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Good morning! I think Joplin enjoyed both the tunnel and the Manners Minder! This session went great!
The hardest part for the taller dogs is ducking down to get into the tunnel, especially as you added angles. She was really thinking about getting her head low, which is great!
When you aded speed on the 2nd session, she missed on the first one (didn’t lower her head) but the NO reward moment was great info for her – and she was fantastic on all the other reps. Turning away to the tunnel looked terrific too, she had no trouble with that.
Since she did so well here, the next step is to get the tunnel verbal going more independently (eventually to have massive tunnel sends without you needed to also run to the tunnel :))
You can use the same setup and hold her collar. Then while holding the collar, say tunnel 4 or 5 times – then let go so she goes to it without you moving. (Then reward of course)
Start nice and close for that and if she is having no trouble, you can move further and further away (always starting with you holding her so she can hear the verbal first without motion.
And yes, you can also start to add in a longer tunnel.
Great job!!
TracyOMG! I am excited that I get to meet you in a little more than 2 hours!!!!!!!!! It will be so fun!!!!
Tracy
Good morning! Lots of good work here and I don’t think he jumped up at you a single time on these! Yay!
Looking at the Decel – he had a little trouble decelerating at the beginning (but was great about ignoring the gun shots in the background!)
I think we can use compelling food and shorter distances to get him to love this game – when he is running in the bigger distances, he is really enjoying the run run run element. So since that arousal is overtaking the decel, I think using food and shorter distances really helped (like on the last couple of reps). You can keep the distances even shorter for now (easier to decel when he is not going as fast :)) and definitely add in the pivot: if he knows he has to turn to get the treat, he is more likely to set up the turn with decel. Then he can have a treat and some tugging 🙂Backwards sending – the right turns were definitely harder than the left turns on the backwards sending, so keep those nice and close to the prop now as he works out his mechanics. And both sides were a little harder when you added more distance. But he will probably sleep on it and latent learning will kick in 🙂 I bet in the next session you can add in a little more distance. And the countermotion can also be added in using sideways sends, which are easier 🙂
Remember to add in a quiet ready dance moment before each rep of the backwards sending, so he is ready for the send – that will help him look forward to the prop so he can then drive to it while you move away. You were doing it as a bit more of a loop, with the next cue coming pretty quickly after he got the reward, so he was not quite ready to look at and move to the prop.
>Also, for some reason when he is coming up from behind me on the right he wants to tuck into the middle.>
That was his harder side, and he kept getting it wrong, so I think he was guessing at a behavior that has a lot of value? The 2 Failure Rule will really help here – if he gets it wrong twice in the session, make it easier to build up the skill. We talk more about that this weekend!
On the parallel path – he is hitting it nicely! You don’t need to say yes and get it – the yes causes him to look at you. Yo can make just with ‘get it’ so he knows he was correct and to keep looking ahead. I think you can try the rear cross element of this game now!!
The forward focus game went well! He was more than happy to look at the cookie in the bowl 🙂 Easy peasy! And nice job adding in toy play.
You can add in a hand cue to indicate the forward focus on the easy moments of this too, to prep the cue for when the game gets really hard and the bowl is more visible on the other side of the cone. When it got harder you did have the hand cue, but he didn’t get to practice it with the easier stuff so he had a couple of questions. You will see on the video that he was flicking his eyeballs to the line without turning his head LOL!! Good boy!!!
At the very end he did a very distinct head turn which was fabulous!!
Great job here! Looking forward to seeing you soon!!
Tracy
Good morning!
There were good challenges!
I think trying to do this as remote reinforcement on the first one with the toy off to the side – harder handling plus RR might be a 2-for-1 that he was not quite ready for 🙂 His coping skill went something went sideway was to get the toy LOL!! So I usually only do remote reinforcement for easy sequencing at this stage.Looking at the sequence:
With a shorter lead out, jump 3 definitely works best as a serp to blind, so making a bigger deal of the connection to the landing spot really help him see that (and you can drop a toy on the landing side to reward him as you show the countermotion)The blind on the takeoff side worked well too – you can start it a stride sooner (when has has landed from 1 and looks at 2) but more importantly, show big exit line connection back to him so he can pick up the side change immediately.
>we had particular challenges with the jump before the tunnel (#7, I think?) , I think because it was kind of a push out for him to go get it and come back to the tunnel.>
Yes – the way it was set, you would need a soft turn cue (like a brake arm) on 5 to set a clearer line 6-7 but also possibly more of a push out to get 7.
Video 2 –
The BC at :29 was starting at take off which is a little late, so exit line connection will really help (showing the opposite arm across your body on your dog side hip to really open up connection). It is a tiny bit wide, bt he is reading it really well so we can tighten it up with earlier timing and exit line connection.You did the brake arm on 5 at :32 which really helped set the line (you don’t need to rate your feet to him on those) but yes, it is definitely a push back out to get the lead change to the next jump – it is even more obvious here with the nice line coming into it. I would use a ‘get out’ verbal and opposite arm to get that lead change.
Nice threadle on the backside after the tunnel at 1:16! But he didn’t know what the next line was, a little too much motion from you 🙂 Try not to talk to him if something goes wrong – get right back into handling. You were discussing it with him and so he was not sure what to do.
You had a little too much push forward at 1:29 on the threadle there but then got it really nicely – the last rep looked good there too! You don’t need to step him forward to the jump (the threadle cue does that) – the extra step caused the bar down because he didn’t realize it was a wrap til he was in the air. You can hold position until you see him look at the bar, the peel away to the next line.
>I was having a hard time getting in the right spot to negotiate the jump + pole.>
Yes, the pole is hard for the young dogs! You can do a bit of one jump rewarding with the jump next to the pole to get him comfy. And a little more exaggerated connection helps too – any time there is a big distraction in the environment, exaggerating the handling will really help 🙂
The disc class sounds fun! The engaged chill was adorable! He was not entirely sure he wanted the scritches at the beginning (looking away, yawning), so he offered up a paw to be petted. Cute! He was quite chill, actually! And I agree that the dos love disc but I worry about what they do to their bodies! EEK!!
Nice work here!
TracyGood morning!
>I’ve been struggling a bit with training on the days I have “big doggy class” in person, but we’ve been having a lot of fun just focusing on toy play and playing together in the yard, plus another walk in the neighborhood. We did some of the “get it – check in” game, he was great once he figured out the game was to refocus! >
It is depleting for us humans to do big dog class and also puppy training! Does he go to class too, to just hang out? That counts as training 🙂 And toy play, neighborhood walks, the pattern game… that is all training and also incredibly enriching. So you are getting it all done, which is really hard so click/treat to YOU!
Looking at the videos (and thanks to your mom for adding a little distraction!!)
He was totally on board with the prop game! Yay! I think the training and latent learning have kicked in.
Most of these reps were right turns and they looked super strong. So be sure to add in lots of left turns which looked a lot harder for him – for the left turns, you can start closer to the prop. And also make sure you are looking at him as you send (and not ahead to the prop) – part of his question might be that you were looking forward and that turns your shoulders past the prop, which makes the cue harder to read. I couldn’t see your face in the video so it is hard to tell – but if you look at him as you step and send to the prop, your shoulders will point right at it 🙂
You can start adding in the other games on the prop now, like the parallel path and countermotion!
Great job with folding in the self-control with the forward focus! You were definitely marking his look forward. You don’t ned to say ‘ok’ because he is not in a stay, you can use your dish marker. It was very cool to see how obvious his head turns to the cone were – he was like “I AM LOOKING AT THE LINE” LOL! What a smartie!!! That allowed him to work the forward focus and drive around the cone, even with the easiest line being directly to the cookies 🙂
On the backing up video:
>I think he totally understands the movement but he’s so QUICK I am still getting there with timing!>
Totally agree! He is understanding it and his little feets move SO FAST!! Keeping your hands lower definitely helped – and you can try just using a flick of the wrist to toss the treats back to get more steps.
We will also be adding to this with a ‘destination’ soon, which will make it easier for you to reward 🙂 Stay tuned!!
>Fuzzy tugs! I moved off the food smelly rug and he was all in! >
Perfect! It can be hard to tug in a cloud of food smell 🙂 so moving away worked really well.
>Also, his “trade” is like his most reliable cue right now. I tried it outside with no food, and he let go AND REGRIPPED THE TOY when presented! >
Yay!! Very cool!!
>WOw I think I should buy a lottery ticket hehe.>
Do it!!! LOL!
Great job on these!!
TracyGood morning!
It is great to rehearse these procedures!!
He was comfortable here and it was a quiet environment, so he held the stay as you left to go put the leash down then came back then led out… but I think that takes too long in environments that are harder and he will lose focus. So bringing him in, get a trick perhaps, get the leash off and just drop it or do a small toss of it – then lead out. Instead of it taking 20 or 30 seconds, try to get the release to the first jump to happen within 10 seconds (before the arousal drops and he notices the distractions). You also don’t need to use a stay – you can start at a tunnel and just send him in!
It will be great to use the food station at the trial! And extra great to have someone who can help with that – totally worth it! The other option is to do the first run with the empty lotus ball in your hand – just as a way to bridge the gap between training and trialing. And if he is happy with that, you can leave the lotus ball in the food box!
Keep me posted!
Tracy
Hi!
Bummr about the weather!!! Maybe you can bring the Manners Minder to her in-person class to add more distance skills? Those are such a popular challenge on course nowadays.
>In the recent weeks, with the treats not also available quickly, and the treat container on a chair near the porch (that remote bit), she is happily charging back to me for praise as much as treats or toys. I know many trainers would not view this as ideal, but I’m happy with it. >
I think it is pretty ideal, since you will want to take her to trials! We want the dogs to be happy with food and toy, of course, but just as happy with praise from you in the ring because we can’t bring in the toys or treats!
Tracy
Oh no!!! Poor Skiz! Keep me posted, hopefully it is just a bruise from living the good puppy life. Thinking of you!
TracyGood morning!
>When I fridge exercise with a tug she struggled more because she knew I had treats.>
She was going around the cone nicely! And you can add in a hand pointing to the line to indicate where to look and when the rep officially starts. You can add that indication hand in the food session too.
She was going to the toy nicely here and touching it, but didn’t tug because the bunny is dead #whippet. So just as she arrives at the toy, bring it alive to get her going.
When using the toy, you can go wilder with it when she gets to it, to build up the value of driving to a dead toy by having the party really begin 🙂 Get it moving, sliding, you throwing it, you cheering and making a big fun fuss over it. The play is a little quiet and stationary, so she is not in full on kill-the-bunny mode. Unleash her whippet tug drive by getting that toy very exciting 🙂 and you can change your energy level to match it: lots of woohoo and yeah and get it get it get it (nothing quiet :))
And to help build up the toy play, no need to have food in this session. I am sure she will give the toy back without the cookie treat, so you can have empty hands and empty pockets for now. And if she gets so driven for the toy that she won’t give it back? COOL! Then we can add food back in 🙂
Keep me posted! The cone work is looking good!!
Tracy
Good morning!
The blinds are going well – you had really nice mechanics on the exit so she could see your connection and change sides!
>she tugged better but I think she’s a foodie. If she knows I have treats, she stops to look for the treat.>
A couple of ideas for you to build up the toy play:
She does like food, which is great! So on this game – throw a cookie and then have no other cookies in your hands or pockets for now. They might be a little too distracting. You can also use the lowest value cookies you have.
For the toy play – I think part of her questions is about your mechanics. As a whippety dog (BWs play more like whippets than like BCs), you will want to keep the toy low and moving so she can chase it and kill it dead (whippets are murderers, after all LOL!) You can hold the handle and let the rest of the toy drag around (you were only really using half of the toy) and keep it moving away from her so she can go all whippet on it.
When you were moving it up higher, or stopping the movement by wiggling it in front of her rather than moving it away, she lost interest. A terrier will probably grab a toy that is wiggling in front of them, but a whippet is less likely to 🙂 So keep it moving away (you can even tie it to another toy to make it longer) and I bet she tugs like a fiend!Since the blinds went well, you can go to the collection sandwich where we start to combine all of the handling she’s learned so far 🙂
Great job!
TracyGood morning!
Were you winning the first couple of races because of the head start with the treat toss? She was catching up fast and then ended up really getting past you by the end! You can help her win more by walking towards the toy rather than running til she is totally flying past you, then we can add more of your speed.
One note about the verbals: try not to use her name (Go Grace) as that might cause her to look at you. Using Go or Toy worked best!
>Whoever heard of a noiseless baking sheet? Managed to find one for our wobble board games.>
That is funny! I would have thought it would be loud?!?!
The crinkly bag made a tiny bit of noise but she was not worried -she offered getting on it LOL!!
The stuff in the middle section did not make a lot of noise, but the pop cans added noise and the board moving to the harder floor also added noise. I did not see any concerns from her. You can revisit this a couple of times a week for high value rewards, just to keep her loving to make noise 🙂
Great job here!
Tracy
Good morning!
>My other dog is back to normal, which he really doesn’t need to be right now as he still heals, but there’s much less care involved for now.>That is great to hear!
>Is Blast related to your older boy? We do often find genetic similarities in responses to arousal or frustration.
All of my dogs are related! Bones (main biter) is a littermate to the sire of Bucky (likes to bite at the end of runs, but that’s manageable) and Blast. They all give me their all, and sometimes that means their arousal is a little higher than ideal. >This is good to know! And it helps us add decompression games (more of those coming soon!) in and keep frustration lower in the early stages but not allowing a lot of failure in training, while also doing a LOT of high arousal shaping.
The high arousal shaping is where we get the pups wild and crazy with a toy… then let them offer behavior as we shape something. There is failure in shaping, of course, where they don’t get rewarded until the behavior they offer is closer to what we want – and doing it in high arousal helps their physiology learn to regulate their arousal. Very cool results from doing this!!
A recent session with my 9 month old puppy (Malinois/Whippet mix, two high arousal breeds 🙂 )
And of course, lots of the pattern games. They are fabulous for arousal regulation.
>Oh we spent probably 2-3 minutes before the video just wandering around the outdoor cafe taking it in, I just didn’t think you needed to watch all that lol. I spend a lot of time at trials with him just having him sit and watch with the no expectations besides him not bothering dogs as they pass by. He adapts to new and busy environments very well: his first big trip after coming home was to the UKI West Coast Open when he was 9 weeks old. He’s a pro at the agility trial environment now!>
Perfect!!!!
>He has a really good stay on his Cato board, can I use that for exercises like this where I need to intentionally create distance?>
Absolutely! A cato board can definitely help. And cookie toss starts or using a Manners Minder to send him too are good too, so we don’t deplete the stay behavior.
Turn and burn looked great! He was committing really well to his barrel and maintaining the commitment as you took off and ran. Yay!
> I’m hopeful we will see more confidence and speed next time around.>
I think the right turns here were easier than the left turns – he was thinking hard about the left turns, which is great! I would rather he think about his mechanics and not touching the barrel and completing the wrap, than plastering through it or chasing you or falling on his head or all of the other things some puppies do LOL!! And you can already seeing the speed develop especially on the left turns – he was finding it easier and easier so was getting faster and faster.
You will get more of the cohuntermoion effect if you start up close on each rep rather than adding distance away from the barrel. That will give him a bigger visual of you moving away the other direction sooner, which adds a nice layer of challenge that he is ready for.
To help with that for the next session, add a line on the ground (you can draw it in this footing :)) so you can see when to leave earlier and earlier. Wihtout the line being very visible, you were starting the FC at basically the same time (he was about halfway around). With the line drawn, you can add in leaving when he is 1/4 of the way around, then just as he arrives at the barrel, then just before he arrives at the barrel.
> It’s amazing how much time can elapse with just a handful of reps. After I cut out all the tugging and resetting, my 6.5 minute video turned into a little over a minute of content. >
So true! Any game using toys takes longer to get the reps in, but that is fine – the fast & fun element brought by the toy is well worth it.
Looking at the prop game:
>The prop game with parallel lines was less successful. It still went very well, but I’m not seeing those “lightbulb” moments with him. He seems to have the idea, but his hits don’t feel as intentional. What should I adjust here?>
I agree, it went really well! When you are doing the parallel line, the hits will appear to be less of a foot smack, because his striding is correctly carrying him straight – it is kind of like seeing extension over the prop like we do over a jump, rather than the collection that the sends cue on the prop (or on a jump :))
The only really trouble he had was finding the cookie when it was tossed near the back fence. But it was worth it to have more room outside.
So nothing to adjust in terms of what you are rewarding, it went well! Interestingly, he was faster and had better hits when he was on his right lead (your left side) than on his left lead (your right side). He is a righty this week 🙂 It will all even out.
You can add in more excitement 2 ways:
– Tugging before you start and after very 2 or 3 treats. Keep that arousal high so he is more likely to drive to the prop rather than trot to it.
– You added lateral distance here which was great, so you can add variables with that – sometimes you toss the treat and turn to the next rep, getting way ahead. Sometimes you go all the way to t the tossed treat with him, and turn with him so he drives ahead of you. This sets up the rear crosses nicely!
– You can also add more motion – jogging then build up to runningGreat job here!!
TracyHooray for outdoor toy races! He is looking forward and responding to the go verbal really well.
The one race where he lost to you was a bit of a game changer: he smoked you by a lot on the last 2 reps. He did have trouble seeing the lower profile toy when it got further away, so you can try a higher profile one like a big hollee roller!For the next session, you can add a little countermotion: as he is passing you on the way to the toy, do a front cross and run the other direction calling him. Can he maintain his commitment to the toy then bring it to you? If he struggles, do it at a walk til he gets the toy, then you can take off and run run run 🙂
Indoor games: more morning tunes, thanks! I had yesterday’s tunes in my head all day 🙂
Prop games are looking good in terms of his prop touches with the sending. You can add in more of the sideways and backwards sending as well as the countermotion here too: as he is passing you to the prop, you are moving the other direction.
You had more arousal added in here – he was perfectly fine with it *except* when you touched him. That is when you are getting a bit of bitey mouth action which we don’t want of course (that is usually the pups telling us they don’t like that in that moment). So you can get the arousal up high by tugging and touching while tugging – or without tugging, do the ready steady dance with hands in the picture but not touching him. That can really help him regulate his arousal without delivering any tooth hugs 🙂
Cone wraps are going well with the bowls and the distance.
Sending to the cone was easy peasy when you were close and turning left. Turning right had more distance and you are turning your shoulders away, so he couldn’t quite process it. He even offered going around to his left, clever dog! So for the right turns on the cone, start really really close and face forward (no shoulder turning) until he is at the cone.The other way to help the harder side is to leave the bowl out on the other side of the cone for that direction turn.
Since the left turns are easy for him, you can start turn and burn using left turns for now (dog-on-right). It is very systematic with the line on the ground at the exit, and timing, plus starting really close and holding him to add the verbal. That will get lots of good countermotion commitment and also, but starting with staying in position til he hits the exit line, he will learn to not touch the cone as he wraps.
And, use the toy when you go outside 🙂 He will really like that!
It is here:
>I had already reached my quota of Way Too Cold for the day after the toy races, though.>
I have reached my quota of too cold for the month LOL!
Great job!
TracyGood morning!
I like his fancy coat! Adorable!
Good job warming up the prop value! And the sends were very clear with your arm and leg and connection. Yay!
I think you added distance away from it a little too quickly at first, which is why you got the line up on the first sideways send rep. That was cute though 🙂 Great job getting closer then building back up to the distance you ended at. You can start close and add the backwards sending now!
About the ready game and adding arousal – at the end (2:00), you had just the right amount of ready game: a little muscle tension, a quiet “ready” – he responded by matching that: arousal and engagement without jumping up. Then he had a great send!! We can gradually add more and more arousal but I really like what he did there.
When you had too much excitement, you got the jumping up, like at the beginning with the exciting ready and then at the very end when the game was over and you were saying “good job”. So before he can jump up in between reps or at the end (we want to protect your face!), do a decompression: have a snuffle mat and scatter treats in it. Or if there is no snuffle mat around, scatter treats in the grass as part of the reward for the last rep. That will get him to be able to regulate arousal a better and reduce the jumping up.
And it is ok to give him a prize if he jumps up at your face. The prize can look like catching his collar, holding him away from you quietly. Game over, womp womp. It is not emotional at all, but it should clearly say that jumping up at you gets a response which means the reinforcement is no longer available. Or, if you are close to a crate and his sister, he can win the prize of going in his crate and Artie come out to play. Definitely a womp womp moment!!!
Ideally you get the decompression in before he does that, but you can also consistently let him win the game over prize if he jumps up at you.
The race ya game was hilarious! He needed a moment to figure out that he was being sent to the treat first and not the toy but then it was so great to see him drive past you and accelerate ahead. If you have a Manners Minder, you can use that instead of a cookie toss – it might be clearer for him. But I really liked how he remembered exactly where the toy was and smoked you (gotta love field dogs!!)
The decel was hard to time on that rep because he lost the cookie.
>But his arousal was getting pretty high when we got to the decel game. I thought about doing some pattern games to try to put his brain back in his head>
He looked like he was in a good arousal state on this video, not jumping up. It is possible that finding the cookie was like mini snuffling and helped with arousal!
And yes, doing a pattern game is always helpful if you think things are tipping into overarousal. And even if things are not tipping into overarousal, you can use a pattern game to move him from point A to point B when restarting a rep, so he can move and not jump up at you.
Great job here!!!
Tracy
