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and one more thought – because of her age, you can continue doing all of these games on barrels. That will help keep her lines nice and round, no hitting wings 🙂 There is no need to put her on the wings any time soon 🙂
Hi!
I am not worried – I went back and looked to see what was happening and it looks like it was on the left turn wraps, and at the exit. So she was probably chasing the toy, because it was already visible 🙂 The right turn wraps looked like she didn’t touch anything, but let me know if I missed anything. So on the left turn wraps in particular, you can add a little less speed when the toy is visible. And, you can also add more handler motion but hide the toy until she is all the way around, then whip it out. Eventually we will marry the two together and she will be perfect 🙂
Tracy
Hi!
On the first rep, you had the arm swing that is good to use for threadles, and it definitely helped him! Good job keeping your feet moving forward on the 2nd rep AND getting the arm in position AND looking at your threadle hand… all of that combined to help him get it while you were moving – super!!!! All he needs is the threadle slice verbal and you will be able to add more and more motion.
Great job on all of these! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
More threadles here – as you add more motion, definitely add your threadle slice verbal and look at your threadle hand, I think that will help him a lot! This is a hard skill because it has to override motion. Also, keep your feet facing the reward and not him – you had your feet facing him on the first rep, but facing the reward more after that.T
Hi!
This was the threadle – the remote cookie dispenser was hard on the first rep but then he was great on the second rep! Super!2 things to help build up the threadles:
– release with a threadle verbal, to help him differentiate it from the serp which uses the regular “break” release.
– And, look at your threadle hand (and you can swing the hand/arm back on threadles, which also differentiates it from the serp).
T
Hi –
This was one rep of serp with some movement – you can keep moving and you don’t need to swing your shoulder back as much (on serps, you won’t want to swing your arm back at all, ideally.) As you release, you can look at your serp hand but you don’t need to move it back – it can stay locked in position as you move forward.Hi –
Concept transfer of wrapping the wing was easy peasy for him. Yay! You were able to add the turn and burn both directions. It looks like when you were trying to leave fast and early on the left turns (1:27, 2:03) he had more questions than on he right turns. So on the left turns, two options to smooth things out: you can leave early (as soon as his nose is arriving at the wing) but sloooowly (walking). Or, you can leave a step later (after he turns his head to start the wrap) and leave fast (jogging). It looks like you can leave fast and early on the right turns 🙂 It is normal that turns would progress at different rates, based on the subtle side preferences.
Nice work!
Hi!
Hard to tell a side preference because he was turning to whichever side the ball was rolling LOL! Darned ball was misbehaving LOL! He turned to his left more time than he turned to his right, but that might be based on the ball direction. You can try rolling the ball into a corner to see if you can get more of a blank slate about his turn preference 🙂His retrieving was perfect! And he thought it was weird to tug on the ball at first, but then he go more comfy with it! He would make a fabulous flyball dog too, to add to his busy schedule 🙂
T
Good morning! Hope you had a good weekend!
>>, I was able to do some of these over the weekend, not all.
Doing some is the correct thing 🙂 Trying to do ALL would result in too much work and both of your brains would be too tired 🙂
Looking at the tunnel videos:
They are all looking good!! She definitely is liking her tunnel!!
One suggestion: replace saying “ready” with the tunnel verbal while you are holding her so she hears tunnel tunnel tunnel 3 or 4 times before you release her (to better attach this verbal and also make it easier to attach other verbals) using the same framework. You did this use of the verbal at 1:40 and 2:16 – she doesn’t need to look forward, as long as she goes to the tunnel when you release her 🙂 You might be waiting for her to look forward when you say ready? But she doesn’t need to, especially when you are on the harder angles.>>should I be looking at Hola or at the tunnel entrance when saying Tunnel! Tunnel! Tunnel! ??>>
You should be looking at her (practicing connection), she can look wherever she likes 🙂
>> except one thing I did notice is that she wasn’t as zippy when going in from the left side of the tunnel and on some of them sort of stopped at the end of the tunnel. I’ll try this again and see if she still does it. When she worked from the right side of the tunnel she didn’t do that. Could that be a factor of turning to her right? Was I doing something different?>>
She was less zippy in a couple of instances when the food was involved and it was only coming from the MM. She might find your lack of motion to be not stimulating so she goes to the MM mostly but was not that amped up about it all. A couple of ideas for you:
– you can play tug between each rep after a food reward so it is not just a repetitive thing with the MM. The tug will make it more fun and will also help you line her up – when there was only the MM reward, you were doing collar grabbing and moving her into position by the collar, which does not seem motivating to her (see below for more on that). A tug game or another cookie for coming back can help her line up.
– make sure the MM is beeping – I did hear it sometimes, but not always? Se might find the beep helpful about where to look.
– add motion! as soon as she commits to the tunnel, you can run to the reward even if the reward is the MM. That will be more engaging.
– on the left turns, it might be a harder side for her (this is normal) so you can stay closer to the entry for a while longer.
She was not slow at all on the left turns when the toy was involved, which supports the theory of the MM-only being not-so-exciting LOL!! So definitely incorporate more toy play and less moving by the collar into the tunnel games.
When she is on the threadle side, you can now add your tunnel threadle verbal to replace saying tunnel on those reps. Use the same framework of holding her, saying the verbal, then letting go. Start on easy angles as you add the new word, and her rate of success will tell you how soon you can add changing positions.
>>When I used the toy she had some big runoffs with the toy all the way to the far end of the field, but did a huge loop and ran right back to me.>>
She did come back, but took a little while – it was about 25 seconds on video 3. You can add in running the other way and calling her back to you with a higher value toy, then play play play play play 🙂 The problem with having 2 same-value or identical toys (even if they are well-loved toys) is that she can choose to have an easy big fun romp with the toy… or come back and work for the same exact toy. Ha! Any terrier is going to choose to have a victory lap if the value of reinforcement is identical LOL! So, you can have a lower value toy thrown as the reward, cue a quick victory lap… then move the other way and call her back to you for a higher value toy 🙂
>>Should I stretch the tunnel out more the next time? I definitely need to buy more tunnel bags, what you see is all I have.>>
Not until you have more to secure it with so it doesn’t move from under her. You don’t need to buy expensive tunnel bags – I bought playsand from Lowe’s and put it into giant heavy duty garbage bags and attached them with old sheets across the top… tunnel bags for $2 LOL!
Minny pinny –
>>On the Minny Pinny I held her by the collar but since I was holding the treats in that hand it was a little distracting for her on some of the reps. I know you said to treat with the same (send) hand which is why I had them in that hand. Should I just keep them in my pocket and try to get one out in time when she comes back around?>>
Nope, keep them in your send hand 🙂 Part of the learning is that the dog leaves the reward to do the thing 🙂 Otherwise you will end up with rushed mechanics to get the cookies out which can be even more distracting. She will figure it out and did well here!
Good job saying the verbal a few times, then letting her go, then continuing to say it and rewarding her for the correct turn.
She was NOT a fan of the collar grab here where you used the collar to move her around to the start position, She was avoiding it (which could be part of the reason she romped away at :46 and also why she was not always bringing the toy back during the tunnel games) or lookin away as it was happening. Good info from Hola!!
So instead of using the collar grab as a way to move her into position (doesn’t look like a fun line up!), you can change the mechanics: after the reward, use a cookie or hand target to line her up at your side (no hand on collar). When she is in the line up poition at your side, slip a finger under her collar (but don’t move her around by the collar), give her a cookie, then start the verbals.
You can also add in the turn and burn exit now where you do a front cross while she is doing the minny pinny, take off and run so she chases you for the reward. That will be fun!
Parallel path –
>>For the Parallel Path game the tossing of a treat away first did work better to keep her from looking at me. When I tried tossing treat and using a toy to throw over the jump she choked on the treat a few times because she didn’t eat it first before jumping and grabbing the toy. So on the last few reps in the video although you can’t see it I put a big cone out to send her around instead of using the treat. >>
The cone works well as a starting point if she is not swallowing the treat. Soft treats are generally better to use, but some dogs don’t swallow those either! So, the cone is great 🙂
>>Should I put a verbal to this exercise like Go! Go! Go! ??>>
No need to add a Go verbal yet – you an add a verbal “get it” marker (I couldn’t hear if you had one here). You can add in changing your position and motion: on some reps, startcloser to the cone so she drives ahead of you to the jump. On some reps, send her waaaay away from the cone so you are past the jump before she gets there. And on all reps, you can start to jog and build to a run 🙂
One training mechanics thing that I notice here about the retrieve, which could be part of why she takes big victory laps… when she brings the toy back, you tend to take it away, disconnect, and get yourself set up for the next rep. Watch her face in those moments LOL! Most dogs find that to be punishing, even if we hand them a treat. The removal of the toy and the handler disconnection override the treat.
Instead, when she brings it back, play! Either reward with the other toy, or tug with the one she has brought back, or send her on another victory lap. Don’t just take it away and go back to work. You played more at 2:01, this is more what I think will be fun for her! On most of the other reps, you tended to take it away immediately then turn your back on her and go back to work. So try to make the engagement with the toy longer and more exciting when she returns (you can tug and stay engaged all the way back to the starting point) then go right into the next rep with the same high energy and engagement.
Nice work here! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning! Hope you are having a fabulous couch day today!!!
>> I did a little bit more today (Sunday), but Casper had diarrhea last night. I gave him the ham off my sandwich yesterday… that is what I trained with in the video; it was really high value. Last night (Saturday night), though, he woke me up at 3 am and 5 am with diarrhea. And today he threw up in his crate a couple of times so he wasn’t feeling very well.>>
Poor guy! The ham plus travel plus being in the new location can definitely throw off his system. I hope he is feeling better today!
Looking at the videos – yes, he was not as into it as usual, and that is probably because he didn’t feel well. Food is the motivator as well as the reinforcement for him here so if he wasn’t feeling 100%, I can see why he would be a little lukewarm about it. But he did well and did a couple of stays on the platform. And he ate a couple of treats and did some barrels for you in the next video, but you can see when the food is not as motivating how the distractions come up in the environment.
>>When I watch the video I really hear all the different sounds. I tend to tune them out when I’m actually there, since they are so normal for me I just consider them background noise. I’m sure they are very strange and distracting for Casper.>>
Yes! All sorts of different sounds and visuals and probably a TON of smells. When the food is motivating and he is feeling good, his brain will prioritize the food and the activity over the sounds/smells/sights (like the Saturday videos). But when he doesn’t feel so good, and the food is not as motivating… his brain will avoid the food and that leaves room to prioritize the sounds/smells/sights which is why he was sniffier and also looking/listening to the environment more here. I am pretty sure the noises and smells are very similar to the Saturday noises and smells – but he was tired, not feeling well, and not finding food motivating so you can see a difference in his focus level.
You were wise to just let him sniff and do a thing or two, then stop. Yes, he was able to work a bit which speaks to the high value of the “work” and engagement with you <3 Yay!
>> And it could transfer to the car too if the coat/harness happens preceding the car every time. >>
Right! We don’t want to chain together coat/harness/car.
You might want to try coat OR harness, instead of coat AND harness? Maybe having the sensory stimulation of both is too much.
>> I’ll keep clicker training it to get him to offer to put his head in with super high-value treats. Then after he’s getting it on, I can combine it with a super fun thing that he will love.>>
Maybe don’t clicker train it at all, that gets both of you really focusing on The Dreaded Harness (his words, probably haha). Maybe put it on super fast (you can have cream cheese or something on his nose to help with that) then immediately go into whatever thing he loves the absolute most. Does he love to run with one (or more) of your other dogs? You can take a ‘social support’ approach: If Jet or Connor or Dreamer are happy to have a coat or harness on, and they like to run with Casper, let Casper watch one of them happily get a harness on. Then put Casper’s harness on – then open the door and they can go run in your yard. Or any activity they can engage in together 🙂
I need to do this with flyball wraps and my baby dog, Elektra. The plan is to set up near my back door to my dog yard, with the frizzers next to the door. I will wrap her BFF, Contraband (he will be thrilled to be wrapped to play friz!) then I will wrap a foot or two on Elektra… then open the door and let them run around and play frizzer. I will get this on film if it ever stops raining 🙂
>>My parents always just wanted me to deal with stuff when I was a kid, but then they could also put me in situations that were so uncomfortable (mainly social situations I hated and couldn’t handle when I was very young) that it was pushed too far. So I want to be aware and not push things too far to make life more difficult for him.>>
1000000% relatable!!!! And we, as adults, remember those situations and not in a good way. We humans are much better able building resilience in dogs and helping them gradually enter situations that are hard, to help build up those positive associations. You are doing a great job of “reading” Casper to help him get confident and happy in situations where he might have questions 🙂
Tracy
Good morning! Great job with these, Team Prytty!! Annalise, you did a fabulous job with your mechanics, your connections, and your rewarding 🙂
>>All of these proved to be pretty challenging for her. I think adolescent brain might be beginning to manifest 😂
They were really challenging for her because they are really challenging versions of the games 🙂 She was a good girl! The serp & threadle games were the hardest because they are the least natural for the pups : )
Turn and burn is looking good! The first rep had both of you moving a little too soon then the rest were great. You were able to get her to commit then take off running – super! Look at how nice and tight she was on that last rep <3 Both directions looked strong. Only one suggestion: we can clarify when she should start a little more, Ithink she as not entirely sure. To do that, you can put your hand on her collar, say the verbal 3 or 4 times, then let go and step & point to the wing. That should be a very clear cue 🙂
Great job breaking the serps down! The hard part about serps (and threadles) is that the trained skill needs to override handler motion AND override the delicious Manners Minder sitting *right there*. Prytania did a great job and you all helped her by taking out motion, then slowly putting it back in.
One handling suggestion to help her out - exaggerate the handling cue a bit more, but putting the serp arm further out so that it rotates your shoulders even more. The goal is that there is a straight line from your heart to the center of the bar, even as you move. And as she is moving, you can be looking down at back at your hand (and not at her cute face). That can totally help her drive into the serp rather than go directly to the MM 🙂
Threadles are also going really well!! Great job with the arm position and your style of delivery of the verbal (it sounded really different from the others - perfect!)
Like with the serp, the motion was SO HARD for her! She was really strong when you were not moving on the right turns but it was harder on the left turns when you were stationary and when you were moving. So, since the threadles have to override motion and the MM even more than the serps, you can start her on an even easier angle as you add movement: you can have her facing the wing of the jump, on the same line as the jump bar, so she sees an easier line to the threadle side and can't really see the front of the bar.Now, if that doesn't help her and she still has questions, we do the exact opposite of starting her next to the MM with her back to it 🙂 Sometimes that is actually easier for the pups, because they are not facing the delicious MM! If you want to see a pup that found it easier to be on the "hard" angle next to the reward, check out Jen & Muso's thread (they just posted the threadles over the weekend :))
Great job here!!!
Tracy
Good morning!
>>I’m at a trial this weekend and it’s cold and dirty so we haven’t done much. I
Wow, I bow to you to have done *anything* when it is cold and gross out, especially when it involves snow LOL!!! Good for you!!!! It is raining and 45 degree here, and I think I will hide under a blanket all day haha
Was someone trying to talk to you while you were trying to train him? People are not always good at reading the room LOL!! You were great to just pay attention to your pup 🙂
One thing you can add in that environment are the pattern games – note how he was sniffing at the beginning (sniffing that cart thing) so you can do a bit of pattern game where he wants to sniff. It is a good framework for saying to him: go ahead and check it out, let me know when you are ready to train. If the floor was gross and you didn’t want to toss treats, you can feed from your hands by alternating which hand you reward from (or by putting the cookies down on your shoe, that works nicely with pattern games too :))
Nice job with the barrel wraps – he needed a little bit of help to get started which you gave him, then he was great and then you ended the session. Perfect! If you have time later today, try another session and see how he does!
He did really well with the platform too! He definitely seems to like the platform concept, maybe because it is so clear to him. YAY! Yes, it was fine to go back and reward in position rather than toss. When rewarding in position, calmly deliver to his mouth rather than release ten deliver – the other option is to release him forward to you, then hand him the treat.
>>And he’s still not really playing with toys with this many distractions.>>
That is normal and also it is fine 🙂 The more he gets into that environment and processes it and trains for cookies, the more he will get relaxed and start playing with toys. Food is the high value thing for now, so we can go with it 🙂
>.So I have a question. Casper is recently hating his harness and coats. Like just the last two weeks
Interesting! Was he always hating this, or just started? Or just at the trial and not at home?
>> I did find out that his sire is the same way. But… Is this related to him but liking being touched when we play tug? I am thinking it could be.>>
Totally could be! And totally could have a genetic component. He could be sensitive to things touching his body, and he could get it from his daddy 🙂
>> When he has his coat and or harnesses on at the trial this weekend he really dumps and doesn’t act like himself at all. I don’t want him to be like that. But I don’t want him to be cold. And I don’t want him to pull on his collar either and hurt his neck.>>
Is his reaction to the coat/harness new for the trial? Or will he be sad about it at home too? Was he acting cold? It might be better to NOT have a coat/harness on in the trial environment, so he doesn’t associate trials with sad-making coats.
>>o I’ve been walking him on a collar with no coat and using lots of treats so he’ll stay close to me and not yank his neck. >>
So… you are using smart dog training to help him out? Fabulous! You make a lot of great training decisions in your training with him. I am not sure you even realize it, so I will keep pointing it out and delivering cyber-click-treats to you 🙂 It sounds like you are rewarding loose leash walking, and you are making the trial a good place to be (COOKIES!) without introducing any potentially sad-making outerwear 🙂
If you think he is going to pull on a regular collar, you can try a big fat whippet-martingale. They are made for skinny delicate necks and I use them on all of my dogs 🙂
Separately, you can make the coat or harness super fun by putting it on him then letting him do a super fun thing. For example, when I needed my dogs to learn to wear wraps for flyball, I put the wraps on then immediately started playing frisbee. The dogs went from “OMG I HATE WRAPS” to “what wraps? I’m playing FRIZZER!” and then it was never a problem 🙂 So what is Casper’s most favorite activity where you can put the harness or coat on and immediately let him have a great time?
(Bear in mind that Farmdogs tend to not freeze like a whippet would, so coats might not be needed LOL!)
>>I also bought him a warmer bed for his crate and a small personal propane heater so he’ll be warm. (Good hell, seriously dog? 🤣🤣🤣)>>
That sound you hear right now is the sound of my two pointy dogs knocking at your dog, so they can come live in the land of personal propane heaters LOL!!! Lucky pup!!!!! (And I would do the same LOL!)
Tracy
Hi!
Nice work with the left & right verbals, and holding your position until he is finishing the minny pinny! Yay! He is understanding this setup nicely!
Yes, only one blooper with the verbals but that will get fixed when you add gently holding him by the collar as you start saying the verbals – don’t let go til you have said it 3 or 4 times (and you will also be sure that you are saying the correct one haha!!) Holding onto his collar will also build up his excitement to drive through the setup, because he will get all pumped up and then explode into it when you let him go 🙂 That moment of anticipation where you both stand still, you are holding him and saying the verbal, then BOOM! You let go and he drives into it.Great job! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning!
He is doing really well here! He is a little better at turning to his right on these than he is at turning to his left. On the left turns, he tends to turn to his right first then turns to his left. On the right turn (:53) he was perfect! So, two ideas for you to help him with the left turns:
When he is on your left side and turning to his left, start on an easier angle, so he can see the tunnel entry better. Think of the tunnel entry as being at 6 on a clock – you were starting him at 4 or 5 on a clock and that was hard on the left (no problem on the right turns). So on the left if the tunnel entry is at 6, try starting him at 2 or 3 so it is an easier turn away. Let me know if that makes sense, or if I need to drink more coffee to make more sense 🙂
The other option is to place the toy inside the tunnel entry, a couple of feet into the tunnel (yes, the toy is in the tunnel LOL!) You can do this by holding his collar, tossing the toy in, then saying the tunnel verbal, then letting him go 🙂 The reward will be very quick because it is already on the inside of the tunnel – he may or may not finish the whole tunnel, but either way is fine because the toy will move to the end of the tunnel quickly. It is a well-placed lure that we can fade very quickly. I did exactly this yeterday with my 6 month old puppy, he can turn perfectly to the right but has trouble to the left, just like Charlie.
When he is happy to make the turns, then we can add the tunnel threadle verbal. Have you decided what verbal you want to use, and if you want to use a cross arm or not?
I posted a video of this with my puppy (including the toy inside the tunnel) from yesterday, you can see it in his thread here:
You will see on this video that I do the harder stuff (like the harder angles and the double whammy) using the right turns only – and I am still doing the easier levels with the left turns. Charlie is about the same age, so I believe you will find yourself doing the same progression of the hard stuff on the easier side for him, and the other side will catch up later. Bazinga in this class is doing the same thing (one side is easier than the other on this game :))
Nice work!
TracyHi!
Wrapping the wing went really smoothly! She really has strong value and had no problems at all offering the behavior on a jump wing. So now you can move away from the immediate wrap offering she was doing when she releases the toy, and start to do what you started approximately in the middle of the video: holding her, saying the verbal, then letting go. We will put a sit on this soon enough 🙂 but we don’t want her to zip into offering things in that tiny heartbeat of a millisecond between letting go of the toy and you having a moment to cue her LOL!! That could make it harder to get her lined up for a stay if you dare to take 2 milliseconds LOL!
One small placement of reward idea: She sometimes doesn’t finish her commitment in favor of chasing the toy (this is normal :)) so as you add more and more speed along with more countermotion, you can throw the toy to the exit of the wrap as you take off the new direction (rather than have her come to your hand for the reward) to help solidify the commitment as you move away. I posted the first video of doing this with my pup yesterday. As soon as he realized we were doing a turn and burn game, he felt it was faster & more efficient to sometimes skip the wrap and chase me immediately LOL! A couple of thrown rewards to the wing exit helped him out a lot. Muso has a good retrieve so this can be fun and efficient.
Looking at your markers list: what is the cue for a thrown reward that is not dead? It is not really a “catch” situation because of the context and it is not ‘get it’ – maybe the shhhhhew noise? Unless shhhhew is chasing it in your hand?
One last thought: because she is very verbal (these pointy dogs are SO verbal and it makes me very happy) – be clear with your verbals if it is a front side wrap or a 360 (backside wrap). I believe the verbals here were for your front side wraps but you threw in some full 360s. Hold off on the full 360s til you have that verbal going (and also adding a bump will help her differentiate if it is the front of backside).
Great job!! Enjoy the rest of the weekend!
Tracy
