[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi!

I think the home edition of the pattern game went well! He seemed to recognize what was going to happen LOL! You can make the line up moment clearer by adding a leash to the process. Without the leash, any step to the jump looked like a cue to take the jump. But you can bring him to the jump on leash and the leash is a cue to NOT take the jump 🙂 That can make the line up even easier.

The rest looked really strong! He was very happy to leave the reward stations to do the jump, then come back to it with your ‘let’s go’ marker. Super!

The second session at the ring rental also went well! Ronin’s musical stylings were a good level of distraction 🙂 The setup worked well – my only suggestion is that you can add little sequences that don’t always end at the last station. He can go past it, go away from it, etc, so he is not trying to always drive lines to it.

>On Monday in class I had some Engaged Chill / TSA work kind of go awry and then went better the second round.>

He did get a little sensitized when the other dog came over. So you can go into the pattern game to help him process the big distraction, center his arousal, and recover quicker. As soon as the treats came out, he made a fast recovery 🙂 Note how he did a bit shake-off and then he was back to normal.

So it was a definite “well, that was unexpected” moment but great for resilience and also great for changing plans in the moment. Your engaged chill plan had an interruption, so going to a pattern game to help him reset would be perfect.

On the 2nd turn, he had recovered and did not seem sensitized to the other dog at all. Yay!
The chill looked good, he likes the butt rubs LOL! Then you got into the tricks and he was ready to play! Love it!

Looking at the sequences: On both of these, you can add a little lead out to get even more explosion off the start line! When you did that on the 2nd run of the 2nd video, he was SUPER fast off the line. He does well running with you but I think the short lead out for now gets the chase going and even more speed!

Video 1:
He had a little trouble processing the barking at the beginning – pattern games are great for this too!
Nice job getting him jazzed up to run – the run looked great! I think that for the threadle, the way it was set, it was a true American style-threadle (very severe angle). The rotation of your feet helped! You can use a single arm swinging back as the threadle arm if you want, but these cues certainly helped! To make it more of a feet-forward threadle, the threadle jump would have to be pushed closer to the camera so the line would not be as abrupt.

Video 2:
Nice work on this one too! Great connection!

>I like having two ways practiced to do that skill but since he’s not super fast, I think the blind cross vs. serp was smoother (even though I went a little wide maybe).>

I liked the blind! It was fast and snappy and really drove him through the line. I think it also got you to a better position for the next line. And he did well with the let’s go at the end as well – super!

Great job on these. When is his next NFC/FEO possibility?

Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi!

>The furry lotus I bought doesn’t have a loop on it so that it can be attached to anything. >

I have tied another toy to mine, which also doesn’t have a loop. It doesn’t look great but the dog loves it! I will get a photo of it tomorrow (it is at the trial site tonight).

>The first sequence I threw the leash & he ran to it. So I stuffed it in my pocket after that. >

That was funny! He totally thought it was party time 🙂 Putting it in your pocket worked great, and you can also work on placing on the ground near you.

I tried playing with him before taking the leash off to get him amped up.>

It was a little hard to see – how did he like it? He ran with great engagement and a ton of speed! And yes, it looks like it was easier to get the leash back on each time, almost like he was realizing it was part of the game. Yay!

> I wasn’t supporting him enough at first but once I got my act together he did really well.>

Yes – you were running but not really connected at first, so he was trying to figure out the line. Rather than stop and re-start, keep going and finish the sequence, so he could get a reward. He was very good about letting you re-start, but we don’t want to build in frustration at all. Then plan for extra support on the lines – this will be super important as he starts going int the trial ring because he will have so many more distractions that the handling needs to be really clear. It is almost a bit of over-handling at first to get him comfy.

And yes, when you were super connected and showing the lines? You two looked fabulous!! So fun!!! I am loving his confidence and speed on the lines, and he is committing really well!

He is getting really good at running with rewards outside the ring! Of course, you can still do plenty of sequences where you bring the rewards in the ring with you. That will keep things nicely balanced in terms of rewarding skills in training but also being able to run courses at trials.

Great job!

Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

OMG! That was my fault, I was totally under-caffeinated. I saw it, read it, answered in my head…. but never actually answered it. SORRY!! I posted some thoughts above 🙂

T

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi!

>his time I moved further away laterally, and I slowed my pace down to a walk. I thought the parallel path exercise went OK, >

Yes! The parallel path looked great! On the one rep where he missed and you didn’t reward – you don’t need to stop so he fixes it, you can keep moving forward, turn around, and do the next rep. A no reward moment like that can be very informational!

>during the Counter motion game, I think I inadvertently taught him to target my hand before hitting the prop with his paw – thus on my send cue, he jumped up to hit my hand, and then ran to the prop. I think this was probably b/c I have previously taught him to touch my hand with his nose, and so he sees my raised hand as a cue to nose-touch it. So I tried sending him with just a step forward, which was better, but he went more slowly – I think b/c he was unsure – so I only got a couple of reps in with counter motion.>

I think a couple of things were going on here – yes, there is value on touching your hand. And your hand was the more obvious thing, because the target was further away (kind of tucked into the ring fencing) and as you started to point ahead of him more (like at 1:17 and after that), the clarity of where to go, exactly, was getting a little lost. So he jumped up at you hand 🙂 because it was the big obvious thing and he was getting a little overaroused when he was not sure. Plus, he was getting tired and had done a lot of reps in a row (26 in this session) so he continued to work til the end but was definitely slowing down and not moving as well.

So to help smooth this out, start him closer to the prop – and reward from your hand. I bet he would like the toy for this! Then do the quick ready ready, then a clear send. That will make it more obvious to him. And when you were throwing the cookie, the timing of the send was not as clear so he was not as sure.

Also, do fewer reps, maybe 10 total for the session – then take a break, play tug, do something else for a bit, so it doesn’t get too repetitive. Using a toy will make that easier, so you can have the tug breaks built in!

The rear crosses are going well, especially to the right! You don’t need to point ahead, you can just move up the line and then yes, cross to the new side as soon as he passes you. Since left was a little harder, you can try to throw sooner or you can even leave a bowl to the left of the prop to help guide him to it.

>I am terrible at using different reward marker cues consistently, especially when we’re doing something new. >

Totally understandable!! You did have your markers going, and that is GREAT!! You can drop the “yes” marker before using a ‘get it’. That You can just use a ‘get it’ or a ‘take it’ – both of those also replace the click and indicate where the reward is.
Side note: It is SO HARD to stop saying yes LOL!!! I have to make a conscious effort not to use “yes” for everything 🙂

Great job here!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Good morning!

I thought the first 30 seconds of her run here were really strong – she recovered really well when you pulled her off the tunnel (great job staying in motion!) and was able to play.

Then it started getting too hard for her – what made it hard?

I think it was a combination of things:

– she is acting like the footing was weird (probably a weird texture and weird smell). Her movement was more up and down than usual, and less forward. That might be have contributed to why she didn’t take the first tunnel (along with you disconnecting and running away).
– the oopsie at the tunnel at the very beginning (disconnection as you ran to the jump) was hard – she had to process that and it does draw bandwidth from being able to handle other things.
– there is a lot of pressure right at the front of the ring, near the tunnel. People, dogs, change in lighting, etc. She could handle it once, but not twice.
– I think she has very limited experience in this kind of arena (covered arena, artificial lights, etc. And what time of day was it? That might have been a factor too.

So any one of these factors would have probably been fine. Put them all together? She could only do 30 seconds. But 30 seconds is a long time! Adolescent dog brains are not great at processing all the things they are bombarded with, so these things can stack up and then tip over into stress (which is what was happening towards the end).

So keep that in mind for the next run – short short short plan, move her away from the pressure at the start area as fast as possible, and run with the toy visible to help override the other factors. And if she has a great start? Cool! Get out of the ring LOL! The hardest part with young dogs is to not be greedy and to get out fast while things are going well 🙂

>Walked her around. Asked for for tricks for treats. Did a brief couple practice jumps for the toy. >

Did you add any pattern games in? Those are the absolute best to help dogs process pressure and environment! You can do those right outside the ring to help her learn about the environment.

Keep me posted about today!!

Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Good morning!

>I started off this game with a similar set up to your demo (not in video), but I found that it wasn’t “neutral” to Arrow, as I guess it has high value from all the pivot work he has done on the feed bowls >>

Ah yes – sometimes we think something is “boring” but the pups are like “OMG THIS IS FUN” haha!! Good job switching to something a lot more neutral.

He did super well with this session! He had a couple of small questions about the tunnel bag and bag of treats, but I think that had more to do with your position and cookie tosses. I think you were a little too close to the tunnel bag in terms of you position and tosses so he was asking if he should offer behavior on the tunnel bag at the beginning of:) So you can be further away from it for pattern games (so the cookie tosses are not towards it, which could indicate you are using it to shape something) and also asking for specific behaviors (like chasing you for a recall, or even adding it to going around a cone :))

You can switch the cookie bag out for a toy a the novel-exciting object! You can adjust your position to add more distance away from it if he finds it really exciting 🙂

Turn and burn is going well! I think your mechanics looks good here (and yes, it is hard to keep the toy in the opposite hand to show the big connection, but you were working it!!)

He had good commitment and your front crosses looked really good! I think you were making it harder on yourself by changing your starting point and direction each time – so with the goal of wanting to do the FC earlier and earlier, start in the same spot each time, but do the FC sooner each time. You were doing it when he was about halfway around the barrel here, which is great! So you can add in doing it halfway, then only a 1/3rd of the way around, then just as he arrives at the barrel, then just before he arrives at it. I use the line on the ground to give me a visual of when to do the FC, otherwise we humans end up doing it at the same time on each rep 🙂 You can work one side all the way to being able to do the FC just as he arrives at the barrel then switch sides – I think his commitment is strong enough that you can do it in one session!

Great job here!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Good morning!

>Ah! I get it now, the “get it” is marking where their eyes are going, the “release” is literally letting them go in this case. And helpful to know about delaying the marker if needed, that also clarifies it for me.>

Yes, the release is very literal… we let go of them LOL!! And by slicing the behavior so thin, we are teaching the concept of “stay on the line you were looking at when cued to look at it” which is quite useful 🙂 Eventually we can add a verbal cue to the forward focus but that is up to you to decide if you want another word or not 🙂

Love the music playing in the background here 🙂 She did great with the big blue disc. It took her a moment to figure out getting all 4 feet on it but then she was happy to do it and very stable.

Good job breaking it up to tug, we definitely want the arousal to stay higher in these proprioception games! And I think breaking off for a game of tug was the right ‘pump up’ moment before she got on the blue disc again – she very easily got all 4 feet on after that.

The crinkly material was fun! And she didn’t mind the noise – I am not even sure she processed it as a challenge LOL!

The blue disc and the crinkly stuff require a bit of compression to stand with all 4 feet on, so you can combine the stuff and make a big playing field for her to be able to stand with her feet more spread out (back flatter and not as arched).

>I was afraid with her high center of gravity and long legs (as opposed to my bulldozer shaped terriers) that this would be too much movement, but I think it was the right level of challenge? It was definitely work to get all her legs on but didn’t look too shaky once she was on.>

I agree – she was not shaky at all when she was on! I have found that the higher center of gravity for the BWs and the whippets are only a problem on poor footing like slippery turf (I never run them on mats). So I either don’t run them on turf, or I wrap them like flyball dogs to improve grip – wraps are legal in UKI!

>when I was done and put it off to the side she didn’t like it moving, sort of like the trash can the other night. S>

She had a small ‘what the heck’ moment when you moved it towards her, then investigated it and was fine. Then at the end, she was a bit over it 🙂 It was probably partially because she doesn’t love that stuff yet and partially because the session was long and it happened at the end (mental depletion).

We have some resilience games coming down the pike to help with that – for now, get her pattern game (added this week) really fluent in a comfortable setting. Then we can use that as a really helpful framework to help her assess the things she is telling she thinks are weird 🙂 The pattern games are so useful for that and for arousal regulation too!

Great job here!! Have a great weekend!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Good morning!

The main thing I see here is that you need a little more room because his strides fill the room here 🙂 I think he is really understanding these concepts, which is exactly what we want – and a little more space will allow us to expand them even more or clarify cues where he has questions.

For the parallel path, he is doing great and is ready for more challenge! Adding more space will allow you to add even more distance away from him (and maybe some jogging/running too!). He is doing great with this concept!! If you can’t take it outside due to icky weather, you can add arousal by rewarding with a tug toy – it will mean fewer reps but that is fine because we are asking him to find his line even when he is really excited 🙂

For the rear cross – seriously, having watching a lot of pups learn rear crosses, he is one of the absolute best at this game! For his questions when you changed sides – I think it was a combination of having done a good number of reps to the other side (so he was in right turn mode) and was surprised by the left turn cue.

Plus… you were a little late on the reps where he missed 🙂 At :42 and :45, he was already turning to his right and preparing to his the prop when you got into the RC pressure. On the next reps, you were much earlier and he got it.

So, having more room can help the timing because you will have more space to show the RC info before he has to make a decision on which way to turn – you can move the prop forward a few feet toward the camera, because you do have more room to do that. And if possible, and you don’t have snow on the ground, move it outside 🙂

>Should I not work on both sides during the same session?>

I think you should definitely work both sides and also mix in going straight. To get better responses, mix in different sides and going straight more frequently. If you do a whole bunch of the same thing in a row, he will keep working but he is not likely to be paying a lot of attention to cues (just repeating what he just did). That means the first rep of the different side if likely to be an error because he is surprised that you’ve changed the cue.

But if you mix things up after every rep or two, he will be processing the cues and not going on auto-pilot which means he will be more successful 🙂 Plus, that simulates what he will be asked to do on course: continuously process cues about where to go and what to do.

Great job here!!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi! Hope you had a good Thanksgiving!!

>Seminar topic was body language vs verbals – don’t count on your verbals to override body language,so we essentially worked on getting the body language right. >

This is a FANTASTIC topic! And so true! Verbals are great but for 99% of dogs, our body language needs to support the verbals or the dog might not get it right. Sounds like it was a great session!

Great opportunity to work with him in a new, distracting environment – he moved into the ring nicely and did his tricks. When he left at :36, what was he heading towards? Another dog? You can use higher energy movement in the tricks to get him even more focused and engaged in that situation of having a dog right behind him.

Really nice cues on the sequence!! For all of it except one moment, I think he knew exactly where to go.

>Has a discussion with SG about the dropped bar being my fault – gave him the tunnel cue before he took the preceding jump, according to her, dogs that understand the tummel verbal will lower their center of gravity when they hear the verbal.>

Looking at that moment from the perspective of the body language only, you hadn’t turned soon enough so he was jumping straight instead of turning. So earlier physical cues will definitely help! And yes, with him thinking he was going straight and then you said the tunnel verbal over the bar – he tried to adjust and pulled the bar.

I agree that it is handler error there and not dog error 🙂 Almost all bars are handler error 🙂 So definitely give him earlier physical cues and I think the verbal cue there should be a directional (like a name call or a left cue) instead of the tunnel cue.

But knowing that we humans are less than perfect in our timing, I also reward my dogs A LOT for keeping the bar up when I yell over the bar 🙂 So I do a lot of training on one jump to show the dog all the things I might do wrong (there is a long list haha) and reward the dog for NOT touching the bar even when I do some really bad handling. Here is an example:

Great job here! Have fun!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi!

>I executed a lovely rear cross on the first rep. Unfortunately, I wasn’t trying to, and I probably couldn’t do it on purpose. >

Yes – remember the feeling of what you did there! As you were moving up the line, you were converging to the center of the bar of the wrap jump as she was taking the jump before it at :22, so it read perfectly as a rear cross 🙂 It set a really nice line to come back to the tunnel, too!

At 2:03 you had a better line for the left turn wrap- but remember to decelerate for a few steps before you rotate. You were decelerating and rotating at the same time, which pulled her off the jump.

2:46 was the sweet spot though – really nice decel until you saw collection, then you rotated. Nice turn!! Yay!

Seq 5:
She had a little trouble with the lateral distance on the lead out – get job adding moving forward to support the line to the tunnel like at 4:00.

Working jump 4 on the landing side is a serpentine, which means she would need to see you passing through the center of the bar there (and relatively close to the bar, to set the line to 5) no later than when she was landing from 3. On the first 2 reps, she was seeing straight line info at 3 (4:04, 4:24) and jumped straight (moved away at 4:24 so she wouldn’t hit you (good girl).

Breaking it down was a good call – at 4:41 it looks like you were too far across the jump, like a backside cue. At 5:07 – looks like your position was definitely more center of the bar but too far from the line so she jumped straight then when you turned your shoulders dropped the bar. Ideally, you would be within an arms’s length of the 4 jump and holding the serp cues (arm back, connection) unit she lands from 4 and turns to 5. Getting there before she lands from 3 will require a more lateral lead out and not going past the wing of 1, but that is all good to play with to build up even more independence.

Great job here!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi!
At the start here, you can see her telling you what she thinks the release is; You stopped then moved again at :15, which is exactly what the release looks like for the most part. She thought she nailed it then was a bit confused. So be super clear about the lead out and release – I think adding praise to the mix will really help!

>she kept going past the jumps in the middle, s>

That was when you were leaving the exit of the 4 tunnel too early, so the line to 5 didn’t get set at 1:32 and 2:09 so the extension sliced her past jump 6. Hanging back to pick her up more from the tunnel exit will help set the line and get your shoulders turned to the straight line.

For the rear crosses – when she is heading to 5, you can be facing the center of the bar of the RC jump. Don’t turn straight at all, so she sees the startof the RC cue sooner. Then as you are moving up the line and she is passing you, there is pressure to the center of the bar the whole time. You can take a leash and lay it on the ground to show you the running line to help set the RCs.

The RCs at 3:52 add 4:19 were better in terms of you showing the RC line! You can definitely be facing the line as she is taking jump 5 – no need to square up and face straight, you can be facing the RC line the whole time.

T

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi!
Hope you had a good Thanksgiving!

>I’ve started to notice this issue creeping up. I try really hard to always hold my criteria for this behavior, but sometimes my brain doesn’t process fast enough. Occasionally she gets up right as I’m about to release, and by the time I realize she was too early, I’m already moving on the next line and giving a cue. That seems like it might be confusing at that point. I’m really working on watching for this.>

Add in praise – lead out, connect, raise your arm, smile, praise…. Then release. That will give you a moment to see if she is moving or not, and it will help her not anticipate the release happening right as you connect or move your arm.

>>She’s not driving to the MM super well on her own; she doesn’t look for it the same way that Nox does. She will always check back in with me, and I have to send her back to it>>
>I was being a bit lazy and not driving past the last jump. Is it just my decel that’s turning her? In that case, I guess it’s good that she’s ignoring the MM since might think I’m trying to turn her? Should she go to it anyway once she hears GO! or Get it!?>

I see what you mean about her not driving ahead! I think a couple of things were going on here:
The MM is not super high value, so the value of the MM was not overriding the handling. Good girl!
And yes, you were decelerating – so there was a conflicting indicator and she was reading handling. She should not go to it anyway, because we really do appreciate the feedback about the handling 🙂 So be sure to really drive to the last jump until drives to the last jump in extension too.

Seq 2 – nice backside cue on the first 2 runs and the 4th run! At 2:24 you were not as connected and turning forward so she took the front there (just keep going rather than stop & reward)

Stay a little closer to the tunnel exit and make a really big connection – don’t move up the line until you see her making a tight turn on the tunnel exit (she is drifting a bit because she was trying to find the line – at 3:35 for example, you were almost to the next jump with your shoulders forward, so she was trying to figure out which side to be on. You ca be within a couple of feet of the tunnel exit with your dog side arm back to her, your eyes on her eyes (same as exit line connection).

>I did try sequence 3 once, but I didn’t execute the rear cross well, so I ended the session there to try again later.>

The RC was a little late – at 4:21 you were straightening up to pass 5, so by the time you got on the RC line it made the info a little late. As she gets more experienced with RCs, I think she will be able to read that pressure even if it is a little late and still make the turn – but this was after multiple straight lines, so she was thinking about going straight. It was good to take a break and start the RC fresh, when she didn’t have as many straight lines on her mind.

Nice job here!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi!
Oh, I am jealous of the Blue Apron idea! That was smart!!

Lots of good work here and great distractions too!

I think she did great on this first run! It was hard to see what was going on outside the ring as you were prepping for it (and I did hear a little barking happening but I don’t think it distracted her) but we can assume the warm up outside the ring went well because she was on fire inside the ring! Yay!

The sequence opening was very connected and smooth!

>Got a jump up when I closed my shoulders after the tunnel>

Yes – she could see you just before the tunnel exit and you were moving literally and not connected so she came towards you. You tried to reconnect at 1:16 but it was too late, so she provided you with the reminder to connect to her at the tunnel exit immediately after she goes in. You can remind yourself to point to the tunnel exit so she sees your connection before she exits (and look for the next line peripherally).

> and she went between the pole and the jump near the end but pretty happy with our first “>

That was because of the big praise at 1:20 – it drew her attention off the line and up to you, and so things got disconnected for a moment. She is definitely an all-business, no sweet talk kind of girl LOL!!

She is also more resilient – she gets right back on the line after a question, and didn’t hold a grudge! Yay! And it looks like she had no trouble ignoring the reward station during the run and also went with you to it at the end.

Run 2 – If you have a long distance from the entry gate to the first jump, you can also jog out to the line – that is a built in volume dial! You started with her here and it made the opening line a little harder because at :30 over jump 1, you were saying tunnel but pulling away so she came with you. The pole is a little in the way too, so you will want to be a few steps ahead to set the line to the tunnel. You kept going and reset in flow, so she kept going too 🙂

Much better connection on the blind and the send to the jump after it (and no praise :)) so she got it nicely there!!!

Doing the other sequence at the end went really well – the short lead out helped you set the line to the tunnel, and clear connection made everything else looked smooth!

3rd run – definitely more distractions happening here! If she found it challenging to have Mochi walk by, you can plan for that and add in more activity outside the ring That will be great for her to experience!

Yes, the eruption from the other dogs was HARD and she was coming to you more than finding the jump on the release. She did get back on the line after that – super!

I don’t think the tunnel miss had a lot to do with the barking dogs, though – at 1:40 you were handling her like she was Kaladin 🙂 – not quite as connected as she needs and turned away from the tunnel too early, so she came off off it to follow your shoulder turn (you were fully turned away while she could still see you pretty clearly and the physical cue did look like a no-tunnel cue 🙂 ). She didn’t leap up there… it was went you tried to send and fix that she had a big mad (that info was not clear because you were rushing it there). Then she held a grudge because you kept trying to fix… So the no fixing rule still applies 🙂 If you can keep her flowing around and then try it again, perfect! That is what you did in the 2nd run. If you stop her and walk back to fix – it needs to be a very clear fix because her big mad clock is ticking 🙂 The best bet is to just keep going and don’t fix on that run.

Nice job getting the goodies out and helping her recover! That was a good moment of resilience and she ended really strong!!

Nice work here!! Enjoy your Blue Apron feast!!

Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi! Hope you had a good Thanksgiving!

He did really well with the plank! It was narrow and a little slippery but he really thought about his feet and got all four on! SUPER!!

Yes, you can have it up on a the cato boards. You can also get a yoga mat or something to wrap it in, to provide more grip as he starts jumping on and off, and turning around. And any thicker, heavier board will work too!

Wrap game – I think he was into the treats, which is good! But the bucket of treats in your lap was overriding the 2 empty bowls. We can flip the script! Instead of a bowl of treats, have some in each pocket and a couple of in each hand, so you can play the game with a less distracting treat bucket in the middle 🙂

And then as soon as he has the pattern a little – you can add the upright in the middle. You can also use tiny pieces of something really high value for this (cheese, for example). That can really pump up the value of the bowls and get him running back and forth.

I see what you mean about him being a toy fiend and not having a quick out of the toy LOL! I love his toy drive! He did eventually drop the toy to go to the next one, so you can totally play with this too – just be patient that it might take a few seconds to get the toy back. For fast reps, though, I think the plan for higher value treats in your pockets with a couple in your hands will be better to get the behavior going.

On the reward markers video, you can see how the cookie bucket in your lap is a major focal point! It got him a little distracted from the first toy throw but then he was great with the toys 🙂 I think taking the cookie bucket out of the wrap foundation game will make a big difference.

You have a lot of really good markers happening! Yay! He was more than happy to play with you and with the various markers! My only suggestion on this session is to say the marker without moving the toy or treat… then present the reward. I try to insert the word “and” between my marker and the delivery. For example, if I have a toy in my hand, I might say “chase” then think “and throw” with the throw happening on the word throw. That has really strengthened the markers, because the verbal precedes the movement – so it predicts the placement of the reward and that is where the pup looks/moves to.

Looking at the backing up:

>He was way more jumpy here than a previous, unfilmed session>

Ha! I can relate – the best way to guarantee a good training session or clean run at a trial is to not video it LOL!

The backing up is off to a good start. I think the extra hippity hop was because of the click – you were trying to click the back end movement, but the click was catching a bit of lifting up and looking up (clicks tend to do that) and then there was a slight delay in delivering the cookie so he was watching it move. Then he was being helpful and jumping up to your hand LOL!!

So the easiest thing to do is to *not* click 🙂 Keep treats in both hands, and keep your hands low (you were definitely lowering your hands to try to get less jumping up). And you can say your cookie toss marker then toss the treat down low between his front feet. The quicker marker and treat toss will help keep his head down and then you will get even more backing up.

Great job on these! He is so fun!!!!

Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Ha! I will totally take the blame for him loving the toy LOL!! For the beloved lotus ball, do you have a long toy that you an tie it to? I have a long, thin bungee that I loop around the lotus ball really tightly, so I can use it and drag it and toss it a little… all while not letting go of it and staying within the AKC rules 🙂

T

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