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Hi!
>I tried a variety of toys to heighten arousal with little luck so tried to create arousal with food. I should add that I will work on the toy play separately in addition to these exercises. >
When you tried the toys, was he not interested in playing, or was he playing but didn’t seem highly aroused? Let me know and we can make a plan to build on the toy play.
He did really well with the paw pod. You can add things for him to get on, so he has more room to get more feet on things – right now, he can get one maybe 1.5 feet on the pod 🙂 so you can have 3 or 4 low things out next to each other so he can get all of his feet on them at some point. And keep changing what you use so he can get experience on all sorts of stuff – as long as it is low, stable, and not slippery, he can climb around on anything!
Great job here!
Tracy
Hi!
>ump bump, jump standard and cardboard box. Except when I introduced the box, he seemed to ignore these neutral objects. Now to make them less neutral. I like this exercise!>
These are good neutral objects for now because he doesn’t know what they are 🙂 Eventually they will have a lot of value, so you can use neutral objects like a random garbage pail or chair, or fan or your hand bag or something 🙂
He did great ignoring the stuff here with the cookie recalls! So the next step is to put the random neutral object into the environment before he enters – then bring him in and begin the game. That is a different approach to getting his brain to process it 🙂
Great job!
Tracy
Hi!
The blinds are also going really well!It is sometimes hard to tell when he is going to start moving back to you after finding the treat, so some of the blinds were a little late. To help make the timing more predictable, you can use a giant bowl or mat so he knows exactly where the treat it – and as soon as he grabs the treat, you can do the first blind.
He is reading the blinds brilliantly! You connection looks good, so definitely keep making that bit of eye contact back to him as you complete the blind.
Another option is to have someone hold him as a restrained recall for the blinds, to give you even more distance – they can release him when you call his name and you can start the blind as soon as he starts moving.
Great job!
Tracy
Good morning!
I love the hat on top of the cone LOL!! Brilliant! A great way to change it up. He did super!!! And he was super with the barrel too. He loves to wrap!
Since this went so well, you can add a few next-step things:
Pull the targets back closer to you, so they are slightly behind your knees – that will give him even more room for wrapping and adds a little more distance.
Pull the barrel or cone in a little closer, and change your position to standing 🙂 Making the distance easier between you and the cone is a good transitional step because having you standing up might be hard. Or it might not be! He will tell us 🙂 And when you are standing, you can drop the treats in the target. No worries if they bounce a little – he can chase them then get back to wrapping 🙂
We will build on this over the next few weeks, so you can plan to do a quick session every few days (doesn’t need to be daily) to keep his skills sharp 🙂
Great job!
TracyGood morning!
Awwww, I love this! What a fun walk! And what a smart pup to find the original stick!!!! Will there be scent work in his future along with agility? And he was so cute with the stick in his mouth 🙂
If possible, try to do this type of walk in safe places once a week or so as he grows – it is just so great for his mind and body especial when he starts to move through adolescence.
Tracy
Good morning!
>Yes the hat for the foot target shaping was the same as with the bag. I will try it again over the weekend. Should I continue to try the hat or something else?>
Stick with the foot target you used that he was hitting -the hat might seem too much like the mat.
>I read over the goat game and since we are having issues with shaping I thought better than to try it today. >You can try the goat game with anything he can get on or walk over, as long as it is stable and he won’t slip. Part of it is developing the body awareness, and part of it is working on shaping skills so you can totally try it! It helps us figure out how he thinks during shaping.
>Should I do four feet item or two?>
Eventually we want 4 feet but for now, we can start with 2! If he is really comfy, he will offer 4 feet.
>I will be honest having the toy in that hand makes me nervous since my older golden tripped me when I had it like that when he was puppy. I went down very hard. >
Eek! That sounds painful!!! You can think of it as having your opposite hand on your hip – not so the pup can see it, but more so you can make very clear eye contact. And then you don’t need to dangle the toy as much or risk getting tripped. You can also use treats in the hands then whip the toy out as a reward between cookie reps.
The goal is to make super clear connection and you achieved it here! Your blinds were well-timed and the connection on the new side was VERY clear so he had no questions. Dublin knew where to be even when you did 2 blinds at the end – the power of connection helped him out!
If he likes being held and you have people around, you can do the blind cross game as a restrained recall: someone holds him, you start moving away – then call him. As soon as he starts to move, do the blind 🙂
Wrap session:
You were great at moving the cone in and out! Wow! And he did great. Super!>I wonder until he get it if I leaned in or out might work? Or even used my legs as block? Unless you think that might be too much pressure?>
Next time, I don’t think you have to move the cone – just start it where he can be successful on both sides 🙂 Do you have a taller cone you can use? Or a barrel? We can put something in that is bigger – when you do that, bring it in closer to you so it is a little easier a first.
>Based on Dublins lack of interest in things I put down also trying to figure item to use for my novel neutral for the next game. >
Do you mean his good engagement? You can put anything new into the environment – he doesn’t have to look at it or go to it for us t trust that his brain is processing it 🙂 A random box or trash bag or anything 🙂 it is a good way to prepare his puppy brain for the adolescence that lies ahead, where his brain will be interested in *everything* LOL!!
Great job here!!
Tracy
Good morning!
Food – toy switches are going well! The chase elements to keep movement in it were really fun and active! He seemed very happy to do it and you are also building in the magic ‘ready’ word here and in the other games. I am a big fan of having a charged word like ‘ready’ that can get instant engagement 🙂
The decel to your side is also going well – the pivot takes out his bum swinging wide. He was popping up a little at first because your hand was a little high (also because he is very small :)) – but then he figured out to just stay on the ground. That is great because it will save your back from have to get lowered til he gets taller – super!!
He was interested in the food with the food play, following the hand movement and interacting but seemed a little cautious about getting tooooo close to your flesh. Maybe he was trying not to chomp your hand? That is appreciated, though! LOL!!
And he did great with the retrieve game! Good boy! He really rips it right back to you, almost like a great flyball box turn 😉
All of this looked lovely! Have fun at the trial – let me know how he does playing his games!
Tracy
Hi! She did well here!!
I agree, wrapping to her right then dog-on-left to the jump was the easier, smoother side and she did great!! You can add more distance between the wing and the jump.On the other side – it was harder for her. Because she was looking at you, it could be that adding more connection is what helped her. And not moving as fast also helps, as she sorta out that left lead.
Also, reward it all even if it is not perfect. At :23, she did find the jump but you indicated it was wrong, so she actually looked at you *more* (and at the jump less) for a few reps after that. So definitely reward any effort towards the jump or getting over it, even if she is not looking forward yet. The motto for the reward on that side can be: Throw early, throw often! That will get her looking forward more easily 🙂
>Should I try this side with a planted reinforcement (MM or toy)? Not sure if that would be counter productive>
It isn’t counterproductive so you can put it in to jump start the behavior- and as soon as she gets it right for a couple of reps, start to replace it with your thrown rewards.
Nice work here!
Tracy
Th
Hi! Great job jumping in with the moving target game!
For some reason, this video didn’t have any sound – weird! So I will assume all the verbals were perfect 🙂He did break a few times like you mentioned – it might have had something to do with putting the toy down, waiting… then walking forward. He might have thought that walking forward was part of the release? So be careful to separate the release from sudden starts of movement.
You got lots of good stay rewards in the 2nd half of the video and it went really well! He’s ready to see this on a jump, then onwards to the set point!
Nice work!
Tracy
Hi!
I totally see what you mean about where he grabs on the toy!! With all of the other games. No problem, he can grab there. For the moving target in the jump grid, we want him looking at the end and not up – so the easiest thing to do is drag a treat holder of some sort 🙂Do you have a lotus ball or treat hugger? We can tie it to a toy and drag it – I’m pretty sure he will focus on the food end. If not, we can make other food toys: a food pouch and then ypu can open it for him. I’ve dragged food bowls on little rollers (piano leg movers 😆) and that works too! Let me know what you have available and we can plan.
For the jumping itself, his form is on the right track. Yay! You can switch the moving target to start further away, at least 6 feet past jump 2 so he has more room to move to it after he lands. That will give him even more power, especially when we convince him to look down at the moving target 🙂
Great job!
Tracy
Good morning! Lovely work here!!!
Sends:
These are going great! Your physical cues were very clear and that helped a lot because the sides and backwards sends are hard for sure.Sending forward at the beginning looked strong! She seemed to jump up a little on the ready dance moment, so you can do it a little more quietly to see if she can be excited and also keep her feet on the ground.
It was so cute to watch her think about the sideways sends on both sides. it is hard to go past the cookie hand 🙂 Then she nailed it really well on both sides. Super!
Backwards sends – you made an excellent adjustment by getting closer on the 2nd rep to get the behavior, then moving further away again after a few successful reps. Nice!!!! It was really fun to see her work through the challenges. We will be building on this more starting next week!
I think the blinds went great!
>Blind crosses were my biggest challenge…not hers! My right side went really well but my brain had trouble remembering which way to turn for my left (less dominant) side. I will have to do some practice drills as extra homework>
I think you ight need more of a head start – she is fast as you already know 🙂 You can throw the start cookie further away, to give you more time to do the blind. Your mechanics and rewarding were great through and she was very clear on where to be.
If she doesn’t mind being held by other people and you have a helper available, you can also do the blinds as a restrained recall: someone holds her and you get a massive head start. Then you call her and do the blind as soon as she starts moving towards you.
If she doesn’t love being held, no worries, you can use a long distance treat throw to start 🙂
She is definitely a good goat here! She was more than happy to get her front feet up on the object – nice work with your rewards and also nice tug breaks here!! To help her get her back feet up without help from a cookie lure, you can expand the playing area and put a couple of objects next to each other/touching each other. That way she can get her whole body on and walk around on them 🙂
The novel-neutral session of stealth self-control when GREAT! She played her game and her brain was able to ignore the neutral object. That is exactly what we way! Yay!
For the next session, you can use a different neutral object and also change things up a bit by having it already out in the training area, before she comes in. Then bring her in on leash (so she doesn’t run over to it) – then start the game and see how it goes 🙂
>She may need to work on swallowing the cookies before playing>
Ah yes! Or do you have soft treats that are easier to grab and go? She was moving fast which is great but we don’t want her to cough up a cookie.
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
Tracy
Hi!
Super nice job here! Mojo was great going from the treats to the toy here! Yay! He was interacting with the upside-down wobble board really well. You can add in tossing treats off to the side to see if he will drive back to the board now that he is comfy standing on it.He was perfectly focused here – was there a novel-neutral distraction in the environment? He was great about being completely engaged which his brain processed all the things 🙂
Great job!Tracy
Good morning!
The wrap game is going well! There was less chewing with the tiny cat food treats LOL which helped speed things up. Mojo did great offering going back and forth! So clever! He was brilliant about sorting out!
Since this is going well – for the next session you can start exactly the same as you did here with the cone. Then if he remembers it after a coupe of reps, you can add a little distance and move the cone further away.Great job!
TracyGood morning!
>It’s been a rough week—one of my dogs got skunked, and my husband’s truck and trailer were stolen. Those giggles during our training really made my day.>
Holy cow, that is brutal!!! I am glad you were able to carve out some fun with her 🙂 This went really well!
Toy control is useful for sure with dogs that love toys! She did really well going back and forth to the ‘live’ toy! Adding the wing was really easy for her.
One suggestion to make this even smoother: when she is tugging, say your out marker then let the toy in your hand go ‘dead’ for a few seconds. Both toys will be stationary in that moment. Then you can say tug and activate the other toy. You were activating the 2nd toy while the first toy was still a little too alive 😂 , which is why it was harder for her to let go of it. And saying your out cue right before getting the toy stationary will strengthen that cue too!
Great job here! Keep me posted!
Tracy
