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Hi again!
THis session was blended a couple of different games – for the motion override element of him being able to respond to verbals while the arousal is higher and you are moving? He is doing really well! You were able to be moving and ask for several different things, no problem 🙂 You can add more motion – faster walking, jogging, etc – as well as take this to new places. When you are adding more motion, continue to have the treats in your hands like you did here. We can fade them out later on.
For the walking into the ring element: you don’t need to add motion but you can isolate the skill more specifically by teaching him how to do it without the food in your hands or pouch on your waist. From what I can see, that is the hardest moment for most dogs: outside the ring, we have food in our hands. In training we have food and toys and cookie pouches on us. Then at a trial? We have nothing, Eek!
He is able to do these tricks really well on leash while you are moving (when entering the ring, the motion override element is not all that important, so you can be standing still if you like).So now the next step is to be able to have all of this after letting him see you put the treats and pouch down and move away from it. You can warm him up with the treats right there, then make a big to-do about putting them down and taking off the pouch – then walk away doing a trick (you have a good list!). When he can move away and do that trick – mark it and run back to the cookie rewards. For now, try moving away and doing just 1 trick for 1 reward. Then we can build it up to an entire progression.
I am not sure yet whether he will do better on the way to the start line by doing all sorts of tricks, or if he is more of an ‘all business’ type of dog who wants to run to the line, get set, and go. We will figure that out in a couple of weeks when he is able to leave treats behind him in new places to do tricks and stuff without them 🙂
Nice work here! Let me know what you think!Tracy
Hi!
He is doing well with these! The sits and downs are easier (you don’t need to do sit-then-down, one or the other is good) so keep adding more motion. The turns are harder but he got better and better as he realized what the game was all about. You had a good reward when you were moving pretty fast and he was only able to turn his head away (and not do the full spin) – you rewarded that and then he was able to nail the next one. Yay!This is a good game to take on the road – start by moving slowly again because a new environment will be so much more distracting – but if you can generalize his processing of verbals even in arousal, you will see him be able to take that into the ring as well!
Nice work 🙂
TracyHi!
>>Along the way, I need to make going into the ring more fun and helping him to not get stressed out. As far as tricks and treats go before a run, that is fine. As far as running to get our special treats at our crate after a run, that is well understood and dynamic and fun.
I try to practice a lot with out treats on me so that we can do tricks in the ring. Sometimes, he can do tricks in the ring, eg, “Kazoom!”, where he jumps up in front of me.>>I think the combination of him knowing where the rewards are and figuring out what he needs on the way to the start line will really help. More on that in future weeks but for now working on the acclimation games and the rewards -outside-the-ring games will really help.
>>Perhaps, this fact finding mission at the Regionals will help me to know which tricks will be easy for him to do as we walk up to the start line!!!>>
Yes – which ones are most useful and which ones are too hard or not useful. Consider it a data collection adventure!
>>And PS! We are going to a UKI trial at Amanda Shyne’s a week from tomorrow and then the next day a USDAA Trial at Amanda’s..all outside. Nuptse is pretty happy there!
That is great! Are they going to have a food reward box at the UKI trial? Fingers crossed! And if not… ask them to have one 🙂 It is incredibly useful for food-driven dogs like Nuptse.
T
Good morning!
Another good session here!The sit looks really strong on just the verbal. The spin is a little weaker as you mentioned, so you can strengthen it to be more ‘verbal-only’ by saying the verbal, waiting a heartbeat, then giving the hand cue. That will give the verbal more strength because it predicts the hand cue so she will start to respond to just the verbal – we humans tend to say the cue AND do the hand signal simultaneously, so the dog cues off the hand and not the verbal.
You can definitely get a little wilder with the sit cue, adding motion! And back in puppy class we did do some motion override, so you can refresh that and add more motion there too (great for hallways during a monsoon :))
>>, but Daddy was walking down the stairs right past us as we worked
“The Daddy” is a big distraction, I feel that pain LOL!!!! But what a useful distraction 🙂 You can play the Up & Down game that you worked on with the daddy walking in and out and all around – that might be a great high distraction application for it 🙂
Great work here! Let me know how the next steps go!
TracyHi again!
Yes, this is looking good too! The bag of treats provide a little bit of challenge but then I think she was fully on board – yes, she took a peek at the friz towards the end but she was inches from it – then was able to look away from it. Perfect! And it seems like she ignored her sisters and any sad noises too. LOL! Great job – onwards to part 3 🙂T
Good morning!
We had a little bit of monsoon here yesterday; I hope it passes quickly for you!
This first part went really well – easy peasy! The look on her face was a bit shocked at how easy it was LOL! She won’t want to look away and that is fine, keep rewarding 🙂 I think you were quietly saying ‘get it’ and that is great too.I realize there is an additional application for this game – yes, we use it in general in the new trial environments, but you can also use it as part of your teeter training. If I recall correctly, she does not yet love the teeter in new places – so you can play this game near the teeter (so the area near the teeter becomes a VERY happy place) and then do one rep of a teeter game – then back to this game 🙂 It will make the entire area into a very positive place and she will be more relaxed about the teeter training in general.
Great job! Onwards to part 2!
Tracy
Hi!
I agree – his commitment to the lines and obstacles looked great!!! The session went really well 🙂 A couple of ideas for you:On the opening line, lead out a little more so you can push more across 2-3 at :11 so he makes the turn to look at 3 before takeoff. He has to turn left to get to 3, so he was a little zig zaggy here based on your position and that changed the 3-4 line too.
He was almost perfect in that first set of weaves! So close! He came out when you crossed, which means he was watching your motion a little too much. Smart to open up the last poles – he might also need a reward target to keep his head down and forward – place reward out past the end of the poles so he doesn’t look at you at all.
In order to be successful, he needs to look away from you into the gap to make the last weave. When he was missing (you saw some of the misses but carried on with a couple of the others) it was because he was looking at you and not away from you – reward placement will help fix that. You can reward out poast the last poles and also over-compensate the placement so it is actually on the *other* side of the poles, opposite of you and not towards you, to help convince him to not look at you 🙂
The weave poles were what was messing up the next line a little – you got out of position (too far away_ to get the backside at :23, and on the next rep you got a little past the tunnel so your convergence back towards it caused him to accelerate past the jump after it. No worries – it is the weave independence that will make it easier for you to get up there really easily.
Really great blind out of the tunnel after the teeter at 1:14 and it set up a really good line to the frame! Nice wrap on the jump after it but you never never quite got connection so he didn’t commit to your right side, then you were turning away when you cued the tunnel so he didn’t know which side of the tunnel so decided to follow your motion (a good decision).
Super interesting that the ‘feet’ cue is kinda of mandatory on the frame! That is great info and will help him be consistent on the frame.
Good job training the skills at the end! Good reward placement for the weaves, a great place for your zing cue :)! If you watch in slow motion there, you can see him wanting to look at you after pole 7 or so and having to really think about looking away for the poles! You don’t have to throw the reward straight as if it is landing at pole 13 or something – you can throw it to help him continue to turn away, so you’ll almost be throwing it towards the camera/lower left corner of the screen.
On the teeter at the end, e definitely want to figure out rewards so he doesn’t look at you. We already know he will basically ignore the empty target – so you can leave treats there on the target to get him in the habit of looking down. Or, you can leave a MM or toy straight out past it- and this is where you verbals get really useful: Your release word would mean “exit teeter and carry on” and your ‘zing’ cue would indicate drive to the reward. That will keep him driving to the end of the board and not trying to be sideways towards you. And when you use the zing, it is the release, no need for a yes then a release before it (those cause him to look at you which we want to convince him to not do).
Great job here!!! You mentioned this being above his pay grade but the handling elements are all totally in his wheelhouse! Getting the skills even more independent will help make the whole thing easier 🙂
TracyHi!
>> I forgot that she should have been sitting to the side of me when I was asking for her stationary and moving positions.>>
For this, she could be in front of you – we only need her on your side when you get to the Motion Override games.
>> I also realised watching the video back that the commands sounded similar! Mat (down) and Back (spin to the left),
Maybe a little? You can try stretching out the mat cue (make it sound American: mAAAHt, through your nose hahahahaha) and keep back as a shorter word – so the “b” is more emphasized and the AAAA of mat is more emphasized?
I thought the session went really well – not incredibly hard for her, but with enough challenge that she really had to think and she wasn’t perfect. And your energy was awesome – it really kept her engaged and probably helped keep you warm too LOL!
>> I also have to use a hand cue for the spin. I used catch to throw the reward to her and get it for her to come forward to take it from me.
We can fade the hand cue for this, I believe: say the verbal and then wait a beat and then do the hand – the new cue (verbal) will predict the old strong cue )hand) and she will pick it up quickly. They were simultaneous here which might be why she wasn’t responding unless you used the hand cue (verbal not as strong as the physical cue, which is something we see on the agility course too! )
>>I didn’t use a reward cue when she came around the wing. I feel like she had patterned the wing wrap as I asked for left and then right and it was predictable.
Yeah, that was really easy for her. You can mess with her: keep moving the whole time and send to the wing wrap – but keep moving and either say your reward cue OR say another wrap cue. Her brain might explode haha!!
She is definitely ready for the motion override with the mat cue, and you can add the back cue when she is a little better at not needing the hand cue.
>>It was super hard to resist saying the command more than once.
Totally relatable! It is SO hard to just wait!!
>> Interestingly she could do the stationary position when I was moving quite a lot, but the moving position was hard for her.
That seems consistent with what the dogs do in general – the stationary position is easy but the moving cue is much harder. It could be that we all taught the stationary cues earlier and also we taught them better. And it might also be that the processing of staying in motion while we are in motion is more difficult for the dogs… which would directly relate to why verbal turn cues and running contacts are more difficult.
Great job here! Keep me posted on how she does with the motion override games!
TracyHi!
>>Ha! Ok, it never really useless to teach something new. Every time I find myself feeling that way, I laugh, and then I teach her how to close a door or put “a thing in a thing” more useless skills (kinda like me knowing lyrics to all the songs ever…what good is that?!?!)>>
Knowing all of the song lyrics is good for ALL the things LOL!!!
>>Anyway….having a marker that says “right..let’s go get the goods” is a good idea, no matter where we may or may not use it. So we will !>>
Perfect!
>>Speaking of ring transition and what-not….I worked an agility trial a few weeks ago, and was a bit dismayed by the number of Masters dogs that loped through the first 2/3 of the course, then barreled through the end. Course design might have something to do with it–so many courses have a last, fast line out. But it seems like there might be more to it. That’s where the reward is? Dogs learn to count? Something? Seems like a good thing to try to avoid in training. I imagine you have a plan for that.>>
That is a spot-on observation. That is an issue that stems from a value issue: the value of entering the ring and the value of running the first 2/3rds of the course without obvious reinforcement (and there is a lot of pressure, which is punishing) is too low, so the dogs are, at best, lopey. The value of the last section of the course is higher because of the positive reinforcement of moving towards and getting the cookie… along with the negative reinforcement which is the removal of the pressure of being in the ring and moving away from reward without any obvious reinforcement.
There is always a plan! Getting the dog happy in the start line is one important piece of it, and also getting the dog to love running the course itself and truly understand the behavior (fluency) without needing the primary positive reinforcement in the beginning – which comes from using a lot of primary positive reinforcement to build a positive conditioned response 🙂 I would venture to guess that dogs that are lopey are not truly fluent.
You and Winnie looked great here!!! You were SUPER connected and she was very speedy! I love it! A couple of ideas for you:
On that very first wing wrap at the beginning, you can start on the other side and FC the wing to keep her tight, or send with a verbal wrap cue (I think you were quiet there). You used left later on and she did well! She also drove up the teeter really well – I think you can leave a target out there to help her – and if there was a target there and she was ignoring it, leave a reinforcement on the target (or past it, to release her to it) to help remind her to step all the way into position before she thinks about you. That will help make the teeter perfect, then we can fade the target.
The weave at :52 too funny: “where is my reward, human?!?” And that opens up one more thing to add: a verbal cue for “reward is available out there” versus the name call when you wanted to continue. She was definitely used to having the reward there (which is why her weaves looked really lovely!) so the different verbals will help: you can say something like “get it” as she is finishing the weaves to mean the reward is out there, versus her name to mean “find your line”. That should get rid of the hesitations there and later after you did the rear cross (which looked great, by the way – nice independence there at 1:20!)
2nd & 3rd weave rep: really nice lateral distance on the weaves!!! Having the weaves a bit open to help her refresh those skills was smart, she was really successful! Yyou can stay more on the center of the bar of the jump after the weaves as you move away laterally, to set a sweet turn 3-4 – no need to go past it then push back to 4.
On the bigger sequences at the end: 1-4 looked great – to make the handling simpler, you can do a spinny move to keep her on your left as she exits the wrap at 1:39. I know spins don’t often feel simpler, but it will keep your running line on the inside (closer to the weaves) which will help her find that line smoothly and you won’t have to outrun her to the last jump – plus it will be a tighter line for her. You had really nice decel at 1:52 on the way to 2! She is turning really well there! And the last sequence was lovely as well – your connection to her looks fabulous and she has picked up a new gear of speed since I saw her last!!! Yay!!!
Great job here! And let me know what you think!
TracyHi there!
>>Using “sit” for the stationary behavior. And a mix of Flip (spin left) and Turn (spin right) for the moving behavior (because I don’t like being one-sided when traing them!)>>
These looked good! Kaladin’s response when you first added the hand motion (jazz hands!) and asked for the turn is exactly why we play this game and you get bonus points for doing it outside in public! Ha! He definitely had to sit and process for a moment… but he did well figuring it out! And he was able to figure out the wing wrap with jogging in place . You can see the delay in processing – so interesting, but it really helps explain why dogs have trouble with verbals on course. Now, time to get crazier with the parts that were easy here! Jumping jacks, running, etc as well as the motion override element. Just be careful that the weaves are not too close for now, it was hard for him to figure out if it was weaves or wing towards the end when you were doing the lalala cue: interesting that he chose weaves at first! A good insight into value!
His 12 weaves are looking really good too – good rhythm, strong entries, and you are able to run. Yay!!!!
Min also did really well – you can definitely get crazier with her, she is more experienced with putting up with the insane things that humans do hahaha! And when you did get a little crazier, she had to take the extra moment to process and that is good! Just be sure to give her a couple of extra seconds to allow her to process when you are wilder with your motion. The more she learns to process quickly, the faster she can process on course.
Another interesting insight from Kaladin – I think Kal had trouble staying in his spot when you did a big “YES!” verbal and that is something to know for training him: he finds it stimulating and a drive to momma marker. So with Min you can have your placement markers more than the big YES – which will also bring more clarity for her.>>>Still need to post my verbals, but here’s what I’m using for the wing:
Check-check – wrap right
Dig Dig – wrap left
Lalala – backside slice
circle-circle – backside 360
Catch (catch food or toy)
Grab it (grab toy in my hand – think I forgot it a few times)
X (treat delivered to mouth)>>All good verbals here – you probably don’t need to do the lalala without the bar there to slice, but the others work perfectly for this game.
>>In other news, I had great success this morning on our walk by tossing the first treat off the path as we were moving. He stayed calm for dogs going by about 10ft away. Sometimes he stared at the dog heading away from him for a while, but I waited him out. He also looked quickly back at me when a guy pushing a big stroller went by about 5ft away>>
YAY!!! Would he normally choose to bark or get ramped up? It sounds like he is doing really well!
And I bet you can use it in a class setting – when you are talking to the instructor in those in-between moments, you can help him learn to self-modulate and ignore the instructor with this game.Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyThis is great!!! I’m so glad it is helping. And I respect the dogs getting a little nervous when they enter the ring… I get nervous too! I’m glad she is doing so well!!!!
This is a great question!! I guess it has to do with the goal of the session: which challenge are you presenting? If you are challenging the weave skills, for example: then I would not add any other distractions. If you’ve got a setup where the skills challenges are easy, then you can add a different challenge 🙂 it is a matter of only making one thing harder at a time, if that makes sense 🙂 if I want to focus on the distraction, I’ll make the skills easier.
Hi!
>>Today I pulled out the tire frame and draped a shade cloth over it like a curtain. I used that to keep the sun from shining on the tripod. When we weren’t working, I put the shade cloth over the tripod as well.>>
Brilliant! I am totally going to steal this idea… but it is pouring down rain now. Sigh.
These 2 sessions look really good!
On the first video: where was she going after first tunnel on your left? She was convinced something exciting was out there LOL! The other direction was perfect. And adding motion was perfect and she got even faster. Super! Commitment looks really strong so now, onwards to adding turns!On the 2nd video – you can start to run more for sure, that will help even more!
On the turn cues – you can turn your feet sooner at :08 to give her the wrap cue. Good verbals!!She had a zippy off course at :31 – you had the verbal going but when she landed at :30 you were still facing the tunnel so…. off she went 🙂 Eventually the verbal will get the turn but for now she needs the rotation too.
You were MUCH earlier there at :42, she never considered the tunnel. And the last one at 1:01 was the best one, nice and early!!!
So now you can add more running into it- running will allow you to add deceleration, which will tell her that the turn is coming: so as she is landing from the pinwheel jump, you can be decelerating (and starting the verbal) and then rotating before she takes off for the wrap jump.She had a bar down at the end when you said tunnel as she was jumping, no big deal at the moment but something to keep an eye on it in case we need to work on it specifically.
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi! A couple of ideas for you –
>>I decided I would just lift her off the end but she had a different idea. It was like Ground Hogs Day.>>
LOL! Someday you’ll look back at this can chuckle LOL! If she doesn’t like to be lifted, you can turn her around and lure her off the side with a cookie.
>>She runs to the end great, but she doesn’t want to down with the teeter that high in the air. Every time I asked for the down she would just spin around to run back down (over and over and over).
Train the elements separately before adding them together – she can run up the board, get the cookie, and then you can have her come off. Separately, train her to run to a foot target and move into the down on it – that target then eventually gets added to the end of a teeter. I think what was happening here was that there was a toy there and the down verbal didn’t make sense then the two of you were butting heads a bit. The teeter cue can eventually mean “run to the end and down” so training it separately for now will make it very smooth in the end.
>>I initially taped the spoon from under the teeter. She would go to the end and turn up her nose at the chicken.
That is interesting! Does she normally love the chicken? You can try a meatball or peanut butter? If she normally loves chicken, turning up her nose might be a sign that she is a little uncomfortable.
>>So then, I tried to secure toys at the end… Then I went back to the spoon but taped it on top of the board. It was funny and crazy the amount of time I spent trying to get something rigged hoping she would go to the end and then down.
It is funny! And very creative, you get a click/treat for working to figure out what works best for reinforcement 🙂
Tracy
