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Hi!
Lew did great with the bowls for the wrap foundation! He had definitely caught on to the back and forth between the bowls by the time you were done with the first posted video and was even better at the start of the 2nd video here. Adding the upright was easy peasy for him! Wow! He was so quick that he was walking and chewing, like you mentioned LOL! Maybe tiny bits of steak will be useful for this too š
You can start to replace the upright with bigger things – a cone or a barrel if you have those around.
Foot target:
>I broke the session up into 3 sessions with toy play in between, but he was not interested in the toy once the steak came out,>
That is pretty normal – he was a wild man for the toy at the beginning. Then smell and taste of steak was probably overriding toy play, so you can use lower value food next time and see how he does. Or, you can run to an entirely different place (away from the steak area :)) and see if he will tug in a different place.
Tossing the rewards away to see if he would drive back to the target was helpful – I think early on he was thinking the session was about being in front of you and smacking the ground but then he was very deliberately hitting the target. Super!
>Iām excited to let him sleep on this a day or so and try it again!>
Yes! Letās see what magic the latent learning will work – and if he is smacking the target at the beginning of the session, you can move tot he sending game with it.
Great job here!
Tracy
Hi!
Looking at the prop game: Maui did a great job offering behavior on the hat here! Try to stand completely still while he is deciding what to offer – when you were moving/leaning, it was drawing his focus up to you and away from the prop. If it is hard to see his little feet š from above, then you can be a tiny bit further away to have a better view. I think one more session of value building is all he needs, then you can move to the send games.
The hand targeting went well too! My only suggestion is that when you are kneeling, he wants to be in a down (probably some reward history there) so you can stand up and also reward by tossing the treat way like you started doing at around :50. That got really lovely hits! And it got him back up when he offered the down again.
>Here is his first attempt at focus forward.>
This video is listed as private, can you reset to unlisted so YouTube will let me see it?
Great job here!
Tracy
Hi!
>Iām sorry to not have done Wing Wrap Foundations last weekā¦a stomach bug took me out. >
Oh no! I hope you are feeling better!!
>But, I made sure to do it first thing this week so we can a) let the latent learning kick in before advanced level b) make sure we get the advanced level down before we kick it up a notch later this week with the next steps!>
Perfect! I think the session went really well!
>The only thing we seemed to have a bit of trouble with was these Wing Wrap Foundations. She could smell the cookies in my pocket and was more interested in pestering me than going after the cookie in the bowl.>
She was a little more fluid going to her right (from your left hand to your right hand), in terms of neverstopping at your hands or your bowl. It was when she was going from your right to left (to her left) that she would come to you more – and when she was sorting out what to do at :40, she turned to her right to get back on track.
This might mean she is a righty. It is good to know if the pup has a preferred side! We will keep an eye out to see if we see it in other games too, because it helps us decide which side to start on in the harder games.
>Any tips you have to mitigate this? Should I try standing?>
You can stay sitting for now, because it is not really an impulse control question – it is more of a side preference question. I would just give her another session or two of this and then when we add the cone, we will keep it a little easier when she has to turn left and make it a little harder when she is turning to her right.
Collar grab and toy races looked awesome! She was happy to be held, and happy to beat you to the toy. You can add in more of throwing it as far as possible so she can really leave you in the dust š like you did at the end. And every now and then, feel free to try to cheat to win the race š You can cheat by gently pushing her back to give yourself a head start. She is fast so she might not let you win, but she will have to kick in a whole new gear of speed to beat you.
Goat games are going well too – she was offering getting on the fit bone really nicely! And the neighbor dogs did not seem to distract her at all, so that is a valuable rehearsal for what she might experience at an agility trial: big barking while she is trying to sort out how to use her body!
The fit bone is a little smaller than her stance, so she was very comfy putting her front feet on but not her back feet. You can add in another object or two to widen the playing field. That will encourage her to get all 4 feet on the objects and balance on them.
Folding it in with the cone: nice job letting her look forward before you released her! She seems ready for the next level of this:
You can add in a hand cue now – pointing to the line you want her to take. Since you are holding her with your dog-side arm, you can point with the opposite arm for now. Then when she looks forward, let her go but donāt step to the wing. That will challenge her to go around the wing without you can ignore the bowl šNice job! Let me know what you think!
Tracy
Hi!
On the advanced level, you mixed in some holding of the collar and he did great with that. So the routine of follow a cookie into position then hold him works really well – you can lead him into position at your side with the treat rather than toss it, because sometimes the tosses were ending up with him sideways to the cone. You were really good about NOT moving him by the collar, though, so the cookie lure lineup will help for now (and it is easy to fade out).He also did well with the forward focus here! He found it a little harder when he would have hd to pass the bowl to get to the cone, and had a couple of bloopers š No worries, there were only 2 bloopers š
As the game gets harder and he has to pass the bowl more, you can have the cone closer to you so if he doesnāt wrap and goes directly to the bowl, you can get to the treat before he does (maybe š) You can also see if he can do this with an empty bowl, then you drop the treat into it after he wraps.
Great job here! You can try the other side in the next session!
Tracy
Hi!
Folding it in – baby level – is another way to build collar grab love. He was a little suspicious when you reached for him at first (possibly avoiding being moved by the collar). You used a cookie lure at :42 and after that to line him up, then you held him and that was ideal! You were holding by the body which he was happy with, but you can also mix in sometimes holding him by the collar after you line him up.
His forward focus looked great! He was definitely ready for the advanced level, so I am glad you moved to it below.
T
Hi! Really lovely session here, breaking down the collar grabs and just reaching towards him, then tossing a treat. On the video you were mentioning how he doesnāt love collar grabs or being touched, so this is a good area of focus for us! He was GREAT about not moving away on most reps when you were reaching towards him, and you were lovely about not being too pushy about it.
He absolutely loves his line up position: so you can add a little more collar grab there: he lines up, you put a finger under his collar to gently hold him, throw a cookie, then immediately let go of him to chase the cookie. That can be a really good way to sandwich the collar grab in between 2 things he likes: lining up and cookie chasing š That can help build collar grab love for sure!
Great job!
Tracy
Good morning!
It was really cool to see your video camera casting to the TV behind you! Fun!
>She checks EVERYTHING out by nose poking it. EVERYTHING. She could have worse quirks but the number of drinks she spilled on us!>
I might need to add the “Don’t Spill My Coffee” rule to this class – all of my dogs learn it really early LOL!
It seems pretty normal for a Dobe to checks things out, so to help her with the impulse control you can have the novel items in the environment further away so it is a little easier to not go over to them.
> Which leads me to the other quirk of biting feet and running between legs. I may have put too much emphasis on it when she arrived as my husband was recovering from ankle surgery. >
When does she do the foot biting/running between feet? Do you know what the cue or trigger is? We can redirect it because it might knock you over when she is full grown!
>I think that may be why her personal play is tentative.>
I don’t think it is tentative… I just think that might be her current preferred play style š The pups get to choose how they want to play with us. Food and toys make it easier for us to guide the play, but when there are no food and toys I am happy to take feedback from the pup. At least half of my dogs are similar to Roulette, in that they don’t enjoy it when I move towards them with my hands in the name of play. They prefer when I teasingly move away from them, and they come to me.
This collar grab game went great – she was MORE than happy to come in, line up and the collar hold happening because it was the start of the best and easiest game ever. She seemed to have no questions or concerned about being touched/grabbed/held by the collar. Super! So you can build up a little duration (holding it longer after you throw). And you can sometimes incorporate it into other games – line her up, hold the collar, then start any of the games where she starts next to you. We definitely want her to continue loving the collar grab!
>The last time we just played ball, she could return this one easily. Interesting to see how a little arousal can tip things a different direction.>
Yes indeed, arousal changes things for sure. Plus she is just about the age of entering adolescence, which also changes behavior a little. So you can set up trades for the beloved ball – if she brings it back, she can have another ball (it can be an identical ball if she has feelings about the value of the ball). Or, you can trade for a treat. Both of the trades after the retrieves can be followed by lining her up, hold her collar, toss the ball again.
Great job here!
Tracy
Hi!
He was a most marvelous little goat here! I love his confidence – he was trying to get on the Klimb before he even let go of the toy LOL!
I like that he did get back on the toy even if it took a heartbeat to be sure all snacks were accounted for š to get him back on the toy faster, you can lean the Klimb up against the couch so he doesnāt offer Snack Search & Rescue during the tug breaks. Or, you can run to a totally different area to get him chasing you for the toy (and away from the good snack smells).
Since this went super well and he was very confident, you expand this for sure: instead of cookies on the climb, you can use a āget itā marker and toss the cookie to the side for him to getā¦ opening up the opportunity to race back to the Klimb and climb on it. And you can replace the Klimb with a number of different things: planks, couch cushions, under-inflated inflatables, etc – you can even make a bit of a pile for him to climb around on.
>Think this was right but to be fair, I only halfway read sometimes!>
Ha! Yes it was lovely! And you can use the field guides so you donāt have to read all the text – they have just a couple of points will guide the session.
Great job here!
Tracy
Good morning! This session went great! The lower hand kept him nice and tight to your leg which was helpful when you added more speed.
On the last 2 reps, you had more of your speed added. On the 2nd to last rep, you were a little late in showing him the decel (it happened just as he was arriving at your leg) so his butt swung out wide. On the last rep, though, you showed deceleration when he was still a couple of steps away from you, so he was able to decelerate at your side and keep his butt straight. Super!!
Onwards to the next steps: you can put a blanket or towel down to toss a cookie onto, so it is easy to find and so you can keep a little further away. Getting a little further away (ahead) allows you to add even more acceleration-to-deceleration. You will probably want to show him the decel no later than after he takes his first stride or two towards you, so he has time to organize his decel.
And, I think he is ready for you to add the pivot! Keep your hand nice and low like it was here and do a slow pivot to get him turning with you.
Great job!
Tracy
Good morning!
I am glad he feels better!!
>The space I have is narrow so I am not sure I can do 4 feet. I rewatched your video and the object was further in front of you. Should I try that?>
It can be a little closer like up against a wall , or behind you or a little in front of you – I think it is more important that you are not facing it or near it too much, so he is sure that you donāt want him to offer behavior on it š
On the video:
Lovely tugging to start things off! It was a little hard to get the toy back – yo can work on that separately with tiny bit of high value cookies or a 2nd toy as a trade, then it will be easier to get him to give the toy back during training.
Super nice warm up letting him offer foot smacks on the prop! The sending also went really well – he had to go past your hand and the toy to get to the prop which can be hard for baby pups! But he was brilliant š He seemed to find it easier turning to his right (when he was on your left) so be sure to do plenty of reps on your right turning to his left as well.
>Of course the box was a goat trick too š>
OMG that was so funny!!! As soon as he realized it was NOT a goat game (when you sat down and the bowls were visible) he got right into the wrapping and did GREAT! So for the next steps, you can approach it doing two things:
– add a little bit of distance with the box a little further away from you. Just a couple of inches at first, to see how he does.– with the box close to you, you can warm up with a few reps of exactly what you did here. Then you can stand up and keep doing to see if he will still keep wrapping with you standing.
Great job here!
Tracy
Good morning!
>someone called and stopped the video>
Oh no! I hate when that happens!
She was doing really well here too. At first she was not sure if she should offer the game or not, but when you added the ready dance and the sending she nailed it! Super! So yes, keep building on it – yo might need to get a rug or some yoga mats to expand the training area to add more distance without her slipping while running or tugging.
Suer job here!!!
Tracy
Good morning!
>His motto these days is āParkour!ā and he tries to interact with any and every object he sees with goat games.>
Ha! Sounds so fun and cute!
>His huge favorite is āGet Measuredā where I let him hop on the measuring table near the ring and use the wickets (this was a CPE trial) to measure him.>
Perfect! This is a good skill to love š
>I let him watch Ripley do a training session with toy reinforcers and thatās really helping him get the idea.>
Social learning is MAGIC. Really cool to hear watching is helping!
On the video – He was happy to play and also had a clear toy preference of the big toy (toy #1). That toy is valuable enough here that it might be a good reinforcement too. Very nice transition to toy 2 and he engaged for a moment but that Toy 1 is pretty amazing so it was hard to ignore it on the ground. The other 2 toys were smaller/lower profile so that might have been part of it. Th big toy had a squeaker which he really liked – did it also have fur? I have several of that same toy and some of them have fur on them. If he likes fur, you can see if a smaller toy with a ton of fur can compete with the big toy. It is definitely fun to sort out toy preferences in terms of size, texture, etc. It could also be that the big toy was the first toy, and often those first toys make the biggest impact – so you can start the party with a different toy and see how it goes with the favorite toy here being toy 2 or 3.
Prop sending is going super well! He has a ton of value and he was happy to drive to it in both directions whether you were forward, sideways, or backwards. And he had lovely distance too! Super!
>I want to keep him moving and avoid too much stillness because he can tend toward stillness at times during training when itās not really the desired state of mind and I donāt want to encourage him to freeze when heās uncertain.>
Totally agree, we donāt want freezing – I almost prefer they jump on me or try to chew my arm LOL!!!
Separately his beautiful offering here, you can teach explosion out of semi-stillness by playing the ready dance game following by a thrown treat. What I mean by that is he is in front of you, you are a little crouched/leaning back and forth (and he can be moving back and forth a bit and weight shifting back and forth). You can be talking to him (happy chatter like ready ready) and then āget it!ā And fling a cookie for him to chase. This is a game that I have taught to pups who lean towards freezing when uncertain, to get them to be able to offer and predict movement.
I admit to laughing when he started the shpile game without you, as soon as he entered the area. Clearly is a sport mix of Koolie and goat. Ha!
Since he was so confident, you can raise arousal by throwing treats away from the pile to get him chasing the treats then racing back to get back on the pile: that challenges him to continue to organize his mechanics when there is more speed and more arousal. Eventually a toy will be involved by flinging treats is great for these early stages. And you can pile things up a little more, so there is a little more elevation to the pile as well.
>Itās a holiday so my wife and our Swissy went with us today.>
So fun! A family walk! The adult dogs are modeling lovely behavior (more social learning, especially when the adults were like āwe do not peer over the edge or explore the trench with water in itā) and Vibe checks in with you really well but has a lot of agency to decide what he wants to do. It will be interesting to see if/how this changes when he enters adolescence. Check in less? Check in more? It could go either way with the boy dogs š
Great job here!
Tracy
Good morning!
The Smiley face game is going well!
Wing to tunnel on each side with verbals went great! And she also did super well when you built in slightly longer runs. For now, keep the length of the sequences pretty short because her arousal comes up pretty quickly when you do more than 3 obstacles in a row (the vocalization tips us off LOL!) and her brain is not old enough/mature enough to regulate that yet.
>When she was younger, if I accidentally disconnected with her she would go full shark mode and bite. Sheās calmed down since then and now just yells at me or launches herself at me. Any advice for that? >
I can see a bit of the land shark happening here! It is arousal regulation and frustration behavior, partially due to her age and lack of experience.
Really exaggerating the connection and delaying the next cue til you see her commit will help. Make massive eye contact and point your hand to her nose, so she sees the eye contact (and keep moving of course :)) That will show the line very clearly her.
For example, on the :34 and :40 and 1:09 you were pointing a bit ahead of her and turning early, so she had a BIG MAD and came in off the line because she didnāt know where to be. Add more eye contact until she arrives at the 2nd wing – donāt point or turn too soon.
You were connected at :47 and then 1:15 was perfect on the wings – almost lost connection at 1:16 on the way to the tunnel so she looked at you.
1:25 was super strong! And so was the last rep at 1:34.
Breaking it down helped because you showed better connection while you were moving more slowly.
Keeping your hand low and back to her so she can see your eyes is better described here:
And separately from this game, you can refresh the Find My Face game from MaxPup 1 – that is a frustration/arousal regulation game specifically for when we disconnect, because perfect connection is nearly impossible!
Resilience Game: Find My Face For Arousal Management And Frustration Reduction
And if she does come off the line towards you – keep running and connect more. Stopping, even if you are telling her she is wrong, might accidentally ingrain the behavior because it is likely linked a herding behavior that is innately designed to control movement. Since we donāt want the behavior to control movement, take it as a cue to amplify connection and keep moving to the next obstacle, then reward her when she gets back on the line.
Looking at the wrap proofing:
Adding a bit of motion on the wrap proofing is perfectly good at this stage! She seemed to do really well with the wraps in both directions and has a bit more value for the wraps than the tunnel (especially because she has to layer the wing to find the tunnel). But by the end of the session, you were also fading the movement and she was finding the tunnel without questions. Yay!! So keep revisiting this concept and fading movement. She is doing great! You can also add the advanced level, where she does the tunnel first then as she exits the tunnel, you cue the wrap.
Great job here!
Tracy
Good morning! I love a good blooper video! There was also some really useful info here and really good runs too! Good for you for trying the water running š And even with the water sometimes in the wrong hand, the connection was already improved!
>plus Jazz was very interested in the water (as youāll see).>
Actually, that was good info from Jazz: when the connection was clear, she ignored the water entirely and went to the wings and tunnel. When the connection was not clear, she came in towards the dog side hand and kind go ātaggedā you by jumping up (this is a pretty common āHUMAN YOU ARE DISCONNECTEDā behavior). She did it at :39 when you were disconnected (arm moving forward, you were looking forward) when you did have water in your hand, but she also did it at 1:32 when you had a similar disconnection and no water in your hand. So it is feedback that says āconnection is not clearā and not really a water distraction.
One thing that her feedback reveals is that both of you are more fluid and comfortable when she is on your left side than when she is on your right side. When she was on your left, you both moved up the line to the wing wrap pretty perfectly! So when she is in your right side, you can move closer to the wing and really amplify your connection to smooth it out for both of you.
>The real blooper is that I realized (when I was watching the video) that I was trying to wrap her away from me, rather than towards me. >
Yes – but only when she was on your right side. It is totally normal to have a side that is more comfy, so being more connected and sure of the line will help that get more comfy for you both. And that is why I lean into rewarding even when something goes awry, because I often think I am correct and the dog is wrong, then either my brain figures it out (oops!) or the video shows me that I am wrong (double oops LOL!)
>I will be using the hampers from now on as I get too fixated on the ācorrectā side on my stantions.>
Perfect! That way your brain is not having to think about where the jump cups are on the wings.
The last run was really strong with the wraps! She was a little surprised by the right soft turn so you can show that to her with the wing a little closer together for now. Fabulous connection, though, and you were very clear with your line of motion too!
>Ended up doing reverse retrieves to improve on the retrieveā¦ first two went great ā she dropped the toy right in front of me for a treat. After that she had to take 2 or 3 victory laps ā which meant I was running around the yard in the opposite way.>
The first two were really great and definitely shifted the behavior towards the retrieve! You can limit th # of reps you do of this to 1 or 2, so that you get rehearsals of great reps when you end the session before getting any rehearsals of behavior you donāt want. Or after she brings the toy back, you can cue her to go for a big run with it (because that is just so rewarding for her and we can use that to ur advantage in training).
Great job here!!
Tracy
Good morning!
He had really lovely jumping here!! The first rep and the rep at 3:12 were my favorites: he was set up in the right spot, the release was clear, and the form was *chefās kiss * lovely! And FAST š Yay!!
>We definitely had a start line issue. I believe I figured it out. The toy has to be in some sort of motion the entire time once I started keeping it visible in motion slowly, putting it to the ground and walking, he was much better so we had quite a bit to sort out on that one.>
Yes – he definitely had a question about what the release was. He probably picked up a rhythm of āmom stops, toy goes down, mom walks forward 2 steps and the release comes on the 2nd stepā. You did a bit of that here in the beginning and that was largely when he was self-releasing. And we humans tend to do that (release with a certain rhythm, after a certain number of steps every time) without even realizing it. And then the dog communicates what they think the release is by, well, releasing at that point LOL! I have totally done that. OOPS! š
Keeping the toy dragging helps change that because you are less likely to always release after the certain number of steps – but be careful to mix it up and change when you release so he doesnāt find a new rhythm and anticipate the actual release.
I think you ended up in a ājust one moreā moment at the end, when he couldnāt sit at 3:28. He was likely depleted and needing a break, and was communicating that – he couldnāt sit, he was looking away, and when you were bending over he did a big lip lick which is generally a stress indication.
He could have been depleted and tired mentally because this setup hits on two really hard things for young dogs: mechanics at speed, and impulse control.
So if you line him up and he canāt complete the task of lining up and sitting, you can break out of the line up, play, let him move around a bit, then try again. If he still canāt sit, reward for being in the position between your feet and give him a break. You got him to sit but it might have been a bit accidental when he was trying to come up for the toy – then you moved him a bit by his collar to straighten him. That all adds pressure, plus he was set up too far from the jump so he was short on his reach into the first gap. So keep the pressure off that sit line up and note when he canāt sit – and take him away from it for a moment.
Great job here!
Tracy
