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Hi!
I had to watch this a couple of times because I kept getting distracted by his cuteness LOL! The session went great 🙂 He was cracking me up when he was playing with the tiny string end of the toy and not the fancy fur part LOL!
Fantastic job engaging with him and keeping the toy enticing both during the play, and then after you placed it out ahead. And nice connection, looking at him to see where he was looking. Super!
He is slippery when you are holding him, so adding a harness or collar will help the transition into the forward focus – that way you can add duration without him cleverly trying to start without you LOL!
Since this session went so well, you can add more distance on the toy throws bit by bit – he is so tiny so adding distance will be pretty gradual. And with this game too, we can add getting you off the ground so you can start adding motion soon. You can try this with you standing (apologies to your back because there will be bending over to hold him as you throw the toy). And if he is happy with that, you can add a bit of motion by walking forward as he is running to the toy (then moving the other way to encourage him to bring it back :))
>Trying really had to include a thinking, a motion, and a thinking in his sessions. Or a motion, a thinking, a motion.>
Perfect! That brings a nice balance to his foundation. Depending on what he tells us as we work through the games, you might find times where we tip the balance into more motion or more thinking. At this point, his balance of thoughtful/wild party games looks lovely 🙂
Great job here!
Tracy
Good morning! Great job with the wrap foundation game here – the training you’ve already done definitely showed and he was a superstar 🙂
You had a lot of hand movement at the beginning (getting treats, moving the little mats, etc) so he was smoother when your hands got quiet 🙂He did a lovely job going around the cone!! Super!!
Since this went really well, we can add a few more things to it:
– you can try the game using 2 toys instead of treats
– you can add in tug breaks before/during the session to challenge him to be able to offer this lovely behavior even when he is a little more excited 🙂
-you can switch out which objects you use, so he learns to go around all.the.things at this stage 🙂I am sure he will be pretty perfect, so the next step after that is start getting you off the ground – do you have something low you can sit on? It can be something like an inflatable donut.
Great job!!
TracyHi!
These games are going well!Looking at the driving ahead/forward focus game:
He had really nice toy drive here!! And he drove to the toy really well. Super!
We can clean up the transition into being held, I don’t think he liked when you grabbed him and picked him up (he was backing away and avoiding a bit).
Since the toy drive looked good, try to tug tug tug then trade for a treat – and as you deliver a treat, line him up at your side. Do all this before you take his collar and avoid grabbing, pulling or picking him up because it is going to cause him to avoid your hands when you reach for him. And that will also allow you to throw the toy for him to drive to because that will get better forward focus as we build up this game.
Drive to handler:
This is where a mat or rug will help him be able to find the treats so he doesn’t get mad about not finding them 🙂
He was super keen to drive to you! As you move away from him, stay connected so the instant he starts moving towards you, you slow down a lot and show him your hand next to your leg. Letting him see the early decel cues will let him organize and slow down to arrive straight at your side. When you didn’t slow down, you can see his bum was swinging wide because he didn’t have time to shift into deceleration.
Wing wrap start: in these early stages, you don’t need to wait for him to offer behavior to put the treats in the bowl – you might have gone too quickly into waiting for him to offer the behavior so he was not sure what to do. For the first session or two, he can see and hear you do it (hard kibble might help make noise and you can tap the bowl so he knows there is a treat there). Then when he is going back and forth very easily, you can start to sneak the cookies in to the bowl so he begins to offer the behavior more.
Blinds: this went really well! He read the blinds perfectly and your connection was very clear. Super! Nice job rewarding across the body! My only suggestion is to make which reward you want to use: on the last couple of reps, the toy was dangling but you fed a treat so he was not sure what to drive to. If you want to use treats, you can put the toy out of sight so he knows where to look.
>The stealth game i am not sure how it different from treat toss – is it that we are not moving. >
The foundation game we are using is basically a treat toss away then a recall for a reward (treat or toy). Easy! But the self-control element is what we add to the environment. We are starting by adding something novel/new and neutral (not exciting or enticing) for him to run past. It seems super simple but his brain will be doing a lot of processing! And it is the foundation for harder stuff we will be adding.
>Wrigged no engagement with me and straight to toy.>
We don’t want to start with something that hard 🙂 For now, using distractions that are not as interesting 🙂
Great job here!
Tracy
Hi!
The treat tosses totally helped him understand to keep moving rather than just stay on the prop. Super! He did really well!
>He is very different than In Synch in that he is much more thoughtful. >
I think he is more food motivated than she was at this age? You can break things off between every 2 or 3 treats to play tug – that will keep him from looking for treats a lot, and help him drive back to the prop more.
And we will want to solve the problem of treats falling through the cracks – that interrupts the training flow and it will frustrate him if he can’t get to his reward. Do you have a large outdoor mat or outdoor rug you can put down over the training area? That can help!
Nice work here 🙂
TracyGood morning!
>We had our 1st puppy class last night & one of the games the instructor showed us was hand touch! Sunnie was demo dog for that since we played with that from the pre games!>
So fun that she is already at the top of his puppy class!!
>I am remote today so I used the extra time at lunch to play with my puppy LOL! >
Perfect! I love that!
>Since my original post, food has become valuable >
Super! You will probably see values shift back and forth for a while longer, that is really normal with pups.
Looking at the videos:
She is SO CUTE omg!! And she was very food driven here LOL! You did a great job introducing the concept then adding distance and forward focus – you can start to hold onto her a bit longer after you get the treats into the bowl, to add a bit of duration to her forward focus.
I think removing the bowl like you did at the end will help you be able to add more distance away from the food – and you can try light-colored treats so she can see them easily. Charlee Bears are very visible and usually easy on the belly. I break them in half for tiny puppies like her 🙂
And since this is going so well, you can add in walking forward after you let her go, to gradually introduce your motion.
> I tried toys first for this exercise but she wasn’t interested
After that I just wanted to play with her so I engaged with her with the hollee roller (she wanted nothing to do with it last week!) I threw in some “informal” FF because I didn’t want to force the hollee roller out of her mouth and I ran out of kibble to use as a trade.>Thank you for including the play video – my question was going to be ‘what did she do when she didn’t want to engage with the toy’ so the video really helps!
The play session was fun to watch 🙂 Playing with her without the toy at first (just using your hands) got her really spicy! Then throwing the toy got her right onto the toy 🙂 Then the trying to kinda of wrestle it out of her mouth totally got her into play mode which was great!
At 1:36 she ran away for a few steps and looked forward for a bit – it was hard to know if she thought you had thrown the toy or if she heard something, but you kept thing going by throwing the toy and she got right back into it. Yay!
Maybe when she didn’t want to engage with the toy, she was a little hungry? And after a few cookies along with the play, she got really into the toy. So next time you want to use the toy, start the session just like this and see what happens.
>I am trying to wrap my head around on how to progress >
There are a lot of games and a lot of ways to progress, and I know you will find your flow 🙂 There are a variety of ways to play the games that will be effective – and since we have 2 weeks for each games package, you will also be able to fit in days where you don’t play any games for whatever reason (sometimes life gets in the way LOL!) I like to give each game that I’ve played a day or two off before I try them again, to let the pup’s brain sleep on it because the most learning happens when they sleep 🙂 You can do a new game and a game you’ve already done each day, so there is a nice combination of new stuff and revisiting with feedback. I am betting that most of the feedback you will get is “that was great, here are next steps to try” so you don’t have to immediately implement it (it can wait a day or two)
And adding in new games every day or every other day will be fun because the variety keeps things exciting!
> Probably more for me than Sunnie, so I remember what to do!
I TOTALLY relate to this – I currently have 5 dogs aged 3 and under so remembering everything is a challenge LOL! I use post it notes on the refrigerator and a white board to jot notes down so I can keep track of what I did and what I want to do next 🙂
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
Tracy
Good morning!
Lovely session here! Adding motion was no problem for her here at all. Yay! Her forward focus was great and she was very confidently driving ahead.
You can try running the other way as soon as she gets to the toy, to encourage her to bring the toy towards you now that she is getting really far ahead.
This game can continue to expand with more distance on your throws, and more of your running 🙂 You can also switch gears into the blind cross game where she chases you 🙂
Great job here!
Tracy
Good morning Ninette and baby Dublin!
These sessions looked lovely!
He was focusing forward and driving ahead brilliantly – he loves that toy!!
Your toy skills were good here! When tugging at the start, you can give him the full length of the toy so his head can stay lower and he can really grip it (it won’t be a problem at all as he grows LOL!)
His tug drive was super strong here (yay!) so you can try mixing in a bit of food to start getting him to drop the toy and line up: using a boring piece of food, trade the toy for the food, then line him up for the next rep and throw the toy. If he has trouble going back to the toy after the treat, you can throw the toy more or drag it for him to chase.
For his next session, add in your movement too: when you release him to drive to the toy, you can also walk forward. If he is comfy with that, you can add more of your speed. And yes, a bigger location would be great!
The decel game also looked great. Well done getting your hand nice and low, and next to your leg so he knew exactly where to go. You can add in you walking forward and then slowing down so he can see more of the change in motion. And you can add in the pivot. He found this to be super easy and did great!
>I did quick session with same toy as the games above and the foot target on the hat. It was hard to juggle the big toy and the hat. >
Yes, you might need 3 hands LOL!
>Got similar stopping after 2-3 foot targets. I will try it again.>
Interesting! Was he stopping and going into that relaxed down? If so, you might be right that he thinks the hat is a small mat, and offering his mat behavior. We can change the foot target prop and see how what happens – do you have a small box? That won’t look like a mat, hopefully.
Let me know what you think! Nice work here!
Tracy
Good morning!
>we can’t use a cookie to release the toy and then go back into toy mode yet. That’s not his current preferred order of operations, but we are getting closer.>
You can make it into a bit of a wild game, where the cookie gets the toy back then you toss the toy again for him to run to or chase with you dragging it. With a lot of herding breeds, we insert food in as part of the game then a lot of movement to the toy because the movement of the toy dragging or flying gets the pups back onto the toy pretty quickly and without conflict.
> So, we’re using a bit of a Chirag Patel “drop it” means treats are going to appear so that treat gathering is more of a cued behavior which is where I think his mind works best. >
Chirag Patel has great stuff, and if my memory is correct he also competes/trains in different dogs sports along with his work in the behavior field.
>On that big fluffy thing he’s surprisingly not actually shredding it. >
Interesting! It might be repeated chomping? That is still a good thing 🙂 and a less expensive habit for decompression 😂😜
>We do always end with a treat scatter and then a snuffle mat in his x-pen after training with puppy nap time.>
I think that is a terrific way to balance him after the excitement of training and great for long term health/arousal management.
> I’ll keep an eye on that decompression cycle during and after arousing play. >
We have found it to be helpful through puppyhood and adolescence (ok, especially adolescence LOL!) and the interesting thing is that one of the indications that adulthood has arrived and adolescence is over is when the dog no longer needs or asks for these in-session decompressions.
>The first week I got him the over-arousal biting was pretty impressive (my hands are just now healing from that week) but he’s getting much better about it the past 2 weeks.>
Chompy!! Great job redirecting it into play because I would not have guessed based on the videos.
He was a superstar in the send to prop video! Yay! Nice job keeping things exciting with talk and interaction, and using food rewards in a fun way. And very nice transitions from the ‘woohoo’ chatter of engagement into the quiet clear sends. Super!
He seemed equally strong in both directions so I don’t see a side preference here. Did we ever figure out a side preference for Ripley? LOL! We might not see one and that is fine too of course 🙂 He was rounding the line to the prop instead of going directly to it – he might have been using that to get a bigger peripheral view of the full info, and he will get straighter when he sees the game again.
The next step would be to get a little tugging involved, even if it is at the beginning and then you use treats as rewards. The goal is to eventually use a toy for the whole session, but he is really young and time is on our side so there is no rush. The is usually a bit more arousal regulation with food in these early stages, so we can gradually add the toy to maintain his lovely work here.
The toy trade for treats at the end is going well! He was happy to find the treats of course 🙂 My only suggestion is after he eats the treats, you can make the toy more active so it breaks through the treat odor – this toy is perfect for throwing or dragging, and the chase fun can help bring him right back into play.
Great job here! I am really remembering why I loved the Koolies so much!!!
Tracy
Hi!
She did great here! Her stays were excellent then she released with a ton of drive to the toy. Super!!!
The next step is for the toy to be moving before the release: to have the toy moving before the release, put it down and slowly (oh so slowly LOL) drag it for 3 or 4 steps then release. And you can mix in throwing rewards back to her after the toy is on the ground and moving so she doesn’t think the toy on the ground/moving is part of the release.
>Jumped the gun a little bit in one of them so I placed the toy down>
That was probably when you started moving fast before the release so be sure your motion is slooooowwwwww before the release and the release doesn’t come with the motion beginning.
>I tried a stuffed holey roller, but she ignored it and went for the fuzzy handle so we just used the long fuzzy tug toy.>
Interesting! I would have guessed she would have loved the stuffed hollee roller. We might need to get her a huge fuzzy toy or combine a couple of toys, just to give the toy a slightly higher profile off the ground to elevate her head position a tiny bit more.
Great job here!
Tracy
Hello and welcome to you and the girls!!!
>why do these dogs hate toys with me? I would love them to play with me, but they absolutely will not.>
Ok let’s solve this puzzle!! They tug with each other but not you? Have you tried some crazy high value toys that are only available with you? I am thinking of those super long flyball-style toys that have a lot of fur. I have a raccoon on a bungee which is 3 or 4 feet long and the dogs are NUTS for it because I can swinging it around nice and low for them to chase. You can tie several super long fur toys together and see how they do (and don’t have any food in the picture, it might be hard with food present).
Keep me posted and see ya later in the live class!!
Tracy
I can totally relate, I have a 5 dogs aged 3 and younger. EEK!!! So I alternate training days and do my best, and somehow they all get trained eventually 🙂
Tracy
