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Hi!
I loved your super quick response when she got to the toy by running the other way and rewarding with a great reward – I am sure you will have a great retrieve very soon!
The other handlers were not as quick to do that, so Annalise and Amy can do what you did: turn and run away and trade for a cookie.
I thought it was a great way to make the retrieve SUPER fun! And you offered great advice about getting the toy back by trading for a treat – that makes is so much nicer for everyone πThe backing up is going well! After the first reward for backing up, you donβt need to keep tossing treats because I donβt think he is choosing to back up at that point, I think she is just eating LOL! I mean, she is not sad about it π but you will get more backing up by calling her into your feet for the next cookie drop, and then delaying the reward for backing up by a step or two. Take a ping pong approach to building more distance: You can sometimes reward for 1 step, then 3 steps, the n2 steps, then wait for 4 the n1 then 2β¦. which will add the distance more gradually π And you can also work this getting her to back on onto a dog bed – we added more about that the week.
Great job!!!
Tracy
Hi!
I am glad she is feeling good and back in action!!!! She looked happy to be working here!She was bouncing the line really well when you had the angles pretty open and she added strides as soon as you started to flatten the angles out. So to help her keep bouncing, 2 ideas:
– start her really close to the wing and bar so she has to liftoff from the sit
– overlap the wings even more to shorten the distance, or if they were already fully overlapped, you can use a wingless upright and have both weave poles sitting on it (maybe one In the 4 inch cup and the other in the 6 inch cup). We want to find the sweet spot distance where she will still bounce as the angles get flatter.Great job here!!β¨Tracy
Hi!
>>For the taller item will an oval-shaped tall laundry basket work or does it have to be perfectly round? I can buy a soft barrel from the hardware store if it needs to be completely round.>>
Oval is great! And if you find yourself in a Walmart or dollar store, you can grab a pop up barrel – but definitely don’t spend more than a dollar or two on it π
>>She cracks me up with the back-up too. I will try standing up and try the between-the-feet approach next.>>
You might want to also try some flyball with her: I know she is going to be an amazing agility dog, but her spunk and sass and willingness to do flyball turns off of your stomach made me thing she would be great at Flyball too π
T
Hi!
Hooray for the goat games! Sounds like there was a puppy party going on during the first part!
I think you have truly embraced the full meaning of goat games: I have never seen so many different objects in one video LOL!!! It all looked really good!
You had a really nice variation of surface textures, location, and movement of surfaces. She seemed SUPER confident on all of it. The only thing I noticed was that the narrow plank was too narrow, perhaps, she couldnβt quite get all of her feet on it. But everything else was really great.
You can make a puppy obstacle course for her, by putting all of the various objects together in a row so they are touching, and having her walk across it one after the other like a giant bridge so she is experiencing all of the different surfaces and movement one after the other, and one foot might be touching one thing with another foot is touching the next thing. That can be a great next-step for what you ave already started here.
Great job here!! See you in class tonight!
TracyHi!
His goat games with the bowl are looking good!!! It is a little hard for him to get both front and back feet in because the space is small π He is trying and does get all the feet where the need to be LOL! Yay! What do you have that is bigger – as he grows, you’ll want to use different objects partially so he has more room to get all his feets in, and partially to help him get on or in all sorts of different things. So for the next session, try something really big π One of your classmates was using a couch cushion yesterday and it worked great – big enough for the pup to get all four feet on, and also a little wobbly π So maybe grab one of the cushions that his brother was sitting on?Great job π
TracyHe did really well tugging here! You can start to add a little if him weight shifting during tugging: when he has his mouth on the toy, you can move your toy hand a little less, and gently tap him with the other hand: that often gets the pups to pull even harder and gets more tugging and weight shift π
Great job!
TracyHi!
Really nice session here – he was offering beautifully and both directions looked pretty equal. You were great about mixing the bowls back, and being quiet while he worked but then being loud and silly during the tug break π Yay!!!!So on the next session: keep everything the same with you standing, and start to move the wing a little further away, bit by bit. We don’t need a lot of distance, but he is ready for us to add some distance.
And if that goes well? Then on the session after that, you can start the turn and burn game we added last night. Fun times ahead!!!!
Tracy
Hi! She did really well with the wrap game!!!
On the food version of it:
She definitely had the back and forth rhythm!! As you add distance, you can move the targets back with you as you get further from the wing – they can stay near your knees when you are kneeling or at your feet when you are standing. And you can now start working up to standing: try moving from kneeling to a chair, then from the chair to standing. She might be fine with it all in one session, or need a session or two to sort that out.
Good job seeing her question when you moved further away and helping her by getting closer! Do you have a big cone or laundry basket? I think you can move to that now, because it is a little more obvious-looking to her than the skinny upright π
She really liked the 2 toy version of it!!! The next step is to see if she will offer wrapping the upright before the next toy comes βaliveβ:
Start just as you did her to get her in the groove of the back and forth then when she has done that a couple of times, add this:
Tug tug tug then let that tug go silent, so she drops itβ¦ but donβt tap the next toy til she looks the new direction or takes a step the next direction. When that happens, you can go wild with the next toy. You can gradually stretch the time before tapping the 2nd toy so she wraps it on her own πGreat job!
TracyHi!
>>Also, I was listening to a podcast and they had an episode on the Resilience Rainbow & you got several shout outs
οΏΌOh! I will have to totally listen! Thanks!
Looking at the wing wrap video:
>>I may have lumped a little, but she didnβt get confused so I kept going.
You call it lumping, Bazinga called it fast tracking! LOL! Things can move very quickly like this when the dog understands the predictability of reinforcement π
You can probably move even more quickly from sitting to standing, she had no problem with that. Do you have something taller for her to go around (like a pop up laundry basket) so you can start the turn and burn games? She seems ready!!!
She was cracking me up during he backing up LOL!!!! I particularly liked the reps where she launched herself off you to start the backing up LOL!!! I think she understands that it is something with ,moving backwards away from you – but she is working it all off her front end and not using her back feet separately. So you can try shaping it with the between-the-feet approach and see how she does. Plus we can add in shaping her to back up onto a target like a dog bed.
Great job!!!
TracyYes, that’s correct! The prop is a foot target that we use to teach commitment concepts… that eventually transfer to wings and jumps π
Have fun!
TracyGood morning! He did well on both of these!
On the slices:
Try to keep moving the whole time, and have the reward placed out on the line – the movement will have to be very slow, which is fine, we just donβt want him to rely on your decel or stopping to get organized.The same theme can apply to the wraps (staying in motion) but in a slightly different way: you can decel, rotate, do the FCβ¦ all while he is moving into the sit on the plank π That will be a good mental challenge!!! And you can release the sit at any point in your rotation.
>>Leave them there and try a backside wrap and/or threadle?
Yes, leave them low to add the wrap challenges on the backside π
He did well on the zigzags even in a smaller space – he didnβt need to add strides, he was confident to power bounce even though he didnβt have a ton of room to stride out after it. Super!!!
>>Dead toy is still not a draw.
Yes, the fling definitely worked better! Do you think the PT would be enough of a draw?
You can start to flatten the angles on the backside slices too! Fingers crossed for a short winter π
Great job here!
TracyGood morning!
I am so glad you liked the class – it is the first time I’ve done it and it was FUN to see all the dogs learn!
>>I never did any of the Slice Organizers, should we? Or did developing the skills from that exercise also happen with the ZigZags?
The zigzags have a lot of momentum, and the slice organizers do not – they are more plyometric. So I recommend a bit of both, because the organizers isolate the footwork and strengthening for the skill in a way that the zigzags don’t. The zigzags totally help but the 2 games work nicely together, like peanut butter and jelly π
>How often would you suggest reviewing these exercises to keep the skills strong?
I think maybe once every couple of weeks, or once a week? they are great conditioning games so maybe once a week for one game during the competition season, and every couple of weeks for general conditioning during break periods.
Have a great holiday season!!! 2023 is going to be great!
Tracy
Yep, it is hard to get it ALL done! So we remove the pressure – we have plenty of time and it will all come together.
Tracy
Hello and welcome! Great to see you hear and in the live classes π
What does she do that makes her more challenging? Let me know and we can tweak exercises or prioritize things to help π
TracyThe beginning of this video might answer my question about her cookie drive – looks like she had a hard time tugging and retrieving with a bowl of treats on the floor, nom nom! So move the treats a little further away to make things easier – up on a table, and have a few in your hands for the shaping. And you can work this as a separate skill, ideally after she has eaten a meal so she is not hungry π
She was easily able to get on the object, so there is not much more to offer when she is on it other than standing still – so you can reward for getting on it then release with a cookie tossed off to the side. Good job getting the object out of the way during the tug breaks then back in for shaping – really nice transitions! You can definitely transfer this skill to as many different objects as you can find π
Great job!
Tracy
