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Good morning!
He is getting it! I am doing a little happy dance here! Your timing was MUCH better and I could see the steam coming out of his ears 🙂 He was being a good boy 🙂 He had a big lightbulb moment at :49, and then he did really well on the other side too! Hooray!A couple of ideas for you as you keep moving forward with this game (pun intended haha):
The prop hit is not the top priority now – that means 2 things:
– you can reward him for turning the correct direction, even if the hit is not perfect. As long as he keeps moving through/over it, you can still reinforce him (like at :33)
– you can delay the timing of your “yes” marker until he turns the correct direction (whether he gets it right away, or turns the wrong way the corrects himself, both can be rewarded). Your “yes” marker is really powerful and you were very precise with the marker for hitting the prop. So now we can help change his perception by having you “yes” him when he turns to the new side (as long as he is heading to/near/over the prop, the hit does not have to be perfect :))One other suggestion because he was thinking really hard about it (which is great!):
Next session, only work one side, like dog-on-right: mix going straight and rear crosses. Then do dog-on-left in a separate session, later on. That way he only has to process 2 things (going straight on your right, or rear crossing on that side) rather than 4 things (2 sides straight, 2 sides rear crosses). And that will help maintain the value for the straight!Great job here, he is really getting the idea!
Tracy
Good morning!
Everything is going really well here!!!Toy races video – he is driving straight really nicely (the little bit of bending out on the line you see was because you were moving towards him rather than running straight, like on the 2nd rep). By using the lead out, you are getting the drive on the line to the toy so now we can make things even more about driving ahead so he leaves you in the dust 🙂 The options for that are either to hold his collar and throw the toy, so there is no lead out at all, thn race him. I think you will lose that race LOL! so if he might not bring the toy back, have the toy on a long line so you can snag it 🙂
Or, you can use a stay by do a much short one so he can zip past you.
Do continue to mix in longer stays, but whn you have a massive lead out – set yourself up to win that toy 🙂 Don’t be too polite and let him win LOL!!! If you get there first and get silly and tease him a little with it, he will dig in more on the next rep and drive ahead more. I think you could have won on the last rep, so you can set yourself up to cheat (in the form of being further ahead) even more so you have a clear victory 🙂 Don’t win too often, just every now and then so he doesn’t sit back and cruise through it – we want the digging in on each rep 🙂Wing wraps –
Is that one of those filing cabinets and your cookie bowl is on top? Brilliant choice!!!! And great job stepping in a little to help him get started then adding in distance back in, a tiny bit at a time. Because he is getting to be full-sized now, you can move your bowls back more (behind your ankles, where the grass meets the walkway here) si he has more room to turn around to offer the next rep.He did a brilliant job of offering (and self-correcting when he almost chose the gap, good boy!!!!) so I think the value and understanding is getting really strong. That means you can now move to the turn and burn game 🙂 Fun!!
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
>> but for reasons still unknown to me these barrels became crack to her after a couple of sessions with them in max pup 1>
My guess is they have been paired with running and food/toys, so the barrels are now basically conditioned reinforcement.
T
Hi!
Looks like he really liked tugging on his leash! And it also looks like he was good about waiting for his marker to tug on it. YAY! So you can totally keep building it up as a reward and use it as part of the remote reinforcement games.>> I used a rubber ball to cover the metal part and it seems to work reasonably well.
That was particularly brilliant and I am going to get up in a minute and go attach a ball to my leash!!!! I owe you one – GREAT IDEA!!!!
>> I then switched over to tossing the leash and using the verbal cue “Get it”. When Cowboy realized there was a ball at the end of the leash, all bets were off and it turned into a ball retrieval thing!>>
Right, the ball is higher value for sure. But… it was still a valuable toy and not just a leash! WIth that in mind:
>>I am wondering if I cut a hole on the other side of the ball and slide the leash through if that would be legal for an AKC agility trial.>>
I would say that while it might be 100% legal for UKI (I will ask a judge this weekend!) that is is probably 1000% NOT legal for AKC LOL! So keep working with the ball-free leash, because that is legal in AKC.
Great job!!!
TracyHi there!
This was a very fun couple of sessions to watch – he really figured it out nicely!!!!>>While we realized that we had our feet wrong and I have a bending over issue>>
You got your feet looking good and I think the bending over to get the target as nose level as possible was great – the lower, the better… but I do know that it is really awkward to stand still like that! It gets easier when we get the handler moving and fade the target.
I loved his first glorious fail LOL! And it highlighted what I think was the hardest part of the game for him, and the biggest victory by the end of the session: the self-control element of it. He had some trouble ignoring the reinforcement in the other hand at first, especially when the target was on your left hand (for both of you). He had an easier time when the target was in your right hand, perhaps because there is more value working on that side or perhaps because he finds turning to his righ a little easier at the moment.
Either way, though, he is clearly sorting out the self-control element because he was really quite perfect by the end! The lower target hand also helps (like at 1:07) because it is very salient AND it helps him to do fewer joyous leaps for it LOL!For upcoming sessions of this, you can gradually introduce the reinforcement being more obvious in the reward hand – starting with a boring low value treat in the reward hand and having it somewhat visible, to a couple of good treats with the hand pretty visible, to a boring toy (if there is such a thing?) squished up in your hand, to a dangling toy… to eventually the toy on the ground while he hits the target in the serp/threadle hand. We have plenty of time for this, so keep an eye on the high rate of success just like you did here nd he will continue to have success 🙂
Great job! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
She is a hoot! So energetic and quick (and cute haha!)
Great job with the target in your hand – you can create a little bit of a loop now: toss a treat away, then after she gets it and turns to come back towards you, hold out the target. She hits it – you toss the treat away – after she gets it and turns to come back towards you, hold out the target. She hits it… and so on 🙂 That can get her to move away a bit in between reps and also sets you up nicely for the game that uses this (it was posted last night :))The paper plate targeting was hilarious! She was trying to put herself inside the plate, I think LOL!!!!! You can use cookie tosses here too, to move her away and reset the next rep: toss a treat away, tell her to get it – place the plate down. When she hits it, click and toss the treat away (and so on :))
> I notice in videos she frequently offers a nose touch where I want a foot touch; will be working on the foot work more going forward.>
She seemed to be doing this on the plate – and clicking then tossing a treat will help her only foot touch because if the treat is going to be tossed, she will quickly figure out that it is inefficient to hit the plate with her nose or lie down when she is going to have to get up and go chase a cookie 🙂 I think she was doing the nose and the down because the cookies were down low… and clearly she likes her cookies LOL!!!
Great job here! Let me know what you think! I am looking forward to seeing more 🙂 she is definitely ready for the next games 🙂
TracyHi again!
He does have a TON of value of the target and that is GREAT!
I have a question about the get it: it looked like you were saying get it & tossing the cookie before he got to the target, almost as the cue to get him started? You can just make a silly noise or use movement to get him started here, and only use get it and the throw after he hits the target.
And you can reward from your hand when he needs to reset (he was wanting to start without you LOL!)On the RCs, he was driving ahead beautifully! Yo were able to cut behind him nice and early. My suggestion here is to toss the cookie reward in the new direction so he turns the new direction on the rears. You were throwing straight, so he wasn’t turning. His value for the prop should make it easy to get the rear crosses 🙂
Great job on these! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
This was blind cross practice – one thing to remember is that it is about connection not hands. You were putting your hands nice and low but that doesn’t show him connection (he was watching the cookies more than following your blind cross cue. So rather than use cookie hands, get the side change by looking at him and then you can reward with the cookie hand 🙂You ight find it easier to use a cookie toss and not a stay, so you can be further away and have more time to make the connection after the blind. I couldn’t really see your shoulders/eyes on this video, but it looked like you were using your hand down by your side as the cue. So, more eye contact will get the blinds even sharper 🙂
>> It’s getting cold and we are supposed to get snow, soooo, I may be making several two hour-each way commutes each week, ugh.>>
Ewwww winter! You can probably also use hallways if you have any long hallways? Maybe throw some yoga mats down if you have wood floors?
T
This is also going really well! You were doing FCs (or I need more caffeine LOL!)
Only one little detail: when you were doing your Ready dance, your upper body can be as engaging and exciting as it was here, but stand still – your feet were moving around a lot and he didn’t always know where to be.He looked really good with his commitments and turning here! And you were leaving earlier and earlier! Great!!! So keep adding earlier leaving, and you can also add your verbal wrap cue(s) (as well as the games we added last night 🙂 I like his speed here!!
>>I can really leave as soon as I send in a bigger space
Great! Now gradually add more and more distance as long as the speed is good – no trotting, only running. Wheeeee! And, a toy if he will chase it as the reward.
Nice work!
TracyGood morning! Lots of good training on these videos!
First up – backing up:
He is definitely getting the idea here, yay! A couple of little suggestions as you keep building this up:
We can give him a focal point to keep his head lower: One option is to keep your hands lower, you might need to bend over a tiny bit, rather than dropping the treats in from above (he watches that and lifts his head, which makes it harder to back up fully). Or, if bending over is going to make your back angry, you can have an empty food bowl between your feet, and plop the treat into it so he focuses down to the bowl and not up to the cookie hands (and for efficiency and a lower head, use soft treats that don’t require crunching LOL!)One other thing I notice:
you are clicking him for stopping when he touches the mat with the back of his leg, not for stepping up onto it. That is fine, but you will get more independence and stepping up (less shuffling) if you get him stepping onto the mat. You can help him understand that by having the mat a little less folded up (so it is easier to step up onto) and also starting his back feet on it then luring him off so it is easy to step his back feet back onto it.>>think I’m ready to move it back an inch or two>>
I agree! He is doing well!!!
TracyGood morning!
You and Risk were terrific in class last night 🙂
>>We’ve been taking the games pretty slowly and I haven’t done a lot of turn & burn game with Risk simply because he’s still figuring out his body and where all his legs go. We are still building on week 1-2 games at this time. Is that ok to move slower?>>
Yes, it is great to move as slowly as needed so the pups can grow up while also having a great time 🙂 And he is not in his teething phase so toy play might be harder (but eating treats is really valuable to him :))
He is offering a strong amount of backing up for such a young dog!! And it is happening really quickly, he has fast feet LOL! I am excited to see this! A couple of ideas for you to get even more of this going:
Most pups use our hands as focal points, and that is fine – but it also means we want our hands to be really low in order to keep their heads low. So, Lyou can leave your hands down there at his nose level (or lower) – so I suggest you sit in a chair or on a low stool or something so you don’t have to bend in half as much 🙂 Because of his quickness, you can have several treats ready so you don’t have to reload. He was lifting his head to watch the reload – that is what you were noticing when you saw him watching the treats. You made a really good adjustment in the 2nd half of that session: Your hands were lower and faster on the 2nd part for sure and that is good!
Because he is so quick, you can also have him back up onto a target like a dog bed or low plank. Start him with all 4 feet on it, the lure front feet off by just an inch of two abd back feet stay on: then let him offer putting the front feet back on it. As soon as he figures that out, you can lure all 4 feet off then let him offering stepping back onto it. That will help him think about his little feet more 🙂 Do this one sitting too, to help keep his head low.
Nice work! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi! I think the outdoor worked pretty well! We can keep it in mind and I can do any of the bigger games first so you can work outside if you want 🙂
T
Good morning!
Sessions like this are so fun to watch – they are counterintuitive because we are not working in the operant realm of “do a thing, get a reward” to build value for the leash, we are working in the conditioned response/classical (brainwashing? LOL!) realm.
So the initial leash tugging was ok, but it was an operant thing and the leash was only medium valve to start with.
>>I brought out her laundry hamper wraps as these have huge value for her. Holy smokes… talk about transfer of value>
Right! That is why I am finding it easier to build value for a toy or leash using the framework of existing behaviors that already have a conditioned response of tugging – it sounds a little backwards but the dogs are conditioned to get a thing after doing a thing – so she clearly is conditioned to grab (and kill LOL) a toy when doing barrel wraps LOL!!! So, we just basically insert the new behavior (grab the leash) into the conditioned response and the dogs grab it because it is part of the reflexive expectation of the moment. It was really fun to see her do it!
She doesn’t really like strike in this context and the ‘feedback’ you got there was about her conditioned response: “MOM WE DO NOT STRIKE IN FRONT OF THE BARREL WE WRAP IT THEN I KILL THE TOY” (all caps because she was yelling LOL!) Ok, noted, thanks Promise 🙂 You did get a little bit of tugging with the ‘strike’ marker towards the end but it is not high on her list of reinforcement procedures. So, we can condition it:
get a little interaction with the strike – then cue the barrel wrap, then mark that with the cue to get the leash or chase it (and kill it :)) Strike becomes the gateway to the barrel wrap which appears to be a high value secondary reinforcement (or maybe running counts as a primary reinforcement)? Either way – you can build the strike by rewarding it with the barrel-then-leash kill. Totally backwards, right? Works like a charm!Her arousal was a little too high for a sit in this context, so you can mix in cookies for that which is great – value for cookies can come into this too and just get built into the “this is what we do” routine so she is conditioned to go back and forth between food and toys and work.
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
>>In class Monday night, I was able to set up with Keiko (on leash) behind a tunnel while the other dogs were running so we could work on the “find it” cookie toss. The room for this particular class is small, so there are no barriers between the course and the waiting spot. Having the tunnel between us and the other dogs was our “fence.” Keiko did very well getting the cookies I tossed as we moved back and forth behind the tunnel. When another dog ran through the tunnel we were using, she would look up and then head immediately focus back for the “find it” game. I was really pleased and she seemed focused and connected.>>
Super!!!! This is good news!!!
>>Then came our turn. Smells haven’t been an issue at home, but boy, they really raced to the top of the distraction hierarchy in class! Keiko ran with me well, got her treat from me or the lotus ball, then went on a sniffing rampage. >>
So she started out perfectly fine, then got a reward, then couldn’t re-focus?
>> So, I had to revert to food. The instructor kept telling me to try different things (which I obviously did) to no avail.>>
I don’t think it was reverting to food, I think you were smart to go to a higher value reinforcement. Were the different things you tried with the food, or with toys?
>> Perhaps I should have just run away?
Run away dragging a toy to entice her to chase it? Maybe. Run away to hide to see if she would look for you? I don’t think that would have helped, it might have stressed her.
>>But I was hoping to get tugging going and connect that way. So – too much of a distraction to try our relatively new tugging games?
Definitely yes, but the real thing to think about it why it was so hard for her. So a few questions:
Is she normally focused and happy to work for treats in this class setting? (I think she is, based on previous posts).
Did she mentally ‘check out’ and have a sniff fest when you presented the toys, or was it before that?
Was she able to work for food and refocus, or was she just struggling to refocus at all?
When she was working behind the tunnel, how long was she out there for? I ask because it is possible that she got depleted by the mental effort of that game and had nothing left in the mental bank account to ignore a particularly stinky floor.
She is spayed, yes? So she is not coming into season.
Have you noticed any soreness or GI upset? It is possible she was not feeling great and had an ‘off’ night.So – since you are going back there on Saturday (yay!) – we can plan! We might want to do the focus/engagement work later in the session, so she doesn’t get mentally depleted (there are some really good studies nowadays about how being depleted causes dogs to be unable to make ‘good’ self-control decisions). You can try for toy play first thing, with the wildest toys, when she is freshest and before food comes into the picture. She might associate that ring with food, so being asked to tug might stress her a bit (“Mom, we EAT here we don’t TUG here” LOL!) And, bring amazing high value treats in case the sniff distraction is there.
Let me know more and we can plan more 🙂
Tracy
