[Tracy Sklenar]

Ha! I feel this same struggle – she doesn’t have to slow down… but you do 🙂 Welcome to Team Fake Chill, where we pretend we are calm so we can move slowly LOL!

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi –

>>I think I had him too close to the wings. He was a bit conflicted about needing to offer wing wraps. I will slightly increase the difficulty.>>

Plan exactly what behaviors you will ask for – no freestyling or improv. He does not like that.

>>In my mind, I would like the end of run routine to look like a catch into my arms, put on the leash, and leave to get his toy that is placed.>>

All good – have you taught him to jump into your arms? How much value does it have?

>> I know the super high ones but I would say the least one that gets us in trouble is handler error, lack of understanding
Things on the ground (girl pee)
Scary noises (thunder, gunshots, fireworks, garbage can lids)
Moving/running animals (other dogs, wild life)
livestock (not that we see this often but sheep and ducks are LYFE)
Bodies of water>>

Ok what are thee last distracting? This list is all really hard stuff, so what can be distracting – bag of cookies?
Handler error can also be inserted into these games.
An lack of understanding is easy – if there is anything he doesn’t understand in training – reward. Just reward. Then sort it out later. Easy!

T

[Tracy Sklenar]

Good morning!
He is reading these really well! And he has GREAT stay, good boy, and good job to you for training it!! You can add challenge by moving more briskly while he is staying, building up to be able to run while he is in the stay (as long as he has a high rate of success :))

The BCs looked really good – he is reading them beautifully and is also already really speedy, so you can start then sooner especially when you start to go for 2 in a row 🙂

You can also add more running of you have someone who can hold him as a retrained recall – I don’t think a cookie toss would give you enough time to out-run him for a blind anymore LOL!

As you add more and more speed, 2 things about the toy:
– you don’t need to have him see it on the first side of you, you can have it squished up in the hand ready to show after the BC.
– when you complete the blind, you can keep the toy are touching you stomach. This will rotate you just enough to show the great connection but not so much that you end up opening up your shoulders so much that it slows down your running.

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

[Tracy Sklenar]

Good morning!

>> I used to do the double blind with my Papillion and she was a little bit slower so it was easier to get both side changes in! I will try the tucked arm as you suggest next time.

Double blinds are very doable with big fast dogs like Ronan, as long as your arms stay in super tight to your body for ultra-quickness. Jenny Damm is the best in the world at those quick double blinds!

>>(I hope you don’t mind the singing pap, lol)

I feel right at home with Papillon singing, I have 2.5 Paps LOL!! It was a lovely song of sad Papillon being deprived of training. Ha!

>>Today’s video shows the 3 different version of backing up, step 2.

He is doing a super job of finding the board with his back feet!! You did a great job getting this behavior built up already.
Only one suggestion about mechanics here: keep your cookie hands lower as he is backing up: when you raise the hands to the center of your body, he looks up which is why he was curling to the side a little and looking up high. Try to keep your cookie delivery hands at your knee level or lower, to keep his eyes below his topline (Mike would probably need to keep his hands below his knees if he is taller).
The options to do this are to remain in the bent over position so your hands don’t move up and down (but your back might get angry about that)
Or sit on a low chair or stool so your hands can remain in position without your back getting angry at us :))

Interestingly, he was straightest when you working working on the balance disc in the last part of the session – probably out of necessity, because it is smaller and it moves. He was really focusing in on using his body correctly there – NICE!!! You can add a moving wobble board to this and since he is already doing so well… tug toys! He would back up and tug in position, or back up then be released forward to the toy.

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

[Tracy Sklenar]

Yay! Great news that he was such a good boy at the trial! I know it is hard to get video, but I am glad you got so much success!!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Good morning!
The Bathroom training looked good – you were able to get the tugging going after a tiny bit of head turn back to you with it. It is a good start!

I think, for now, I would put on a more informal cue or just make silly noises and tap the floor – don’t add ‘get it’ in this context yet til the behavior is stronger, if ‘get it’ is something you will end up using as a reinforcement marker.

Also, because she is a teething baby dog… switch toys to something less chewable – The rubber milker? Tennis ball? Anything that will be less interesting to chew on 🙂

One more thing – it might have been too long of a session because then she just wanted to lay down and chew. The retrieve is not a really exciting behavior yet (in her mind :)) so for this behavior, you might not want to do 2 minutes in a row but rather do one or 2 reps then be done and try again later – that can also prevent her from wanting to chew on it.

Send game – This is also going really nicely!
One question: what does tug mean, exactly? Is it a keep going cue for tugging? Get it should mean tug and you might find that it is better to pair praise or something like ‘ready ready’ or silly noises with the tugging, rather than the word tug, like you did at :28 and after it . I am thinking ahead to building value for words and chatter, for when you won’t have a toy available.

The camera visit was interesting – I don’t think it was the wrong word (get it could apply in that context) but it might have been that she was startled to see the camera there, for whatever reason.

But she came backed and finished with a lovely rep!

>>Is tossing the toy ok on this game given toy races are off limits for now with Beka? A long toy might be hard to manage when we get to try the full game. try tossing treats instead (i wouldn’t use a bowl to target in case it puts her off)>>

I don’t want her to learn to get faster about grabbing the toy and running off with it, and I agree that a long toy might require a 3rd hand.. so tossing big treats can totally work for her, kind of like what Ripley had when his mom was tossing the big cheese balls 🙂

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

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi!

These are also looking really good 🙂

Wing wrap video:
The back and forth with cookies at the beginning looked good, and so did the back and forth with the toys – loved it when she offered it before you moved the toy!!!

It was a little harder in the barn – partially maybe because you sitting down was stranger and also less action got her more interested in the smells? I think it is also possible that when you are low and stationary, she starts thinking about the down behavior perhaps because she has gotten a lot of reward for it? So if that happens and she gets stuck, you can help get her out of it by tapping the toy. But – I think you can add in having her go around something – that can help give her something to offer behavior on so she will think less about the down, perhaps 🙂 And then we can also get you standing pretty quickly. Try to use food and toys on this, so we can really build up food value in situations where she might not be as food-driven but where we might want to use food rather than toys 🙂

The blinds looked fabulous!!!
For the cross body reward, if you can keep your arm touching your belly, it will do the tricks of opening up the connection with your shoulders without looking like a threadle arm (which is up higher and held more away from our bodies). You can also open up your dog-side arm back to her after the blind so she can really see the connection – you did that beautifully a couple of times here, like at :52 and 1:15. She really like the action of all the running!

Great job on all of these. Let me know what you think!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi!

I love her toy drive!!!!! Great job on the drive forward here – she was focused forward and you were connected to her. You released her to get it while she was still looking ahead – super fun session! Now, as you mentioned there wasn’t much room to move here so she might have felt some handler pressure indoors so I am glad you took this to the barn:

In the barn – I loved this one too – using the stay is harder because she needs to hold the stay while you throw it AND focus forward… not a problem! She was great. You had time to throw it and reconnect with her before you released. Well done! You can move this to the toy races where you try to win the race to build even more speed (she is already very speedy, so I encouragee you to cheat to win if needed LOL! Or have someone hold her so you can get a big head start.

Plus playing this game in a barn is a GREAT way to teach her to focus even with distractions – barns are distracting and she was perfect!

Decel game:
>> I felt like (especially with treats) that I was luring her. 😛

A lure and a reward are separated only by the timing of presentation LOL! I think you did well with the presentation of the food or toy in general – You can put your cookie hand in position later, when she is a couple of feet away from you but not past you. You were a little early on the first several reps, putting the cookie hand in position as she was just beginning to move towards you. That is fine, because it establushes the behavior – but it was better timing after about the 1:00 mark: you presented the reward later on and that was great. At 1:12 you presented it when she was a step or two away, which was really good because it both rewarded the drive to you and gave her a focal point by keeping the reward close to your leg.
At 1:05, 1:22 and 2:58, you let her get all the way to you can make the decision to decelerate, which is good too- you can add the pivot into this.
The presentation at 3:13 was late because she was past you – the cookie hand or toy hand do provide a focal point because there is nothing else to look at… yet 🙂 so I think it is fine to keep the one or two steps away timing, especially when you are adding the pivots.

At :51 she offered a line up between you knees LOL! That was because when she was coming to you, she couldn’t see connection – she could only see your back. So she was a good girl to offer a behavior that might happen in that context 🙂 It also shows us how connection is more important than the cookie hand. Something similar happened at 1:31 when she ended up on the wrong side of you – she didn’t see enough connection, a little more eye contact was needed there, so she guessed about which side to be on.

She loved this game with the toy and your connection was was clearer with the toy! Dropping your dog-side shoulder a little more back towards her and closing it forward less will help keep connection – you totally did this at 2:25 in the barn and it was lovely connection.
When she gets to open up and run in the barn, she is VERY fast… so decelerate sooner so she has time to process it. Try to decelerate no later then when she is halfway to you.

Great job!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi there! So much good stuff here, she is SO FUN and you are doing a great job!

Starting with these 2 videos:
On the nose touches, she had nice strong touches. So, in preparation for where this is going next and to make the mechanics feel more comfy:
Have your target arm locked out away from your body, extend, and low enough that she can easily hit the target. After she hits, don’t move the target – bring the other hand over to deliver the cookie.

I promise the game that uses this is coming next week LOL!!!

>. I needed a third hand 😀

I 1000% feel this pain LOL!!!! So you can do it 2-handed with the target in one hand and the treats in the other. No need for a clicker, you can use a verbal ‘yes’ instead the clicker.

That hat is a GREAT prop LOL!! Love it!
She was not entirely sure about coming off the hat to get the cookie in your hand so you can wiggle the hand a little and then toss the treat behind you when does come back – – you were doing this a little when you were on your knees and she definitely liked it!

On this game, you don’t need both a click and a yes, you can do one or the other to have fewer things happening all at once and to reduce the need for 3 arms 🙂
Interestingly, when you said “ready” she would offer a down but when you were quiet, she offered great behavior on the prop. So, easy answer for this game is to not say ready 🙂

And looking down at the videos below, I think she offers a down more when you are on the ground or on the low stool, so the more we get you standing for these, the easier it will be.

It looks like she has great value here so you can totally move to the sending games as well as the new games added last night.

Have fun! Great job!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Good morning!
Ha! You are totally NOT dumb at all! The big crate and starting her on your right did make it harder – but you were super patient and then she sorted it out. You can move the bowls in closer to the crate so that they are a little more obvious, or do the warm up on a smaller object.
But when you got her going, she did a great job! You can move to standing up on this game with the crate (or a cone) and if she has another really good session with you standing up… move to the turn and burn game that we added yesterday – she will really like that one 🙂

Great job!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

>>Another leash, my wife is going to kill me LOL

Sorry not sorry haha! I tell my husband to be glad it is not another Paco Collar hahahaha

>>My cue for the stopped contact is touch – I think that is what you were hearing while he was coming down>>

Got it! That makes total sense.

>> Bless Cody for his patience with all the retraining we do.

He seems very happy because the rate of reinforcement & success is SUPER high! He votes that we continue to retrain all the things because he is being paid heavily for it 🙂

>>Question- I should also use my release word for the contacts, right? Break-catch, break- get it>>

It depends on the scenario & context. I use “break” to mean – release and let’s do the next part of the sequence so break has an element of ‘move forward and keep going’
For catch – catch is the release to get the reward, and so I don’t use break since break means move forward/keep working and catch means ‘party time coming to you’ Same can apply for get it- get it can also be a release. Since break and get it move imply moving forward off the contact, the timing of the get it cue will strengthen specifically what is happening when you say it: if you say it when he is in the 2o2o, the get it and reward apply more specifically to the 2o2o than if you said break then get it, because the get it in that moment applies to him moving off the contact. Now, it does all become a big chain so the 2o2o will get strong either way, so be as clean as possible but don’t drive yourself too crazy with it 🙂

Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi!

>>In classes, I have been working on keeping her connected between runs, re-sets, instructor talk, etc. I’ve been using a treat that she needs to keep nibbling on. It would be lovely to also be able to use a tug toy but she doesn’t tend to tug in class. The flirt stick works for a little while. The food works almost all the time. >>

Great!!! I like the food better in this situation because it is just easier to let her nibble while you listen, then get her ramped up for the next turn. Toys are harder to use while listening, then the dogs tire out faster because tugging is quite the exertion!

>>I do believe she would be less sensitive to many of these if the pandemic hadn’t hit us when it did. We’re working on it!

Truth. I totally agree. These youngsters will take a little longer to get into the ring but they are going to still be amazing!

Your distraction list is really clear and extensive! Yay! So to begin planning the training, let’s sort it into 2 smaller lists:
– happy distractions (the Daddy, delicious smells, squirrel!, etc)
– worry distractions (sudden noises, sudden weird things, running towards people – unless that is a happy distraction and she wants to visit

And begin with the easiest happy distractions, to help teach the framework of how to ignore them (that is why the demo video had a bag of closed pretzel chips on the floor and a dog that doesn’t really like food LOL!) and then we gradually apply that to harder and harder *happy* distractions.

When she is nailing it with the happy distractions, we can slide in the worry distractions, at a big distance. She will be far more successful because she will recognize the pattern and the reinforcement procedure 🙂
Let me know what you think!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi!
>> But it didn’t make sense to me. I would have expected he to look at me more on the left side (heeling side). Is it my throw since I have more trouble throwing left handed? I will try the quicker releases also.

It is possible that she is more used to working on your left side, because that is where the obedience value is so you are both more comfy on that side and less comfy on the other side 🙂

[Tracy Sklenar]

Good morning!

>>I do find that she has more focus/value on chasing me than the placed reward. This even comes about with the treat n train also.

This is pretty normal with most dogs, especially breeds that are bred to respond to motion.

>> Hoping to get a little more focus on the reward sometimes.

With this in mind, it becomes an important element of the reinforcement procedure and we can build it up. It starts with two simple words:
Slow down.
LOL! In order to increase the value of the placed reinforcement, you need to decrease the distraction of your running. Running is a higher value reinforcement and also a high value distraction so to raise the rate of success with getting the placed reinforcement, you will need to dial back your motion to something like a steady walk for now, in situations where you are using placed reinforcement. That will help placed reinforcement come up in value and also, you can build it up even more by installing it into a bigger procedure and pair it with something more reinforcing: your motion! Or a throw toy.
So for example on the circle wraps: walk slowly til she gets the placed reward after you cue it. And then you can take off and run and also reward that with another reinforcement for chasing you.

And an example of the MM – I create MM chains with my dogs. When I am moving slowly, they go to the MM on cue and eat the cookie… and then I reward that with running and frisbee throwing. That has really built up the MM love to the point where they will still drive to it even if I am running.

So with that in mind, on the video:
On the circle wraps, the first few looked good. I agree that I don’t think she loved having her collar held but also, on the reps where she did NOT get the placed reward, there was a lot of motion from you! She was more successful when you either stood still or stopped moving after she missed it. This is a good one for you to be moving slowly the whole time (walking) and then when she gets it… take off and run 🙂

On the sequences – I think it was generally easy for her to ignore the placed toy because of your motion and then when you were near it and cuing it, it was easy to grab (which might mean she is reading your proximity as part of the cue to get it?) She had one error, but I think it was a good error (or, not really an error) at 1:32 – the toy was right on her line where a tunnel reward would be, so expecting her to run over it after a tunnel was a little too much and she was fine to take it there. The placed reinforcement should not be a proofing game even though there is a self-control element to it, so be sure the placed reward is building a specific behavior on the sequence.
Nice work here! Let me know what you think about the ideas for building up the value of the placed reinforcement.
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Good morning!

These are really good distractions on your list! One thing I notice is that they are all super high level, difficult distractions. Because they are such challenging distractions, we can’t start with them for two reasons:
– they are likely to put the dogs over threshold very quickly, reducing the chance for success while trying to teach the reinforcement procedures
– you don’t have regular access to them, to teach the dogs the initial stages of ignoring distractions

So, what easy, low level distractions do you have readily available at home? In the demo videos, one of the first things I did was just move the dog to a new location, the other side of the garage. It was hard for her! And the other early distraction was a closed bag of pretzel chips on the floor. The demo outside the flyball ring was much later – the dog would have been unsuccessful if I had started there, in terms of teaching the framework.

So teach the games with easier distractions and you’ll see that the harder distractions get much easier because the pups recognize the games from the context of the easier distractions. This is especially important with the distractions that cause fear or reactivity (another form of fear/anxiety) because those responses are more challenging to work through. So start with easy, happy distractions and work up through harder ones, before adding worry-related distractions.

>>I think they have both figured out that I want them to chase the flirt pole and they are on strike. I will keep trying but they aren’t biting! Under the right conditions inside they are both chasing a rope tug that is about 2 feet long. That’s progress, I think.>>

Yes! Progress! Keep finding no-pressure ways to see if they will chase toys or engage with them.

>>You used the cue “toy toy” to turn back for the reward. Then when you were on the field and you released forward and the dog did some obstacles you sent him back to the toy using a cue “Get it”.

The toy toy procedure is very specific to the dog being in a stay position (or stopped contact) and releasing from that stay to get a reinforcement that is behind them (they have to leave the position and turn away from me)
“get it” specifically means to run forward to a toy – so when the dogs were asked to ‘get it’, they were already in motion and could run forward to the reinforcement on the ground.

So the subtle difference is in the context – if I send the moving dog forward to a thing on the ground (or thrown), it is a get it. If the dog is in a control position and they can release to get the reinforcement behind them, it is a toy toy 🙂

>>I have been using the same cue “get it” to turn back and also to go get the reward after a few obstacles. But I have also used “cookies” to cue for the reward I left at the start which would be the same as the reinforcement behind. I am confused about whether we need to use different verbal cues or can we use one and I am thinking that whatever it is, I should try to be consistent.>>>>

If ‘cookies’ is your end-of-run, let’s-go-to-the-reward-outside-the-ring marker where you move with the dogs to go to it – where is the get it reward located? “Cookies” as remote reinforcement is very specific to outside-the-ring while ‘get it’ might be reward tossed out on a line, or placed to help build a skill… but it might be unclear is get it is used for both, and also used for the reward left right behind the dog at the start line. I like different markers for those 🙂

Let me know what you think!
Tracy

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