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Good morning!
Target fading can take a couple of sessions, so you are off to a good start with it. Since I obsess on variables: what is the reward history outdoors with this particular target (especially with the scratching?). I think a lot of his rewards have been indoors on the black target but that might be only the sessions that you have posted (I do more training than I post). So if he has a significant reinforcement history with this target outdoors, then you can revisit it and cover with grass like you did here – and you can use a couple of sessions to get it fully out or fully covered. If the behavior is newer to being outdoors, then take a couple of sessions to get it to have a stronger history and then you can go back to the fading. You can also try the black target outside – he has a lot of history on that AND he is a scratcher for that one too LOL!! That one is harder to fade but you can try cutting it down or covering it or both 🙂Nice work here! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning!
First video – He is doing really well with his bang game 🙂 He is sliding a bit, in a good way: weight shift! And looking forward. Perfect! Little details: as you add the challenges of moving away, crosses, etc. try to continue starting him right at the very bottom – you were starting him a bit further back (at the beginning of the contact and not at the end) which produces more of a shuffle to the end. Starting right at the end will build the value for being right at the end and the balance 🙂
He was perfect with the faded yoga mat down the to the tape strip. Before you fade it completely, I think the next step is to move the yellow target further away to begin fading it while maintaining his lovely focus ahead.And yes – add some more height! Yay!
About the unstable surfaces – this is more of a conditioning/weight shift game for dogs to get used to the need to balance while something is moving all around. So if he thought it was weird… he is correct LOL! It is weird indeed! But it was super fun to see him figure it out! And it is a great body awareness challenge for him (and all of our young dogs). You can also take the plank out of it and ee if he can do position changes on the fit bones: using both, see if he can balance and without moving fit: do stand to down to stand, or stand to sit to stand (he will move his back feet on those). It is en exercise recommended by the PT vets for conditioning and I find it really helps with the teeter 🙂 I had to start it on the flat to get the form, then moved it to the bones – first only front feet on a bone and back feet on the ground, then I flipped it to front feet on the ground and back feet on the bone. Now it is all 4 feet on 2 bones (so the bigger dogs are not scrunched). It is HARD but he is ready for the challenge 🙂
And since we want these movement to be slow and controlled: lure him. Ha! I use a peanut butter spoon to keep the dogs moving SLOWLY because they want to do it all fast, but that causes them to lose form 🙂
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
he is loving the teeter 🙂 Try to convince him to wait for you – he is starting without you and that is causing some off balance moments here. He is fabulous when he waits for you, like at :56 and all the reps after that 🙂
He was terrific driving through the tip to end position here. Yay!! So let’s plan:
first, see above for the cue discussion. He did fine here with the target cue but I think I still like Paw better (it is also less serious and that is a good thing :))second – now that he seems soooo happy to run across the board and get to his paw spot: we can fade the pre-placed food on the target. Let him run down to his position and *then* you can reward him 🙂 You can either go back and deliver the treat right on the. target, or you can use the cookie holder out past the end of the board like you’ve done in other sessions (that has been really effective with him and helps him NOT look at you too much :))
third – when he can do it without food on the target… move to getting the end of the board to point a bit up, where the uphill and downhill merge (posted last Monday). I think the board here was parallel to the ground, so if you can get the stuff holding one end to be a few inches shorter, the board will point ever-so-slightly upwards so he starts running up it then running down to end position.
Great job on these! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning!
Tell me more about the target cue – was this part of the cue for the teeter before we worked on getting him to drive through the tip? I think he did a little better with the ‘paw’ cue in terms of looking down at the target. It seemed like he looked up at you more on the target cue. That leads me to liking the paw cue better 🙂 and that is especially true if target was associated with the old teeter performance – we don’t want him to revert to that.
He did really well here with the elevator game! I see you added more below, so let me look at that and we can plan the next steps.Tracy
Good morning!!!
Look at him running across the board!!! Good boy! I am excited about his speed here!
if he self-releases, just start the next rep – if you ask him what happened, he starts to over-think and we don’t want him to over-think the teeter 🙂On the first part, the teeter went to the ground then you had a moment on the table then back to the ground. So Let’s plan now for more en position: It looks like most of those reps had food on the target and you said get it (I think). When the teeter goes to the ground, let’s now move directly to his hit it cue, meaning there is a target there but no food on it: getting directly into his hit it position is what gets you to bring the food out 🙂 I believe he is ready for it – the ground is part of the cue for the position, so I use the cue any time the board meets the ground. And that way, he won’t be chewing when you ask for the hit it LOL! He couldn’t do the position AND eat at the same time, I can totally relate hahaha!
The elevator game looks really good – based on his facial expression, he is not yet in full-on “I love this game” mode. He is doing it really well but I want to see a more relaxed look on his face (let me know if you also think he didn’t look relaxed – you know him better than I do :)) So for the elevator game – do 2 more short, fun sessions like this with super high value rewards, and between reps feel free to release him to run through tunnels or over some jumps (partially to get him to think about it less, partially to kind of embed the teeter into course work).
if after 2 more sessions he is happier, then you can move to the Elevator game part 2, posted last Monday 🙂
When you are at classes, if you see a teeter in sequence: rather than the whole teeter, reward him at the exit of the obstacle before it, do a rep of the elevator game (slap the target on, don’t use a lot of tip) – reward, then release into the next part of the sequence.
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning!
This had a nice buffet of teeter games 🙂 Bang game at the beginning looked really strong! The downhills are improving, he doesn’t love this as much as he loves end position games but it is definitely improving. The elevator game at LU looked really strong too. The elevator game at home looked fabulous – I love his eager blooper LOL! Good boy! You might have to ask for a stay or bribe/lure him with a cookie in his face so you have a moment to get ready LOL!!!
During the home session, you added the frisbee which also allowed you to do one thing I was going to suggest: give a hop on cookie but then stop feeding as you do the countdown, so he can focus ahead to the target. He was starting to focus ahead on that session, yay!!!!Keep going with the bang game – no real suggestions, nothing more to add: just practice in different places if possible, even if you drag the teeter to new spots 🙂 Same with the downhill games: just do very few reps of incredible high value to keep building it up.
For the elevator game, 2 ideas:
add your motion now, similar to what you are doing with the elevator game (do the countdown, cue the target, let go of the board, and then move forward walking). When you do this, lower the height of the board to get started for a few sessions – the motion is the new variable so we dial back the variable of height because we want him to be super successful.and I think lower height plus adding your motion should help the other thing: he is not really stepping into target position immediately on the elevator game. I think it is nothing more than he is watching you and the reward – to does not appear to be worry or anything like that. So – throw the rewards back to him immediately when he puts his feet into position (or release of the board for the frizzer). His front feet on the ground are what gets the reward in super quick.
Great job here!!!
TracyHi! I think you are making good progress here! It is a newer behavior and she was indeed making turns here! I could see her head turning while she was still in the tunnel on a lot of the reps 🙂
When you were not running hard, she was doing better (like on the 2nd rep to the right). So, you don’t need to sprint on all of these 🙂 Jogging will allow her to process the verbal and the handling and then she will turn better. You are used to running hard and she is used to reading that as go go go… so if you dial it back for now, you will get better success on the turns and then you will be able to build back up to running fast. She also had good turns at :36 and :46 and the left side turns were generally strong too!
>>A couple of times I did the command too early and she didn’t take the tunnel. There is a fine line!>>
Yes – watch her head as you give the tunnel cue – make sure she is looking at the tunnel before you turn away and give the left or right cue. On the reps where she didn’t take the tunnel, you had already turned and said right before she looked to to the tunnel. And watching her head to see where she is looking will help you not run as hard 🙂
>>It’s like she needs a tunnel brake.>>
Eventually, the verbals will be the tunnel brake. In some situations on course, you might be able to give a supporting physical cue – but we try not to rely on that because we can’t guarantee that we can get there in time and also that we can get outta there in time for the next line 🙂 So we really emphasize the verbals so you don’t need to outrun her – because when you go faster she goes faster and wider.
>> I realised when I repositioned the camera to do left turns I should actually move to get her to turn tighter around the wing.>>
Ha! Yes, the wing handling will help but the wings here were mainly visuals to help her see the line after the tunnel exit.
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
On the zig zags – when getting started, use whatever handling you need to use to help the dog get it right. Big front crosses are very helpful for the dogs at first and then can be faded. It does not build into lead out pivots or front crosses, so I don’t mind using the big motion to get the behavior started. When he understands the behavior, you can fade the cues. It builds to a behavior that doesn’t really require handling cues at all 🙂Tracy
Good morning!
>>: handler stays in motion not stationary like class one Strike a Pose?
Yes, on this one, the handler is moving – it picks up where we left off with motion in the first class Strike A Pose – walking through position, then building to running.
>>Also how do you recommend handling it if I am using a placed toy instead of MM, and puppy gets the toy by running past the bar instead of over it? I don’t want to demotivate him and likely he took the toy because I didn’t cue clearly or he wasn’t ready for the exercise,>>
Well if it happens once, I just chuckle, call him back with the toy, and try again. If it happens twice, I use a different reward target so that he is successful otherwise you might end up punishing drive to the toy, which is not what we want to do. The motion is exciting so the toy might be too difficult at first. When he understands the game with motion, then you can try again with the toy 🙂
>>He actually did well turning to the right. On the left he was like a different dog! I had to go back to the Max 1 strike a pose game for a few times then he got it better on the left. My body position also was not as good on the left so I have to work on that before I do it with him.>>
That is normal, we all have side strengths and weaknesses 🙂 You can angle the jump towards him on the weaker side, so it is easier to take the jump and harder to run past it.
>>On the big plus side: he more or less brought the toy back every time with minimal running around..sometimes straight back and sometimes with a little play then back to me! yay for that!>>
That is awesome!!! YAY!!!!
Have fun!
TracyGood morning! He is doing so well!
Great job with your transition from the tugging to the off leash and into the game here – that is such a huge piece and you are emphasizing it. He is doing really well with that! And also, great job with all the tugging in the middle and keeping things fun and reinforcing, even when he had questions.
His wing wraps look good – took him a moment to get into the groove, but then he was really strong! One suggestion: try to use your wrap cues and not go, so you get used to using them and he gets really good at processing them.
It was interesting that he had some trouble with the tunnel, maybe it was too curved? Or there was too much speed, or both? Either way, great job helping him out! He has to duck a little to get into it, so straightening it a little will totally help as you add the speed from the wings.
When you did the wing to the tunnel on your right side, you had lovely connection and really supported the line so he nailed it. When you did it on your left side at 1:53, your connection closed forward a bit (he lost your eyes when he was behind you as you turned forward to the tunnel) so he followed your shoulder instead of going into the tunnel (totally normal young dog question). Note how you held your connection longer at 2:00, more of an open shoulder and a little more eye contact – that totally helped him commit! Yay!!! So emphasize that connection to help him find the lines, for now. As he gets more experienced, you won’t need to emphasize it as much.
Great job here!!! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning! Glad you are having fun with the blinds – they are incredibly useful!! (And ignore all the people who will try to tell you that you can’t get tight turns with blinds because of course, we can :))
Your sessions look really good!! All of the racetrack elements sprinkled throughout look fabulous 🙂 So let’s focus on the blinds: the mechanics of the toy presentation are more for us humans and not so much for the dogs. I use that toy presentation as a way to develop the human muscle memory of how to connection on the blinds. And as you see – it drives the shoulders and the dogs read it perfectly. Young dogs like Kipling will give you excellent feedback about mechanics because they can’t save us yet if we are not good (adult dogs will save us if we are late or not great :))
Great job getting the mechanics going! On the first video, you had the mechanics going really well and he read the blinds so nicely 🙂 It will take some practice until the muscle memory is fully developed, but you have the mechanics here for sure. So the next thing is to start them sooner. For now, as he exits the tunnel – start the blind just before he arrives at the wing so you are finished and reconnected as he comes around it. That will make for an even tighter turn and also, it gives you more time to do it (so you don’t have to whirl around as fast) and it will be easier to run forward out of it. And it also challenges his commitment to the wing – I think he will be fine with you doing it sooner.
Looking at the first rep on the 2nd video: that is more like what the timing should be! It was in slow motion so you can see how much earlier you started it and how it was done sooner for him to read. That is ideal! On the other reps on this video, you were sending more and then trying to start the blind, but the send messes with the weight shift: when you send, your weight goes to the send arm & leg which makes it much harder to turn for the blind. So rather than send, keep moving along the line, using motion and verbal and connection to commit him and then start the BC before he reaches the wing. It should feel easier that way. I use sends, but usually they are better suited to be followed by a spin or a FC, rather than a blind.
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning! This is going really well! Nice job getting the behavior on the teeter and adding motion.
I see what you mean about him being better at holding position on your left side versus you right side. It might be that he is more experienced on your left (we all work one side more than the other:)) or he is not as strong on the side he is using to control his body on your right side. Or both 🙂 it will balance out with more practice, it is worth noting but not worrisome at all.As he was getting into position, he was lifting his head a bit to watch you. We can use reward placement to convince him to keep his head down: the 2 thing that help are tossing the reward back immediately (nice and low, I use my ‘catch’ cue and fling the treat to the target) rather than hand delivering, and also having something out ahead (like the MM to focus on and sometimes release to. The low head helps with the weight shift as the board gets higher.
Play with the reward placement and also add a little more motion on your next session. If he is happy with that, add more tip on the session after it.
Great job! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning!
I think this was an excellent session for building independence on this behavior, thoughtfully for now. With Yowza, I know the speed will be there so letting her hash it out without pushing for speed was perfect here. You helped her at first then she had it – great job adding in more independence by taking yourself out of the picture.As for the speed of the down – it was fine here! She had a LOT to think about LOL!!! The board is wobbling, the board is narrow, where to put front feet, how to balance in her core and hind end…. she was great! The down here is what I would consider “pretty quick” and will get faster with more sessions. It won’t even need to be as fast as a down on the ground because of the extra moment of balance needed: and that is fine, because the board is up in the air while she is doing it on the teeter. So when I visualize her putting this on the teeter, I am VERY happy with how this is going! Let her continue to think through it, she is nailing it.
As for the front foot placement: I think she was, on some reps, using the ground as a bit of an anchor for her front feet. I prefer her to be fully on the board, and you can help that with placement of reward. Check out your very last rep here at 2:00: you placed the reward a little further back and she had all of her feets in perfect locations. NICE! So keep that reward just inside the edge of the board enough that she keeps her toes from touching the ground.
For next sessions – do a couple more short sessions like this! You can get her more stimulated with a toy, and see if she can maintain the accuracy (still rewarding with a cookie just like you did on the last rep here). If you have time, you can get that done in the next day or two, it won’t take her long. And if those sessions look good like this one: take the target to the end of the teeter for some bang game. Keep the board low, keep her thoughtful like she was here. And see how it goes, with the position and independence. Her success will guide us as to how quickly we can add more challenge.
Great job!! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning!
These games are looking really good!!! Great job figuring out how to get the downhills lower with the stool!!! He was great here. If he is trying to start without you, on the downhills and the bang game too, you can release to a tug game or a cookie in your hand, then lead him around your hip as you turn to reset. And he is tries to start without you, at this point just happily call him back and reset (I don’t think we want to cookie him at this point, just try to prevent it :))
For the downhills, the next step is to the ground. Yay! He was nice and fast too. But before you remove the stool, do another session with him in a higher state of arousal. A tuggie or frisbee can do it: a little tug before, a rep into position, then release to play with the toy or chase the friz: then see how it goes 🙂 If he can be highly successful in higher arousal, the session after that can be back in ‘normal’ arousal… and without the stool, going to the target on the ground.
Bang game also looks good! You were hanging back on this one and he went into position beautifully. Yay! So for the next session, add you motion of walking past him as he is moving into target position. Be sure to keep moving (slowly) til after he stops. I tell myself to take 2 more steps after I am sure he stops. If he is solid with you moving slowly, you can ramp up the speed 🙂 The challenges of motion and still getting into position and stopping – that is the hard stuff! So start off slowly and let his success guide you. And then reward in position, and release him to you (for a cookie or toy) so he doesn’t restart before you are ready 🙂
Great job!! Let me know what you think!
Tracy
