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Hi! If you are feeling that this game has a lot of mechanics, you are correct… we humans really need 3 arms for it LOL! You can put the TT out ahead to sometimes release to as the reward, and sometimes reward from your hand (dropping or placing) then release forward to the TT to get him off the board.
I think he is understanding that it is get on the end of the board… but it is easy so he looks at you immediately which might be why it feels like he is curling in and also why it feels like it is hard to get the reward in fast (because he is looking at you while getting into position).
So yes, the TT out ahead will help that because it gives him a focal point. But also – the behavior might be too easy for him. If we add layers to it, he will have more to do and therefore look at you less! Smart dogs need complex behaviors so we can add to it. My 4on dog has that little scratching behavior. Some of the 4on dogs are doing a down. So you can add something and I bet it helps things feel easier.
I know it is counterintuitive to say a more complex behavior is easier, but it is LOL!! Because he has to think more, he won’t be as quick to curl and look at you so you will have more time to get reinforcement in and also to sometimes release him to the TT.
Let me know if that makes sense! You are on the right track for sure!
TracyHi! We generally choose positions based on size and structure of dog, plus what is really clear to the dog because any ‘grey’ areas lead to more arousal and they are harder to teach and maintain. I have found the 2o2o to be the clearest to teach and the easiest to maintain 🙂 And Summit is big enough that the position will be easy for him.
It is totally possible to have different positions on different obstacles – I have running dog walks, running frames, and stopped teeters going with the dogs and they have no problem. With the low platform for the RDW… it might start as all 4 on but I am pretty sure it will progress quickly past that to involve moving? I use a mat and some other props for the RDW where we get all 4 feet involved but then get the dog moving through with all 4 feet, and I imagine the platform has a similar progression.
So if you want a 2o2o, we would use different things, like a target on the ground and a longer plank so it looks different than the RDW platforms, plus different cues to help Summit understand what we want in each moment 🙂 Let me know if that makes sense!
TracyHi!
He is being a good little scratcher 🙂 He didn’t quite use his hind end on the first rep but then was beautiful on the 2nd rep! Try to start him a little lower to the end. Of the board so he can leap into position and not take any steps down – it is a fine line so he doesn’t cheat and skip his hind end use LOL! But you did have some really good reps where he got right into position and did use his rear. Yay!
As you add your motion in, he might hit position but not scratch immediately – you can reward that and then wait for scratching, and reward again. You did that really well at the end of the video. I have found that the scratching will increase pretty naturally as you build it in, and we need to reward that first moment in position as we add new variables so he doesn’t think about it too much.
You can add a little more height here! I think he is ready for that. Great job!
TracyHi! He is doing really well here, that is a significant tip! Super!!!
And I agree, it will get even better when it can get outside: the environment and the use of toys will get him pumped up so you can fade your motion. For now, there is nothing wrong with using motion as a stimulator as long as we also look at fading it when there is more room.>> Do you think it’s better to give him a day or two off on uphill to do some downhill and end position stuff just to let this sink in more before I try this again to confirm it wasn’t a fluke before adding an inch to the tip?>>
Yes – I like to do 2 days between teeter sessions for this reason unless it is a one hit wonder – then I Weill do one rep in the morning and again the next morning. We are getting to the stage where we will have to take a ‘less is more’ approach on the teeter because there is a lot of concussion on the dogs’ bodies as we add more tip and more end position. I’d say that your 2nd rep here let us know if wasn’t a fluke 🙂 So give him a couple of days for latent learning to work and then revisit. And fingers crossed for great weather because it will be fun to get all this outside 🙂
Nice work!!!!
TracyHi! The elevator game is one of the pieces that will put it all together in coming weeks (and also a good arm workout, although Contraband is not as heavy as I thought he was, thank god for whippet bones haha!)
I was thinking about the down – yes we will want him to do a nice quick down but when I think about the entire teeter performance, he won’t be in a down while the board is still all the way up in the air – when he arrives at the top, he will be weight shifting as the board drops and then as the board is maybe a foot off the ground, arriving in the down. Part of that will have to do with the speed at which the board will fall coupled with the mechanics of weight shift and moving into the down – part of that is he won’t be able to balance when the board is that high so he will be riding it down for that heartbeat then shifting into the down just before/as the board hits the ground.
So on the mountain climbers… he is doing well and I would add a bit more tip to it and definitely play on other teeters like you mentioned. He did really well on this video – and I don’t think we need to ask for a faster down in this game. The place to emphasize the down is on the bang game, to convince him to be shifting as the board is falling and arrive in the down just before or simultaneously with the board hitting the ground. Let me know if that makes sense 🙂
So yes, keep adding some tip on the mountain climbers but since he is very confident, the emphasis should shift into the bang game with more height, and the rebound and elevator games too 🙂
He is doing great! Let me know what you think!
TracyOMG that is actually really cool to hear that she was trying to get on the teeter in the warm up area haha! At our UKI trial, we are allowed to put contacts in the warm up area so the young dogs get to train on them a bit – very cool!!!! And I am glad that the lessons are helping to generalize the behaviors, as that is the hardest part! And I am also glad that there is more UKI coming into your area because I highly recommend that the first in-the-ring experience come at a UKI trial with a toy in the ring 🙂
Have fun!
TracyYay, this went well! She seems to prefer the mountain climbers game over the teeter tables game, for whatever reason. It is fine, I think it is a hard game and she is doing well! Nice work getting her recognizing the setup before asking for blast 🙂
One other thing in the ‘think less teeter more’ department is that you can do agility before and after a teeter rep – so with this and with the teeter table game, you can do a tunnel and some jumps, reward, party… then do a teeter rep, reward, party, then agility. For some of her cohorts here, they are doing the tunnel then up the board to the mountain climbers. Wheeee! So you can add some more tip here and also see if you can incorporate it into a little more wildness 🙂 It is hard to use a toy at the end 🙂 but you can try for toy play before and after 🙂Great job!
TracyHi! She did look thoughtful here, meaning that she was trying to sort out where the board was tipping but not actually stopping in the middle. It looks like the weight shift was coming right at the top of the contact zone. So to get her to blast past it, I think we have officially entered “Think less, teeter more” zone LOL!!! If possible, working outside will help because the outside environment is stimulating and she can run around like a wild thing between reps 🙂 And I suggest getting a toy involved (without food, if she can’t alternate easily) so she can run across the board, get her favorite to, run around the yard, then try again. You will get fewer reps this way because toy play takes longer… but she will be thinking about the movement of the board less (you’ll see me using a frisbee with one of my dogs in the demos to get the ‘think less, teeter more’ and it helped turn him into a teeter lunatic LOL!!)
You can use any toy that you think will get her wild and happy. Food tends to foster thinking, so we can shift into the toy lane for now – she is ready for it. 🙂
Nice work!
TracyHi! He is doing really well here! It looked like he was watching you a bit as he drove up the board – if there was a treat there and he was really quick about Slurping it up, you can go to something higher value and sticky, like a dab of peanut butter or cream cheese or squeeze cheese, so he drivs to it more. If there wasn’t a treat there, keep putting it there as you add the variations of position, especially when sending him (that when we was really being sure that you were coming LOL!!!). I don’t think the watching you was concern about the board, I think it was concern about where the cookies were and when they were arriving LOL!! The additional tip was great and he was working through it really well 🙂
Great job! The teach it will help make the changes even more easily, but I am glad that he didn’t seem to mind any of the wiggling of the setup.
TracyHi! How fun that you got to go to a seminar!!! Love it! He is doing really well here, jumping into position with no issues about the movement or noise. Yay!
About the position – I personally prefer the 2o2o for the clarity. And taught with these games, it is also incredibly fast. My BorderJack and BorderStaffy spent their careers doing a 2o2o on the teeter and they are similar in size to Potion. And Hot Sauce is also similar in size and doing a 2o2o. So, I like it! And if Potion prefers it, even better because it is easier to convince him to do it that way LOL! He looked lovely here, especially considering it was a new behavior.
For the targeting – I am a strong proponent of the weight shift and my dogs end up targeting with their head in neutral position like you had here (I start with the target on the ground then when the target gets faded, they keep their heads down and weight shift but don’t tap the ground). The low head position is part of the weight shift (low, a little back, looking down and straight). I have had no problems with my dogs or student dogs shifting forward when starting with the target on the ground The neutral position you had here is where his head will likely end up, maybe a little lower, so it is a good picture of what the final detail would be! Yay! But question… what did MaryEllen say about getting it out of your hand? We can’t leave it in your hand because they makes the behavior body dependent on you. So the next step is getting it out of your hand so you can work the independence of the end behavior – before fading the target.
One thing you can do it have a raised target – put the target up on a holder that sits in the right position, placing the target where your hand was here – so he targets with that head position and you can move all around. That way he can be independent and doesn’t look at you as you add complexity 🙂let me know if that makes sense! The coffee is just beginning to kick in 🙂
Tracy
Wow, Fast Forward Ruby was great here too! Look how focused she was with the wind and being outdoors! She was SUPER pumped up with the toy but also really accurate on the wraps. Happy dance! She seemed to have no questions. So… you can be a little evil and do tunnel and then instead of the wrap, send her into the tunnel AGAIN (her eyes will pop out of her head hahaah) and then do the wrap. That will keep her honest LOL!! But seriously, she is doing a super job on this game, and I am very happy with her speed AND focus. Great job!!
TracyHowdy! I totally see a big difference in the stay, well done! And I see him looking forward too… Also a yay! Super! About him landing short to the 2nd bump: it could be that he is a baby dog and not powering enough yet (because… baby dog). So yes – bring it in a little bit closer so he can get a more even arc over the bumps. It could also be your position was more of a decel position (that is where you would be positioned to wrap the 2nd jump) so he might have been laying back because of that and not powering, even with the MM there. But you were positioned there because you were working the stay – so no worries, better to move the jumps in now and get money in the bank on the stay. You can also have someone hold him so you can go out by the MM and see what he does, that will be the truest picture of whether this distance is comfy or not – we can try it this weekend! Yay!!!! His general form looks really good, so it is more about finding the correct distance for his baby body 🙂 And whatever we settle on for now is going to change, so the focus on form and the stay is a much better focus.
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyStructurally, the bounce is better/faster for a lot of Aussies and also more comfy 🙂 I am looking forward to hearing what Keiko says about it!
Hi! I feel your pain about the weather, it was gross for a while there!
He is doing really well here! Those threadle entries are HARD and he was getting them from crazy angles.
Question. – is slalom going to be your real cue? Is so, hold off on using it here for a while longer, til we get more weaving behavior on 4 poles – just use more of a noise or interim cue here. The reasoning is that he isn’t weaving yet so we don’t want to name the behavior yet.I think he had no problem with any of the challenges you showed him here. Good boy! You can keep adding more motion to the various angles, but you can also do that on the next step with these 2 poles straight 🙂 That moves you closer to getting to 4 poles, and he is totally doing well that if the session on 2 straight poles goes well like your session here did, you can add poles 3 and 4 on the session after that.
Great job! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi! She is doing really well with these! There is always going to be at least one hard entry, we would be bored if there wasn’t, right? Ha! Yes, you can spread them out and click for the bend and drop the reward right in. Or revisit it in a day or two to see if latent learning did its magic (based on your follow up tonight, I think that you will likely find that she has it next time you try it).
One thing that I do notice is that she is waiting for you to run in order for her to go fast too. When she hits the entry and you then start to run, she picks up speed – this was on a variety of entries, not just the hard ones. So, we want to convince her to run even when you don’t 🙂 And also to be accurate on the entries and exits when you are already running. So – on the next session, you can alternate between sending and moving before she gets into the entry so she sees motion the whole time (which will challenge accuracy) and sometimes not moving at all, standing still (but throwing the reward really really early). It might take her a session or two to lock that into place and chang it up from the current rhythm (where you are letting her hit the entry then running) but when she has it, I think it will be clear sailing as you tighten the poles up.
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
Tracy
