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Good morning! Having a big field all to yourself is great! Hope you had a fun Thanksgiving!
He did well with the pre-game (hardest part for him might have been finding the treats in the grass :))
To make the mechanics easier, you can drop the clicker and the ‘yes’ – and just use your ‘get it’ before tossing the treat. ‘Get it’ means both ‘you are correct (making the click and the yes unnecessary) and ‘the treat is tossed’ (which is better info than the click or yes). That way it is easier for you!He is ready for you to start the week 1 sending to the prop – you can give him a quick warm up with rewarding for touching it to refresh the value, then move into the sends 🙂
Excellent start to the forward focus (and I almost snorted coffee through my nose when you said “I know, it should be on a leash” hahahaha) He brought it back pretty quickly, no worries 🙂 I don’t think it needed to be on a leash unless the victory lap turned into a lengthy victory parade. And he brought it back really fast when you started moving away!
Great job with your connection on the release. He is definitely ready for the toy races where you run forward and try to beat him to the toy (good luck haha) to increase speed even more while adding handler pressure and the acceleration cue. If he is fine with that, you can also add the GO verbal.
>>BTW, I have the broken retriever, LOL! He often drops the toy on the way back….I added in motion to entice him but definitely need to work on this. He doesn’t seem to do it when field training.>>
He did well here! It is possible he drops it early if you pull out cookies too early – so let him get all the way back to you before you even reach for your pocket 🙂 And if he drops it, you can go grab it and dance around and tease him a little before the next rep, so he has regrets about dropping it 🙂
He did great with his food bowls in this new environment! YAY!!! I also love your chair, it is the perfect height. Since he has seen movement puzzles which share the same back-and-forth concept, you can fast track this game to put a barrel or large cone in between the bowls to go around. When he can do that (should take about 15 seconds haha) then you can change your position to standing up. And if you can get a session or two of you standing and he is wrapping a barrel or big cone? Cool! Onwards to turn and burn which was added last Tuesday 🙂
Great job here!! Have fun!
TracyGood morning! Hope you had a good Thanksgiving!!
> He has dreams to compete at Invitationals he just doesn’t know it yet. >
I can totally see him at the Invitationals!!!!
Your run through practice here looked. He seemed just fine and dandy to run the sequences without treats in your hands or pocket – it is possible that he is beginning to find running agility to be intrinsically rewarding? And that is great, so now we just need to transfer that to the trial environment. You can still use treats and toys in the harder environments as well as when training at home, of course, but it is really cool to see how well he did withut them 🙂
My only suggestion about it is to interact more as you come in to jump 1and get set up – you can talk to him a bit and use you tricks! You played with your hands a bit but he didn’t get engaged with that (he looked away). But he certainly likes his tricks so you can do a little of that as you move to the start line. That will also help in case he finds the trial environment more challenging than home or class.
He had great engagement when the leash came off and was all business after that 🙂
The first course went really well.
Nice start to the sequence with the tunnel! The rest of the first run was edited out and it looks like he was happy to get his leash on at the end.
2nd run was a much longer sequence and he was impressive!!! NICE! He ran it like an adult dog there, not a youngster. Fabulous conenction and verbals from you!
2nd course went really well too – he has a great start line and the lead out to get the backside of 3 worked great! You had super nice connection there and then there was a tiny drop of connection at 2:26 so he went past the jump. Good job continuing and reconnected so he got right back on the line.
And he was happy to get leashed up and run out to the rewards on these. Really super practice!!
Great job here!! For his trial next weekend – if there a toy you can bring in that he will like? A furry (empty) lotus ball attached to a leash, or a tuggie he likes?
Tracy
Good morning! Hope you had a good Thanksgiving!
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Dog Dynasty:https://www.facebook.com/dogdynastymerchandise
Looking at the power patten game: She did great! Yay!
>. I only used the leash once and then we did a back & forth. To really replicate the AKC experience, I think I need to start with leash on, go to the jump, remove the leash, engage (take the jump when we get to that point) then I think you mentioned that we can add a verbal for getting the leash before the “let’s go” to get the remote reinforcement. Should I do that every time, or just some of the time to keep it simple & fun in the beginning?>
I think I should add in recommending people leave a leash at each station, so it is easier to flow through it and not worry about where the leash it. Or maybe throw the leash to the next station, like we throw it away to a leash runner LOL!! That way you can use the leash to bring her to the course, then AKC-style get it back on when you are ‘exiting’. The more we use the leash as part of the game, the better 🙂
She did really well here! You don’t need to use ‘yes’, you can just ues your ‘let’s go’ (so the ‘yes’ doesn’t accidentally become the marker to go to the rewards 🙂 )
The line up was great! She learned that fast!!! All of the other tricks looked good too. You can add the stay in sooner – that way she gets used to you asking for a stay and a short lead out, mixed in with the tricks and stuff too.
On the 2nd video:
The engagement after the leash came off was great. She didn’t want to play with the first toy – maybe because she could smell treats? Or the toy needed to be more ‘alive’ so she could chase it? Either way it is good info about what she feels is a reward/motivator in the moment 🙂
But she DID want to tug on the fancy rainbow leash!!! So you can let her tug on it then slip over her head then tug on it more 🙂 Does she like being picked up? You can tug on it, pick her up, put it over her head, then tug more. The mechanics might feel a little messy at first as she gets used to the ritual of it.
> She was stiffening when I was clipping on the leash. Can I give her a treat after I clip the leash on for this game?>
Yes – if she is showing concern about the clip then yes, cookies are good! Maybe she doesn’t like the click of the clip right near her face or ears?
>So like this: clip leash on, treat, walk to our spot, leash off, engage & play/treat.>
Absolutely! I didn’t see any of the issue with the slip leash (other than her wanting to tug on it LOL) so you can also skip the clip leash altogether and use the slip leash!
>>We have a trial this weekend. It is a busier location with 2 alternating rings under cover at an equestrian center on dirt. She has been there several times as a spectator and has used the practice jump there. I’ll be there with her Friday & she is entered for Saturday morning so I can get a feel for how she is feeling about the place and take her some some long sniffy walkson Friday to get used to it. If she seems up for it, I’ll keep it very simple.>
FUN! Keep me posted!!!
>> Do you think I should keep the toy visible?
If my memory is correct: she practices without the visible toy at home and in league, and her previous FEO had the hidden toy… so if that is correct, no need to keep the toy visible *unless she is really having a struggle in the environment*. You can do Empty Hands. And depending on how many runs she does: if all goes well, you can even try a quick step 3 in and out with no toy in the ring (super easy fast line then right out to the leash then the toy).
>I can put the bowls outside the ring even though we just got started with the power pattern.>>
Yes, try it! I think she will recognize them pretty quickly.
Great job here and keep me posted about how the weekend goes!
Tracy
Hi! Hope you had a good Thanksgiving and have plenty of leftovers 🙂 And I totally agree about not wanting to drive anywhere!!!
Looking at the RR game:
She did well here! Yes, the jump did add some pressure to the environment! One thing to add sooner rather than later is the leash being on at the beginning. I think it will help make things clearer for her with the jump in the picture: The leash is a cue to move with you (away from the food) and it is also a cue to *not* take the jump when you ask for a trick right in front of it. And the leash is part of moving into the ring anyway, so might as well add itI think wrapping towards the reward station was too hard (jumping in extension towards it and away from it was easy, and so was wrapping away from it, and so was getting the leash on). So for now, you can keep the behaviors over the jump simple when going towards the reward station.
>the St Rocco’s treats which are apparently very yummy and take a while to chew>
My dogs agreed that the St. Rocco sample was yummy and stinky and the texture was a bit different (they still ate it like pigs though).
For the pattern game session:
Good job having the leash right away – it was still a challenging game but she moved away from the treats much more easily. And I really liked her pumped up body language on th 2nd rep! Maybe I should incorporate 2 leashes into this game (one placed at the 2nd station) so it is easier for the handlers to get it back on for the next rep 🙂
2 suggestions for this game as you play with it:
– try having a chair or small table that you can easily bring to a trial as one of you stations. That will help make the reward station recognizable and predictable in the much more chaotic trial environment!
– using the pattern game and leash… try the wrapping the jump towards the reward station (the skill she had a lot of trouble with in the first session). I am curious to see how she does when things are more predictable (leash). I think she will be more successful but also I acknowledge it might have nothing to do with the leash, it might have everything to do with having practiced it 🙂
>in order to cue a different position stay, I should probably train a stand stay first!>
In theory, yes. But in reality you can train it like I did: I stopped moving, I said stay, I let the dog stand still… then I started rewarding with a ‘catch’ reward as I started moving away. It is a bit of a fast track but the dogs totally caught on immediately LOL!
Great job here! Have fun at Fusion today!
Tracy
Hi!
This is all looking really good!Goa tricks: Releasing her to find a treat helped her come back and offer behavior really well. You can keep switching out objects and even make a little pile for her to climb on 🙂
The Stealth Self-Control went great! The only time she interacted with the distraction was when th cookie landed right behind it 🙂 You can add your motion to the recall – as soon as she gets to the cookie, call her and start moving away. The added motion can help her overcome harder things we add to the environment – such as the novel-exciting thing we are adding this week! You can add that in now, having it a little further away so that it is a little challenging but not too hard.
I really love how she goes from cookies to toy play in this game and also in the game with the forward focus on the cone! Super!!!
The forward focus game on the cone also looked really good.
>I have to say I got a bit mixed up with holding the collar and pointing the hand to the bowl because it seemed to be the same hand. I>
I was holding the dog with the dog side arm and pointing with the opposite arm. You can switch that if it is more comfortable for you. And that way you can add the pointing in very clearly as the cue – you can make it big and obvious to her 🙂 It was hard to see where she was looking but he had a ton of success here! So you can keep moving the bowl around the cone, until she has to go past it to get to the cone (HARD!)
She was really great about her collar being held until the very end. I am not sure if she was tired of it by then, or if there were treats nearby she was trying to get to? So you can keep your sessions a little shorter when the collar hold is involved and also keep lining her up with a treat before taking her collar (then give her another tiny treat LOL!) to maintain the love of the collar holding.
Great job here!
TracyGood morning and welcome! Hope you are having a fun Thanksgiving!
He does have a nice long neck LOL!!! And it sounds like he is just a super fun pup 🙂 Yay!
I am glad you have gotten pattern games and forward focus going, those are both really useful games. And I totally relate to life on the road – it is HARD to get video! Maybe Artie can be bribed with a chewie or something while you train Ringo, so you have 2 minutes of Ringo time for the video 🙂 Also, a lot of this can be done on leash so you can do it outside the RV while she is inside.
Looking forward to seeing you!!
TracyHi!
He is doing great with his prop games!! He has a ton of value which is great because we can now really dig into the higher level handling concepts. YAY!!For the parallel line: you can add more lateral distance and walk back and forth (don’t run yet as this is drawing his focus to you). As soon as he is running to get the treat, you can be moving over and walking along the parallel line, so he sees the motion cue as soon as he turns around. And sometimes you can go all the way to the treat with him so he drives ahead of you to the prop.
And rather than praise, use his ‘get it’ marker for a tossed reward to help keep him looking ahead.
No worries if his hits are not perfect on this parallel path game: it is cuing extension so if he strides over the prop a bit, that is fine and rewardable.
Skipping ahead to the rear crosses: You were a little late 🙂 as we all are when starting the rear crosses LOL!! At 1:16 and 1:28, he is turning towards you and about to hit the prop as you are just starting to cross behind him. Good job rewarding him anyway, to help him recognize that the handler pressure on that line predicts the rear cross is coming (so we don’t always have to be perfectly on time :))
So to be more on time with him: do some warm ups with the parallel path game where you go all the way to the reward cookie with him before turning and moving forward, so he is driving ahead to the prop. When he has done that a couple of times in a row, you can then start crossing behind him as soon as he is past you. Then, keep moving to the prop on the new side to support him hitting it. The goal is that you are fully on the new side while he is still 2 steps away from the prop, so there might be some running involved here because he is fast!
For the countermotion – at this stage, you can use one send step only to cue him to go to the prop and then as he is moving past you, you are moving the other way. The key to this will be calling him back after each treat, getting the engagement with a bit of ‘ready ready’ silly stuff… then making a BIG send cue. You had a lot of motion which made it harder for him to read the send cue as you got further away, so starting with him next you to before each send will both clarify the send and help him shift from handler focus to obstacle focus, while making it easier for you to move away as he is committing to his prop.
Great job here! Happy Thanksgiving!
Tracy
Good morning! Hope you are having a fun Thanksgiving!
>Arrow already knows to back up on cue – although maybe not quite fluent yet, as he did a bit of complaining in the video. I taught it to him with a mat for him to touch with his back feet. Lmk if you think this is OK.>
I agree that he already has a very strong foundation in backing up! Nice job!!! I think what you were seeing here when he barked and couldn’t quite back up anymore was a combination of higher arousal (from doing a few reps, nothing bad, all good) and the pressure of the other dog. When he was backing up away them where he could face them at the beginning, no problems. When you had him backing up parallel to them, a little more towards them… much harder!
The pressure is simply the presence of the other dogs – puppy brains have to process that AND produce behavior and all the neuroscience tells us that it is HARD for puppy brains! So he was a little frustrated but we can embrace the and help him process his mechanics while also processing the environment. It is something that happens in the neurons more than a ‘choice’ of behavior, but the brain can definitely learn it!
Since they were being perfect citizens here (thanks Matrix and Yowza!) so you can use this setup to teach his brain how to process mechanics/footwork while there is pressure in the environment. Start where he can be successful with backing up (further from them and also backing up away from them). Then throw in a rep where he is closer . Then go back to easier spots (further). You can ping pong this over a few sessions until he can happily back right up towards them 🙂 If at any point he says “this is hard, I can’t do it, I will bark and offer easier things” or if the other dogs make it harder with noise or movement, then you can make it easier for him by adding more distance.
Also, latent learning will help here: I am sure he slept on it and will be more equipped to handle the pressure in the next session. It is a good thing to embrace in small doses with behaviors he is already strong with 🙂
>At the end I did some “cookie rolls,” which is like your pattern games – I usually do these before and after most of the exercises. >
The cookie rolls are high action which can stimulate arousal, almost like tugging. So for the pattern games, you can make it more chill, less movement – and wait longer before each toss to give him time to full re-engage. The pattern games should settle arousal a bit, so you can play them with less energy. And the cookie rolls can be a more energizing game designed to bring him into higher arousal. He will be able to tell the difference based on context and body language.
Great job here!
Tracy
Good morning! He is doing really well with his games here!!
Good thoughtful session of the wing wraps!
To get even more movement around the upright, you can move the cato plank out of the way – you might not have noticed it there but his puppy brain did 🙂 The slight pressure it adds into the environment inhibits movement a bit so having a more open space will make a big difference to his movement around the upright.Start the next session the way you left off here: you sitting with the upright near you, with him going back and forth between the bowls. When he gets into the rhythm and does a few strong reps in a row, break it off for some tugging and so you can change your position into sitting on a chair or something low. And if that goes well? We get you standing up! This might happen in one session or two sessions, but it will happen quickly 🙂
Separately, you can remain on the ground and work on getting the upright a little further away, inch by inch.
>I had to switch away from the hat because Phoenix taught him that hats are very cool toys and he would not be persuaded otherwise. >
HA!! Yes, she is right, Ramen agrees LOL!!!
He is doing well with this new prop. He wants to look up at your magic cookie hand, so we can tweak the reward placement to get him looking forward more: be one step further away, so it is harder to hit the prop AND look at the hand. Then, send with an empty hand by have a cookie in your opposite hand. When he is just about arriving at the prop but right before he looks at you, toss the other cookie onto it. Yes, he might not hit it very precisely but that is fine because we are isolating where he is looking.
Also, remember that this is not a looped behavior in that we don’t want to re-send as soon as he comes back to you. Be sure to add in the ready dance silliness 🙂 so that you are getting the higher arousal in place (brain training!) and also so he learns to shift from handler focus to obstacle focus. I think that moment of shifting after the ready dance will also help you isolate the looking ahead.
Great job here! Have a happy Thanksgiving!!
Tracy
Good morning!
I am glad the vet visit went really well – that is so important!
>>Because we got home late from the vet, he got dinner late… usually he gets an early dinner plus a small night snack. So guess who woke up at 2am STARVING????>>
I mean, I can relate. I too am always starving hahaha. With a couple of my pups, I fed 4 or 5 really small meals throughout the day to help with the starving factor. You can experiment with him and see how he feels about that, in terms of not being as hungry all the time 🙂
Toy retrieves: he was really into it and was really good about bringing the toy back! The toys were hard to pick up because he was exploring the texture of each a bit, but that is fine 🙂 When he decided where to pick it up, he brought it back pretty quickly. Super!! I like how well he switched back and forth between the toys. You can change your position in this game (standing, or being in a different part of the room). And you can also bring exactly one kibble 🤣 and feed it to him then see how he does with going back to the toy (I think he will be fine).
The folding it in cone session went really well. The big wins here were:
– he settled into being stationary next to you and not moving around as much pretty quickly! He would sometimes look at you while doing so, but that it fine for now because he was generally looking at the line really well and was happy to be restrained a bit at your side.
– He is doing well with the dish marker, so now only say it after he makes the correct line decision. It is is like a click, so we don’t want to use it til after we get the behavior. You can release him quietly then use the dish marker when he gets to the correct side of the cone (after looking at it)
– The empty dish went great! So give him maybe one more session where the dish makes it all the way around to you, where he has to run past it before getting to the cone… then start over with the cookie in the dish 🙂 That is the next level impulse control for sure!
Wrap game: the bucket was interesting so yo can help him out and start by putting the cookies in the bowls to establish that back and forth, rather than ask him to offer right from the get-go. Once he got into the rhythm, he was great – it was just at the very beginning then after the scatter that he had questions about offering it. The bucket is a big variable change!
The next step here is to get something taller like a barrel or giant cone to transfer this game too. When he can go around it with you sitting, you can add standing up! That will likely happen in 1 session – which will set us up nicely for the Week 3 turn and burn game 🙂
On the backing up video:
>Some mama struggles with clicking the right thing>He is off to a good start here!! I highly recommend *not* clicking for this – the click brings their heads up (which is why he kept whipping his head up to look at you and we want a lower/neutral head position – so you can throw the cookie rather than click, and you can use a marker instead of the click (or no verbals at all to get the cookies thrown sooner. He was getting the idea but I think getting rid of the clicker will make it a LOT easier. These small dog feet move SO FAST that we often get better behavior with well-timed reward placement as the priority, rather than clicks or even verbal markers 🙂
Sounds like you have a super fun weekend ahead!! Have a blast! Happy Thanksgiving! Great job here 🙂
Tracy
Good morning!
>In Goat Tricks, you talk about over/under arousal. Rip gets both.>
This is pretty normal that we see arousal shifts in training (and life). Here are some ideas:
>> He goes into over arousal quicker. It feels like frustration to me — and he barks! OMG does he bark. Any suggestions? I see this a lot when I’m working on shaping or asking for one behavior and he gives me another (and of course, doesn’t get paid).>>
When this happens, a couple of things could be causing it:
– most often it is because the rate of success is too low and there is too much failure/not enough clarity on how to earn reinforcement. That means the behavior is too hard if he is not getting rewarded at a high rate.
So to help him with that (especially because he is only about 17 weeks old :)) three things will really help:
– slice the behavior more thinly when shaping or training. Ask for an reward smaller pieces. Yes, we would like the pups to put all 4 feet on something in goat tricks but we start that with looking at the object, one foot on, 2 feet on, etc. If you wait too long or withhold reinforcement, you will see frustration.
– Live by the 2 failure rule: if you withhold reinforcement twice in a session (twice total, not just twice in a row), then the behavior is too hard for a baby puppy. So the first no-reward moment should be a yellow light of caution, that things might be too hard. The 2nd no-reward moment means you need to to make it easier for the rest of the session.
– Keep your sessions very very short (under 2 minutes) and break off to play a lot. That will help keep the rate of success high and the puppy engaged without frustration.
This all holds true for behaviors you are cuing and not shaping: make it easier and you can use physical cues to help as well. Usually the pups need clear physical cues at this stage to respond correctly, so you can help the pup with that and also maintain the 2 failure rule there too.
Let me know what you think! Happy Thanksgiving!
Tracy
Hi!
Ooh, that is GREAT that your daughter could help like this!!!! And your other dog helped with lots of good vocals LOL!!! What a great session!!!!
Yes – I agree that this was HARD but Roux did well with her pattern games. Fabulous engagement even with the excitement and barking and obstacle sounds.
It was harder for her to really tug – partially because you were moving the tug up and down really fast so it was hard to get a good grip, and partially because she was a little distracted by the action in the ring.
But she seemed able to do tricks for treats with a lot of
The down was not comfortable for her at all – she did backing up and tricks, but the down by itself was hard for her. It is not an intuitive behavior in the scenario (being in a stationary down) and it gives insight inter her arousal level (high arousal but not over-aroused), so keep asking for the tricks but don’t ask for a down.
For the trial environment, I think the winners will be your high value food for pattern games and tricks… but Roux will give us the final word on that based on how she does in that environment. So you can bring a toy with you and ask her to tug and see how it goes.
Did she go into the ring here? If so, how did she do? That is something to practice: the remote reinforcement (and TSA game added this week) for going into the ring as another dog is exiting.
Great job here!! Happy Thanksgiving!
TracyHi!
>Back to putting a glass of wine in my hand. >
Yes, I highly recommend a glass of wine 🙂 Or you can start with water because we don’t want to spill wine 🙂
>Today I did the TSA set up. Sort of. With a a gate, plus two chairs. All went well until I tried incorporating it into one of the sequences. Then at jump 4 she hightailed it to the treat chair.>
Where was the gate/chair placed? It might need to be further away for now, so it is not on her visible line and then she will be less tempted to run to it.
On the sequence:
Very nice lead out and release to the tunnel, great connection there!For the 4-5 and 9-10 section, you can use threadle handling as you keep moving: your feet keep going forward, but your upper body and rotate back to her a bit by swinging your left arm back. You were using ‘here’ but if you have a threadle verbal, you can use that too!
And she read driving ahead to the 7 tunnel really well!
The threadle section (4-5 and 9-10) is a lot easier if you are ahead of her when she takes off for 4 and 9. Because she is fast, if you get close to the 3/8 jump then there is really no way to get ahead… so this is a really great setup to work on her distance skills! Those will be more important than the jump threadle 🙂
The two spots to use your distance skills are:
– On the opening line, lead out less and use your go tunnel cue to get her to drive away to th tunnel. Then you can layer the jump in the middle and be ahed for 4. And you can do the same for 6-7, sending her ahead and you layering to be ahead for 9-10.– Because I think it will be easy for her to do that, the real distance challenge is seeing if she can find the 3/8 jump after the tunnel! You can use big loud GO JUMP verbals and also ask Paul to throw a reward for her to taking that jump. If she stays out on that line, this sequence will be incredibly easy!
Great job here and have a happy Thanksgiving!!
TracyHi!
>is there a way to edit here? I got the wrong video>
Yes, you should see the words “Edit Move Split Trash” etc – let me know if they are not showing up for you.
There is tugging here! I think your toy is too short and moving too fast, so she was trying to grip but not really able to grip it (which is also why she was sometimes getting your hand). So you can use a longer toy and don’t swish it around as fast – move it side to side and let her pull back on it rather than you moving it really fast.
She was definitely into the treats here! She wanted to keep offering getting on the object which might also be why the tugging was not quite as strong as it had been. You can use lower value treats and also have the treats and the object a little further from the tugging spot – those can help her go back and forth from food to the toy more easily.
For the goat games:
She is offering really well, so you can keep asking her to offer getting on different things, even if you make small piles of things or trails of things. That keeps it exciting and she can climb on or walk along a variety of different surfaces in the same session.Great job here!!
Tracy
