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Hi!
> I realised I need to get better at keeping my sessions short – I need to set myself a timer I think. >
Yes, a timer is great, especially if you are going to do multiple games. To keep things fun, set a timer for 90 seconds. Also, with the food games, things can get repetitive very quickly with a lot of food, so you can break off and play tug after every 5 or 6 treats. That will keep her arousal pretty high and make things less repetitive.
She did well sorting out how to touch the prop! At the beginning, you can build value up quickly by placing the treat right on the prop, then when she is interacting with it a lot, you can move to tossing the treat away.
You can replace the ‘yes’ marker with a ‘get it’ marker to indicate the thrown reward – it is a fun and easy way to get that marker established (and ‘yes’ can indicate something else, like cookie from the hand.)
She looks ready to move to the next step, getting the sends started!!
Nice work!
Tracy
Hi!
Wow, he did so so well turning both directions on just a verbal!!! He did well on the narrow plank too – I think the hardest times keep him feet on where when you had exciting praise, so you can praise quietly instead 🙂 He did step off here and there on the narrow plank but overall he was very impressive!!!Thinking ahead, a couple of ideas for using this game:
– add tugging before it and after every few treats, so he can do this when he is more stimulated
– you can elevate the planks a bit, putting something stable under them so they are maybe a foot high
– revisit this every week or so as he grows, so he doesn’t lose this ability as his body gets bigger.Lovely work here!
TracyHi!
Yes, the goat tricks should feel just like this! We want the arousal and excitement from the tugging to carry over into the offering, to see if he can think about his foot placement and balance when he is more stimulated. That will work nicely for the ‘real world’ when he is learning the fancy things!He couldn’t quite do the down on the big blue disc, so you can try the down on the things that move a little less. And if that is fine, you can take ouf some of the inflation of the blue disc and try it. I think changing the equipment set up made it spicy and interesting! The only piece of equipment he had to think about was the pink mini teeter at the very end – that was hard but the rest was easy. I am sure the mini teeter will be easy next time!
My only suggestion here is to place the food rewards lower, so he is not reaching upwards to get them. Reaching upwards changes his balance, so you can deliver them by placing them at mouth level so his chin stays parallel to the ground, or by putting them down on the equipment so he reaches down for them (also a good balance challenge!)
Great job here!
Tracy
Good morning!
>My follow up to the Stealth exercise – this time we were a little more coordinated! >
You are doing great! These games do kind of need 3 arms 🙂
Super nice session here! He did really well with the bowl challenge and the added distance. No problem!
> It was hard to see if he was actually looking at his line, rather than the bowl – but I think he was.>
He was! I was watching the white on his nose 🙂 and you can see it pointing to the dish, then he would point it to the correct side of the wing. Yay!!!
The only thing to tweak a little is when you line him up, you can lure him into position with a treat then once he is in position, don’t move him. He was a little wiggly/tooth huggy when you were moving him around, so you can play this from wherever he is lined up.
He is totally ready for two next-level challenges:
– using the setup you had here, move the bowl so it is halfway between you and the cone. Do everything else the same… but now he will have to go past the bowl to get to the cone. Start the session with a warm up with the bowl in an easier position before making it super hard, though, just to refresh the skill 🙂– do this with a toy 🙂 Start with the easy steps, though, because the toy might be more stimulating which makes it all harder.
Great job hre!!
Tracy
Hi! I am glad she is feeling better! Hopefully she will decide not to beat herself up as much during play!
Backwards sends – these went well! Only two suggestions:
When you first start, don’t have the prop already on the floor as you bring her into it because it fades into the background a bit and she didn’t really see it on the first rep. You will have a better first rep if you bring her in, put the hat down, then start the game.The rest looked great and you were adding a bit of countermotion by moving forward a bit. Nice!
Also, it is important to remember that this game is not a loop – so rather than toss the reward then send again immediately, you can call her back to you and play the ready dance game. This game brings her into handler focus (so we can work on switching from handler focus to obstacle focus) and also gets her into higher arousal (which is good for learning all the things!)
The wing wraps are going well! You can now add something bigger to go around (like a barrel or laundry basket or huge cone) and also move the bowls back, so they are behind your heels a bit 🙂 That gives her more room to turn around and begins the fading process for the bowls.
She did really well going back and forth from food to toys! Super! She also did well bringing the toy back!
You don’t need to use the toy remotely for now – it can be stuffed into your vest so you can pull it out and not have to run back and forth 🙂 That will also provide some nice impulse control because the toy is right there and has to be ignored 🙂The next step to this involves getting a barrel or something big so we can build on it tonight. She is ready!!!
Great job here!
TracyWelcome home and congrats on all your successes at the Open!!!!! You are having a really fantastic dog sports year!!!
It must be nice to have the puppy back 🙂 These games are looking good and all of them can go to the next steps 🙂
Wing wraps – you can jumpstart the game in each session by placing a cookie in the bowl to establish the back and forth, kind of like saying “let’s begin now” rather than waiting for him to offer. It looks like moving to his right shoulder was harder than moving to his left, so he might be a bit of a lefty – good to note as we start doing the harder stuff in coming weeks.
In the next session, start by establishing the back and forth with the bowls like you ended with here. Once he can go back and forth, add the upright between the bowls and right in front of you so we can get a bit of wrapping going 🙂
Prop pre-game: he did well offering some foot smacking! Yay!
We can get you standing up right away on this one, so the prop is more distinctly away from the cookies and hands and clicker. He was able to foot target it and watch the hands 🙂 So by having you now be standing, he will really lock into the foot target – which can then quickly turn into the sending game.
The decel game is also going well! He seems more fluid moving to his left here too and tends to offer it more when the side is not super clear. So when coming to the right turn (your left side) be super obvious with your hand in position nice and early.
He is ready for the next step – using a bigger distance so you can run more and show a more obvious decel. We build even more crazy stuff into this one today 🙂
Blind cross foundations – he is reading your side changes, and you will get a quicker response by opening up your connection back to him more. Rather than having him target to your dog side hand at your side on the exit of the blind, you can point that hand back to his nose and even have your outside arm come across to rest on your dog side hip. This makes the connection really obvious and snappy, so he will have super quick responses to the blinds.
For both the decel game and blind game, you can take them outside and get more running going 🙂 As well as toy play before & after – and you can use a toy as the reward for the blind 🙂
Great job here!!
TracyHi!
Looking at the toy races:
>We did 4 toy races. 3 with him on my right and 1 on my left. Interesting that he head checks each time on the right, but doesn’t do it in my left. And I mixed the left side rep in between.>
He did it on your left too – not quite as much, but it was there. It is possible that the “get it” is a stimulating marker and is predicting movement, so he looks at you. A couple of ideas:
– let go of him a little sooner to go get the toy – you can let him go just before it lands rather than waiting a few seconds after it lands. The toy motion should help him continue to look forward
– quiet the marker a bit – as you you throw it, you can quietly say “get it” then let him go to it
– quiet your motion a bit for now too – let him go anddon’t move until after he takes the first couple of steps. Then you can jog forward 🙂 You aren’t going to win the race, so we might as well get him looking forward first LOL! Then we can add more and more handler pressure and keep him looking forward 🙂Also, instead of turning to run back to the starting point, peel away on a 90 degree angle like the letter L. On reps 1 and 2, he turned right when the handling should have indicated a left turn. So peeling away more strongly to your left can help him get the turn the correct direction. He did do a left turn on rep 4 (couldn’t see the turn for sure on rep 3).
His barrel wrap commitment is going well! Super!!! As you send him to it, you are getting progressively more and more over onto his line 🙂 and blocking his line so he is getting wider due to having to go around you. So don’t let your position go past the edge of the barrel, keeping your belly button more on the center of the barrel.
We add more action to this game today!
Great job here!
TracyGood morning!
He did well with his goat tricks here! He is very happy to offer getting on the discs but it is hard to stay balanced with all 4 feet because they are small and he has to really scrunch up. So, two goat ideas for you: put all of your stuff together to widen the playing field 🙂 and take some of the inflation out of the disc you started with. The added inflation makes it harder to balance his hind end on. Those elements will allow him to get easily get all 4 feet on something and stand with good balance and posture.
His tugging with all the toys looked good – there is a nice variety of things he will play with and he did well eating cookies then going back to tugging! He really liked the green snake thing 🙂 and definitely loved the squeakers in the cow 🙂 The frisbee was not his favorite, but I bet it will come up in value if you get it rolling for him to chase!
You can combine these 2 games: get all of the fitness/goat trick toys lined up and pushed together here. Play tug then bring him over to the goat trick area and let him offer getting on while he is more stimulated! That can get really good balance and proprioception happening in a higher arousal state.
Great job here!
TracyHi! Sounds like he had a really exciting weekend! Hopefully the rain clears up ASAP!!!!
Looking at the videos:
Toy races are looking good here! He is learning to drive into the toy with handler pressure:
The race element was hard at first and he backed off the pressure. Staying engaged and teasing him helped him out run you on the next rep but then he was backing off and watching you after that. So to help support him passing you with the pressure of you running, you can throw the toy a lot further so that he has more room to out run you, and dial back the racing for it – be moving but not quite as fast and don’t try to grab for it for now, so he can experience the thrill of victory more 🙂
He is reading the decel really well! You don’t have to exaggerate the movement or decel as much with foot noises, you can just slow down like you did on the last rep and he will read it really well. As you add more distance, you can be moving away while he goes to get the treat then decel as he starts to move towards you, so you have more time to show him the decel because he will be moving even faster with more distance 🙂
On the Blind crosses – he was able to pick up the side change but you can see a slight tiny delay in the side change. That was because you were trying to reconnect with the dog side arm at your side, which tends to block connection a bit (thus the delay in response, because he can’t see the new side as quickly). So instead of emphasizing the dog side hand next to you, you can open up the connection on the new side more quickly by pointing the dog side arm back and downwards to his nose, and use the opposite arm resting on your dog side hip. That will make the new connection super obvious and he will be very quick to change sides.
On the stealth self-control game:
> I got greedy at first you’ll see,>
Yes, a little to hard at first but then he had a good string of successes!
I think the value of the treat in the bowl is so high that we can break it down differently to teach him to look away from it and at the ‘work’:
Start the self-control session with the easier line and an empty food bowl (this might mean a delay in getting the cookie into it because you don’t have 3 hands 🙂 but that is fine for now).
Give him a treat for when you hold his collar, then indicate looking forward… but don’t let go until he looks forward AND settles a tiny bit. He was flipping his head a bit, moving feet, twisting…. trying to get to the cookie in the bowl. Hopefully the less stimulating empty bowl will allow for a heartbeat of settling. This will go a long way to helping with impulse control so he can look at the line (not at the bowl) – and that will also help with his start line stay in the future!
>he did well until the end when I maybe tried to progress too quick?>
Yes, too hard for one session because the food value is so high, but it might be easier with the empty bowl because it will still have value but not a ton of value. Also, train him when he is not hungry 🙂 If he is hungry and we are using food, the impulse control is a lot harder. So try training him an hour after he has had a meal. Since he is small, the meal can be maybe half the meal so he is satiated but has room for training rewards.
> Also cookies in the pocket was a bit of a struggle he says FEED DA BABY!>
Clearly STARVING LOL!!!
The wrap game with the upright is going really well – you can add in standing now, and also moving the bowls back – put them just past your heels. Do you have a barrel or something bigger he can go around? We are going to use something bigger as we expand this game.
>Also really impressed with his desire to stay in the game even during disconnects/resets, hoping I don’t ruin that!!!! lol>
He was working at a really high rate of success, so he was really happy to stay in the game!! Super!!!
Prop sends are going super well to the left turn side! Still a little more challenging to the right, so I think the next session should be in a bigger space where you have more room to move away laterally and encourage the right turns.
And definitely send with an empty hand, because he struggles to leave the cookie for now. The cookie can be in the other hand, and that other hand then tosses the treat in the general direction of the prop. It is ok that the cookie toss is not super precise, as long as it lands in the general vicinity 🙂
Great job here!!
Tracy
Hi!
It sounds like you are having crazy weather out there!
>Taq is not feeling like eating (skipped dinner). After the video she curled up on my lap and her gi sounds were quite impressive.>
Yikes!!! It surprises me to hear she skips meals, but all of my dogs are such piggies that a skipped meal equals a trip to the vet LOL!! You are not horrible – skipping the meal is a norm for her.
>>So I am trying to momma bear the toy play. You told me not to loom over her so I asked to come up on me to tug then you said I was holding the toy to high🤣>>
It is a fine line! The answer is generally in having a long toy that the dogs can grab really low, while we are standing. Most agility people have really short toys and I am making it my mission to change that LOL!!!
This was a good toy! You can stuff fur or something into the hollee roller part of it to make it even more engaging in more challenging environments.
On the video – she did well here with the toy – it was a bit of a long session, so you can set a timer for 2 minutes then be done, to keep things really exciting. It looks like she has a ‘kiss’ trick that will be good for getitng her jumping up and exciting on the start line!!!
She was very into the toy here which is great – she was not into the treats, so her belly must have been a bit off, but her toy play was strong!
Since this went so well, you can move to the power pattern with 2 reward stations (ring entry and ring exit :)) and the jump, as well as the leash on and off so it is a fun part of the game. If the rain continues, you can do this in different rooms of the house: room 1 is reward station 1, room 2 is “do a thing”, room 3 is reward station 2 🙂
Nice work here!! Let me know how the power pattern goes and hopefully her belly feels better!
Tracy
Hi!
>Though still some focus issues, not too bad. Plenty of good work. I even opted to try weaves, which have been perfect at home, but I didn’t want to mess with it elsewhere. She was perfect. Since no one else showed up, we got in about 45 minutes of solid work.>>
Awesome news about the weaves!!!
Video 1 – the first rear cross from 3-4 looked good. What made it work was that as she was taking 3 (:09), you were already moving to the center of he bar of 4 so she knew to turn right. With her speed and straight length, you can start that even sooner: be moving towards the center of the bar of 4 before she even takes off for 3. Her drive on the straight line back to the tunnel looked GREAT!
On the 2nd video, you were not as early (:13) so she did not see the RC info in time. Plus, you were saying “go jump” on both videos which indicates a straight line so on this one, the physical cue also said to go straight. You can see her drop her nose for a moment, perhaps trying to process it.
So for the RC, get on that line to the center of the bar and also use a directional (such as a right verbal) or her name, instead of Go.
Then to get the RC on 5, you would need to get on the line facing the center of the bar of 5 before she takes off for 4. That will feel early but it will help give her the info. Let me know if you have any of the videos of the reps that went wrong and we can try to figure it out!
Nice work here!
Tracy
Hi!
Sequence 2 here:
> The footing definitely makes a difference lol.>
Yes, for sure! But I think she did really well on the harder footing too.
Also, I think placing the toy here was doing more harm than help here – she was trying to predict the line to the toy, which made it a little harder to get the lines you wanted. So, throw the toy when she is looking at the 2nd to last jump (rather than have it placed on the line). Even when it was not there later in the session, she was still running straight for where it was. There is a lot of reward history at home of long distance placement and toy throws, so she is definitely in go straight/find the toy mode, so let’s take that out a bit. I would almost rather get a little head check at the end of the line at home than have her running straight to the toy a lot.
On this sequence, some good info on when the spin helped and when you don’t want to use a spin:
– the spin definitely helped on the backside of 3! When you didn’t use it, she stayed on the line your shoulder presented at 1:12.
– you did a decel/spin on the tunnel entry at :14, so she did turn a bit… but then stopped turning when you did that on the next reps. We don’t want to lose that response to the decel/spin, so be sure to accelerate and use a post turn on straight line tunnel exits.About the 4-5-6 line:
> I’m just not sure how to help her get and stay on the line with a turn from 4-5 like that. Soft turn Achilles heel. I’m sure you’ll say brake arm but I just can’t seem to get myself to add it in, in the moment. >
You are correct, brake arm 🙂 You know me too well! I am confident she will respond to it, so we have to get your brain happy to tell your body to do it. So, without her – walk the sequence a few times by picking up your invisible dog a little closer to the tunnel exit than as she is exiting and passing you, you are showing her the brake arm and decel to as you turn your shoulders. You hold that position until the invisible dog’s head turns to pick up the line, then you relax the brake arm and run.
When you can do that with the invisible dog at a walk? Do it at a jog, then do it at a run. Then get the real dog out and do it at a walk 🙂 It is mainly a matter of training your brain 🙂 and also not having a toy out on the line, because we want her focal point to be on YOU in that moment and not looking down the line.
Nice work here!! Let me know how your invisible dog does with the brake arms!
Tracy
Hi!
Sequence 4: this was a Goldilocks too little – too much – just right session 🙂Good motion on the opening line on all of these!!
Rep 1 was a ‘too little’ moment in terms of there being too little info (it was a stride or two late).
Decel at :21 can be sooner – this started at landing of previous jump so I would start it at takeoff so she sees the dramatic decel when she lands and can adjust. You did a great job of NOT rotating too soon though!Rep 2 at 1:21 was a ‘too much’ rep – good timing of starting the decel but you rotated and the same time and pulled her off the jump.
The advice to tell her to dig but keep moving forward in decel there was excellent – is that Jen? Click/treat to her.The last rep was AWESOME perhaps the best collected turn I have seen her do! WOW!!!!! Perfect combo of starting the cues at takeoff of previous jump but facing forward in decel to maintain the commitment. Gorgeous!
Tracy
Good morning!
>Don’t mind all the chatter throughout the video lol.
The chatter was great LOL!!!! And the discussion about timing the reward on the straight line was valid: To keep her looking forward, you can have a placed toy or throw it before she looks back at you – that means when she is over the 2nd to last jump and looking forward, throw it rather than wait til she gets to the last jump. You were much earlier with the throw on the last rep and she did not have to look back at you. Super! I like the early throws to be mixed in, so that the dogs don’t rely on the visual target of the placed toy.
>>1) Startline connection. They are still hard but if I stay connected with her, she has really been doing well with them.>>
Yes, her start lines are looking so much better! And you actually need to be a little less predictable with the releases so she doesn’t anticipate. You don’t want to always lead out, stop, wait for 1 second then release… because she will release at that 1 second mark. That is what happened at 2:19 🙂 She busted you on the rhythm of your releases. Then the arousal came up and she couldn’t sit, because she was like “why was that wrong, it is what we always do”. So sometimes release before you stop moving, sometimes mix in praise before the release, some times wait a few seconds longer, etc etc.
>> 2) Five minute sessions (no or minimal editing of videos). This has really helped me a lot. I’m sure edited videos are helpful for you, but they have really helped keep me accountable. I think this has helped her so much because I’m not continuing to push for more when she’s done>>
I am glad this is easier! I prefer *unedited* videos because the before/after/in-between moments are important to watch. Plus, edited videos often have the reps coming so fast that I have to stop them a lot to make notes LOL !
For the handling, a couple of ideas mainly about being really consistent to maintain the understanding of all the cues:
On the driving ahead sequences at the beginning – you were standing still as she exited the tunnel so she should collect on that jump and not consider running straight. So to get her running straight, you will want to add more of your motion by either running in close to the tunnel then driving ahead. Or, get miles ahead and run (might not be enough room in this ring though). That way the physical cues match the verbals and she won’t learn to ignore decel.
Nice job getting the backside on the next sequence and also the big lines! One note on that sequence: run into the tunnel and do a post turn so you are showing extension the whole time in this context. You did a big decel and spin on the tunnel entrance at 1:43 which are strong turn cues. She did turn into you on that exit (yay!) but then you cued her to go back out on the line. She is a fast learner, and at 3:26 she did not turn on the tunnel exit even with the decel and spin. So since we are going to want the decel and spin to cue a turn, be super careful not to use them on straight line exits – running and a shoulder turn will be perfect there.
One other thing to think about, which will help collection, jumping, etc: do you do any tight sit work with her, like getting tight sits on a small platform? She has a splayed sit and ideally her toes and hips would be more tucked into her body. That is a conditioning thing which will definitely play a role in behaviors that use hind end power, so it is something to add to her routine 🙂
Nice work here!
Tracy
Hi! This also went really well!
Looking at the first video:
He is following the tunnel threadle cues brilliantly! He questions the straight line tunnel sends a tiny bit, so you can throw more reward to the tunnel exit on those to keep the line balance so he doesn’t stay in too much handler focus.On this sequence, I don’t think you need a spin on the 4 jump – you can send and run away, making it easier for you to get to the tunnel discrimination part of the sequence. You did not use a spin at :41 and he had a great line which looked just about the same as the spin lines. The spins are extra footwork for you, and were a little late here… plus it bleeds off speed to get collection in a spot where we don’t need to get more collection 🙂
For the 180 lines on the 2 jumps – he is following your shoulders really well at :44 and 1:00! You can give him those cues sooner – when he has landed from the previous jump or exited the tunnel, you can give the cue and move to the next line, staying connected like you were here.
2nd video:
Turning him to his right (to the inside) on 1 here does mean that the 2 jump needs a bit of a turn cue. Turning him left would make for a sweeter line but there was a fence in the way LOL!!Rep 1 was a spin and it worked well in this context.
rep 2 and 3 were sends (:15 and :25) so he took the jump on a more severe angle. That would be a spot to use a ‘brake’ arm (outside arm joining dog side arm) as he exits 1 and you are cuing 2, to help set up the turn.Since we are looking at the timing of the spin: At :39, then spin on 4 was little late. You might not need a spin there, a send can work really well!
LOVED the timing at :51 of the spin – you started it when he landed and it was the best spin of all of them! Yay!He didn’t take the tunnel at :54 – on that rep you pulled away really far then pushed back towards him before he passed you, so he was confused. On all the other reps, you didn’t pull away as much and your feet were moving straight to the tunnel the whole time – that worked beautifully!
At the very end, you were pulling away and trying to get him to go straight, so he said nope LOL! You can be lateral but on a parallel line and he will get it really nicely.
Great job here!!
Tracy
