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Hi!
>>First, re: the amount of time I am tugging. He is having some major teething right now, and a couple of weeks ago kind of took a break from wanting to tug for a few days, so we concluded that it must not feel good.
Poor guy!! You don’t need to do big tugging, you can let him guide how hard he wants to grip – you can play with and near the toy, basically interacting more than tugging. That can keep the play going longer before the out without any ickyness if his mouth hurts a bit.
>>Second, re: the sit or down coupled with the out. He has really solid sits and downs as default behaviors, because I taught manding to the whole litter while they were still at the breeders, because of our Cheerio games, etc. He will do these behaviors on their respective verbal cues, but he offers them for attention all the time. I’ve been viewing it as his way of showing me that he is ready for the next rep, so to speak. So, from that perspective, I like that he offers a sit or down when he is outing his toy. I’m open to what you’ve suggested, but I need some help understanding your thought process about why we should decouple these behaviors. Does it make a difference to you to know that he offers these in lots of contexts and not just when outing the toy?>>
While I do like sits and downs offered in some scenarios, I’ve seen it cause issues when we are shaping with food or toys. If he offers it as a way to be ready for whatever is next, it is getting reinforced (installed) into the process – and he is going to have it as his most valuable behavior in too many situations, and it will get in the way of shaping new behaviors where he needs to offer movement and not a stationary behavior. He will either end up offering more of the sits and downs, and you will either have to release him (which gets more offering if stays and gets muddy) or you’ll have to wait for him to move – which is confusing as to why the sits and downs are not getting reinforcement with a toy or more help. It ends up frustrating the dogs and the offered sits and downs end up becoming a bit of learned helplessness.
So I prefer to not have them everywhere in order to set up success in shaping other behavior, particularly moving behavior.
Let me know if that makes sense!
TThanks! YouTube enjoys changing settings of older videos to force us to go in an agree to new things. I think I have them all fixed except the Matrix video, I cannot get into it 🙁
Hello and welcome! I am totally looking forward to seeing Pearl!!!
It is a long class, you’ll have plenty of time to catch up 🙂
You are welcome to post pre-game videos if you like, or if they look good then you can jump right into the games.
Have fun!
TracyHi!
>>Initially, I was going to use a separate verbal (grab it) from my food verbal (aye-aye-aye) for the moving toy, but after one rep, I realized that I needed ti stick with aye-aye-aye for me, so I did. So nonmoving food is yum-yum, nonmoving toy is bite, then moving is food or toy is aye-aye-aye and thrown food or toy is get-it.
I support that decision! You can always change it if he asks any WTF questions, but I think he will be perfectly happy with that 🙂 That is one of the procedures where the dogs are happy to NOT need a separate word (I am grateful for that LOL!)
Plus the aye-aye-aye is just so fun! I smile every time you do it LOL!
On the video:
He is still so little! And so cute! Love the scenic background 🙂This was overall a whole lot of good stuff, so I just took some notes on the little details of things you can tweak in the moment of the play sessions. I love his balance of food and toys!!!
So here are some ideas:Play tug with him for longer after he brings it after a get it and before the out, you were often very quick to take it away and do the out. Even for a cookie reward, I think the tug when he brings it back will really strengthen the get it and the retrieve and the out (you can cookie him after the out, or do a ‘bite’ for the tug again :)) Taking the toy back on the out too quickly might accidentally will reduce the retrieve or the out.
He seems to like the bite! After he puts his mouth on it (or even as he is moving towards it) you can then move the toy into normal tugging position for a hearty tug game, which will further increase the drive in for the bite. The toy does not have to stay in the bite position after he engages – eventually it will be no problem but for now, I think it is harder for him to tug in the bite position so you can get the initial interaction and then have it be more dangly for tugging.
In general – let him tug for longer before the out on all toy play procedures, let him really pull back for a while before you go to the next thing. I catch myself doing the same thing – being too quick to move on and accidentally not really playing.
You can also add in standing up before the aye aye and/or add a longer toy so he doesn’t default to offering the down all the time. I think he has value for the down and you are nice and low, which elicits it, so standing more will help generalize the procedures and we won’t accidentally build the down in LOL!
For the out – give him a little more time to process. You were really quick to say it and repeat it or take his collar or move the toy. So say out once, relax the toy and give him a moment, a solid 2 or 3 seconds (which will feel like FOREVER :)), letting him choose to move away from the toy without you moving it away or repeating the cue (then reinforce :)) I think you were maybe thinking ahead to the next thing and were moving too quickly for a baby pup (2:50 is a good example of him needing a few more seconds to process) .
Overall, you were generally rally strong about being as clean as possible with the mechanics (word then presentation). It is NOT easy with toys and treats and all those moving parts! I couldn’t see the exact mechanics on everything when you were down low, but nothing caught my eye as being “dirty” LOL!
Great job! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
Good list!!! Looking at which type/procedure of reinforcement to use:
>>1) Quickly moving into the 2O/2O at the end of the contacts (I primarily practice using the travel plank)
Check out the game I posted yesterday with the ‘catch’ procedure, I use it with a 2o2o on the teeter at the end
>>2) Driving through the weaves – Cowboy will typically complete them if I slow down and stay behind his shoulder but if I accelerate and run past, he will pop out.
This might work best with the placed reinforcement out ahead of slightly open as a focal point, with you adding the big distraction of your motion. Then gradually tighten the poles and also gradually fade the placed reinforcement. You can also use a catch procedure and throw the reward back to him when he finishes the poles.
>>3) Start-line / Lead-outs – His start-line is generally fine until I move half-way past the first jump. Two-jump lead-outs are still a challenge
The catch procedure is definitely good for this, and we will be adding more to the remote reinforcement work that will be useful here too (stay tuned for next week on that one :))
>>4) Visiting the judge, ring crew, leash runner, dogs (outside the ring)
Definitely remote reinforcement (go past a distraction, earn the reward) and also engagement procedures installed into some of the others (coming next week :))
>>5) Turns – Cowboy appears to be fine with front crosses but sometimes, will disconnect and want to visit whenever I do a rear cross… he is more handler focused than obstacle focused>>
Might be lack of connection on the exit of the FC? You can use the shhhhhh chase of the toy to get connection. I just put that on m list for video demos to add here!
>>6) Tugging – I have been successful with food motivated dogs but with the recent opportunities to run FEO in AKC, it would be great if I could take advantage of that option.>>
Check out the building value for toys game added yesterday. I did it with a tennis ball but you can do it with a tug toy!
Tracy
Hi!
I agree, her toy play is definitely improving! She did well here with the toy, and I love how she was offering it up to you to play with her. Does she chew softer treats? And do the softer treats interfere with toy play because they are higher value? Just curious, for planning purposes 🙂
The driving ahead here looks great! She is leaving you in the dust quite nicely LOL!
It was hard to see where you were looking so be sure you are looking at her before the release, connecting to her so you can see where she is looking (she was looking straight the whole time, good girlie!!)
Also be careful that you run straight, parallel to her path: on some of them you were accidentally cutting behind her so she was a little confused (like when she slipped past the toy at 1:01, that was the only time she didn’t quite get the toy).Great job here! Good luck with the move, keep me posted!
TracyHi!
This is also looking really good. Part of what you are seeing is understanding brewing, part of it is clear mechanics, and part of it is he is growing and getting more coordinated – learning how to train, if that makes sense 🙂Nice job getting the toy play going then staying engaged as you wen back to the shaping. Adding the cone? Easy peasy! Woohoo!!!!
I also think the toy play gives you a moment to decide what you want to do in the next part of the session 🙂
At the end, he was going back and forth really nicely and you had your stealthy cookie hand getting the reward to the bowl while he was eating the other one. So – for the next session, start exactly like this and then when he gets into the rhythm: delay the cookie drops til after he has made the decision to go back around the cone.
And if that goes well? (And I am sure it will!) You can start to inch the cone a little further away, every couple of reps.
And keep going with the dance break toy parties! Looking great!!
Lovely work on all of these!
TracyWheee you really had to run here!!! Nice! I agree, he seems to really understand it now! It cracked me up that on the 2nd rep, the toy split in 2 and he went to the further one LOL! But, he is focusing directly ahead, totally straight and super fast. NICE! We build on this even more in today in new games and in coming weeks.
Yes – take it outside, into the hallway, etc – all sorts of different places! If distractions are high in new locations, use super high value toys and short distances, kind of starting over (not adding much of your motion). If he seems perfectly fine with it, you can immediately ramp it up to what you were doing here 🙂
Great job!
TracyHi!
This is going well!!!! The most important part is that you were making good connection on the new side, so he knew where to be. Yay! My only mechanics suggestion is to keep you hands tucked in nice and tight to you body – I don’t think you were late starting the blinds but having your arms in nice and tight will make them quicker to finish and reconnect 🙂>Also, side note: The reason I haven’t thrown treat back in a send fashion for my exercises is because I haven’t found a large enough cookie that Risk can actually SEE when I throw it… TBD but just wanted to explain why I haven’t been throwing the cookie.>
Aha! What if you have a big bowl (or small towel) out there, tossed the treat into the bowl or onto the towel? Than can allow you to toss is and give yourself more distance for the blinds.
Nice work here!!!
TracyHi!
>>Note to self: start close and move out, not the other way around
Correct! Start with success and a warm up/reminder, especially if you are in a new location, and then go from there. Start with the item closer and without your legs extended, he was havig na grand top hopping over your legs LOL! I would also *not* put this on a wing yet – too many errors for now. Put the behavior on a cone or laundry basket for now as he sorts it all out – because any errors associated with a laundry basket won’t matter as much, because there will never be a laundry basket wrap in the competition ring. But we want to keep wings as error-free as possible to get super high value for amazing commitment so they get added in when he is basically perfect on baskets or cones.
Also, we are seeing a side preference in this session (this is normal) – his errors were all on right turns, not left turns, so the right turn challenges like adding distance will proceed more slowly than the left turn challenges. For now, the right turn challenges (when he starts on your left side) should all be failure-proof, meaning he cannot fit in between you can the wing.
Nice work here! Remember to keep a high success rate as the top priority. Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
He was definitely liking this toy! Yay! He really likes when you were tossing it so he could chase it. When he gets his mouth on it, keep it low – when you lift it, he lets go – so low on the ground will help him keep driving for it.
You have mentioned that he doesn’t love getting in close I could see it here: he only had one hold in him – when you held him the 2nd time, he turned off. So you can keep up playing like this but don’t try to hold him more than once, for now.
>> He loved to tug with Chewie but I haven’t let them use this toy, should I do that to give it even more value?
If you let him tug with Chewie, it might build more value for… tugging with Chewie. It won’t necessarily transfer to you, unless you are involved in a 3-way tug game too! I have done that (tugged with a long toy an a dog on each end) but I believe these individual play sessions are more valuable.
Nice job!
TracyHi!
One thing to keep an eye on overall is the rate of success. For a pup his age – you want no more than 2 errors for the entire session. Not two in a row… 2 total! If you have one error (either he misses the prop, or sends himself when you want a line up – that should cause you to simplify things so that he does not fail again. There were a few too many errors on this session (and on the wing wrapping below) – errors lead to frustration which leads to stress behavior, which we definitely do not want.
On this video:
Yes, chicken might have been more value than needed for a home training session (although he was not sad about it LOL! but also – when you want him to line up at your side, reward him for doing so. When you were asking him to come to you but not rewarding, he was working (correctly) under the assumption that the prop hit gets the reinforcement, and so that must be what you wanted, so he kept going to it. So – easy fix – reward him to coming to where you want him to be, which was in front of you or at your side for the ready dance!That way you won’t have to start from a sit and also if you do use a sit – reward the sit too. He did a lot of sits here, didn’t get rewarded for them, so gave up responding to them. And the sit requires a release and you ended up saying ‘go’ – which is not the verbal for this behavior LOL! So… the easiest thing is to reward him for coming back, another reward for sticking with you doing the ready dance, and the send with the arm & leg but no verbal.
One other thing to help raise the success rate here: stay closer to the prop. If he fails? Get closer to set up success. You were too far from the prop here, so he didn’t always move to it and didn’t always touch it (especially on the sideways sends). Being nice an close will help him be successful and then you can inch your way back out to add distance.Nice work! Onwards to the tugging!
TracyHi!
He definitely loves his stays LOL! Away from the prop, do the ready dance and toss treats around so he doesn’t offer any stays – the ready dance is permission to bop around 🙂
For the sends to the prop, be a little closer at the start of each session as a warm up, then you can build more speed up like you were getting at the end of the session: he was flying! I think he was tentative at the beginning because he wanted to offer the stay 🙂 Give him a couple more sessions like this with the forward, sideways and backwards sends, we build on it soon!>> I didn’t get my first part on video, he seemed to have gotten over the “waiting for the OK” issue on his own and went to the plates readily, so I moved on to testing with he jump standard again.
He was great here! Keep your hands stationary, I think you didn’t know what to do with them at first LOL! They can be in your lap, that is even better for teaching him to ignore cookie distractions.
Yes, good job keeping the success rate high! You can keep the sessions a little shorter by breaking them off for tugging or doing something else, then do another short session a bit later. That will keep the excitement higher – going back and forth for cookies might be too calm 🙂
>> Should I do this one some more gradually getting it farther out?
You can use this same upright and move it out a little more, and you can also change it to a cone or something bigger to go around (starting close to you again, then moving it out gradually :))
>> I think I may need a bit more room on this one, but will try it again, especially since he clearly thinks it’s pretty fun!
The blinds are great for for doing outdoors, if you have a fenced yard!
Nice work here! Let me know what you think!
Tracy
