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Good morning!
Yes, the momma in a chair is a pretty big difference for the small dogs in particular! He did really well, good boy!!!!
2 little details to add now:
As you are getting into the chair and getting ready, put the bowls down and get the cookies ready… then put the cone down (yes, you will need 3 or 4 arms LOL!!). I tuck the cone into my armpit while I am putting everything else down. That way, when the cone appears, he is very likely to offer the behavior immediately and you can get that all-important first reward going. By having the cone in first while you got everything else ready, he offered a couple of times but didn’t get rewarded so that contributed to why he didn’t offer as much at the beginning when you were ready.The next step to add is to have your cookie hands in your lap. You were very smart to have your hands nice and low to make the cookie plops into the bowl very easy. NICE!!!! So with the goal of you standing up eventually: the next step is to have your hands higher, so keeping them in your lap will be a good small change. You will have to be quick to get the cookie into the bowl, but you are already really quick so I think that will be fine 🙂
>> Should I try the back-and-forth with toys?
Yes, definitely! That will be fun!
>>Do I need identical toys?
He needs equal value toys, even if they are not identical. I know that a lot of folks use identical toys but to the dog… they aren’t identical because they smell different, they are on different sides of you, etc. So we have had great success with the pups with different toys as long as he really likes them both. Plus, it is a great game for sliding in some self-control: “yes Casper, I know you might like that toy a little better, but can you come play with this one please”. That is a great skill for further down the road, when he might like the tunnel better but we are asking him to do the weave poles that are right next to it 🙂
>I am curious to how he would do with that. Sometimes he seems like he doesn’t want to give up the toy he has, even if it’s not moving, for the toy that’s moving
He will sort it out when it becomes a pattern: the toy he has will go limp and get boring, and your other toy will get SUPER exciting! I have a game about that specifically coming later this morning 🙂
Looking at the decel:
I thought I noticed a slight preference turning to his right in the cone game, but he was pretty balanced. He did seem super tight on the right turns here but it might have also been your mechanics – when you were low with the hand and slow on the pivots, the left turns were pretty perfect too 🙂 So, he is pretty balanced and that is GREAT! He is also pretty speedy 🙂 which means you can throw the treat further now, to give you time to get the decel set up before he gets back to you. But overall, he is looking great on this game so adding more distance and speed is a good next step 🙂Great job!! Keep me posted on how he does!
TracyWelcome!! What a cool name and cool breed – I am excited to hear more!!!
You can totally catch up – the week 2 stuff builds on week 1, so you won’t be feeling behind because it all builds up over time 🙂
Have a blast! Keep me posted!
TracyGood morning!
It is so great that you can take him different places to play his games!!!
Decel to handler: He was definitely looking for a thing to do past you but you were really good about getting the reward in early so he figured out not to run past you. Because he is a big long-legged dude, I think the pivots will really help him decelerate into the turns here. For example, at :44 you did a pivot and he was really good about lining up his hind end for the turn!
So with that in mind – a next step for this game is to create a loop out of it:
Start with the cookie toss like you did here. Bring him to you with the hand like you did here, and pivot like you did here… but rather than feed him in position, throw the cookie as the reward, so he drives out of the turn. That cookie reward also serves as the cookie toss to start the next rep so while he is getting the cookie, you are getting the next one out and getting ready for the next rep of decel/pivot/toss. This will add even more motion and speed for him, plus his decel/turn gets rewarded with motion which makes a lot of dogs very happy 🙂He definitely likes his prop 🙂 There was some visual “clutter” so when you were at a distance, he needed a moment to find it. Good job being patient to let him find it there.
At 1:11 you will see he turned to his right even when the cue would ideally say “turn to your left”. It is possible he is a righty, and it is possible that your position read a bit like a rear cross. So on these sends, try to be more off to the side and less centered on the prop, so that it is easier for him to see which way to turn back to you (always towards you like a front cross).I think you can also try this game with a toy reward by tugging when he gets back to you! Start closer to the prop when you add the toy, just in case it is harder for him to leave the toy. When he is happy to leave the toy to do the foot target, you can add more distance back in.
Wing wraps with upright: He started off immediately engaging with the wing, but then the environment got more challenging. He had a little trouble with the “stuff” behind you and needed to explore it (also a barking dog might’ve contributed to his need to look around). And then it sounds like someone was running a course! Eek! So even though he clearly has value for the uprights, the environment made things SO HARD. It looks like you shuffled in closer to the wing a tiny bit and then he got it. I give him a giant gold star for remaining engaged with you rather than explore the other things happening – so even if he wasn’t perfect with the wing, he still stayed and engaged which is awesome!
In a quiet environment or home environment, you probably have the wing a little further away already. So, you can move to the next step of trying this with you in a chair rather than on the ground, to start moving towards the goal of you standing. It appears that he has the value for that!
And yo were smart to end on some tunnel fun – all of that action is easier in the environment plus it sounds like the environment was quieter when you did that.
Great job here!! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning again :)
This is a good game to refresh now because she is at the age where we will move things along pretty quickly. She did super well with both the treats and the toys…. so onwards to adding the upright was the correct next step.I think she liked the game with the upright in even more, wow! She looked great! She picked up the speed (doesn’t surprise me at all) and was eating the treats so fast I had to check to see if she was even eating them LOL! (She was eating them – eating fast is fine, NOT eating is a problem). And she did a great job leaving the cookies in your hand to go do the wrap, which is great. She had a strong food motivation (yay!) so this game adds some good self-control too!
Next step… try this same thing with the upright and bowls, but with you sitting in a chair. You should start the session with the upright a little closer to you because putting you in a chair might make it harder. But I am confident that she will be fine with you in a chair. This will help us work our way to getting you standing up!
Great job :) Tracy
Good morning!
This is definitely accomplishing our goal of getting her to drive ahead!
Note how on the first several reps she was flanking a bit – I think she lost the visual of the toy and was watching you more, so she had some questions. The video doesn’t show how/when you threw the toy, but my guess is that the toy was on the ground for too long before the game started, so she ended up looking up at you more than looking at the toy. Even 5 seconds is too long 🙂So since it appears that Brad is willing to join our crazy games here, we elect him to be one who does the countdown to the start:
He holds her, you lead out, just like here.
brad yells “ready!”
Then he says “Set” and when he says that… you throw the toy.As the toy lands, he says “GO!” And that’s when you begin running (and saying go) and that is when he lets her go as well.
It all happens really quickly but that way the timing of the toy landing and the running starting will be very quick, so she will be more focused on the toy. That will help her go straighter and flank or look around less.
Let me know if this description makes sense or if I need more coffee. It is fun to add variations for her; she is doing GREAT!
TracyHi!
>>I always feel weird stopping my movement (such as in rally) which I think came through in this exercise, so again a mechanic I need to work on more. >>
You didn’t look weird at all! I never would have guessed it felt weird if you hadn’t mentioned it. You looked great, and her response showed it. My only suggestion is to try to get the cookie hand just below your knee, so her head and chin is in a neutral/forward position or tipped slightly down, rather than up. The higher feeding position produces a lifted head, which is good for rally or obedience but for agility, the lower head helps more.
>>However, I’m thrilled with how Rogue was reading the decel>
Yes! Rogue was great, maybe thinking it was the easiest game EVER Lol!!!! Good girl!
You don’t need to stop her at your side anymore, you can go directly into the pivot on each rep, doing it just like you did here (letting her get almost all the way to you, then pivotong slowly). The only tweak is to have your hand lower.Great job!
TracyHi!
>>Can’t remember when this course ends.
End of November! But I am going to send out info for a December extension because a bunch of of folks have asked. Stay tuned!
>>Zig zags are going to be a tight fit in the winter training space, but the Organizers fit.>
Yes, I think the ZZs might end up being in a ring rental but the organizers fit nicely!!
Looking at the wraps: he did well figuring out how to do the sit then go over the bar to the PT. You can now have the beep beep of the PT happen as soon as you see his butt hit the sit position, so he can release without looking at you. He was definitely focusing down more!!! I think you will be in the fading stages of the wrap pretty soon!!!
>>Apparently having the PT sitting there makes it hard to sit
I see his sticky questions more on the slice stuff, mainly after the threadles. I like that you did the threadles! I think his sticky stuff came when he got confused about the threadle cue: at :46, 1:27 and 2:08 he didn’t sit and just did the threadle over the bar. I believe it was because you gave the come cue for the threadle, which does indeed mean to come in then go out over the bar. So he did, especially because the sit cue was not super early. Good boy! When the sit cue got added to it, I think he got confused: “wait, does come mean take the jump or not?” so his brain was steaming up a bit LOL!!! And then towards the end he didn’t quite release from the stay – you were saying ‘come’ so he was not sure if he was going to be asked to jump or to sit.
So the best thing to do? Use the physical cues but not the come verbal – the come verbal can come back into the picture when we go to the fading stages.
He did really well when he did sit, so I don’t think it was an organization question at all. He looked good!
Nice work here! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
She definitely liked this toy, and it looks like she jumped everything really well!!! So the next step would be to have the toy on the ground before you release her, rather than bring it out as a reward after she is doing the jumps. Think of it as a target for her to look at the whole time. At first, the toy can be stationary and if she is fine with that, you can be dragging it as you release her and you move forward.
If she is happy when the toy is on the ground, you can start the make the angles of the jumps a little harder, by flattening them out (moving the outer wings out away from center by an inch or two at a time, over the course of several sessions).And I am glad you like the resilience games, I am finding them super fun and helpful! 🙂
Tracy
Hi!
I am so glad you had a great vacation!!!!! And maybe the snow will all melt and it will be a warm, clear winter? Haha, a girl can dream LOL!!!I am putting together a December extension because people have asked the same question you asked 🙂 Stayed tuned!
>>Should I continue to work on occasional platform sits & indoor stuff as exercise/maintenance activity a couple of times/week? I’m assuming it doesn’t hurt to revisit that stuff, as long as I’m not overdoing it?>>
Yes – it is all built directly off of conditioning exercises, so even if she does not actually jump, she will still get some great fitness workouts in!
Have fun!
TracyHi!
Sounds like you had a blast at the seminar!!! You can Ripley are doing amazing things together!!!!>>Rip did some great independent push/backside work on some big, fast courses,>>
How did he do with the jumping efforts on those? Looking at the backside zigzags, I think he is doing a great job! Yes, he was having to sort things out a tiny bit each time you made it harder, in terms of that stride before takeoff as he rounded the entry wing. He didn’t struggle, just needed to make the adjustment in organization. But then he did, and it looks pretty easy for him on the next reps. Even with you way ahead and running like mad: no problem. YAY!!!
So with that in mind… I think the bars can start to come up on this zig zag track. Some dogs do get the bars all the way to full height, but that is not important. Close to full height is fine! So going back to the front side zig zags, you can raise the bars 2 inches each session, starting with slightly easier angles then going to harder angles. . When he is happy with the bars at 16 on the front side zigzags with 2 and 3 jumps, you can go back to the 2 jump backsides and have the bars start to come up. I think he has the strength and structure to get the bars to full height, but there is really no rush to do it.
Great job!!!!!
TracyGood morning! Great job with your week one games here!!!!! Nothing egregious happened here at all LOL!
Decel to handler: he is driving in beautifully to the daddy. Yay! Because he has so much power already (but a puppy body) we don’t want him to swing his butt out at all – and always doing the pivot loop will help that. The pivot loop is what you did at :12 by showing the nice decel, getting him on your hand (which was nice and low) doing the slow pivot, then tossing the treat out ahead so he drives out of it.
Any time you tried to reward him straight or after a pivot by stopping, his butt swung out. So, always using the the pivot loop will prevent that and also gets us closer to the tight turn goals 🙂 Plus, you can throw the reward and immediately go into the next rep! That way he is moving in with a lot of speed and you don’t need a stay.Great job going back to this after the toy races, assuming these were edited in the order you did them.
Toy races: On normal toy races… you’re gonna lose. Ha! This is good. So as soon as you see him winning and arriving at the toy, you can turn and go the other direction (front cross) so he can grab the toy and run back to you. When you were moving towards him after he grabbed the toy, he was pushing away from that pressure so having you turn and go the other way will help him bring the toy back more.
Also, we can add a variation! Yay! This variation is designed to get him to drive past you when you are ahead of him but cuing him to drive forward. Picture the ending line of a course, you are a little ahead but there is a 3 jump line straight to the finish… your acceleration and GO GO GO cues should cue him to smoke you and leave you in the dust. This involves passing you! Here is how to add this:
We will need Suzie’s help 🙂
* Start with Suzie about 10 feet behind you.
* You throw the toy as far as you can and look at Bob
* As the toy is landing, you start to yell GO GO GO (or get it, whichever he responds to better is fine for now) and you start to run forward. As you run forward, maintain a little connection back to him so he knows which side to be on
* It is important that you keep running til he passes you and then when he is almost at the toy… turn and run the other way.Let me know if this makes sense! I think he will have no problem passing you, but let me know if he has any questions. Or if you have any questions 😅
Prop send -also looking good! He has good commitment already! One suggestion: don’t start this from a stay, start it from that ready dance moment when he is moving around in front of you. The reasons behind this are that it helps teach them to move from handler focus to obstacle focus, by very clearly showing the cue without needing any type of release to process. Also, the ready dance is more stimulating. 🙂 so we are immediately teaching commitment when the pups are in higher arousal (which is what he will be in when running courses 🙂 )
I think he only had 2 questions on this game:
At 1:25, it looks like your arm & leg were already back before the release, so he was confused. Doing the ready dance with your feet together and hands in front of you, then giving the big step back, arm point, and transfer of connection will give a clearer cue.He had a little trouble leaving your left hand when you were doing the sideways send at 1:50 – add a little more room between you and the prop, so he has to choose between your hand and the prop. It is possible that the hand was a little too close so he was trying to do both 🙂
Next session, you can add in the ready dance with the cookies rewards. If that goes well… do everything the same but use a toy reward instead of cookies. That adds a little more excitement and definitely more self-control to the commitment, because he will have to leave the toy to get the toy.
Excellent job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi! I think this is the same video as the one above it.
>> . I just couldn’t keep track of which hand to have the toy in to start – sooo confused. LOL I think I should work on this without a dog for a while. >>
When doing one blind, the toy starts (and stays) in the hand on the same side she is starting on. And yes, you can totally do that without the dog 🙂 And by using the toy like that, your shoulder naturally goes back like it would on course, so she was able to see the connection clearly 🙂
T
Hi!
The blinds are looking really good! Yes, the whole “where does the darned toy go” is weird at first but your last 2 reps here were particularly perfect! What you did so well there was you got the blind and the connection REALLY well, great toy placement with the correct hand but also tight to your body so she was tight too. And, on those last 2 reps you kept running and that is ideal (on the first couple, you stopped as you rewarded).
So keep running and rewarding as you did on the last 2 reps! And you can also have Brad hold her so you can have even more head start for more running room.Great job!
TracyGood morning!
Yeah…. you won’t be winning this game any time soon hahaha!
One tweak for you: ask Brad to hold her 10 feet behind you. You will throw the toy ahead like you did here (as far ahead as possible). When it lands, you start to run and you say GO (or get it). As soon as you say that, Brad releases her to drive to the toy. You should be connected to her (looking at her a little) as you run run run.
The reason I suggest this is not because I think you will win (yes, *try* to win but you probably won’t win), but more about teaching her to drive past you. Picture the ending line of a course – you are a little ahead and then as you run and yell GO GO GO, she should drive past you. So having Brad hold her is a good first step to getting that! Let me know if this makes sense!
Have fun!
TracyGood morning!
>> I would love to build on her toy drive, but I am much more comfortable in my timing and response when rewarding with food, so the toys are a lot of thinking for me!
I totally relate LOL!! I feel like I need 3 hands sometimes with the toy. We will keep working on ways to feel more comfortable with using the toy, and using toys and food together. The pups also give us feedback because most pups require toys and food to be a bit more separate in the early stages as we balance the value. It is extremely rare that a pup has equal value for both food and toys, and can go back and forth easily.
>>In response to your question about what she enjoys playing with, it tends to be any toy that another dog has or wants (she’s a very submissive girl, but will stare for hours while another dog has a toy and be ready to grab it right when they leave),
This is good! You can entice and engage her with a ‘stolen’ toy from another dog 🙂 Does she love to chase it around if you attach it to something long? Does she like frisbees or toys?
>>and socks. If I have any doubt of if she has toy drive, I just have to see her pounce and pick up and shake a sock and I’m reminded that she really does have the potential.
Ha!!! Ok, you might need to get some long cheap socks, wear them a bit so they get that good sock smell, and try to play with her with socks 🙂
>>I tend to work my toy sessions by letting her pick the toy-I have a bag full of high value toys (lots of variation and fuzz) and bring it out only for toy specific sessions.
This is great! So fun! And you can just throw things around and play, without formal training with the toy. You can slide some ‘formal’ stuff in like the driving forward or toy races when she is jazzed up for a toy she chose.
>>I definitely haven’t been great about bridging the gap between toy play and using toys as a reward, so I’m very excited to see how that develops throughout this class.>>
The first step will be to plan a toy session right before an official session with cookies… the way to do this is to have your cookies and training area set up with whatever you want to do. But separately from it, in a different room or outside or something: play with the toy she chooses or a sock 🙂 and after a super short play moment, you can run to the cookie training spot and do the cookie session. The toy play with then get even more exciting because it might predict the start of the cookie session. And you should keep it in an entirely different location for now, so she is not asked to play with toys yet when there are cookie smells or cookie-based training cues in the environment.
>>With that being said, I used only a toy (no food) for the focus forward game and am very happy with the result. She definitely is not retrieving the toy or anything close to it, but she was super happy to continue tugging with me when I grabbed it. I maybe let the tugging go a bit long-I cut much of the tugging to keep the video under 2 minutes-but for me it felt like a win.>>
TOTAL WIN!! This was a great session! And you can let her go drive to the toy even sooner. She wants to go grab it before it even hits the ground, so you can let her go when she is rarin’ to go for it. So for now, as soon as she is excited about the toy, let her drive to it.
And it was a perfect toy choice, long and crazy. She was tugging, she was pulling at it, perfect! I don’t think the tugging was too long – did she quit tugging or let go before you wanted her to? If so, then yes it went too long. But if you can take the toy to start the next rep before she lets go of it? Perfect!
Great job here!!! Let me know what you think!
Tracy
