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>> This was the part I was definitely overthinking LOL. So simple but made it 100x harder for myself.>>
Totally relatable! It is like every time I get a new puppy, I need to learn mechanics all over again LOL!!!
Good morning!
>> I sat on these because there’s something wrong with all of them but then realized I’m never going to get going if I don’t get going!>>
Exactly! I am glad you posted them! If we wait til everything is perfect, then nothing will get done. I try to leave in all of my bloopers, there are plenty of them LOL!
>>Question: the 2-minute guide for training sessions – does that include all the revving up at the beginning or just the brain-thinking stuff?>>
The 2 minute guide should include everything from the minute the dog enters the training environment: playing before/during/after and the skills training sections too. You can see by about 3 minutes on the first video, she was done and losing focus, so ideally you would end the session by the 2 minute mark.
Her tugging looks really strong in the foot target video! She definitely loves tugging! She doesn’t yet love giving it back, so you can trade for a treat or another toy to get her to drop it quickly.
This session was good for working out the shaping mechanics. I think the foot target was too tall for her to think about putting her feet on automatically. You got lots of offered behavior (nose touching it, downs, sits etc) but the foot target was harder. So you can either squish this one down so it is maybe an inch or two tall (you’ll get more automatic foot targeting) or switch to something that is shorter for easier foot targeting. That will really get the ball rolling for her!
The driving ahead video looked awesome, I love her toy drive! The driving ahead portion was easy peasy for her, so let’s sort out the toy play mechanics:
Have you tried trading the tuggy for a low value treat? You mentioned having concerns for the safety of your flesh (understandable!) but what is happening is you are pulling up the toy to get it out of her mouth, which is frustrating her – so she tugs harder so you pull it up more to the point that she can’t hold on, then she gets frustrated and barks, then you get mad and pull the toy away, then she disengages (1:05 – 1:19) .
So to prevent all of that fighting with each other about the toy, just show her a treat and toss it to the side, so she lets go of the toy and gets rewarded for doing that. Use a treat that is high enough in value that she will actually let go of the toy, but not so enticing that she then doesn’t want to play with the toy.
You can also add more driving forward with you standing up! That will allow you to start moving as well.
Looking at the wing wrap videos: this is also going well!
On the first video:
A little detail to make mechanics easier: Make sure you have the cookies ready before you put the bowls down, so you can reward the very first thing she does.VERY nice transition from the loud cookie drops into the stealthy cookie drops! That was impressive! And then she did a great job offering the back and forth. And she did go back to the toy at the end – you might have chosen the lower value toy there, so next time to get her back on the toy more easily, try that fuzzy toy she really liked 🙂
At the beginning of the 2nd video – rather than all the search cookies, bring her into the session with a tug toy (especially because it is such a food-heavy training game).
She got the rhythm going really well here too, so she was totally ready for you to add the upright. Adding the upright totally changes the picture, so you can go back to the start of the game with dropping the treats in to the bowl rather than waiting for her to offer. That will re-establish the rhythm of the back-and-forth and then you can make those quick transitions to the stealthy cookie drops and then to offering, without her freezing at all.
I will be adding some reinforcement strategy ideas for everyone later today, and that will include ways to get the toy back without fighting and while preserving the safety of your flesh 🙂 Stay tuned!
Great job here!!
TracyHi!
>>Also, I tried to wait a bit longer before I released her to the toy. Don’t know if that helped.>>
It was great! She was on fire! Great focus forward and drive to the toy! You can start adding a little more of your motion too by moving as soon as you let her go.
>> I can see how putting a line on it would have helped, but then it’s harder to throw??>>
I think you should definitely put it on a line, for 2 reasons:
to keep the ring lower so when you are tugging, you can be a little more upright without her needing to crank her neck up while tugging – you can be holding the line and the ring can be on the ground for her to tug on. We don’t want her lifted off the ground while tugging, and we don’t want you to be in pain from all the bending over… so a line will be a great thing for you both!
Also, at the end, you were asking for a retrieve but I don’t think she really has a retrieve yet in this context (and that is fine, we don’t need a retrieve in this context yet!). On the other reps, you were quicker to grab the toy before she could scoot away. On the last rep, she scooted away as you reached for it (too much pressure, maybe?) – she did bring it a step towards you when you asked, but having it on a line will help because you can engage with her without the pressure of you leaning into grab the toy (this universally will cause puppies to scoot away). So when playing this game, as you get to her, you can grab the other end of the line and not the actual ring 🙂
To help make it throwable, maybe tie a 3 foot long fleece toy to the ring? That is pretty heavy, so you can scrunch it up and throw it pretty far!
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyThis is going really well too! If you are going to toss the treat as a reward, you don’t need the ‘yes’ marker, you can use the ‘get it’ as the marker. The “yes” gets her looking at you which is perfect for when you reward from your hand. The “get it” will both mark the behavior as correct and indicate where to look for reward.
After each reward, be sure to start with the ready dance moment – this helps her be ready for the send, and it gets snappier behavior as she learns to shift from handler focus to obstacle focus. For example, look at :32 when you did the ready dance before sending her: very snappy drive to the prop!
Compare that to :38 where there was no ready dance – she did go to the prop, but she was not sure if she should go (a few questions of looking at you and not as much speed). So add that ready dance before every rep to really get her flying away to the prop and back to you 🙂
Nice work!!
TracyGood morning!
Great job tugging without touching her!
The session went really well and her offering was SUPER! YAY!!!
>>I thought she’d do better going back to treats on this.
The treats seemed to work really well – she was engaged, no puking 🙂 and happily ate the treat and went back to the toy.
You can switch to a wingless upright for the next session if you have one!
This game is all about mechanics, so a couple of ideas to help get them really quick. Tiny dogs are insanely quick, so our mechanics have to be insanely quick (big puppies are not as quick in their movement so those mechanics can be easier LOL!)
On the transition from the tugging into training – switch the order of festivities to help her out:
while tugging with one hand, the other hand can be reaching for the bowls. Then take the tug out, get the cookies in your hand and only then should the prop and bowls going into position. In this session, the upright went in first and she had an absolutely spectacular offer of a wrap which did not get rewarded. Then she got a little antsy during the waiting for you to be ready… so you will want to be ready before the items to offer on are visible to her.
Then for the transition back to shaping after the tug break: one hand tugs, the other hand refills the treats so the very instant you take the toy away, you are ready to reward that first offered behavior. It will also be quicker for you if you have treats in both hands so you can drop the reward into the bowl from the hand next to the bowl, rather than one hand having to reach over, grab a treat, then drop it in.
The quickness of transitions will be very helpful!
She did not bark here, but you mentioned barking in other scenarios – she probably didn’t bark here because she was offering behavior on the bowls and upright. But if there is nothing to offer on and the transition is slow, then she might bark (frustration).
Great job!!!
TracyHi!
The main thing is that we don’t accidentally add pressure to training with these baby dogs – and letting the reinforcement strategies come together over time is the best way to do it 🙂 I call it #TeamChill haha!
>> “I’m starving & dying here!” mode
I mean, I am an adult human (theoretically haha) and I totally get into the ‘I’m starving & dying here!’ mode, so I can relate to how a puppy feels 🙂
T
Good morning!
>>May I ask you to please remove the 4 new topics I created in error on April 30th?
Will do! I was going to ask if you wanted to consolidate them into your thread but you beat me to it 🙂
Your training videos are fabulous here and Skeeter is sooooo clever and adorable!!!
First video was the prop shaping from the pre-game – SUPER! Very nice transition to tossing the treats off to the side, then to you standing up and continuing the game. Skeeter was great with his hits! The value looks really strong – my only suggestion is to replace your ‘yes’ marker with a ‘get it’ marker for when you are going to toss the treat: ‘yes’ generally gets the pups looking towards us (which can be very useful) and the ‘get it’ will tell him to look out away for the reward (also very useful).
You have the ‘get it’ marker going in the driving ahead video, which was perfect! Yay! Your timing of releasing him to the toy was spot on here: you were connected to him and let him go chase the toy while he was looking at it and not at you. Perfect!
Skeeter strutting away with the toy like it was a trophy was probably the cutest thing I have seen in decades LOL! AS his retrieve continues to build up, you can trade for a second toy or a cookie, as long as the cookie doesn’t distract him from his toy play.
So now you can definitely go to the next steps of this game: hold him longer by a heartbeat as the toy lands, so you can also start to move foward (at a walk) when you let him go. If he likes that, you can gradually add in moving faster and faster, and also add in saying go go go 🙂 You will know if he is ready for more, if he continues to drive straight and fast to the toy.
This 3rd video is the prop sends – Skeeter LOVES the prop and so the ready dance moment was weird at first for him. But then he got into the groove very nicely. He was sniffing a little, I think because you had dropped the first few rewards. Later in the session, you rewarded from your hand (like at :47 and :54 and 1:16) and that helped him stop sniffing. Since he likes toys, you can also use a toy for this instead of treats.
And, you can reward him for big effort even if the hit on the prop is not perfect: at 1:02 he went all the way to the prop and even a little past it – btg distance for a little dog! He didn’t quite hit it but his effort was awesome, so it is still rewardable because he gave you a lot of send 🙂
The wrap shaping session also looked really good! He definitely has the back-and-forth rhythm so sliding the upright into position was great. He was able to squeeze between it and youm so you did a great job of pulling it in really close and then re-starting the game with the cookie drops. The upright changes the picture pretty dramatically for the pups, so he needed a moment to re-start the back-and-forth rhythm. He did really well!
So for the next session, you can start with the upright already in front of you, and get the rhythm going with the cookie drops into the bowls – and then I bet you will be able to get him to start offering the back and forth as well.
When he can offer the back and forth with the upright right there like he was doing without it, you can add two things:
– switch to sitting on something low (I have a cooler that I often sit on, so to get me off the ground) to help begin the transition to you standing up.
– start sliding the upright a little further from you.
You are off to a terrific start! Well done with all of the mechanics of the various games: your excellent attention to those little details helped set up a lot of success 🙂
Tracy
Hi!
I will be adding some reward strategy videos today to help with all of this! It is on my to-do list to dig them all up and post 🙂 What you are describing is totally normal and I have worked through it with my Papillons and terrier mix in particular. I work on these reward strategies separately from trying to train anything, so I have them in the toolbox when I do try to train (or I know what is not yet ready to be used in training :)) Stayed tuned, I will email everyone when I have them posted up after I am fully caffeinated 🙂
>> I start with tug/toy play but the minute food comes out, tug is not happening.
For now, it is perfectly fine to start a session with tugging, then do some food rewards, then NOT try to get the tugging again. We will build that in separately then add it to training later on. No rush, no pressure 🙂
>>especially if she is hungry. Once she eats a bit, it’s better. Any suggestions appreciated.
So the interesting thing here is that we know a lot more about puppy brains now and how they process and develop: and the key is to NOT train a hungry puppy. Their brains are underdeveloped in terms of processing, so their baby brains will prioritize the sensation of being hungry over anything else like trying to offer behavior. So, I always feed my puppies a little something *before* training and the results are soooo much better because their brains can prioritize info better. It is basically the opposite of what ‘traditional’ training tells us, but traditional training did not have the benefit of understanding behavioral neuroscience 🙂
So, feed a portion of the meal then try to train later on for the rest of it, after she digests a little! Yes, because she is tiny, sessions will be short so she doesn’t fill up but if it ends up using the meal, it will work out well. And the results will be amazing in the long run!
Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
Thanks for the video! The barking is feedback rom the puppy on internal state, so we do best when we take that feedback and change things up, rather than tell the pup she is wrong about it.On the video:
I think this is a bit of frustration barking: you are in a position that indicates something very exciting coming, and the other dog is right there and also vocalizing. Mochi is both stimulated, frustrated, and potentially needing to compete with the other dog for the toy… so you are getting barking. She might not even be aware she is barking!So if you don’t want the barking, don’t set her up to be in a position of frustration especially when there is another dog right there that is also vocalizing. If both dogs are going to play, get the toys out FAST and start the game, so neither gets amped up or vocalizing.
>>She sometimes does this during games like ‘It’s your Choice’
You can take the Its Your Choice game out of the game rotation – the barking is most definitely frustration because that game can create a ton of failure and frustration. So the easiest thing to do it to not play it LOL!!! We slide in a TON of self-control without frustration, leading to far better results – trust me that you will see amazing self-control in the coming months without needing to play any of the older impulse control games 🙂
>>or if I don’t give her the tug soon enough.>>
On the training videos you have posted, you have been very quick to give her the tug in transitions so I don’t recall any barking. Definitely post any videos that have barking! If it involves a toy delay, it might be frustration or it might be “OMG THIS IS SO EXCITING”. So try to be as quick as you can with the toy because that will help in both situations 🙂
T
Good morning!
This was a lovely session! Hooray for your husband helping out!! She will learn to love being restrained more, through games like this: restraint = MOMMA GONNA RUN RUN RUN so she will start to like it better 🙂 If she is flailing a bit while being held, the holder can gently loop a hand under her belly and another hand on her collar, to see if that helps.
All of the reps were super fun even when she smoked you and you were late on one or two 🙂 You rewarded everything and made it a great time for her, which is fabulous 🙂
Because she is already so speedy you can start your blind almost immediately when she starts moving towards you, which should give you more time to reconnect when on the new side. You did this at :06 and :34, and the blinds looked great!!!
>>I like doing this with the cookie toss better but if I have to throw it in a bowl outside I won’t have time to do my mechanics for the blind cross. >>
I was definitely undercaffeinated when I wrote that suggestion, leaving out the most important part: put the cookie in the bowl, let her see it, move 10 or 15 feet from the bowl – then send her to the bowl while you run the other way to get yourself a massive head start LOL!!! That way you don’t have to throw it, it will be there and you can send her to it 🙂
>>She’s too speedy for me already
This is a champagne problem! I love it!

>>Presenting the toy across the body is the hard part on these and I definitely over thought it on top of that. >>Yes, it is the hardest part but it gets the snappiest blinds. Keep the toy in the same hand the whole time (starting on the same side as her) so you can just put it on the opposite hip. When I learned how to present the reward like that, I had to do an entire session without the dog LOL! Because the mechanics felt so weird at first 🙂 But then it locks in, we add the puppy back, and the blinds will be very easy.
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
Those are pretty normal adolescent behaviors 🙂 When left alone, I highly recommend the puppy has a place to hang out, like a crate, where he can sleep and chew his chew toys and not chew any parts of your house 🙂 As for whining or jumping on counters, you can redirect him into more desirable things like chewing on bones or stuffed kongs or toppls, so he can direct his excess energy into that and not into whining or counter surfing. You can also start shaping him to hang out on a dog bed, by doing short sessions of rewarding him for staying on the dog bed or cot (you are sitting on a couch, for example, watching TV and tossing treats to him for staying on a bed). At 6 months old, he is probably going to only be able to do this for literally a minute at first, so start small then build it u0.Keep me posted!
TracyGood morning! You are off to a fabulous start! I know you have been insanely busy but no worries – your mechanics and session structure here is a sooooo good that you don’t need to do a lot of training – the work you are doing is really top notch! Happy dance!
Looking at the video:
Decel: she is really driving in to your decel nicely and also doing really well gong back and forth from food to focus to tugging to food to focus. That is the most critical element of this game and she is nailing it! I think wither her food value is slightly higher here (she might be shifting into food focus a little) or she is teething, because she is letting go of the toy a little earlier than in the past? So go to a really soft fluffy toy if this one had any hardness to it, or keep the tugging really short , or don’t pull on it as much for now (or all of the above LOL!)
Only one suggestion to add to the decel game: slow down sooner to get your hand in to your side sooner. She is driving into you nicely, but not decelerating til after she gets to you because she is not seeing your decel until just before she arrives. So start to decel no later than when she is halfway to you and made a bigger exaggeration of it – and you will see her shift her weight into her rear sooner and really bend into the turn.
Prop practice 1: foot target. She did really well here! You were so funny when she had a moment of stopping and laid down… your hand got twitchy then gently tapped the target. It made me chuckle LOL! But it got her rolling again so that is all good 🙂 Her targeting is looking good – you can raise criteria a little more quickly for this skill now if you do another prop-only session: changing your position from sitting to kneeling to standing would be good for her to see all in one session.
Sizzle has been voted off the island now for training sessions (sorry, Sizzle) because the growling/grumbling when SQL was tugging was scary to the pup. Sizzle was good during the click/treat part but the tugging was too much, so for now, Sizzle can’t have any SQL TV access 🙂
2nd prop practice. – very nice too!!! I REALLY loved the reps with the little ready dances, like at :17 and :29 – the longer the ready dance before the send, the snappier the sends were both leaving you with speed and hitting/driving back. SUPER!
I also love that she was pretty equal in both directions: left and right turns both looked good. Because I like to know if the pup is lefty or righty for planning training, I *think* maybe she is a righty but I sure am pleased with how good the left turns looked too, especially with the added distance.
Really great session – loved the energy, the length of the session, your connection, your transitions, all of it. Click/wine for you.
Barrel wrapping – she is clamping really well on this toy so maybe this is the better toy for teething times?
OK, yes she is a righty as we can see on this video, turning left was much harder here.
So on the right turns, you can do the wilder turn-and-burn style party game 🙂 and great job with the left turn when you got closer and let her offer. The arousal/energy of the left turn was too much for her brain to process so calming that energy allowed her to sort out the left turn mechanics and she was great.Since she is a little ahead of class on this, we can give you more of the upcoming steps (and then you won’t get behind at all when you are on vacation!). So the next step is to start thinking about what you would like your wrap verbals to be… I highly recommend that you used the same exact verbals that you use with Stark so you don’t lose your mind hahahahaha 🙂 And, using the barrel, you can gently hold her collar, start the verbal so she hears it 3 or 4 times, then send to the barrel. Start this on your left so she is turning to her right, then you can switch to the left.
Driving to a toy looks great! Release her quickly like you did at :50 and 1:07 so she doesn’t look up at you at all. Next step – add your GO verbal because you already have some good motion added!!!
The hand target went well too! She was hilarious trying to tug on it at the end LOL Since you have the get it marker, you don’t need the “yes” marker also – get it marks the correctness as well as indicates the placement.
You can change your position sooner on this too – 3 or 4 cookies with you sitting, then go to a higher position (like sitting on an inflatable donut or something) and get some good reps, then work your way up to standing up. Standing up will involve some bending over, so feel free to NOT do a ton of reps of that to preserve your back!
Sizzle was not as grumbly here when SQL was tugging but her noises inhibit SQL’s movement – when Sizzle is making noise, SQL tends to stop moving (and so Sizzle stops making noise, thereby shaping SQL lol!!!) What is Sizzle had a bully stick or something to chew when you are training in your office? That way Sis has something to do other than be a little jealous, and the Chewie is a good distraction for little SQL.
Great job here!! Let men now what you think!
TracyHi!
>>I pick him up all the time – safety issue, getting him into the crate – not an offered behavior – so this is a big rethink – he definitely is less confident about the world when I am carrying him around>
Stop picking him up all the time 🙂 If you have to pick him up to put him in a crate, always always always follow it with a bunch of tossed treats or a bone or something really awesome. I also do regular scoop up, put down, cookies throughout the day. Just a life skill that is always always paired with amazing things.
>>Even clipping on the leash triggers stress. His harness is a step in – should I try a martingale?>>He might not love the martingale either, so same as with being picked up: clip on the leash the shower him with something amazing like treats or a favorite tug. All of this is separate from training to get it rolling!
And for getting the toy back, trade of another toy by smacking the new toy on the ground or dragging it around for him to chase 🙂
T
Hi!
>>Mochi has started to bark at me for not starting the game fast enough? Not giving/getting out the toy fast enough? Not giving her the treat when she thinks she should have it?
Could be a zillion reasons why – yes, be faster with reinforcement and transitions. And keep a higher rate of reinforcement. But also get it on video so I can see why she is doing it. Sometimes it is just excitement!
>>So far I turn my back on her or turn my head away from her until she stops.
That is a punisher, so don’t do that anymore. Just go faster and get it on video. We don’t want to add in a punisher because then we can get stress/frustration, which might manifest as more barking or disengagement or other stress behavior.
>>Could you please give some suggestions to stop this behavior?
Don’t worry about stopping the barking… let’s think about how to create other behavior instead. But, seeing it on video will give us better answers so definitely post up the barky videos!
Tracy
