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Good morning!
It was great seeing you and Ronin in person this weekend! You both did a great job and I was super proud of how well he was able to run fast, listen to cues, and ignore distractions. YAY RONIN!!!!
And yes, it was a bit toasty yesterday (today too!) so the plank game is perfect for indoor training! He was great – total confidence! When you tossed the treat a bit further from the plank, he was able to pick up more speed driving back to it, which translated to more speed driving across it too- so keep tossing it pretty far 🙂And he was perfectly happy to revisit turning around on the plank, no problems there either. And I agree – he didn’t mind that you were quiet.
Time to add a bit of height! If you have 2 Cato boards or anything low and solid/stable like that, you can put one under each end of the plank and repeat the game with an elevated plank. All we need is a couple of inches of height, nothing too tall.
Great job! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning!
>>Question about the teeter training. What’s to keep the dog from leaping off the end? Sprite was just spayed and I definitely don’t want that.
I do a couple of things to prevent the leaping off – mainly, the reward is placed at the top of the plank before the dog is asked to go up it. And for any dog that might consider leaping off or lack if spoon-attaching possibility, , I use a sticky lickable treat like cream cheese shmeared at the top of the plank, right on the board 🙂 You can also use a little duct tape on the underside of the board to hold a spoon on – it will work as a temporary target attachment on different teeters.
And, as the dog is learning the game, be sure to go with her, step by step, feeding her each step so she doesn’t go flying up the board. If she is very confident, you can ask her to stay facing the plank while you lead out to the end. You can then face her as she comes up the board, which helps her stop at the end and not fly off.
If you are just using a chair to prop the teeter, then what’s the best thing to put at the end? I will need to rent the yard and I’m not sure I can tape a spoon there. I have new sod, so no teeter dragging for about a month.She seemed super confident both directions here on the plank game! It was easy for her- and that’s good, because even though this game looks relatively simple, it is so important as you build up speed and height.
>>I used a 6 foot travel board for the plank. We did Nancy’s contact class so Sprite can run and stop on a flat 12 ft board. But, she hasn’t seen any height yet.[[
Time for some height! Do you have 2 cinderblocks or 2 Cato boards/planks? You can put one under each end – or anything solid so the plank doesn’t move at all.
Nice work! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
>>that is always an issue with this non-foodie BC, nothing is crazy high value, and it seems like if it might be she wants to play with it.
BCs or any dog that doesn’t love food certainly require us to get creative 🙂 I’ve played teeter games using entire meals as the reward- one rep, here’s your breakfast 🙂
Also, I use food as a bridge to the toy reward – do the thing, eat the treat (and it is a high value food reward, usually meat or cheese of some sort) then I throw the frisbee. That helps build the behavior and loop in more food value too!
TracyGood morning, thanks for the clip!!!! He is looking good – and yes, when I get home later this week, I think I will put together some games for Ripley and the other youngsters who have worked up to the full teeter. Yay!
T
Good morning!
>>Question about the week one games – what are you using as treats that the dogs are finding them so easily in the grass?
Cold bits of white string cheese.
>>On the teeter game – I have nothing that I can use to prop up a full height teeter so I assume lower is ok? Like a wing jump like I have seen used?>>
Yes, a wing jump or chair is fine, as long as they are solid and will hold the teeter. And the lower teeter is fine too.
>>Also, Beka has shown some concern about heights at the vet on the exam table, we worked on that and she is pretty good now, but I won’t be surpised if she shows some issues with the height of the teeter. Would it also be ok to start doing this much lower – for example to an agility table instead – and raise it up from there?>>
Hopefully there is no correlation because the context is so different, but yes, you can do it with a lower teeter. The point of the game, though, is isolating the height so you’ll also want to get it pretty high and use incredibly high value rewards with only one or two reps per session.
Keep me posted!
TracyHello!
>> mixing up training runs with toys and “real” runs since he sometimes gets annoyed if I interrupt a course to praise or train).
That cracks me up! He is very serious about his work!
>>I did some mountain climber work back in February (I got the self-study version of your teeter course). I’ll post that here and let me know if you want me to revisit it. He’s doing a full-height teeter with 2o2o and no issues seen but I’m happy to circle back to whatever you think is best.>>
This is looking good – do you have a recent video of his full teeter? Several of the dogs here have done the independent study teeter course and the dogs look great, so I am thinking maybe I can add teeter sequences or something for Ripley and friends who don’t need the ‘baby’ teeter games! Let me know what you think.
Have a great time at the trial this weekend!
TracyHello and welcome! Changste is adorable, brilliant, and FAST!!!! YAY!!!
Both of these sessions went really well. On the ‘lazy’ game – yes, another session or two is perfect, no need to add other obstacles yet. She is a fast learner!!! For now, reward every time she takes a jump even if she skipped one or you weren’t ready yet LOL! And, after a quick warm up with that, you can go to rewarding after the 2nd (pinwheel) jump so she goes over #1 then drives out to #2 (and if that is easy you can start more jump 2 a bit further and further away).
The one step sends also looked good! One suggestion is to connect more to her as she exits the tunnel for the one step send, so you can see her more and that will help the timing. Same at :26 after the wing wrap: to get her on the correct side, give her more direct eye contact and connection (you did that nicely on the next rep :))
>> send. Changtse is having a lotof fun. I hope that I can keep her in that mode forever!!
She definitely is having fun! And I agree we want to keep it that way:
As she learns more and more about handling, be sure to reward *everything* – even if it didn’t go according to plan. Handling errors are always human errors, so even if you aren’t sure what happened be sure to reward her anyway – then reset and try again 🙂 That way she continues to have a blast while we sort out the handling for your baby speed demon 🙂
Great job here! I am looking forward to seeing more of Changste!!!
Tracy
Hello and welcome! I am excited to see you all here! This course builds into all sorts of fun grown up stuff – he is ready!
>> The live seminars registration looks like it is closed. Are we out of luck?
Did you want a working spot? If so, we can get you in! For the auditing, it is included so you don’t need to fill out the form for that. Let me know and we will get you set up 🙂
Thanks!
TracyHi!
One idea is to have both ends of the plank elevated, maybe with cinderblocks or something similar, so the plank is maybe a few inches off the ground? And have her go on from the side and off from the side, with you clicking and calling her off the side? Let me know if that makes sense 🙂 And yes, for this you can use the full DW plank if you want!To avoid confusion with her 2o2o, don’t have the plank touching the ground so she doesn’t get tempted to move through the 2o2o position.
Let me know if that makes sense!
TracyAlso, I didn’t see a left or right side difference, she is looked pretty balanced on both turns: happy dance!!!!!!
T
Hi!
I think this session went well! The lazy game can be awkward with dogs that chew LOL!!! But she did well: She chewed and carried on to the next jump really nicely 🙂 For future sessions, you can try small bits of cheese and I don’t think you need to toss the reward for the first jump anymore – just toss for the middle jump of the pinwheel. Keep adding distance to it, and add some more motion!Great job!!! She is off to a great start 🙂
TracyHello and welcome back! It has been great fun watching you put it all together in flyball with Levy, and I am excited to see him ad more agility skills too! And we will sort out his teeter questions too 🙂
Have fun!
Tracy
