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Different words is good – try them in different tone/pitch so they are easier to differentiate, especially in more challenging environments.
Hi!
>>I was thrilled with how she did. If 100% was best ever starts (ranked on speed, focus, directability, not handling), these were in the high 90%. Third start was like the first. Fourth was like the second except a little barkier, a little stickier, and a little more distracted. Fifth was a little more of the above. So if I lost 5% of the package on the 4th, I lost about another 5% on the fifth.
Awesome! This is good!
>> Honestly that felt most like mental fatigue with maybe a little physical fatigue thrown in.
Yes, and also it is possible that you don’t have the full understanding yet on how to control her volume dial as the day gets later or she gets tired 🙂 This is where I would go to the toolbox of action tricks and start asking for the crazier ones, and bring out the better toys or treats 🙂
>>She did hold every stay that I asked for all day. The last seminar we had some intermittent problems with broken start lines.
Good girl!!!
>>I do find that I struggle a bit off the start too. I work so hard to maintain her focus and not spin up with her that I then tend to be late and forget cues off the start.
Relatable!!! it is better to keep things simple and reward early, then pick up with the handling after you have rewarded the good start behavior.
>>> 5 8 minute turns are tough for me too.
Yes – 8 minutes is a LONG time. And the physical fatigue by the end of doesn’t help either. Maybe you can split your turns into 2 4-minute rounds?
Tracy
Hi! This is looking good and now I want some cheese puffs!
Even with cheese puffs, she was sometimes taking a while to get back (especially at the beginning) so you can do pattern games with the cheese puffs to help estabish the “hurry back” 🙂
You can now build in the dismount and stay. When you add teh dismount and stay, you can move away just like you do with your current stay behavior – just tell her to stay and then takeoff 🙂
>>Do you think it would be a mistake, or helpful, if I taught Roulez to bark on cue?
If you do it as a trick and reward it a lot, you might find it helpful especially in training, when you can use it to increase her arousal. And if she is barking at you on cue (and not out to the universe) then you can get good focus from it! I also teach barking dogs how tot be quiet on cue (for example, Voodoo barks, clacks, and is silent on cue – he isn’t silent for long, but it is keeps him thinking between the noisy moments haha)
>>btw, both dogs got the Let’s go down!!>>
Yeah! Remote reinforcement is so useful!
Great job!
TracyHi!
>>wanted to know what would be best
>>Should I continue to work all three or pick one?Work all 3 – he will tell you which is best in the trial environment.
The video is looking good. We will throw out the first rep (he just couldn’t find the treat).
What does line up mean, specifically? Move to position or down or stand or? I think he believes it is down wherever he is, based on the timing of your cue. Through the leg was good a very fun snappy setup but I think line up should be used as the cue for only one of these behaviors, not both – they are different behaviors (I think it was the same verbal cue).Tapping was good but you can also just reward for getting to your side, rather than going into the down. That will help him move to your side faster, then I think the down will be easy.
>>The pressure of me standing over him is a lot so we worked that a bit too.
You can split the behavior for now and just toss a cookie through so he runs back and forth for more sessions so he loves to find that spot between you feet. And, you can bend over less – cue him to come to the spot then stand up so there is less pressure.
Great job! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
Really good work here varying the amount of steps before you went back to the cookies! Yay! He was great with this. You don’t need to say ‘yes’ because we don’t want yes to mean leave for the cookies (like if you say “yes!” for a great weave entry :)) so you can just say the marker word 🙂The other thing you can do here is be more boring LOL!! Walk away more casually: you should watch him to look at his responses, but move a bit more slowly and with a more relaxed posture. That way he can engage when you are exciting, and when you are just acting normal 🙂
Great job here! Have you gotten a chance to look at the engaged chill game? That will help too! I scrolled back but didn’t see it, let me know if I missed it!
Tracy
Hi! There are so many good things happening in these videos! I totally see why you want to sort out the little details – he is really talented and has a lot of great skills!!!
He definitely has trouble in front of the crowd – could be that he is a little nervous about the people and dogs (the barking dog in one of the videos seemed to be a definite distraction!) or he knows his reward is out there – or both. All of the stuff in the back of the ring was great! Anything in front of the crowd we either slower, or he would get distracted and look around, or he would tap and out leave (like that weird start facing the wall and crowd before the dog walk).
So yes – keep playing with the line up! I am glad he likes that game 🙂 And the top games to look at are the pattern games (we will use them to get him relaxed near the crowd and ignoring the people and dogs) and the remote reinforcement game (which will teach him that yes, the reward is outside the ring, but ignore it til cued).
Let me know how the games go! We will be building on all of them soon.
TracyHi!
>>That CONNECTION pop up really showed me where and how to execute connection for countermotion (the “WHY” is clear). I also have your COUNTERMOTION seminar to work through (that’s next). Everyone around me is probably tired of me saying, “Tracy said this and Tracy said that.” I don’t care. Learning is awesome!>>
I am glad you are enjoying them! Connection is my favorite thing to train!
>> Your reference to this was that it was a good thing (because Prism read it properly), but I thought you said NOT to face backward (Like we all have done for years) but to keep moving forward.
Sorry if I was not clear, sometimes more caffeine is needed! A grapevine or false turn footwork in the threadle is not a good thing 🙂 Feet should be moving forward to the next line and not to the dog. Upper body can rotate (some use a dog side arm, some use a cross arm) but feet should not rotate.
>>[in re-reading this, I think I should video what Barb has taught me for physical cue on Threadle and see how that fits. In this class we have been trying to train verbals such that the motion does not help, but I get the feeling this maneuver ought to have the correct physical cue associated with it]>>
It can totally help a young dog to see the handling (I was doing some handling in the demos). My guess is that Barb is teaching a European-style threadle with feet moving forward up the line (facing the future) and upper body doing a cue (indicating the present)
>>I am sending video of SERP vs. Threadle (to challenge the VORTEX temptation).
I can’t get the sound to play on these (I tried a couple of devices – is it just my side of it or did the sound somehow come off?
Watching without sound –
>>. I see a question mark over his head when he takes the SERP jump without the big leap he does when it is really a SERP.
on the serps at the start of video 1, you are a bit far from the jump and not moving on the serp line, so he correctly jumping in longer to match the line you are setting. For a serp, you should be close enough to touch the jump and moving parallel to the bar the whole time and not away from it laterally That will eventually be your line on the threadles too
You ran a better line, tighter to the serp jump at 1:18 and 1:55 on the 2nd video, for example, and those serps looked really strong and slicey 🙂
For the threadles:
The threadles have a high failure rate so reminding him to wrap the barrel is a good thing (without sound, I could not tell if you were cuing the wrap vebal or not on the failure reps). When cuing the wrap on the barrel, to set up the threadle, though, try to keep moving ever so slowly towards the threadle jump and don’t do it as a full post turn away from the barrel.
>> I see confusion more than Vortex
I agree – he doesn’t understand it well enough yet to do it at speed and with a balance option. I think that is fine and at his age (14 months now?) that his threadle understanding should still be worked on one jump and not from a barrel on the flat angle with serp balances – just too hard for now. When you were getting him to come in during the 2nd video, you were decelerating and rotating which is probably not what you will eventually want. I do an around the clock threadle game with the youngsters, adding my motion on one jump before adding an additional wing or jump. Here is an example:
>>Yes, I WANT to use the marker word, “GET IT” in place of “YES” but I often forget. I DO have “MINE” for the “toy is not available”.
We all forget or spit out the wrong thing – ask me how many times I yell TUNNEL! when I want a jump, or call the dog by the wrong name hahahahaha Oops!
>>The reset cookie (which I think should be called an effort cookie——- but I get it, because we are resetting for the next rep) is really working.
I totally call it an effort cookie in my regular life and in my flyball training 🙂 Agility people don’t really respond to that for some reason (not sure why) so I have switche to calling it a reset cookie and they are happy LOL! And that makes the dogs happy. But you are correct: it is an effort cookie that is placed in a way that also lines up the dog for the next rep, while giving me a moment to figure out how to help the dog get it right 🙂
>> Prism now expects a cookie at set up instead of fighting with me and the toy.
That is AWESOME <3 He is more relaxed and not frustrated!
>> And since we are on this topic…I have been wondering about the dogs who bite their owners at the end of a run (because they are used to tugging a toy at the end of a sequence) and dogs who run to get their leash (and miss a last jump or turn by the gate). Does your experience plan on this when the toy is thrown or placed OFF the human?>>
Both of those are training errors, not doggie errors 🙂 (Side note – I have see National Championships lost because the dog ran to the leash on the ending line and didn’t take the last jump. More than once! EEK!!!)
Both issues have to do with the dog not understanding the reinforcement procedures: the biting is a high arousal frustration behavior because in the trial setting, the dog is frustrated, aroused, and doesn’t know what to do at the end of a run (because the handler has not taught end of run procedures, not because the dog is used to tugging). The dogs who go grab their leashes also do not understand reinforcement procedures of remote reinforcement (how to ignore your reward until you are specifically sent to it).
I have not had an issue with any of it with my dogs or student dogs, because we teach the dogs all of the reinforcement procedures involved with training and trialing, and keep a high rate of reinforcement so they are not frustrated 🙂 I was just outside teaching one of the baby dogs the reinforcement procedure for flyball: leave the frisbee on the ground, go 80 feet away to get the ball, bring the ball all the way back to the frisbee, out the ball on cue and take the frisbee on cue.
>>Thank you for the wide open courses and spacing advice on the exercises.
I am SO WORRIED we will never get the turns at speed.>>It is normal to worry about those things with young talented dogs! I have lost sleep over such things with my young dogs (which makes me laugh at myself a bit, but it is the truth!). You are TOTALLY going to get the turns you want, we just don’t want them yet. He has the body, brain and training to get the turns, but right now we want him understanding and going fast while being thoughtful. The rest will get built in then BOOM! it will be there 🙂
>> I KNOW I need to trust the process and keep showing him the progressive challenges in brief segments (my first super fast agility BC).
Yes, but it is hard to trust the process when it is your first time through it. You can look at a timeline of expectations, tat might help:
He is 14-15 months old, so what we want now is SPEED SPEED SPEED FIND THE LINE GO FAST while maintaining reinforcement procedures, thoughtfulness, and good mechanics and coordination. He is not nearly in his adult body so it doesn’t matter what the turns look like now – as long as he is coordinated and thinking, we are in a good place.At 18 months or so, you should see more of his adult body (my two 20.5″ tall intact male BC-types were not in their adult bodies til after 2 years old) but he will still be a little gangly and sorting things out. You want to focus on speed and line at this point, letting him power through those with an occasional turn then back to speed.
At about 2 to 2.5 years, he can start trialing, he will be mostly physically mature. When he is in his adult body, you can then ask for the real turns and they will be there, without sacrificing the speed 🙂
I debut dogs a little later than a lot of people, especially male dogs. I have friends and colleagues who have their big boys out running at 15 or 18 months – full height, doing all the things. I bring the boys out closer to 2 or 2.5 because I want more confidence and power and understanding, plus I want them to be physically ready (starting a dog with all the things in competition at 15 or 18 months does not bode well for long term soundness).
>>Once she and I learned power steering, it seemed like she slowed down, such a smooth and efficient jumper.>>
Did you quantify that with a stop watch and YPS tracking? It is possible that she was just as fast or faster, but smoother so it felt slower. My best runs and high level wins felt “slow” because they were so in sync and smooth. The worst ones feel fast because they were a wild ride LOL!!!
Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning! These are going well! A couple of ideas for you:
When using the lotus ball, it quickly becomes a ‘dead’ reward which is not that exciting and he slows down. So, tie it to a leash or another toy so you can drag it and he can chase it. You can also use tug toys for these!
And good job catching yourself and giving reset cookies, rather than marking as wrong or starting again. Keep doing that, don’t show the lotus to reset without giving the treat – it gives you both a moment to plan the next rep and keeps his overall rate of reinforcement really high!
Smiley face game:
You were making good adjustments here! I think the main thing is going to be figuring out what he needs for connection. I think the main thing that will make connection more visible for him will be arm position: when your arm is at your side, he really can’t see connection even when you are looking back at him so he relies on footwork. But if you played with looking your arm all the way back by locking your elbow, fully extending your arm behind you, with your fingers pointing to his nose while you make eye contact (and keep moving of course hahaha) – I think that will be the key. To know if you are keeping your arm properly locked back and low in the moment, try running with an open bottle of water in your hand. If you spill? You are swinging your arm forward. Be sure your arm is locked back and not at your side when you do this, or you will spill and break connection LOL!
I think you were so focused on the right turn race tracks that you got quiet in the tunnel go go go moments, so remember to give him the Go cues.His commitment was looking strong overall, so we can keep trying to figure out the best connection for him.
Proofing:
2 ideas to help him out:
You can change the angle of the tunnel so that the entry is facing him when he comes around the wing, both for distraction purposes and so it is easier to handle when you do want the tunnel and not the wrap. It can be curved, it is makes for an easier setup.also, for now- keep moving with this game by using handling, even if it is just a little, When you were stationary, the footwork would sometimes contradict the cue and so he would go with your footwork which created too many failures. The setup is challenging so you can totally use handing now by moving through each cue. And the handling on the wraps (and dragging the lotus ball for him to chase) will add more speed too 🙂
When you want the tunnel, add the connection and move directly to the opening. With this angle, when you looked forward or turned your shoulders, he was not sure which end of the tunnel to go to, so came with you (like at 2:41).The connection and line you used at 2:57 was much clearer so he was successful. Yay!
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyThanks! I give him a lot of credit for reproducing trained behaviors despite never having been in that location and never having been a part of real racing (4 dogs in each lane and the lights and judge and people and and and and… LOL!!) Part of it is he was well-prepared with these games before each turn. and part of it is he is just a level-headed dude who is able to maintain thoughtfulness even in new internal/external environments (a true gift from the dog sport gods hahaha).
I know there is video somewhere, I will find it!
T
Hello and welcome! I agree, the clips are definitely getting better and better!
Thanks for all the good info, I have lots of ideas for you!!First, on the history, great info!!!
We are going to focus on filling in the gaps in understanding that are causing her to stress about the start.
>>In class if she is not focused on me she can be triggered by the motion of the dog in the ring and growl/bark.
Outside the ring at a trial Skipper’s behavior is similar to class except that because there are so many dogs I have to be more mindful of making sure she doesn’t end up in a face to face with another dog. I tend to warm up in a quiet corner where she can focus on me.>>This is rooted in an underlying anxiety, which the pattern games REALLY help. Make those a tippy top priority! And the engaged chill will be super useful, so you don’t have to work to keep her engaged the whole time. Working to keep her engaged so she doesn’t react is management, and management will fail at some point.
>>Carry the dog in and place her down facing me (although this also means facing the gate which might be an issue).
How do you ask them to line up and stay? Go through my legs and line up at my side.
How quickly is your dog able to respond to your cues:
• There is a delayed response and sometimes needs multiple cues>>
>>• There is a delayed response and sometimes needs multiple cues, if I take her collar she will sit
• If the first jump is facing the gate it is very hard to get her to sit>>On the the video, she displays a lot of classic stress signs (yawning, sniffing, leaving, full body shake, looking around). So… I vote we change the line up procedure! Blank slate. Cleanse the palate. And a challenge for you: no more hand on collar. That collar grab is a punisher, which contributes to stress. The challenge for you is to play all of these games without ever putting your hand on her collar. I will reward your success with a bottle of wine! Let’s create a new procedure so that she chooses to do it and is not moved into position.
>. If she does leave the ring, I step out the side door until she comes back to find me.>>
Bearing in mind that you leaving is a punishment (negative punishment) – how often does it happen? Did it happen once and not again? Or does it still happen here and there? Or happen a lot? If it happened once and doesn’t happen any more, ok, cool! If it still happens? Take out that option of punishment because it adds stress to an already stressful situation (even if she gets cookies when you come back – you leaving so she looks for you is playing on her anxiety, which is stressful!) If there is even the slightest possibility that she might choose the wrong behavior and you would leave… don’t ask for the behavior for now. Set her up for guaranteed success. Take punishment off the table. I know that people call it all sorts of things other than punishment… but it is punishment. And punishment can work if she knows how to be correct: what I mean by that is you will punish once and then she really won’t do it ever again. If it happens repeatedly? Then she doesn’t know what to do instead, which increases stress.
Since there are a lot of games to play, start with short, high success blasts of these:
Tricks! First with cookies in your hand, then in your pockets, then on a table nearby.
The pattern game – this one is a definite for her, it will be so helpful!
Remote reinforcement – I think she has played this beginning step before, so refresh it 🙂
Get the line up games going, so we can train a new line up routine. And when you get to the stay element, you can let her choose the position. I think the sit has been paired with stress, so if she wants to stand, that is fine. You might notice that I often just say “stay” and walk away, letting the dog choose the position 🙂
And get your engaged chill going! Because of her size, you can also do engaged chill holding her 🙂I am excited to see her in action! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning!
Sadly, no video from outside the ring at the flyball tournament – not enough people had free hands to video, very tight space, and I didn’t bring a tripod. We have another tournament in 2 weeks so I will bring a tripod 🙂 Results were very good – the dog was in a much more difficult environment than ever before but was able to produce behaviors exactly as he does in his home environment. That was the goal!>>(no treat tossing on the turf)>>
Really? Humph. LOL!! Even more reason to do the hand version. You can also bend over and place the treat on your shoe as long as your back won’t get angry – the dogs like the up-and-down patterns too!
Question – how did you feel she did on the starts here and in the first part of the sequence? I think she looked really good! How did she do in her other turns?
On the first video, during the first transition – you can be doing the pattern game outside the ring as the other dog is finished, the dogs find that to be a good antecedent for a nice relaxed focused state going into the ring. She kind of jumped out at the other dog (not in a nasty way at all, but in an interactive way) and having the pattern game starting sooner will help that moment of over-arousal. Then you can do the tugging as you go into the ring.
For the hand pattern game in the ring, try to rock back and forth less, you can just drop your hand to your side, let her come get the treat, then let her offer engagement again (mainly so the rocking back and forth doesn’t become a cue).She was tugging beautifully! Add in some more tricks in there (volume dial game) so we can see where her head is rather than duration tugging. She was tugging but not 100% engaged (she was looking around a bit as you lead out). A couple of tricks will get more engagement and let you know when she is fully ready.
>> If you would like to see more of either session I can PM you, but I can’t figure out how to turn off sound on the videos.>>
Since we are looking at behavior, you can PM them if there is a particular spot you want to talk about. I can turn the sound off 🙂
2nd video – as the dog was exiting, you can be doing patterns here too! I use the cookie pattern games outside the ring as a combo of chill environment assessing and, after the dog understands them, they quickly become a ‘we are about to go into the ring’ cue – but in a really really good way with tons of centered engagement.
You can also do tricks for treats or tugging on that 3 mile walk to your start jump LOL!But overall, I think she did well! And her commitment looked strong – she got a little grumbly when you were maybe a little late LOL! We will be building on all of this. Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
I saw the video come in – thanks! we don’t have a TNC tonight but I can ask and see if people are niterested maybe later this week!>>We did some engaged chill today with a chair near the ring. I will have pay more attention in order to find more things that might work for engaged chill. She doesn’t have any natural behaviors per se.>>>
When she is interacting with you at home, soliciting attention when no food or toys or training are involved… what does she do? Where does she like to be petted, or hang out near you? That can start to give you ideas to build on.
>>>This was a hard trial for her for some reason and each day and run got harder and more shut down.
My guess is it was depletion – like a bank account getting overdrawn. The outside trials are definitely harder and more distracting, so she likely had to make more withdrawals from the mental bank account to work in the ring.
>>The funny thing about Tango and I don’t know if you caught it in the run or not is that once she gets into the game, her stress reduces and she actually runs. >>
Yes, it might be that the body chemistry changes, heart rate goes up, respiration rate increases? Or hte opposite – she relaxes a bit due to running. We will be playing with different heart rates soon. You can count her respiration rate outside the ring at home versus at a trial – in 15 seconds, how many times does she do a full inhale/exhale?
it could also be that running in the middle/end of the course is the antecedent to getting the reward, which is stimulating! We just need to get that into the ring and off the start line 🙂
>> Last weekend we had chutes into the ring instead of gates and we had much easier transitions to the ring.
Easier transitions in that she was more stimulated and engaged on the starts? That is useful info!!!
Tracy
Good morning!
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>>Detour question here: I find a sterile / quiet environment can draw her focus away from me a lot more than a busy one. Very regularly during private practice time in our “home” arena she sniffs the ground, wanders away, has no interest to earn reinforcement >>>This is actually the absolute perfect time to practice these games. What is happening is that you are getting the same behavior as you get at trials, but without the possible stress component and with access to positive reinforcement (food!) It is rare that we can elicit the same behavior like this, so definitely embrace it!
>>vs if there are 2 classes going on or a lure coursing machine running nearby she is much more “eyes on mom” ready to start.
That is the environment changing her state of arousal in a good way in those cases… but that will end up being artificial for agility because the environment in the agility situation doesn’t change her state of arousal like that.
>> It seems like the less distracting an environment would seem to be, the more distracting it actually is. My suspicion is that if I wait for her to offer I may get very very tired of waiting.
This is perfect. You don’t have to start with a pattern game in that environment, you can start with tricks for treats. But also, the pattern game (and the others!) absolutely need to see this environment because it will get the behavior in a similar state to what you are seeing in trials.
>>And yet I think I’ve just answered my own question – I need to start with a very small space and just wait her out?
Yep! Try a hallway or bathroom. Nothing else to do except look at you. And getting yu to allow her to offer the engagement is hard 🙂 but worthwhile!
>>What would you want me to do if she does wander off during a session of Remote Reinforcement?
Management in the form of a leash you are holding loosely will prevent her from going too far. Plus, a sterile environment doesn’t need to be a place she can exit from.
>>I hear you: “don’t cue in this game,” but now I fear getting out ahead / flat footed / paralyzed.
Just stand still. Think about what you are going to do for dinner or a TV show you’d like to watch. Smile at her and wait.
>>When I got ahead of her yesterday I started marching in place / taking tinier steps.
That would be cuing with motion 🙂 If there is no place left to go… just wait. The space should be small, a leash will prevent her from going anywhere, and you can accept any bit of the criteria.
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> Well, you made it game #7 and you’re giving us all good things to do next with the first games, so of course we haven’t gotten to #7 yet, LOL!>> Ha! You can skip around, they don’t need to be in order for now 🙂
On the video – this hallway is perfect for remote reinforcement! The only hard part was the teat going down the stairs LOL!
She seemed to like this game! The hand cue helps for sure. You can do shorter sessions/fewer reps, I think she gets a bit bored with the repetition. If she is at 100% “this is easy” for a game like this with cookies present, you can do 4 or 5 reps then add in the next step (the sit or stay behavior) so it is not all about finding the cookies. Increasing the criteria a little when she is working at 100% rate of reinforcement is fine, as long as it is only one increase per session. So for the next session, warm up with one or two reps like you did here, then add in the sit. If she is happy with that and at 100%, you can add the dismount.>>There are so many games you’ve given us – if you think we should leave this one alone for a few weeks that would make sense to me. I can keep working on the “cookie” reward on my shoes to build her willingness to drive into me in general before adding this between pressure.>>
I didn’t see any pressure-stress behavior here – it was all “where’s the cookie?” Partially because there were lots if flying cookies, and partially because moving out from between your feet relieves the pressure. She seemed happy with it all.
Great job! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning!
This is a great series of videos to let us know what he needs. Very informative! More below:>>>> When is your next agility class?
Tomorrow. It’s on Mondays at 8:15pm so I have to drive during the chats. He has a run thru on Sat 3/26 so toys and food allowed.>>Great! For both of these, bring reinforcement into the ring and do tricks for treats or toys (whichever is higher value in the moment) as you go into the ring. He can totally see that you have food or toys available. And reward a lot throughout.
Looking at the videos!
He does seem fine t hang out with the PT til cookies appear! I am surprised that it takes so long, the PT is the best one on the market! But as long as he is happy, it is all good 🙂Food on table session: this is a great training level for him right now!! Just enough distraction that it is challenging, but he is also able to be pretty successful! So keep doing these sessions with him (cookies on a table) until we see low latency, meaning he can respond in a second or less (which is basically what he does when cookies are in your hand) and when the type of response is as crisp and upbeat as when you have cookies in your hand. You might find that he gets to low latency in one room, but is back to high latency (slower, stickier responses) in another room – totally normal! It gets better and better with practice and super high rates of reinforcement that you had here.
Fur squeaker – he likes this one! Low latency and crisp responses!
Clam in hand also good in terms of his responses! Same with the sheepskin tuggie 🙂
He was interested in the food duck but I agree that it is more of a pain to use and he was more interested in the other stuff.Flirt poles was VERY stimulating which is great. I think the higher level of stimulation (plus perhaps being a little mentally tired) contributed to the circle versus middle errors. You can use a hand cue to help him out. I think the flirt toy needs to move more – he got distracted when it didn’t move but engaged a lot when it moved.
Looking at all the videos in order:
I think it helps explain why he struggles in the ring at the start line: everything is easy and fun with the reinforcement present and in your hands. As soon as reinforcement is not in your hands… things are very different and he has lots of questions. In the home environment, he is slower to respond (high latency) and not quite as crisp in the responses. But in a trial environment, with so many more distractions, he gets stressed and that is why you are seeing his questions there.So definitely keep going at home with the tricks with cookies/toys NOT in your hands but nearby. And check out the remote reinforcement game, that is going to be a HUGE one for him.
Separately, at classes and the run through – make being in the ring the most incredibly reinforcing happy place filled with reinforcement (so we can eliminate stress by building a positive conditioned emotional response). For now, that means he can see the cookies and use the high value toys (I promise we will fade those, but not yet :)) and only do the most super fun easy things that he is no going to get wrong.
These two things will build together over time and he will be one happy, fast dude!
Let me know if that makes sense! I am excited to be able to see where we are going with this 🙂
TracyGood morning!
Definitely good to dust off the tricks now that there is value coming up for some many other things like obstacles. You are probably now in the young dog phase of having a lot you want to train – it sounds like you are doing bits and pieces of this stuff sprinkled in throughout the training and that is great!
>>So, we’ve got active tricks step 1 and 2 (treats in hand, then treats in pocket),
The tricks look really engaging and you’ve got a wide variety with different levels of ‘action’. Perfect! You can do a bit of tricks with cookies on the bench nearby (nothing in hand or pocket, no clicker) just for practice and to help prepare for future steps. I think it will be easy for him. And he was so funny – “I will just chill out while you figure out what you used to call it” hahaha
>>then some line-up stuff with all 3 of his lineups (I don’t think any are poisoned or negative so just worked them all).>>
I agree – nothing is poisoned so it is more of a fun game for now. At some point, the best option for the line up will become obvious based on how it feels in the moment and what behavior it elicits. You don’t need to make that decision til he is trialing.
The line up game between your feet looked great – even if you never use it for a line up, it is engaging and a good active warm up! And he likes the other games too – they all involve engaging with you, which has generally been his favorite thing 🙂
There was a little pattern game action too – very easy for him because he recognizes it and enjoys it: perfect!!
One other thing to add to tricks and pattern games and line ups (not the one where he is racing back and forth) is the leash. Just getting the dogs used to the leash being in the picture all the time is helpful, because it just fades into the background and doesn’t get associated with anything like going into the ring (which could skew a conditioned emotional response in either direction, depending on the dog). So, if we add it now, it is just present and not anything else. Also, it helps with mechanics to have the leash in hand – I mean human mechanics 🙂 It is more challenging to be crisp and clean with mechanics and reinforcement when there is a big fuzzy leash there 🙂
> Then we did a little bit of calmer stuff and in between a bit here and there he offers some calmer engagement while I try to get my sh*#t together. His lie down in middle position +/- chin on my foot is something we’ve been doing ringside a bit lately to give him a place to be that is both close and connected to me. We also do a little of our barking dogs are a cue for focus on mom +/- putting your chin on her thigh just because the other dogs did do some intermittent barking and that’s what I would do in class or a trial.>>
All of that was great, I really love the chin-to-thigh that is cued by barking! Question: for the engaged chill, we need a relaxed behavior that does not also have any expectation of a food reinforcement. So I am thinking that the chin-to-thigh is NOT the engaged chill behavior. The chin-on-foot might eventually become one but I think it is a work in progress and still needs cookies. So possibly the down in middle position without the chin on your foot can be the engaged chill? What else have you seen in your daily interactions that doesn’t have any cookie feelings associated?
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
Tracy
