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Hi!
I’ve found changing the jump angle to be the fastest route to success with the serps 🙂I think the minny pinny looked good! It isn’t really a jumping exercise at this stage, it is more of a brain game 🙂 and the coordination tells us how hard she has to think hahaha! Right turns? No problem, which is why we ate seeing better coordination and movement. Left turns? Ermagerd much harder, so she is not as fluent in her movement. No worries, though – it will percolate over time. Gemma has so much experience that you won’t see much difference on right or left sides, but Sprite is still learning all the things. For now, I would change anything other than revisit it here and there. She’s doing a great job!
TracyGood morning!
Big congrats on a successful trial weekend! Especially in bad weather – it sound slike you made excellent adjustments!!!>> but … during the run in a small part where I was deliberately stationary as he ran towards me.. he put his nose down and sniffed. This taught me a lesson in running him … if I had run further into the obstacle and we were chasing each other – he would not have put his nose down .. so note to self on this one
Yes! Good lesson about staying in motion. Never plan to stand still unless the dog you are running is a complete freight train who ignores handling LOL! Sparky pays attention so he might have thought the standing still meant something went wrong.
>>.. then 4th run we started but abt 3 obstacles in he started sniffing .. so I guess he’d had enough …
He was likely physically and mentally exhausted.
>>but honestly yesterday was abt 80 percent improvement so I’m feeling happy …what exercise should I be looking at next…
80% improvement is AWESOME!!!!!!!!!
I have a bunch of new info ocming tomorrow. So, for today? Give him a complete day off. No training. That is actually the BEST thing after a big weekend, so he can rest up and not be tired for the next steps.
>> what do u think abt caring a dog in as the start line procedure?
It works beautifully for dogs that like it! I carry my Papillon to the start line in agility and into the ring in flyball. My other dogs are just a little too big to be carried. We build up to any of it working because the dog understands and loves the routine. I mean, you can carry him in and if he wants to sniff or leave after you set him down… the carrying will not prevent that 🙂
Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning!
>> He enjoys calm pets WHEN it is calm pet time. He doesn’t enjoy it as much in the context of a working session and at times finds it annoying/slightly aversive.
Yes! The engaged chill is more of a behavior that the dog gets to choose – we help a little by looking at what they naturally prefer and what they dislike, then we install it into the chill behavior.
MANY BCs find the petting and kisses on the head to be annoying/aversive. I mean, I can relate: if I am in a state of readiness to run a course and someone wants a hug? Yeah… no. LOL!! My BC/Croatian mix is like that too – loves being petted at home but in a work situation his engaged chill is more standing next to me (I admit to kissing him on the head sometimes to annoy him because he response is entertaining: MOM YOU ARE EMBARRASSING ME. But he is 9 years old so it is just silliness :)) My terrier/BC mix also prefers an engaged chill where there is eye contact sometimes and we are together, but she wants to be able to stand still next to me, and sometimes hop up to lick my hand. Totally different than the whippet mixes who want to be touched all the time. I have video coming of each. And it is all discovered through relaxed experiments at home and during training.
>>Sometimes that’s next to me or between my legs but if there’s something stimulating in front of us, like I’m watching another dog run, I’ll ask him to lie down facing me so he can more easily relax and chin rest on my shin or shoe.>>
Perfect! And his responses will give us a very clear indication of how he feels in each moment.
Very cool tree planting ceremony!!! Looks like your 87 degree weather has gone away! Good boy Ripley being the king of CHILL especially with the little Beagley dog being interested in his treats LOL! This is great – not as exciting as a big agility trial, but a lot more people and dogs in a small space. He was perfection!
His chill between reps while working is good too – I love when a dog can just stand and let us have a moment to sort out our sh*t for the next rep. I want the dog to understand that the withdrawal of my attention is NOT a punishment and that he should also not turn his attention to the environment (unless cued to do so). I loved when he was in the down, that kind of made me think of what waiting for a trial run would be like: he is warmed up and you are running through your handling plan in your mind.
Does he have the opportunity to chill like this before his turn at his in-person class? You can be as far from the ring as needed but I think he can see this in more of an agility context too.
Great job! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning! This went really well!
You had lots of moments of great connection out of the tunnel, lots of consistently lovely connection like at :09 and :13 and also really nice after the front crosses, like at :32! I think the hardest connections were the very first ones on each new mini course – you would look ahead of her on the first tunnel exit, then you were perfect for the rest. So try not to look ahead on that first one, to get them all as perfect as possible.One added challenge because she is so small… try to run these with your hands in your back pockets and not pointing at the line 🙂 Just use your eyes, motion, and verbals. Hands/pointing tends to block connection with the small dogs, so practicing with your hands out of the picture really solidifies the connection.
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning!
Pattern game:
>>I did this at the run thru today and it worked really well. I was wondering at what point and how often?
I like to do this shortly after I arrive (and before I need to get ready to run) then again as I approach the ring for the run. You’ll find that he will engage really quickly so you just need a few cookies )4 or 5 cookies). And as part of our pre-run-routine-building, you can transition away from the pattern game and into other games when he is happy to offer engagement. So in a nutshell – he will let you know how long to do it. If he can engage really easily? You can leave the session or do other stuff. If he struggles? Move further away and try it – but still keep the session short, maybe less than 10 cookies.
>>In class, he’s in the crate while the other three dogs run and I take him out for his turn. We usually have 3 runs. I was thinking I would take him out earlier when the dog before him is running to play before each run. Or leave him out after his run while the next dog runs as he often goes first.>>
Can you ask the instructor to not have him go first as much? Mix up the order more? I bring human snacks as bribes hahaha
Say he is running 4th: take him out while the first dog runs a bit, get engagement. Then let him chill out in the crate while dogs 2 and 3 run, then take him out for his run.
Try that for the Monday class (changing the running order) so you can practice before he runs. And if he does run first – do his run, let him cool down, let him have a rest, then come back and do some pattern games while dog #4 is running.
>>Today, he did two runs at indoor Run Thru set up for AKC novice. These went really well. I practiced the mechanics with leash this week so much better for me too. >>
HOORAY!! You have certainly been practicing the skills really well, so I am super happy you are already seeing results (and we haven’t even gotten to the good stuff yet!!!)
>>Although, I forgot to zoom out on the first video so you can’t see his ring entry, but it worked well and he was focused with no running off. For the second run, I did remember so it’s very similar.>>
No.Running.Off. HUGE!!!! Happy dance!
>>We did the engaged chill in the back room, especially after I had done the pattern by the ring. The first pattern I started by the ring on the far side from the start with a low key dog/ handler. He did really well and would briefly glance at the ring but returned back quickly. We disturbed the dogs crated under cover in the corner but they did not affect him. He was breathing hard when we went back to the room so he enjoyed his massage. He was still able to respond. We hung near the entrance on lineup and did pattern. Disturbed another dog in crate and he checked out the dog briefly and came back. I played the pattern closer to the ring near start end and he was fine here. He was more distracted by the noisy terrier and loud handler who used to be in his training class so moved a little farther back. He was perfectly fine with the dogs running on practice area in back room. I took his fit bone to chill out in the back room so he was good with it. I took him outside between the runs so he can sniff, walk, and chill out. Outside here he did enjoy his massage on leash and even snuggled up between my legs. The temp was only 61 and lots of wind so he was happy.>>
Omg this sounds like a delightful day! Did you also build in rest time so he could have a good snooze in his crate (or in the car)? Sleep is known to help cement skills and reset the brain 🙂
Run 1 video: REALLY good run!!! He was so fast!
>>We skipped weaves/tire and dragged the clam on leash.
Loved your energy with the clam-on-a-leash! He seemed happy to chase it,. You can let him grab it more as part of the play. Was there a cookie in it?
>>Near the back jumps he took off for the tunnel instead of weaves so I called sooner 2nd run.
Perfect, off course obstacles are fine LOL!
Run 2 video: also super!!!!
Good tricks at the start! He was really good about the harness coming off. Good cookies for attention! Good job letting him settle into the stay, he was a little uncomfortable with the environment but he didn’t leave, he just needed to be in a spot where he could look up at you. You went with it and he was great.
SUPER lovely work here, you made the ring a really fun place to be. YES!!!
For class on Monday, one thing to add is taking off your treat pockets for your run. You can still have cookies in the clam and your pants pockets (I stuff treats in my bra sometimes too, hopefully that is not TMI haha) or hand some to your instructor for refills during your turn. The treat pockets can then start to become your remote reinforcement setup – leave them on a table outside the ring, he can know where they are. He gets rewarded during his training session and then at the end of a sequence, give your remote reinforcement word and run to the treat pockets. Let me know if that makes sense!
Great job here 🙂
TracyGood morning!
>>Engagement is hard for her everywhere. LOL
I guess I expect her to bring the toy back to me but I should know by know that it magically isn’t going to happen. >>Truth! Engagement is sweaty work in the puppy stage, and that will pay off when she is an adult 🙂
>>I feel like she’s not loving the collar grabs either so I’ll put more value into those too.
Make the collar holds part of the fun. Definitely don’t move her around by the collar as that can lead to more avoidance when you reach for her, or ;seeking reniforcement elsewhere when you let go. So, incorporate the collar hold as prt of the start routine:
line up with cookie as lure into position. feed the cookie.
Slip a finger under her collar then immediately send into the game. Boom! Collar touching will predict GAME ON and she will like it a lot more as the value transfers. 🙂For the set points – she is doing well! Can she hold a stay while the toy is already moving a little? That can get her move focused downward, which will add power and propulsion as we start building up more jumping skills.
For the WIYH:
She is finding the jump nicely!! Rather than a ‘yes’ marker (which promotes looking at us, and we want her looking forward on this game) you can now switch to your ‘get it’ marker to tell her to look forward for the reward.
She definitely likes the thrown toy! The cookie trade for the toy is not all that exciting, she definitely did a ‘no thanks’ when you said “cookie?” LOL! So, instead of that, add in going to her and playing like you did at 1:42 or have a 2nd toy and run and reward her for coming to you after the thrown reinforcement.Smiley face – she does love the tunnel and she also likes the wings so let’s look at engagement, as that seemed o be harder for her here. I think you are using the collar hold as a way to engage and move her from place to place, and avoid her skedaddling away 🙂
Let’s do less moving her by the collar and more engagement when you make the transitions in and out of the ‘work’. That can really build up the engagement so that she sticks with you during those in-between moments. So, bring her into the space, playing with the toy. Ask for the toy back and as soon as she outs it, take off rnning with the toy as a reward for the out. Wheee! Then you canadd in getting a behavior after the out, something fun like a spin or hand touch then tug tug tug. You can do this all the way from the tunnel exit to the wing. And you can also add in cookeis the same way: tug as tunnel reward, then a trick for an exciting moving cookie in your hand (not tossed away from you – I want her to follow your hand with the treat) Then feed the treat, ask for another fun little behavior, then have her chase your hand for the treat, and so on as you move back to the wing. Then the line up: cookie lure into position, feed the cookie, gentle hand on collar, then start.It will be sweaty for sure and you’ll do fewer wing/tunnel reps but that is all good! The engagement between the wing and tunnel reps is more important with baby dogs.
Nice work here! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
>>So basically it comes down to an error in planning and a massive one.
Yes, but not a tragic one LOL! It is all recoverable. More like: oops! My bad. Won’t do that again.
>> And when I train alone I always use reset cookies- which is why it seemed mind blowing today that she left.
She likely felt the shift in the umbrella rate, and the ‘work’ is not yet reinforcing enough that she wanted to do long stretches of it. That is normal!
>> So I did all the things she has never seen before and she doesn’t have the history.
And while you were a little nervous. OOPS! LOL!!! I’ve totally done that. The dogs forgive us.
>>Oh and she’s almost 7 months now 😂. She’s so fricken small tho I can see where 5 months comes into mind.
7 months, 5 months… still super young. Not even a teenager yet LOL!! I think she is GREAT. Let’s take a moment to talk about what went well. Can I just say that your stays looked amazing!
T
Good morning!
>.I tried hard, but I still don’t think it’s an optimal body position.
You were really good! I am happy with this!!!
She was very strong on these – for now, stay in smooth, steady motion like you did and only gradually add more running.
As you are working the serps with the placed bowl reward, keep her between you and the jump for the ‘bowl’ so that she doesn’t go behind you when you are still connected to the front of you (she went behind you on a couple of reps, like at :12 and :16 versus staying between you and the jump like at :40 and :46, which were correct).
When we add more speed, we are going to angle the jump to face her more so it is easier to take and harder to run past. It looks like this, sneak peek from the next MaxPup:
The tunnel has replaced the wing here and the jump after the tunnel is the serp jump.
>>Of course, I twisted my back again.
Eek!! Try using the outside arm then, and see if that is easier on your back than the fully extended dog side arm.
>> I was also getting threadle on both sides and had to really narrow the gap to avoid that. What am I doing to cue that? I showed the one on the right and then what I’d cue if I wanted the gap. This exercise will take awhile for us.
How many threadles did you get, and when did they happen in the session? I only saw one, at 1:02 – later in the session, lots of repetition, so she might have been a bit bored and offering other behavior. Or it could have been residual from the previous rep where she had just done a FC.
If the threadles were happening later in the session or after the FCs… for now, take out the FCs (they looked great) and also do shorter sessions of the serps so you are done before she starts thinking about other dance moves.
If the threadles were scattered throughout, no rhyme or reason… then we change the setup to make threadles a lot less likely 🙂 Angling the jump totally helps, so she will see the front of the jump bump as she exits the wing. You can also push the start wing off the parallel line and have it more on the serp side of the jump so as she exits the wing, it is nearly impossible to threadle and very easy to see the front side of the serp jump.
Let me know what you think! This is going well!
TracyGood morning!
>>I truly feel like my WordPress site should do what I’m thinking regardless of what buttons I actually hit.>>
Well, WordPress… they change things, then we get it all working the way we want it, then they change things again (in the name of “Updates”) so nothing works right. LOL! the joys of technology 🙂
>>So I’m getting the verbals out pretty early before he enters the tunnel most of the time, but watching the video I can see I should definitely be repeating them as he exits instead of just being silent to confirm the cue I want him to respond to on the exit side.
Yes! In general I think your timing was solid! Some of the left/right were a little later than would be perfect but all were before he entered the tunnel – the best ones were when he was a solid stride before the tunnel. And the others were when he was half-stride before the tunnel – all good, no complaints here and I think he responded really well!!
For the repeating – Yes, you can say left/right a few more times and try to extend them so they are not as loud or sharp as the GO verbal. They will ideally be medium volume and a little longer. It is very easy to type this out and a LOT harder to do when running, so it is ok to slow your motion and turn to the next line as you deliver the verbal left/right as that will both help how the verbal sounds AND show him the handling to support the turn. It is no different than supporting the GO with acceleration forward, which you did really nicely!
I think he was pretty balanced in his turns – he was straight and fast with the GO reps (and you helped with strong physical cues and connection) and he turned left/right every single time without looking straight. The left/right will continue to add more power when you have some place to go – the smaller set up doesn’t allow for a lot of running to the wing, so he was not fully in chase-the-handling speed but that is fine because this was more about timing. You can skip the wing after the left/right on the tunnels and run away so he can chase you and the toy 🙂
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning!
>>This is just a quick set point to see how 5′ looked. I did 5′ and then the last 2 were 4′. I think she was getting tired at the end.
I liked the 5 foot distance here! She did well with the 4 foot distance, but it didn’t have as much power as th 5 foot distance. The only thing I would change is to have the toy further from the 2nd jump before you release – it was about 5 or 7 feet from the jump, so to release her when the toy is 10-12 feet from the jump to get more power through the striding. She was a perfect girlie with the toy dragging, so I htink this will be easy for her.
Remind me what she has seen with jump bars so far? She is doing well and I would like to put a bar on the 2nd jump for her – of there was no bar here, add one at 8 inches. If there was a bar already there, move it up to 8. If it was at 8″ already, move it to 10″ 🙂
>>I think I ruined my toy drive 🤦♀️😂 she loves cheese puffs so when practicing Smiley Face and she wasn’t interested in her toy, I put cheese balls in a lotus ball. She didnt want her toy for set point. I do think the back yard is more Distracting and she did have to chase a deer out during our practice….bad Tali, stupid deer. She was trotting until I put the lotus ball on a line and then she was going better.
You didn’t ruin it LOL! I also love cheese puffs, so I can relate to how delicious they are. If the backyard is very distracting, then you can separate the toy play from the training games for now – when working a training game, use the lotus ball on the line. And when just noodling around and NOT training, throw a toy around and get a little wild and silly with it 🙂 She DOES have good toy drive, so now we just need to bring it out in distracting environments. And if there is a deer in your yard, you can totally switch to food to stand a chance against that massive distraction!!! If deer visits and deer chasing are regular occurences, you can alsohave her on leash and reward her for ignoring them and not chasing 🙂
Nice work here! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning!
Ewwww, winter. I guess I won’t complain about our weather here LOL!
Great job on the videos here! All 3 of these games require coordination and lead changes – which fast young dogs would like to skip over LOL!!! But she is doing really well 🙂
On the left/right minny pinny: she wants to go all the fast but this one requires significant coordination… so the left/right turns towards you were really strong, she recognized those immediately. She did really well turning away but it was a lot of mental work because she had trouble with the coordination. No worries, she will figure it out because she is naturally a coordinated dog. So for now, 2 ideas:
Change the reward placement so that she is pulling across the front of you and not coming into a ‘front’ position where you face her. You will be facing forward as if having completed a FC and she will come to your side as if heading to the next line (I reward with the outside arm across my body for those, which is a little untraditional 🙂 but works really well!!) This will help her continue to organize herself over the 3rd bar, and will also help with serpentines because there is built-in reinforcement for getting in next to you, like she needs to do for serps.
Also, since she is working on coordination of turning away, lock in the bar to the jump cups, if possible, or use bumps so she can sort herself out without knocking or rolling bars.
Serps – Serps are hard indeed! The toy on the ground was part of the issue (see toy, run to toy LOL!) but we really want the toy on the ground for placement of reinforcement and head position, and we also really want you to not add extraneous handling cues of decel and extra rotation.
So 2 ideas:
separately from a jump, put a toy on the ground, and then assume the serp position (aka strike a pose position) and have her come in for a hand touch with the ‘serp’ arm – them use a marker to indicate the toy. She probably just needs a little refresher on this 🙂Do it standing still – and when she can do that, start to walk 🙂 That can help establish that the toy is not a lure for the line, but rather a placement that will come after a marker.
For working on the jump – it is very easy for BCs to run past serp jumps, as you know 🙂
>>(reminded me of her mom at this age)>>
Clearly genetic, blame the breeder. HA! KIDDING!!!! 🙂
But we don’t want you to have to decel or indicate a big arm cue over the bar or anything, so instead – angle the jump so as she exits the wing, the front of the bar is basically facing her. The toy will still be on the ground, your serp running will be the same – but it will be so much easier to take the jump now. The jump can start perpendicular to where it is now, if that is what she needs so you can keep moving. Then, you will gradually angle the jump back to that ‘flat’ serp type of jump – very gradually, over the course of several sessions. And when we put serp jumps into sequences, start with an angled jump so she can see it. That will reduce failure and build success, without you having to change the handling cue or run with the toy in your hand.
Here is a sneak peak from the next MaxPup with what I mean about angled jumps for serps, so the handler can keep running:
(the serp jump is the jump after the tunnel with baby Contraband here – think of the tunnel as where the wing would be and the next jump is the angle she needs to see – either this angle or an even easier one)
For the zig zags:
These can take a couple of sessions to solidify because they are pretty hard! Having these closer makes the quickness and coordination of the lead changes a LOT harder – so I think helping with your position was great! You can also help by tossing the toy to the push side of the wing when she does it, that can help her look for those pushes more and be less interested in running straight to you and the toy 🙂 Also reward some stays – she looked a little cheaty on that last one LOL!Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
Yes, the hidden toy is stage 2 🙂
Can you us a longer toy, or tie that one to something so you can swing it around more?Keep me posted on how today goes!
TracyHi!
>>My puppy was frustrated today at a seminar and I want to avoid what happened from happening again.
A few variables- the environment changed- the set up of training space And I was super nervous
The skill we worked on- basically wrapping cones she has very clear verbal cues but today the words changed based on the seminar I was in. After a couple reps she left me and stole a toy. >>I can’t say I blame her. How can I help her be more resilient? >>
I don’t think it is a question of resilience, as that implies that the dog should bounce back from big changes or lower success – that is not something a 5 month puppy needs to worry about. I would think of it as how to set up the training environment so that all roads lead to the game and a very high success rate. It sounds like the environment had too many alternate opportunities and she doesn’t fully understand how to make choices you would like all the time especially when trying to train something new or different.
So the first thing would be to reduce the environmental stimuli and set up a clean training environment:
– smaller training area, using gates if needed so she has some room but not a full arena of room 🙂
– no access to toys that she might steal and run off with. If she is going to take the toy and not bring it back… it simply cannot be within reach to allow it to happen. If you are using a toy, it can be tucked away in your pants or held.These will limit the options for reinforcement, and puppies are the masters of seeking positive reinforcement so she is going to turn to you more.
With that in mind: that is where we humans have to do the rest with our reinforcement 🙂 Starting with splitting the behaviors into tiny chunks really works, slicing as thinly as needed to help build understanding and a high rate of success. And, since we humans are often learning mechanics and a new cue and trying to do ALL the things while working a baby puppy, 3 ideas to keep the rate of reinforcement really high:
– change up the type/value of reinforcement a lot, so there is novelty to it
-practice the mechanics without the puppy (she is in a crate) so we can nail the mechanics fluently and THEN bring the pup into the picture.
– in between reps of the ‘skill’, I do reset rewards to keep the umbrella rate of reinforcement very high especially if I am competing with environmental factors.
What I mean by that is: there are 2 rates of reinforcement happening at the same time: the skill-specific rate (for the skill we are trying to train) and the umbrella rate (for all the the things that happen between reps :))So yes, we try to reinforce a lot of the skill specific stuff but in between – those are the critical moments. I get a reward in for the skill, then get some tugging, do a trick for a cookie or tug, reset at my side with a cookie to get the precise line up and great mechanics… then do a rep of the skill again. So the skill might get 1 reinforcement, and there are 3 or 4 more for the umbrella rate of reinforcement.
And if I mess of the rep? Well, my reinforcement bank account is so rich that the dog doesn’t really care – if I mess up the rep and don’t want to reinforce, I can go right into the reset routine of trick/cookie, line up/cookie, and back to the next rep.Going back to building resilience: two things happen when you watch both rates of reinforcement:
– the pup develops a positive conditioned emotional response to the environment and the work, and they won’t want to leave it.
– the pup won’t check out if there is a skill error, but the skill error predicts that reinforcement is still available from her interactions with you.The most common error is dog training especially sport dog training is that people don’t watch the umbrella rate… they only watch the skill-specific rate. The umbrella rate creates the positive CER which bleeds over to the skills and everything else. If the umbrella rate is too low, and the skill rate drops for whatever reason (we are human, we mess up a lot LOL!) then the pup will totally get frustrated and call and Uber and check out to find reinforcement elsewhere.
>>I want to be clear and not have her feel like what we are doing is not absolutely awesome>>
Umbrella rate – covers you for when yo are clean and not clear, it is all sandwiched by awesomeness.
<<I also notice that when we work on building layers- she does them, she gets her rewards- no failures,but after her reward she , if allowed will want to run off and be done. It’s the complexity and it’s not that she didn’t have the understanding of each piece. you could look at the proofing game with the wing and tunnel- she can rock it and after maybe two reps of doing the wing vs the tunnel ( she prefers tunnel) she would prefer to exit stage left.>>
This goes to umbrella rate too. The skill like the proofing game doesn’t have enough value yet (she is only 5 months old, right? And that is not that exciting of a game) to hold attention when competing with the environment. But the in between stuff that creates the umbrella rate sure does. That si where you can run around, play, get silly and reward all of that action, before going back to the crisper (and more boring, zzzzz) mechanics of the training games. And clean up your training environment… train in a space where she can’t exit stage left to seek reinforcement elsewhere. In order to be able to build up the value of the desired skills, you need to eliminate the opportunities to leave for the running around self-reinforcement.
Going back to your first sentence:
>> My puppy was frustrated today at a seminar and I want to avoid what happened from happening again.>>
There is a young dog on our flyball team that wants to chase other dogs. She can do the full pattern (4 jumps, box, ball, 4 jumps) but will immediately leave the pattern to chase. Replace that behavior in your sentence:
“My puppy chased other dogs at a seminar and I want to avoid what happened from happening again”So we changed the environment so she could NOT chase and so she could get all sorts of reinforcement for the skill and the play in between – the umbrella rate and the skill rate cloth increased dramatically and the self-reinforcement stopped. So now she is able to do runs at tournaments and ignore other dogs. So cool!
>>I have not had dogs like this in many years and I want to be better for her. She’s quick and busy and that doesn’t help. She wants me to have my act together 150 percent of the time.>>
She is a pretty normal girl dog LOL!! And from high drive working lines. That type of dog basically shouts, “GET YER SH*T TOGETHER, HUMAN!” LOL. But also, that is the best type of dog 🙂 And yes, she will help you sort out the mechanics and reinforcement – and then amazeballs things are going to happen. I know it will, she is so cool!!!!!!!!
let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
This was overall good! I’m happy with how she did so far and not worried about the daddy distraction 🙂
A couple of ideas for you:
Before your run, some time earlier in the day, go close to the ring and do the pattern games so she can acclimate. Then do some tricks and toy play. Then back to the crate 🙂
Before the run, you can do the practice jump and tricks, that’s all good! But when you get close to the ring, do your pattern games again and more tricks (rather than being too calm or stationary).
Then, and this is the biggest suggestion:
Go into the ring with the toy in your hand, not your pocket (I think it was in your pocket here). I want her to know you are training, just like at home, for now. And when you reward her, run and get her to chase for your the reward. Wheeee!
No worries about the daddy distraction, that was hard (your motion rather right towards the daddy even though you said tunnel). And MASSIVE THANKS to him for the video!!!!
Let me know what you think!Hi!
The forum is open until April 1st, so you can keep posting!On this video:
>>what I thought was an independent word she definitely told me was not!
Correct – she is reading your footwork and not the verbal.
So these were all handled backside lines – you stepped to the backside wing on all of them which is why when you didn’t step to it or you tried to move away… she went to the front side. At 1:35 you said something about not saying it 85 times… you can TOTALLY say it 85 times and in fact, I encourage you to say it more than once to help her process it with all of the other things that would be going on while running a course. But, she is not relying on the verbal here at all – it is all about whether you step to the backside properly or not (regardless of what you say in that moment).To get the verbal something she can respond to independently of your motion, set the game up differently so it is not about stepping to the backside at all, it is about the verbal.
To do that, lay a leash on the ground and move forward on the line of the leash so you are not stepping to the backside then rocking back you will just be walking directly forward and NOT stepping to the wing.
At first, the leash will go straight from where the wing meets the bar to where you are standing. You will hold her collar, start saying the verbal, then let go and just walk straight while continuing to say the verbal. No big steps to the backside, and keep walking forward along the line of the leash until she takes the backside. Then reward her when she takes it. When she is very successful like that for a session or two, you can move the line of the leash over to approximately the center of the bar – and walk straight up the line while saying the verbal. That can help the verbal cue override the handling and eliminate the need for you to get close to the wing or do a big step to it.
Let me know what you think!
Tracy
