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Hi! These look great! So much speeeed and her commitment looks great! The choice of reinforcement looks pretty perfect – you had a really nice balance of speed and thoughtfulness. Yay!
All of the GO reps looked great. One thing you can do is start right next to the wrap wing and wait there til she is done wrapping… then run up the line with the Go cue. That will give her the feeling of driving ahead and leaving you in the dust 🙂 You were sending to the wing from a bit further away so she was driving the line a little ahead – so now we can get her going a LOT further ahead. Wheeee!
This will also make the RCs easier – if you start close enough to touch the wing and wait there til she finishes coming around it, you can actually get on the RC line sooner. Then it will feel less curved. There is a good view on the RCs on the 2 reps starting at :45 – by sending and getting a little ahead, you had to curve the line to be able to let her get past, then you moved into the RC. She read the cross (yay!!!) but it puts you a little stuck behind the wing, which makes it harder to get the next line when we get to running courses. So by setting the RC from closer to the wing, you can cue it sooner and it will actually get you further ahead after the cross because you won’t be stuck behind the wing or as far from the next line. And my goal on all rear crosses is to try to get back ahead of the dog as soon as possible haha!!
Great job on the backsides!!! Those are hard with youngsters because they really look for the bar. You ran strong lines – you were taking a moment to look forward for your position for a heartbeat, which she saw and created a little bit of a zig zag. So try to be even more connected, trying not to look forward at all – easier said than done!!!! She did really well committing to the bar on the backside jump too. So the next step would be to keep moving forward towards the takeoff side, so she does a full circle on the backside (it includes countermotion, which is harder, but she is ready for it).
Great job here!!!!!
TracyHi!
I have found BC tails to be a good barometer of internal state. That is not the case for many other breeds – some just wag all the time regardless of what is happening, and some are tucked all the time too. BCs have a very ‘honest’ tail 🙂
On the downhills:
He looks super happy on his downhills here, tail in the “this is cool” position. Yay! And it looks like you had toy play before and after. Perfect! He was generally driving across the board too – he wasn’t super fast on the last rep but I think he was just chill, not worried. Food is chill for him 🙂 So – add more tip. Yay! We will be able to get this to the ground pretty soon.Cooking With Lennan aka uphills:
Your presentation is lovely! You have really upped your plating game here. 5 stars! I feel that when the border re-opens we are all going to meet somewhere and have ice cream (maybe train dogs but definitely have ice cream). Ha! And your ice cream holder didn’t look as uncomfortable as the previous holder did haha!!! You can add more tip here too – he looks pretty comfy, do you agree? And you can try for 2 hit wonders: one run up for a big bite of the cone, then another run up for the rest of it. That 2nd run up the board will let us know more about how he feels 🙂Bang game – thank you, neighbor dog, for providing a trial-like distraction even if we didn’t want it LOL! You can try getting him into a higher state of arousal with more tugging before the send into position. It seems counterintuitive but works really well! And if the moving forward on the teeter is hard but the distraction is valuable (and not controllable :)) then you can try it on the plank instead of the teeter. I think the toy out ahead is a contributing factor (more on that below) so you can also try it without the toy on the ground.
He did well here on the reps where you were not moving and also when you moved a little bit. Looks like River was on a stay near him and he was fine too in general, which is a great distraction to add! And good job sending him ahead. He is not yet perfect on the pounce markers but that is fine – he is getting the idea to focus ahead then get released to it. Yay!
Wobble board games looked good too! Just when I was going to ask about a toy out ahead, you tossed it out there – that changes all the things for him LOL! That is where we started to see errors, so it is possible that the toy out ahead is very difficult… add in the neighbor’s barking dog when you were outside and it was too difficult. So you can split the behavior a bit more – instead of a toy out there, try something less stimulating like a cone (traffic cone, not ice cream cone haha) And do everything the same: when you release him to the cone, he can wrap it then get the toy. Then we can add the toy back and fade the cone (or layer in a wing). Let me know if that makes sense – it might be an easy way to bridge the gap to add more of your motion moving ahead with less distraction out in front of him.
Great job! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi! Sounds good about the one hit wonders and the lesson! I would leave the rebound game alone for a bit – she is feeling sensitized to it at the moment, so we will take a detour into ‘all things fun and running and getting off the board quick’. It will be easy to reinstall the rebound game soon 🙂
Tracy
Good morning!
I was trying to track the reps to see if there was a motion issue that caused the crime of passion – were you doing something differently there versus when you got the stops? I don’t think so – I just think it was a discombobulated rep with a massive distraction out front 🙂 He definitely finds it harder when you are moving, so keep adding motion 🙂
The tip/height of the board did not seem to bother him. Yay! And to prevent the offered behaviors of the bang game or running back up the board, you can have him do something during the reset moments – a stay, or sit on his mat, etc. When you are in a bigger space, you can have him chasing the ball but for the smaller space, a quick hop onto his bed will allow you to get ready so he isn’t teetering without you LOL!
This is going well, so I think you can add more height to the drop. At some point, when the weather cooperates, you will move the teeter outside – but start at lower tip there due to the new environment, to see how he does with it.Nice work! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
It is great to take this on the road! He totally needs that! And it is so fun to see him aroused for the teeter!One suggestion is to flip how you work the sessions in a new place to raise the rate of success – he was working at 70% rate of success here, which is too low overall. Ideally we want him more like 90-95% (I am sure you would not be sad about that LOL!!)
You started with the downhills right away, but he failed a lot right away. I liked his speed across the board on those, which he lost after the rate of success got low. So here is a way to get the best of both worlds: speed and accuracy!On every new teeter, start with an end behavior game – you did the elevator game reps here at the end, but I think those are where you should start. Then you can establish a high rate of success, get lots of rewards in. After a warm up of 2 or 3 reps of the elevator game, if you like what he is doing: then go to the downhills. I bet those will be successful too – and the structure of the session will keep him up at the 90-95% success rate 🙂
I also like to start that way as it lays the groundwork for when we transition to trials – you can do some elevator games in the ring at a trial (like in UKI running NFC) and you will be super happy with how well it transfers! More on that coming on Monday 🙂
Since he had his dog friends there, you can also use them as part of the rewards: when he has a successful rep, you can release him to go party with one of his dog friends 🙂 You can give a cookie then release him, or just release him if he considers it really reinforcing 🙂 It will keep him aroused (which starts to transfer the understanding to a more trial-like state) but it is also a super high value reward 🙂
Great job here! Let me know what you think! When is your next teeter field trip?
Tracy
Good morning!
>>using your suggestions of a very high value treat at the end of the board, and getting her to start from the very end of the board (using a low value treat). It took a bit of organizing to get low value and high value treats and toy all to hand for the exercise – I left the beginning of video unedited so that you can see that I really did put the liver on the target plate.>>
It sometimes feels like we need 57 arms and 35 props to play this game LOL! Great job convincing her to eat the cookie, good choice of value because she was happy to stop and eat it even as you ran past with the toy. That is kind of a pre-cursor to stopping on the teeter in the middle of a course: running is more fun but we can raise the value of stopping by making it fun AND by making it the gateway to the other fun stuff 🙂
>>Once we got started, I thought it went alright, and she was quite happy stopping to gobble that treat, before going for her toy>>
I agree, it went REALLY well! That will also help raise the value of food in training when toys and running are present 🙂 For planning purposes – I recommend one more session just like this. Then lower the teach it a bit so there is more tip for a couple of sessions – that will bring it almost to the ground at which point we will merge it with the down/end behavior.
Great job here!
TracyHi!
She is doing a good job here! Be a complete stickler for her foot position – check that all 4 feet are where they should be before rewarding LOL! She sometimes has a back foot off or slides off 🙂 She has enough body awareness that you can ask her to shift more to get into position precisely, that will transfer over into the teeter nicely 🙂
She had trouble with the motion – it is hard to stop when the momma is moving fast! For the next couple of sessions, use more of the arm-pumping fake-fast-running rather than actually running fast 🙂 The arm-pumping is stimulating enough that she has to think hard, but I think she will be highly successful (closer to the 90-95% range). You’ll feel dorky but that is fine hahaha Then if she can do 2 sessions at that 90-95% success with all good foot placement and weight shift, then you can start to add in more actual running 🙂
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi! Sorry for any confusion!
About splitting the behavior – we want to split it into small enough chunks that he is successful 90-95% of the time. That means adding the distractions or challenges very slowly so he continues to be successful.
>> So Hero is still stepping off instead of staying on the target when he is on my right (his left). Are you saying that I keep moving and if he steps off without release that I should not reward that? (I don’t want that behaviour so that makes sense). And I only reward him for holding position by releasing him forward to the MM? I am confused about to make him realise he should hold position.>>
Correct – only reward him for holding position correctly, not stepping off then back on. However… the goal is to not have him step off or to withhold reinforcement. That is where the splitting comes in. If moving forward at a walk causes him to make the mistake, split your motion into smaller pieces such as moving VERY slowly not even a walk. Or moving off laterally and not forward. Count failures or behaviors that don’t get rewarded: 1 is generally not an issue, but when you get into 2 or 3 or so, you need to split the challenge into smaller pieces.
>or do you mean, even if he steps off and then corrects himself, I should reward him with a “catch” low and behind him. Then if he holds position all by himself without correction he can be released to the MM as his reward?>>
If he steps off and corrects himself, I would not reward that any more (but also try to not have it happen by introducing what causes it – motion – more gradually). If he holds position without the step off, then you can reward back behind him with the catch or forward to the MM (to help keep him looking straight).
Let me know if that makes sense: the goal is to proceed slowly enough that he is highly successful so you can reward all the things 🙂
T
Good morning!
Yes, he is definitely loving the elevator game!!! He is confident and his end position looks strong! Wow, it is LOUD but as long as he doesn’t mind, then it is fine LOL!!! The fast countdown works well, now add back your target cue. The height of the board looks really good – how much does he weigh? You can add a little more height to it but we don’t need much more height at this stage. Instead, you can add in your motion – starting with a low height, give the countdown then target cue then as you drop the board, start to walk forward (same as you do with the Bang Game). It will challenge him to hit & hold position as you are moving AND while the board is dropping. Double whammy! I think he will be fine with it but it is always safer to start with a lot less height on the board.Speaking of the bang game – keep working on fading the target. But the elevator game is now the main focus 🙂
And one more thought – on the elevator game, I think you can also take out the teach it entirely at this point, so he gets used to seeing the full visual of the teeter with no props 🙂
The downhill game video is marked private 🙁 Can you reset to unlisted?
Thanks and great job here!
TracyHowdy! Definitely NOT a fluke! Very exciting!
A couple of little suggestions:
the warm up with the elevator game is great, I would just add in a hop on cookie. And then during the fully ‘crazy’ elevator game, when he runs up the board – definitely keep rewarding when he arrives there, and you can also keep rewarding during the countdown. On the early reps, when you were not rewarding, he was looking around like “WTH!!!!”. But then when you started rewarding during the countdown on the last 2 reps, he was more confident and able to focus ahead more. Yay! I don’t think you will always need to keep rewarding during the countdown, but it will help for now!One other little detail: when you are raising the board, raise it sloooooowly LOL! Think of being in an elevator – you want it to go slowly and not rocket ship up 🙂 When you raised it fast, he was a little concerned. So let the elevator rise to the penthouse slowly, lots of cookies, then the countdown then drop 🙂
For planning: whip this game out every other day or so. Basically do it just like you did here with the couple of extra cookies and slower lift of the board. No need to do it every day because there is a lot of impact on the body when the board hits the ground. If possible, move the teeter to different spots in your yard and at LU. But the bones of the game remain the same until next Monday, where we take it to the next level 🙂
Separately, without the crazy elevator game, keep working on fading the target out on the bang game. Let me know how that is going!
FUN TIMES!!!! Great job!
TracyHi!
Yes, she was still concerned but I am happy to see her still jumping on. Yes, the rebound of the board was hard for her, so you can grab the board to help it be quieter and not bounce as much. She seemed to do better when you were doing more of the elevator game (probably because it eliminated that rebound issue).
So what I would do is a quick confidence rebuilder for a couple of days: lower the tip a little, and do random one hit wonder elevator games (or low bang game hits), and don’t make too big of a fuss about feeding in position – you can release her off the board and throw the reward far away from it 🙂 And try not to do too much at all – a high value one hit here or there will make a big difference and also leaving it alone for the most part will wash away the concern 🙂 And you can still do the high value rewards even when it is not a perfect presentation of the behavior. Each of my dogs had a detour like this in their teeter training, so I gave them a little break, did some high value one hits where I rewarded any interaction with the board, and also did a lot of releasing away from the board to a favorite toy or giant meatball 🙂 That reduces the pressure and allows them to get back to the happy place (which they all did :))When is your next class or lesson? Taking the behavior on the road where there is a bit happy reinforcement history can help too!
Tracy
Hi! The in person class sounds so fun!
It is useful to watch the newer lessons only if you can resist temptation to rush or skip steps 🙂 Otherwise, it is better to watch them as you need them 🙂
Tracy
Hi! This is fun to see – real weaving!!! I love the side view too 🙂
His success rate was super high – my only suggestion about the angles an such is that the very first rep should be a reminder from an angle he finds easy and without a lot of speed (he tends to miss the first rep of the session or of the day). At this stage of training, I start my dogs at my side at the 10 o’clock angle at the beginning of each session, so they recognize things (when they are more experienced, I mix it up more). Also, he was focusing ahead really nicely!>>I guess this is the point where I can also start using my real weave command? And next time we train is it ok to change up the middle poles?>>
Yes – definitely time for the real weave cue. Yay!
So for the next session in a day or two, I would narrow the entire channel a tiny bit more, to about 2 inches – that will help him get more into the striding without being too challenging yet. At this stage you can keep doing the angles as the poles are still relatively open. When he is happy with that for a couple of sessions over a few days, then you can go to the game posted yesterday about getting to 6 straight poles. That is when we dial back the challenges temporarily so the dogs can focus on the poles getting straighter.Let me know if that makes sense! It is fun to see him getting it!!!
TracyGood morning!
He is doing well here!
On the first video with the 2 poles – he is starting to get the collection for sure! Try to delay the reward for one more heartbeat: you were throwing it when you saw collection but now you will want to see collection AND make sure he gets into the entry 🙂 I think that is what happened on the last rep – you saw him start to collect and threw the reward, but he never got in. I don’t think that was too hard of a step for him – I might have asked again (maybe on the other side and with less speed, especially after the oopsie reward). You can also add poles 3 and 4 further away, so the straight poles entry are more salient and less buried in the visual of all the poles for now. I think he is ready for poles 3-4 to be added for sure!>> Since straight entries seem to be the problem child, should I just keep working those or add the other angles in the find em game?>>
I would work the different angles too, to keep those fresh and keep the entry value high. You can plan to alternate: straight entry, angled entry, straight entry, different angled entry, etc. That is to make sure you do the straight entries and not just the angles 🙂
Channels look really good! Yes, you can work up to 12 but also, I suggest starting to tighten up the 6 you have here. There are 2 lessons posted on that: in a nutshell, the first step is to tighten all the poles by the width of a finger, repeating the entries successfully – until you get striding. And then when he can do all the angles and such with some striding, the next step would be to tighten the inner poles to the straight line, then the outer poles. It took me a couple of weeks with Contraband doing one or two sessions a week, just to give you a general time frame. Fever is more mature and experienced, so it might happen faster but there is no rush 🙂
Great job! Let me know what you think!
Tracy
