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Good morning!
I agree, I don’t think she realized it was about the target 🙂 She was offering the down and looking at you, so it was more about the momma 🙂 When you did the intro familiarization session, was it on a plank? On the foot targeting for the 4on, I think you can help her out by making the target a bit bigger and more obvious, like the strips of tape over a think piece of cardboard or wood (arts and crafts! LOL!). And then have her hit it with her front feet, then run and hit it and lie down on it. That way you can move the little strip all around and she will go target it in different places.
And if you have a travel plank or something, or even a square platform or wobble board – you can put the target on the end of that and work those that on the plank or wobble board. That will allow her to see that it is all about the target and NOT about where the momma is 🙂
Somewhere in there, she will have a lightbulb moment and will be able to hit her position with the target no matter where you are or what you are doing.
Then it can go back onto the teeter 🙂You can see the general ideas with my smallest dog and her tape strip on the plank and also the bigger white target on the wobble board (that big white target is a leftover face mask, so it is a little elevated LOL!).
let me know if that makes sense! Yowza is a confident lady on the teeter so as soon as she realizes that the target means do the thing independently, it is going to be a fast progression. So playing with that concept away from the teeter will get it in place, and you can keep moving forward with the other games too.
Nice work!
TracyOoooooh brilliant tip about the cream cheese chunks!! Thank you! I was using the tub of it and the girls thought it was great. Contraband actually ran away from it in horror the first time – I think it was because he had just been to the vet for a curbside rabies vaccination and they use cream cheese for the dogs when they are in the building. So he must have associated the cream cheese with the horror of leaving da momma and getting the shot. Whippety dogs are very dramatic LOL!
The bang game looks really good! He is getting on and focusing on the task while getting on. I do like that you were mixing up the reinforcement a bit, as he does like to watch the hand moving. I would say the one reinforcement moment you want to avoid is releasing him when he is looking at you. So how to get that behavior? The frisbee was getting it, in terms of allowing you to have the reward out ahead (or sometimes from hand) but with MUCH less looking at yo mixed in. YAY! You can use your magic frisbee target (with or without a pre-placed cookie, sometimes you can release to the target then toss the cookie to it). And you can also have a toy on the ground out ahead. Or the MM, but I agree – other reinforcement systems are good tp play with!
So keep going with the Fritz target out there or a toy, all the time – eventually that will be replaced by obstacles 🙂Your mechanics look solid here so now start to add in the challenges of moving past and crosses, etc. – all with the target out ahead to help keep him looking forward. Then you will be able to add more tip.
Based on what we know of his confidence, I figure one or two short sessions with movement challenges, then add more tip, then a couple of sessions of different challenges, then more tip 🙂 And probably by the end of the week, depending on life schedules LOL you can have a lot of action and tip in the bang game.
Great job here!!!
TracyGood morning!
Uphills: I think he was getting more and more confident going up the teeter to enjoy the entire charcuterie you put up there for him LOL! Looks like the same amount of tip through the week? You can add a little more and do the same fun fun fun high value one hit wonder sessions. And keep using the tugging before, he seems to really get happy with that!!!
Backing up – good for him! He was really good with finding the board and pushing it down with each individual foot. And interestingly, he didn’t ‘lead’ with one foot each time, yo can see him push the board down with the left and the right at different times (although I do think the preferred the left foot by the end of the session). That is great that he was balanced enough to do it with both feet. You can leave this game where it is in terms of height of the board – the only thing to add is doing it in different places 🙂
Plank with target 1: I like this! You got it rolling in front of him then you moved gradually off to the side. And note how he was focusing on the target before you sent him to it. He was really good about hitting the position, too! And you adding standing up, which is one of the things I was planning to suggest as a next step.
Question: what were you saying as the cue? It sounded like break, the release but maybe not? If it was break, you can switch to your target cue now. if it was your target cue, then carry on LOL!Plank 2: this is what I was going to suggest as a next step – you being off to the side and standing. And it sounds like you added “bang” as the target cue: perfect! So – now that he is doing so nicely, you can move this to the bang game pre-game on the plank, where you have him off to the side, on the ground (not on the plank) but right near the end. Then you have him “leap” on into position at the end of the board, using the bang cue, while you gradually introduce the various challenges like moving past, doing crosses, etc.
Balance plank: He seems happy here and thoughtful. On this game, see if you can get him running up the board – probably with you running alongside 🙂 You can totally have the treat already on the balance equipment so that he stops on it at the end. It is the type of thing that you can revisit maybe once a week, just as a balance game and to keep the joys of weight shift fresh in his mind 🙂
Downhills: I like that he is doing some plankrobatics on the board to get on. he is also driving straight down the board, through the tip, and there is a significant amount of drop. I also think the food reward pales in comparison to the toy so he was looking at you and asking that question about the cookie LOL! So we can work out how to get the reinforcement to work more for him: you can do high value food and not have the toy in the picture (you can play tug to start and then set it aside for the actual session). Or, place the toy on the target at the end and see if he will drive down the board thoughtfully to the toy (and not leap like a wild man for it :)) Because it is a value building game, we don’t want him to say that the cookies have no value in that moment, so I am happy to look for different reinforcement strategies. He is looking really confident, so I think you can add more tip as soon after we sort out the reinforcement.
Great job here!!! He is making strong progress in all of the games!
TracyGood morning! He looks fast and confident here! He was super about driving straight through to the end. No problem! At this tip, add in more of your moving past the board, some crosses at the end, and also the wing before it and the rear crosses. All of those are designed to help him drive up and stop at the end, even as you are moving faster and faster. He likes to go fast when you go fast LOL So you can gradually add more and more of your speed so he gets the idea to stop while you run 🙂
Great job!!! It is fun to see him looking so confident!
TracyHi! Both of these sessions look regally good!
On the 2x2s, you can incorporate the toy along with the MM – the MM is out there and sometimes you click it, but you are also carrying the toy and sometimes throw it, or sometime mix it in after she gets the MM reward. Based on the channels session, the toy is not a distraction to her so you can mix it into the 2x2s as well. The MM can be a reward and also, for now, a focal point to keep reminding her to look forward.Also on the 2x2s: I think she is ready for the 2 poles to be straight, she was fast and accurate with the entries here! The only suggestion is that as she comes back to you after the reward, take a moment to reset, take a breath, then send her. That is so she can re-focus on it and tighten her bend on the left side entries (she was hitting them and going a little wider than needed) and also so she can think about not hitting the poles on the right side entries. That moment of stopping for a few seconds will let her plan her attack 🙂 especially on straight poles.
Her ‘get in, stay in’ on the channels is looking great! I think she was perfectly fine with just about every crazy thing you did except some of the left side lateral distance sends. So revisit those with a little less motion during the next session, and I am sure you can add in more motion on the session after that.
About the toy: yes, it was hard to get the toy in before she looked back at you at the end but it looks like she was looking straight in the poles. Try to get the reward thrown as soon as he left shoulder is at pole 3, and throw it towards the MM each time. And rather than praise, try a marker: something like “get it” so she is cued to drive forward. She is not looking at you in the poles, so I think this will also help keep her from looking at you 🙂
Has she seen 12 poles yet in the channels? I think she is ready 🙂Great job here!
TracyGood morning! He did really well here! He looks totally solid on most of the angles. He is thinking about the really hard angles: he is thinking more on the hard angles on the right side sends but getting them. He is thinking about the hard angels on the left side sends and had some misses. So on those left side sends, you can isolate those to have less motion to let him think for now, then add the motion back.
I think that you can also work those hard left side sends (and all the things, really) in the next strep too: poles 1 and 2 go straight at the 12&6 angle and poles 3 and 4 go wide open to 3&9 for a bit. It looks like poles 1 and 2 are at 1&7 here, so you can move to the next step and isolate those angles.
I like the idea of the find em on the 6 poles before going to 12 – it is a great way to also start to fade the MM!
Great job! Have fun!
TracyHi! I am loving his confidence driving across the board!!! Good boy!! There is a lot more tip and he was still happy to drive across. Good boy! About the fly off moment – I think he is sorting out the weight shift. As he was getting to the end of the board on the other reps, especially when you were running, watch his front end: his head was up and his front legs were straight, which means he was more upright and forward in the weight shift, and not crouched and shifted back into his rear. So, to isolate the crouch and weight shift, you can go to the weight shift game with the plank going up to the peanut or inflatable. And, also focus on the end position games like the bang game, because that really fosters the weight shift.
I am glad his is so confident on the mountain climbers too! That is great! All the pieces are starting to come together. Great job!
TracyHi!
He did really well on the bang game!!! I agree – I think he is pretty happy with this game 🙂 One thing to try – move the food bowl target one inch further away to give him more room for his front feet, as that might help him be perfect in the 2o2o and not stop in 4on.
You can add a little more tip here! When you add more tip, yo can also go to starting him very close to the end of the board, so he has to leap onto the end without a running start – this builds strength and balance into it, which is perfect for this stage.
While I am thinking of it – when you start to fade the target, you can replace the bowl with gradually smaller pieces of aluminum foil 🙂He did well with the downhills with all that tip! Driving ahead of VERY difficult at this stage – I was just thinking that maybe the ball would be useful and then you added it 🙂 And then when you were throwing it at the end, he liked that too 🙂 You can try leaving it on the target plate for him to run to: worst case scenario is that it bounces off, and he chases it LOL!
I suggest a couple more sessions at this level of tip with the downhills… then onwards to the downhills to the ground and end position! Yay!!!! On those, move with him rather than send so his drive across the board is supported by body language.
Great job!
TracyOoh, he was cuckoo here in a GOOD way! The toy play and quick releases add a lot of excitement! Because he left the end position several times when you were running, do some “fake” running – be exciting verbally, lean in, pump your arms… but just walk 🙂 That will split the excitement a bit, so he will be more likely to be able to be excited AND be correct on the downhills.
Then when he can do it with you fake running, we start to add back real running 🙂 That way you can get all the passion he had here plus the accuracy.
The bang game looks really strong – yes, you had a little too much giddy up on a couple of reps, but overall he was super – so add a little more tip next time 🙂
Great job here!
TracyAwesome!!!!! Good boy!!!!! You don’t need the MM for the channels- the pre-placed toy is good, or you can have a target and throw the toy… or if he is looking ahead, he doesn’t even need the target! You can just go to throwing the toy 🙂 Great job!
TracyI am hoping it warms up SOOOOON!!!!! Ready for spring. And I think the value for the MM will come back, the liverwurst is a great idea!!!
Hi! Hope you are having a good weekend!
>> Looking forward to see what you have for us on Monday! It was so funny to get to the end of the write-up on exercise #7 and to read your comment about “now go on to track #7!” Hmmmm….circular thinking? 😉>>>
Ha! Probably an error in proof reading. I will take a look 🙂
>>Question – are you getting any other courses set to go? Since the weaves are best with breaks in between sessions, I was wondering what other classes are coming up. Keiko said she wants MORE>>
Right now, the next handling class is the CAMP class, but that is in June. I am planning on doing a “Pandemic puppy engagement games” class sometime before then, to help the pups get out to the new places with focus – probably in May? I will be looking at the calendar for that later this week 🙂
T
Hi, long time no see LOL!
He did great here! Yes, there was legit weaving happening!!! Because of his size, he should do the 2 leg bounce. When you watch the demos, watch Hot Sauce’s work because she is similar in size and build. Getting him to single stride ‘swim’ the poles is possible but it would slow him waaaay down because he would have to reach – the bounce will be easier and faster.
So on the next session, everything the same as you had here except show him harder angles at the ‘bottom’ of the clock: 8-7-6 and 3-4-5. If he can do the harder entries with motion for 2 short sessions: tighten the poles after that. Yay! And then I am confident he will be weaving, so we then slow the progression down so we don’t overwork him.Great job here!!!!
TracyHi!
Yes – think of your fingertips pointing back to her toes 🙂 And the verbals will totally help too! Keep me posted on how she does on the other games.
TracyGood morning!
Nice arm swoosh on the wraps in the proofing game, note how she had no questions about going to the wing! Yay! When rewarding her, be sure to present the toy low and keep moving, letting her get it – you were moving away but pulling the toy up, so she is beginning to leap for it and that can lead to leaping elsewhere on course. So a nice low toy and letting her get it will help that out a lot.
On the rights – yes, what a difference on the turns on the tunnel exit! The camera is in a great position: we can see you doing the physical and verbal cue before she enters, and then we can see how nicely she is turning on the exit 🙂 Happy dance!
She had a question about committing to the wing with you that far away – mainly because your arm was way up and it was rotating your shoulders away so she was not sure if she should follow you or take the wing. The arm a little lower, maybe more at waist-height and definitely no higher than your shoulder, will help clarify that for her.Course 2A:
Your arms were more shoulder height her and it really helped! The first run was really strong! On the 2nd and 3rd run, your right cues were a little late so she went straight (good girl, she was correct to read the physical cue that way) So as she exits the wrap on the wing, connect like you did (it was lovely!) and accelerate out of it, so I you then have time to decel and step away from the right before she goes into the tunnel.2B:
I think one thing that can help get the right turns tighter are if you accelerate into the GO for the tunnel before it, which will get her driving out faster (as soon as she exits the wing like at :07 and :27 you can accelerate and start saying go go go). That will put you in a better position for the straight ahead wing, so you can then leave it sooner and give her the right cues sooner.
I don’t think she has any trouble turning right, I just think that on this particular course, cuing the right turn is harder than cuing the left turns out of the tunnels 🙂 You can also draw a line in the footing to help remember where you need to give her the cue (3 to 5 feet in front of the tunnel entry). When she gets it there, the turn is really lovely!Great job here! Let me know what you think!
Tracy
