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Hi!
Sorry about the rain but great job getting out for some training!>> Do u need him to look into my eyes for engagement or will just looking be sufficient.
He is little so looking at you like he did here was great! Looking up and not sniffing 🙂
>> Also do you want a verbal for the engagement?
Nope 🙂 It is something we want him to offer as a conditioned response to the leash coming off.
He was great here! Now take it to as many different places as you can! My only suggestion is to have the treats in your hands or pockets, but you can start to play these games without the treat skirt/pouches. The pouches are a massive visual indicator that reinforcement will be available, so as you train these games, start doing them without wearing the pockets.
Great job! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
>> I appreciate having the opportunity to discuss these issues with someone who has thought about them so deeply.
I love to obsess on this stuff to figure out what helps the dogs!
>>>>So for the pattern games, then, do more of an up-and-down with treats placed on your shoes and not tossed away (which is something that can easily be done outside the ring).
>>Do you really get the treats to land on your shoes? They just bounce off on to the ground when I do it. I need little bowls on my shoes!>>I bend down and place them on my shoe. I am also not overly worried about a little cookie on the floor in the trial or training environment – I use non-crumbly treats so they aren’t scattering all over, and plus there are so many smells everywhere that the dogs are not going to track the one instance of odor in that environment. It is really not an issue to have the pattern games outside the ring.
>>> Then as I enter the training area, I will begin the pattern game.
>I am having a hard time envisioning this. You enter the building where the agility trial is and just start tossing treats on the ground? Or you do the snack version or hands version? Video of this IRL would be great to see, if you have any.>>I will get some from the flyball tournament this weekend. Basically, I walk with intent into the area (in this case, a gymnasium at a community center). As I pass the door which is both a literal and figurative threshold where distractions increase, I say a marker and present a cookie. It is usually get it, and then I drop a cookie on the ground where the dog can step to it. Bear in mind that he is on leash, so I don’t toss the treat too far away. You can also do the snack version or the shoe version for up-and-down. I prefer the get it or the up and down because it is so recognizable, the dog gets to move a bit, and it also offers the dog a chance to assess the environment really easily.
>> You replied: Are you seeing stress behaviors?
I didn’t see any on Tuesday, but I live in fear of grass grabbing because it means he is not having fun. And it’s supposed to be fun.
Yes, it is supposed to be fun… but grass eating is also feedback from him. So while we ideally don’t see any grass eating, living in fear of it can be paralyzing which will prevent the flow of feedback and slow the progress down.
On the video –
Leash off engagement was great at the beginning!
And he liked that toy. So let’s talk about reinforcement – as you know, the recipient decides on what is reinforcing or not.>>You will see in the video of the leash game that when I tried some personal play, he grabbed my sleeve (that’s not the norm for him) and I spoke to the camera and he dropped his head and grabbed some grass. 🤬 I was trying personal play because we can’t tug because of the previous dental issues.
He basically said that he doesn’t find the personal play to actually be play. I see that a LOT with dogs… that physical interaction is not perceived as play so you got sleeve biting and grass eating. Great feedback from him – so take that style of interaction off the table. Good to know 🙂 It is not reinforcing and does not engage him in a happy/relaxed way.
>> But sometimes when I do personal play he disengages because I am just too much, I think
I just think he doesn’t like it or find it playful. That style of play is something that some dog trainer somewhere decided is playful and fun and reinforcing, and then people put a name on it. And many many MANY dogs are like, “ummmmm……no.” LOL!!! Do we get interaction from the dogs when we do that? Yes, but as you saw – it is not playful, it is more of a frustration interaction. Icky! So there is just no need to interact like that. I think all 3 of my youngs dogs actually find it offensive. And I think if someone did it to me, I’d find it offensive as well. My Papillon likes it! So we do it. The others? Nope! They find it rude. LOL!
Looking at the video – he bit your sleeve (feedback) and then you kept going with it so he went to grass eating (BIGGER feedback).
On the video – you said it was too much play… but in fact, it was not play at all, according to the recipient.
Another way to look at it is to replace the words ‘personal play’ with ‘video games’ – my husband loves to play videos games. I would rather eat grass outside than play video games. LOL!! And if someone persisted in getting me to play video games, I would get all sorts of frustrated icky feelings. So the answer is that I don’t have to play video games, I can do other things 🙂
So in this leash off game, use what he likes: food, toys on a line, or the ball you mentioned. And use them by moving away from him – dogs much prefer that! You’ll find in those course that I don’t ask for that physical style of personal play at all because it doesn’t help us.
>>And I tried to put toys on long lines, but he just wants to run off with them and do a lap.
That can stay on the list of reinforcements, though, because it is reinforcing. Just don’t let go of the end of the line unless you don’t mind watching a lap.
>>food is not his biggest love.
Food is high enough in value for our purposes here, and you can go to shorter sessions with insanely high value food that stays in motion, either from your hands or in a lotus ball or treat hugger – I bet he won’t be sad about that at all LOL!
>> If you have any other ideas, I’m all ears. The flirt pole keeps him safe and relatively close and I am a little bit of the picture. I tend not to fling the toy around on the pole for safety reasons. I’ll use the lotus ball with a handle the next time I video and see if there is a difference. He tends to bring that back after he has eaten the treat.>>
These are all good ideas! I would just make everything more light in heart with less worry about what might go wrong. Let him chase the flirt pole or toy on a line. Incorporate the ball and the lotus ball, and use crazy delicious food. Keep the games moving away from him a little, so there is a little chase element, and not towards him. And take out the physical touching during play – he gives it 4 thumbs down LOL!
The barking on cue is adorable! And sneezing too! Yay! This will be a fun addition to the toolbox.
Thanks for posting the run!
>> I’m going to delete it once you have seen it because it’s so dreadful and I would like to forget it ever happened.
Keep it to look back on when he is a champion agility dog! He just wasn’t ready here. I am sure it felt pretty crappy at the time but you handled it well. It was great feedback from him and things will be different next time!
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
>>Ignore my pajamas lol!>>
Ha! Pajama training videos are a critical element of online training LOL
The table in front of her looked good!
Table behind her looked good too.She was offering the ready quite nicely and holding her stay really well. I am glad you did this with a tug toy, she is a little (a lot?) more excited with the toy but she was still terrific and offering her ‘ready’ position really nicely.
>>Her idea of bonding with me is attacking my shoelaces which happens 1002 times day lol!
Ah yes, my youngest dog does that too LOL!!
She did well with her chill here. Bending over is fine for a short time but your back might protest if you hold that position for too long. She seemed fine with being held, and she is small enough that it is definitely an option. She defniitely didn’t seem to hate it LOL! So you can do a few seconds of that here and there, with some cookies coming after it, to continue building the love for it.
>>I leave for nationals tomorrow and she gets to come along for the ride! Any ideas for games to play and things to do???
Have fun! I think you can take an ‘all of the above’ approach to the games – try little pieces of all of them! You can do them near the rings and also at the practice jump between classes. They are all intended to be played in the trial environment, so you can try to do a minute or so of each, spread out over the weekend.
Great job here! Have a fun weekend and good luck!
TracyHi!
>>>>Yes, that’s an issue I have with him as jumps are not his favorite obstacle. I can’t seem to keep my arms out of airplane mode but I think I’m so close to the jumps I try to avoid hitting the wing. I need some straps to hold them down.
High arms do block connection and turn shoulders away from the line, especially with smaller dogs. I use this method to keep my arms from flapping around 🙂
>>I have trouble getting distance with him so I run close to the jump and if they curve then I have to move away. If I redo I try to give more lateral space so my line is straight.
You can also use a lotus ball or something so he can get rewarded out away from you over the jumps. That can help build up more distance.
>>But he does run under the tire in class more often than taking it. I think the tire height is different since it’s set for USDAA in class and lower in the AKC run thru.
yes – I think the USDAA tire is 4 inches higher than the AKC tire. You can also do some clicker shaping and use the lotus ball tossed away as a reward on the other side.
>> I think my arm was pointing to the sky 😂.
OMG yes! Thanks for the zoom – I call it ‘giraffe handling’ when our arms get that high hahaha!!
I think more connection and thrown rewards will help him a lot on those lines.
>> Nice reset at 2:05!! That was a good way to get him back into the sequence.
Exactly. That’s where my trainer thought I treated too much 😁and she did have me retry so I thought it would be good.>>
I thought it worked well to get him back in a good mindset so you could get feedback then carry on, setting up a really strong finish!
>> What did you think of his focus and work during the class?
Great. Better than previous week and much better than normal for him, especially after he has run over the week end. Much quicker to look and return. The action tricks to start seem to make him happy.>>Perfect! Yay!!!
>>He’s been pretty tired when he comes home and didn’t chase the other dog like normal.
I’m betting his brain and body got a good workout 🙂
>>I have never tried the breathing game before. I need to work on my mechanics so he’s not trying to eat it right away.
The dogs do try to eat it right away if it is right in front of their noses 🙂 Have you tried the air scenting where you show it to him then lift it above his head? Or you can try the mimic approach, where you sniff it first. Strange but true – it works likea charm 🙂
>> At home, he’s focused when I take it off. But that is the point I loose him in trial. At the Feb run thru, he took off at the start and followed the leash as the person walked off with it.>>
For now, let’s focus on counterconditioning his impulse to take off when the leash comes off. You can start with a refresher session at home, then build up to having him offer engagement a few feet away from the rewards (not in your hands), We can add the leash off engagement into the remote reinforcer.
Then maybe we can bring it to class and have a classmate walk away with it, while you reward engagement? We can totally build it up 🙂
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
I have 4 backside verbals for the dogs – 2 are for when I am on the landing side, 2 for when I am on the takeoff side (backside threadles). They all involve telling the dog which wing to exit on.
When I am on the landing side of the jump when the cue starts (I am in motion so might not end up on the landing side when the dog exits LOL!):
“Back” means enter on one wing, exit towards the other. This covers slices like German turns, serps, and most crosses after the dog lands.
“Dig” means enter on one wing and exit on that same wing: it covers the reverse wrap and very collected crosses right on the entry wing that are very close to the reward wrap.
Anything in the middle of that is a back verbal, because I save the dig verbal for the big collection moments and exits very near the entry wing.
“Close” is the same as back on terms of enter on one wing and exit on the other, except I am on the takeoff side (backside threadle slice). “In” is same as dig in terms of enter and exit on the same wing, very collected, with me on the takeoff side.
And I repeat them all: backbackbackback for example.
>>But, what about a rounded backside turn that comes back down the same starting line like a u turn? Or backside to FC?
If I am on the landing side and it is not a very tight exit, it is a back verbal for me.
She did really well on the video here!!!! Yay!
For the Go lines, I think placing your toy will help because you can get it further from the jump (rather than throwing it, where it tends to land close). Having it further from the jump help her stay in extension more.The rear crosses are going well – this is a hard skill and she did a great job! You were starting to get really comfy getting on the RC line after about :32. She had an error at :41 when you changed sides, but that might be more about having just gotten a whole lot of reinforcement turning to her right, then surprise, left turn cue LOL!
She was grat on the next rep, though, at :48On thing I notice is that she does a lot better when you repeat your verbals. Instead of just one short blast (LEFT!) she does better when it is left left left – she has more time to process it, plus is sounds different. So keep repeating the verbals 🙂
The backside wraps are also looking good! Two little details – be sure to show her the wing by moving to where the wing meets the bar (like at 1:26). And then be a little more patient, hold that position for an extra heartbeat til she is all the way past you and is turning to the bar, then you can move through. At 1:17 you were blocking her line a bit and at 1:34 you were on she was not quite past you enough so your motion forward pushed her off the jump. At 1:26 and 1:44 you were great about showing the wing AND being a little patient so she could get past you to set up the turn.
And to help solidify the commitment,, you can also change the placement of reinforcement to help her commit as you move through – toss it to the landing side of the jump instead of deliver from your hand. That way she won’t rush to follow you, even if you move away too early or too quickly 🙂
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning!
>> We played Instant Focus with the keys….took just a few reps for him to remember the game in the new place and we were able to move it to several locations both inside and outside the ring and he did great! Not quite as fluent as on home turf but pretty close 🙂>>
Perfect! The difference in fluency and latency is always eye-opening. The Instant Focus props are so easy, yet the environment makes them so much more challenging. It helps me remember how challenging agility skills are for the dogs, particularly in new environments.
>>We also played with the first step of RR in the regular trial gate staging area, figured why not since we had the chance.
Brilliant! Great traniing opportunity! And the trial gate and ring probably has a conditioned response that is different than home turf, because very different things happen at AK9C.
>>Question…. (wish I had video) unlike at home when he engages he pretty much stays engaged for an additional step past the first engagement or he offers it quickly…one or two steps away from the food and he quickly engages. Today, he got very comfortable offering one or maybe even two steps away from the reward and towards the gate area (which is in a kinda scary/interesting corner). If I took an additional step he would disengage and look to see “the corner” but unlike in the past he wouldn’t “bolt” to check it all out, he’d stay with me but not looking at me. I didn’t take any more steps and at first he couldn’t reengage without help (I moved around in front of him), we only did this a few times and by the 3rd time he would break the engagement, look forward and if I waited he eventually looked back and we ran for cookies. I think I asked for more than he was ready for. We also have a “history” with this specific area. The way we’ve been dealing with it at trials is Pattern Game with food until we go in the gate and he’s able to acclimate to the area because of the food and the Pattern Game but as soon as the food is gone and we immediately go in the gate…well, that’s why we’re here>>
I think going into the pattern games is the right idea to get started. What is this history in that area? Is he able to get close to that corner while playing a pattern game, even just in training?
Then when you have some engagement, add in the Volume Dial game – you can use it to change his internal state to a higher state, which should help the distractions fade away.
>> I’ve come to say that “how much functioning brain we have is inversely proportional to how much tongue is hanging out” – In the crate his tongue is dragging on the floor, out of the crate on his mat it’s about 1/2 way back in his mouth. Thoughts?
It is possible that crating nearer to the ring along the back wall is just too stimulating. Can he crate upstairs for class? Mat work is useful, but he is working and not really relaxing. So can he chill on the mat and chew a bully stick or something? Ideally he would be crated someplace he can really power down and relax. If that is not a possibility, the mat work is next on the list – but hopefully in a way that he doesn’t need you to keep rewarding behavior. Let me know what the other options are for locations, or if you think he would be able to chew a bone in that environment.
Tracy
Good morning!
>>He tends to bark during runs when he gets frustrated with me or a sequence that is hard for him and he doesn’t get as much reinforcement as he thinks he deserves. He will stare at me and bark when I try to reset him.>>
He might be correct LOL!!! If there is an error in the sequence, it is usually a handling error, so you can totally use reset cookies or toys or bring him back and start again. I have found reset reinforcement has totally reduced frustration and barking in so many dogs. Also, if you are working a challenging skill (like a crazy threadle or layer or backside or something), I recommend the 2-failure rule: if he fails twice, break it down to be able to reinforce him. Also, I do use reset cookies after a failure. I will call the dog back, give him a cookie at my side and line up to try again. This keeps frustration at bay and gets the dog right back for the next rep… and it does NOT reinforcement the incorrect response. A total win-win moment!
The off leash offered engagement was perfect 🙂 SO EASY (the magic of establishing the behavior with food already in our hands LOL!)
So now – try it with food in your pockets! Or tug toy.
And, take the game to more stimulating places, especially agility class or training. You don’t have to do it in a formal session, you can do it each time you go to the warm up jump or the start line: leash off, reward that moment of engagement. You might find he is more pumped up in those situations, so you can totally reward if he vocalizes a little or dances around. But if he jumps up, or takes off – just put him back on leash and try it again.
Great job! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning!
The right turns into the serps at the beginning looked great, you were able to add a lot of speed already! Stay nice and close like you did at :19, and getting ahead was great!
One thing you can do here and also on the other side is to have the toy already placed on the exit line. On this first side, the toy placement is so he doesn’t look at you as much as he is over the bar.
And on the other side, the toy placement will help him find the line in general 🙂
The left turn on the wing to then turn right over the serp jump was much harder for him indeed! Great job making the angle of the jump much easier. He still wanted to run parallel to it, so placing the reward on the exit line (the exit line for when the jump is ‘flat’ like a true serp) will help him focus on the line and not run parallel to your motion. Great job slowing down your motion to help him get it, then adding more AND being able to angle the jump back to the serp position – super!!!!!For giggles – start with the harder side on the next session (with the jump angled to be easier than it was here when you ended the session) just to see if it is a coordination thing (side preference) or if he was stimulated and that was causing the running past.
Either way, he is doing really well! I think the placed toy will let you add even more motion. Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning!
The beginning was so funny – I was about to say that you were dong it backwards and then you caught yourself LOL!
She did really well here, your setup with the breakfast bowl was challenging but not mind-bending so she was having to think and she was also very successful. You can have more of an excited verbal party when she offers that engagement, it can be sillier and less formal after she looks at you.
She offered engagement on the cato board, so maybe don’t have that nearby because it appears she thought contact training was on tap 🙂
I am happy with this step of this game – you can reward that offered engagement when the leash comes off as many times as possible – in the house, in the yard, at classes, anywhere you can (BTW, all of these games are good to play with Dora too :))
For the fun run – how many runs will you be able to have? We can make a plan 🙂
>> Do you think I should take Char and practice this with treats in my pocket?
I think Char does really well with the toy in the ring, so we should use the toy in your pocket rather than introduce treats and then have to fade them. However, if she struggles or stresses at the fun run, you can totally incorporate food. And for the fun run, have a reward station set up even though she will also be getting rewarded in the ring.
>> If so, I know you told me to set her up before I take the leash off.
I don’t think she needs to be fully setup – just in the vicinity of the start jump. She looked a bit concerned when you took the leash off at the entry gate, perhaps not having enough clarity of where the start jump was was worrying to her. So you can walk in on leash, head to the start jump… and it remains to be seen whether you line up before hte leash comes off or take the leash off then line up. My guess is that you will want to get in front of jump 1, take the leash off, then after she offers engagement, line her up.
>>So if I set her up and take the leash off and she looks at me should i give her a treat?
Yes- but you don’t need to set her up, you can just get to the right spot then take the leash off… and if she engages: woohoo! Partytime with toy!
>> Or is this exercise better done with taking the leash off as soon as we enter the ring? >
I think she will prefer staying on leash while the two of you move to jump 1, then the leash coming off as part of the start process.
>>I feel her disengagement occurs right when we enter the ring but maybe that doesn’t matter as long as she re-engages when she’s in her start-line position? Sorry if I’m making this more complicated than it needs to be but I really want to get it right so it will help her.
These are all great questions, you are asking for specifics – and dogs LOVE specifics 🙂 Some of it remains to be decided but so far I think she will do best if you jog to jump 1 with her on leash (you can be talking to her) . It doesn’t really matter what she does in those couple of seconds as long as she is moving with you. Then when you get to jump 1, you stop moving, take the leash off – she offers engagement (and reward in the fun runs :)) and *then* you cue the start line position. So far, that is what seems like will work best for her based on what we have seen. Try it at the fun run with a toy hidden in your pocket, an we will get direct feedback from her about it 🙂
Let me know if that makes sense! Great job here!
TracyGood morning!
He is doing well with the serping with both games! For both, one small detail – stay a little closer to the serp jump, close enough to casually reach out and touch it. The pressure of a big fast dog coming at us tends to move us away but staying closer to it will help us get the 2nd bend on the serpentine line.On the Send-n-serp game – great job refreshing it and building it back up!! Be careful of your mechanics of stepping away after the send – try not to back up (it causes you to end up rotating, like at :33) – try try to send and then turn with his line (towards the camera) so you don’t get accidentally into a rotation and then he smokes you up the line 🙂
He was looking at you over the serp bar in the beginning, so I am glad you got the toy to the ground here. That helps direct his focus. And when you get way ahead, keep moving, resist temptation to decel to get him over the jump – it is a great challenge for him to find the serp jump even when you are passing the exit wing.
The proofing game is going well too! There is not a lot of room to be moving past the serp jump here, so staying close to it is good for now – you can add more motion into it but we don’t need a lot because we are really looking for the concept of taking the serp jump when asked rather than going into the tunnel 🙂
My only other suggestion is, on the threadle, keep your feet/lower body pointing the same way and moving on the same line as the serp, trying not to rotate. Your position was great relative to the entry wing, and that positional cue (plus the verbal and upper body) are what will help him differentiate. And since he has a really lovely stay, you can be showing the threadle arm before the verbal/release for the threadle, which will help cue him early so you can keep moving forward.
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning! Thank you for the updates!
>>Action Tricks: going very well in our training room. We can do everything rapidly with or without treats in my hands, but dance (she does a circle while standing up on her back legs) and leg weaving are slower without treats in my hand, for now.
Great! Keep working on the dancing and leg weaving, they are super useful in the trial environment.
>>Questions, on your video when treats are in your hands you toss them on the ground, when treats are in your pockets you deliver hand to mouth. I did it just this way, but are these mechanics significant?
I tend to toss treats on the ground for the pattern game or instant focus games (as a way to kind of send the dog back out into the environment to assess it) and reward from my hand for tricks. My general rule of thumb is that all games where I want to pump up the engagement involve reinforcement from my hands (tricks, volume dial, remote reinforcement, etc) Any games where I want the dog to offer engagement without me cuing it can be done with tossed treats.
>>Also, I am leery of teaching a dog that can bark excessively or barks at strangers to bark on command. I’m usually trying to get her to stop barking. 🤪
Understandable! But here is different way to look at it:
Barking at strangers is more of a reflex, directed outwards and away from you. Barking on cue is an operant trick, directed to you and playful.The reflex action is same as when the doctor taps that spot just below your kneecap to test the reflex: you will involuntarily kick your leg.
The operant behavior is when you choose to kick out your leg as a dance step. While there might be some similarities in the movement, the reason, function and use of the behaviors are entirely different.>>Pattern Games: going very well with food, in training room. I always start something in our inside room before moving outside. Moving on with toys, seems like I should start with lesser value toys?
Great news about the food! Take this pattern game to as many new environments as you can. And yes, add in toys – you can start with lower value toys, but also rehearse it with higher value toys because that is what you will use in more difficult distractions.
>>Instant Focus: again going very well in room. Used silicone beverage coaster which she had to touch with a front paw. Chaos went well, although she first wanted to get her stuffed large orangutan but left it for the coaster. Then when I added holee-rollers she went right for them. She brought the rollers to me and I made them ‘dead’. Then she went right for the coaster and was able to work just the coaster from then on.😎. If we were outside I think she may have grabbed the holee-roller and run a few victory laps with it. Which is why I start these games in our room.>>
For the distractions in the instant focus game, no need to use high value reinforcement as part of the ‘chaos’ 🙂 You can use random things, rather than the good toys. You can also take this on the road now, building tons of value for the coaster in different places and then moving into the Part 2 games posted on Monday.
>>Line up game: we’re trying between my legs. Went much better than I thought. I expected it to be too much pressure for her. But she loved the quick game a we’re up to ‘sit’.>>
Fun! I am glad she likes it 🙂 There is a lot of movement so that can be a fun trick to add to the toolbox 🙂
>>Remote Reinforcement: she can jump up on anything and reinforce herself, can even open the zipper on my backpack to get her toy. And she has! This has been our hardest thing.
This is good to know and plan for. Your reward station can be on a table and yes, you can put the stuff in containers. Also, work this on leash at home so you can control whether or not she can scoot away and grab things – part of the remote reinforcement game is developing the self-control to simply not go grab the reinforcement, even when it appears easy to grab 🙂 That self-control will bubble over into other aspects of life, including whether she barks at people or not.
>>What kind of treats are you using in the vids?
Mostly string cheese, some meatballs thrown in sometimes too.
>>Some people have said I shouldn’t use her highest value toys because they are a crutch for me and a pacifier for her. You’ve never seen us work, but your thoughts on this?>>
I like science, and there is no science to support crutch or pacifier 🙂 I look at things we can quantify: are we building the behavior? what behaviors are we seeing in different environments? what is her rate of success? If she has a low rate of success, or showing stress behavior – then we quite possibly need to go to a more valuable reinforcement so that we can compete the the stimuli in the environment. I am perfectly fine with you using high value reinforcement because you’ll make faster progress with more success. I am pretty sure you would be happy with faster progress 🙂 And since a big piece of the puzzle is being able to fade the reinforcement so it does not need to be in your hand, I am not worried about it being a crutch 🙂
Things are going well! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
Sometimes it is good to post the poopy sessions too 🙂 I think you were lumping: meaning, you went to a higher level of criteria too quickly, before all the earlier pieces were in place.The biggest thing missing here is building the understanding with you stationary and in position – you had a lot of motion on almost all of the reps, and he was pretty clear about telling us he didn’t understand it with you moving. So it is not a pressure thing – it was lumping which created too much failure. The next session should be with you standing still in the serp position – open shoulder, conection and release word cues the serp while closed shoulder and tunnel verbal cues the tunnel.
>>He didn’t want to jump towards the tunnel at all, especially with my just standing there.>>
I think part of this was lack of clarity about the reinforcement. Dropping a tiny treat then walking away from him is pretty unclear (like at :50). So from now on, use a toy or the stuffed lotus ball, plus markers to indicate them and most of all – stay engaged. The moment when you drop a cookie is not the end of the rep, so you can’t move away and do something else. The end of the rep is after he has gotten the reinforcement and after you’ve engaged with him, so don’t forget that critical piece. Using only toys and the lotus ball will help you remember – you have a habit of dropping a little treat then walking away, which breaks engagement. Sure, he will eat the treat when nothing else is out there but when it is near the tunnel, he was really unsure of where to look or go.
>>Do I continue to move through so that I’m not standing in all the clutter?>>
Nope! You build the value with you standing still, lots of success, and high value engaged reinforcement. That will all bring clarity to the game and he will be great!
Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
I think he did well here too! He seemed to be able to read the difference between the Go, the RC, and the backside wrap really well. You had a bit of that ‘L’ line (swinging out) at :10 but then you got much better at getting on the rear cross line, like at :29! Nice!>>Let me know what I need to do to help him understand better.
Verbals! You used GO GO GO for both the go straight AND the rear crosses. The straight line and the rear cross are two different behaviors, so he was ignoring the verbal (same verbal for 2 behaviors is confusing) and waiting for the physical cue. The Go verbal is only for the straight line, not the rear cross. And a left or right verbal should be used with the rear cross, because it is a turn. And as you are using the verbals, keep moving – at :40 you were standing still for too long so he was not sure if he had permission to accelerate.
For the backside wrap at the end – his commitment looked really good here too! Be sure that you run to where the wing meets the bar so he can see the wing (you were blocking it a little) and then as soon as he is past you, move forward again so you are not in his landing spot when he is jumping.
Great job!
TracyHi!
He did well here too! As you work these longer stays – make sure you release the stay (it wasn’t very clear in the beginning of the video) and reward the stay a lot.
You were on the correct side here – you can be on the same side or opposite side of the dog, it all gets mixed in so you work all the scenarios. And yes – pushing and pulling with big obvious arm movements really worked nicely! It is a challenging game, so re-visit it a few times before you make it harder by bringing the wings closer together.
Nice job!!
TracyGood morning!
The Find The Jump game looked great here! I couldn’t see that reinforcement so I am guessing it was thrown out ahead or pre-placed? If it was already placed, move to throwing it as soon as he looks at the jump (and way before he gets to it) so he doesn’t rely on the placed toy.
You can now add in driving ahead to the jump, by running in closer to the tunnel so he can drive ahead of you as he exits.
Great job!
Tracy
