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Good morning! Thanks for the info!!
>> When reviewing these past runs I really noticed a lot of looking around as I walked out ie., not focused on me.
This is good to know! He might have been feeling overwhelmed by the environment. We definitely have games to help him with that!!
>> One person said that when the heaters clicked on that was it, so he was out of there.. that happened on the first day do the rest of the trial was bad. The only Q was Ex Fast.>>
That is a GREAT observation, thank you to that person who noticed it! Have you noticed any sound sensitivity anywhere else in life and training with him? It might be related to that, or he might have been a bit anxious about the environment and the weird noise made it too hard.
>> We travel to KC and St Louis for Privates. We’ll be going to KC tomorrow for private with Cassie in the same building been having so much trouble. (Blue Springs, Mo)>>
Perfect, Cassie is WONDERFUL!
>>Our next trial is April 15 in Fayetteville on dirt. He has not been their since Novice.>>
OK good, we have some time to make plans 🙂
T
Hi again!
You have a TON of lovely tricks! I saw shake, spin, back, touch, catch and probably a couple of others that I didn’t get to jot down because it was all happening so fast 🙂 These are also good because they can be done in a small space… like just outside the ring as you are waiting to go in 🙂I see what you mean about him being a little “meh” about the treats, so you can totally go to higher value! And you can reward from your hand – so if he does the shake to one hand, you can hand him th cookie from the other hand to keep him moving a bit (plus you probably won’t toss treats at trials, so it helps with trial prep too).
For the touch, see if you can change your hand position and hold it higher (and palm facing down) so he has to leap up to touch the hand a bit – that can get even more excitement!
3 next steps for you:
First, with cookies, cue these behaviors with empty hands then reach into a pocket to get the reward. Let’s see what he does with the empty hands.Second – try these with toys! Let’s see how does does in a higher state of arousal (some of these are already toy tricks, like the back trick). And when he can do them with the visible toy, move to a hidden toy (tucked into a pocket) so he is getting empty hand cues and then the reward comes out to play. That is a little harder because it takes longer between reps, but that is fine, it will teach him a bit of patience if he is feeling impatient 🙂 And still reward for each trick, rather than do multiple in a row.
And lastly – you can now add walking as you cue tricks. Like walking forward and cue a spin or a touch – that way he gets the hang of moving and responding. You can have the treats or toys visible at first, then go to having your hands empty and treats/toys in pockets. That is something that we will be able to use to help him stay in a nice centered state of arousal as you move to the line.
Great job on these! Let me know what you think! And you can totally play each game separately even if you haven’t heard back about one of the others yet – they are all separate tracks, at the moment 🙂
Tracy
Than you for the tricks video! I have ideas for you, see below 🙂 And yes, try to get video from the seminar of more than just the runs – see if someone will video the minute before you line up, and the line up moments 🙂
It is entirely possible that he will do better if you get him HIGHER and NUTTIER before the run. This is incredibly counterintuitive, I know – we feel that we should calm the dogs who might get really excited. But that just never seems to work the way we want it to because the dogs go into the high state of arousal whether we calm them or not, then they don’t know what to do with themselves at the start line when they are really aroused. I have found. That embracing the arousal and teaching them how to run even in that higher state is the bed answer for these dogs. So at the seminar, feel free to experiment a little with getting him higher before the runs: tugging, fast moving tricks, etc. It is good to try at a seminar because the worst thing that will happen is he breaks a stay then you can reset him and try again 🙂 Who is the instructor?
Onwards to tricks!
Tracy
Good morning! Or is it afternoon there 🙂
Generally I progress to the next step when I can get 2 short sessions in a row with 90% success or more – that means almost no errors and a very happy dog 🙂 A short session is 2 or 3 minutes 🙂 So if you are getting 2 short sessions with high success of going a couple of steps away from the remote reinforcement pile of stuff, then you can add more! You’ll know when it is time because the game will almost feel too easy, and he will not be able to take his eyes off of you 🙂
T
Hi! It is very cool that you are a CCUI! You might notice a theme-and-variation on one of the CU games here 🙂 It is really fabulous stuff and so helpful for the dogs 🙂
T
Awesome, it worked! I am liking how she is holding her stay lately, with you running away – do you feel the same? Is she being pretty reliable? Try out the games (especially the line up games and tricks) and we can start building up into the more calm walk to the line and peaceful line up 🙂
T
Hello! This is looking really good and he made you RUN FAST lol!!! Great job maintaining connection!
You can give all of your tunnel exit cues sooner – try to start saying them when he is about 3 or 4 feet in front of the tunnel. You were saying them after he entered – for the soft turns, it was not a problem because he naturally wants to turn towards you (loves da momma!). For the go, however, he needs the, earlier. I think the timing at :18 was good – I could still see him on the way to the tunnel and you were saying Go Go Go – and he exited pretty straight! Great job with the to throws.
To help him find the wing after the GO exit, move the wing in closer for now. You can move it in to 6 feet or less, until he says “ah yes, I go to the wing!” than you can start moving it back out 🙂
Great job! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
>> ok question from last session (just had time and weather for tunnel) I set up the rocking horse finally. I really do need distance with her. I did the one ring wrap but when I tried to get her to go out to the other wing, with me behind, I was stepping on her as she wouldn’t go. Do I want to just keep doing 1 wing wrap and send to the mm, until I get her going out to it?
Is this the rocking horse with the tunnel and 2 wings, or the 2 wing rocking horse? I think you probably need to get a little ahead of her, so she can see the line and connection. Feel free to cheat to accomplish this LOL! You can start her in a stay in front of the tunnel so you can lead out or send her to the far end of the tunnel with you near the middle so you can get ahead of her.
You can also move the wings in a lot closer to start, and put the MM out near the wing for now. This week we added a tunnel exit game, which will help her understand how to go straight on tunnel exits and not come to you 🙂
Snow again tomorrow? NOOOOOOOO! I am ready for spring weather!
Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
Here is some boring feedback for ya:
this was a great session – she was pretty darned perfect! She drove ahead, she found the jump from behind you, and she never changed her behavior: she went fast, she looked at the line, she jumped nicely and played with the toy. This is a BIG WIN! Woohoo!
You were connected, you ran fast, the verbals sounded incredibly different, your toy placement (placed and thrown) were good, plus she seems to understand that GO means to look forward for the reinforcement even if it is thrown so you didn’t get any questions from her.My only suggestion if that you can maybe repeat the verbal GO GO GO to prepare her for when you are on even bigger lines.
And for the next session, you can add a little more height – add another 2 inches and see how she does and if she looks the same as she does here – add another 2 inches.
Great job!!!
TracyHello and welcome, great to see you here!!!
I sent an access request for the history 🙂
Thank you for the trial videos and home video. Question- do you remember what happened outside the ring during your warm up before tue run where she was SO FAST but then pooped after the weaves? Ir was it a cold day versus a hot day? I’m just curious to see if we can find patterns.
She struggled after you fixed a refusal in that run then fixed the weaves. So for now, if something goes wrong, just keep running and don’t fix anything 🙂She has a LOT of great tricks!!!! Do you have a hand cue to help with the left and right spins? She had trouble with just the verbals and then she got mad and wouldn’t bring the toy back LOL (I like that she had big opinions :))
This went well with a toy – will she play with toys at a trial? You can do this with cookies – first cookies in your hand, then cookies stay in the pocket til after the trick, then you whip one out to reward her.
And you can hide the toy in a pocket , cue the trick, then whip it out too – that’ll be the first steps towards getting her to work with focus and passion without the food or toy visible. 🙂
Great job! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi again! THanks for posting the video, this is really informative!
First up – the tricks. You have a nice set of action tricks! Spins, hop ups, hand touches, leg weaves, and explosive releases from a stay. Perfect! So I want to do 2 things with your tricks toolbox:
First, with the cookies visible in your hand, I want to change the energy: you are being really high energy before the cue, so I want to see if you can be calm and quiet before the cue, then give the cue… then explode into the high energy reward.
The reason for this is so that he doesn’t rely on you needing to be super high energy the whole time, because it is really hard to maintain especially in those moments when you are trying to get the leash off or get him settled into the lead out, for example. And if you are not high energy, he deflates. So, we will teach him that even with a more calm cue, he can respond with high energy which then produces a high energy reward. Let me know if that makes sense, or if I need more coffee hahahaAnd then when he is happy with that with cookies in your hand before the cues (which is what you had on the first part of the video) – don’t take the training skirt off yet, but don’t reach for the cookie until AFTER you get his response to the cue. He definitely watched every movement of the cookie 🙂 So we can split the behavior a little more – the first part is yes, cookies can be in your hand. And the second part can be cookies in the training skirt, but you are still wearing in.
On the 2nd part of the video, when you took off the training skirt – yes, we can totally see some trial behavior (sniffing, slower responses to cues, struggling to ignore the cookies). That is good news, because it means we can train it at home before bringing the skills to a trial! It is harder when the dogs ar always perfect at home.
So, rather than ask for tricks when the training skirt is off, let’s break things down more into the first stages of remote reinforcement – just getting him to walk away with connection to you and offering engagement. When you put the training skirt down, just take a step away, don’t cue anything, don’t be high energy… just walk away for a step. And the instant he looks at you and doesn’t sniff… big party and back to the cookies. He might sniff before looking at you and that is fine 🙂
Start with getting one step of engagement offered, then 2 steps, then maybe 3… then 1. We will build it up very gradually – no need to add tricks yet to remote reinforcement until he can’t take his eyes off of you 🙂 If the grass is too distracting, start this in your kitchen where it will be a lot easier, just putting the cookies up on a counter then taking a step away, then running back when he offers engagement. Remember that you are going to be looking at him but not asking for engagement and not being too exciting as you move away 🙂
Great job! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning and welcome! Thanks for jumping in 🙂
>> Outside the ring Sparky is excellent – so long as I keep him engaged doing tricks .. wait and run forward full pelt .. spins left right .. warm up over jumps…he’s happy. As soon as we enter the ring – and walk to the start – different story. He is not happy at all …
We will definitely be working on the various games to help him learn to relax without you needing to keep the tricks flowing the whole time. And the transition into the ring will be a place where we build up his excitement and joy!
>>In Australia all our comps are outside in public fields so anything could have run over the grass at night ..animals .. so this makes it worse for us. I realise that if he was fully engaged he would not put his nose down on the grass but this is what he does at the start line .. once that happens I’ve lost him.>>
Yes – and it could be that his nose goes down because of good smells, or stress, or both. We will be working on nose up and engagement 🙂
>>Another issue for us is ‘the leash’ – taking it on and off and then stuffing it in my tights. Pre COVID we had a lead steward who would take the leash to the exit. Now there’s another step so the dog has to wait while we attach the leash to our bodies or hide it so the dog is left sitting doing nothing.>>
Yes- it is really only a couple of seconds but it sounds like he deflates pretty quickly. We will work on adding it to the routines later in the class so that he doesn’t mind the leash moment in the transition to the line.
>>I did develop a routine which works great in training …walk in .. look at Sparky .. nose touch to hand .. remove slip leash and put over my head .. then nose touch again and lead out. I have not been able to test this at a trial yet.
I also use the verbal ..’break break break’ whilst I walk in and when I stop use no verbal and Sparky sits … again.. have not been able to test this at a comp yet.>>Great!!! Question: what are the training in the ring rules in Australia? What is allowed and what is not allowed?
>>In our regular public park which is where I set up a few obstacles to train .. Sparky v happy to sit and wait … I can lead out at great distances. At training at grounds – he’s not as comfortable when a whole arena is full of equipment… he wants to go run.>>
This is interesting! And you have rewards in your hands and pockets at the training grounds too?
>>In trial we can only play and have food outside the ring. He will tug for food.
Is leash tugging allowed? Are there training in the ring opportunities with toys?
I am excited to see him play the games! Onwards to the video!
TracyGood morning! I am glad you enjoyed the connection seminar; it was a really fun group of people and dogs 🙂 And if you didn’t spill your water in the pre-game, it is time to go to a higher value drink like coffee haha
I this session went really well – he was able to drive ahead to the jump with you running and that was the main goal. And great job with your connection and verbals!!!!!
I totally see what you mean that he was sticky on committing to the wing. I think part of it was that you were sending and rotating all at the same time on most of the reps where he didn’t take it, and part of it was that the MOST LOVED MM was out past the jump and that was causing a bit of distraction to his commitment skills.
Or… both 🙂 I thought you were strong with your send cue at 1:05, you didn’t rotate early but he still didn’t commit. So that is the MM distraction at work 🙂 You can wait a little longer to commit him when the MM is out there, and that is something that is normal with young dogs: being more patient with commitment cues when they are seeing distractions or in new environments.
You can also reward the wrap with a cookie from your hand (rather than driving to the jump) so that way you can balance the value back to it, even with the jump and MM out ahead.
And that vehicle was noisy LOL!!!! I can see why he looked at it 🙂 Great job getting him back in the game, he did really well after that!
Nice work here! Let me know what you think!
Tracy
