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Thank you for the history! Great stuff! Some comments and questions for you:
When he screams with excitement while other dogs are running – how does he do if he runs next? Have you ever tried that?
>> alprazolam PRN
I’ll go do a google search but – what type of med is it? SSRI?
You have a really good grasp of things that are anxiety-related distractions. When the pattern games are installed with the neutral distractions, we will work on the anxiety-inducing distractions.
>>He is somewhat of a target by other dogs- when I pull him out of his crate, often other dogs growl and lung as we walk by at their crates
When that happens, what do you do?
>.small tugging for a toy and head to the ring.
Does he tug on his leash?
>>At this point, I’d like to raise his arousal walking in and wanting him higher to run. He’s very engaged going in and gets higher as we run but I don’t want the little bit of nervousness that happens prior.
Based on what I am reading here, I agree, he can come up into a higher state which should be more optimal (which is why I asked how he does in a run after screaing LOL)
>>Waiting on a station at a busy trial makes him very nervous.
If I had to guess, I would say that the stationing at a trial puts him in a state of arousal on the lower left side of the Y-D bell curve, which is the low arousal where external distractions become more obvious (like other dogs) – then the internal arousal shifts to anxiety which zings him across the bottom of the bell curve to the lower right side – which, per the science, is still “low”. So “higher” is definitely something to play around with. It defies the agility conventional wisdom, which emphasizes calming and control… but conventional wisdom is not always *actual* wisdom and sometimes it is just a bunch of baloney LOL! So we will play around with different things. Onwards to videos!
T
Good morning!
Have fun with Becca! So cool that she comes to your area once a month!!
>>One question I have is how to get him nutty without negativity affecting the other dogs waiting to run
Good question! I don’t think it will be a problem – there is always a way to do it without being a distraction to others 🙂 A lot of the action tricks and tugging and jazzing up will have him close to you (and not leaping around near other dogs) so distance will be your friend 🙂 You can keep yourself a little further from the ring and the crowd if you think other dogs will struggle (gate stewards are fine with that as long as they know you are ready :)) And most of the really wild stuff will happen when you are next dog or heading to the line. When I am running in Novice, I will delay a little to make sure the previous dog is fine. But in Masters, it is not an issue – Masters dogs are pretty focused 🙂 I like to communicate this when I am running in Novice – I will tell the gate steward that my dog might be noisy, so I want to be polite so Iwill wait a heartbeat til the other dog is fine and secured – and so far, everyone is fine with it 🙂
In the tricks-from-pocket video – really interesting! There was a definite dip in criteria when he didn’t see treats at first (I think he even pawed your cookie hand LOL!) – we saw slower responses, looking around a little. This is all good – he wil get better and better as he learns that there will still be a lot of reinforcement even if it is not visile and not part of the cue. You were GREAT about continuing to reward all.the.things even if the behavior was slower or not as explosive as it would be if cookies were in your hand. He seemed to have the hardest time with the backing up, so that is something to reward even the tiniest bit of behavior. His touches and spins were still pretty strong, and that is good to know!
FASCINATING that at the 2:30 mark he took off and barked! That is a big insight into Twister: he has trouble controlling arousal when the reinforcement is not present. As soon as you started moving he came back to focus, and at 3:00 you put your hand in your pocket – and he was back to engagement even though the barking dog distraction was still there.
3:48 – good job waiting and letting him process that sit cue rather than helping him, so he was able to do it and get rewarded.
When you have a free minute or two, do this game more but with shorter incremenets – do 5 tricks, then be done. He says it is a REALLY hard game 🙂 so the shorter sessions can help build up the mental stamina.
Pattern game 1 –
what was he looking at at :21ish on the first video? He did a good job offering engagement! The smell of the treats and something outside (some noises or something in the distance) offered a good distraction moment here and there, and he came back to offering engagement each time.Try this game with dropping cookies on your feet now 🙂 And try it with 2 toys 🙂
And when you go to the seminar this weekend, try this as you wander around outside the ring (you can be pretty far from it if other dogs are running). You can use really big chunks of cookies so he can find them easily – and let’s see how he does with the big agility distraction 🙂
Great job! I am looking forward to see the next steps and hearing about how the seminar goes 🙂
Tracy
Good morning!
Good work here! He definitely loves the threadles, the vortex was a real thing! I don’t see the vortex thing cropping up as an issue at trials, only in training, probably because in trials or on a bigger courses the dogs land longer on the jump before a serp, so the serp is much easier.In these training sessions, moving the start wing was good training to help set up the serps. Also, you can angle the serp jump a little so the front of the bar is more visible (then angle it back to the flatter line for threadles). And supporting it with a little extra body language like you did here was great. I also use a threadle arm that is different from the serp arm for this anti-vortex reason – I know we are emphasizing verals but that threadle arm versus no threadle arm can be clarifying for the dog.
Early in the session, I think you had some extra wrap verbals on the wing before the serp, so it might have been a little confusing to him – but you moved to really strong clear correct use of the verbals and he was REALLY starting to get it by the end. Very cool to see him getting both with you running! YAY!!
>> This needs some more sessions! I do feel like he really gets the threadle, just not the serp as much.
Yes, it is a hard one, so you an add more sessions – you can help with the serp early in the session to help remind him that life is not all about threadles LOL!
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
Tracy
Good morning!
Backside slices – she did really well here! I think the main reason she got the backsides was that you were also running to the entry wing. So to really solidify the verbals, let’s change your motion line so you don’t have to step to the entry wing. The line you move along for the backside and the front side cues should be basically identical, so she differentiates based on the verbals and not the footwork.Start by having her line up at your side, facing the jump (a cookie lure to get her into position will help and so is holding her collar so she faces forward but doesn’t start without you LOL!) so you can face your feet to the line you will be moving along. You can lay a leash on the ground to give you the visual of your line of motion so you are not using a handling cue for this, just verbals – then say the backside verbal and let go – you will move straight forward, parallel to her line to the backside but not converging in towards her to push her out to the backside.
This will help with the 2 questions she had in this session – one was the front side when you asked for the backside at 1:35 – that was a line up where she was not facing forward and you let go before you started the verbal, so she drove to what she was looking at.
The other question she had was some bar dropping – that was mainly because you were center of the bar as she landed and stopped to throw the reward. If you are moving forward more and less towards the entry wing, it will be easier to get out of the way so she has a better line to the landing spot.On the serp versus go video:
A couple of ideas to help her sort this out!
Because this game is so hard, slow down your motion but don’t rotate or stop to help. You were either running, or stopped/deceling, or rotated 🙂 Split the difference and do it at a sloooooow walk but with no foot rotation or change in pace. The running was definitely stimulating on the first side!The other thing to play with is extending and softening the volume of the lef/right turn verbals. The LEFT! LEFT! for example was the same volume and tone as the GO GO GO so it is possible that she thinks that it is a forward cue. So try a quieter, more extended leeeeeehft leeeeehft and see how she does comparing it with the GO GO verbal.
When you changed sides, the serp was really good… but the Go disappeared. Either that is a stronger turning side for her, or the dog walk behind you was a tremendous visual draw so she was driving into it. Try that side with nothing else around and we will see what she does 🙂
Nice work here! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning!
1st video – does she have barking on cue? It is a great focus trick (sounds counterintuitive, I know) so you can totally shape it to get it on cue. I mention it because she was, um, offering it at the beginning LOL!!
The instant focus ‘get on the thing’ worked great! She has an extensive history of shaping and that is working in your favor for sure! It is fine that she wanted to sit on it – any interaction will be fine when we apply it to the next steps. You can work this shaping to build up the value in a variety of different places to help be ready for the next steps 🙂
2nd video – remote reinforcement: I agree, really interesting video! I love watching her work!
I like how she was moving away with you – because you were moving towards a jump, I think she was also associating it with a jump and was about to offer something on the jump (or weaves later in the video). You can use your remote reinforcement marker sooner, after that first or second step.
The “I’m outta here” with the toy is a sign of the difficulty of the game, I think – as well as staying with the toy and then bringing it toy you LOL!!! Clever hahaha.
So you can change the setup slightly to have the toy (and even cookies with it) up on a chair so it is easier to move away from (not right down on the ground) and reward more of that first or second step away (ping ponged with 3 or 4 steps away).
The other thing you can do in this game is to reward with a cookie after she gets the frizzer, so there is an interval between taking the friz back and the next rep of a relatively challenging game. So it would be frizzer, get it back, give a cookie, start the game, mark and go back to the frizzer, play, cookie or two, then the next rep 🙂 And of course you can do this with treats too – I do it in my house with a cup of treats on the kitchen counter (I show the dog where it is) and move into the next room – then run back for a treat 🙂
Great job here! The remote reinforcement is going to be helpful for her 🙂
Tracy
Good morning!
Thank you for the history! Really helpful!
It sounds like teaching her the ‘cooler’ game has helped because she is understanding more about how to earn reinforcement in the ring! When reading your history, that was my main thought: we need to teach her the remote reinforcement concepts and that will really help! This also explains why she struggles to do tricks, for example, when there are no cookies visible 🙂 We will break down the concepts and build them up! For now, at trials, don’t ask for weaves and if there is an error, just keep going rather than fix anything. That can help her remember the joy of running fast with no pressure. If you have USDAA or UKI in the area, you can enter speedstakes or USDAA jumpers – no weaves in those classes, great spacing and lot of fast running 🙂
On the video:
I totally see how she was not super perky with the cookies not visible at the beginning, but then perked up and got more into it when she realized that there were, in fact, cookies as a possibility 🙂One thing about criteria when working without reinforcement clearly visible to her: if she is not quite as good with the trick as she would be if the cookie was in your hand, reward it anyway 🙂 Lowering the criteria a bit can help her work through the question of “where is my cookie!”. For example, I love barking on cue as a focus trick – so if she doesn’t bark as well as she would if the cookie was visible, you can totally reward a half bark LOL! Same with tricks like spins or the line up – if it is roughly correct, you can reward it 🙂 She will get better and better about doing tricks without obvious treats – you can do it in the house, with a cup of cookies on the counter nearby, to get even more practice with it 🙂 Try to get one session a day of this, just tricks for tricks that come from pockets or a cup on a counter 🙂
Take a look at the remote reinforcement game – let’s get started with that too, it is going to be a big piece of the puzzle for her 🙂
Great job!
TracyGood morning!
>> I think these particular games help bring her energy UP, and would be reassuring in a stressful environment, but they aren’t really much help in the getting to the line.>>
Well, yes and no in terms of being helpful for getting to the line – while you can’t actually use food in a trial ring like this, you can use it in training to help change things up. Plus, they change her perspective on the entire environment in terms of conditioned emotional response and assessing distractions, which can totally help with the final steps to the start line 🙂 And we will be transitioning many of these games into versions that can be played without food or toys, which totally can be used in the final steps to the line.
She did well with the training here! Very clever to use the bathroom instead of being caught in the rain LOL!!
The get it version with tossed treats is going really well, easy peasy! And it is intended to be easy 🙂
When you went to the food on your feet, try to let her re-engage before you give the cookie marker – I looks you were early on the cookie marker in that she had not chosen to re-engage before you said cookie and dropped the treat, so it was more of a cued recall than a decision to re-engage. It will feel a little delayed and that is fine.With the ‘get it’ version of the game, try it in a new location and if she is happy to re-engage (I am sure she will be), you can add a simple, neutral distraction off to the side for her to assess. And you can also, in a smaller space, use t he cookies on the feet, as an ‘up and down’ where she looks down for the cookie then up at you, then down for the cookie, then up at you, without moving away to get it. That is so we can establish that pattern to be used in the smaller tighter spaces near a start line.
One thing on these pattern games (and when you added the bowls) – be ultra consistent within the games about where the reinforcement is going to come, so try not to mix the get it, cookie on the feet and snack in the bowl all into one game – the predictability of the reinforcement is part of the magic here 🙂
She has a good history with the bowls (yay!) so now let’s shift the emphasis to hands-only on these (fading the bowls and mats) so that we can transition these games to be used without food or props from the ring entry to the start line 🙂
Great job! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
>>She has been doing 8″ at class, but I think it’s probably time to start moving it up a little – the space is a square, but quite small and the matting is Comfort King, but not the same as at OTR (more like Fusion if you have been there) and I do see her slip sometimes.>>
If there is any potential of slipping, only move the height up on straight line stuff (unless there is slipping on that too). Otherwise, wait for more height until you can be at OTR or outside.
>> She’s 16 months now, so probably safe to start adding some height.
Yes, it is a great age for that!
>>The smiley face – I froze like a bunny and could not get my words out half the time, so that’s why you don’t hear them!
The medical diagnosis for that behavior is “Young Dog Panic Syndrome”. I have it as well. LOL!
>>It has warmed up and things are starting to melt – in a few days I may have a space close to the house where we can do something which is SO exciting.>>
Perfect! Onwards to spring weather and green grass!!!
T
Good morning!
Great timing on the left and right verbals for the tunnel, and his left and right turns turns were great and his had fabulous commitment to the tunnel too! I think the only one that was wide was the last one at 2:06, which was also the latest one – his nose was just about in the tunnel. All the others were a stride earlier.
He had a couple of commitment questions about the wings – at :18 you can give him a little more support in the form of a step or arm cue. He was wondering why you were completely motionless 🙂 You added a tiny bit of motion at :30 and :42, which totally helped! Karena gave bigger handling cues at :54 and 1:04 and did a great job committed even with countermotion.
The GO verbals were well timed, good placement and also good acceleration to match the verbals – he came blasting out straight! Yay!
At 1:24 on the go to the wing, Karena didn’t have connection as he exited and rotated before he got past you – so he wasn’t sure what to do. Compare it to 1:36 which had connection and a big more patience on the rotation (letting him get past you) and he was perfect there and also at 1:45 and 1:54 for Mike 🙂At 2:00, there was an accidental GO GO GO and he went LOL! Good boy!
On any blooper in handling games, you can use a reset reward because 99% of the time it is a handling error – so you can call him back, reward, reset.
Great job on all of these! He is definitely FAST and one other thing I notice… he only kinda sorta wants to stay – there was some anticipating and butt lifting 🙂 so be sure to to reward a TON of line ups and stays as the games get more exciting )
Tracy
Hi!
Totally agree, coffee is really high value for me too 🙂He did well here! Holding the stay while dragging the toy is HARD and he did it! Super!
>>So, when I watched the video I am trying to figure out if his form breaks were from him being a little tired from our walk earlier, or if his jumping is a little off because I’m dragging the toy, or if it’s the distance. He double tapped more than once and I just don’t think it was as nice as when we were inside. >>
It was overall a strong session! It is hard to know exactly what was causing the double taps, so you can try something a tiny bit different on the next session – set him up maybe 2 inches further from the bump. Also, looking at my 2 favorite reps (:46 and :56) – on both of those, you were connected the whole time, dragging the toy, and you didn’t take long to release. On some of the others like at 1:04, the toy drag wasn’t as smooth so he wasn’t as smooth.
Plus he was outside (new distractions and different footing).
>> I’m also thinking it’s set a little closer than it was in the building.
Possibly, but I think the distance was good here! I bet the next session goes perfectly, nothing at all to worry about here : )
Nice work!!
TracyHi!
>>I am a physical therapist. I have my own practice (solo) for 12 years. Everyone and their brother in law is here this time of year, but with COVID winding down and everyone traveling again-especially to Florida, our roads and businesses are packed. Season winds down in April, so I am happy to be near the end.
That is so cool! I have found that the human PTs are also great dog trainers and handlers – it is pretty interesting to see the correlation! And April is just a few weeks away, onwards to more time to relax and play with Prism 🙂
Threadle video:
>> So this has motion and the harder angle!!
Motion makes threadles sooooo much harder! Truth!!!
>>Before you watch, you should have a drink. I made a bunch of errors with the toy-but before you crawl through the camera to bonk me on the head, I do eventually figure out my mistake (spoiler alert).>>
Bwhahahhaa! Thanks for the alert LOL!
On this video, the 2 main things are:
-always have a bit of motion, no stopping or stationary handling… but be really careful with the motion LOL!!! You will want ot move forward slowly, at a snail’s pace to set him up for success. The upper body cue can still happen but it is important that your feet are always moving forward – and not rotating or stopping – because dogs are amazing at reading the tiny details of out footwork.
On the first part of the session, you had a little grapevine foot rotation (for example at 1:22and 1:51, then later at 6:13) and he got it – when you didn’t do the small rotation and were walking forward a bit too fast, he serpentined the jump.
– watch for too much failure. It was not a bad idea to try a placed toy, but it was too hard – he had a bunch of failures, so let that 2 failure rule raise red flags when training. 1 failure? yellow flag of caution 🙂 2nd failure? red flag, change the game a bit 🙂
And you did change it up – the second side was defniitely better, with very slow movement as you rotated to face the jump. So start moving forward very very slowly on that side – not stopping or rotating, but moving very slowly, kind of like how fast ou would be able to move while squeezing a quarter between your butt cheeks and not letting it fall out 🙂
>>Video 2: lateral-OUT
Not so sure of the set up-seemed too simple. Like, where is the off course temptation…>>LOL! It is simple – part of the temptation is to NOT take the jump when you don’t cue an out as you saw him consider at 2:21 and afterwards 🙂 And also to get him to do the out wihtout you stepping to the jump at all – you started off with a little bit of stepping to the jump then you got much better at not moving towards it. Yay!
Is ‘close’ a bypass cue? This is technically not a bypass, because the ‘out’ jump is not on his line so he shouldn’t consider it wiithout the cue. I only use a bypass when there is something on the line that we don’t want – because bypass cues slow us and the dogs down. So he should just stay on his line and not grab anything off to the side that requires a lead change, unless you cue it specifically.
The real world course looked great! Hooray, what a good boy! He did well on the wraps towards you, the soft turn, and the wrap away from you (a little rear cross moment too!) and also doing the soft turns and wraps in front of the tunnel! Nice!
Looking at his questions:
At 3:14, on a wrap cue with more motion – he collected, fell on his head, got it wrong – then fixed it on the next rep, good boy. I think the ‘falling on his head’ moment was him trying to go fast AND process the verbal 🙂 He was great on the rep right after it! the falling on his head moment is also why we do these games with a low bar so he doesn’t hurt himself while learning to do all the things 🙂
4:43 – nice wrap before the jump but then he didn’t go to the next one – he didn’t see a physical cue to the jump (you were moving laterally) an there was no verbal cue, plus the toy was moving hand-to-hand – so he assumed he was done and it was toy time, then things were off the rails a bit – better to reset in that moment than to keep going. Also, I think you have a marker word for “toy in my hand is now available for ggrabbing” which will help him look for jumps even if the toy is moving – so be sure to use the marker during reinforcement. If not, we can add one, it has been really helpful!
His other question was at 5:19, when he didn’t take the wing even with the verbal. You had started to rotate a bit early, so he wanted to chase your line. The fast lines game will help get the commitment better because you can tart to rotate earlier there and the momentum will help support his commitment.
He is getting to the age where you will want to space things out even more (wheee!) so he can open up and run – since he did so well here, you can do just the tunnel with one jump as far away as possible on one side, and do a handling challenge on the other side, and switch them back and forth as needed, depending on what challenge you want to show him.
>>All I needed was to see if I could turn him off of the tunnel, which we did.
He was brilliant!
>> Ginger and I did UKI 30×30 at home courses and those are brain-busters. Not recommended for dogs with speed or emotional issues. (Funny, not funny)
TOTALLY AGREE!!! I did some 30×30 when the pandemic started and did it wth my most experienced dog… he thought it was ridiculous. LOL! I ended up spreading them out to be less ridiculous and now I only do the bigger courses.
>>is a bit surprised as we are able to meet her challenges without any struggle. I am very pleased with myself).
You should be pleased with yourself, he is looking great!!!!
>> Her comments were complimentary on the way you lay out progressive challenges in each exercise.
Yay! She is a terrific trainer so it is good to know she thinks it is a good set of challenges.
>>Her only reprimand, to me, was to use the barrel instead of the wing wrap to start. We both studied under Lisa Frick last summer I think, when she posted TACO TUESDAY to train up her new puppy. All of April was barrel work. I think that was how Prism got to understand “FOCUS” on the start line>>
You can totally use a barrel! I use barrels in the puppy classes – I use wings here so that the dogs can apply the verbals to the wings, which has helped speed up the learning. They can look at the wing and the jump and have a long history of what the verbal means on the wing 🙂 There has been no negative fallout, only learning, because we are giving specific cues matched with specific reinforcement on the wings.
>> and a training methodology of “rinse and repeat” or, for agility, “treat and repeat”, ha ha. She used tons of praise and simple set ups, so no errors.>>
Yes! Learning comes from reinforcement, so the more reinforcement we get in, the more learning. Lisa is amazing!!!!
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning!
SUPER valuable info in these videos, thanks for posting them!In the first video:
During the pattern game, try to be less exciting in your motion and posture, just wander a bit or stand there. Let her drive the bus 🙂 The exciting motion and posture is a way of asking her to engage and we want her to choose that on her own after assessing the environment, rather than asking for engagement without assessing the environment (she has an error or wanders off to a distraction when she is asked to do something without an assessment moment). And, after each reinforcement for something good on course – use a moment of pattern game to reset her for the next rep (see below). Her offered engagement will let you know when she is ready to be cued for the next part of the sequence.There was a really interesting change in her demeanor between the jumps as opposed to away from the jumps (closer to the camera). This is something I see throughout these sessions – the engagement doesn’t necessarily transfer to a new location yet. No worries! You can take a moment and repeat the pattern game there, because she looked around more and needed to assess the environment. The volume dial game (the toy play and tricks) is great but if she needs to assess the environment, we want to do the pattern game until she can’t take her eyes off of you – then she is ready for more 🙂
>>This is diametrically opposite of what I get at trials
yes and no – her response here is basically same as what you might be seeing at trials, just a different presentation of it because the external and internal environments are different. She is on the other side of the Y-D bell curve but we will still be able to work through it – and then you will see the speed/arousal levels balance out in all locations.
So definitely do the pattern game as a reset between each agility sequence rep and reward. Let her then offer engagement, then you can carry on (it will only take a few seconds). When you reward then try to restart, she is generally unsuccessful.
In the barn, as you are working on the engagement – use lower bars so the agility behavior is easier and she doesn’t have too think about it as much. She doesn’t have a jumping problem but the organization of full height jumping AND ignoring all of the internal/external distractions might be too much at first. When offering engagement is easier in the barn, the jumps can easily go back up to full height.
On the 2nd video:
Line up games – as I found out, we have to be quick to turn around to call the dog through at first LOL! She seemed to like this game! I think we can definitely build on it! She came into focus pretty quickly because there is action, a pattern game element and just generally silly fun with no pressure (plus tasty treats :)) so in your free time, build this all the way up to the lead outs. That can be done anywhere (at work, at home, etc) because I know the you don’t really have much free time 🙂
In this video as well, I definitely see her needing some games after each reinforcement to reset the engagement in a new part of the ring, like at 1:18 – even though the reinforcement was lovely, she is in a different part of the ring so she needs to refocus. This is good to know and that is probably happening in trials too… so if you reward with a toy at a trial, we will then take a moment to reset before sending her into the next part of the course. Or if you are running for real and there is an error, don’t fix it, just keep moving because there is no way to reset (yet – stay tuned for ways to play without cookies and toys :))
On both videos, she was at her best when she was further from the camera – I am sure the dirt smelled the same LOL! so it is probably the environment with the people ad dogs. You can see at the end that it was hard for her to stay engaged being closer to the people. So in the barn, start each session further from the people so the games and then the agility can have more success! Then you can make things a little more challenging and get closer to the people… then end each session by getting further from the people so it is easier.
Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning!
Really good session here!
>>n watching the video I can see many losses of connection (boo!) but it’s more o work on. For some reason I keep thinking I’m going to run into things so it’s hard for me o connect with him.>>
Well, it is a valid concern! You might run into things so wear shoes in case you smack a wing with your toes – ouch! I think with increased connection downwards to him, you will expand your field of peripheral vision so you won’t run into things.
To get even more connection, think of this all as a big conversation with him, all verbals direted to his eyes as you run of course 🙂 and having your arm waaaaay back and down to his nose will help – you can see that when you are closer to the camera, your dog side arm is at your side at 1:00 and 1:17, for example and you are looking ahead of him to the wing – so he slows down, making sure that he is correct. Your verbal and position were great! Meet him more at the tunnel exit for now so you can accelerate forward with your eyes on his and arm back.
Also maintain that connection at 1:02 and 1:19 we can only see your back and at 1:35 that broken comectoin pulled him off the wing. Much better moment of connection at 1:56 and he got the wing! Nice!
So for now, really over-exaggerate the connection – it gets easier as the dogs get more experienced.
>>I did take your advice and practice a walkthrough without the dog to get the verbals better and that helped – still not perfect but better.
Totally better! And it helps make them more ‘2nd nature’ and not something you have to think about while running.
>>Also I tried to stop saying useless encouraging words between cues and I think it was better. I still sometimes forgot thee mechanics for releasing to the toy with “Get it” but I guess I’ll focus on that next! >>
It was great! Lots of good info while he was running and no extra words 🙂 You did have some moments of the get it but don’t bug yourself too much about that for now – keep emphasizing info-only during the runs and then eventually it will et easier to add in the reward markers too. SO MANY WORDS LOL!!
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning! Nice work with these games!
First up, the tricks:
Hop up for delayed cookie – great!
Twist and spin – use a hand cue so she isn’t wrong (they are tricks so we can help her out 🙂 ) these also went well with the delayed cookie when she knew which way to turn.Leg weaves – great also with the delayed cookie.
Chin rest – she did well with this one too! It is not really an active trick so file it into the engaged chill category for those games 🙂
Bow another good one, I think it went better when you released to a cookie from your hand rather than toss, I think it keeps her engaged better.
back – Also great!
And one more thing I notice is that it is good to know that when you say ‘ready’, it gets her barking 🙂 So if you don’t want the barking, try not to say ready.
Now… play these games with toys and tugging!
Great job starting the pattern games – she caught on pretty quickly to the ground and to your feet – she thought the snacks moment was a little weird at first but then she got more into it LOL
When you add the distraction object (I think you had a bit of garden fencing there) – you can be a bit further from it so she is not trying to offer behavior on it. We don’t want her to think it is some kind of shaping game 🙂 You can be 6 or 8 feet away, walking back and forth a bit so she can look at it if she wants, but she won’t feel the need to interact with it. The toy distraction went well too, you can add moving back and forth now for that as well!
Great job here! The next steps can be the remote reinforcement and the engaged chill games too!
Tracy
