Forum Replies Created
-
Posts
-
Good morning!
This is off to a good start!! She did super well for such a young pup!>Dot says why back up when I can just continue to go through>
Ha! Yes, that was a clever efficient way to get back to you LOL!!!
You can actually sit on the ottoman for now – that will help prevent her from going all the way through (keeping your legs up next to the ottoman) And it will also be easier to leave your hands down – the up and down of the hands was pulling her head up so she was taking fewer steps or turning around. Your low hands can be a focal point as she is learning then (then eventually we can get you standing up. I think sitting will make it easier to have your hands that low than bending will – it will be easier when she is taller đ
>I taught Sprite to back up to a prop. Dot doesnât have a 2 back feet up on a prop yet.>
That is one of the options here – I donât think she needs to know a prop yet. Yo can start her with all 4 feet something like a dog bed or anything big enough that she fits on. Then lure a front foot or two off of it – then let her offer stepping her front foot/feet back onto it. That is a great way to get the backing up and the destination started, and eventually you move to luring her all the way off so she steps her back feet on it.
Nice work!
TracyGood morning!
This went great! He drove directly at the toy, no looping out or watching you. Great throw, by the way!!!
To get him to bring the toy back even faster: as soon as he arrives at the thrown toy, you can do a front cross and run the other way, showing the new toy. He is likely to drive right back to you. He might not bring the toy the first time yo duo this, but I bet he starts to carry the original toy back and then can get rewarded by the new toy.
If the game gets very exciting and he jumps around the toy as you get ready for the next rep, you can use a to transition: line him up at your side for a cookie then hold his collar to start the next rep. That will also continue building up his love for actually eating the food even in high excitement moments đ
Great job!
TracyHi!
>so he didnât seem to remember about finding a target with his back feet. I started with that. >
It is normal that they âloseâ mechanics if it has been a while since they have done something. Yes, it was good to refresh the targeting of the rear feet – the angle might have been a little steep too, so a flatter rear foot target will be easier.
You can jump start the behavior by starting with all of his feet on the target and with the target not angled – then use a hand lure to pull front feet only off the target. Then he can step back with front feet – this helps with both backing up and with the foot target element. Then when he is stepping his front feet back onto the board, you can lure his back feet a tiny bit off so he can step them right back on.
For now, until he is pretty quick to offer the behavior, stay nice and close – he was not as sure when you added more distance like at 2:26.
>Then I went directly to back up since this was done as part of his novice trick title. However, maybe I should do the shaping exercise because he is clearly dependent on my body motion in order to do it? >
Totally agree – he is a nit dependent on you moving towards him but more importantly with you standing up and stepping towards him, his head it way up (looking at you) which inhibits the full backing up mechanics. That is why you were seeing him popping up a little bit and taking fewer steps – he was hopping back more by looking up and using his shoulders. So if you are lower and shaping it, your hands will be a low focal point which will keep his chin more parallel to the ground, freeing up his hind end to move more independently.
Since he already has experience with backing up as the trick, I think this will go very quickly!
Nice work here!
TracyHi!
>Took off a day from âtrainingâ yesterday and threw bumpers.>
A day off of ‘learning’ things and just having fun together? Heck yeah!!! Love it!
> I had 2- threw one, once she was on her way back to me, turned and jogged the other way , threw the 2nd bumper once she got back to me. did this a few times. once ahe was running back to me, started waiting for her to come to me. Sometimes she came straight back and Sometimes a wide circle. I stood still when she did the circle and waited for her to come to me..we celebrated when she came to hand.>
Very fun!!! And you can ping pong – sometimes you wait for her to come back, sometimes you immediately run away, sometimes you run away when she has started to come back. Making it random and unpredictable will keep her coming back faster and faster đ
>I have observed this before âbetter about coming to me with bumper than with fluffy toy>
The bumper might be higher in value, so you can totally have it in your toolbox for training agility games too! It is a great toy for toy races – either as the thrown toy, or the reward for coming back to you, or both! Just be sure to mix in lots of other toys, so she doesn’t become obsessed with the bumper and ignore other toys đ
Thanks for the update! Sounds like it was super fun!
Tracy
Hi! She did great here!
> Cheese works much better! She caught on pretty quick since she wasnât having to chew as much.>
100% yes! The cheese allowed her to move quickly and she was very quick to zip back and forth. She startled herself when she pulled the barrel over but recovered really quickly. It was almost like she was considering offering other behavior on the bucket, then after it fell over she said “definitely not *that* behavior” hahaha She is a big personality!!!
> I moved the bucket back two times. The second time I used my knee to partly block her path, but left about 5 or 6 inches open. Youâll see her think about cutting through, but makes the right decision to go around.>
Yes, she was really good! I think she might be a lefty: all of the left turns (going from your right to your left) were very smooooth and quick! She had to think harder on the right turns (going from your left to your right) so that might be telling us she s a lefty. This is useful info!
> Havenât tried it again with toys⌠Look forward to seeing how we progress from here.>
What you can do is a little bit of tugging before you start, then cheese for the reps, then break it off after 6 or 7 treats for more tugging. That way we get the excitement that tugging brings… but we don’t tip over into bitey excitement during the shaping. And you can be quieter in the moments where she is offering… and praise when you reward. That will also help her find the wrap as we add challenge.
Since she is doing so well here, 2 things for the next steps:
– you can use something bigger & taller for her to go around, like a pop up basket or big cone or laundry basket.
– when she is happy to go around the taller object, we are going to start transitioning you to standing up – a short session with you sitting in a chair, then if that goes well – you can start the next session with you sitting then stand up and see how she does.Great job here!
TracyHi!
He did really well offering getting front feet on and walking across. All 4 feet on was harder but then you did a trail of treats that helped a lot! After that, he offered all 4 feet easily and you were able to get him to turn around too.
Your hand position for the turn arounds was great, nice and low! Turning to his left: easy! Turning to his right? Harder đ He would either step off and then back on to get the right turn, or he was super creative at 1:57 – he turned left then got back on the board to get the cookie. Ha! So to smooth out the right turns, try them on the flat without the plank first – see if you can convince him to turn right in a tight circle, using the low and slow hand lure you had here. When he can do that smoothly on the ground, you can ask for it on the plank.
HIs confidence level seems really high with the plank, so you can elevate it by a few more inches to add challenge (as long as it stays stable and won’t slide off).
Great job!
TracyHi!
The position changes went really well – that takes a lot of body control (especially after all the exciting tugging!) and she made it look easy for such a young dog! It looked like her hind end was a little tucked under her in the stands – just puppy stuff đ You can try moving your hands forward a bit to see if that helps balance the stand more.
> Iâm using a Galician backside bump. Figured could be a good one? I donât have and of those pop up baskets/crates.>
Clever!!! That is a great use for it. And if you have a 2nd one, you can stack it so it is taller – that would be the next step, wrapping someting taller. This session went really well and she seemed perfectly happy to keep wrapping with you standing. She lost her train of thought for a moment in the middle when the bump was further away – but it might have been more than she needed a tug break, and less about the distance because you returned to that distance by the end of the session and she had no questions. So you can break up the session with tugging after ever 5 or 6 treats, so she doesn’t have to stay super task focused for the whole time (she can have a party moment sometimes too :))
She looks ready for you to move to the Turn ‘n’ Burn game we started last night!
Nice work!
TracyHi!
> The âboringâ foodâŚ.hmmmâŚunfortunately there is no such thing for a Sheltie. LOL!!!>
So true! You might need to see if tiny crumbs will make it boring LOL
Hi!
Super fun session – Yay for her, leaping right onto the wobble board! She did really well with that, and went right back to tugging after the treats thanks to your movement.
>I had two toys tied together here, but she got them apart.>
That was probably very reinforcing for her, a big win and a surprise in the best way! Ha!
She might be a little too young to feel comfy tugging on the full wobble board – that requires more balance/stability and coordination than standing on it for cookies does. She seemed to be communicating that she was happy to tug and was fine with the movement, but didn’t feel fully comfortable doing it with all 4 feet on the board.
So for the full wobble board, keep going with cookies. And for the tugging, you can shove towels or padding under it, so she can feel more comfy and balanced while tugging on it. Then as she grows more, you can take the towels etc out so she can tug on the full wobble board đ
> A trip to Home Depot where she escaped the shopping cart, bad Mama.>
That’s hilarious đ She is small and spicy!!
Great job!
TracyHello and welcome!
The email address is support@agility-u.com but I will put the instructions here so you can upload your videos.Also, if it feels confusing or overwhelming, we can hop on a zoom call and I can walk you through it on your device! I personally get overwhelmed with new tech sometimes and I don’t want you to feel that way if you have never used YouTube this way before.
The first step is to create a personal YouTube channel (if you already have one, scroll down to the next step :))
– Sign into YouTube with your Google/Gmail account (really easy to set one up at http://www.gmail.com if you don’t have one).
– Click your profile picture (usually in the upper right corner, depending on which device you have) and then Settings .
– Go to the Account section and select Add or manage channel(s).
– Click Create a channel .
– Choose a profile picture, type in your name.
– Click Create channel.When you have a channel and you are logged in, here is how to upload videos:
– In the top-right corner, click CREATE then click Upload Videos from the drop down box
– It will take you to a screen where you click on Select Files
– Choose where you want to see your files or which one you upload (this varies depending on your device).
– Choose the video you want and click upload. While it is uploading, you can add the title and other info for YouTube, such as if it is made for kids (click No) and if you want it Private, Unlisted, or Public (click Unlisted)It will load and then YouTube will provide a link, or you can find it if you go to your channel or Youtube Studio by clicking on your profile picture and choosing an option from the drop down box.
Let me know how it goes!
Tracy
Hi!
He is great on the plank here! He was happy to get on, hop off, turn around, all the things. You can add in position changes, like cueing sits and downs on the plank.Since we are talking about his chewing⌠you might have been a little too fast with most of the treats here because he was basically chewing the entire time LOL! He will be able to offer more if he has finished chewing, so you can slow down the cues to turn and the reward delivery. Let him finish the treat and he will probably look at you, then you can cue the next thing or let him offer hopping back on the plank if he is off it.
You can also incorporate a tug toy to raise his excitement level and see if he can still work all his feet as well as he did here đ
For the next session, you can raise the plank if you have anything that it can rest on while still being as stable as it is here. We can think of it as mini-parkour hahaha!
Nice work!
Tracy
Hi!
The Pink Panther has replaced circus music today during tugging LOL!! Love it!She is finding the prop really well now – I think she is ready for the next step of the prop games! You can stay nice and close, and add in the sends đ Yay!
She also did well with tugging, even with the treats close by – keeping the toy really active helps a whole lot. One thing I notice is that you are bending over while tugging (which is perfectly fine) but then standing up always precedes getting a treat out⌠so she stops tugging as soon as you stand up. Since she will (eventually) be tall enough that you can be upright, we will want you to be able to tug standing up. Two ways to do that are to attach this toy to a leash, so you can be fully upright and playing. And, sometimes stand up but keep playing – then lean over and play more. Or get the toy back with a cookie trade while you are leaning over. That was she doesnât pair standing up with the drop the toy cue.
Great job here!
TracyHi!
You are totally on the right track! Thanks for the video! It looks like she really likes the food, so she doesnât initially drive to the toy because there might be more food around. But you were great about getting the toy moving so she could chase it, keeping it nice and low⌠and she totally latched on to tug!You can actually double the length of that toy by tying it to another toy, and that will be even more exciting for her – and easier for you to get it low so she can chase it. And keep going with using the most boring possible food (with no other treats in your hand or pocket) – and if you have a long hallway or outdoor space, that will give you room to make chasing the toy even more exciting!
You will see that she will get happier and happier to play with the toy even when food is around.
Nice job here!
TracyHi!
She was absolutely super at smacking that hat with her front feet! Nice! And great job with your click timing!>not as much understanding of staying on it.>
The good news if that she doesnât have to stay on it! She can smack it then after the marker, she can come back and get the treat from your hand. Think of the prop as a jump-bar-replacement in these early stages of training. She goes to it and turns, but doesnât need to stay there. More on that in tonightâs class.
Right before you send her, add a little of that âready danceâ where you were asking her if she was ready but without holding her – then send her to the prop. That hands-free ready dance helps her learn to transition from handler focus to send/obstacle focus.
Plus, it is great for arousal regulation: the ready ready ready with you bopping around a little will get her more pumped up, but then she has to self-regulate to NOT jump up at you and instead, go find the hat to smack đ If she does jump up, then you can do a quieter ready dance to get her excited but not as excited đ
>I realized most of the time Iâm not stepping with my dog side leg before sending.>
She has a ton of value for running to the hat, so using your leg did not matter that much in this session. For the next session, the ready dance will give you the chance to add your leg into the send cue. Plus you can move to the advanced levels, where you are sending sideways and backwards – this is where the leg as part of the cue becomes very important.
Great job!
Tracy
