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Hi!
>This week I plan to circle back to the games we’ve covered so far and make sure we’ve covered them well. Let me know if you recommend anything else for those so far.>
Fun!
One thing I recommend for any/all of the games you are comfortable with is to revisit them with something new (novel-neutral) in the environment – not as a distraction, just present in the environment. Changing the environment even a tiny bit helps with both impulse control/processing and generalizing!
>Reason: Apology for humping added >
OK that was hilarious to see that as the reason for the edit hahahaha! I wouldn’t have even noticed it LOL
>You might have missed our most epic sh&t pile game post from yesterday (just above the adolescence webinar screenshot). >
Eek! Sorry! Just went back and looked and it is indeed epic!!
>I feel like we’ve kind of maxed that one out for now – not a ton more props I have to add and kind of feel like I don’t need him to have too much more confidence in that area. But, we’ll revisit as he grows to make sure he can still keep track of all of his legs.>
Yes, a bit of revisiting here and there is good, and also soon enough we will be narrowing things down to more precision and adding different body awareness skills in coming weeks.
Looking at the video:
The cookies being a bit further away and contained rather than open or held definitely helped on the predictability side of things for sure: they were predictability not accessible and not in play, until you made the transition to them and then they were totally in play. Yay!
The other thing I think it helps to do is contain the pool of scent, which is part of what makes tugging challenging for puppies. The pool of odor from the treats can send conflicting signals to their brains (even if the handler is perfectly clear, the scent can still create conflict). So having the treats contained helped there too by reducing the pool of scent floating around.
>Also, found this AMAZING toy in a tug toy drawer I had forgotten about.>
That toy was definitely amazing! It is like shopping in your own home LOL!! It was pretty enticing on all levels and introduced different textures.
Great job here!
Tracy
Hi! Sorry I missed this!! It is a super epic shpile, I don’t think there has ever been a goat puppy this young doing a 3-story shpile hahahaha! He was great!
>I would NEVER question your professional integrity – but I am highly suspicious that Vibe has paid you off to recommend additional goat/sh@t pile games. >
HA!!! I have been brainwashed by his cuteness. His magic word is PARKOUR lol!!!
>He (and Ripley) both really love the purple balance board Rip finally convinced me to buy this year after he lusted after it at the big events Galican>
It is really interesting how much dogs like it! And little Vibey was running across it putting his feet on targets at the end like it was the most fun thing ever LOL!
>#FYP and for Vibe’s pleasure – more advanced sh@t pile (special cameo from Ripley at the end just to prove he did MaxPup as a puppy too):>
Brilliant! I am just loving his confidence plus he has really good coordination for such a young puppy. He reminds me of my Export and Plot Twist at that age – almost a savant-level of body awareness. Pretty fabulous, and the results later in life are amazing so this all bodes well for the little superstar. Vibe did NOT want to leave the shpile at the end. Bouncing around on it (especially that purple thingie) is just way too much fun. Ripley it was super fun too!
Great job 🙂 I wonder what other crazy shpiles we can present him with?
T
Hi!
>She’s definitely in the adolescent stage and her stranger/danger Aussie voice is coming out. I’m working REAL hard to help her through this. It’s not a surprise given her early struggles but I still have faith we can come out of it stronger.>
Yes, adolescent is a really challenging time with BIG emotions and quick reactions. Work your pattern games from MaxPup 1 – they are a go-to game in hard situations and if something surprising happens like a worker dude walks in suddenly.
Good tugging at the beginning! The raccoon toy is magic LOL!
She did really well with the electrician! I was expecting her to have bigger feelings about it but she did great and bounced back brilliantly!
You can add some tricks and engagement game for when you start the smiley face, so she is fully engaged when you take the leash off (especially with the noise distractions).
The wing-tunnel-wing sections looked GREAT! You had gorgeous connection, clear verbals, clear motion – that allowed her to really nail it! YAY!!! And the racetrack (wing to wing) also looked great!
Lovely work! She did really well with the skills especially with the big distractions.
Tracy
Good morning!
He did well with the forward focus on the toy! He was engaged with the toy until you got on the ground then he was not as interested. It might have been because there too much pressure with you on the ground, or maybe a reward history of getting a cookie (where there cookies in the toy?) Either way, we can get him more jazzed up for the toy and chasing it – and if there is food in it, you can open it after he grabs it so he can shove his face in it to get food 🙂
>Probably way too much talking!>
I think the happy chatter during the reward is perfectly fine, so you can try it when you are standing and swinging the toy around for him to chase 🙂
So to build up drive for this toy – attach it to a longer toy and remain standing. When you throw it and release him to it, hold the other end of the toy so as he is arriving at it, you can be sliding the toy away for him to chase without you needing to bend in to grab the toy.
Nice work here! Let me know what you think!
Tracy
Good morning!
The collar grab game looked great!
>Sometimes in real life she mouths me when I go to grab her collar.>
You can transfer this game to real life situations to get the rehearsals you want during adolescence. What I mean by that is always having a cookie or two or three in your pocket so you can make a clean collar hold followed by a treat even in real life situations. For example, when some random person knocked on my door a couple of weeks ago, my pup doesn’t have the verbal cue understanding to move away and go into the other room so I could answer the door – but I was able to take his collar and deliver a treat from my pocket so he did not consider mouthing or avoiding the collar grab even in a slightly chaotic situation.
I also mix in walking up to the pup, holding his collar, then tossing a treat just like this game – but at random times throughout the day when he is hanging out, or coming out of a crate, or at the door to go outside. Random real life rehearsals can help too and I bet Dot will like it!
>After a little vet scare we played again in the afternoon. She’s fine! >
Eek! I am so glad she is fine!!!
Looking at the bowl video:
This went great! She was happy to wrap even with more distance. Lovely! And had a good decision about ignoring your hands on several occasions!Since this went so well, the next step is to get you sitting on something instead of kneeling (the couch or a chair is great). And when she is happy with that – stand up! When you add your positions changes, don’t worry about distance between you and the cone. Keep it pretty close as we change the element of your position.
>. This AM we played with the toy first. But, when I put it up she did three reps and then sat and stared. >
We also need to work this, but from the perspective of “Dot wants what she wants” and teach her how to get what she wants 🙂 The toy is the high value here and not the food or the work (this is completely normal). So you can start with tugging on the toy – then do exactly one rep of something easy peasy like just going from bowl to bowl. Then back to the toy! Then one rep of bowl to bowl (no cone needed, because it is not about wrapping, it is about learning how to access the toy).
Basically what we are doing is showing her how to access what she really wants but offering the behavior/responding when cued by your position and the presence of the bowls. When she catches on, we can vary the # of reps before the toy comes back out and I think that will really help her ignore the most favorite toy in order to earn it 🙂
Great job here!
Tracy
Good morning!
Wow, that is an amazing story about how Roulette came to be yours! I am so sorry to hear about her grandmother, that must have been heartbreaking.
I think Rou ended up in the perfect spot!!! It sounds like the foot biting is kind of a play behavior that might have been reinforced early on before you got her, by being able to chase feet (fun!) and by being told to stop chasing feet (also fun because attention is fun fun fun! LOL!).
>but she’s aroused in a stalking position with her head down by my feet. She’s in a state of arousal that I would like to avoid. >
I totally agree, we want to avoid the stalking of feet as a default arousal behavior. Is there a way to not have her in the room whenever you think something will happen to elicit this behavior and you are not actively training? The reason management (like having her chew a bone in a crate) is useful here is that she is not rehearsing the stalking behavior – that rehearsal builds and strengthens neural pathways which get faster, easier stalking behavior LOL! So we can actively train in those moments and since that is not always possible, management is GREAT! That way her brain only rehearses what you want her to rehearse.
>I haven’t quite seen this when doing agility or training yet. >
The goal of the arousal work we are starting is that we don’t see it and can teach her to self-regulate and do something else when she is aroused.
>So I don’t sound entirely crazy, >
Ha! You don’t sound crazy at all! You definitely have a clear grasp of her behavior and understanding of Dobes in general!
>Her play style may be totally different from the other Dobes I’ve had. I’ll keep a close eye. My vizslas will quickly let me know that ” hands in face is RUDE. SO RUDE. Game over. >
Right! Your V is more like my whippet. I think Roulette is not as offended by it but she just waits for you to stop before engaging more.
Your marker list is great!
>Yes or clicker – universal reward marker>These markers also generally (and accidentally) mean reward from hand and they end up getting the pups to look at us, which is useful for planning.
>Hoover – several treats on the floor. I try to use this one to lower arousal.Hoover, that is brilliant LOL!
Is ‘tug’ your toy in hand marker? That will be a useful one to have.I also have a marker for “I am throwing the reward back to you” (not bringing it to them, throwing it to them and they are allowed to move to get it). That one is incredibly useful for training stays and stopped contacts and obedience behaviors. My word is ‘catch’ even though they don’t actually have to catch it. The word is the same for food and toys because they see what is being thrown.
The video went great! I will remind everyone (myself included) to try to always say marker before moving the rewards – sometimes you were very clean about that (like on the calmer markers like ‘good’ or X) and on the more exciting markers like get it, the reward was moving first or simultaneously.
>She did not sit fully when I asked for a sit, but I made a mental note for future training to let her arousal come down a bit.>
Actually, don’t bring the arousal down – the science tells us to let her brain and body work through the higher arousal. Then you can do a Hoover to let her come back to a calmer state at the end of the session (or during the session if you are working in super high arousal).
She did well here! She was not over-aroused, so we can let her process the cue and complete the sit, for example, even if it takes longer. Or you can ask for a simpler thing like a hand touch. Or just being still is good too, because it is not foot-biting! Being able to learn and do this in higher arousal is how we make the transition into the competition ring much easier in the long run, because she is going to be in higher arousal in the ring 🙂
Great job!!
Tracy
Good morning!
Were you wearing The Tortured Poets Department pants? I am jealous LOL!
All of the games here are looking excellent.
The sending went really well, he was great about moving away to his target – he has a lot of value for it and was happy to drive to it!
At first you are sending him pretty quickly, without ready game engagement, so he was not quite as prepared or smooth to the prop. When you added the ready game, he was ready to be sent and did really well driving to the prop.
The ready game before the backwards send was perfect – my favorite rep was the last one of this game at 1:24 where he drove to it and gave it a super clear smack.
Drive to handler and the pivot looked great. Well done to you for getting your hand really low because that helps him drive directly into the decel and pivot with you.
The blinds went great! Your connection was super clear so he made the side change perfectly each time even when you did 2 blinds in a row.
>my brain and body’s struggling with the blind crosses.>
This did not show on the video, you looked very smooth and clear!! And since you are in a small space, you had to be quick with the blinds and you were. There was only one where you were a little late and he was surprised (2:11) but the rest were great. It will feel even easier when you have more room for both of you to run.
Excellent work on all of these! We will be building on them starting next week.
Tracy
Hi!
>Sorry about the cat. I thought he was in the kitchen. They are quite good friends so not too horrible a distraction. >
Ha! Cats are so funny, always wanting in on the action. Your cat was very well-behaved. I have a cat that appears in some of the demo videos too, getting in the way entirely. LOL!
I am so proud of little Rusty here!!! He did a great job of wrapping the barrel even though he had every opportunity to slide between you and the barrel to get to the target on the ground. GOOD BOY!!! Brilliant!!! And he got faster and faster as he did it. What a lovely session!
>Should I be increasing distance even further or is this good enough at this point?>
Before increasing distance, you can work this game in higher arousal by playing tug right before you start then breaking it off for more tugging after every 2 or 3 treats. By teaching him to do this in higher arousal, you’ll see he will be able to do it more easily in higher arousal situations (like when he eventually learns to sequence). And when he can do it in higher arousal, you can add a bit more distance 🙂
Great job here!
Tracy
Hi!
He is definitely a Golden – Goat mix LOL! This is such a fearless age and it was fun to watch him climb around on random objects. The bigger playing field was great because he could get his whole body on. He was not putting his hind end on the 3 step stools at first then getting offer very quickly when he did get them on – but I think it was because they were super slippery and he smartly was protecting himself. You can cover them with a yoga mat to prevent the slipping.
He was perfectly happy to goat around on the inflatable disc and wobble board, so I don’t think he was concerned by instability of the 3 step stools and more about being careful with how slippery they were.
Great job here! We build on things that move next week!
Tracy
Good morning!
He did great here! Especially on your right arm sends: he moved away and did very deliberate foot smacks on this target! The sideways sending was very smooth and the backwards sending went super well for such a hard skill!
Interestingly, he really prefers to hit the prop with his right front foot – but he was getting good at using his left front foot too when that was the foot closer to you. It was fun to see him working things out!
One thought – it looks like the prop is folded in half, so as his feet get bigger you can unfold it to give him a bigger object to smack 🙂
The hardest part of this game will be when he has to go past your hand to get to the prop. On these reps, he was starting to do that but he was also wanting to look at your hand. So the next step is to add a little more distance, bit by bit, so your send hand is not over the prop anymore and he has to pass the hand to get to the prop.
Great job here!
Tracy
Ha! This is scientifically proven LOL!! And I think what happens is we humans are adolescent for a while, then adult for a couple of decades… and then adolescent again. At least that is how I am hahahaha
Have fun!
Tracy
Good morning!
He is a great goat here, and that is quite a fun setup! He was really working his body to place each foot independently and thoughtfully, which is lovely for a young pup! Super!
>His breeder did a lot with the litter climbing on things. He even flew over items in his temperament test. I do have video copy of that if you would like to see it too. >
That would be fun to see if you have a link!
>He has little fear of climbing which isn’t good when he gets on the couch and tries to surf the end tables >
Eek! The joys of confident puppies… it means puppy-proofing access to all the things to climb on LOL!
The stealth self-control games went great 🙂 He was fully engaged with your game even though his brain was processing the novel stuff in the environment. The only time he considered going to the object was when you put the box in: I think he saw you put it down so he went to it a little but mostly ignored it.
Which brings us to this:
>I was wondering do I need to do the warm up each time and put the item down or can I set up then bring him into the room?>
I think he knows the cookie recalls really well so you don’t need to warm up each time – you can have the object in the room already and then bring him in and get right into the game. I often bring the puppy into the room on leash so they don’t run over to check out the object before I start the game.
>For the tug release he won’t always drop for another tug. >
He was doing great releasing for the cookie here, so that is a good way to get the tug back! For now, since he is still really little, you can use a long toy so he doesn’t have to lift his head up to tug. When he gets taller, it will be easy to use the shorter toys.
>It is actually funny to see him carry the 1st one in his mouth while trying to get the 2nd.>
Ha! That is so cute!!!!
Great job here 🙂
TracyGood morning!
>I do notice his bark is different if he is barking at me compared to just barking while running.>
Right! He is a good communicator 🙂 and we will track happy barks versus any Big Mad barks.
The wrap proofing went really well! Based on the value from what we have trained so far, the wraps should have bit more wrap value at this stage which makes the wrapping easier with the tunnel present. I am fully confident that the tunnel will come up in value when we get more into the sequence work
He was VERY clever at 1:27 to drive to the jump sitting out there! If you freeze that moment, your connection and line of shoulders 100% showed that line and we aren’t really using tight turn cues on the tunnel exit LOL! The little guy is going to have big distance skills! Rewarding it (then removing the wing) was smart – he still looked at the bar on the ground though, so you can use a directional on the tunnel exit (like a right verbal) to tighten the turn up.
Since this went great, you can keep adding the advanced version (tunnel-wing in sequence) then the super advanced version (tunnel-tunnel-wing) in sequence – with you moving as well!
Great job here! Keep me posted!
Tracy
Good morning!
It was fun to see these outside!
On the set point, as soon as he realized that the stay was part of the game, things went really well! He didn’t want to sit (felt weird on the grass, maybe? Adolescent dogs have feelings about that LOL) but he held the stand-stay well.
His form to the stationary toy was good, but a little hoppy over the 2nd jump as he was preparing to stop for the reward. The form to the moving wubba Kong on a rope was GREAT especially the first time you did it – rounded, lovely head position, powerful rear push off. And he is definitely targeting the toy not the rope, which is perfect! So definitely keep going with the moving target reward for this game.
>Do the jumps look appropriately spaced? (They’re about 3.5 feet). >
Yes! Good for now, and we can change it as his power increases.
>He seems to really jump (up) here, without even a bar set. >
That is the hoppy jumping that he does to the stationary toy. If you watch the jump reps in slow motion, you’ll see that his form to the moving wubba is different in a good way! And the more the wubba is moving before the release, the better the form will be because he is driving through the jumps and not preparing to stop.
> And I broke “middle” this week. I either scared him or bumped him, but he doesn’t want to hold that position while I move. >
Aha! That explains why he didn’t want to line up like that. I thought it was just weird to him because it was so close to the jumps. Since he is fully n the throes of adolescence, you can leave the middle alone for a week or so, then come back to it by just having him move into then through position for cookie throws, without stopping or doing a line up.
>Thankfully, he’s beginning to understand that forward over the jump is where he’s going – and sets up pointing that way.>
Yes! He did great!!!
The Wind In Your Hair game is also going really well!
When he had questions about going to the start barrel, it was all about the leg sending to the wing. When he was anticipating and starting before you were ready, it was because your leg stepped to the barrel. And when he was not sure, it was because you were rotated and not stepping to the barrel. So be sure to step to the barrel clearly when you can him to go but keep your feet together until you are ready to cue it 🙂
He did well finding the jump! Only one little blooper at :26, where he needed more connection after the barrel exit which is what you show on the next rep (:36) and he found the jump really well. Throwing the toy when he is looking at the jump also gets the best jumping form here too. You can start to add more distance as well – you might need to place the toy out past the jump as the jump gets far enough away that throwing it gets harder.
>I’m editing the videos more and more (trying to provide more reps and less fluff). Please let me know if there are pieces you would like to see that I’m probably editing out. Or if you want to see a “whole session” periodically?>
The edits are good, but also to save time you don’t need to edit at all! I don’t mind fluff or ‘down time’ on the video because that gives me time to type thoughts about it. And not having to edit saves you time as well! So you can edit if you like, or just post the whole thing – either way is great!
Nice work here!
TracyGood morning!
>Actually, the night of class I had them playing tug with me.>
Awesome!!! For now, you can keep the toy play separate from training, just to build up play with you. Then it gets easier and easier to add to training too!
Astral did an awesome job with her tunnel games! The wraps into the tunnel and the left/right turns went really well. You can use your left/right verbals sooner before she goes into the tunnel – they were a little late (right before she went in) and ideally she sees you moving away and hears the verbal 6 feet before she enters the tunnel.
The soft turns from wing to wing also went well – she took a quick look at the teeter on the first rep (because that setup has *big value* now) but found the line really well!
Looking at the blooper moments:
>I think I just wasn’t holding the sends? >
It was all about connection for the sends – if you were pointing forward, connection got blocked so she curled into you.
If there is a blooper, keeping going then reward reward reward – there were multiple bloopers when yo were working on the FC wing-to-wing and she didn’t get rewarded a lot , so she slowed down and was not as confident.
There was a small blooper at :48 when you did a FC on the wing, intending to go to the next wing – but you were on her line/blocking the wing so she correctly went to the tunnel. You kept going which was fine – but you were a little in the way as you continued too so you will want to reward and reset to be able to find the line (or watch the video if you aren’t sure why she was convinced it was the tunnel :)). You can see the blocking of the line put you on the line to the tunnel That cues the tunnel – you can see that at 1:25 and also at 1:56 (coming towards the camera).
About the connection – when she was exiting the tunnel and you were cueing the wing – you can ee when you were pointing forward ahead of her, she had questions lime on the straight line tunnel exit, and on the wraps a 1:17, and 1:50 and 2:03 for example. Keeping your arm back to her nose and eyes on her eyes will smooth out your sends – and throwing the treats out on the line will help too, so there is less value for being near your hands.
Ignita also did GREAT! Since we are looking at your connection – on the first rep, when you wanted her to go straight to the wing out ahead, you made a massive connection and kept your arm down (:04) and she nailed it! Yay!
Then as she exited the wing at :06, you started pointing forward to the tunnel so she did not know which side of you to be on and ended up on the other side.
Compare to the next rep where you again nailed the connection from the tunnel to the wing, and also had great connection from the wing back to the tunnel – all connection, no arm pointing, perfect!Since we are looking at connection and arms and the camera gives us a great view:
When she is exiting the tunnel and turning right to the wing (coming towards the camera) – on the reps where your connection is direct back to her and your arm follows her nose rather than pointing ahead, she goes to the wing. :36 is a strong example of this and so is 1:01.
When she exits the tunnel and you pointing ahead like at :42 – the connection is blocked and your shoulders are showing a different line, so she comes to you.
When you pointed ahead to the tunnel at 1:06, she came off the tunnel. The pointing ahead turns your shoulders away from the tunnel, and baby dogs are super literal – they will follow the physical cues over the verbal cues at this stage.
When you did the FC between wings, Ignita had the same question as Astral: is it the tunnel? You were on her line there too, so for that FC you can be past the line between the 2 wings. That way when you finish the FC, the next wing is very visible.
So for both girls – try to run thee sequences without really using your arms at all 🙂 Rely on motion and connection, keeping your arms super low and pointing to their cute noses, and I bet they commit very easily.
Great job here!!
Tracy
