Forum Replies Created
-
Posts
-
Hi!
>>I feel like there are things from the previous weeks that I still need to work on and improve. I then get overwhelmed and I feel like I start putting gaps in the training because I have missed something from previous weeks! >>
I feel this pain! I think we can prioritize so you don’t have to work on ALL the things and feel overwhelmed. And you can alternate days with the different skills – that way each skill gets a ‘day off’ to cement while you work something else.
Bearing in mind what I know is coming next week”
I like the Fast Lines game for him a WHOLE LOT because it directly tackles finding the line AFTER the turn, which will help him set up the turn before the jump – all with you being able to move.
The serp versus go game is not as important for now. The independent wrap game is also a lower priority. No need to put those on the schedule at the moment.
I would add more of the in the backside slice games so you can work the difference between front side cues and backside cues. That also helps him understand the turn cues and how to pick up the line to a jump rather than go around anything.
So if you get 3 sessions in between now and next Monday, focus on the fast lines game (no helping, and starting closer to the start wing) and some of the backside work 🙂 that will set you up beautifully for what is coming next – which should set you up for trials which is where we really want to see the good turns.
Hopefully that helps narrow down the list 🙂
TracyHi!
This was really interesting!
Great job breaking down the go versus left/right at the beginning, and the variation in arm position totally helped him. And that is fine for this game!He had a bunch of really really good reps… then got sucked into the dreaded THREADLE VORTEX hahaha I think the first couple of threadle reps were a combination of just having done a bunch of reps of the same thing, so he was offering different behavior – and at :45, :53, :57 it looked like you were in threadle position on the entry wing of the jump more than in serp position in the center of the bar. So he might have been offering different behavior based on different position, then just started threadle vortexing. I think the threadle vortex happens with some types of dogs because it is possible that it is easier to threadle to be able to jump away from you, than it is to serp and jump towards you? I mean, there is a lot of BC and Whippet in this beast, and neither of those breeds love to drive right at us over a jump. Threadle behavior is more of what a BC would do. I have never had a purebred Papillon go into a threadle vortex, so the Papillon side of him doesn’t get the blame hahaha
So what to do in those vortex moments? It is basically a plateau, and we need to break the plateau not by trying to get the other behavior, but by just doing something different and easy to kind of shake him off the plateau. It is easier to shake the dog off the plateau by stepping back then making it harder again, then it is to continue to try the hard stuff (which is what was happening here). So the vortex-breaker here would be to do what you did on the first couple of reps where threadling was basically impossible. Then take a break (which is great for vortex-breaking) and look at the video. Usually a position change helps when you come back to the next session, like getting further across the serp bar so he can clearly see you between the uprights.
Let me know if that makes sense! Nice work here, even with the accidental vortex 🙂
Tracy
Good morning!
Oh, this is SUCH a good one for him LOL! Turning tight to then pick up the next line is VERY hard when you are both moving so fast 🙂
First, I’ll just say that I thought he totally nailed the left and right soft turns – looks like he nailed every single one of those. YAY!!!!!
The wraps are a lot harder, of course 🙂 There was a massive progression forward in this game – compare his first line at :04 to his last rep at 1:48…. SO MUCH BETTER!!!! To keep getting the turn tight, we are going to have you help a lot less LOL!
I think you were helping too much – I know he is going to come around the wing, but on course sometimes he will run past things, right? So…. no more helping after the wrap. By helping, you were sometimes pointing at the jump, or sometimes saying jump, or sometimes throwing the toy too early (like at :17). To help him understand the turn and the importance of finding the correct line after it, 2 ideas for you:
– run forward, do your wrap cue, all that was great! But then be quiet and run away generally back towards the start wing. If he maintains criteria, he will exit tight enough to be on the line that automatically shows the jump – when you see him approaching the jump with no help, throw the reward. If he does not maintain criteria and misses the jump: tell him he is very cute, reset cookie at your side in front of the start wing, try again.
– move the soft turn jump in closer to the wrap exit line 🙂 Evil, I know 🙂 Looking at his exit of the wrap on the 1st 2 reps here, put the soft turn jump right there 🙂 He is going to have a decision to make about how tight he turns on the wrap cues!I think this will help build on the progress we are already seeing. For example at :36, he was turning himself and looking for the bar, rather than responding after you said jump or threw the toy. YAY!! And then he was doing it that on the other side too, like at 1:30 and the last couple of reps. Super yay!
So think of it as a giant “it is your choice, dude” game on the wrap exits: he either chooses the tight wrap for the party, or goes wide (no party). Of course, since this is really challenging, you can be watchful of the success rate: 2 failures, dial back the speed of your running (but don’t help with any indication of how to exit the wrap.
Great job here, I am excited by the progress!! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning!
Nice work on this game – it is pretty hard and you two did really well!!
Overall, I think she was responding really well to the different verbals!!!
One of the things she had trouble with were when you stopped suddenly – so try to stay in motion and not stop for now – you can decelerate and that will work up to being able to slam on the brakes, but she had questions and errors when you stopped moving. More on that below.
First couple of reps, left wraps, she committed nicely! Trust her more and keep moving back up the line so she decides if she will wrap and take the next jump, or not 🙂 You were waiting a little and I don’t think she needed that 🙂 Same at 4:52, keep moving as that is part of the challenge 🙂
When you moved to the right wraps (no problem watching the setup change LOL!):
She hit the wing at 1:18 – It was mainly caused by lack of connection (you were looking ahead and not at her) and she didn’t do it again. In a perfect world, we handlers would never disconnect 🙂 but in reality, we disconnect all the time, so we can teach her to NOT hit the wing when you disconnect a bit. I posted some of those proofing games for this in the Course Syllabus section for this week, in the Bonus Games section. My 9 year old dog would hit the wing and bar every time I disconnected even a little when he was young, so these games helped a lot!
At 1:49 – GREAT job staying in motion for the right wraps!! That is what you should do on all of them – cue, turn, run away and see if she can maintain criteria 🙂
On the soft turns to the right, you can totally reward approximations, if she turns correctly even if she doesn’t take the next jump – that next jump needed more info so she was sure she had permission to take it. You either needed to move more, of use a jump verbal if you stopped. Wen yu stopped AND got quiet, she had big questions. For example, at 2:07 – her turn was correct then you stopped moving and got quiet, so she wasn’t sure – you can throw the toy for a correct turn even if she isn’t perfect 🙂 You moved more on the next rep and it helped her completely 🙂
The soft left turn was really good! At 3:35, that left wrap oopsie was a legit mistake, she just didn’t get to the correct side of the wing. In those moments, you can use a reset cookie (calling her back to you, reset with a cookie at your side for the next rep) that so she doesn’t get frustrated and barky 🙂 She was able to fix her oopsie on the next rep – nice!!!
As with the soft turns to the right, either keep moving or use a jump verbal to get her to take the jump after the soft turn if you are decelerating or standing still. I think the decel on the soft turns confused her when there was decel and no verbal cue, like at 4:03 – she turned correctly but there was a big decel and no other info, so she came in. If you stop moving, verbals will help a lot to override the decel.
Check out the absolutely brilliant Katy moment at 5:14 where you totally pulled away too soon (something we handlers do in the real world) but your verbals were really good so she nailed it!!! THAT moment is why we train these games. Hooray!
When you changed us the start at the end, you can wait one more moment on those sends to be sure she is seeing the start wing and moving, before you turn and run. You were leaving in the opposition direction before she moved so she did not commit to the wing – it was not so much of a toy distraction as a motion distraction, then she grabs for the toy when she is not sure or frustrated. So give a big send and don’t leave til you see her move to the wing for a step or two.
And one more thought about the motion versus decel or stops… at 5:39 you had a sudden stop as you sent to the wrap and she didn’t go. The decel was a little early but the verbals were good – ideally we would NEVER mess us the handling by being one step early hahaha 🙂 but we can introduce the idea of “mom might slam the brakes too soon” by introducing the stop more gradually – decelerate as a you move forward a bit, then decelerate more and more and more forward less and less. The verbals will then override your physical cues – and she is definitely going to learn it because we are already seeing it happen at 5:14 for example. It will just take a few sessions to get her more used to lack of physical support.
With that in mind, I think you can change your start position on the next session, so you are pretty close to the start wing – that way she drives ahead of you into the turns more independently, and the handling helps less and less as the verbals take charge more and more 🙂
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning!
>>Not including video of these as I think they are insignificant; all were fine and as expected. Tight turns
Very nice! Great!!
First video with the start wing – also very nice! You can add in starting closer to the start wing, practically touching it, so you are running forward into the wrap a bit more – that will add some more challenge 🙂 When you are ahead, you are able to handle. When he is ahead and you are driving forward… he needs to listen to the verbal more 🙂
On the 2 jump videos – these were really cool to watch him figure it out!!!
>>The 2 jump work is not perfect and is telling to me. 1) Guinness has a really STRONG go go command (his default by the way), so if he’s not going, then he’s patterning on the wrap from trng, regardless of what I’m telling him.>>
Yes – go as a default is a good thing! When you do the GO reps on this game, 2 things to help:
– place yourself outside the wing of jump 1 as you move up the line. When you got caught behind the wing, he was confused about whether he should go or not.
– be sure to throw the reward out past jump 2 for the go. You were rewarding back on you, so he was go a little then coming back because of the reward placement. So for the Go, always throw the reward. The reward for the wraps will be from your hands, which is part of how he will learn the difference.Also, if his default is go, don’t worry about it as much for now – all you’ll probably need to do is run a little more and he will go go go go very easily (BTW, my preference for young dogs is that they have a LOT of go early on, because we add in the turns and end up with GREAT balance of go versus turn :))
Thinking about the rewards… I don’t know him well at all, but I think toys are more reinforcing that treats for him? I wonder if we can use a toy instead of food here, to make the reward higher value for the collections, which are not naturally as much fun as the go go go 🙂 So you might need 3 hands for this: throw cookies for the Go reps, and have him come back to you for a toy for the wraps. Yes, the toy will be more stimulating but he is ready for it!
>> 2) He’s much stronger jumping and following thru to the left than to the right (I noticed this before when I first started rear crossing – he couldn’t go to the right until I trained a switch).
Meaning, he tends to go wider when turning to his left? He was wider turning to his left on the 2 jump setup, and collected better turning to his right here.
>>Also noticed wing wrap getting wider (I’ve seen this before when working more than a few reps).
On the 2 jump game, you did a great job of reinforcing the approximations to shape the behavior. Most folks would not be nearly as patient and would get mad at the wider turns. Instead, you rewarding him for coming back around the wing: any rep where he came back around the wing and did not take the 2nd jump got rewarded. And it was working!!!! The first 2 videos with the 2 jumps had wide turns, but you were rewarding and shaping.
Then the 3rd video – boom! He started off with a collection on the takeoff side of jump 1 on the wrap to the right. YES!!! Then on the last video, he offered takeoff side collection to the left at :18! And collection to the right as well after that!!!! YESSSSSSS!!!
I see this as enormous progress. It is a REALLY hard game especially for dogs with a lot of natural GO and you can already see progress 🙂
>>And son of a gun… I see that I am rewarding (at least with food) in front of me instead of to the side. Even in the videos, I start trying to keep him to my side, but I need to work this big time!>>
I think rewarding at your side in front of you for the wraps will be fine, as long as it is from you hand versus throwing for the Go reps. And yes – make clean starts, as those are the most successful ones. Don’t worry about a stay, I think the collar hold will be good 🙂 And soon enough we will add in a start wing.
>>Should I keep working the 2 jump exercise until I get 90%+? When I’m relatively sure he’s listening to verbals? Should I do collar grab also?>>>
Yes, I would do this same game at least one more time, exactly as you did it here (maybe with fewer go reps) so that we see more and more of the collection before jump 1. And either he will nail it and you can add a start wing after that, or you can repeat the session one more time 🙂 It is an important concept, so it is fine to do it a few times.
You can also take the wing-jump setup and start working the soft turns (left/right) because you will use those a TON on course too!
Did I read things correctly that you will be down at Quicksilver this weekend? Me too! If so, are you bringing your RV?
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning!
>>Sorry about the airplane noise – the navy does touch and goes at our little local airport about a mile from my land.
I don’t even notice it 🙂 We get low flying practice runs from Naval Station Norfolk – they use the little valley that I live in as strafing practice because of the varied terrain (mountains, valley, huge lake not too far away in jet fighter terms… Yesterday there was a fighter jet flying sideways about 100 feet over my field while I was out there. I wave to them. LOL! The noise is intense but thankfully the dogs are not bothered by it. One of these days, I’ll get video.
Lots of good training elements in this Fast Lines session!!! A couple of details about it –
You’re going to laugh, but you might be saying GO to early on the start wing. The good news/bad news with a GO verbal is that if the dog understands it, he will go straight in the direction he is facing, regardless of what you are doing. You were saying it before he had exited the wing wrap, so he was looking a different direction. In this setup, he won’t go anywhere, but on a course, he might lock onto the wrong line. I have learned this lesson firsthand, thanks Voodoo LOL!! So you can wit one heartbeat longer, til you see his head turn towards the jump.
He is doing a really good job maintaining criteria and committing to the turn wing, especially with the left turns! For example at :13, he maintained his wrap exit criteria so well even though you were disconnected and hustling away. I mean, ideally we would NEVER disconnect but we are human and it is nice to know he will find his line based on the verbal 🙂 Yay!
There was something funky :18 – – maybe it was the wrong verbal? And you got quiet early, so he had a question – but great job for committing!
On those left turn reps – Based on how he is jumping the jump… tell him sooner about what you want on the turn wing. He was a bit inverted, head up, looking at you a little which translates to waiting for information. You were saying it over the bar… try saying it as he lifts off (and keep saying it :)) So far this game has been fascinating in terms of getting feedback from the dogs about just how early we can give the next cue, especially when we are not way ahead. I would have guessed that over the bar would be fine for him but he says it is late. Alrighty then!
On your wrap verbals: say them early like you did, say them often like you did… but then stop saying them when he arrives at the turn wing. You were still saying them as he looked at the jump after the wrap, which could get confusing.
he did well with the soft turns – he didn’t always find the jump after it but his line was generally correct, so he will learn to stay on that line with a ‘jump’ verbal and a little more handling support.
His soft right turns were harder – mainly because body language was not supporting as much on that side and also he is better at turning left on this setup. Be sure to keep moving forward on these – not necessarily turning on time, but moving 🙂 For example at 2:26 – you slammed on the brakes and weren’t connected, so he stopped – eventually I don’t think that will be a problem and the verbals will override the deceleration but for now, he still needs some forward motion.
For the next session, start with a couple of easy ones where you are moving forward, then work your way back to starting closer to the start wing, so he is driving ahead of you into the turns 🙂
The serp versus go setup was hard for him! I think there was too much motion to start this and the GO and the Back are both very forward so he was reading motion and not the verbal, which also made it harder to get the serp. With you not layering on the first couple of reps and running, he was staying on his parallel path to the backside. So that gives us some insight into his backside understanding and motion. He was getting it by the end, he kind of had a “a-ha!” moment 🙂 So for the next session, start with less motion, just walking – and when he gets it right, you can add more and more motion. I think also that adding a name call on the start wing will help, to line him up for the front and be like “HEY SPOT LISTEN” rather than just responding to motion 🙂
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
The software can be persnickety… if the image is too big, it won’t post it. Can you put it in a google doc and share the link? Or email it to me at agilityuniversity@gmail.comTracy
Good morning!
>HELP, I need a clearer picture of the “RESET COOKIE” to prevent the GO VORTEX. (Or any vortex, love that phrase!!). I have used a RESET COOKIE during conditioning exercises and to get Prism off of the platform (especially when I need to adjust the spacing or angle and he won’t get off!!) but I am in a small, indoor space and my goal is to get him off or away from me to start over. What would a RESET COOKIE look like on an agility field?
Vortexing is a real thing in agility, just wait til you get into threadles… then sometimes we get the ALL THREADLES ALL THE TIME vortex LOL!!!
Good question here – I think reset cookie is probably too general of a term. I use the cookie (or a toy) as a way to end the incorrect rep, something I don’t necessarily want to reward with a thrown reward or the placement for a ‘correct answer’. And I also use it as a way to bring the dog back to the starting point for the next rep.
So, how the reset cookie is delivered depends on the starting point – but generally I just call the dog back to me (”c’mere!” Or some generic word like that, but not a “you’re wrong” marker). And then I deliver a cookie or toy in a way that helps the dog line up for the next rep. So it can be a cookie at my side. Or since you have a line up position, you can call him, line up, cookie, start again. Or a toy!
The goal is to very quickly end the incorrect rep (we humans spend way too much time discussing the incorrectness and not enough time getting the next correctness LOL!), reset the dog to the start position for the next rep – and keep the overall rate of success high so the frustration level stays low.
We all miscount the rate of success/rate of reinforcement by counting only behavior we are trying to train… but I try to count ALL behind offered or cued in the session. So even if my cue is bad or the dog makes a mistake, I can keep the rate of reinforcement really high with these rewards for resetting into the start position.
The magic is that the dog stays very happy and eager to keep trying, without getting frustrated or stressed… and we don’t accidentally reinforce unwanted behavior with the skill(s) we are trying to train.
>>Won’t he lose the cookie in the turf?
If the reset cookie is thrown as the best way to bring the dog back to start position, the dog should already know how to find one and return to focus (plus using big obvious cookies in a contrasting color helps – like string cheese chunks). One reinforcement procedure that I teach my dogs very early on is to find a cookie in grass/dirt and immediately return focus to me. I have video of this if you want to see!
>>Maybe I use a whole meatball, lol?
He won’t be sad LOL!! But you probably won’t need a whole meatball, and a lot of the reset cookies in this context are from your hand so throwing them won’t be a problem.
>>so he DOES take time to find them (and POOF, vortex dissolved).>>
YES! Doing fast reps all in a row are NOT helpful for breaking out of the vortex. Tossing treats and then doing something really easy sure can help!
I will go find a reset cookie moment in one of the demo videos so you can see it in action – be right back with that!
>>I finally pulled out the 5’ bars>>
Depending on your competition goals, we might only ever need 5 foot bars – but we might also go back to 4 foot bars later on, as he will see those in UKI and on the more ‘international” style courses 🙂
TracyGood morning!
I love the upside down garbage pail as the cone to wrap 🙂 but I think she had a question about it (see below).This game went really well! A couple of big-picture things:
– right turns appear to be easier for her here than the left turns did. There might be 2 reasons for it:
She might be a righty 🙂 So don’t be surprised if you are able to rotate more and leave sooner when she is being asked to turn right (like the first part of the video) than on the left turns (2nd part of the video) and that is fine, you can make things easier on the left turns.Or – she moved the barrel at :53 and it slammed behind her. That was right when she said “no thanks” to more left turns for a few reps then did them but did them slowly. So perhaps it is not a side preference, maybe it is more that she was sensitive to the noise or feel of the barrel? You might want to dampen the sound with some towels under it in case she hits it again.
My guess is that it is a combo – left turns might be a little harder and she didn’t like the crash of the barrel. Begin sure that it doesn’t make a big noise will help her get past that.
She really liked it when you did a little “ready ready” moment 🙂 Very snappy responses from her when you did that!
And remember to use your “you may now grab the toy” marker (is it ‘strike’?) so she knows she can really drive into the toy.
For the next session, move the barrel to a new spot on the floor so she hopefully won’t remember the noise, and put some towels under it so it is not noisy if she moves it. Fingers crossed that the snow melts soon so you can pay outside!!
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi! I heard about the temps at the Shade seminar, holy cow! I was there the following weekend when it was nice and cool 🙂
For 2022, the dates are:
July 15-16-17 (or 14-15-16-17, not sure) – last I heard was that the teaching days are a mini camp with Shauna Oliver from Canada (I have enjoyed working with her) and the Saturday is a UKI trial (he will be old enough to play in Speedstakes, even if is it NFC and at a lower height!!!!!!!)August is the big camp with Jordan, me, Tammy and I think the 4th instructor will be Desiree. It is fuuuuuunnnnnnnn! 2 camps in the Aug 25 – Sept 1 range.
Hope to see you there!
Tracy
Hi!
The backsides are looking strong so far, especially the first part of the video when you were moving – he was happy to the backside without needing much physical help. Yay! Good job throwing the toy, too!
When you added the front side versus backside – remember to keep moving, so he learns to respond even when you move not just standing still. He did well with the dig dig versus the backside. And I see what you mean about the Go versus the backside being harder. Both are forward verbals so they are similar in some ways.
You can help with the go a couple of ways:
line him up a bit more center of the bar so it is easier to see the Go line. You were facing the center which pushed him off a little to the backside line, so if you move over a step, he will face the front.
And, since he is begin so good about you holding the collar – say the Go Go Go a couple of times (or backside cue) and *then* let go – and see what he does. While he is learning the Go versus the Back, you can reward any frontside since the backside is so tempting. I would have rewarded 1:29 when he did go to the front, throw nice and early – it was not perfect but it was a good approximation 🙂 Also, rather than place the toy ahead, throw it – I think placing it is too much of a ‘tip off’ and he will go when you place it, but won’t go without it. So, throw early but don’t place it – you can throw as he is heading to the front, and not the backside.Nice work here! Let me know what you think!
TracyAh, the 4am questions 🙂
>>Backside wrap with us on their tail- I know the verbal should be the ultimate distinguisher but I feel like sometimes I inadvertently cue a whisky cross when I intended for a tight wrap. Is this something we will be visiting?
GREAT question!
The verbal cue of the circle wrap is very important (we would use a backside slice verbal for the whisky) but so is the handling:
with the circle wrap, we run right up their tails and there is not turning to the jump bar whatsoever.
with the whisky, there is a decel/shoulder (and sometimes feet) turn to the bar. It is small, but it happens. If you are getting the whiksy when you want a wrap, you might be ‘helping’ at the bar (other hand coming up, or rotating) or he might not have a complete understanding of it at high speed – it is a hard turn!We don’t have the space in this class – I will probably put it in the next handling class, which is either CAMP or something else if there is a spot on the calendar before it.
T
Hi!
>>I left this session feeling kind of funky because I missed so many opportunities. I know he was turning left and it took me a few reps of just getting the turn to realize the jump was incorrectly placed.>>
That funky feeling is the reset cookie voice in your head LOL! We can always find a way to get a reset cookie in, even if we don’t want to reward what happened. For example: Contraband dock diving from the top of the dog walk down ramp to the ground was not something I rewarded. So after I got done laughing, I called him back to reset, gave the cookie, did the next rep.
>>For toy placement and independence, should I throw for L and R and then run for check versus dig to get the acceleration out of the tight turns?
Ideally, you would be moving for both and yes: throw with a get it for the soft turns and run the other way with your ‘strike’ for the wraps. I think he has really strong drive out of the turns, and this will get even more 🙂
>>I’m working hard to embrace the reset cookie. I even FORCED Carrie to use it yesterday and it really reduced Roulez’s frustration. It has also been helpful with Callie who much prefers food to keep her playing with toys while training. You’re just so good at what you do!>>
The reset cookie has allowed me to suck and sort out my crap without pissing off my dogs 🙂 And it has eliminated tooth hugs!
>>As far as spacing goes, is it appropriate? Should I adjust that left jump more?
Adjust it a little more so when he turns on that perfect left turn, the jump is on the easiest line to it.
Hi!
>>I feel like we are getting it now. I think we both needed a break.>>Sometimes the best training happens when we leave things alone for a few days – latent learning kicks in! I think this happened here 🙂
Apologies for the SUPER BORING feedback here – nothing to tell you other than how fabulous it looks:
Wow, the first video looked outstanding! No worries about the bar on the left turn, I think she was thinking REALLY HARD about getting it right 🙂
The 2nd video was also great – nailed it!
And great job to you with the very clean mechanics and also making the verbals sound very different, that really helps! So onwards to adding the start wing before this, for more motion.
You can also skip to some of the other games, like the serps and backsides – that way each game & skill can have a break and she learns a variety of skills.
Great job here!!!!
TracyGood morning!
All sorts of good stuff here, and definitely things we can add to answer her questions!One thing I see here throughout the games is that all of your rewards are marked with “yes” which doesn’t really help her know where to go for the reward. It might be ‘yes’ then a toss, or ‘yes’ then a reward from your hand… teaching the verbals goes faster when we use what I call “predictive reinforcement” meaning – the cue (verbal cue in this case) predicts where the reinforcement will be consistently, so when the dog hears the verbal cue, they go to where they can predict the reinforcement will be.
For example, when we teach a 2o2o, we reward in that 2o2o position a LOT so the dog learns to run to the end of the board, to where reinforcement is coming. Teaching the verbals goes better when we use the same concept. So with that in mind, try to add at least 2 reward placement markers and use them instead of “yes”:
– a thrown reward marker (like get it)
– a ‘from my hand’ marker (like ‘bite’ or ‘strike’)Then, placement of reinforcement becomes more powerful because you mark her behavior with the word that tells her where the reinforcement will be:
GO GO GO Get it!
or wrap wrap wrap bite!That way she learns to predict where to find reinforcement and when she hears the verbal, she goes to where the reinforcement is consistently placed. If everything is a “yes”, then she loses that important element and ends up watching you more, so it takes longer to learn the verbals. And it can be frustrating when you don’t know when/where/how your paycheck will be delivered: so it leads to more errors and barking.
With that in mind, on the videos:
Exit line criteria at the beginning –
The wraps were good, soft turns were harder, but probably because she didn’t realize the 2nd jump was ‘in play’ after all the games of “don’t take the 2nd jump”. As soon as she figured it out, she was fine with it all 🙂 And also she did a nice job going back to the wraps!!You can add the reward markers here: ‘get it’ out on the line past the jump for the soft turns, and your ‘from the hand’ marker for the wraps. If you use the marker as soon as you see her decision on the wing, she will have an easier time knowing what is next and also an easier time responding to the verbals.
At 1:16, she had a legit question about the 2nd wing out there – then 2 failures in a row – then you did a FC on the wing. She was real mad at that point LOL!! So if you see her have a question like she did at 1:16, you can just give a reset cookie (yes, different verbal marker for that but it can be casual, like ‘c’mere’) and start over rather than send her from the error spot – you can also use the reset cookie at 1:36 and 1:43. Starting from the point of error often makes mechanics unclear and leads to more errors, which is what happens here. And more errors lead to more frustration and a different type of barking. So, if there is a question from her (either a random wing out there, especially if it might be on her line, or a legit error), you can reset with a cookie and try again. Those resets provide a nice balance of moving to the next rep (the dog has the idea that the response wasn’t quite right, but the overall rate of success remains high) and clean mechanics for getting success on the next rep as well as a moment to figure out what went wrong and why.
On the 2 jump setup:
The left and right on 2 jumps looked good! You can definitely use a get it for those rewards (tossed rewards)>>Also, what’s the best way to work go when you’ve been doing this close work. She’ll eventually go, but right off the bat she’s not going and just gets mad, LOL. Should I put motion in to make it easier?>>
You can add motion, as long as you add it after you start saying go – so it can be a moment of normal walking while you say GO GO GO then you can accelerate, so the GO verbal predicts the motion which predicts reward placement (dogs are big predict’ers) And be sure the line of motion is past the wing (past or towards the outer edge of the wing on all go, wrap, soft turn reps) – on that the first Go, you were moving a bit to the center of the bar and I think that confused her a bit.
Also, reward approximations: bear in mind that GO is relative to what she does on the first jump, not about taking the 2nd jump, so you can mark the moment when you see her heading straight to jump 1 and throw the reward
In the last third of the video, there seemed to be a massive leap in criteria from when you were walking and using cookies in a very zen way (like at 2:51), to more motion and a toy and the wing further away so she had more motion too like at (2:57). It was a whole lot happening! So she had a lot of questions. I scrolled back to see if you had done the in-between steps of running hard with cookies, or moving more slowly with the toy – you can put those in or revisit them so that as you gradually increase the criteria. It is better to make things a little too easy and get success, then make them harder – than it is too get failure and try to dial it back.
Because the toy is very stimulating (yay!) you will definitely want reward markers involved so that she is able to process the verbal cues more about how to get the toy and not just run fast for the toy. Knowing how to get the reinforcement will make a massive difference in her processing and responses when she is in high arousal – and while I don’t think she will ever be completely silent on course 🙂 I bet that she will bark less and process more!
>> They are not scenarios where there could be a collision or she would need to cut me off. She’s typically already ahead and I wonder if she’s just not committed to the front side of the jump and I push on the diagonal and that’s all it takes to push her off.
My guess is that it is the pressure on the line happening before she is committed – so even though she is ahead of you , she would have to cut across your line to get the front of the jump. We will try to set something up in May to simulate it and see what we get!
Nice work here! Let me know what you think!
Tracy
