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Good morning!
Rear crosses are pretty hard, which is why we are starting them so young (and away from a jump :)) It takes some experimenting to sort out what the dog needs to see – I am glad you were playing with different options and also glad you were rewarding all the things 🙂 Rewarding here was 1000% the correct thing to do because he was reading you correctly 🙂 The adjustment to make here is to cross his line sooner, so he sees you crossing behind him on the rear cross line sooner – ideally you are on the RC line behind his tail or already across it, before he arrives at the prop so he can make the lead change to the new direction. You might need to start him further away from the prop, so you have more time to do this 🙂
And because you are crossing sooner, keep moving forward to help support commitment to his boot 🙂 And you can click for turning the correct direction (no worries is the boot hit is not as perfect – right now the turn can take priority as long as he still goes towards/over the boot, as supported by your line).Since this is entirely a handling exercise, I figure that visuals might help 🙂
I got screenshots of what he was seeing when you were not crossing soon enough: your feet were good but your line/position was still on the ‘turn towards me’ line and not on the rear cross line. And I grabbed some screenshots of how early I cut across the line to get my pup to do the rear cross (I am just about fully on the new side while she is still 6 inches or so from the prop). The demo dog here is a lot smaller and she was slower too, so you can start him further back because he is bigger and faster (so makes decisions sooner :))Here is a link to the 5 visuals, because it is too big for the forum here:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/15okRw_CQT2LoflkhztgBwQ_h-g8Oq0cMYVo6kHl0CRg/edit?usp=sharingLet me know what you think!
TracyGood morning!
>>. I’m gonna want her to wrap with her head down…..not heel with her head up….there’s a difference!
That is correct! We do have more games coming where we work specifically on the pups’ head positions, but it is always good to get low heads from the start.
I think your prop game is going swimmingly well! She is moving off of you to hit it, which I like!! And has a very clear accurate ‘smack’ with her feet. She moves to it faster from your right side than from your left side – could be more value for sticking with you on your left, could be that she is a lefty not a righty so starting on your right is easier for her. I keep track of this stuff but I don’t obsess on it too much (yet haha)
One thing I notice here (and this mught be why you don’t lvoe it yet) is that there is a big speed differential: she leaves you slowly and comes back FAST. You are wise to stick closer to it for now. This is normal and we can start shifting that – it is a value question from the pups. Here are some suggestions:
– you are pretty darned exciting with the toy, which might be why she wants to stay near you and why the prop might not be as exciting to drive to when the toy is with you. So when you play this, you can send to the prop and sometimes mark with a “get it’ and throw the toy past it (if she likes that :)) and sometimes mark with your word that means “come here to me and get the toy” (I use “bite” for that). That can help slather the value equally to and from the prop
– you can also do the game with treats only, same as above with the toy – sometimes the treats are tossed past the prop, sometimes she comes back to your hand.
For now, do more reinforcement out past the prop and less back at you – you can add more distance and when she goes to hit the prop, toss the treat past it from wherever you are. That might shift where she goes out fast and doesn’t want to come back LOL! So if that happens, we shift the reinforcement back to your hand.
Separately from the prop – build up the wing wrap foundation games because the turn and burn will also build the speed and drive away from you (driving back to you is the easy part on that one). The prop sends and the wing wrap foundations “marry” in the turn and burn games, so you don’t need to wait til the prop sends are perfect to get the wing wraps going.
Nice work here! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning!
>>When we do the collection sandwich to the go are you actually feeding the pivot? Or, just expecting the turn and the reward is after the go?>>
It will depend on the value of the reinforcement and activity, specific to the dog 🙂 On the sandwich, you *can* totally feed the pivot if you feel that she does not want to be tight to you. I do recommend feeding the pivot (at least the arrival to your hand) for now, because the game that builds on it that we added on Tuesday will have some good distractions out ahead – so we can build in as much value as possible for now, before we introduce the distraction out ahead 🙂
If you find that Sprite has more trouble driving ahead of you to the reinforcement for the ‘go’ element, you can stop feeding the pivot as you shift the value back to the go section.
>> If I out a bowl out is it preloaded? Doubtful I could toss accurately in the bowl.
It depends on value of the bowl and handler mechanics – if she will drive ahead to an empty bowl because it is really valuable, then there is less pressure on you to have to toss early or accurately because you can get closer to it before tossing the treat 🙂 You can also pre-load the bowl as it is a GREAT element of self-control – in this week’s handling combos games, I pre-loaded the target plate with a stick of string cheese that was a little open, so the dog could lick it but was not going to swallow it whole (this depends on the dog, though, because I do think some dogs would swallow it whole, while others would see no value in it).
You can also skip the bowl entirely and use a lotus ball or treat hugger to throw. Those are great because they are easy to throw and are perfect for food delivery when we want to use food.
Strike a pose looks great! She is picking up the pattern of the game (which is exactly what we want :)) and was really strong about hitting the target hand before heading to the reinforcement.
Small suggestions for you: You can lean your target hand lower down so she doesn’t have to pop up to touch it at all (you were lower when it was in your left hand, so you can bring your right hand down a little lower too)
She was good with the food reward, that really set her up into the right body line for what the behavior will ultimately be. But she was great with the strike to the toy!! I believe that toys are (were?) lower value so I love how she drove to it and I also love how you made it active by backing up and she got happy and silly with it after she got to it. The backing up a little after the strike is also a nice release of the pressure from driving into our bodies that is part of the serp & threadle positions. Click/treat to you!
She was hitting the target hand super nicely in your left, maybe not as well in your right but both were solid enough for our purposes and you were good with your criteria maintenance 🙂 It is interesting to note the difference in the strength of her hit because it indicates which direction/side she is more comfortable on – good to know in case she has questions in the future.
Since this went well, the next step is to get the reinforcement on the ground – you can put it on the ground with your feet pointing to it, a step or two away, so she hits the target hand then can slide over to the reward (using your marker). I suggest starting this with an empty bowl (you can drop the treat in from above) until she is really happy with it. Then you can go to the toy – but I don’t want to put a toy in the picture in case she might want to dive on the toy and skip the hand LOL!! We don’t want her to skip the hand and dive on the toy for the purposes of training the skill but also because I don’t want to tell her she is wrong for showing passion for the toy because you are building her love for toys… so for now we avoid any possibility of that LOL! The behavior can be trained easily with food, and then it will be easy to add the toy in first by dangling it and then putting it on the ground. Let me know if that makes sense 🙂
I am glad Gemma got a turn – her excitement was a reflection of how fun you were and how much fun Sprite seemed to have with the toy! Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning!
He is getting it! I am doing a little happy dance here! Your timing was MUCH better and I could see the steam coming out of his ears 🙂 He was being a good boy 🙂 He had a big lightbulb moment at :49, and then he did really well on the other side too! Hooray!A couple of ideas for you as you keep moving forward with this game (pun intended haha):
The prop hit is not the top priority now – that means 2 things:
– you can reward him for turning the correct direction, even if the hit is not perfect. As long as he keeps moving through/over it, you can still reinforce him (like at :33)
– you can delay the timing of your “yes” marker until he turns the correct direction (whether he gets it right away, or turns the wrong way the corrects himself, both can be rewarded). Your “yes” marker is really powerful and you were very precise with the marker for hitting the prop. So now we can help change his perception by having you “yes” him when he turns to the new side (as long as he is heading to/near/over the prop, the hit does not have to be perfect :))One other suggestion because he was thinking really hard about it (which is great!):
Next session, only work one side, like dog-on-right: mix going straight and rear crosses. Then do dog-on-left in a separate session, later on. That way he only has to process 2 things (going straight on your right, or rear crossing on that side) rather than 4 things (2 sides straight, 2 sides rear crosses). And that will help maintain the value for the straight!Great job here, he is really getting the idea!
Tracy
Good morning!
Everything is going really well here!!!Toy races video – he is driving straight really nicely (the little bit of bending out on the line you see was because you were moving towards him rather than running straight, like on the 2nd rep). By using the lead out, you are getting the drive on the line to the toy so now we can make things even more about driving ahead so he leaves you in the dust 🙂 The options for that are either to hold his collar and throw the toy, so there is no lead out at all, thn race him. I think you will lose that race LOL! so if he might not bring the toy back, have the toy on a long line so you can snag it 🙂
Or, you can use a stay by do a much short one so he can zip past you.
Do continue to mix in longer stays, but whn you have a massive lead out – set yourself up to win that toy 🙂 Don’t be too polite and let him win LOL!!! If you get there first and get silly and tease him a little with it, he will dig in more on the next rep and drive ahead more. I think you could have won on the last rep, so you can set yourself up to cheat (in the form of being further ahead) even more so you have a clear victory 🙂 Don’t win too often, just every now and then so he doesn’t sit back and cruise through it – we want the digging in on each rep 🙂Wing wraps –
Is that one of those filing cabinets and your cookie bowl is on top? Brilliant choice!!!! And great job stepping in a little to help him get started then adding in distance back in, a tiny bit at a time. Because he is getting to be full-sized now, you can move your bowls back more (behind your ankles, where the grass meets the walkway here) si he has more room to turn around to offer the next rep.He did a brilliant job of offering (and self-correcting when he almost chose the gap, good boy!!!!) so I think the value and understanding is getting really strong. That means you can now move to the turn and burn game 🙂 Fun!!
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
>> but for reasons still unknown to me these barrels became crack to her after a couple of sessions with them in max pup 1>
My guess is they have been paired with running and food/toys, so the barrels are now basically conditioned reinforcement.
T
Hi!
Looks like he really liked tugging on his leash! And it also looks like he was good about waiting for his marker to tug on it. YAY! So you can totally keep building it up as a reward and use it as part of the remote reinforcement games.>> I used a rubber ball to cover the metal part and it seems to work reasonably well.
That was particularly brilliant and I am going to get up in a minute and go attach a ball to my leash!!!! I owe you one – GREAT IDEA!!!!
>> I then switched over to tossing the leash and using the verbal cue “Get it”. When Cowboy realized there was a ball at the end of the leash, all bets were off and it turned into a ball retrieval thing!>>
Right, the ball is higher value for sure. But… it was still a valuable toy and not just a leash! WIth that in mind:
>>I am wondering if I cut a hole on the other side of the ball and slide the leash through if that would be legal for an AKC agility trial.>>
I would say that while it might be 100% legal for UKI (I will ask a judge this weekend!) that is is probably 1000% NOT legal for AKC LOL! So keep working with the ball-free leash, because that is legal in AKC.
Great job!!!
TracyHi there!
This was a very fun couple of sessions to watch – he really figured it out nicely!!!!>>While we realized that we had our feet wrong and I have a bending over issue>>
You got your feet looking good and I think the bending over to get the target as nose level as possible was great – the lower, the better… but I do know that it is really awkward to stand still like that! It gets easier when we get the handler moving and fade the target.
I loved his first glorious fail LOL! And it highlighted what I think was the hardest part of the game for him, and the biggest victory by the end of the session: the self-control element of it. He had some trouble ignoring the reinforcement in the other hand at first, especially when the target was on your left hand (for both of you). He had an easier time when the target was in your right hand, perhaps because there is more value working on that side or perhaps because he finds turning to his righ a little easier at the moment.
Either way, though, he is clearly sorting out the self-control element because he was really quite perfect by the end! The lower target hand also helps (like at 1:07) because it is very salient AND it helps him to do fewer joyous leaps for it LOL!For upcoming sessions of this, you can gradually introduce the reinforcement being more obvious in the reward hand – starting with a boring low value treat in the reward hand and having it somewhat visible, to a couple of good treats with the hand pretty visible, to a boring toy (if there is such a thing?) squished up in your hand, to a dangling toy… to eventually the toy on the ground while he hits the target in the serp/threadle hand. We have plenty of time for this, so keep an eye on the high rate of success just like you did here nd he will continue to have success 🙂
Great job! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
She is a hoot! So energetic and quick (and cute haha!)
Great job with the target in your hand – you can create a little bit of a loop now: toss a treat away, then after she gets it and turns to come back towards you, hold out the target. She hits it – you toss the treat away – after she gets it and turns to come back towards you, hold out the target. She hits it… and so on 🙂 That can get her to move away a bit in between reps and also sets you up nicely for the game that uses this (it was posted last night :))The paper plate targeting was hilarious! She was trying to put herself inside the plate, I think LOL!!!!! You can use cookie tosses here too, to move her away and reset the next rep: toss a treat away, tell her to get it – place the plate down. When she hits it, click and toss the treat away (and so on :))
> I notice in videos she frequently offers a nose touch where I want a foot touch; will be working on the foot work more going forward.>
She seemed to be doing this on the plate – and clicking then tossing a treat will help her only foot touch because if the treat is going to be tossed, she will quickly figure out that it is inefficient to hit the plate with her nose or lie down when she is going to have to get up and go chase a cookie 🙂 I think she was doing the nose and the down because the cookies were down low… and clearly she likes her cookies LOL!!!
Great job here! Let me know what you think! I am looking forward to seeing more 🙂 she is definitely ready for the next games 🙂
TracyHi again!
He does have a TON of value of the target and that is GREAT!
I have a question about the get it: it looked like you were saying get it & tossing the cookie before he got to the target, almost as the cue to get him started? You can just make a silly noise or use movement to get him started here, and only use get it and the throw after he hits the target.
And you can reward from your hand when he needs to reset (he was wanting to start without you LOL!)On the RCs, he was driving ahead beautifully! Yo were able to cut behind him nice and early. My suggestion here is to toss the cookie reward in the new direction so he turns the new direction on the rears. You were throwing straight, so he wasn’t turning. His value for the prop should make it easy to get the rear crosses 🙂
Great job on these! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
This was blind cross practice – one thing to remember is that it is about connection not hands. You were putting your hands nice and low but that doesn’t show him connection (he was watching the cookies more than following your blind cross cue. So rather than use cookie hands, get the side change by looking at him and then you can reward with the cookie hand 🙂You ight find it easier to use a cookie toss and not a stay, so you can be further away and have more time to make the connection after the blind. I couldn’t really see your shoulders/eyes on this video, but it looked like you were using your hand down by your side as the cue. So, more eye contact will get the blinds even sharper 🙂
>> It’s getting cold and we are supposed to get snow, soooo, I may be making several two hour-each way commutes each week, ugh.>>
Ewwww winter! You can probably also use hallways if you have any long hallways? Maybe throw some yoga mats down if you have wood floors?
T
This is also going really well! You were doing FCs (or I need more caffeine LOL!)
Only one little detail: when you were doing your Ready dance, your upper body can be as engaging and exciting as it was here, but stand still – your feet were moving around a lot and he didn’t always know where to be.He looked really good with his commitments and turning here! And you were leaving earlier and earlier! Great!!! So keep adding earlier leaving, and you can also add your verbal wrap cue(s) (as well as the games we added last night 🙂 I like his speed here!!
>>I can really leave as soon as I send in a bigger space
Great! Now gradually add more and more distance as long as the speed is good – no trotting, only running. Wheeeee! And, a toy if he will chase it as the reward.
Nice work!
TracyGood morning! Lots of good training on these videos!
First up – backing up:
He is definitely getting the idea here, yay! A couple of little suggestions as you keep building this up:
We can give him a focal point to keep his head lower: One option is to keep your hands lower, you might need to bend over a tiny bit, rather than dropping the treats in from above (he watches that and lifts his head, which makes it harder to back up fully). Or, if bending over is going to make your back angry, you can have an empty food bowl between your feet, and plop the treat into it so he focuses down to the bowl and not up to the cookie hands (and for efficiency and a lower head, use soft treats that don’t require crunching LOL!)One other thing I notice:
you are clicking him for stopping when he touches the mat with the back of his leg, not for stepping up onto it. That is fine, but you will get more independence and stepping up (less shuffling) if you get him stepping onto the mat. You can help him understand that by having the mat a little less folded up (so it is easier to step up onto) and also starting his back feet on it then luring him off so it is easy to step his back feet back onto it.>>think I’m ready to move it back an inch or two>>
I agree! He is doing well!!!
TracyGood morning!
You and Risk were terrific in class last night 🙂
>>We’ve been taking the games pretty slowly and I haven’t done a lot of turn & burn game with Risk simply because he’s still figuring out his body and where all his legs go. We are still building on week 1-2 games at this time. Is that ok to move slower?>>
Yes, it is great to move as slowly as needed so the pups can grow up while also having a great time 🙂 And he is not in his teething phase so toy play might be harder (but eating treats is really valuable to him :))
He is offering a strong amount of backing up for such a young dog!! And it is happening really quickly, he has fast feet LOL! I am excited to see this! A couple of ideas for you to get even more of this going:
Most pups use our hands as focal points, and that is fine – but it also means we want our hands to be really low in order to keep their heads low. So, Lyou can leave your hands down there at his nose level (or lower) – so I suggest you sit in a chair or on a low stool or something so you don’t have to bend in half as much 🙂 Because of his quickness, you can have several treats ready so you don’t have to reload. He was lifting his head to watch the reload – that is what you were noticing when you saw him watching the treats. You made a really good adjustment in the 2nd half of that session: Your hands were lower and faster on the 2nd part for sure and that is good!
Because he is so quick, you can also have him back up onto a target like a dog bed or low plank. Start him with all 4 feet on it, the lure front feet off by just an inch of two abd back feet stay on: then let him offer putting the front feet back on it. As soon as he figures that out, you can lure all 4 feet off then let him offering stepping back onto it. That will help him think about his little feet more 🙂 Do this one sitting too, to help keep his head low.
Nice work! Let me know what you think!
Tracy
