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Good morning! Great job on these!!
For the instant focus games – she really likes this prop, so do maybe one more shaping session like you did here so it is 10000% magnetic to her… then take it on the road for the next step.
Offered engagement with the ball looked super… now make it more kryponitey by having the ball be more active before you take that leash off (you did that later in the video :))
She did grab the ball once, but I think she was reading an environmental cue: At 1:27 you walked her right to it, so she and I both thought it was time to get it LOL!! So if she is not supposed to get it, walk her past it further away, even if only a foot or two away from it.
The line up looked fabulous and we got a bit more arousal (barking!) but she was still perfect. Yay!
Krpytonite and remote reinforcement – she did well here! On the line ups, release her to you sometimes as well so she doesn’t pattern herself into releasing to the ball hahaha 🙂 I don’t think it will be an issue because she loves agility SO MUCH but I don’t want to be surprised if we overlook it 🙂
She was such a perfect girlie here that you can now seek out crazier environments such as agility rings, watching other dogs work or swim or chase balls/frisbees. Simply holding the ball during the line up was harder, because you holding the ball (especially after throwing it a few times) predicts running forward to a thrown ball – so she had a little line up error there where she didn’t stay. She got it right on the next rep, so you can use a ball or frisbee in hand to simulate that arousal level: throw it a few times so she is in full-on GO GO GO mode… then ask for a line up 🙂 That might simulate her on the start line, looking at a jump-tunnel or jump-dog walk start 🙂
Great job! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning!
>> It’s a little like the Remote Reinforcement set up,
Yes, because the cookies are available at some point but not already in your hands or pockets.
>>and I’m thinking I should be doing this on leash at this time (so she doesn’t completely wander into the environment):>>
Yes, plus it will be helpful because the leash will be involved at a trial.
I>>’m at my Reward Station. I give one last cookie then set down the dish, and without waiting for engagement I cue a spin as I start to walk away from the reinforcement. When she re-engages I cue a second spin and either reward from pocket or go back to the reward station and restart.
Yes – perfect! And don’t be dismayed if the spins are slower at first or she thinks you are nuts LOL
>>Over time ping pong the number of cued spins (while walking away from reinforcement) before going for primary reinforcement. And stick with the spins rather than trying different tricks because this is supposed to be a pattern.>>
Yes – assuming that spins are her most favorite trick/moving activity. And if the spins are not? We can find something else. It is a hard game but worthwhile to sort out.
>>Alternate Cookie Free Pattern Game: step away and offer my hand for a sllooowww chin scratch. But if this is used to get to the line then it would need to be followed by volume dial to bring her UP before running. (this is partly why I was playing with quick chin scratches to be more arousing not calming in a go to the line context)>>
Yes – I have met very few dogs that find the touching to be strong enough to be part of the cookie free pattern game (a couple of Goldens over the years and more recently, the whippets/whippet mixes). So Zippie might like it, or not 🙂 We are in the experimental phase now, so I am a big fan of try-it-and-see, because there are still cookies in the picture at the reward station.
>>I may be over emphasizing the “while going to the line” aspect because we may decide that I carry her to the line and set her down in position. But I still need cookie free pattern games in my toolbox.>>
Agreed! And the more games she can learn without cookies, the easier all of the games will be 🙂
>>Zippie’s most powerful Kryptonite, that can pull her completely out of whatever she was doing, is a single cookie left on the floor that she catches a whiff of mid-run. >>
Poor starving Basenji hahahahaha
>>She will do a 180 midair to go back and find what she just smelled, and will be working really hard to find it, high energy sorting the scent puzzle until she gets it. By contrast she can run with me while there is an open dish of food in a chair that we placed there as her remote reinforcement, no problem. It’s the *discovery whiff* of a crumb midcourse that is kryptonite.>>>
So it is the surprise pool of odor more than anything else. I see this a lot in dirt barns in particular – I just spent 3 days in one and a lot of dogs had the same struggle.
You can put some crumbs on the ground before she enters the environment (not a reward station, just a distraction) and start some pattern games on leash for when she approaches the pool of odor 🙂
The fact that she can ignore the reward station bodes well for this – as soon as she understands the reinforcement value of ignoring the distracting odor, she will have an easier time of it.
>>#2 – 4 is People she likes; an open, low energy room; poorly timed cues>>Good ones 🙂 And easy enough to add to the games. People she likes can be tackled with the pattern games or remote reinforcement and even offered engagement when the leash comes off. Same with low energy room. Poor timed cues are harder because there is less control of the – you are already doing Find MY Face and in a training session, the best thing is to pretend that the poorly timed cue or handling error was intentional, the best thing ever, and either reward right away or keep running to the next line 🙂
>>1) chasing tossed food
Using this as a reinforcement is great but also challenging because she then has to ignore the crumbs or scents left over. Working the pattern games a whole lot will help, because there is a lot of ‘ignore the crumbs and smells’ built in. And in environments where the smells are big struggles, reward from your hands exclusively for now so you don’t add in more challenges before she has mastered existing challenges.
>>2) Lefts and Rights (except when she’s not ready, then these are slow) 3) “Pop” up on back legs (except when she’s not ready, then she might give just a weight shift which I do reward anyway) 4) “hey lady” tricks she initiates to get my attention, like tugging on her leash or moving into “find heel”>>
Perfect! You can use these for volume dial game in the face of the kryptonites 🙂
So the next kryptonite step is to chose her favorite game and a low level easily controlled kryptonite – then present the kryptonite and start the game. Have fun! Let me know how it goes!
TracyGood morning!
>> The video is a series of short clips from this past Wednesday…..first clip is about 5 minutes after he went in the crate for the first time, last clip is about an hour later.>>
Ah, I love how he looks so much more relaxed as time went on! The panting at the beginning really dissipated into a much more relaxed dog – which will carry over into the ring too. Super!!!!
>>I have a “new plan” for next week. During this time of year AK9C leaves the doors to the arena open with a baby gate in front so dogs can’t get out. There’s a door in the corner of the arena not very far at all from where we are crated. Assuming it’s not raining, I’m going to set his crate up just outside the door. A step between crating upstairs (where he really is quite comfortable now) and ringside. We also get to sort of simulate the whole stand outside the gate, come through the gate when it’s our turn, vs. come out of your crate and go to the line (which is a LOT harder for him). I’m thinking this is a good interim step for us in class. And if it is raining, we’ll crate inside and continue with what we did this week. Thoughts?>>
I think it is a great idea! And maybe a classmate can video that transition from the crate to the ring, reality-TV style? LOL!!! I mean, you think it i sa great plan, I think it is a great plan… but Sly gets a say in it too so the video will tell us what he thinks 🙂
>>We’re also doing lots and lots of leash on, leash off and quick sits and quick releases, mixing in remote rewards and having fun weaving between my legs….just not a lot of video. But we’re here!!!
Yay! It is hard to get a to of video because so much of this is designed to get a conditioned response, which means it happens zillions on times in short bursts, rather than in a specific training session. If you get a change to look at the NFC step 2, that is a good thing to rehearse for him too because ti can also help with the start line with early fun reinforcements 🙂
>>And thanks for the comment on the run I posted on Facebook from last week 🙂 It really is fun when all the pieces start to come together 🙂 He’s such a fun little dog. Have a great weekend.>>
My pleasure – he looked AMAZING!!!! The future is so bright!!! Enjoy your weekend 🙂
TracyGood morning! Lots of lovely work here!!!
The 2 barn videos are looking really strong.
>>I didn’t feel like it was a dog and pony show to keep her with me. >>
YES!!! I no longer feel like you need to stage an entire Broadway musical extravaganza to keep her engagement LOL!! I think she has shifted to offering it more and definitely recovering from the little bloopers very quickly.
Barn 1 – she is getting the idea of he pattern games for sure!
Great action tricks, lovely focus on the handling and super ignoring the videographer on the way back to the weaves 🙂 And great toy play too.Barn 2 – pattern, tricks, off leash engagement – it is all started to look reflexive and that is terrific.
The handling was a little unclear at the beginning and plus dropping the toy down next to her and then taking off might have been an unclear start – in those moments, you can reset the whole game: after gathering her up, she can go back on leash, restart with patterns, and smooth out the transition off the line into the handling so that you can get rid of the unwanted behaviors.
Barn work is ready for more NFC-style challenges like super simple short sequences with remote reinforcement and also empty hands with toy (or cookies) in your pocket.
NFC rehearsals video – this is great because it really helps form the toolbox.
Good job with working outside the ring to get the engagement!
>>did 3 reps of this should I reward during session some from chair and some from hidden or just hidden?>>
Both! The empty hands/hidden toy is the middle ground, where she sees ‘nothing’ but still gets reinforcement in the ring. So yes, keep rehearsing this because I think she did really well (and it was definitely hard!). And the nothing in hands, nothing in pockets, reward outside the ring is the end stage – so rehearse this too 🙂 You were rewarding in the ring then running to the reward station which is fine, and you can add in having nothing in hands or pockets and using your marker to only reward from the reward station chair. (And of course in handling and skills training, you can totally run with ‘stuff’ in your hands too so life is not ONLY about NFC and remote reinforcement :))
The first rep of ‘empty hands’ looked great – short, sweet, fast, focused.
She had more trouble coming in with empty hands at 3:32 – then she was fine because the toy was in play and it was not hard. The difficulty of coming in with empty hands was interesting and gives us some good info – you can try different engagement tricks (or a bark on cue :)) as you move to the line, or just get to the line as fast as possible and get the leash off to see what she offers (more on that below). Then be sure to be connected on the start releases.
Compare the start at 3:30ish to the start at 6:20 where you were heading to the jump after a reinforcement: both of you were nice and relaxed, off leash, nothing in hands….and she was engaged!!!! Something to consider is more of the ‘all business’ start where you are getting her into the right state outside the ring but then moving directly to the start line and getting the leash off to let her offer the engagement at the start. We will be discussing this in the next games package, but it was interesting to see her do that here.
Empty hands at the end looked good too 🙂 She is doing a great job – I think you can do little bits of empty hands in different locations like this one with distractions, and just a little in the barn (because the barn has so many distractions).
I think she liked the line up games and was able to stay engaged as someone came in. These line up games have an element of ‘all business’: you lined her up and walked away and she was perfection even when someone started talking to you. YESSSS LANNA!!! She was really great with all of the things happening behind her and it was very trial-like 🙂 So as you experiment with different start line tools, play around with more of the getting right into the position and you leaving, without too many things happening between the ring gate and the start line – run in, take the leash off, let her offer engagement, then line her up and lead out. Try it with the empty hands too and see how she does (bearing in mind that the pattern games, volume dial, etc are still being done outside the ring).
On the last video – yes, this is a good game for her as her highest distractions happen – people and dogs moving around! Pattern games with food and toys while she offers engagement are great, because it allows her to happily ignore those massive distractions without an internal conflict or concerns.
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning!
This is looking really good!! The concept transferred nicely! It is a good game for indoors because it sounds like your weather is just not cooperating.
Remember that you can reward approximations of the correct behavior – if she changes her lead towards the jump you can reward her even if she doesn’t quite get all the way to the jump. This will help you move straight along the line so the upper body cues are making the difference, not your line of motion. The most important thing is to keep the footwork/line of motion basically the same for both cues, and the verbal/upper body cue the line. When she was not going all the way to to the jump, you were changing your footwork and stepping in to the jump. Rewarding approximations will help, because you did get her to change the lead a bit and move towards the jump on some of the reps where your line of motion/footwork was correct (yay!) and then after rewarding the approximation, she will start looking more for the jump.
And on the opposite behavior of going straight:
Delay the tug it cue for longer – it was coming before she really made a decision about where to be, so now you can move along the line and wait to see what she does: if she follows you line for a couple of strides, you can cue the tug it.Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning! This is looking really good too! Yay!
The baby level looked great as you said – and yes, the advanced level was harder at first but then you sorted out the handling and she sorted out the game 🙂 So for the baby level – go back to 2 or 3 jumps, but move them closer together so she has to make the lead changes after 🙂 Your goal is to get the wings to be 5 feet apart then 4 feet apart. Then when she can be super quick with that… onwards to moving all the wings of the advanced level closer together to get them to be 4 feet apart for super quick lead changes. That will not happen in one session, you will probably take 2 or 3 sessions to eventually get them really close like that – so you can move the wings in closer a couple of inches at a time.
Great job on all of these!!!
Tracy
Good morning!
Yes, the beginning of these verbals are all based on position, so we can get the behavior and name the behavior like you did here (then we fade the handling out).
The first couple of reps where good then the verbals were backwards for a couple of reps, then back to correct – so remember to do a mental check of the verbals before sending her into the little Minny Pinny 🙂
She needed a bit of help getting the turn aways started (you gave a little hand cue) and that really helped, so keep giving her that little hand cue. I am not sure if the hand cue was needed because she needed the help turning, or if she needed ‘permission’ to move out of the stay. Either way – you were great about saying the verbal and THEN giving her the hand cue help, so keep doing that.
She seems to be a lefty, those turns looked easier for her. So for the right turns, keep things easy for now – but on the left turns, you can move a little more towards the center where all the wings meet 🙂
Great job!
TracyHi! Yay for good weather but booooo for the cold!!!!!
She did look great here 🙂 Super!!! How far apart were the 2 jumps? I think her perfect sweet spot with the bar and the toy dragging might end up being with the 2 jumps 6 inches closer (for now :)) as that can help her push off her hind end as the bar gets higher. So when you get back to this, try them 6 inches closer and see how it goes. Great job!
TracyGood morning!
Omg I can’t believe that you are also having that terrible weather!!!! Spring seems to be arriving late this year. Sigh.
>>I totally forgot to pay attention to keeping my feet going straight ahead for the Go Outs, so we’ll have to do this one again, but here are our first attempts.>>
Yes, you had some really good reps where your feet were moving straight up the line and some reps where you stepped in towards the jump.
On the reps where your feet were moving up the line and not towards the jumps, you can reward the approximation of the correct behavior. At :12, :40, :46, :59, your line was strong and he did lead change away but did not quite take the jump. You can totally reward that lead change with the thrown toy (thrown towards the jump :)) and then he will start to look for the jump more. On the reps where he did take the jump, you were stepping in towards it – that helped him see the jump, so to smooth out your line, you can be closer to the jump and rewarding approximations, without stepping in towards it.I like the OUT verbal for him – it is very distinct and definitely different than “get it”.
All of the balance reps where perfect and that is FABULOUS because there is ‘nothing’ out there in terms of obstacles on those – but he still followed the cued lines and ignored the jump. SUPER!!!
Great job! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning!
Lots of great stuff on this video – examples of great connection and impulse control on the toy, and also examples of disconnection and how that changes the info for her. Overall – really nice session! I LOVE her speed and she is also a great turning dog!!!!!!!
>>I’m really wrestling with connection when I’m carrying the toy in my opposite hand. She always goes to the toy hand regardless of my “connection” side.>>
Yes! Big hooray for the toy drive! Now we can put a little more control on it 🙂 But there were 2 things happening here that caused her to end up going for the toy when you didn’t want it:
Yes, she loves the toy 🙂 But she only went for it when connection broke, and when connection broke the toy hand becomes the most prominent info.So looking at the video: The opening was really strong and you had gorgeous, strong eye contact with the arm pointing back to her especially on that first sequence starting at 1:04 with the FCs, all the way til 1:18. At 1:18, she was behind you and point looked forward and pointed forward, which broke connection so she went to the toy side.
Then comparing some of the other moments when she grabbed the toy versus when she was perfect on the sequence:
On the race track at 1:41, she was behind you and you pointed forward, so she went to your other side and grabbed the toy. Compare that to 3:18, where you help your connection longer on a race track line, didn’t point ahead, and she was perfection even with the toy in your hand.
She ended up on the toy side on a couple of the tunnel exits, like at 2:52 and 3:09 and 4:05 – you had connection as her head exited the tunnel and then while she was still behind you, you turned and pointed forward. That moment of turning a bit forward looks like a blind cross to the dog, and the info changes – so she goes to the other side and says “oh, here is my toy” 🙂
Compare that to 3:44 where you got great connection to her eyes as she exited the tunnel, and maintained that great connection til she was part you. She didn’t not grab the toy there and stayed on her line.You can see those little moments of disconnection/pointing forward at 1:53, 3:48, 3:57 too – when she is behind you and point ahead of her, the info changes so loses the line.
But on all of the reps where she went where you wanted her to go? Fabulous connection back to her as she was behind you, and you maintained it til she was past you.Admittedly, it is subtle – watch the video in slow motion and watch your head… when your head turns to look forward: Boom! That is when we get the errors.
The other thing happening is that we can definitely increase the whole “ignore the toy til I say the word” thing 🙂 I use a specific marker which means that the toy in my hand is available for grabbing (“bite!”) and it helps the dogs understand to ignore it (even if I disconnect :)) til I say “bite”. I did hear you ay “get it sometimes – if get it is specific to the toy in your hand, say it every time she is allowed to get it. If get it is more general, meaning you also use it for thrown toys, then you can add another marker that is specific to the toy in your hand. That can be really clarifying for the dogs, because it helps them maintain this great toy drive while also knowing when to grab the toy and when to ignore it.
Great job! Let me know what you think!
Tracy
Good morning! I am glad you are feeling better – this covid thing is NO JOKE.
>>Plus I hate serps😂
Ha! I like serps because I don’t have to rotate, so maybe you will like them too for that reason?
>>Before I try again- am I on the right track? I’m so old school with my arms and training those.>>
You are doing it right, nothing weird with your body LOL!!! And she is doing really well. Serps are hard for the dogs – so you can angle the serp jump a bit to make it easier: leave the wing where it is, and leave the MM where it is. Your running line will be the same as it was here (or, walking line for now haha) – but take the wing of the jump that is closer to the MM and angle it towards the camera so that when she exits the wing wrap, she sees more of the jump bar. Make it as easy as she needs it to be, so she can be correct, then you can gradually angle the jump back to the position it is here.
Her barking is fine, because she might be a dog that barks while running. These games will teach her how to bark AND listen, which is a great skill 🙂
So keep doing what you did here, with the jump more angled to start so she sees the bar more. One other suggestion for the next session: Take the directional verbal off for now til you are sure she will come in (because then it becomes a left for the jump, the right is only for the wing). For now, you can call her name after the wing and then when she is very happy with her serps, you can go back to the lefts and rights.
Great job!! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning!
I agree – puppies are hard!!! And they are great about telling us what we don’t know and what we need to learn LOL!!! She is doing really well, I am thrilled to hear about the big win with the engagement when the other dogs came in!!!! YAY!!!!
Her tugging looked really strong here and I liked the action of feeding on the run after the hand touch. It is a bit sweaty to do this for now, lots of energy – but in terms of the session being “clean” (without unwanted behaviors), you are nailing it!! And by doing the hand touch-run-reward, you are turning all of her engagement to you… and that is terrific!! You can see it in the tradition from tug to cookies, like at :54 for example… you had an actual couple of seconds of offered engagement while you got ready, she didn’t take off for distractions 🙂
She was not slow on the wing behavior, she did really well – you can add in a little more distance away from it, a step or two, so you can send her more. That will get more momentum to and from the wing in this game. She will also continue to get faster and faster when she spends less energy ignoring the environment.That’ll come as she gets more experienced in new places, and one of these days you’ll get good weather to be able to train outside 🙂
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning!
>>I might try it again with dragging the toy instead as you said (I forgot about that from last time) and see if that changes things. I suppose it will encourage him to keep his head down and perhaps a longer stride.>>
Yes, let me know how that goes! So far, I am living what we see with the dragging toy – it encourages lovely form and it challenges the pups to think about their mechanics even when trying to move faster and when excited by the toy 🙂
>>We spent most of the time before this just goofing around and playing with toys and working on recalls because he was quite distracted. I think that was a productive way to spend the time.>>
100% smart to play and do easy things, so he can get happy in the new place – that makes the hard stuff a whole lot easier 🙂
The turn aways started off super precise and definitely within the 3 Inch Rule 🙂 I think he responded well and likes these a lot – fast and bendy, watch him whip his head around LOL!!!
Yes – at 1:18 and 1:30 you were too early and he was not sure which side of the wing to go to . That leg patience is REALLY hard! One thing that will help keep your feet together is if you don’t back up at all – position yourself where you want to do the lap turn and send him to the other wing from there (which is a whole ‘nother challenge in a good way!). Then you won’t be in motion backing up to position, you will be there and can then have an easier time keep your feet stationary til he hits the 3 inch spot.
His focus looked great – even if the info was not as clear to him when you stepped back to soon, he was totally in the game and a very good boy!!!! Great job!
TracyGood morning!
>>Oh you know, on a tote bag in the basement.
Of course! I mean, isn’t that how all puppy programs work? Or maybe we should get special branded Agility U tote bags? LOL!!
>>Question on that Lap Turn game – should I be using the backside wrap word with Dellin? With Mari, I use her threadle word, but I’d be facing the jump and also using the arm away from her, so it looks different than this set up with my back to the jump. I don’t think Mari and I have done it this way.>>
The lap turn can be found in different contexts but most often it is a threadle wrap/threadle rear cross – so that is the word I use (basically, the same word if the dog enters and exits a threadle/backside threadle on the same wing because it names the dog’s behavior and not necessarily my behavior – this is the same concept as a front side wrap verbal where the dog performs the same behavior even though the handling could be a variety of different things).
>>Or, when done as a threadle, is it a different skill (kind of) and I should have both?
I think it is it taught as a behavior and concept, you won’t need two separate words for it.
>>Other question – this is week 6 – where do we go from here?
MaxPup 3 Putting It Together 🙂 I think the part date will be in early June but I need to align the dates of the live sessions – it is structured a little differently in terms of the live element but it has lots of grown up stuff for the puppies 🙂
>> It might get to 40 tomorrow >>
40? Ugh! Mother Nature has been really uncooperative lately.
TracyGood morning!
Great job sorting out the binds from the spins and you had very clear connections and reward mechanics. Super!
And HOLY COW she loved the big racetrack around the outside LOL!!! Fun!!!She was a real speedster on these!!!! Her commitment is looking really strong here so yes:
>>Still looks to me that I should be turning earlier on the blind…. still feels kinda slow processing the pattern.>>
You can totally turn sooner on the blind. I think part of the timing here was that you were processing the mechanics, and part of it is not really knowing when a baby dog is committed. So you can totally start to trust her: connect like you did as she exits the tunnel and keep moving like you did (with the verbal too :)). Then when you see her looking at the wing – start the blind so when you finish it, you see her arriving at the wing. With her speed, my guess is that you will want to tart it no later than when she is halfway between the tunnel and the wing.
>> I was late and her really wide turn at 1:36 was my blooper.>>
Yes, the blind can be sooner there but great job staying connected and staying in motion.
Part of the blind cross timing is the complete trust of the dog that she will commit, because we have to break connection to do the blind. That makes us all twitch a bit hahaha! But her commitment looks strong so you can totally begin playing with the earlier timing.
Great job! I am loving her speed and confidence, and her responsiveness to the turn cues!
Tracy
