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Hi!
Great job here! This is one of the harder games, at first, and it is going really well! Add height very slowly though, over more sessions – watch her ears, they seems to be the indicators of how she is feeling about our crazy games LOL!! She was doing the sideways Yoda ears here, which seems to be the “this is weird but ok I will do it”. Stay at the same level of height until you start to see the forward ears which indicate “yes this is really fun”. Then you can add more height to the drop of the board.The 2-hand hold on the teeter definitely worked best for you! One thing you can do is put a tiny dab of cheese or peanut butter on the end of the board, as the ‘hop on’ cookie that we would give her if you had a third hand 🙂 That will help her build the love for jumping on when the board is in the air (which transfers to driving to the end of the board later on).
The target fading is only needed for the bang game and downhills right now, you can totally have the target in place for the elevator game (we fade that later on, but the game is new so we leave the target in for now). I think that can also make it easier and she will have a good focal point since the target is already visible there.Great job here! The Elevator game builds up over the course of the next several weeks and you are off to a great start!
TracyGood morning!
Both of the sessions were really lovely – great job showering all sorts of crazy handling challenges, all the things you might want to do on 12 poles on course. No problems at all, he just nailed the entries and go into the poles. So the next step is to combine the games: do the Fimd ‘Em with wings (from the 2nd video) with the poles at the tighter angles from the first video 🙂 He was definitely weaving on the tighter poles, and had to think (which is good!). Adding the wings will add challenge to the weight shift needed to get in and stay in, because there is so much more speed.And yes, he was wide on the 12 o’clock wing LOL! You can work the tight wraps like you are doing with Ruse 🙂
Great job here!
TracyGood morning! She is doing well here on both. A couple of ideas for you:
On the 2x2s, now that the poles are getting tighter and you are adding more of the handling – I think she needs a reward target for a couple of sessions. She was looking at you a lot and we can see it in the rear crosses in particular. She did figure out the RCs but the reward target will basically say: “hey, look at this 2nd set, it is changing so keep going, don’t look at the momma” 🙂 You can use whatever you think she will like: if memory serves, she felt the MM was a little stooooooopid so a toy on the ground is fine or you can put an empty food bowl out and chuck meatballs into it. Anything that she can use as a visual aid/focal point for now is good – I don’t think you will need it for more than a couple of sessions.
Poles 3-4 at 2&8 were a complete no-brainer for her, very easy! So on the next session, warm her up with that angle and the reward target and when she is looking ahead: go to 1&7 on those poles. I think she is ready!The channels are also looking good – the visual of the channels keeps her looking forward, which is great! The rear crosses were immediately better because she understands to run the full channel. Nice! One thing I noticed was that she had a little trouble on the hard entries when you started running immediately (this is normal!). So using the easy entries, send and run fast down the line before she gets to the entry. That can help her sort out how to hit and hold the entry with you moving fast, and then a couple of sessions later we can move it down the clock and add the fast movement on the harder entries. For now on the harder entries, move away as soon as you send her, but at a calmer rate of speed 🙂
And keep tightening the channels, bit by by, she is doing really well!
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
I think it is funny when they fix their mistakes – my 2 year old dog tries to do that. I take it as a sign of understanding and they are enjoying the process, but I try to be really fast calling her back. The other thing I see with Chapter is note how he is getting his reward and setting up the line up between your feet as you are walking back – that is also a sign of a relaxed, happy dog enjoying the process. Yay! It might seem like a small detail but I think it is huge.And yes, he is being super good but also really hoping you will throw the frisbee haha!
On this setup, he was great. And in a new location! And I can’t believe the hubby didn’t mind you weaving on the putting green LOL!!!!!!
So, next session, a couple of things to add to move to the next step:
Move the MM a little further away, 6 feet or so from the exit of the weaves, if there is room – that way he can run through out and of the exit.
And, angle the poles a little, maybe all at 2&8. I think he will be fine because he understands the setup now. And the angled poles will get even more bending into the entry.And, last but not least… do more frisbee throws. He is ignoring it pretty brilliantly (only really looking at it when he has to choose the MM at the very end) so I think you can add more excitement with the favorite toy.
Great job!
TracyHi!
Does the toy have a bungee on it? That can save your shoulders and help prevent him from pulling you over 🙂 I like tugging in training but I definitely do NOT want him pulling you over or wrenching your shoulders.Yes, I have totally had dogs give me the big “no thanks” when it comes to toys. I might ask again in that moment or try to move the toy… but, like you, I don’t force it. Forcing the tugging is not fun for anyone and it is definitely not a reinforcement at that point. So, if it happens, I will go to food and then try to figure out how to make the toy more interesting in that moment or when food is around. And if the dog’s belly is full… I just end the session. My dogs tend to be bottomless pits in terms of food so I usually just set a timer. They can eat non-stop LOL
TracyHi!
She did really well here!!!! Lovely understanding of entries and staying in. And, interestingly, she is following pretty much the exact progression of my medium sized dog, Hot Sauce. That makes things easier because Hot Sauce is 2 weeks ahead based on me starting the filming 2 weeks before class started haha!
So the reason I bring it up is that Keiko’s understanding is spot on: get in, stay in from pretty much anywhere and no matter what you do. YES! Love that! She is still sorting her striding out and based on where the weave are here, she should be striding. But she is thinking so deeply about getting it right that sometimes she strides, sometimes she changes her rhythms. That is exactly what my pup was doing.Here is what got the striding: for the next 2 sessions (whenever the rain stops, she needs a couple of days off from weaving anyway) with the poles in this setup or maybe one tiny bit tighter – do fast & furious top of the clock entries only. Any entry between 10 o’clock and 2 o’clock starting from a tunnel or far back. Without having to think as hard about the entries, she will be able to start feeling the rhythm and get into the regular groove of the striding. At that point: we can go back to the harder angles. She is doing so well with the harder angles that I don’t mind shifting focus to the striding/. You’ll see more of that in the videos coming Monday 🙂
And when she has the striding for 4 poles and they are almost closed, we will probably be spending next week on 6 poles (and once she has 6 poles, 12 is very easy to get to). Exciting times ahead!
Great job 🙂 Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
Both games are going well here 🙂
The hop on cookies for the elevator game will basically buy you time to be ready with all of the mechanics, now that he is pretty eager to get on the board LOL! And they will help when you start to lift the board for Elevator Game 2. And I think he is ready for that, both the lifting and then adding in you moving forward (but start that while the board is still low).
Was he scratching the end of the board during the countdown?? LOL I guess that is the equivalent of forward focus hahaha! He looks really good here, he was even being pushy 🙂 so you will be able to add levels petty quickly.>>I don’t have the teeter outside yet so it’s hard to add in Nemo in the basement,>>
Yeah, normally I would bug you about getting the teeter outside but it is SNOWING there so… stay inside hahaha Tell Mother Nature to BEHAVE please, no more snow or cold!
He did a great job here and you can release to his breakfast on some of the reps (maybe spoon some into a smaller bowl so you can do more than one rep). Note him licking his lips at the end as you sent him into target position – helllooooo Pavlov! Perfect!
The height of the board is really good, so I think the next steps are to add you moving past the end as the board drops, adding more speed to your motion and challenging him to hit and hold end position.
And then we start fading the target 🙂Great job here!!! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi! You can totally cherry pick! It keeps things fresh 🙂
>>He LOVES the MM, so this is probably making it a bit more difficult than if I used the tunnel.>>
Ha! Yes, the tunnel is probably easier for baby dogs. He did well! His questions were good ones, based on the cues he was reading. I think he was 100% accurate – here’s why:
>>When I do this, given that we are practicing the come in and go out like in a serp or threadle, I should be turning him away from me to finish instead of what I did, shouldn’t I? So, in the first set of reps where he started to my left (right on video), I was finishing by rotating him around me to my right. Afterwards, I realized that I should probably have continued traveling in a straight line or even showed him handling to go away from me after passing the wing. Is this correct, or am I making something out of nothing?>>
You are correct – maintain the upper body serp cue and reward with the other hand for going back out. That will accomplish the serp lines and also keep your cues clear. Get started by standing still and not letting your shoulders move at all, until he is eating from the reward hand. Then you can add motion, but your feet do all the moving and your upper body remains in that rotated position. Early in the video, he was going directly to the MM on a couple of reps – that was when your dog side shoulder was closing forward, ending up perpendicular to the jump, so he was correct to stay on the line to the MM based on the physical cue (:13, :21 for example). When your shoulders stayed open, he was really strong coming in on the serpentine. Yay!
The other thing you can do is reward with the MM! You can move it a little further past the wing and then as you hold serp position: if he comes in, you can click it and send him to it. Here is a video with more of that visual with the MM, plus some motion. You should be able to see that ‘frozen’ upper body and how it elicits the come in- go out moves from the dog:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gkoNPCHtFwI
Great job! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi! He is lining up beautifully! Great job! Even from the other obstacles: he took the moment to square up his rear before driving up the board. Perfect! This game can go into a rotation that you play every couple of weeks or so, you don’t have to do it that often.
For now, move to the Elevator Game Part 2 and keep fading the target on the downhills and bang game.Great job here!
TracyHi! It is fun to watch him work, so I am glad the feedback is fun too 🙂
On this video:
Ha! A good challenge for him, finally. He has been so perfect that he was making my brain have a strain trying to add some challenge.
I love this setup for him, it simulates the teeter on course! Great job! He was starting to get it but also had several glorious failures of the crimes of passion variety.You can do 2 things at the start of the next session:
use you plank like it is a bang game, where he is just jumping on at the end. That will allow for a ton of quick reinforcement. Then, add in motion: just walking at first. When you were running, he forgot to stop LOL!! So add in motion slowly. When he can do that with the obstacle distractions, you can add in the full plank with you walking, then build that to running the full course and stopping on the plank. It might take a session or two but I think he will get it nicely 🙂Great job! Let me know what you think!
TracyYay! I think you might’ve felt like you were fighting with him, and that is never fun.
I know a lot of people who tell me that a dog should not bark in his stay on the start line. So I ask, “why not, if everything else is perfect?” and they have no answer. LOL! Same with Voodoo’s weave shrieks. So rather than look at the one behavior (barking) that we are highly unlikely to be able to change, let’s look at what we can shape and reinforcement and maintain criteria: foot position, head, butt. He can do whatever he wants to do with his vocal cords, as long as he doesn’t move from the stay. I mean, if he wants to croon a Bruno Mars tune as you lead out – by all means, have at it, just hold the stay til released LOL!
>>He is such a happy, biddable, focused, hard working boy>>
Yes, all this, plus an excellent singing voice and lots of opinions. Also, fast. The excitement on the start line is translating into speed on course, and he is still in his ‘slow’ stage at just 14 months old.
>> I knew I had to make peace with this element of his personality now before I risked hurting our relationship and his joy for work.>>
That element of his personality is the same one that brings all of his speed over jumps and through tunnels, as well as his complete confidence on the teeter (I mean, he is one of the most confident dogs ever on all these crazy teeter games). So think of the start line as the start of the teamwork, and you’ll find the routine that works for you both!
THi!
Terrific work on all 3 of these videos!Downhills – it cracks me up that he is not patient, wants to start, and leaps on the teeter and runs up it without you, no matter where the tip is LOL! It shows good confidence!
Great job here – I think the target is in a good place, your motion was spot on, and he didn’t look for MTFM (Mama The Food Machine) until he was fully into end position. Yes, keep the visible target for another session or two, then go back to fading it. I think you can also lower the top end of the board on the Teach It a little more too!Rebound – he was a wild man leaping into position!! What a nut, in a great way! And he was fine with the rebound game, because… cookies. I am super thrilled that nothing seems to worry him at this point. Yay!
Elevator – Also looking great! I think you were not quite sure where the hop on reward cookie came in the order of festivities, so it was moving around and he didn’t get a chance to focus on the target as the countdown was ending before the drop of the board. You can see if this order feels more comfy: hop on cue, cookie for hopping on, countdown starts (and cookie moves away) then target cue then drop the board. You will probably see him start to look for the target as you are n the middle of the countdown and as the teeter goes away.
Onwards to Elevator 2 which adds more height and your motion! Elevator 2 becomes pretty important in coming weeks, and allows us to merge several tracks into the finished teeter. Fun times ahead!Great job! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
Very nice session here! I think he is beginning to really solidify what the end position is! Things are going to move pretty fast now. So at this height of the board, add more of the handling challenges – the main ones being that you can continue to move for several steps after he stops in position, you can send him ahead, and you can do crosses while he is getting into position. And also, be sure to not stop as he stops, we don’t want him to rely on body cues to stop – I tell myself to keep moving for 2 more steps after I am sure the dog has chosen to stop 🙂 At first, your movement will be slow walking but then we can build up to going pretty fast! When he is very successful with the challenges and you can job past… then we add more tip 🙂
Great job! Let me know what you think!Hi! He is doing a great job here!!
>> I loved the rep where I had the lousy throw and he stayed in the poles instead of coming out to get the toy >>
Yes! That was a HUGE moment in sports history!!! It was almost a proofing game. Good boy!!!!
As he gets more experience on the channels, and you work both sides, you can change the reward placement: rather than having it at the end, you can carry it and throw it! The throws can be early at first but then you can throw right before he exits. That helps fade the ‘reward target’.
One other small detail: When he misses the entry – don’t run to the end, I think he takes that as affirmation he was correct so he was not sure why he was wrong. You can call him right back out, even if he goes to the toy first. Missed entry = momma stops and calls.
Great job here! I think this will be fun to work on at home too 🙂
Tracy
Hi!
>>I moved the tunnel around some more, and moved the poles a bit closer, both sideways, and closing the gap between them a bit. They are definitely straighter than 1 and 7. We’re getting pretty close to straight. But I just nudged them a bit.>>
Yes! Looking really good – accurate AND good striding, from the different angles. I think the next session should be everything the same *except* the poles are a little tighter. What I would do is put poles 1-2 straight, and maybe open 3-4 a little bit to make that variable easier as the first variable gets harder. If that is fine and happy, you can start to put 3-4 to harder angles. Then in following sessions – both bases go straight, but as that variable gets harder, move them further apart so she has more time to balance. It will probably take 3 to 5 sessions or so to get 4 straight poles at proper distance (so, basically, this time next week).
>>I was pleased with her performance. I crowded her on her first run and she zigged and hit the pole.>>
Yes – I think that she hit the pole when you got excited and started the throw. She didn’t do that on any other reps.
>> I had to include the one self-offered weave set. She cracks me up! >>
Yes! It was funny! And it was a threadle side entry, a hard one. She was showing off LOL!
>> It will be interesting when we add more poles….
Next week, we go to 6 poles 🙂 The videos are loaded and ready!
>> She begs every day to go to the field, and now the first thing she does is run to the poles and weave.>>
Ha! Don’t let her sucker you into too many sessions. One of my dogs goes and stands next to the channels and another goes and stands on the top of the teeter. LOL! Let to them, the dogs would do weaves every day all day, especially for the toys 🙂
Great job here! Let me know what you think and fingers crossed for good weather!
Tract
