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Hi!
>>-For this do I carry a toy or pickup the toy from the remote reinforcement spot?
Carry one with you, it will be faster and easier.
>>Will work on moving it off to the side out of the ring is harder here because it’s a long way out way longer than a trial lol…>>
Ah! You can move a chair over or be lazy like me and drape it on a jump wing LOL
>>I do have a new soft tug leash coming so maybe that will help with some of this… hopefully it will come before class is over…
Fun!!!
>>How do you decide when to carry your toy to reward vs. dead toy on a thing in practice?
It depends entirely on what I want to train, and what the best reward is for that. Sometimes I specifically want to train the remote reinforcement, so I will leave it outside my ring or draped over something. But if I want to train an agility skill, I will bring the reward with me.
T
Hi!
>>e hasn’t done many seminars as of late, but the last few that he’s done, i feel like he’s been very focused. Even at the seminar when he was charged, He recovered better than I anticipated but was just overly hyper-vigilant and reactive. It happened 3 months ago. He continues to be a bit more reactive and specifically in training at carries he’s been prone to running off and sniffing even prior to work or if a mistake has been made. He will also if not swimming do the things I ask but not really be into his reward.>>
So doing well in seminars and not as well perhaps at Carrie’s with the pool present.
>>He’s still intact. I am so undecided on whether neutering is something I should pursue because it’s permanent and we are in that devil you know situation. Maybe I can pick your brain about it more over oysters in January. I do think it contributes largely to the sniffing and he does have a good bit of dog-y behaviors.>>
Neutering will not make his behavior deteriorate (I believe there are some good studies about this out there) – it will either remain the same, or make help him a lot. I have always seen good things with neutered males, especially when they have been struggling (my Nacho is a GREAT example of that)
After swimming he did 100% of what I asked him. Although I may have lowered my plan to make things super easy and have him be successful.
OK then next time – gather data: swim first, then try the more challenging plan. Don’t worry about success – just experiment. I am not too concerned about success during data gathering because a) he is getting to have a swim party b) we are not training with punishment. It is a win-win for him and info for us.
>> Carrie is anti dogs swimming if it’s super cold… that doesn’t bother me much if he wants to swim but it’s not my house
What is this “cold” of which you speak? LOL! Does he like hoses?
>I guess my other frustration is that the pool has to be first in the behavior chain right now. I haven’t been able to really get frizz, food games or agility first.>
Frustrating, yes, sure. But completely out of our control so we might as well embrace it.
It has been so terribly isolating.
Hugs! Call or message any time!
>>I am comfortable showing him nfc in Houston because the barriers are solid. I don’t think he’s quite ready for gating that is see through because if he’s not engaged or I make a mistake, he can easily see movement.>>
What happens at seminars when he sees movement? NFC has toys in the ring. And you can have helpers!
>>When we did Annette’s seminar at Melody’s, the ring was solid on three sides and open at the front with obedience fencing. He did very well and never once thought about leaving. >>
Good boy!!!
>>There was just one or two dogs as distractions. He made mistakes but stayed 100% engaged. I do think at some point I’ll have to trust him more but I personally need more positive reinforcement with him.>>
Flyball it: gather Team Fever and have helpers be near any place he might be distracted by other dogs or motion, so they can interrupt him and also they can kindly ask people to be a bit further away, invoking the Baby Dog rule. Flyball the sh*t out of it!!!
T
Hi!
>> When he is not overly aroused, I think he gets worried especially when he has to do a lot of jumps in a row.
Yes, arousal level is hard to balance – not enough arousal and a dog might worry. Too much arousal, and they cannot function as well. We need high arousal that is not TOO high.
>> He was jumping 18 inches and knocking bars a lot so his success rate was low and he would stop.
Do you mean he would hit a bar and get worried and stop? Or was he getting feedback that he was wrong for hitting it?
>> I wonder if our journey of low success with jumping might be contributing to this problem (I didn’t understand much about rate of reward then)
If the game stops because he has hit a bar then yes, it might be a contributing factor.
I think the underlying factor here is that he needs to be more comfortable in the ring and needs a better understanding of how to earn reinforcement (remote reinforcement).
>> The first video shows him stopping in the course this weekend on Sat.. This happens more in jumpers. he usually yawns when he stops. I had a plan if he stopped to get to the nearest tunnel and then jump our way to the exit. I couldn’t get him to move until I yelled tunnel and then it was like a curtain lifted and he started moving.
On the 1st run, it was hard to tell if he was injured or stressed, he was alittle stiff in his shoulders – but also looked like he froze when you wanted hom to turn away from the exit line (where reward would be) but picked up when you started running to the back door where courses often end in that facility (so perhaps he perceived it as heading to reward?)
>>The next day, I decided to give him a tunnel cue if he started to hesitate to see if I could get him to keep going. Even if we skipped jumps on the course on the way to the tunnel, he wouldn’t know and it would keep him moving. The second video shows that. he kind of glanced at the tunnel when I said it but kept moving on the path. I also cued the weaves before he took the jump before the weaves to let him know they were coming. After this run in the morning, he seemed more confident and was much faster. I didn’t adjust my handling very well from slow Buccleigh to fast Buccleigh so he was a frustrated on several occasions, but I was able to get the focus back and keep going.>>
On this 2nd run – he was moving better but I see the same questions about reinforcement: the further from any potential exit, the slower he goes (the off course was him heading to the exit). And then as you turned for the ending line, he got faster.
>>In terms of planning for Buccleigh, should I work on building value for jumping by increasing the number of jumps before a reward?
No, I think that would decrease the value because it is more work for the same reward. I think you can put in a lot of value for jumps by rewarding more, but the main thing is going to be remote reinforcement – he needs you to build things up with a lot of reinforcement so he can run full courses with people in the ring/outside of the ring… and no toys or cookies in the ring 🙂 Separately, I would enter a lot of classes where you can do short little training runs and run out for cookies – UKI has a ‘food box’ rule so you can ask the local UKI clubs to apply for it (it is SO EASY to do and helps the dogs so much!)
>>Could I use a tunnel of weaves as part of the reward? He likes them and they are available in the ring.>>
Maybe, but I would be concerned that they would lose their value and plus it is not always easy to use them as a reward.
>>We did tiny steps with the leash since we didn’t have time for much training, I just practiced slipping the leash handle over his head at the end of the run. It got us out and to the cookies faster so with more practice I think this will work.>>
Perfect!! He will like getting to the cookies faster 🙂
>>. I think we have many things we could work on and I don’t know where to start.
Question – is she fast and happy when there is food in your hand? If no – that is where you start 🙂 Food in hand in training til she is fast and happy doing all the things.
If yes, or when she is fast and happy in training with food with you – start showing her the remote reinforcement. I can see changes in her speed here too – she is really uncomfortable at the start (because it moves away from the reinforcement) and also in the places where the course turns away from the reward, which indicates the need for her to understand how to run without reinforcement in your hands.
>>We have been working on using the remote reward (manners minder or food in a treat pouch stationed at the start) and increasing the number of obstacles. It’s promising because she consistently runs much faster at the end of the run.
Perfect! Remember to ping pong the number of obstacles. And also, be sure that you don’t just run down a line towards the remote reinforcement – be sure that you are using your marker for it and heading to it when she is moving away from the obvious entry and exit of the course (moving away from the reward). That way, she will be fast on all parts of the course and not just when she thinks she is heading to the reward.
>>o I have been removing it as soon as we get in the ring and allowing her to walk to the start line on her own.
Perfect! She can also start from a stand stay, so there is no pressure if she doesn’t sit.
>> I need to break them down into smaller components and work on them one at a time.
Agility is a really complex sport, there is SO MUCH to train. So yes, you can break things down to build up a ton of value. And also, the remote reinforcement understanding is key to both of your pups! And any training-in-the-ring opportunities are great too!
Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning (somewhere it is still morning LOL!)
Let’s classify things right now as “cracking the code” to figure him out a bit more. I have questions for you, for data gathering purposes:
>> I feel like we have just had a major set back from our progress. I do think some of it relates to the off leash dog charging him at our last seminar. Whether or not it’s causation or correlation or unrelated, I couldn’t tell you but I’ve been on the struggle bus since.>>
How does he normally do at seminars? And how did the off leash dog affect his behavior afterwards? Also, how long ago was it? It takes 10,0000000000 positive reinforcements to change behavior, but only 1 traumatic event.
>>I do think I need to remind myself that he’s still very young and his focus is quite different than Callie’s.>>
Yes! And also remind me – is he intact or neutered?
>> he squeezes through the fence and goes to the pool. He won’t actually swim without me tossing a toy but does find staring longingly at the pool reinforcing.
I think one of the frustrations about working there might be that you are right next to the highest possible distraction in his world, especially if he can run off and have access to it. That makes things so much harder!!! I feel that pain!
>> He swims. Focus and arousal are great and he’s in a prime working mind. I’m able to run him with minimal distractions.
So after he got his swim… he ran fine with your original plan and did his sequences? Did he run off for the pool again?
>>So for the next round, I brought him directly to the pool to swim. We then played strike and tug with the leash and he went back up. The third time, swim, tug, really straight agility sequence which he did screaming fast and all in.
So let me get this straight – pool then work is going pretty well?
>>He can’t always swim at her place, so I don’t feel like it’s ideal but I also don’t want to fight or be a crutch.
Why can’t he always swim there? Just curious for planning purposes.
>>What I don’t know how to work through is this pool versus frisbee thing. I feel like his love for the frizz is so high in my yard. With the distraction of the pool, he really doesn’t pay much kind to the frizz unless he’s swimming.>>
Simple hierarchy. Pool trumps friz!
>>Should I just use the pool in the loop in Carrie’s yard and approach other places like my yard? He can’t always swim at her place, so I don’t feel like it’s ideal but I also don’t want to fight or be a crutch.>>
I would say yes. But start with the pool and do pool-friz-pool as the framework. And then start to install other things:
pool-friz-sequence-pool
pool-friz-sequence-friz-pooland separately:
friz-pool
friz-behavior-pool-friz
friz-behavior-pool-behavior-frizand so on til it is
friz-behavior-behavior-behavior-friz and only pool if you feel like itAnd by “friz” I mean any reinforcement, eventually. Right now, I think kibble just won’t work LOL!
>>After I worked my dogs, Carrie and I instructed a few people in her yard. ALL of the dogs but the goldens were highly distracted and stimulated by the smells. I didn’t feel as bad watching them but It’s still not what I want.>>
Yes – but it gives you insight into “it is not just me!”. It is hard for everyone, in different ways.
>> I just want so bad to get him eventually to a trial.
That is why I asked how he does at seminars, which is closer to a trial environment than Carrie’s place. If he can play with reinforcement at a seminar, the next step is NFC at a trial.
>> I feel like we’ve worked so hard and his skills are so good that my emotions just get high because I feel like I’m failing him. >>
You are not failing him at all, I am sure intellectually you know that. But the emotions of the sport do run high, so that is why I turn to data gathering: if we can’t get the behavior, let’s figure out why then we change what we are doing and BOOM! We get it 🙂 It isn’t exactly linear like that but it might help.
I personally approach agility more like flyball: it is a team sport, where everyone works together to help each dog and handler. Agility can be quite isolating, which is also very emotional. So let’s flyball the sh*t out of these issues and get him into the ring!
>>Hope your UKI trial went well with the youngsters!
It was good and I was able to get a little bit of NFC footage to share.
Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning!
>> I can also make the sets even shorter – I thought 3 – 5 was okay, but I can see where making them short and sweet, especially if we move toward the “crowd,” is important.>>
I think 3-5 is great when moving away or even longer sets! But when presented with weird things… one fast & fun thing and then reward 🙂
>> sometimes her exit line goes toward them. I can certainly curve it so it’s not a direct shot.
You can add in having the line goes towards the weirdness then run away to reward her, that relieves the pressure of being near the weird things 🙂
>>Since we hadn’t done this game before, I didn’t know where the instructor was headed. We will absolutely play this at home and away from concerns for now.
I can see that this will be a useful game in the future!
>>Will she play frisbee or chase balls at all there? If so, I would definitely incorporate that in the ‘ignore the people’ sections 🙂 Or, save the the higher value food for that.
>>I have tried tug toys, her frisbee, tennis balls, squeakers and even a flirt stick. Her reactions vary. Sometimes, she’s happy, and sometimes it bombs. I seem to get a better response when we are farther away from the people section, but sometimes she’s just not interested (very different from home!) When that happens, I grab her lotus, the lotus with the flappy parts, or one of her nibble treats, and reconnect that way. Food does seem to be our most favorable reward and connector in the “outside world”.>>
I think for now you can stick with food of the highest possible value 🙂 Yum yum!!!!
>>Thanks for your encouragement. As you know from the videos, she has a great time with agility at home. In the “real world” sometimes she has a great day, other times it’s a mixed bag. The good days are starting to outnumber the mixed ones, which is so great to see. She is so much fun and she HAS so much fun when she’s focused and happy. I want that for her and us.>>
I totally agree!!!! We are very close to unlocking the code to what she needs here!!!! And I am excited about that. Yay!!!
Tracy
Hi there!
>>I have no clue why youtube didn’t put a preview up
yeah, something has changed in the software update and I need to ask the tech person how to smooth it out.
>>And yes I’ve slipped into posting random behavior shapping lessons…but good for me to film and look at the session 🙂
Actually it is great because we can look at how the reinforcement procedures get installed into training! And yes, it is always good to film!
>>I liked that I had a plan and carried it out (get her on the board at beginning of session, do downs next to it to warm up behavior, and then try to intersperse a down on the board).
Yes! I think you can separate these elements more so she was more sure of what to offer in each step. Things really got rolling when you started working the downs. She had a little trouble with the down on the plank, but I think it might have just been that the plank was a little too narrow for her to offer the down comfortably. When she doing it on the flat, she rolls a little on her side – so the narrowness of the plank might have inhibited the down a little. You can try 2 planks pushed together so she has a wider playing field.
Looking at the markers/verbals:
>>I didn’t like my excess talking (good job, excellent).
I don’t mind this at all, but try to keep the markers for reinforcement he most salient element of it and clean – you can chat her up between reps or during cookie reloads 🙂 The catch markers were useful here too! You can also use cookie-in-hard markers to help get the down on the board:
when she gets on the board, you can mark that with with your cookie hand already on the board and the marker to get the treat from the hand (which might help elicit the down). Or, you can have your cookie at her nose level and when she gets on the board, use the follow-moving-cookie reward marker so she follows it downward into the down.I think offered downs will be easiest to reward, so the bigger planks will help get that, or you can even had a dog bed that she does the down on next to the plank, then move it onto the plank 🙂
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
Tracy
Good morning! He did well here – it was really hard with the reinforcement right there facing him, but he was able to figure it out! Yay!
A couple of ideas for you:
Because having the reinforcement directly in front of him as he jumped towards it, you can also reinforce him for NOT going to it by marking the turn away from it with a reward marker that indicates a toy in your hand. That will build value for ignoring the intended remote reinforcement ahead until you mark that he can have it.
Then the next step is to move it gradually further and further away, til it is off to the side then out of the ring. He should still know where it is, but the further away it gets (eventually) the more like a trial it will be 🙂 He seems ready for you to be moving it further away now.Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning! She is doing really well!
Toy races – driving ahead looks great! She is smoking you, yay!!! Take this game on the road, it is a fun way to get engagement in new places!
I see she is wearing her leash and on that first rep in particular, she doesn’t appear to love it when you reached for her collar. So for the purposes of this game, hold the leash closer to her so you can still get a restraint – but if she is on leash, be sure that it is far from you feet so you don’t get tangled up at all as you are running so you don’t fall or accidentally step on the leash as she reaches the end.
Separately, you can work on collar grabs so she learns to love them – I would use this game, with treats, for that: reach for her, drop a treat, she can get it. Touch the collar, drop a treat, she can get it. Finger under the collar, drop the treat, she can get it. Work up to being able to reach for and hold the collar – pretty soon she wil be putting it in your hand and you can fade the leash 🙂
Any toy game – lucky pup, she has a lot of FUN toys! You can structure this with a hierachy – the toy pile can kind of be hidden behind you or in a bag or something. Then pull out a less interesting one, get engagement – then pull out one of the ones she REALLY likes to help build value of the ones that are less exciting (for now) because the exciting ones will reinforce playing with the less exciting ones. It might be hard to know which ones are favorites and which are not yet, but this game will totally help everything be equal in terms of balance. And I love that you did it in a small space. She had trouble with the other dogs barking – will she chase the toy if you throw it when they are barking? You can see if making the toy ‘fly’ when they are bakring helps her ignore the barking.
Wing wraps with the upright: Looking great too!
>>my fault I did not bring enough treats with me
ha! I am sure she would like a million treats LOL! I agree – she was totally getting the rhythm here! Yay! Next step (other than bring the whole bag of treats LOL!) is to delay the cookie drops til she is almost back to the bowl. Let her offer more behavior (look at how she offered when you were getting more treats out!). Then you can move the bowls a little closer to you. When she can do it with more delay between cookies/more offering, we will then get you sitting in a chair while she does it, then work our way to you standing.
The decel/handler focus game also looks really good. You can decel sooner so she can also decel sooner, to set up a tighter turn (on the early reps where you were moving), Later on you tossed the treat further (like :37) and were stationary, and that set up a good turn! So now do a little of both – keep throwing the treat further, but also add a little moving with early decel. The FCs at the end looked great!
Nice work here! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning!
>>But I’m never quite sure when to move on to the next game…still on Week One!!
You are actually past week 1, it all blends together LOL!! I know when to move on when I am at 90% or higher rate of success for 2 sessions in a row – you have that here. Plus I am happy to tell you when to move forward LOL! (Spoiler alert: you can move forward on both of these :))
Prop sends – she is doing well! The only thing I suggest is that you insert that little ready dance moment before each send. She starts in front of you, you do a bit of “ready, ready”… then send. That ready dance helps her be ready for the send so we get much crisper behavior, plus it builds in teaching the pups to go from handler focus to line focus. Doing it as more of a loop without the ready dance (she gets the cookie and then a send as she is heading back to you) tends to get sloppier behavior because the timing gets harder and the pups are not always prepared for the send.
Plus the ready dance is just fun, silly engagement that actually goes a long way to be able to get engagement without food or toys 🙂
So for the sends to the props – you can now add in the countermotion – starting with the sideways sends, start to move away just before she arrives at the prop. You might need to toss the reward to the prop to keep the value high, and that is fine 🙂
Adding height to the hydrant was clever!!!!!! Love it!!!! She was great and you are standing and as far from it as we need you to be (for offering) so onwards to Turn And Burn! Wheeee! Question: how stable if this setup? She might touch it during turn and burn, and we don’t want it to fall over or startle her. If the lower hydrant is more stable, that is perfect 🙂
Great job here! Onwards to all of the next things 🙂 Let me know what you think!
TracyHi there! You got in lots of good training here!
The Lap turns on the flat looked pretty perfect on the early reps to your right hand, you waited til just the right spot (when he was super close to your hand) and turned him beautifully. One suggestion on all of them (both sides) is to extend your hand towards him more, locking your elbow so your hand is as far away from your torso as possible to really draw him in (making it super visible).
Your left side reps were not as comfy at first, you moved a little early at :18 so he ended up not setting his rear as well. But you got smoother and smoother as you practiced on that side and then both sides ended up looking pretty equal.Tandem turns are going well too! Question: how do you normally do a tandem turn or a rear on the flat with your other dogs, in terms of which hands? You were using the outside arm here which is fine (some people use both hands) so for the sake of sanity 🙂 you can do whatever you would do with your other dogs. One suggestion here is to show your outside arm/turn arm for longer before turning him away. Think of it as taking a moment to catch his attention for a longer heartbeat before you turn him away – your arm cue and turn away were almost simultaneous here, so he was wider from you which makes the turn a little harder. The arm cue will draw him in a bit, making the turn easier and tighter when it happens a couple of heartbeats later 🙂
Adding prop in the next section: really nice!!! Keep extending the cookie hand towards him to make it even more obvious. Great job getting the turn and then he was really good about hitting the prop! You can move forward with this: the cookie hand movement can move a little faster (not sooner, but a little faster when he gets to you). And then if he is happy to go faster (it doesn’t have to go very fast, just a little faster) then you can fade the cookie in the hand cue, and reward him for turning then hitting the prop.
The leg bumps with cookies looked really good! He was trotting on the bends with cookies, which is fine because it is good for balance to do that, like curved cavalettis. He did bounce across your knees for the cookies – you can toss the cookies further away so he can bounce back through with even more speed 🙂
He did really wll when you did the bending for the toy – he was bouncing on those bends, which is really lovely for balance and body awareness too! Yay!For the cavalettis – these were really easy for him so we can raise the height of the cavalettis (wrist height would be a good challenge!). And then you can get a few offered steps before dropping the cookie in so you don’t have to lead him through as much. You can also put empty bowls out at either end as a focal point (and cookie delivery location lol) to help get straighter trotting through.
>>Do you think we need to work up to a toy or is a treat or manners minder sufficient (for the ladder)?
Yes, but not necessarily now (and for conditioning purposes in the future, cavalettis can always be done for food). When he understands it more independently and the rungs are taller – you can add in the toy gradually by having it present as you use treats, either in your pocket or off to the side. Then eventually in your hand (while you still reward with treats) and eventually it can be the main reward – his success will guide you as to how quickly you can add it in. We are going to want him to be able to maintain good form even when stimulated, so this is a great place to start.
Start line – this is going well! You can fade the clicker now, and just use your catch marker or your release word (depending on where you want to deliver the reinforcement). As you add duration and moving away, you can still use the clicker if you want but you will want to click when you are ready to end the stay (not when he moves into the sit) – so it would be sit, you move away, then click, catch, toss the treat. Or, you can fade the clicker so there is one less thing to worry about 🙂
Sometimes he needs an extra heartbeat to be able to process the sit cue – he is still chewing or something and you say it – so he doesn’t always process it on the first rep. So, you can get engagement (eye contact) to be sure he is ready, then cue the sit – then wait and see so you don’t end up saying it a couple of times. If he forgets for a moment, you can move him to a new spot and ask again 🙂 Same thing for when you are using a hand cue to line him up – try to use the hand motion then the sit cue, just once – to give him a moment to process, Young dogs need a moment LOL! For example at 1:23, you moved the hand fast and said sit a couple of times, so he didn’t quite sit as precisely as possible.With the catch tosses – I think it is fine for him to move as soon as you say the catch marker – it is also a release. He doesn’t have to hold position til the food arrives, he can move as soon as you say ‘catch’ because it means reinforcement is available near him 🙂
You can also use a toy for this! I like to add stimulation to stays by playing this game with toys too!
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi! You don’t need to use a ladder or build/buy one, I think cavalettis will work! Cavaletti spacing will vary as he gets older, and based on the goals. For now, we are teaching balance and body awareness, so you will want the cavalettis super low (wrist height) and probably less that 12″ inches apart for now. He is little so we don’t want the distances to cause too much extension in his trot, for now 🙂
T
Good morning!
>>I’m a little confused as I thought you wanted the sit offered. Her verbal sit and down are honestly not that strong. I’ll play with this more as it’s raining for a few days. Maybe the heavier toy is easier to be accurate versus the Charlee Bear.>
Sorry! I wasn’t that clear with my idea about cuing it, it was a severe lack of caffeine day! There are a couple of different approaches we can take, all will work beautifully as long as we keep her at a high rate of success. Yes, you can wait for an offer – if she might offer something that is not a sit, you can go with whatever she offers 🙂 since there was no specific cue, just the international posture of “offer me something” we can accept any offered position as a way to start the game.
Or, if you are wanting to isolate the sit, you can use cues that elicit it: this can be your verbal or your hand signal or even something that elicits it like a cato board or something that is already associated with a sit.
Either path will work well, eventually you can cue whichever one you want – offering positions works great or using cues that she already has positive associations with are helpful too, and then the concepts transfer easily into a start line routine. And the other element here is that whatever the pups offer naturally might also end up being the best/easiest choice for start line position! The sit, down, stand, etc are all valid start positions 🙂Handling combos look great, she is going FAST and turning tight even in a small space! Her cone wrap is looking really strong here:
>>Plus, she’ll pull off if I move away quickly o I’ll review that lecture as well.>>
Pull off the cone? She was good on the reps you had here, so if you had reps where you were moving away sooner and she didn’t commit you can revisit the turn and burn game which has more countermotion, and move your start position a little further away. Plus, turn and burn doesn’t require a lot of space because you don’t have to add a lot of distance or run fast – you can increase challenge by leaving sooner and sooner, by walking.
One tiny detail – while she is still behind you, stay connected even as you give her the bowl marker – try not to point forward to the bowl, leave your hand back to her instead. Pointing forward might end up disconnecting her when you have bigger distances involved or she might read it as a blind cross and end up changing sides.
I agree, it was hard to get the blinds in because she was moving fast, but you did get 2 pretty good ones in at the end!! The smaller space requires you to be very quick, and you rose to the challenge. YAY!!!
Decel and Pivots are also going well – you seem more comfy on your right (with her turning to her left). The first pivot at :38 was utter perfection in terms of your timing, connection, hand placement, speed of pivot! Click/treat for you both! She turned beautifully there too.
You were not as early at :44, plus I think you called her “Gemma” so she looked at you and then went past you LOL! :48 was a little late too but you got her and then she did turn really nicely (to her right). Both of those were on your left side – at :54, you were perfect again (she was on your right) So when you are doing this on your left, you can try to start super early and that can help you get the mechanics feeling more comfy.
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning!
>>I asked him and so we ended up doing the full little sequence of 12 tunnels. He has done single tunnels in our training but I don’t have them set up sequenced tunnel to tunnel, so it was a little mind blowing for him but he did pretty amazing.>>
Awwww good boy!! So fun!!!!
That Puppy Garten is pretty incredible, so fun that they had that! Wobble boards in a new place, planks in a new place, ladders, low teeter all the things!… he seemed very happy!
I love that you added in turning around on the dog walk plank – It was too tall for hopping off it but turning around and balance is so useful!
Perfect tunnel boy with the people and dogs walking around!!! And stays looked great too. Doing it front of the tunnel seemed to be pretty easy for him.
The tunnel run was such a great baby dog opportunity – what a rockstar that he found ALL of those tunnels!!! And stayed focus in a pretty busy environment – it looked like he had a grand time and that will go a long way to transitioning to trials when he is old enough, SO FUN!!!!!!
I love this PuppyGarten concept, totally going to steal it for trials 🙂 Great job with making this such a fun and successful event for your baby dog!!!
Tracy
Good morning! These all look great, she is very fun 🙂
The Drive ahead games looks great, she has a TON of toy drive! One suggestion is to release her very quickly before she looks back at you. You don’t need to ask for duration yet on the focus forward – on that last rep, she was so cute: she focused forward but then you didn’t let go, so she looked up at you – adorable! You can let go of her pretty quickly on these.
She was definitely ready for you to add the toy races, so I am glad to see them here in the next video!The first toy was a little interesting but you might have held her for too long because she was looking up at you. I agree that the 2nd toy was VERY exciting! Good choice for this game! She was great about letting you add a lot of motion – no problem at all and she is happy to leave you in the dust LOL! So keep adding distance and also take this on the road (using shorter distances) to as many places as you can take it! It is a fun game to get engagement in a new places.
Decel to handler – this is also looking good! This MaxPup class has a lot of little dogs, so I have some ideas for how to make this easier with the littles 🙂 We want her to see your hand and see connection and NOT bounce up… but we don’t want you to have to bend over the whole time because your back might get angry 🙂 So feel free to replace your magic cookie hand with a long spoon or dowel with a little dab of cream cheese on it – that way she has a focal point down at her nose level, especially for the pivots, and you don’t have to be bent over the whole time. You are totally welcome to do it bent over to get your hand down to her nose level, but we don’t want to make your back angry LOL!
A couple of other small details – the reps where you had clear connection worked a lot better for her to know where to be. For example, at :26 she didnt’ know which side to be on (she didn’t see enough connection after the cookie toss), so you can just reward and reset with more conneciton on the next rep. Your connection at :40 was much clearer (and also on the reps after it) and she was terrific!
She is also a speedy little pup, so you can add more distance here – start with yourself as closer to the camera as you can and toss teh cookie as far away as possible, just to give you an extra heartbeat before your little speedster gets back to you LOL!
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi! We have been lucky with the weather! Hope you are also having a good weekend!
Leo was quite the brilliant boy here!!!! He was cracking me up – did you notice how sometimes he would “stick the landing” by lifting both back feet together and smacking them down at the same time on the thing? So funny! “MOM I DID IT!”
Haha!
Now, we would prefer the pups *don’t* stick the landing because it puts all the weight on their shoulders (a lot of them are offering it here) so you can do 2 things to help him keep his rear feet isolated:
– Start closer to the thing so he just has to step back to it
– When you add distance, reward sooner while he is still backing up with independent back feet (before he gets to the thing).I am saying ‘thing’ because he was great about finding whatever you asked him to back up to – he seemed perfectly confident the moving stuff to! Yay!
One more thing to consider: Marker words for the rewards. You were using “yes” and “good” but I think he is ready for markers that both tell him he is correct, and tell him where the cookie is: that would be something like “get it” if you are dropping it, or I use “snacks” if I want the dog to come to my hand. Leo and his classmates are progressing really quickly, so this week I will add more discussions about markers and stuff!
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
Tracy
