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Good morning!
We had a little bit of monsoon here yesterday; I hope it passes quickly for you!
This first part went really well – easy peasy! The look on her face was a bit shocked at how easy it was LOL! She won’t want to look away and that is fine, keep rewarding 🙂 I think you were quietly saying ‘get it’ and that is great too.I realize there is an additional application for this game – yes, we use it in general in the new trial environments, but you can also use it as part of your teeter training. If I recall correctly, she does not yet love the teeter in new places – so you can play this game near the teeter (so the area near the teeter becomes a VERY happy place) and then do one rep of a teeter game – then back to this game 🙂 It will make the entire area into a very positive place and she will be more relaxed about the teeter training in general.
Great job! Onwards to part 2!
Tracy
Hi!
I agree – his commitment to the lines and obstacles looked great!!! The session went really well 🙂 A couple of ideas for you:On the opening line, lead out a little more so you can push more across 2-3 at :11 so he makes the turn to look at 3 before takeoff. He has to turn left to get to 3, so he was a little zig zaggy here based on your position and that changed the 3-4 line too.
He was almost perfect in that first set of weaves! So close! He came out when you crossed, which means he was watching your motion a little too much. Smart to open up the last poles – he might also need a reward target to keep his head down and forward – place reward out past the end of the poles so he doesn’t look at you at all.
In order to be successful, he needs to look away from you into the gap to make the last weave. When he was missing (you saw some of the misses but carried on with a couple of the others) it was because he was looking at you and not away from you – reward placement will help fix that. You can reward out poast the last poles and also over-compensate the placement so it is actually on the *other* side of the poles, opposite of you and not towards you, to help convince him to not look at you 🙂
The weave poles were what was messing up the next line a little – you got out of position (too far away_ to get the backside at :23, and on the next rep you got a little past the tunnel so your convergence back towards it caused him to accelerate past the jump after it. No worries – it is the weave independence that will make it easier for you to get up there really easily.
Really great blind out of the tunnel after the teeter at 1:14 and it set up a really good line to the frame! Nice wrap on the jump after it but you never never quite got connection so he didn’t commit to your right side, then you were turning away when you cued the tunnel so he didn’t know which side of the tunnel so decided to follow your motion (a good decision).
Super interesting that the ‘feet’ cue is kinda of mandatory on the frame! That is great info and will help him be consistent on the frame.
Good job training the skills at the end! Good reward placement for the weaves, a great place for your zing cue :)! If you watch in slow motion there, you can see him wanting to look at you after pole 7 or so and having to really think about looking away for the poles! You don’t have to throw the reward straight as if it is landing at pole 13 or something – you can throw it to help him continue to turn away, so you’ll almost be throwing it towards the camera/lower left corner of the screen.
On the teeter at the end, e definitely want to figure out rewards so he doesn’t look at you. We already know he will basically ignore the empty target – so you can leave treats there on the target to get him in the habit of looking down. Or, you can leave a MM or toy straight out past it- and this is where you verbals get really useful: Your release word would mean “exit teeter and carry on” and your ‘zing’ cue would indicate drive to the reward. That will keep him driving to the end of the board and not trying to be sideways towards you. And when you use the zing, it is the release, no need for a yes then a release before it (those cause him to look at you which we want to convince him to not do).
Great job here!!! You mentioned this being above his pay grade but the handling elements are all totally in his wheelhouse! Getting the skills even more independent will help make the whole thing easier 🙂
TracyHi!
>> I forgot that she should have been sitting to the side of me when I was asking for her stationary and moving positions.>>
For this, she could be in front of you – we only need her on your side when you get to the Motion Override games.
>> I also realised watching the video back that the commands sounded similar! Mat (down) and Back (spin to the left),
Maybe a little? You can try stretching out the mat cue (make it sound American: mAAAHt, through your nose hahahahaha) and keep back as a shorter word – so the “b” is more emphasized and the AAAA of mat is more emphasized?
I thought the session went really well – not incredibly hard for her, but with enough challenge that she really had to think and she wasn’t perfect. And your energy was awesome – it really kept her engaged and probably helped keep you warm too LOL!
>> I also have to use a hand cue for the spin. I used catch to throw the reward to her and get it for her to come forward to take it from me.
We can fade the hand cue for this, I believe: say the verbal and then wait a beat and then do the hand – the new cue (verbal) will predict the old strong cue )hand) and she will pick it up quickly. They were simultaneous here which might be why she wasn’t responding unless you used the hand cue (verbal not as strong as the physical cue, which is something we see on the agility course too! )
>>I didn’t use a reward cue when she came around the wing. I feel like she had patterned the wing wrap as I asked for left and then right and it was predictable.
Yeah, that was really easy for her. You can mess with her: keep moving the whole time and send to the wing wrap – but keep moving and either say your reward cue OR say another wrap cue. Her brain might explode haha!!
She is definitely ready for the motion override with the mat cue, and you can add the back cue when she is a little better at not needing the hand cue.
>>It was super hard to resist saying the command more than once.
Totally relatable! It is SO hard to just wait!!
>> Interestingly she could do the stationary position when I was moving quite a lot, but the moving position was hard for her.
That seems consistent with what the dogs do in general – the stationary position is easy but the moving cue is much harder. It could be that we all taught the stationary cues earlier and also we taught them better. And it might also be that the processing of staying in motion while we are in motion is more difficult for the dogs… which would directly relate to why verbal turn cues and running contacts are more difficult.
Great job here! Keep me posted on how she does with the motion override games!
TracyHi!
>>Ha! Ok, it never really useless to teach something new. Every time I find myself feeling that way, I laugh, and then I teach her how to close a door or put “a thing in a thing” more useless skills (kinda like me knowing lyrics to all the songs ever…what good is that?!?!)>>
Knowing all of the song lyrics is good for ALL the things LOL!!!
>>Anyway….having a marker that says “right..let’s go get the goods” is a good idea, no matter where we may or may not use it. So we will !>>
Perfect!
>>Speaking of ring transition and what-not….I worked an agility trial a few weeks ago, and was a bit dismayed by the number of Masters dogs that loped through the first 2/3 of the course, then barreled through the end. Course design might have something to do with it–so many courses have a last, fast line out. But it seems like there might be more to it. That’s where the reward is? Dogs learn to count? Something? Seems like a good thing to try to avoid in training. I imagine you have a plan for that.>>
That is a spot-on observation. That is an issue that stems from a value issue: the value of entering the ring and the value of running the first 2/3rds of the course without obvious reinforcement (and there is a lot of pressure, which is punishing) is too low, so the dogs are, at best, lopey. The value of the last section of the course is higher because of the positive reinforcement of moving towards and getting the cookie… along with the negative reinforcement which is the removal of the pressure of being in the ring and moving away from reward without any obvious reinforcement.
There is always a plan! Getting the dog happy in the start line is one important piece of it, and also getting the dog to love running the course itself and truly understand the behavior (fluency) without needing the primary positive reinforcement in the beginning – which comes from using a lot of primary positive reinforcement to build a positive conditioned response 🙂 I would venture to guess that dogs that are lopey are not truly fluent.
You and Winnie looked great here!!! You were SUPER connected and she was very speedy! I love it! A couple of ideas for you:
On that very first wing wrap at the beginning, you can start on the other side and FC the wing to keep her tight, or send with a verbal wrap cue (I think you were quiet there). You used left later on and she did well! She also drove up the teeter really well – I think you can leave a target out there to help her – and if there was a target there and she was ignoring it, leave a reinforcement on the target (or past it, to release her to it) to help remind her to step all the way into position before she thinks about you. That will help make the teeter perfect, then we can fade the target.
The weave at :52 too funny: “where is my reward, human?!?” And that opens up one more thing to add: a verbal cue for “reward is available out there” versus the name call when you wanted to continue. She was definitely used to having the reward there (which is why her weaves looked really lovely!) so the different verbals will help: you can say something like “get it” as she is finishing the weaves to mean the reward is out there, versus her name to mean “find your line”. That should get rid of the hesitations there and later after you did the rear cross (which looked great, by the way – nice independence there at 1:20!)
2nd & 3rd weave rep: really nice lateral distance on the weaves!!! Having the weaves a bit open to help her refresh those skills was smart, she was really successful! Yyou can stay more on the center of the bar of the jump after the weaves as you move away laterally, to set a sweet turn 3-4 – no need to go past it then push back to 4.
On the bigger sequences at the end: 1-4 looked great – to make the handling simpler, you can do a spinny move to keep her on your left as she exits the wrap at 1:39. I know spins don’t often feel simpler, but it will keep your running line on the inside (closer to the weaves) which will help her find that line smoothly and you won’t have to outrun her to the last jump – plus it will be a tighter line for her. You had really nice decel at 1:52 on the way to 2! She is turning really well there! And the last sequence was lovely as well – your connection to her looks fabulous and she has picked up a new gear of speed since I saw her last!!! Yay!!!
Great job here! And let me know what you think!
TracyHi there!
>>Using “sit” for the stationary behavior. And a mix of Flip (spin left) and Turn (spin right) for the moving behavior (because I don’t like being one-sided when traing them!)>>
These looked good! Kaladin’s response when you first added the hand motion (jazz hands!) and asked for the turn is exactly why we play this game and you get bonus points for doing it outside in public! Ha! He definitely had to sit and process for a moment… but he did well figuring it out! And he was able to figure out the wing wrap with jogging in place . You can see the delay in processing – so interesting, but it really helps explain why dogs have trouble with verbals on course. Now, time to get crazier with the parts that were easy here! Jumping jacks, running, etc as well as the motion override element. Just be careful that the weaves are not too close for now, it was hard for him to figure out if it was weaves or wing towards the end when you were doing the lalala cue: interesting that he chose weaves at first! A good insight into value!
His 12 weaves are looking really good too – good rhythm, strong entries, and you are able to run. Yay!!!!
Min also did really well – you can definitely get crazier with her, she is more experienced with putting up with the insane things that humans do hahaha! And when you did get a little crazier, she had to take the extra moment to process and that is good! Just be sure to give her a couple of extra seconds to allow her to process when you are wilder with your motion. The more she learns to process quickly, the faster she can process on course.
Another interesting insight from Kaladin – I think Kal had trouble staying in his spot when you did a big “YES!” verbal and that is something to know for training him: he finds it stimulating and a drive to momma marker. So with Min you can have your placement markers more than the big YES – which will also bring more clarity for her.>>>Still need to post my verbals, but here’s what I’m using for the wing:
Check-check – wrap right
Dig Dig – wrap left
Lalala – backside slice
circle-circle – backside 360
Catch (catch food or toy)
Grab it (grab toy in my hand – think I forgot it a few times)
X (treat delivered to mouth)>>All good verbals here – you probably don’t need to do the lalala without the bar there to slice, but the others work perfectly for this game.
>>In other news, I had great success this morning on our walk by tossing the first treat off the path as we were moving. He stayed calm for dogs going by about 10ft away. Sometimes he stared at the dog heading away from him for a while, but I waited him out. He also looked quickly back at me when a guy pushing a big stroller went by about 5ft away>>
YAY!!! Would he normally choose to bark or get ramped up? It sounds like he is doing really well!
And I bet you can use it in a class setting – when you are talking to the instructor in those in-between moments, you can help him learn to self-modulate and ignore the instructor with this game.Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyThis is great!!! I’m so glad it is helping. And I respect the dogs getting a little nervous when they enter the ring… I get nervous too! I’m glad she is doing so well!!!!
This is a great question!! I guess it has to do with the goal of the session: which challenge are you presenting? If you are challenging the weave skills, for example: then I would not add any other distractions. If you’ve got a setup where the skills challenges are easy, then you can add a different challenge 🙂 it is a matter of only making one thing harder at a time, if that makes sense 🙂 if I want to focus on the distraction, I’ll make the skills easier.
Hi!
>>Today I pulled out the tire frame and draped a shade cloth over it like a curtain. I used that to keep the sun from shining on the tripod. When we weren’t working, I put the shade cloth over the tripod as well.>>
Brilliant! I am totally going to steal this idea… but it is pouring down rain now. Sigh.
These 2 sessions look really good!
On the first video: where was she going after first tunnel on your left? She was convinced something exciting was out there LOL! The other direction was perfect. And adding motion was perfect and she got even faster. Super! Commitment looks really strong so now, onwards to adding turns!On the 2nd video – you can start to run more for sure, that will help even more!
On the turn cues – you can turn your feet sooner at :08 to give her the wrap cue. Good verbals!!She had a zippy off course at :31 – you had the verbal going but when she landed at :30 you were still facing the tunnel so…. off she went 🙂 Eventually the verbal will get the turn but for now she needs the rotation too.
You were MUCH earlier there at :42, she never considered the tunnel. And the last one at 1:01 was the best one, nice and early!!!
So now you can add more running into it- running will allow you to add deceleration, which will tell her that the turn is coming: so as she is landing from the pinwheel jump, you can be decelerating (and starting the verbal) and then rotating before she takes off for the wrap jump.She had a bar down at the end when you said tunnel as she was jumping, no big deal at the moment but something to keep an eye on it in case we need to work on it specifically.
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi! A couple of ideas for you –
>>I decided I would just lift her off the end but she had a different idea. It was like Ground Hogs Day.>>
LOL! Someday you’ll look back at this can chuckle LOL! If she doesn’t like to be lifted, you can turn her around and lure her off the side with a cookie.
>>She runs to the end great, but she doesn’t want to down with the teeter that high in the air. Every time I asked for the down she would just spin around to run back down (over and over and over).
Train the elements separately before adding them together – she can run up the board, get the cookie, and then you can have her come off. Separately, train her to run to a foot target and move into the down on it – that target then eventually gets added to the end of a teeter. I think what was happening here was that there was a toy there and the down verbal didn’t make sense then the two of you were butting heads a bit. The teeter cue can eventually mean “run to the end and down” so training it separately for now will make it very smooth in the end.
>>I initially taped the spoon from under the teeter. She would go to the end and turn up her nose at the chicken.
That is interesting! Does she normally love the chicken? You can try a meatball or peanut butter? If she normally loves chicken, turning up her nose might be a sign that she is a little uncomfortable.
>>So then, I tried to secure toys at the end… Then I went back to the spoon but taped it on top of the board. It was funny and crazy the amount of time I spent trying to get something rigged hoping she would go to the end and then down.
It is funny! And very creative, you get a click/treat for working to figure out what works best for reinforcement 🙂
Tracy
Based on what I have seen from other dogs with similar issues, it is usually pressure and/or countermotion that causes it: pressure from convergence to get into a non-obvious tunnel entry, or countermotion when da momma is trying to LEAVE haha!!! BE sure to get it on video and we will sort it out 🙂
TGood morning!
>>I also got lazy and used a jump instead of the tunnel in the lower right hand corner. I moved it around depending on what the course needed.>>
Not lazy! Efficient 🙂 And you also had to hustle to get the opening, so it was a little harder for the handling!
Lots of great work here with both dogs! First up, Miss Pose:
Course 1: I think you can start your verbal turn cues earlier with her for the #4 tunnel at :10, to help override the forward motion of you getting into position so she turns sooner on the exit. She has great tunnel commitment so you can probably start the verbals when she is 6 feet or more from the tunnel entrance.
Super independent weaves! Yay Pose! Easy peasy 🙂
2 independence elements to add as you revisit these:
– you can add decelerating while she is weaving so you don’t run past your line for the next section and then have to push back hard to it (which causes you to get further behind than needed and show her too much extension) – you’ll want to stay tucked behind the curve of the tunnel, which is a big challenge for weaving because it strips out the support of your motion.
– when you can be more tucked into the tunnel, you can also try starting the FC before she exits, so you are fully turned and running up the next line when she exits.Good timing on the left verbal before the tunnel! She was a little wide probably because of your position/motion relative to the tunnel before she went in as you were driving up the line.
Love how you are running and using verbals here, really trusting her, and not needing to over-connect or over-help. Happy dance!
Great job starting the FC at :20! She had a good turn there – something to play with would be a BC there – it would start at the same time but can be finished quicker. That will give us a good point of comparison: is the foot rotation of the FC more helpful for her as a turn cue, even if it doesn’t finish as early? Or does the connection from the BC (which would finished sooner than the foot rotation) provide a better turn cue?
Course 2 –
On the opening of the first run, she had the bar down at :08.
The tunnel verbal is mainly a forward cue and #4 here is a little offset, so she had to lead change away – sorting that out a little late is what pulled the bar because she didn’t see the tunnel. A “get out” cue before the tunnel cue can help, or one extra step to square up her line for 3 can help too (but only one step, you don’t have time for more than that LOL!!She knew where it was at :26 so she found it easily without any of that, but I think she was helped by having seen the tunnel line already.
You can decel a little on your turn cue on the jump before the weaves at :29 so she has a little collection before takeoff (landed straight then turned).
Weave exit – this is a similar challenge as the one in course 1, so you can also play with adding in tucking in behind the tunnel while she is weaving and trying the FC sooner too.
She turned away as you started the FC at :37 which was really interesting so I went and compared it to what you did on course 1, where the FC there went really nicely!
It looks like on course 1 as you were driving that line at :20/:21, you were a little more lateral and facing the line you wanted a bit more and as you started your FC, your inside (dog-side) shoulder went back as the first part of the cue, no real outside arm involvement until the cross was finished.
On course 2, you were less lateral at :36 by a step or two, and facing forward longer – and at :37 your outside arm came up as the first part of the cue – so that would explain why she was convinced it was a turn away (she sees ALL the things doesn’t she??!! Wow!) because the outside arm does become part of the cue on some of the turn away cues like tandem turns, for example.Ah! On the next rep down that line, you did the blind there at :48 – loved it! Perfect! Great timing, great turn.
A little too much ‘go’ at :53 plus the FC can start sooner: strategically, after the BC at :48, you can hang out where you finished it and send her to the next lines, which leaves you in great position for the FC. The FC being a little wider caused the turn after it at :56 to be a little wide as you helped get her back on the line – a little softer send there can add a little more collection.
The ending line looked great! Great timing on your left verbal before the tunnel!Next up, Differ! Good girl with the big weave layer, both at the beginning and also in the middle of the course! Yay! She looks great!
Course #1: fun to see how she runs the line differently compared to Pose with her massive stride – Differ made the lead change 2-3 really early on because of you squaring up to the line a little more (:15) so her line to the tunnel #4 was almost straight.
I think she would be able to do that with only 1 step up the line from you, so you can then peel away and get to the BC on the tunnel exit and call her sooner – you ended up a little late at :16 (blind started while she was in it plus verbal a little too late too) so she was a little wide. In a perfect world, she would hear the verbal and see the shoulder rotation of the blind starting when she was still a stride from the tunnel entry – we can’t always live in that perfect world, so the verbal coming when she is 6 feet from the entry will negate the need for you to be in position and starting the blind.
Looks like she slipped right past 6 at :20 – it looks like your shoulder was a tiny bit too closed so she lost which side to be on. You were clearer with the connection at :29, plus I think we can chalk it up the a young dog error – as she gets more experienced, I think she will be fine with that and commit easily.
Differ course 2:
That jump for the send instead of the weaves is a perfect modification! And it also proved to be challenging! She got the send but then missed the tunnel because you were hustling up the line at :21 (the hustle was correct – it was a baby dog error to run past the tunnel parallel to your line, and a great training opportunity). You ran the same line with a little less hustle at :38 and she got it – it is a spot that requires convergence into your line and that is *difficult* and counterintuitive. You can add more hustle back in and you can also open up your left shoulder as a serpentine to help her come in as you hustle – with more experience, she will be happy to do it while you ran the way you did at :21.Reducing the hustle down the line at :38 made you a little late for the BC at :43, but that will not be a problem when you are fully hustled after she gets more experience finding that tunnel after the send.
I really liked the BC at :48 on the backside!! It might be able to come a shade earlier but honestly, it does not need to be tighter: she was turning in full on extension and I would bet that it is the fastest way for her to do it. On the jump after the BC at :49 – I would be interested to see how the send that you did here (she was pretty wide, off screen for a moment LOL!) would compare to just a decel & leave moment to see if we can tighten it. Conventional wisdom says tighter/prettier is faster, but small dog wisdom says the wider line might be faster. Goddy up! We will start timing that stuff officially in the next set of games but we can look at it now too!
Second rep – nice opening again! You got the nice decel at the jump before the send jump, she collected for a lovely turn so I ran and got my stopwatch (hello, obsessing.) The collection was a tiny bit slower through that sequence – I would be curious to retime it with the big extension she had in the first rep where she missed the tunnel – that might end up being fastest? Good to keep track of!
You had even better timing on the BC at 1:13 – I think when you can totally trust her tunnel commitment before that, you can get there even sooner to get it as nicely as you did with Pose.
Gorgeous blind to the backside at 1:18! And you did more of a decelerated send at 1:20, the turn was still in extension but tighter – so I timed it (can’t help myself haha) and she was faster on this rep by about .15 . And she had a great turn out of the tunnel there (I didn’t include that in the timing of the send, but it was also faster) – same good timing on your left cue, but she was gaining experience on how to respond and was really lovely there!!Great job here with both girls! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
Try this as the link to #3, it should work:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2m6iege–l0>>proof I didn’t do all of the Max Puppy series
It was part of the pandemic re-write of the MaxPup series – totally revamped, top to bottom, because I had 3 puppies and a lot of time on my hands LOL!!
The elevator game looks good – note how he is focusing ahead to the target during the countdown! You might want to stop feeding during the countdown because I am not sure he can multi-task chewing AND stepping to target position when you cue the target LOL! So a cookie for hopping on, then no cookies during the countdown – then when he steps into target position, the cookies flow again 🙂
>>If the weather ever gets cooler, I’ll do some video on Threadle, FF, German and Japanese (forced blind).
Perfect! I have been doing the training just after sunrise – it has been a really hot summer! And the next games package will give you lots of things to time – the only way to know, is to time all the things. And it will also tell us which, if any, skills need to be improved to go faster and which ones we don’t need to bother with 🙂
T
Hi!
>>Both of these worked fine, as long as she knew the toy or treat were there.
However – and I think this is a BIG however – I didn’t practice doing any handling.Ah! That might be the missing piece. The handling is where we see the issues – handler tries to send and leave, and the dog refuses the tunnel. For example, I used the frisbee-in-tunnel recently when I was working on tunnel threadles – I got the dog turned and heading into the tunnel entry I wanted, but then she pulled off at the last second as I ran away. So, the friz-in-tunnel helped her continue to drive to the tunnel while I continued to run away.
So try it with the handling and see how it goes! It might take a whole bunch of sessions to build the value but it will be worth it.
T
Good morning!
>>So I think the theme of these videos would be reinforcement strategies. This is something I feel like I really need to improve but it’s been evolving and I just don’t feel like I’ve been the best at sorting it out alone. I will notice when it’s not working and as you noted change things- this is more of I think a helicopter parent thing where I just start to throw the kitchen sink at him to keep him happy because he can be so quick to disengage or lose enthusiasm and I perceive him as an overly soft/fragile dog.>>
I don’t think he is overly soft or fragile – but training is much harder if reinforcement strategies are not in place. We try to train things but we don’t quite have ways to reinforce things, so things don’t get trained and everyone gets frustrated.
>>He had not eaten prior to this session, initially he seemed excited for these and then he lost it.>>
BCs and similar dogs often don’t seem to have high food value during ‘work’ even if they are theoretically hungry. I personally think that is NUTS because I am clearly a terrier or Papillon who is ALWAYS hungry… but my BC types and pointies all started off being happy to not eat (WTAF? HA!)
>> I can certainly use a higher value cookie- he loves cheese but is weird about cheese that touches the ground, and pair it with movement.
All sorts of separate reinforcement strategies to work, then, starting with these 2:
– picking up cheese from the ground then getting a toy or movement (bearing in mind that cheese is not necessarily a reinforcement in that moment, so that skill is trained as a skill at first)
– using cheese as a reinforcement from a lotus ball or treat hugger>>I do think running off would help his excitement. When we train in a known space and the food is coming directly from my hand he will take it excitedly 100% of the time so I do get confused regarding his food drive.>>
I think it is a combo of needing to expand the ways you can use food as a reinforcement (thrown, etc) as well as acclimation to new environments – it is pretty normal that a dog can eat in a known environment but not in a new or distracting environment – it is indicative of stress levels.
>>So he will pretty much always chase a thrown frisbee, whether he goes for it on the ground may be a different story. Do you think the act of chasing it but maybe not getting it is reinforcing enough for me to build on? I will usually stop throwing it if he’s not chasing and then CHANGE again because apparently I really like to do that >>
Hard to know because it sounds like he stops before you stop, which causes you to pivot. So I think limiting the reps on any given type or style of reinforcement will really help. If he stops chasing the frisbee on rep 5? Then you should stop with the frisbee at rep 3. That will help break the rehearsal of reinforcement losing value followed by you pivoting to something else. 3 high quality, well-reinforced reps are going to be much better than 10 reps where you are trying to sort out the reinforcement.
>This is a good reminder for me, and please point it up if it keeps happening. I will usually eliminate the difficult behavior in order to sequence instead of doing it and then reinforcing it. It just doesn’t automatically occur to me and hopefully it will>>
Take note of every failure or every time you don’t reward – and then change something to be able to reward to help pump up the rate of success!
>>I did initially have his mat out but if we have too many failures on the contact, he will get avoidant of the mat.
I suggest living by the 2 failure rule (or the 1 failure rule, for now) – 2 failures in a row or in a session and you need to change something to get success. If you can’t figure out how to get success, stop the session and change plans for the next session.
>>I am better about reinforcing everything on the DW with super enthusiasm when he hits as a jackpot. Hopefully I will get a good hit so we can show you. Although usually it stops the sequence… which maybe something I need to train through later. You can also usually hear Carrie scream yes if I get a great hit too which will usually terminate the behavior ha!>>
Stopping to reward is not an issue, as long as there is clarity with what is happening next: a ‘yes’ verbal is not clear LOL! A “get it” means reward is available, and a cue to continue is also a reinforcement (but not necessarily as strong as a primary reinforcement).
>>Back to the reinforcement strategies here. I want to make sure I’m understanding. It would appear that I should always keep moving until I reinforce and action movement with toys appears to be the best. So a dangling tug that he can strike/bite or a thrown toy?>>
Yes, basically – but also reward before there is an error, and if there is an error: no apologies, don’t stop to discuss or just plop a toy or turn away from him 🙂
And the dangling toy to chase or a thrown toy might be stimulating but it is important to stop before he stops finding it stimulating.
>>I REALLY appreciate your observation here because I do think it’s the piece that’s missing to take us to a higher level in training. I just feel like I haven’t quite put the pieces fully together. I see progress but there’s still more struggle in our training sessions and if it’s on my part, I want to fix that! He gives really great feedback to me but I am not the best at putting it all together and in the moment its harder for me to sort out. He’s so different from Callie who 100% of the time lives for food and would jump through flames for it but has lower toy drive but I have figured out what’s reinforcing for her.>>
I think a good rule to live by is if the behavior is not progressing the way we like, we can find the answer in the reinforcement: timing of it, rate (clarity) of it, and placement of it. It is the reinforcement that builds behavior so the more can can add clarity and expand the types available, the easier it is to time it and place it well – and then the behaviors come together really nicely!
Let me know if that makes sense 🙂
Tracy
