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Good morning!
He is doing well with the serping with both games! For both, one small detail – stay a little closer to the serp jump, close enough to casually reach out and touch it. The pressure of a big fast dog coming at us tends to move us away but staying closer to it will help us get the 2nd bend on the serpentine line.On the Send-n-serp game – great job refreshing it and building it back up!! Be careful of your mechanics of stepping away after the send – try not to back up (it causes you to end up rotating, like at :33) – try try to send and then turn with his line (towards the camera) so you don’t get accidentally into a rotation and then he smokes you up the line 🙂
He was looking at you over the serp bar in the beginning, so I am glad you got the toy to the ground here. That helps direct his focus. And when you get way ahead, keep moving, resist temptation to decel to get him over the jump – it is a great challenge for him to find the serp jump even when you are passing the exit wing.
The proofing game is going well too! There is not a lot of room to be moving past the serp jump here, so staying close to it is good for now – you can add more motion into it but we don’t need a lot because we are really looking for the concept of taking the serp jump when asked rather than going into the tunnel 🙂
My only other suggestion is, on the threadle, keep your feet/lower body pointing the same way and moving on the same line as the serp, trying not to rotate. Your position was great relative to the entry wing, and that positional cue (plus the verbal and upper body) are what will help him differentiate. And since he has a really lovely stay, you can be showing the threadle arm before the verbal/release for the threadle, which will help cue him early so you can keep moving forward.
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning! Thank you for the updates!
>>Action Tricks: going very well in our training room. We can do everything rapidly with or without treats in my hands, but dance (she does a circle while standing up on her back legs) and leg weaving are slower without treats in my hand, for now.
Great! Keep working on the dancing and leg weaving, they are super useful in the trial environment.
>>Questions, on your video when treats are in your hands you toss them on the ground, when treats are in your pockets you deliver hand to mouth. I did it just this way, but are these mechanics significant?
I tend to toss treats on the ground for the pattern game or instant focus games (as a way to kind of send the dog back out into the environment to assess it) and reward from my hand for tricks. My general rule of thumb is that all games where I want to pump up the engagement involve reinforcement from my hands (tricks, volume dial, remote reinforcement, etc) Any games where I want the dog to offer engagement without me cuing it can be done with tossed treats.
>>Also, I am leery of teaching a dog that can bark excessively or barks at strangers to bark on command. I’m usually trying to get her to stop barking. 🤪
Understandable! But here is different way to look at it:
Barking at strangers is more of a reflex, directed outwards and away from you. Barking on cue is an operant trick, directed to you and playful.The reflex action is same as when the doctor taps that spot just below your kneecap to test the reflex: you will involuntarily kick your leg.
The operant behavior is when you choose to kick out your leg as a dance step. While there might be some similarities in the movement, the reason, function and use of the behaviors are entirely different.>>Pattern Games: going very well with food, in training room. I always start something in our inside room before moving outside. Moving on with toys, seems like I should start with lesser value toys?
Great news about the food! Take this pattern game to as many new environments as you can. And yes, add in toys – you can start with lower value toys, but also rehearse it with higher value toys because that is what you will use in more difficult distractions.
>>Instant Focus: again going very well in room. Used silicone beverage coaster which she had to touch with a front paw. Chaos went well, although she first wanted to get her stuffed large orangutan but left it for the coaster. Then when I added holee-rollers she went right for them. She brought the rollers to me and I made them ‘dead’. Then she went right for the coaster and was able to work just the coaster from then on.😎. If we were outside I think she may have grabbed the holee-roller and run a few victory laps with it. Which is why I start these games in our room.>>
For the distractions in the instant focus game, no need to use high value reinforcement as part of the ‘chaos’ 🙂 You can use random things, rather than the good toys. You can also take this on the road now, building tons of value for the coaster in different places and then moving into the Part 2 games posted on Monday.
>>Line up game: we’re trying between my legs. Went much better than I thought. I expected it to be too much pressure for her. But she loved the quick game a we’re up to ‘sit’.>>
Fun! I am glad she likes it 🙂 There is a lot of movement so that can be a fun trick to add to the toolbox 🙂
>>Remote Reinforcement: she can jump up on anything and reinforce herself, can even open the zipper on my backpack to get her toy. And she has! This has been our hardest thing.
This is good to know and plan for. Your reward station can be on a table and yes, you can put the stuff in containers. Also, work this on leash at home so you can control whether or not she can scoot away and grab things – part of the remote reinforcement game is developing the self-control to simply not go grab the reinforcement, even when it appears easy to grab 🙂 That self-control will bubble over into other aspects of life, including whether she barks at people or not.
>>What kind of treats are you using in the vids?
Mostly string cheese, some meatballs thrown in sometimes too.
>>Some people have said I shouldn’t use her highest value toys because they are a crutch for me and a pacifier for her. You’ve never seen us work, but your thoughts on this?>>
I like science, and there is no science to support crutch or pacifier 🙂 I look at things we can quantify: are we building the behavior? what behaviors are we seeing in different environments? what is her rate of success? If she has a low rate of success, or showing stress behavior – then we quite possibly need to go to a more valuable reinforcement so that we can compete the the stimuli in the environment. I am perfectly fine with you using high value reinforcement because you’ll make faster progress with more success. I am pretty sure you would be happy with faster progress 🙂 And since a big piece of the puzzle is being able to fade the reinforcement so it does not need to be in your hand, I am not worried about it being a crutch 🙂
Things are going well! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
Sometimes it is good to post the poopy sessions too 🙂 I think you were lumping: meaning, you went to a higher level of criteria too quickly, before all the earlier pieces were in place.The biggest thing missing here is building the understanding with you stationary and in position – you had a lot of motion on almost all of the reps, and he was pretty clear about telling us he didn’t understand it with you moving. So it is not a pressure thing – it was lumping which created too much failure. The next session should be with you standing still in the serp position – open shoulder, conection and release word cues the serp while closed shoulder and tunnel verbal cues the tunnel.
>>He didn’t want to jump towards the tunnel at all, especially with my just standing there.>>
I think part of this was lack of clarity about the reinforcement. Dropping a tiny treat then walking away from him is pretty unclear (like at :50). So from now on, use a toy or the stuffed lotus ball, plus markers to indicate them and most of all – stay engaged. The moment when you drop a cookie is not the end of the rep, so you can’t move away and do something else. The end of the rep is after he has gotten the reinforcement and after you’ve engaged with him, so don’t forget that critical piece. Using only toys and the lotus ball will help you remember – you have a habit of dropping a little treat then walking away, which breaks engagement. Sure, he will eat the treat when nothing else is out there but when it is near the tunnel, he was really unsure of where to look or go.
>>Do I continue to move through so that I’m not standing in all the clutter?>>
Nope! You build the value with you standing still, lots of success, and high value engaged reinforcement. That will all bring clarity to the game and he will be great!
Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
I think he did well here too! He seemed to be able to read the difference between the Go, the RC, and the backside wrap really well. You had a bit of that ‘L’ line (swinging out) at :10 but then you got much better at getting on the rear cross line, like at :29! Nice!>>Let me know what I need to do to help him understand better.
Verbals! You used GO GO GO for both the go straight AND the rear crosses. The straight line and the rear cross are two different behaviors, so he was ignoring the verbal (same verbal for 2 behaviors is confusing) and waiting for the physical cue. The Go verbal is only for the straight line, not the rear cross. And a left or right verbal should be used with the rear cross, because it is a turn. And as you are using the verbals, keep moving – at :40 you were standing still for too long so he was not sure if he had permission to accelerate.
For the backside wrap at the end – his commitment looked really good here too! Be sure that you run to where the wing meets the bar so he can see the wing (you were blocking it a little) and then as soon as he is past you, move forward again so you are not in his landing spot when he is jumping.
Great job!
TracyHi!
He did well here too! As you work these longer stays – make sure you release the stay (it wasn’t very clear in the beginning of the video) and reward the stay a lot.
You were on the correct side here – you can be on the same side or opposite side of the dog, it all gets mixed in so you work all the scenarios. And yes – pushing and pulling with big obvious arm movements really worked nicely! It is a challenging game, so re-visit it a few times before you make it harder by bringing the wings closer together.
Nice job!!
TracyGood morning!
The Find The Jump game looked great here! I couldn’t see that reinforcement so I am guessing it was thrown out ahead or pre-placed? If it was already placed, move to throwing it as soon as he looks at the jump (and way before he gets to it) so he doesn’t rely on the placed toy.
You can now add in driving ahead to the jump, by running in closer to the tunnel so he can drive ahead of you as he exits.
Great job!
TracyHi!
>>Curious for the take a breath why watch the nose versus watching the rib cage expanding contract or feeling?
GREAT question!!! Watching the nose will give you the feedback on whether the dog is taking a breath on cue, as part of a grounding exercises (canine mindfulness :)). That is very different than simply watching for or feeling respiration (rib cage) because respiration might just be panting and not mindful. Also, respiration might be open-mouthed and reflexive… and taking a breath through the nose is operant and deliberate 🙂
The off leash offered engagement is going well! Very clever to have him on the green long line outdoors.
At the beginning of that, you don’t need to wait for him to offer engagement with the leash on – you can unhook the leash like you did and see what he does. Doing that with deer out there is HARD but he did well!
:33 nice engagement!In that outdoor space, there are a ton of good distractions – totally a great place to do the pattern games too, and right as I was typing to suggest that, you starting doing them. SUPER! Be insanely patient – don’t put your hand in your pocket until after he offers engagement.
>> it they eat the cookie on the ground but then something in the environment is distracting or needs assessing so they look away instead of back at you I’m assuming you just wait that out?
Yes, wait for a while… and if it is simply too difficult of an environment, you can move further away.
>>I also planning to take higher value food outside to play again sorry I had measured out his favorite kibble so I use that because believe it or not he needs to lose a couple pounds. When I’ll play again I’ll make sure to incorporate for the extra calories ha ha.>>
Ah yes, higher value will help too! Kibble, even the favorite kibble, can’t compete with the environment… but maybe meatballs can? Play around with different values and see how he does!
Great job here 🙂 Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
>> I keep switching out the IF prop because I am waiting to see where we go with it. 🙂
The new gams are posted – so put value onto your favorite prop and use that for the Part 2 games 🙂
>>I am using the metal tins for the pattern game because I don’t like when people throw treats on the ground.
Ah, got it. So for the pattern games, then, do more of an up-and-down with treats placed on your shoes and not tossed away (which is something that can easily be done outside the ring).
>>Also, when we are outside, he has a harder time finding the small treats in the grass.
I train this skill, specifically: find the one treat in the grass and then re-engage. it is the first thing I train, pre-pattern games 🙂 Small, white treats work well and being able to find a treat in grass on cue and then immediately return to engagement after the cookie is a really useful skill!
>> The tins make it easier. Third, we trial on dirt and can’t throw food, so I thought the tins might be a nice visual cue for the game in new environments. What do you think? It’s basically a small space version of CU Super Bowls. I can modify it if you think my version isn’t as good.>>
The tins are good and the game is good! All CU games are fabulous 🙂 Totally recommend. But for all of the movement involved with waiting outside the ring and going to the start line, definitely focus on the patterns that can be done with no props – just your hands (and shoes haha) and him 🙂 Since there always seems to be such a huge list of things to train, I try to narrow the scope and prioritize.
>>I am worried that all this activity is going to feel like pressure to him.
It should not be perceived as pressure if it is structured training: high rate of reinforcement, high value reinforcement, very systematic and the games mixed in together to include both the active games, the engagement games, and the chill games 🙂 If the training emphasizes too much of one thing, or the rate of reinforcement is too low… then yes, he could perceive pressure or stress about it. That is why for the remote reinforcement, for example, the new step for this week is step away from the reward station, do one trick, run back. Simple and fun!
>> Coming out of his crate to a pattern game, in theory, should give him the opportunity to assess the environment. But it also feels like more of a requirement (play this game!) as opposed to, say, an awareness walk around the area.>>
A couple of thoughts on this:
I don’t bring the dogs out of the crate to a pattern game on a regular basis, unless the crate is literally in the training environment and I would like the dog to train. I also personally don’t crate in the training environment (ringside) a lot, because I need the dogs to be able to relax.So, I take the dogs out of the crate, go for a potty, have a walkabout away from the training area. Then as I enter the training area, I will begin the pattern game. And, pattern games are super enjoyable for the dog, so you’ll see the dog turn on when you start them. If the dog feels like the pattern game is a requirement, then chances are the rate of reinforcement is too low or you are too close to the distractions.
Awareness walks can be useful but also problematic. Most awareness walks are done pretty far from the training area or ring area. Or, if done near the ring area, the dog might not be using or rehearsing the coping skills we are teaching him to use. And in general – we cannot do a true awareness walk in the area that we need it the most: near the gate and inside the ring. So, the coping skills games (patterns, engaged chill, etc) are critical.
>> Maybe my fears are completely unfounded, but I really don’t want him feeling stressed when he comes out of his crate.
Are you seeing stress behaviors?
>> If he comes out of his crate and can’t play the pattern game, do you just put him back in his crate for a few minutes and then try again?>>
No – I will take him out of the environment entirely and play it further away. If he is so uncomfortable outside of the crate that he can’t play the pattern games, then he is going to be uncomfortable inside the crate too especially if it is used as a ‘time out’.
>>, should I teach him to bark on cue
Yes! Totally yes, as an action trick.
>>or play wabbits?
Yes – we are going to address more of that in games Package 3.
>>Riot is far more likely to be overaroused. Is it playing with fire? 🔥 When he offers a bark during agility practice, it is always a sign of a higher volume. But it also tends to accompany engagement.
The crazy thing with arousal is that overaroused can be modulated by getting the dogs ‘higher’ (on the bell curve) and into the optimal state. So trying to stay lower arousal can cause struggles because the dog is not in the optimal state, and more sitmulating activities (like barking :)) can put him in that optimal state. Barking at you cue is different than vocalizing out at the environment and we can turn that all into something great.
Good distractions in the video! Little barking dogs and people are great to have in the environment 🙂
For the pattern game with the bowls – he does well with this game so add in holding the leash rather than letting him drag it, because that is the picture he will see at a trial. 🙂 And bring the pattern games to your shoes and from your hands as well – so you have a pattern game that he likes for scenarios where you will not have bowls available.
When doing the tricks – He has a TON of great tricks, so now when doing them use your cookies like a toy – have him chase your hand to get them by running, spinning, standing up to eat them, rather than feed him in a stationary way. The stationary cookies put him too ‘low’ on the arousal bell curve, and we want to turn the volume dial to the optimal position.
And now for the tricks…no more cookies in your hands 🙂 In these relatively familiar settings, all cookies should be in pockets now, to start the fading process: cue with an empty hand and when he an approximation of the behavior, get excited, whip a cookie out of the pocket, and have him chase your hand for it.
Same with going over the jump and in a sequence – rather than reward with stationary cookies, try run and then deliver the cookie either from a moving hand or a moving lotus ball. Make it all about the action not the stopping – action gets focus and engagement, and stopping tends to make the engagement drop.
You can also use toys more! He likes the toy end of the flirt pole for sure. With the flirt pole – he is a little ‘party-of-one’ with it, will he interact with you more for it? Will he tug on it or chase more as you swing it? Youcan build yourself into the game more: do tricks for chasing the pole as reinforcement, or having a fun furry toy on a line to use as reinforcement for the tricks and in the ring. Bringing that play it into the ring with you in some form will help transfer the exictement and value into the ring more.
And when leaving the flirt pole outside the ring, develop a reward station where it is very clear where the reinforcement is (not just on the ground, randomly – get a little table or chair or something for your ‘stuff’). And separately from agility training – start the beginnings of the remote reinforcement games so we can build that process up. Remote reinforcement is a massive concept for the dogs and takes a long time.
He was very happy to do the foot target on the insant focus prop! So now pick your favorite one, puts lot of value on it… and onwards to Instant Focus Part 2.
Great job! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
Have a blast at NAC! Send updates! And yes, you can do lots of T2T stuff there 🙂
On the video – a good session here!!!! That was an accidental tooth hug at the beginning, I think LOL!!
A couple of smaller details to help for the next session:
When cuing the wrap on the start wing with the strike marker for the toy: wait one more moment before you say strike so he has a chance to make more of a decision about wrapping (or not) – just one more step will do it.Speaking of the strike marker… when you say it like a question as you did here, it sounded just like your ‘right’ verbal so that might have been the source of some of his questions. No need to change words, just deliver them differently:
STRIKE! (an excited loud exclamatory)
Riiiight (like you did in the video)Great job with the reset cookies after an error! Threadles are going well, you can start to add more motion too keeping the same mechanics you had here. It will be easier if you start closer to the start wing so you are in the gap more (threadle position) and less in the serp position near the jump.
>>We got trapped in a small vortex towards the end but I switched the sides and got him back.
Changing sides totally helped de-vortex him! Also, after several threadles, you can angle the jump to face him more for the serp so he sees the front and not the back of the jump, which should make it harder to threadle and easier to serp, in the hopes of vortex-prevention 🙂
Great job! Enjoy your trip and send lots of updates!!
Tracy
Hi!
For the teeter, you need some type of something to prop it up. We get creative though – if you don’t have a table or teach it, we use other stuff 🙂
At the beginning stage, you’ll need only enough room to have the teeter with the dog being able to run up it. Towards then end, we need a little more room, like 15 feet before and after the teeter.
TracyGood morning! Thanks for all of the info, it is really helpful for planning purposes.
>>On course in Training, does well until we make a mistake or I ask her to repeat too many times, then she leaves me to sniff or run to bark at someone.
In training, when working on handling – work it thoroughly without the dog (run it with an invisible dog), get instructor feedback… then run it with the real dog 🙂 And if something goes wrong? Stay connected and reinforce her – even if you think it was her error (it probably was not LOL!). So you can reinforce her for taking an off course, or you can call her back and reinforce her for lining up and resetting. The sniffing and leaving to bark are behaviors that come up when the dog is stressed and the rate of reinforcement is too low. So reinforcing after handling errors and reset cookies will really help – and that changes the conditioned response to the entire environment as well!
>>On course at Trial, same, but I’ve learned to just keep going or make up my own course or circle a logical path back to where we need to be.>>
You did a brilliant job of that with your trial videos!
>>In training, toys are supreme, then treats. Her baby Tennis Ball is her absolute favorite toy.>>
This is good! It makes planning FEO easier. Will she tug on a tennis ball? Have you tried any of the Kong toys that look/feel like tennis balls but are bigger and the dog can tug on them?
>>What I’ve learned that helps: if I tug/play with Posh right next to the judge, photographer, leash runner, etc in the morning outside the ring where she can see them while she’s tugging or a judge measures Posh while I hold a pnut butter cup at her nose, she’s good with them for the rest of the day, trial, unless they change their appearance, new hat, sunglasses, jacket, etc. I may need to repeat this for someone new, change of appearance etc.>>
This indicates that assessing and a bit of counterconditioning really helps her. Yay! So you can play the pattern games near the new people and all around the ring, to generalize the behavior and help her understand how to relax herself. You can do the pattern games with food and also with 2 tug toys!
>> But it seems to me I may have chained a behavior…run to bark at someone, back to mom, get rewarded. ?? ish….
The barking is an anxiety behavior, so if we work on the root of that with the games, then we won’t have to worry about the behaviors that may or may not get chained into it 🙂 All of the games will help her learn to ignore the people and not feel the need to bark at them.
Onwards to the games! Keep me posted on how she does with them 🙂
TracyGood morning!
>>We’ve been off on border collie puppy adventures – road trip, hiking, herding instinct testing, crazy dock diving party with other crazy border collies – all the things.
He is living his best life! I love it!
Holy cow the mud is outrageous! I am glad it dried for class – he looked great!
he did a great job finding the jump after the tunnel here – such an important and underrated skill for youngsters!
The tunnel exit pointed him a little to the backside line so he was adjusting to come in for the jump which is good practice for sure! When you see the tunnel exit pointing to the backside line on a course, you can call his name before he enters the tunnel to get the adjustment before the exit (or say Go or a backside verbal to get the extended exit to the backside line). As for the various skills:
Finding it when you are running ahead looked strong!! That can be a hard one for young fast herdy dogs and he was lovely. And when you were parallel and a little decelerated, he was also finding it and preparing to turn (correctly!). The next thing to add is running all he way into the tunnel curve and then moving forward just before he exits, so he drives ahead. My guess is that the mud helped you decide to NOT do this yet LOL!!! I am sure he will find the jump easily.>>. I also apparently totally forgot my “Chase” LSM for the thrown toy. Oh well, next time we’ll get our act together.
My guess is was the distraction of staying upright in the mud LOL!!! No worries – dogs read context really well and there seemed to be zero confusion and tons of reinforcement 🙂
Great job!
TracyHi! We don’t have one at this stage, but the teeter class covers a lot of the stopped contact behavior! I will be doing skills classes over the summer so can do one then!
TracyGood morning!
This video shows that the foundation is in place. HUZZAH! So we can ramp it up: the pool, and nearer to the ring at NAC.
Now before you start to sweat about it, we can do the 2 leash version so he can’t have a big error and so you can narrow the field of choices: engage or look away, as opposed to leaving or swimming being part of the list of options.
Use your trial leash as the on/off leash, and have a 2nd light leash clipped to his collar and looped over your wrist.
Working this at the pool is great for getting the behavior in a more stimulating environment with happy feelings. And near the ring will open up possibly some concerned feelings but with the opportunity to pump him full of positive reinforcement 🙂
Great job! Let me know what you think!
Tracy
