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Hi! Really lovely session here, breaking down the collar grabs and just reaching towards him, then tossing a treat. On the video you were mentioning how he doesn’t love collar grabs or being touched, so this is a good area of focus for us! He was GREAT about not moving away on most reps when you were reaching towards him, and you were lovely about not being too pushy about it.
He absolutely loves his line up position: so you can add a little more collar grab there: he lines up, you put a finger under his collar to gently hold him, throw a cookie, then immediately let go of him to chase the cookie. That can be a really good way to sandwich the collar grab in between 2 things he likes: lining up and cookie chasing 🙂 That can help build collar grab love for sure!
Great job!
Tracy
Good morning!
It was really cool to see your video camera casting to the TV behind you! Fun!
>She checks EVERYTHING out by nose poking it. EVERYTHING. She could have worse quirks but the number of drinks she spilled on us!>
I might need to add the “Don’t Spill My Coffee” rule to this class – all of my dogs learn it really early LOL!
It seems pretty normal for a Dobe to checks things out, so to help her with the impulse control you can have the novel items in the environment further away so it is a little easier to not go over to them.
> Which leads me to the other quirk of biting feet and running between legs. I may have put too much emphasis on it when she arrived as my husband was recovering from ankle surgery. >
When does she do the foot biting/running between feet? Do you know what the cue or trigger is? We can redirect it because it might knock you over when she is full grown!
>I think that may be why her personal play is tentative.>
I don’t think it is tentative… I just think that might be her current preferred play style 🙂 The pups get to choose how they want to play with us. Food and toys make it easier for us to guide the play, but when there are no food and toys I am happy to take feedback from the pup. At least half of my dogs are similar to Roulette, in that they don’t enjoy it when I move towards them with my hands in the name of play. They prefer when I teasingly move away from them, and they come to me.
This collar grab game went great – she was MORE than happy to come in, line up and the collar hold happening because it was the start of the best and easiest game ever. She seemed to have no questions or concerned about being touched/grabbed/held by the collar. Super! So you can build up a little duration (holding it longer after you throw). And you can sometimes incorporate it into other games – line her up, hold the collar, then start any of the games where she starts next to you. We definitely want her to continue loving the collar grab!
>The last time we just played ball, she could return this one easily. Interesting to see how a little arousal can tip things a different direction.>
Yes indeed, arousal changes things for sure. Plus she is just about the age of entering adolescence, which also changes behavior a little. So you can set up trades for the beloved ball – if she brings it back, she can have another ball (it can be an identical ball if she has feelings about the value of the ball). Or, you can trade for a treat. Both of the trades after the retrieves can be followed by lining her up, hold her collar, toss the ball again.
Great job here!
Tracy
Hi!
He was a most marvelous little goat here! I love his confidence – he was trying to get on the Klimb before he even let go of the toy LOL!
I like that he did get back on the toy even if it took a heartbeat to be sure all snacks were accounted for 🙂 to get him back on the toy faster, you can lean the Klimb up against the couch so he doesn’t offer Snack Search & Rescue during the tug breaks. Or, you can run to a totally different area to get him chasing you for the toy (and away from the good snack smells).
Since this went super well and he was very confident, you expand this for sure: instead of cookies on the climb, you can use a ‘get it’ marker and toss the cookie to the side for him to get… opening up the opportunity to race back to the Klimb and climb on it. And you can replace the Klimb with a number of different things: planks, couch cushions, under-inflated inflatables, etc – you can even make a bit of a pile for him to climb around on.
>Think this was right but to be fair, I only halfway read sometimes!>
Ha! Yes it was lovely! And you can use the field guides so you don’t have to read all the text – they have just a couple of points will guide the session.
Great job here!
Tracy
Good morning! This session went great! The lower hand kept him nice and tight to your leg which was helpful when you added more speed.
On the last 2 reps, you had more of your speed added. On the 2nd to last rep, you were a little late in showing him the decel (it happened just as he was arriving at your leg) so his butt swung out wide. On the last rep, though, you showed deceleration when he was still a couple of steps away from you, so he was able to decelerate at your side and keep his butt straight. Super!!
Onwards to the next steps: you can put a blanket or towel down to toss a cookie onto, so it is easy to find and so you can keep a little further away. Getting a little further away (ahead) allows you to add even more acceleration-to-deceleration. You will probably want to show him the decel no later than after he takes his first stride or two towards you, so he has time to organize his decel.
And, I think he is ready for you to add the pivot! Keep your hand nice and low like it was here and do a slow pivot to get him turning with you.
Great job!
Tracy
Good morning!
I am glad he feels better!!
>The space I have is narrow so I am not sure I can do 4 feet. I rewatched your video and the object was further in front of you. Should I try that?>
It can be a little closer like up against a wall , or behind you or a little in front of you – I think it is more important that you are not facing it or near it too much, so he is sure that you don’t want him to offer behavior on it 🙂
On the video:
Lovely tugging to start things off! It was a little hard to get the toy back – yo can work on that separately with tiny bit of high value cookies or a 2nd toy as a trade, then it will be easier to get him to give the toy back during training.
Super nice warm up letting him offer foot smacks on the prop! The sending also went really well – he had to go past your hand and the toy to get to the prop which can be hard for baby pups! But he was brilliant 🙂 He seemed to find it easier turning to his right (when he was on your left) so be sure to do plenty of reps on your right turning to his left as well.
>Of course the box was a goat trick too 😂>
OMG that was so funny!!! As soon as he realized it was NOT a goat game (when you sat down and the bowls were visible) he got right into the wrapping and did GREAT! So for the next steps, you can approach it doing two things:
– add a little bit of distance with the box a little further away from you. Just a couple of inches at first, to see how he does.– with the box close to you, you can warm up with a few reps of exactly what you did here. Then you can stand up and keep doing to see if he will still keep wrapping with you standing.
Great job here!
Tracy
Good morning!
>someone called and stopped the video>
Oh no! I hate when that happens!
She was doing really well here too. At first she was not sure if she should offer the game or not, but when you added the ready dance and the sending she nailed it! Super! So yes, keep building on it – yo might need to get a rug or some yoga mats to expand the training area to add more distance without her slipping while running or tugging.
Suer job here!!!
Tracy
Good morning!
>His motto these days is “Parkour!” and he tries to interact with any and every object he sees with goat games.>
Ha! Sounds so fun and cute!
>His huge favorite is “Get Measured” where I let him hop on the measuring table near the ring and use the wickets (this was a CPE trial) to measure him.>
Perfect! This is a good skill to love 🙂
>I let him watch Ripley do a training session with toy reinforcers and that’s really helping him get the idea.>
Social learning is MAGIC. Really cool to hear watching is helping!
On the video – He was happy to play and also had a clear toy preference of the big toy (toy #1). That toy is valuable enough here that it might be a good reinforcement too. Very nice transition to toy 2 and he engaged for a moment but that Toy 1 is pretty amazing so it was hard to ignore it on the ground. The other 2 toys were smaller/lower profile so that might have been part of it. Th big toy had a squeaker which he really liked – did it also have fur? I have several of that same toy and some of them have fur on them. If he likes fur, you can see if a smaller toy with a ton of fur can compete with the big toy. It is definitely fun to sort out toy preferences in terms of size, texture, etc. It could also be that the big toy was the first toy, and often those first toys make the biggest impact – so you can start the party with a different toy and see how it goes with the favorite toy here being toy 2 or 3.
Prop sending is going super well! He has a ton of value and he was happy to drive to it in both directions whether you were forward, sideways, or backwards. And he had lovely distance too! Super!
>I want to keep him moving and avoid too much stillness because he can tend toward stillness at times during training when it’s not really the desired state of mind and I don’t want to encourage him to freeze when he’s uncertain.>
Totally agree, we don’t want freezing – I almost prefer they jump on me or try to chew my arm LOL!!!
Separately his beautiful offering here, you can teach explosion out of semi-stillness by playing the ready dance game following by a thrown treat. What I mean by that is he is in front of you, you are a little crouched/leaning back and forth (and he can be moving back and forth a bit and weight shifting back and forth). You can be talking to him (happy chatter like ready ready) and then ‘get it!’ And fling a cookie for him to chase. This is a game that I have taught to pups who lean towards freezing when uncertain, to get them to be able to offer and predict movement.
I admit to laughing when he started the shpile game without you, as soon as he entered the area. Clearly is a sport mix of Koolie and goat. Ha!
Since he was so confident, you can raise arousal by throwing treats away from the pile to get him chasing the treats then racing back to get back on the pile: that challenges him to continue to organize his mechanics when there is more speed and more arousal. Eventually a toy will be involved by flinging treats is great for these early stages. And you can pile things up a little more, so there is a little more elevation to the pile as well.
>It’s a holiday so my wife and our Swissy went with us today.>
So fun! A family walk! The adult dogs are modeling lovely behavior (more social learning, especially when the adults were like “we do not peer over the edge or explore the trench with water in it”) and Vibe checks in with you really well but has a lot of agency to decide what he wants to do. It will be interesting to see if/how this changes when he enters adolescence. Check in less? Check in more? It could go either way with the boy dogs 🙂
Great job here!
Tracy
Good morning!
The Smiley face game is going well!
Wing to tunnel on each side with verbals went great! And she also did super well when you built in slightly longer runs. For now, keep the length of the sequences pretty short because her arousal comes up pretty quickly when you do more than 3 obstacles in a row (the vocalization tips us off LOL!) and her brain is not old enough/mature enough to regulate that yet.
>When she was younger, if I accidentally disconnected with her she would go full shark mode and bite. She’s calmed down since then and now just yells at me or launches herself at me. Any advice for that? >
I can see a bit of the land shark happening here! It is arousal regulation and frustration behavior, partially due to her age and lack of experience.
Really exaggerating the connection and delaying the next cue til you see her commit will help. Make massive eye contact and point your hand to her nose, so she sees the eye contact (and keep moving of course :)) That will show the line very clearly her.
For example, on the :34 and :40 and 1:09 you were pointing a bit ahead of her and turning early, so she had a BIG MAD and came in off the line because she didn’t know where to be. Add more eye contact until she arrives at the 2nd wing – don’t point or turn too soon.
You were connected at :47 and then 1:15 was perfect on the wings – almost lost connection at 1:16 on the way to the tunnel so she looked at you.
1:25 was super strong! And so was the last rep at 1:34.
Breaking it down helped because you showed better connection while you were moving more slowly.
Keeping your hand low and back to her so she can see your eyes is better described here:
And separately from this game, you can refresh the Find My Face game from MaxPup 1 – that is a frustration/arousal regulation game specifically for when we disconnect, because perfect connection is nearly impossible!
Resilience Game: Find My Face For Arousal Management And Frustration Reduction
And if she does come off the line towards you – keep running and connect more. Stopping, even if you are telling her she is wrong, might accidentally ingrain the behavior because it is likely linked a herding behavior that is innately designed to control movement. Since we don’t want the behavior to control movement, take it as a cue to amplify connection and keep moving to the next obstacle, then reward her when she gets back on the line.
Looking at the wrap proofing:
Adding a bit of motion on the wrap proofing is perfectly good at this stage! She seemed to do really well with the wraps in both directions and has a bit more value for the wraps than the tunnel (especially because she has to layer the wing to find the tunnel). But by the end of the session, you were also fading the movement and she was finding the tunnel without questions. Yay!! So keep revisiting this concept and fading movement. She is doing great! You can also add the advanced level, where she does the tunnel first then as she exits the tunnel, you cue the wrap.
Great job here!
Tracy
Good morning! I love a good blooper video! There was also some really useful info here and really good runs too! Good for you for trying the water running 🙂 And even with the water sometimes in the wrong hand, the connection was already improved!
>plus Jazz was very interested in the water (as you’ll see).>
Actually, that was good info from Jazz: when the connection was clear, she ignored the water entirely and went to the wings and tunnel. When the connection was not clear, she came in towards the dog side hand and kind go ‘tagged’ you by jumping up (this is a pretty common “HUMAN YOU ARE DISCONNECTED” behavior). She did it at :39 when you were disconnected (arm moving forward, you were looking forward) when you did have water in your hand, but she also did it at 1:32 when you had a similar disconnection and no water in your hand. So it is feedback that says “connection is not clear” and not really a water distraction.
One thing that her feedback reveals is that both of you are more fluid and comfortable when she is on your left side than when she is on your right side. When she was on your left, you both moved up the line to the wing wrap pretty perfectly! So when she is in your right side, you can move closer to the wing and really amplify your connection to smooth it out for both of you.
>The real blooper is that I realized (when I was watching the video) that I was trying to wrap her away from me, rather than towards me. >
Yes – but only when she was on your right side. It is totally normal to have a side that is more comfy, so being more connected and sure of the line will help that get more comfy for you both. And that is why I lean into rewarding even when something goes awry, because I often think I am correct and the dog is wrong, then either my brain figures it out (oops!) or the video shows me that I am wrong (double oops LOL!)
>I will be using the hampers from now on as I get too fixated on the “correct” side on my stantions.>
Perfect! That way your brain is not having to think about where the jump cups are on the wings.
The last run was really strong with the wraps! She was a little surprised by the right soft turn so you can show that to her with the wing a little closer together for now. Fabulous connection, though, and you were very clear with your line of motion too!
>Ended up doing reverse retrieves to improve on the retrieve… first two went great – she dropped the toy right in front of me for a treat. After that she had to take 2 or 3 victory laps – which meant I was running around the yard in the opposite way.>
The first two were really great and definitely shifted the behavior towards the retrieve! You can limit th # of reps you do of this to 1 or 2, so that you get rehearsals of great reps when you end the session before getting any rehearsals of behavior you don’t want. Or after she brings the toy back, you can cue her to go for a big run with it (because that is just so rewarding for her and we can use that to ur advantage in training).
Great job here!!
Tracy
Good morning!
He had really lovely jumping here!! The first rep and the rep at 3:12 were my favorites: he was set up in the right spot, the release was clear, and the form was *chef’s kiss * lovely! And FAST 🙂 Yay!!
>We definitely had a start line issue. I believe I figured it out. The toy has to be in some sort of motion the entire time once I started keeping it visible in motion slowly, putting it to the ground and walking, he was much better so we had quite a bit to sort out on that one.>
Yes – he definitely had a question about what the release was. He probably picked up a rhythm of “mom stops, toy goes down, mom walks forward 2 steps and the release comes on the 2nd step”. You did a bit of that here in the beginning and that was largely when he was self-releasing. And we humans tend to do that (release with a certain rhythm, after a certain number of steps every time) without even realizing it. And then the dog communicates what they think the release is by, well, releasing at that point LOL! I have totally done that. OOPS! 😂
Keeping the toy dragging helps change that because you are less likely to always release after the certain number of steps – but be careful to mix it up and change when you release so he doesn’t find a new rhythm and anticipate the actual release.
I think you ended up in a ‘just one more’ moment at the end, when he couldn’t sit at 3:28. He was likely depleted and needing a break, and was communicating that – he couldn’t sit, he was looking away, and when you were bending over he did a big lip lick which is generally a stress indication.
He could have been depleted and tired mentally because this setup hits on two really hard things for young dogs: mechanics at speed, and impulse control.
So if you line him up and he can’t complete the task of lining up and sitting, you can break out of the line up, play, let him move around a bit, then try again. If he still can’t sit, reward for being in the position between your feet and give him a break. You got him to sit but it might have been a bit accidental when he was trying to come up for the toy – then you moved him a bit by his collar to straighten him. That all adds pressure, plus he was set up too far from the jump so he was short on his reach into the first gap. So keep the pressure off that sit line up and note when he can’t sit – and take him away from it for a moment.
Great job here!
Tracy
Good morning!
Oopsie on the blooper, poor Sól! One part of this game is that they learn to ignore the toy in our hand, but she definitely thought that blooper rep was a take the toy rep.
The Part 1 video looked great, she was more than happy to drive to the wing and then to the jump. SUPER!! You can throw the reward even sooner – as soon as she exits the wing wrap and looks at the jump, throw it. She was starting to watch you a bit because the throws were coming when she got to the jump (so she as tracking the throw along with driving forward).
Part 2 had more distance and she did well here too! The placed toy helped her look forward which was fun to see! After a couple of reps of the placed toy, go back to throwing it super early so she doesn’t rely on the placed toy to be part of the indication to drive ahead.
I think you can add even more distance between the wing and the jump, and vary your position a bit: sometimes send to the wing and be WAY ahead to challenge her to find the jump and not just chase you 🙂 And sometimes be right next to the wing and wait for her to exit the wrap, to challenge her to drive way ahead of you.
Great job here!
Tracy
Good morning!
The set point went well and yes, she was very good about leaving the toy until released.
What was the distance here? It might be a little too short for her, it looks like she wanted to power more but there was not enough room. Try adding 6 more inches and let’s see what she does.
Also, be consistent about setting her up about six inches away from jump 1 – we don’t want her to take a stride before the jump, we want her to push off her hind end immediately. That gets her on her rear better for the jumping. Sometimes you did set her up in the correct spot, and you can see the difference using her hind end creates!
The next step here is to use the toy as a moving target, not as a stationary target. That will get even more power!
The placed toy for the Wind In Your Hair game was a little harder but cookies helped her ignore it as you went back to the wing. She was looking at you rather than really driving to it, so if you are going to place the toy you can use a higher value toy that she will really drive to – and if you get there first you can play with it, without her LOL! But at this stage, you can switch to throwing the toy when she begins to drive to the jump, because that will likely keep her looking ahead even better.
Great job here!
TracyGood morning!
Looking at the Wind In Your Hair game:
The angle of the camera makes the distance look smaller but 22” feet is great!!!
>s the placement of the wrap wing correct? Not sure if it needs to be pushed more in line with the middle of the jump so his line is directly to the center of the bar?>
The position of the wing was good! His questions were all about your connection to set the line
More connection on rep 1 – you were not really looking at him (you were looking at the jump) so when he exited the wrap, he only really saw your back and didn’t know where to be.
Big difference on rep 2! Great connection as he exited the wrap and he knew exactly where to be. Same on the first rep of the other side: super clear connection!
On some of the other reps, I don’t think your connection was as strong but you threw the toy early so he saved you and took the jump 🙂 Try to make the big connection all the time.
You can vary your position even more:
Get WAY ahead and make connection to see if he can find the jump behind you. Or do the opposite and stay at the wing until he finishes the wrap, then see if he drives way ahead of you.Set point – this is also going well! It looks like he is super organized and really pushing off from his rear when you release him – and keeping his head down to find the moving target. My only suggestion is to use a higher profile toy, so he can scoop it up when he gets to it without having to dive on it as much.
Try to have the toy always in the dog side arm – you were tending to have it in the dog-side arm when you were releasing but in the opposite arm when you were rewarding. Brioche is definitely smart enough to recognize that and I don’t want him to say “here comes a release” and start breaking the stay 🙂
The next step for the set point is to have you moving faster when you release. No need to do this more than maybe twice a week, though, because he is so young. We don’t want to overdo any ‘formal’ jumping.
Great job!
Tracy
Good morning!
She definitely understood the structure of the game, which is great! Yay! So now we can refine it to set up even more jumping form:>I initially used a food bowl set at about eight feet away since I thought it would help with keeping Tarot’s head down. It did but she also broke her stay a lot more often, >
I agree, the hardest part was the stay! Since we want you to be out ahead and near the bowl, you can try an empty bowl with you standing next to it – then drop the treat in the bowl after you release her. You can play with this concept away from a jump (stays with a bowl on the ground) and throw a ton of rewards back to her for holding the stay. The treat and train can also work – she can’t access the treats if she breaks the stay, and that will give you lots of opportunities to reward her for not moving until the release.
Using the toy can work too but we want the toy to be fully on the ground and stationary before you release her for now – if you are holding it and moving, she is going to look up at you and have a more head-up jump approach. It is another good concept to work on the flat with lots of rewards tossed back to her for holding the stay even with the toy on the ground 🙂
>In addition, should both jumps be winged jumps? If I use a combination of winged and wingless, does the order of the jumps matter?>
They can both be winged, but doesn’t have to be. When using a combination, I like to put the wingless first so the wing is easier to see.
Great job here!
Tracy
Good morning!
>My wing jumps have a very defined jump side vs back side. I’ve been trying to set these up so that she will be wrapping from the “front” vs a back side wrap. Some set ups work better for this – wondered if it makes a difference at this stage of our training.>
It is possible! You can use a cone or barrel instead of a wing if you like, t avoid any potential confusion.
The session went really well! She was driving ahead on your right side pretty perfectly and the driving ahead on your left side was looking really strong too! Super!! Keep exaggerating the connection when she is on your left, and it might also help to move the wing over a tiny bit to be almost in line with the wing you are running past. Adding the GO verbals also went really well here, and I agree that the toy is a great choice for this game: it is easy for her to see/drive toy, and great fun 🙂
>Review of the video it looks like I need to throw the reward sooner,>
This will get easier to do as she locks onto the jump sooner, especially on the dog-on-left reps. Your throws were still timely – she was not looking back at you.
> and miss the wing when I throw!>
Ha! It is amazing how well we all hit the wing when our only job is to NOT hit the wing LOL!!!
>Still working on her lack of retrieve (left video in for one of the tosses so you could get a sense of what she does).>
Was this the section from :54 – 1:06? It was definitely not a retrieve but also not a bg long keep away – more of a quick scamper then she waited for you to come get it to give her a treat to trade.
You can encourage more driving back to you by turning and running the other way as soon as her mouth is on the toy, and whip out cookies or another toy to make it really enticing to come back to you.
>JFYI – I submitted the private lesson form this morning and got an email confirmation. >
Terrific! You should be getting an email before the end of the day.
Great job here!
Tracy
