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Hi!
Both of the videos look really good!At the seminar, he was lovely! That 2nd run in particular was amazing! I really liked his engagement and you handled the reset really well.
He also did really well with the line up games – he probably needs a little hand cue to find the right place each time but he was really fast and happy! And he was so funny, not wanting to be finished LOL!
Both of these were cookie rewards. Since I think he is the kind of dog that gets very stimulated by being in the trial environment, you can start to play all of these games with more toys and also, more of the volume dial with treats. In other words… let’s get him higher so he understands how to focus and engage even when he is super stimulated. So you can use the volume dial and action tricks and tugging to get him into that state, and the pattern games and off leash offered engagement to help him center himself into the optimal arousal. Let me know if that makes sense!
How is he doing with the remote reinforcement games? And, for planning, what is coming up in terms of training or trialing?
Great job!
TracyGood morning! Lots of great work and info from her here!!!
Her work on day 2 at the trial was likely a little less good than day 1 because she is more tired and also because the environment was different (running order change, runaway dogs, etc). That will even out in the future.
On the videos here:
Barn work is looking good! Cows are a pretty impressive distraction. How would you rate her engagement here as compared to other barn trainings when there are no people or dogs around? I thought she looked pretty much like the dog we want to see in trials!
In the barn her offered engagement, Pattern game, tricks, etc all looked really good, all were very fast 🙂 The Line up games and stay rewards were also really strong! she seems to really like the line up! The sequences looked good too!
One thing to add (at home or in the turf building first then bring to the bar) is more delay between cookies and cues. You can start with the pattern game with you moving around, slowing the pace of treats. Walking back and forth, letting her offer engagement and you drop a treat and then move again – so you don’t need to be rapid fire with those treats. In the moments when the treats were not coming at a fast pace, she got a little distracted. You can have her on leash for that to limit any environmental distractions as you add in more duration – when she engages, you can praise quietly then toss the reward. This will also help when we fade cookies out of your hands, because she will be used to the slight delay in reinforcement.
In between each sequence, you can put the leash on again just to have more opportunities to condition that off leash offered engagement. And I think she is ready to fade cookies out of your hands for this – you can have cookies in pocket now for the offered engagement when the leash comes off 🙂 Mark the engagement with praise and then reach in a pocket for the cookeis (or a ball).
Love the flyball ready set chatter you used! LOL i do that too and the dogs LOVE it 😍
Turf building videos: also going well!
On the very first rep, have the collar prepared so it can come off really fast – it took 6 seconds that first time which is a long time for a baby dog, she was looking around a bit. You got it off MUCH faster on the 2nd rep and the reps after that, and that is better for her in terms of maintaining the engagement.
She is a big fan of the line up games! Try the line up game next with a toy so we can see if we can take it into the ring for NFC – she really seems to like it and I like how well she is engaged when you during it!
She gets sniffy when the cookies are not fast and furious which is why it is good to do lots of patterns games with you moving, and building longer and longer periods of engagement between the treats. The other thing you can do here is slow down the pace of your volume dial/action tricks: do a trick, praise, reward, take a breath or two, do a trick, praise, reward, etc. Even that slight delay will help her understand how to maintain engagement even when the treats are not coming at warp speed.
She was really good with the 2 balls! You can be moving away from her to be more convincing to get her to bring it back faster – even backing away like you did at the end of the video was effective. Definitely keep playing with this because I think it is a great NFC tool especially as we fade out the visible reinforcement.
2nd video:
As you bring her into train, you can add in some pattern game and then volume dial before you walk in, so she comes into the ring in a higher arousal state. That way we can form a habit of entering the ring with more engagement, plus it will be associated with a higher arousal state in a good way.
Nice offered engagement at the beginning!
She is doing well with the offered engagement when the leash comes off – we can begin fading the obvious reinforcement now. Hidden cookies are a start, and then go to toys: at first the toy and ball can be visible but we are quickly going to put those in pockets as well to begin the fading process.
Remote reinforcement with the toy is challenging! She was able to do it for a few steps then needed to run off with it to have a thinking moment LOL That toy is high value so I am really happy with how she did. At some point, we will do this with balls too, but let’s get her happier with the toy as the remote reward first.
For her next sessions, you can set up a reward station – have the a chair or low table or something to put the toy and cookie bag on, so it is a very clear spot where you leave the stuff. We will transition this game to a reward station, which will then get transitioned ringside in training (the barn!!!) and also in trials 🙂 It doesn’t need to be right up close to the ring, as long as she knows where it it.
Great job on these! She has a seminar this weekend, yes? You can bring all of these games into that seminar ring for the various moments of rewarding the little details. Patterns while waiting, off leash offered engagement each time the leash comes off (hide the cookies :)), a reward station, etc. I also suggest off leash offered engagement after each stop where you talk to the instructor, and then get back to work: you can put the leash back on, or pick her up, or hold her collar… and then each time you take the leash off again or let go of her, you can get a quick cookie or tug in for offered engagement. That repeated pairing will work wonders for the positive CER.
Great job! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
Good to know that she does not get more stimulated when watching Joy. If she might be feeling poopy when Joy comes out to run first, is there something you can give her so she will be super happy to see Joy go? Stuffed Kong or bully stick or something amazing?
And there also seems to be a pretty direct correlation between more crowded environments and the more challenging runs.
So for the weekend: get there as early as you can, and while the front of the ring is quiet, do her favorite version of the pattern game. Then give her a rest.
When the front of the ring is a little busier, come back and do some more pattern games. At this point, you will probably be seeing some super quick responses and engagement! The up and down version of it, where the cookies end up on your shoes, will work nicely in a more crowded area.And then before a run, do some more pattern games and when she is able to offer engagement, try some shaping games! And keep me posted of course 🙂
Tracy
Good morning!
I believe CPE has training in the ring opportunities and fast, flowing courses – I can investigate what the FEO rules are – but my guess is that it will be a remote reinforcement kind of trial! And that is great. Also, we can find out if you can bring your instant focus prop or target objects into the ring – they are really just non-traditional toys 🙂 UKI would totally be fine with it 🙂
FEO in CPE also means you can make up your own course, which is helpful!
Renting time in the outdoor place is a good idea, whenever yo can fit it in without over-scheduling stuff.
Good job finding the balance of go fast, have fun – without ignoring the instructor’s technical stuff. It is NOT easy but you are doing it! As we start to develop the big toolbox, you can jot a list of things on a note card so you remember all the pieces, which can help you remember to add in more volume dial (which is an important element in new places and or in harder environments like trials).
If the “again” cue is paired with cookies and she gets that cookie before the retry – perfect!
The a-frame is a really difficult obstacle that requires a lot of speed/momentum. So if she runs by it, it is an indicator that she doesn’t have the speed to feel comfy doing it. Looking away from it might be an actual distraction in the environment, or an avoidance moment. Straight lines for the entry will help, and so will doing primarily jumps/tunnels/dog walks so she is super relaxed and confident. Same with weaves – those are SO HARD and I am sure she will be fine with them when she is more relaxed in the trial environment.
On the videos –
Nice engaged chill at the beginning! The handler in the ring while you were doing that was loud LOL! Both of you could just kind of chill and look around, she looked pretty relaxed in your arms. And a nice delay of start while the other team was exiting!In the training setting – don’t try to reach for her or control what she does when you put her down 🙂 You put her down at :41 but didn’t really give her a chance to offer engagement – she stepped forward and you reached for her. I am confident that she is not going to go eat the other dog, right? So don’t reach for her, don’t cue the engagement at all – just put her down, stand up, take a breath 🙂 She might step forward then remember to offer engagement, and you can reward!
If you didn’t do volume dial and came in straight from engaged chill that might be why she was not immediately offering engagement.
At :53 she had a straight line to the frame and good speed, and pulled off at the last minute. Possibly because she was not comfortable begin ahead of you? You can work the skill on a lower a-frame so it is easier when she is ahead of you. NIce line bringing her back! To keep the rate of reinforcement high, I would have used a reset cookie on the start line that 2nd time. She got on the frame when she was next to you on that 2nd rep, so the frame thing might be a positional issue.
Nice run! At 1:44 you had a good opportunity to put her down and let her offer engagement then reward it – you can do that repeatedly in training, not just at the start line, so help get that conditioned response of looking at you.
2nd video: All the dogs in the ring! Fun! Good volume dial opportunity while waiting! Looks like she offered engagement at :18 when you took the leash off… reward that! Cookie that engagement up every.single.time 🙂 Even if you are planning a slingshot, reward the engagement and the take her collar for the slingshot.
The slingshot worked well! The weaves are so hard for her – they are a high failure obstacle AND they require her to slow down and think. Personally, because we do not want her to slow down and definitely do not want her to start to think about things mid-run… I recommend taking them out of course work and sequencing. The overriding goal of getting the positive conditioned emotional response is made more difficult if she fails or has to slow down or think, that puts the positive conditioned response into a deficit that we don’t want. If they are on course in class: reward the jump right before them. Then, you can either put the weaves into training mode where she is virtually guaranteed to have success, or you can skip them entirely as you train them separately.
Good reward at 1:03 for engagement when the leash came off! She was a good girl on the run – You were blocking the backside wing at 1:15 so that is why she want off course (I like nice speedy off courses!!) and she was quite lovely when you were in better position the 2nd time through that.
Great job! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning!
I bet the Bobbie Lyons seminar was great fun! And I am not surprised he was great, that is how he rolls: fabulous!On the grid – there are two schools of thought about where to start the dogs:
The Salo school is the ‘half distance’ rule: if the distance between jumps is 6 feet like here, you would start the dog 3 feet away.
The more European school is to start the dog up close to the first jump so the first landing spot is between jumps 1 and 2 (not front foot hits before jump 1).I lean to the European school so the dogs don’t rely on momentum of running into the grid, which is what we tend to see when they start further away.
When he was starting pretty far on the first rep and the last rep, he did well organizing and powering through, definitely feeding off the momentum! This is fine on bumps and I think it was even better when the toy was further away later in the session (and dragging, I think, it was harder to see). The momentum is more of a running stride, so having to do this with bars is harder (at least for now :))
When he was closer on the 3rd and 4th reps, I am really happy with how he organized and worked the grid without the momentum!!! Nice! The 4th rep in particular with the toy further was really strong – the toy being close and stationary in the early reps was causing him to lift his head and shorten his stride a bit.
The distance of the line up on the 2nd rep was kind of a middle ground, and it looks like he felt it was an awkward distance 🙂
I think you can add bars into this now – 6 inch bars (not locked in is fine :)) I suggest starting him close, European-style 🙂 so he can really organize with the bars there. Eventually you can move him back and see how he does with bars AND momentum because he will be jumping and not running as much.
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning!
Awww good tired Ronan at the end!!!!This session went well!!
He was reading the differences really well! One little detail that I think will get even more success as you add more motion: as you move into position, already be showing the upper body cue before the release. So if you plan the tunnel, lead out with your shoulder closed forward. For the serp, have your serp arm back. For the threadles, have your threadle arm up and showing. That way he sees it all before the release for a few steps. Your lead outs all looked similar, so he was getting all the info at the release: release, directional, physical cue. By doing all of the handling and the release simultaneously, he might not have enough time to plan for the behavior and might be guessing on the release based on what he sees or hears first.The other contributing factor might be the distraction of your other BC herding him by the tunnel 🙂 On the Threadle oopsie, the other dog was at the entry of the tunnel so it is possible Ronan was multi-tasking the ‘hold the stay, pay attention, don’t run into other dog’ 🙂 The other dog was near the tunnel exit on the other reps, so be careful there is no collision if one of them makes a mistake.
Great job here – I think you will be able to add more motion and angles when he sees the physical cue before the release! Keep me posted!
Tracy
Good morning!
I can’t believe I am saying this: you have permission to connect less. LOL!! Be softer in your connection so you don’t hover as much 🙂 Once you got moving more, though, you were not as bent over. It is hard to bend over and run, and she kept getting faster and faster. Normally dogs get tired but not Wish! She found a new gear of speed after the 2 minute mark LOL!
And I think you need to play the water bottle game, where you run with an open bottle of water in your dog-side hand. That will help you know if you are smooth and upright, or bending over (because the water will spill on the bending 🙂 )
I am glad you had fun with the diamond!!!! It is like running a real course with the baby dogs 🙂
Great job with the blinds at the beginning – you are good at those tight blinds! Yes, stand up a little more 🙂 Her commitment looked lovely and your running line was great so you can trust her more now and start you blind sooner.
For example, looking at the rep at that started at :50 – as she exited the tunnel and was approaching the wing at about :53, you started the blind when she was maybe halfway between the tunnel and the wing so you were done as she was at the wing. I liked this timing, it was early, smooth and FAST!! So keep trying for that timing, rather than waiting for her to arrive at the wing then start the blind.
One footwork detail: your wrap front crosses, step forward out of them to the next obstacle, not backwards away from them (:57 was stepping back, 1:32 was better about stepping forward, and at 1:37 you stepped backwards before she was past you so she didn’t commit).
Race tracks looked good! You can bend your arms more and use them to run a bit like sprinter’s arms (as long as you stay mostly connected)
Figure 8s looked great! Only one little connection oopsie at 1:52 which you immediately fixed on the next reps.
And as you added more of the handling and turns, she kept getting faster LOL!!!! I love it! The only thing I don’t think you did was the big sprint around the outside, the speed circle from the tunnel around all 3 wings then back to the tunnel.
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi! I hope you had a great time at NAC!!! I bet everyone is exhausted… except StrykR LOL!!!!
He grid intro was really strong here but I am MOST excited about the stay! YAY!! And great job throwing in search rewards.
I am happy with what he did here! The MM as reward target often causes a slightly shorter stride especially with it a little close because you were indoors, because the dogs are preparing to stop for it and lift their heads which shortens the stride a bit. So there was a small element of that here and he was a little shorter on the landing past each bump – but I bet that changes when (if?) it ever stops raining and you can take this outside, and the MM can be 10 feet further away. It is just a couple of inches. We can always shorten the distance between bumps but I don’t think we need to yet.
Now that his stay looks so lovely, we can begin to play with the dragging toy option (which gets amazing head position and form) but definitely prioritize it: that stay behavior is more important than dragging the toy. At some point this spring we can add the toy drag to the jumping outdoors, but no rush on that because he is doing really well.Great job! Let me know what you think!
TracyYes! Those are 2 very connected handlers: lovely connection, lower arms, and staying in motion. They are 2 of my favorites!!!!! (And nice people too :))
For the Go – when working on the jump: yes, as soon as you see her look at the jump, throw it as far as possible so she never has to look at you 🙂 For now, no worries about turning on the GO because we don’t want it on the Go. When you get to the rear crosses, we will want a turn, so that is where you will throw the lotus ball in the new direction.
When doing the tunnel Go – you can throw it as far past the exit of the tunnel as you can. And the left race tracks were the ones she didn’t like, so you can treat those almost like Go jumps by tossing the toy long for now. When she starts going wide and leaving you in the dust on those, we will dial it back 🙂
Keep me posted!
TracyHi!
>.I’m supposed to just look her in the eyes? No pointing…I always thought looking in the eye is a decel thing…>>
It is a soft connection – you are looking at her eyes but still hustling 🙂 with your arm low. that turns your shoulders to the line and she will get it, like she did here.
If you look at her really hard (like an angry momma) or stop moving – then yes, you will get decel 🙂
I thought you were really getting that soft connection while running! The first rep was hard but then you nailed it at :16-:22 and then basically for the rest of the video too! So nice!!!! She knew exactly where to go in all moments except for :47 – you were not as connected there, looking ahead, so she kinda jumped up at you (that is dog-speak for “hey ma, where are we going?”)
She is definitely a bit sticky on the GO reps, so you can throw the reward straight ahead for lots and lots of GO cues on the tunnel exits, to make it easier for you (so you don’t need to outrun her).
>> I didn’t use verbals much since hard to remember and focus on not pointing.
That is fine – your connection looked really good and you had nice low arms!!!!
>>she definitely doesn’t like to left or out to a jump….right race track looked good.
TOTALLY agree! Her right turn racetracks were totally brilliant. And her left turn race tracks were sticky like maple syrup LOL!! So you can throw more rewards out past the wings on the left turn racetracks, to help build the love for driving around the wings and not needing as much help.
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Hi!
At only 11 months, he doesn’t need to see this every day – every 3 or 4 days is perfectly fine 🙂 And I think you can also add 4″ bars and see how he does!Tracy
Hello! My terrible country internet has messed up the sound on all of your videos, so I am going to assume that all words were perfect LOL!!
Really nice work on all the games here!!!
Wing proofing – I really love her tug drive!!! And I am glad you were tugging for the wraps too, we want the wraps to be just as exciting as the tunnels. She was strong on these – she needs a little bit more help with the wing wraps, in terms of adding more of a physical cue: ignoring the toy in your other hand is hard so you can totally step to the wing with the dog-side arm and leg to get a smoother approach without any toy feelings involved 🙂 Her other question was at 1:49 – she skipped the wing there. I think it was partially your position, you were a bit sideways with your dog side leg back – having your leg more forward will totally help that. And in the interest of not getting frustration barking, if something goes wrong: use an instant reset cookie rather than a collar grab to line her up.
Next session: move the wing closer to the tunnel, and if that goes well, you can add more motion and the advanced game 🙂
Tunnel turns – these were great!
For the GO lines, you are going to need to cheat to get further ahead to show them to her – for now, send her from as far up the tunnel as you need to be to be ahead and connected when she exits, if you are trying to get the wing wrap after it. She is a speedy beast! And if you just want to work on the go, you can throw the toy as soon as she enters so it lands before she exits and then you won’t have to out run her LOL!
On this game – resist the temptation to fix something if she doesn’t quite get the wing, or resend or not reward after an error. She gets frustrated. So to teach her how to work without that frustration or barking, use the instant reset cookie. She will know the difference between a reset cookie and a reward for the behavior, and will be happy to work through it without any cussing 🙂Both the right and left soft turns looked great!! I think her barking on the right turn line was “run faster, mom!” LOL!! You were being a bit too helpy and not moving very fast, so you can try pushing for more speed as long as you stay connected 🙂
Minny pinny – my sound on this one was weird too, I think my internet is being icky! She looked really good, both turning towards you and away! Yay! You can lock in the bars or use bumps so she won’t rehearse hitting a bar if your are rewarding in a less that perfect moment. For the rewards, you can be facing the the wings (belly button to the wings) to draw her across your like at :58 – when you were rotated, she pulled the bar more frequently but did not touch the bar when you were facing the wings.
On the harder angles, you can toss a reward away from you between jumps 2 and 3 (like on the right turns at 2:28 where she started but then wasn’t sure and hesitated) to help confirm that she was correct to turn away from you. But overall, this is going extremely well! You can keep working towards being in the center, facing the wing, and challenging her to find the left or right turns without handling or position help.
Great job!! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
>>Next trial is tomorrow not expecting much the environment is challenging for me on my best day because the floor is less squishy but my medical team said I could go so why not it was too late to pull. Hoping to run feo if the judge will allow.
Ewww! Be careful on the floor! But is good that you are going 🙂
>>I want to review the volume dial with Merlin because I do feel like once he’s gone sniffing or whatever especially off leash getting him back feels like a challenge that I don’t want to have.>>
the volume dial is designed to get him to not go off sniffing 🙂 It will help get him more engaged so you can trust he will stick with you better.
>>He’s definitely the super sleuth for oh her pockets are empty.
He is a smart boy LOL!
>>Really trying hard not to verbal vomit I think I may put duct tape over my mouth. Thanks for pointing out he’s always right and I’m always wrong keep it up seriously! If I use the reset cookie with that be returning or just a game of volume dial? >>
If it is a handler error like he goes past a jump – you can just give him a cookie for trying. Kind of like saying, “sorry, my bad, here’s a cookie”. With my oldest dogs, I would drop the f-bomb (in training) and then hand him his toy LOL! He thought the f-bomb was like a click 🙂
And then you can give him another one for resetting into the line up for the next rep. He won’t be sad about that 🙂
>>Side note my teacher still believes in using those markers even though I’ve tried to use them less any good articles I could sneak to her to bring her more into your realm.>>
I believe there is an article or study somewhere about what people call “no reward markers” (which are actually punisher markers :)) I will find it! I mean, you can totally tell him oops and then give him a reward and he will be fine with the oops word 🙂
>> By the way if you want to geek out Linda P case has a new book out that is a fun and interesting read especially about what science tells us for what treats dogs prefer.>>
Ohh yes! I love geeky things like that!!
>>Re-using the leash at the line with no food like it a trial he’s all business and has no interest so I’m not sure I’ll get that in ring benefit…
Do you mean bringing him to the line on leash? You can re-start it like you are outside the ring on each one, with a cookie or two, just to reset the rep so he practices the off leash engagement stuff.
T
