard angles and the double whammy – I think she is ready for it!
And the left turn threadles without you using physical cues looked really good! She only looked at you like you were nuts one time, maybe twice LOL!
On the double whammy, it will help if you don’t get quite as far ahead (because you then have to stop otherwise you end up past the tunnel). So you can wait at the exit of the tunnel send for her to exit, then start moving up the line for the threadle part of it.
>>I protected your eyes from the beginning (you’ll see… it had to be done!)>>
Ha! Somehow the camera always seems to get good views of our butts LOL!
The running contact mat work looks good! You can move the MM a couple of feet further away. She is a little leapy when going towards the MM – probably the excitement of the magical food dispenser LOL!
One of my dogs wanted to do that, as you can see here at the beginning of the video:What I did to un-leap the behavior was delay the click so she would go through the mat and take one more civilized non-leaping stride, so she was getting rewarded for striding not leaping (and also turning the MM sideways made it a little less exciting for her):
So you can try to delay the click and don’t click if she leaps, just call her back over it and reward her for striding the other direction (she was not leaping at all going away from the MM)
Strike a pose – the mat really helps her find the start cookie! And she was able to hold a stay on it too 🙂 Yay! She did well with both the serp and the threadles, including ignoring the MM for most of the reps.
Because she is so little and we are going to add motion soon (like later today haha!) – you can fade out the actual touch to the target. When she is on the way to your hand you can click the MM before she touches the target (that will also help you not have to ben dover as much :)) Also, what do you want your threadle slice word to be? You can totally add it on the threadles (and keep the regular release word when you are working on the serpentines).
Great job on all of these! Let me know what you think!
Tracy
