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  • in reply to: Christine and Aussie Josie #29747
    Tracy Sklenar
    Keymaster

    Hi!

    >> I’m going to print this and put it in my agility bag. This is exactly what I needed to help me plan. I understand what you’re saying.

    Whew, that is a relief, I was hoping I had enough coffee in me to make sense LOL!

    >>I really like the option about running with exposed toy in FEO till she’s solid and then hiding it till she’s solid. >>

    That is how I started Contraband: he could see the toy so it was “just like home”. Now I am leaving with his leash (totally UKI legal even when you are running for realz) or stuffing it down my pants LOL
    Elektra starts soon and I will do the same thing. I see the potential in all of our dogs and I am willing to wait for it to come together before I chase titles, big events, etc.

    >>I’ll make it more training like initially and help her be right.>>

    You will get great results and you can also kick some butt in JWW

    >>Thank you for this well timed class. I only wish it could continue when I can start trialing again

    Well, stay tuned for 2022 classes… Agility U enters year #10 in 2022 and I have some plans that will hopefully be interesting. We are going to be more of hybridized: part traditional online class, part live class, part in-the-moment trial help. I just need to get it all sorted out 🙂 And some cooperative ventures with Clean Run!!!

    Merry Christmas to you and the whole family! Hope to see you in the New Year 🙂

    Tracy

    in reply to: Kristie & Keiko #29746
    Tracy Sklenar
    Keymaster

    Hi!
    She did well here with the teeter! It appears that it was not moving or not moving much, which is a great start especially in new places. And she was very happy to chase the frisbee. But if she is not interested in the frisbee in different places, you can use giant chunks of food and throw them for her to chase (or a ball or anything she likes!)

    Now have her make it move a tiny bit:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=06dQYZXgIpY (the sound in this video appears to be off, so ignore the weird sound :))
    Then you can make it more like gymnastics to help her start to jump on from the side:

    Then eventually it is all on the side:

    These are the 4 things I would do on new teeters in new places, for MASSIVE reinforcement and doing only one rep then taking a break:
    1. Start the way you had the setup in your video, with no movement
    2. Go to the first video here with the weird sound
    3. Then go to the 2nd video with Hot Sauce
    4. Then go to the jumping on the side (that is my dog Matrix)

    >> so I left that clip in so you could hear what “noise” this seesaw does make. Not tons, but it’s not completely quiet, either. Would there be any point, down the road, in adding something to it to make it make more noise or is that a horrid thought?>>

    Adding more noise is a possibility down the road somewhere, but we don’t want to risk sensitizing her to noise with the home teeter too. So I think the best focus is to re-introduce her to teeters in other places without noise, just touching, then very gradually adding more and more noise til she is happy on regular teeters 🙂

    Keep me posted!
    Tracy

    in reply to: Abby & Merlin #29744
    Tracy Sklenar
    Keymaster

    Hi!

    Glad you had fun with this class!!!

    >> Ok dokie I’ll move my reinforcement it ended up there by accident because the gate is there to put it outside the ring all together.>>

    You can leave the reward where it was – you can change the timing of when you move to get it 🙂 Instead of using the marker when he is heading towards the reward or ring exit, try to use it when he is heading away from the reward and towards the other side of the ring, away from the entry and exit gates.

    >>DW it depends he can do it but it’s not always solid so I’ve been helping him a bit. Practice on a plank is 100% add running a bit less reliable. Add rubber and a trial I normally don’t ask for a stick unless it’s essential.>>

    Got it! So in training, you can use a target to help remind him to hit his yellow even when you are not there.

    >>Future question back to start on a leash if the leash was a tug leash do you tug back to the start or ?>>

    If he has just had a blooper, I don’t tug on the leash going back to the line, it is more of a “let’s start over moment” but otherwise, yes tugging on the leash is good 🙂

    >>I probably won’t have anymore ring time before the 23rd so any inside things you want to see?>>

    This is the perfect time of year for planning your training – assess his strengths and weaknesses and using reinforcement procedures to turn his weaknesses into strengths! That can include everything from focus to obstacle skills to handling skills and so on. I make a giant list and then prioritize the important ones, then I plan how I want to train them (or how I am going to get help LOL)

    >>Suggestions for winter boredom?

    Stay tuned for the 2022 winter classes coming soon!!! And big congrats on the rally title, that is a AWESOME score!!!

    Tracy

    in reply to: Christine and Aussie Josie #29743
    Tracy Sklenar
    Keymaster

    Hi!

    >> UKI trials are slim around here. I thought a new nearby facility would be a good option, but unfortunately the footing is iffy.>>

    That is a bummer! Might still be worth it to enter and do straight line stuff to contacts (you can make up your own course in UKI).

    >>When I can do FEO with a toy. Should I release from the contact to the toy or stay closer to her and have a long toy with me and toss her end to her with a “catch”? Both?

    I think trying to do ‘catch’ with a toy on a line that you hold onto will get a little awkward in mechanics and will force you to have to be close to the contacts (which could build in a reliance on your position). So, for AKC, the only option is to release her from the contact to the toy – but have the toy hidden on you so it is less of a cue for her.

    >>The runs that I can’t do FEO, I can still “train”.
    I have no problems leaving early for good behavior if I’m making it clear to her that’s what’s happening. Could I use some remote reinforcement? SHe gets her AF and we leave to her cheese? >>

    Yes…. but I would just skip those runs for now. Either she is going to be wrong and then you have no immediate reinforcement in the ring if she is correct on the re-do. And the remote reinforcement is going to be significantly delayed in getting to it so it is unlikely to make an impact on the contacts and could even be a punisher to her (because you are leaving the ring, albeit cheerfully). The delay for AKC remote reinforcement can be significant: say the a-frame is in the middle of the course. You praise and release and give the remote reinforcement marker… you’ve got 40 feet now to get to the leash, put the leash on, go to the gate, open the gate, to the food. At the very fastest, that is 15 seconds so the reinforcement is so significantly removed from the a-frame that I don’t think it will have any crossover. I would skip the non-FEO classes til you are getting really super contacts in the runs where you have a toy hidden on you.

    Does AKC allow helpers in the ring for FEO? Can someone be out there with you and hold the toy? That can speed things up and add in the remote reinforcement element.

    >>I also want a plan for if she doesn’t stop.

    That is why you want to stick to FEO for now. Do your best to set her up to stop in a trial: don’t run that fast, don’t go too far past hi the contact. Don’t add extra distractions because the environment is distracting and her internal arousal is distracting. So if she stops… surprise! Pull out a reward. If she doesn’t stop – you stop for a moment, tell her she is cute, go back a couple of obstacles, and try again – and if she stops, reward! If she gets to barking, yo can ask her to sit and lead out to where you want to re-start her from then release and try it again.

    If she fails twice in the FEO run where you have a hidden reward, then you back track one additional step: let her see you carrying the reward during the FEO runs, just like you do in training as if to say “this is just like training”. In fact, if she has a history of struggling to stop at trials, then you might want to start with this step because the hidden reward might set her up to fail. And you do FEO with the toy in your hand for as many runs as needed til her contacts look just like they do at home. Then you do the FEO runs as many as needed til they look the same as at home, but now the toy is hidden.

    Remote reinforcement to mark specific behavior in AKC trials is hard to do as FEO, because you cannot have the toy leave your hand, so you can’t leave it at the start line. And I am not sure how an AKC judge would call it if you used the leash during the run, unless it was the end of the run.

    About the non-FEO runs: If you are in a run where she does not stop and you are not able to reward, there is a slippery slope of punishment or accidentally continuing which is reinforcing. She will get frustrated because it is unclear and punishment (leaving the ring) doesn’t help until she knows what to do to be correct. So, with a dog that is consistently quite good about stopping on the a-frame in high arousal settings where there is no visible reinforcement, then I might consider leaving the ring is she doesn’t stop. But if she is not yet consistently good at it, or if yu leave the ring and she doesn’t immediately improve… then leaving the ring is doing more harm than good.

    >> I’ve been putting her back on but it seemed to just make her higher.

    Back on at the end? It might not be helpful enough because it is not the same as having to stop after going all the way across it. So you might try bringing her back to the jump or two before the contact then trying it again.

    >>As you can tell, she justs wants to run. I have SO much confidence in the JWW ring, I need that in STD too.>>

    So for now, as you build that, only run JWW and the FEO runs – only rehearse in trials what you want to see in trials 🙂 Don’t rehearse good stuff in 3/4 of the runs and stuff you don’t want in the other 1/4 of the runs 🙂

    let me know what you think!
    Tracy

    in reply to: Kim and Sly #29742
    Tracy Sklenar
    Keymaster

    Hi!

    >> rears. I worked hard to get that “step to takeoff down”

    I feel this!! And it was only when I slowed the videos way down did. I realize that I was accidentally cuing rear crosses. Oops!

    >>Mine is tieing and retieing my shoes. By the end of a trial day my shoes are so tight that my feet hurt!!! I appreciate that thought. I need to think about it as if I don’t give Sly the chance to “tie his shoes” it’s all he’s going to be able to think about until he gets to. I so get that! Seriously, if I don’t do that final “tie” I can get distracted by how my shoes feel while running!!!>>

    OMG this is so true! You can tell him to tie his shoes LOL!

    >>Didn’t make it to the trial…..just getting too old (or finally smart enough) to want to drive home in bad weather in the dark. >>

    I feel this too – I love agility but I don’t love it enough to drive in the dark in crappy weather.

    >> Don’t remember where I got this course but have set it up as a “Christmas Challenge” for everyone this week. Lots of interesting sections for training. Thought you might enjoy seeing Sly go!!! Incorporating (still fine tuning) our start-up and end of runs routines is getting easier

    Go Sly Go! He looked great! Is your tire dressed up for the holidays? LOL! He rocked it! I love the flip from the first set up weaves to the 2nd set of weaves. He also did well on the complicated handling (no problem!) and he made you HUSTLE! Greta job incorporating the setup stuff, the handling connection – ALL.The.Things 🙂 Yay!

    I will keep you posted on the 2022 classes. I have some crazy ideas and will be revamping the style of classes a bit now that we are 10 years into this site 🙂
    Enjoy the holidays!!!
    Tracy

    in reply to: Kathy and Shelties, Buccleigh and Keltie #29741
    Tracy Sklenar
    Keymaster

    Hi!

    >> video. She really likes class so she usually runs well there so it might be hard to see a difference. I did notice that after Buccleigh ran she was a little more vocal and she was jumping on me. She was pretty peppy for the last run too.>>

    Yes, I think she looked good! It was really quiet in there, a big difference from the trial environment (even with Buccleigh barking). Does she also go to classes where there is more noise and chaos from other people and dogs? 🙂

    >>I can’t say fro sure that it made a lot of difference but it was functional and I think I will continue to do it in class. It is easier to split the time into shorter intervals for training between the two dogs. It was pretty exciting for Buccleigh. You can hear him in the background when she runs but he was able to come out of the crate and maintain good focus and respond well. He was working to hold the sit stay but he could. I think it is a little closer to the trial environment so it was good practice. I was proud of both of them.>>

    It might be hard to tell in class if it helps or not, but she was happy so you can keep doing it and then trial behavior will help you know if it helps. Be sure to balance the remote reinforcement with doing some runs with reinforcement in the ring (from your hand or pocket) – it is a fine line because if you only do remote reinforcement, you might risk losing value on the individual obstacles or skills. And if you don’t do remote reinforcement, she won’t know how to run without visible reinforcement.

    >> We have a run thru at the trial venue next week. These are rare and I can use food in the ring so I want to make the best use of my time.

    That is a great opportunity to help both dogs learn about reinforcement in the ring!

    >>I signed up for three spots. In the first hour I have 2 spots which translates to 6/ 1 minute runs. I think I could ask if I can combine the spots to get 3/2 minute runs. In the second hour I have one spot= 3 /1 min. runs but once again I think I could do 2 back to back so I would have 2 minutes and then 1 run of 1 minute remaining.>>

    I think you should do the 1 minute run – get in, do the thing, get out – fast and fun! Then build on it in each run. 2 minutes is a long time!

    >>I was thinking of doing our remote reward circuit. Put the cookies at the ring entry. Walk up to the start line and set up. Then release into the course away from the reward, do one or two obstacles and then “cookies” and back to the reward. Then set up again and repeat adding another obstacle and then ping ponging for either 1 or 2 minutes. Does this sound like a good plan or would you recommend something else?>>

    Yes – on the second 1 minute run. Because the dogs have been stressed in the ring, I would do the first run as a fiesta of reinforcement inside the ring! Then on the 2nd one minute run, you can do the remote reinforcement of just entering the ring, setup, release then go back to the reward. Ping ponging that for a minute then taking a break is good – doing it for 2 minutes will be too much and you can get finished with the 1 minute set while the dogs are still pumped up to do more.

    >>My goals: I would really like to do the start line stay with Buccleigh as we have not been able to try this at this venue. I didn’t think he would be successful a trial and I didn’t want to risk it (not because of q’s but because of the effect it might have on his confidence). I feel more confident with the remote reward availability.

    I think the start stay can come into the picture later in his runs – the first thing to do is establish the reinforcement. He is still getting good at the stay elsewhere, so you don’t want to jump right in with something that is hard. Use your first couple of 1 minute sessions to establish the reinforcement procedures. And then on the 3rd one minute session , if he has been super happy, you can ask for a stay.

    >>For both of them I would like them to be fast and happy. I think the remote reward will help with that especially if I am patient and keep the number of obstacles low so the rewards are frequent.>>

    Yes, remote reward will help and also actually having the cookies in the ring sometimes will be very happy-making for them too 🙂

    >>As an aside, Keltie and I had a spontaneous game of tug in the house and she was really getting into it. I think I might be able to teach her “bite”!

    YAY!!! That is great! She is blossoming into a tugger 🙂

    Let me know what you think!
    Tracy

    in reply to: Fever and Jamie #29739
    Tracy Sklenar
    Keymaster

    Hi!

    >> I’d really like to continue our reinforcement procedures work and keep building. I think if we master delayed reinforcement, I won’t have so much anxiety about end of run or disconnecting in runs. I really need some positive reinforcement here>>

    Absolutely!Keep working those into training and more and more into sequences, seminars, etc.

    Also bear in mind that you can train all the other things – if you put too much emphasis on remote/delayed reinforcement then it might dilute the reinforcement of the skills in the ring. So work it in balance – maybe 25% of your work is delayed/remote reinforcement (as an arbitrary amount) and the rest is spread out in the ring in training, looking at the various skills we train with the dogs (turns, commitment, contacts, etc)

    >>I’d like to get a few seminars under our belt working in a little bit more distracting environment, FEO in AKC or UKI in a solid ring-barrier facility/one ring trial.>>

    Perfect – you can try to find maybe one per month (seminar or trial) and if that doesn’t work, you can add a time to create a distracting trial-like experience with friends 🙂

    >>I’m not sure what other goals to set so far. I often get hung up on things and then get paralyzed on moving forward.>>

    Take an assessment of his skills, strengths and weaknesses. Then set goals to build the weaknesses into strengths. It can range from focus in new environments and remote reinforcement, to obstacle skills and sequencing skills. I tend to prioritize things: for example, a great threadle wrap is a very very low priority compared to finding a straight line or weave entries. You can make a list and schedule stuff on a calendar, or just put stuff on index cards and draw from the pile when you have a few minutes to train 🙂

    >>I do want to again visit other sports outside of agility to keep working new environments. We plan to do more dock in the spring.>>

    Great! Cross-training is very helpful!

    >>Any announcements soon on what classes are coming next?

    I will be working on that in the next week or two! Hopping for some fun stuff 🙂
    Tracy

    in reply to: Mary and Tali-Auditing #29737
    Tracy Sklenar
    Keymaster

    Hi!

    >> It teaches how to use MM 😃 I’m going to wait to see if there’s an after Christmas sale 🤞

    I am sure there will be good sales!

    >>I’m glad to be see I don’t need a separate class for running contacts.

    Actually, we on’y cover the basics/beginnings of the running contacts here because the dogs are too young to do much more than that. Plus it takes months to train running contacts 🙂 One of our other instructors, Jordan Biggs, teaches the running contacts class in the spring.

    >>I’m curious if you’re classes cover weaves also?

    We have a big weave class in the spring, when the dogs are old enough to do the full progression 🙂 It is fun!

    Tracy

    in reply to: Wendy and Pearl (Bernese) #29735
    Tracy Sklenar
    Keymaster

    Hi again!
    I think this is going well – it looks so easy but it is actually pretty complex, so many different elements for handling and toys and food. These were strong sessions!

    Some ideas for you:

    Handling combo round 1: All of the pups are having at least one good blooper – this is a hard game! No worries about the party of one, it is all stuff we work through in these early games. It might have felt like an eternity but the romps were pretty short. And she was a good girl and did the barrel wrap first on the 2nd rep and 3rd rep.
    At 1:26, she ended up on the left side of you and I think you wanted her on your right side – if you freeze the video at 1:26, you will see that as she is exiting the barrel, you are looking ahead at the toy so she thinks it looks like a blind cross cue. Great job rewarding her anyway, she was correct! Compare that to the moment she exits the barrel at 1:45 – look how at how you were looking at her eyes, so she knew where to be. Excellent! And she gave the toy back to you immediately on that rep. YAY!!

    At 2:01, she didn’t quite commit to the barrel (you moved away a little early) and she was heading to the toy: don’t grab for her, as that will cause her to move away faster LOL!! You grabbed her this time, but next time she will be quicker and we don’t want her to avoid any collar grabbing. So if she gets to the toy? No biggie, tell her she is cute, take the toy, reset the rep. You help the send more at 2:09 and she committed nicely!

    For the party of one moments, you can make the tug toy bigger by attached a leash to it, so as she grabs one end, you can grab the other and tug with her. Or, you can have a 2nd toy in a pocket so you can reward her with the 2nd toy for coming back. She did have little party of one romps but they were short and sweet, and she was good about coming back, so I am not worried about it 🙂

    Round 2: this one had the food bowl! Yum!
    On the sends, hold your position forward until she is just about at the barrel, If you move away before she arrives at the barrel, she doesn’t commit (like on the first rep and at :44 and 1:01). When you hold the send until she arrives at the barrel, she is GREAT! A perfect example is at 1:13: you were pretty far from the barrel but you held the send until her nose was at the barrel, then did the FC: perfect!
    The blind cross elements looked really good too. The food bowl was a good focal point but not too distracting.

    Round 3 – after the food, it was hard to go back to the toy so that helps us plan the sessions… all toy work done first, then food then take a long break before going back to the toy. Then when you do go back to the toy, make the toy really wild – when you get to it, throw it and be crazy and.

    When you added the decel with the cookie, she was not interested in the toy anymore as you noted: so when working with the toy, do the decel with an empty hand 🙂 When working with the food bowl, you can have the cookie in the decel hand. If she struggles with the toy and the decel/pivot, you can work that skill with a food bowl only til she likes it more – then you can work in the toy without also working on the food, it can all be worked separately for now 🙂

    Great job here! Let me know what you think!
    Tracy

    in reply to: Wendy and Pearl (Bernese) #29734
    Tracy Sklenar
    Keymaster

    Hi!

    Ugh, I hate when iOS does a fancy update then nothing works anymore!!!
    No need to edit the start or end of the videos, it will save you some time if you don’t need to worry about editing.

    This session looked good!!!
    She did well hitting her target here! It was a good mental warm up to have her hit it a few times before you did the strike a pose. Nice job having her drive in to the target hand and then really strong mechanics with the reinforcement! She has a TON of value for it and was hitting it pretty hard!!! Yay! She had one question at the end, where she ended up going to the cookie hand and not the target – my guess is that she lost her train of thought perhaps? Or was anticipating the turn from the target to the treat? Either way, no problem – you can wiggle the target hand a little to keep her focused on it.
    I think the hardest part of this game was finding the tossed treats in the grass. So, you can try different things:
    You can put a big towel out on the grass and toss the treat onto it, so she can find it easily.
    or, you can use a sit stay if you think that will be easy for her.

    >> This wasn’t very “energized”…..but will wait for some feedback before I push ahead.

    This particular piece of the strike a pose puzzle doesn’t need to be very energized 🙂 We are looking for precision here, so we don’t need her to be too excited about it. Finding the cookie more easily will help her come back quicker to the target. And, if you want to use her stay, you can add more excitement now with a toy! She starts in a stay and the toy replaces the cookies. Because there is not a lot of movement, you will not want to have any food in the picture at all here, so the toy has maximum value.

    in reply to: Wendy and Pearl (Bernese) #29733
    Tracy Sklenar
    Keymaster

    Hi!
    I totally understand how hard it is to juggle ALL THE THINGS especially at this time of year! You are doing a great job! And a break here and there is actually a good thing for the puppy 🙂
    I think you will find that the games build on each other a lot at this point, so it is relatively easy to catch up and add the new stuff – so definitely train with no pressure! When I am feeling pressed for time, I always set a timer for the session. That helps me curb my tendency to want to do ALL of the things at once – when the timer goes off, the session is over (and there is usually no need for another session that day). Plus it helps me figure out what the puppy needs for the next session 🙂
    So no worries if you take things slowly and reduce the pressure, that is the best choice! Onwards to the videos 🙂
    Tracy

    in reply to: Joan and Dellin #29732
    Tracy Sklenar
    Keymaster

    Good morning!
    I am sending you a big click/treat for revisiting the Rear crosses – she is definitely getting the idea! In your next session (keep going with these, don’t put them away LOL!): Delay the release now til she is fully looking the new direction and you have passed her shoulders – she is anticipating the releasing coming as soon as you cue behind her tail so she is self-releasing and turning back towards you (especially when she is turning to her left) so delaying the release will help stop the anticipation and self-releasing from the stay. The prop was too far away to be salient because after the release, you were moving your cookie hands so she was looking at the cookie 🙂 So you can move the prop in closer to it is salient and don’t move the cookies til she hits it – the placement of the prop can be on the line she would be turning to after the rear cross, rather than straight ahead.

    I think she is ready to have the stay faded out of this, too (which effectively solves the issue of anticipation of the release 🙂 The prop can be out on the line , you toss a cookie back near you to get her moving, then as she starts moving forward, you cut in behind her super early and see what happens (hitting the prop is not terribly important here, it is just a focal point to get her driving forward).

    The sends looked great, she loves the action 🙂 and her commitment looked great! Your mechanics were strong but you can slow down between reps (everyone is rushing a bit, so I am bugging everyone :)) Before each rep, give yourself a moment to get the mechanics ready, get the toy scooped up, remember the verbal… then send. It all happens so fast that sometimes the word is wrong, or she isn’t ready, or you twitch too soon, or the toy is flying around (and we don’t want her to smack your knee – OUCH!)

    Yes, I agree that she is turning wider to her right – it might be a side preference thing, or it might be that she has more room turning right here than she does turning left. So you can do two things:
    Give her less room turning to her right LOL! Move it closer to the wall – we don’t want her running into the wall, but a little less room can help her sort out her mechanics to be tighter, same as she is doing on the left turns where she is tighter because there is less room.
    And – do lots of the turn and burn where you work turning to the right with the really tight exits, right near the jump. That will help! I have a couple more games coming for you as well, and that can help. Stay tuned!

    I am glad the retrieve is going well!!! YAY!!! And yes – the next step is to get you higher off the ground – I think you can repeat the process you are currently doing (don’t mess with success!) but change your position very slightly: sit on a pillow. Then sit on a low table or Cato board. Then on a chair, then the couch… then you can go to kneeling on a chair and then, eventually… standing. It might take a session or two, or it might take weeks LOL! But no rush, she is doing GREAT!! In just the last few weeks, her value for food rewards and for dead toys has come way up, giving you a much bigger toolbox of reinforcement for training. YAY!!

    Great job here!! Let me know what you think!
    Tracy

    in reply to: Lee Tansock and Sheltie Brisk #29731
    Tracy Sklenar
    Keymaster

    Good morning! These games are looking good! A couple of little details about the sessions:

    On the sends to the barrel:

    To really get him to commit, slow down your mechanics 🙂 I am bugging everyone about this because everyone gets into a loop that is too quick for the dog and then the dogs make mistakes. His errors here were due to you sending him too quickly. After each reward, call him to you, do the ready dance moment, then send. It is not an immediate loop back to the send after he eats the cookie, you will want to reset his start position on each rep That allows him to be ready for the next cue and it also allows you to be clean and clear on the send and your position. On a couple of reps, he was not quite ready for the send so he had questions.

    Also, stay closer to the barrel for now – the looping immediately to the send after he ate the cookie was causing you to move away from the barrel each time, which put you too far away by the end of the session. We can add ore distance gradually but for now, let’s get a higher success rate. So that reset back in front of you is a pretty important piece of the process 🙂

    Mat work: You are off to a good start on these!!
    The refresh video looks good, his value for going to it is pretty high! MM can be further away now to build up more speed. And, you can move to clic,Int for back feet now (not front) – most running contact methods (or maybe all of them?) click for back feet.

    Box video – you are welcome to use the box and the mat together… but you don’t have to 🙂 The box can be a standalone target, shaped like you shape the mat – that way he is not looking for a mat, he is looking for the box. By only using the box, the progression is simpler because you don’t have to fade out the mat AND the box, just the box 🙂
    About how to begin the value for the box: standing still first and letting him offer is how I suggest starting. I am not sure if he was actively seeking the box or mat, or if he was following you back and forth. My guess is he was looking at the mat and your motion, and the box was incidental. So you can take the mat out and just shape the box, without moving.
    You did more of that on the 2nd video here with the box, and he was great! As with the mat, you can now go to clicking for back feet in the box (he will be entirely in the box). And, for now, no movement back and forth – just stand at one end with the MM at the other end, so he leaves you to go through the box, gets a reward, comes back through the box, gets another reward, and so on.

    The clicker mat is a really cool thing! But…. it will click no matter which foot hits it. So be sure that you also learn to watch for his back feet hitting the mat because that is what we want! The noise-maker mats tend to click on front foot hits and also sometimes when the dog walk vibrates, so the click might be info for you but not for him – you will still want to watch carefully to reward back feet hits. And you can use the mat by itself, it does not need to go in the box.

    Great job here! Let me know what you think!
    Tracy

    in reply to: Mary and Tali-Auditing #29730
    Tracy Sklenar
    Keymaster

    Hi!

    >> Well I’ll never be caught up until March lol I think I better mostly use the time in the hotel to be catch up.>>

    I think you will find that things build on each other a lot at this point, so it is easy to play the games without feeling too behind. We still have plenty of time 🙂

    >>Also, one of Tali’s littermate is wanting to start, with no experience and having trouble finding a place for her intact male indoors in St Augustine. Do you think this class would be good if she doesn’t have a tunnel? She will evidently, so would have skip tunnel stuff till she gets one. I’m not sure how much a tunnel is needed. She can still learn alot. Just wanted to check with you before telling her about it.>>

    Sure! This is a good start and the tunnel stuff is relatively small, she can skip it. We have auditing available if she wants to join in 🙂
    Tracy

    in reply to: Kristin and Ronin (Min.Schnauzer) #29717
    Tracy Sklenar
    Keymaster

    Ha! As I was typing it, I was wondering if there were any boring cookies for a Schnauzer lol

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