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Hi!
>>Too bad they don’t fit in a nice gelato jar!
You ight need to find toys for her that do fit in those nice Gelato jars! Much tastier than mayo LOL!
Good morning!
>>And boy has Zippie gotten good at the Carry In / Set Down / Look at Mom. I’m so happy!
Awesome! The power of conditioning!!
Next steps: Let her engage before you move your cookie hands and also be sure there is nothing visible in your hands when you carry her in and put her down – in pockets, yes, and you can definitely pull out a cookie and reward after the engagement – but we don’t want the visible cookies or cookie hands moving to be the cue to engage.
Great job involving your friend as ring crew! She did well here. I also think on leash cookie-toss pattern games past ring crew – in the agility ring – are something you should do. This would just be on leash – not with agility involved, but just moving back and forth on the flat around the ring. that can be super clarifying for her!
If there is a person really nearby that she struggles with and needs to assess (like at :19) – be chill, let her assess, go into pattern game mode 🙂 Don’t block her, don’t call her back (she is not gong to respond with low latency anyway) and don’t use a cookie cookie cue (because it is a lure that will be unavailable in a trial environment). That is a definite pattern game moment: let her explore the distraction and when she re-engages: reward! What do you do in that moment where she needs to look at or sniff the distraction? Nothing 🙂 Just stand there and wait. Remember that her offering of engagement is what brings the cookie out, it is not cued engagement. Stand there, wait for her. It is only a few seconds of time but letting her sort it out will go a long way to helping her not get distracted. And having done it in the basic pattern game form (on leash in the ring, on the flat, no obstacles) will totally help establish her ability to ignore the ring crew.
After she assessed the person? She was much happier and did really well! She did well with the remote reinforcement, too! Remember to keep things very clean in terms of reinforcement and resets/starts of reps. We don’t want her to ask any questions – for example at 1:41, you brought her back to the start but then didn’t reset or reward, you just turned rght back into the sequence. I think clarity and clean starts are important and she definitely had question marks over her head about what was happening. It looks like there was a small on-the-fly cookie but it was a hard challenge for her, so a bigger moment of reinforcement is helpful (more like what you did at 2:44, that was a big party!), followed by a clean reset and restart.
When is her next class or training opportunity? Can you sneak into the ring before a class starts, or during a different class, so you can do the on leash ring crew pattern games? It is kryptonite installed into the basic pattern games.
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
>> I WILL bring our instant focus object next time.
The instant focus object is best for the first time in a new environment, so yes – bring it to the show but it is mainly for that first moment of arrival. You can also toss it into the car and take her a couple of new places this week, to play the game on the road.
>>If I’m asking her to line up and she stares and barks at me, how would you handle that? Say in a FEO run??>>
Move her to a slightly different spot, then set up the line up cue better. When she did it reall ywell, you left her in a bit of a stay, moved to your spot, called her into position. When it was not smooth, you were trying to do it with her kinda at your side, kinda in front of you – and it didn’t make sense to her.
If you are trying to make it clear and she just can’t do it? Note that, but then ask a different question in the moment – move to a slihtly different spot and ask for a stay and lead out. We note it for training purposes but we don’t keep asking for it in the moment.
>>Since my lineup is a work in progress, for “real” runs, should I stick to my present lineup or ask for my new one>>
Is the FEO run the first run? What happens there will give you the better answer, but if she is pretty successful with the clean line up, you can use it in any run. The ‘real’ run and the FEO run are only different because of where the reward is (inyour hand/pocket, or outside the ring). So if you are able practice the line up at home in a remote reinforcement game (no reward in your hand, the reward is behind you) and she is successful – then it is fine to use it in a non-FEO run.
The cookie-free pattern game (and the regular pattern game) is hard at home when she is naturally really engaged – you probably need to set up a disraction. When you said ‘go see’ she was confused and thought you wanted her to bring you a toy, and there was one nearby. So you can set up a distraction station and, with her on leash, walk past it as if entering the ring. The distraction canbe something she will want to look at (a toy on a table or something like that) so she learns to assess the environment, moderate her internal arousal, and engage with you 🙂
And when she does re-engage, I think cleaner markers will make things even easier. For the cookie free pattern games, when she re-engages, cue the behavior rather than give a big yes. Same with the 2 toys in your hands – use a ‘take’ marker and not a yes, because yes can easily get confusing as to whether or not she should ignore the toy or grab it on the yes. You had clearer markers when you had the cookies involved – but the toss and the tug in your hand were both ‘get it’ markers. She can of course figure it out based on hand movement, but ideally you have different markers (get it for a toss, take for toy in hand?)
She was barking a lot – partially because it was stimulating and the toy nearby was confusing to her, and partially because she barks when stimulated and that is great to work through. I don’t think we are ever going to have a silent Roulez 🙂 and that is fine. I don’t mind barking in agility as long as she is happily understanding her jobs and responding to cues 🙂
Great job here! I think the main thing will be to set up distractions at home, or do little road trips so there are distractions in the environment 🙂
Tracy
Hi! I think this is the run I didn’t see, I must have missed it, oops! This run is REALLY strong! He was mostly fast and focused here – he has a little trouble running past ring crew (definitely something to add to classes or training sessions). And also, take a look at the lead out:
You were all business as you moved to your lead out position (calm, not fully connected even though you were moving fast from :15-:19) and his state of arousal dropped. When that happened, distractions in the environment become more visible (he looked over at the judge) and latency gets higher/responses slower (he didn’t release on the first cue). But then when you crouched a little at :19 and said “ready” – boom! Off he goes, nice and fast. So I definitely think the cartoon lead outs will be useful for him! You will probably get so much engagement that you will need to shorten the lead outs a bit so he doesn’t break his stay as he is learning this.
Let me know how the cartoon lead outs go!
Tracy
Hi!
I agree – she is doing REAL AGILITY now 🙂 Hooray!!!The wrap proofing and Smiley Face games looked great! I am really excited about how well she is leading with her head through the wraps – that indicates she is going to be turning really well on jumps!
You can add more running as you reward, rather than stopping her as much with the food. Will she play tug outside? More movement with fod or tou rewards can help bring up her engagement even more – she only had one moment of losing engagement (1:20) but that was more about you having a hug moment so she perhaps thought she was a on a bit of a break 🙂
One more suggestion – if you give an early “yes”, she might pull off her commitment to the wing so try to either delay the yes marker or toss the food to the other side of the wing (or both :)) so she is not quite as locked onto your hands and is looking at the wing more.
For the next session, spread the wings out further from the tunnel, so she has more room to feel the joys of running 🙂 She is ready for it for sure!
Same thing with the Wind In Your Hair game – she is ready for more distance between the jump and the wing so she can run more 🙂 You can totally use your Go Go Go verbal. She really liked the tossed treats here – and you can also try a lotus ball or a treat hugger, so the reward is more toy-like. Eventually this can be all toys for her if she likes that, but food seems to be the winning reinforcement for now 🙂
Great job here! Onwards to more running and real agility 🙂
TracyMy leggings say thank you! I call these the Pebbles Flintstone leggings because they seem very Flintstones to me haha
Train both of the games so you and he know them. They both g in the toolbox – and as he gets mor experienced, the one you need in trialing will reveal itself. And if you think he is in one state and something changes at the start line, you can always whip out the other one in that moment! So if he seems ‘all business’ but then he has a big distraction, you can flip to the cartoon mashup to re-engage him. And vice versa – you might be planning a mashup but he is VERY EXCITED so you can change to all business in the moment (Elektra is like this now at trials – used to need a mashup lead out but now she needs me to be chill or her head will explode).
Let me know if that makes sense!
THi! Great job playing with both of these!
All business at home seemed fine, he was in a nice relaxed-but-engaged state but I don’t know if it will be correct for trials. it will be interesting to try it in training and see what happens. You were pretty disconnected as you sis the lead out here as far as I could see – even on “all business”, have a little bit of connection so you can see if he is moving/breaking and so he still feels the support of the connection.
> I kept forgetting to tell him to stay (he’s not breaking because there was never a stay command).
Yes, cue the stay 🙂 on all of these LOL!
>>Except I felt silly and on review I look like a normal ass person.
For the silly: you did look semi-silly here 🙂 You can make it more into the cartoon silliness by slowing down the creeping away (fast moving away is very challenging because it brings the dog right to the edge of breaking in terms of arousal). You can be more no your tippy toes, bent at the waist… plus that inhaling as if breathing in through a straw will really help this game look and feel more silly and engaging.
He definitely liked the silly lead out in terms of it seeming to be more engaging: he was more ‘ready’ on the release.
So take this to different places so we get a better handle on what helps him most. What is up next on his training/trialing/social calendar?
Tracy
Tracy
Good morning!
Ah yes, a bucket of tennis balls would do it. She wants to play flyball!!!
Both of these games are looking really good!
The ‘get out’ went really well on both sides. There was only one moment that wasa bit of a blooper, at :44 – your arm/upper body were doing the get out but your voice was doing the wrap verbal, so she was correct to NOT get out 🙂 Good girl, she was listening!
The rest had the verbal that matched the handling and she was perfect.For the next session, you can move the wing a little further from the jump which will give you more time to add in the cross in the advanced level, while challenging her to find the out jump that is further away. The advanced level looked great with the wing and jump close here, but it will be even easier (for you haha) when they are further away.
Mission Transition looks great too! Her commitment is looking strong – she was able to commit in collection while you were turning and moving like at 1:48 and 1:59! The only thing I will bug you about is to keep moving while you are connecting – you are generally good with that but at some of the exits of the wing wraps (like 1:28) you were a bit too bent over and staring at her LOL! Don’t be a helicopter mom 🙂 look at her, yes but keep moving. And if you are waiting near the start wing a bit so she can drive ahead, try not to bend over as much.
Her turning looks really great, especially with all of the Go reps mixed in!! Yay! I love that she is so balanced.
Great job! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi! The throws were not wrong, they were great for getting her to take the jump! Now we can add challenge with slices 🙂
T
Hi! The outs are going well! On the first side )lead chang eto her left) – she got better and better at finding the out jump (and it sounds like all of her go reps were good too!)
Adding the advanced step was good, because it helped lock in the behavior and where she needed to look:
At :41, you tossed a treat so she didn’t read the cross (busy eating LOL!) Then when she realized that you were doing a cross, she wanted to watch you – but you sorted it out and then at 1:18 it was GORGEOUS – her commitment was lovely and that turn was wicked tight! YAY! So this is a good game for her to learn to lock onto a line and leave you, even if you are moving the other way.I think lead changing to the right (towards the end of the video) is harder for her, so keep moving (try not to stand still at the line) and tossing the treats. Try to wait til she looks away to the jump before you throw, so she learns to look away immediately on the cue and not wait for the cookie toss.
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
His zig zags are going well! And yes, I feel the pain of trying to be quick quick quick with the arms – you can try it all with one arm moving in and out?But you can also angle the zig zag so the 1st and 3rd bars are pointing a little towards the camera and the middle bar points a little towards the tunnel here. That way he can find the lead changes and you don’t have to be as quick 🙂 I will draw it in class tonight if you remind me 🙂
He did really well with the smiley face tunnel games!!
>> So, instead of him not getting the non obvious end of the tunnel, he went there when I didn’t intend to send him.>>
Yes, he was a little sticky on the right turns in the beginning of the session – perhaps you turned a little early on the first rep perhaps and didn’t say tunnel? You were better on 2nd pass to the tunnel (you drove him all the way in) but the 3rd pass when he didn’t go in was virutally the same as the 2nd pass. So it is possible that he was anticipating the threadle? You can exaggerate the connection and drive directly to the tunnel, don’t turn you feet away from it til he is just about into the tunnel.
And you can use a reset cookie instantly after an error, so he doesn’t feel the urge to deliver tooth hugs (looks like he gave a little tooh hug/bite to your elbow LOL!)
The left turns looked great on the first full sequence with both the obvious end and the threadle! Your handling was really SPOT ON so it was very easy for him to know what was coming. Connected and timely with strong transitions!! Click/treat to you.
And that carried over into the last run with the right turns – that looked good too! I got the sense that he was a little sticky perhaps on that side but you really stayed connected and drove the lines.
I just love how he tugs and goes back and forth from the tug to cookies to the tug. That is hard for ANY dog, especially dogs that love food a lot – and he is doing beautifully 🙂
Great job! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi! This is going well!
>> there isn’t much transition yet because she stopped dead on the bar if I tried to leave>>
There was only one ‘stop dead’ moment here (:08) and it was because you decelerated and turned away all on one motion. But it could also be that she doesn’t want to commit without you 🙂 so for now, do 75% of the reps as go go go and 25% as wraps. The Go reps look really good!
You were using great placement of reinforcement just past the wing on the decelerations/wraps, which helps her want to commit and also helps get rid of the back jumping.
She didn’t back jump here on this video, but it is a common thing with athletic small dogs like Sassy! So you can help her NOT back jump by continuing to place the reward like you did. And, since she is really good with her wing wrapping, you can use just the wing with this game for now to remind her to commit and wrap. Then you can add the bar, leaning on a jump jump, so it will be one wing and a bar – much easier to wrap in that scenario than it is to back jump! Then when she is reliably NOT back jumping, you can add the 2nd wing back so it is a full, normal jump 🙂
One other idea is to add more connection – when she was on your right side, it looks like your dog-side shoulder was closed forward so she was looking at you, trying to find connection. So, you can have your shoulder a bit more open and dog-side arm back so she can see your eyes more 0 which will help her drive forward into commitment even more, making the decelerations and wraps easier. Because she is little, I prefer to emphasize the go go go commitment – the tight turns will be easy to add on later 🙂
Great job! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
She is brushing up on this nicely! The wing was pretty close to the tunnel which makes it harder for sure but she was getting it 🙂
She had an oopsie on the first rep of each side then did much better. It is possible that she was reading the setup and we have done a LOT of wing-to-tunnel here 🙂Two suggestions here (ok, 3 – move the wings further away – 12-15 feet would be great – so you have more room):
– As you are cuing the tunnel bypass, turn and move directly towards the entry you want. That will help her put herself into that end of the tunnel, rather than looking at you or waiting for your to flip her back into it with an arm motion. Ideally, the my my cue asks her to drive to the add end of the tunnel, no additional help needed 🙂
– add in the wrap verbal on the wing before the bypass so help prepare her for the tight turn needed and the next cue coming. You did use it here and there (like at 1:09) and it definitely helps!
>>I’m flinging my arms around.>>
Not too much! Arm movement is fine – we can fade out the help you are giving her to get into the bypass end of the tunnel but otherwise your arms looked good 🙂
>>P.s. when does the next class start? She’s getting spayed in early June, so she’d miss about 2 weeks.
It starts on June 18th! It will be posted in the next day or two.
Great job! Let me know how it goes with the bigger distances!
Tracy
Hi!
It is such a pain when life obligations get in the way of puppy training LOL! But she looks really lovely here 🙂
Go versus switch to the right looked really good!! You were showing nice clear early RC pressure, she read it really nicely: she committed and turned, showing no hesitation. YAY!When you did the switch to the left – I think there must have been a visual distraction straight out ahead or something on the first 2 reps. Your cues were basically the same as you did on the right (they looked good and it looks like she even changed her leads to the new direction – and if they were poopy she would have turned the wrong direction) but she was locked onto something out ahead – twice! It is possible she was anticipating the toy throw for the Go? But she didn’t have that question on the other side. So I bet she saw something straight ahead and was targeting to it at first. Then she picked up the rear crosses really well to the left also. So next time you play with the RCs, I bet she is perfectly fine to the left 🙂
Great job here!!! Let me know what you think.
TracyHi!
>> The toy playing is hot and cold. When he is interested he is over the top and when he is not interested just won’t interact. I will try to play with him more at home.>>
You can try dragging it on a longer line for him to chase, kind of like lure coursing – I bet he likes that in the ring too!
>>2. (maybe someone tried to shoo him away? Or another dog was there? It was not visible on camera.) Yes someone shooed him back into the ring. I had a new video person who didn’t know they should be filming the exit. I think he is distracted by the open gate, people standing close and talking, or that somewhere out there are his treats. It’s all of the above!>>
Yes, that exit area is so challenging and he was definitely offended by the person shooing him back in, poor Chuck! The exit area scenario is a great thing to add to training – ask friends, classmates, instructors to help you set up the scenario so he can learn how to ignore all of it while getting a ton of reinforcement. It is perfect for the Kryptonite games!
Tracy
