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Hi! He did well here when you get the throws more exciting after the first rep haha! I think the big difference was that there was no reward target to help prompt the behavior, so being in a new place with other stuff around made it harder to find the poles on your right and on the RCs. You can carry the PT to class or develop another reward target that is more easy to drag around (like an empty food bowl) – I think that will help generalize the behavior. The other option is to have the instructor throw the reward when his left shoulder gets to pole 3, especially on the rear crosses, so you can tap dance and do cartwheels and he will continue through the poles 🙂
It was really fun to see him picking this up so quickly!!!! Nice work!
TracyHi! Super session here!
He was nailing it and seemed to have no questions. Easy peasy! So…. add motion 🙂 The other thing to do is work the ‘bottom’ of the clock more (4-5-6-7-8) so he gets really good at finding those crazy ones before we make it harder – you can start him closer to the poles on those so there is less yardage to curl off the entry.
So you can do the next session with a bit of sending from the bottom of the clock on 2 straight poles, then go to the easier angles and add motion, once again working your way to the bottom with motion. Let me know if that makes sense!And on the threadles – yes, throw in a session of sending on slightly open poles. There is no need to go past 3 and 9 on the threadles at this stage. I think it will be easy for him.
If these next sessions go well, onwards to adding poles 3 and 4 🙂
Great job!
TracyHi!
>> I think I was cheating a bit the first couple attempts because I threw the toy before I could confirm she was looking over jump.>>
You call it cheating, I call it nice early timing to affirm the line. Ha! Better to be early to get it started than to wait too long 🙂 She is doing really well finding the line!
At :57, she ended up behind you. That was a connection break moment (and not a naughty moment haha) – as she exited the wing at :56, she saw your head turn from looking over your left shoulder to looking straight (I think you were looking at the jump) so she read it as the beginning of a blind cross cue – so she blind crossed. Compare it to the connection at :09 and :30 and 1:25 as she came around the wing – you kept your head turned towards her until you tossed the toy so she knew to stay on your side and not change sides. Clever girl! That head turn is an intuitive blind cross cue, so exaggerate the connection a little bit more to help her know where to be.
The foot rotation at 1:04 got the turn but you did not have a lot of connection there – the connection you had at 1:15 was really nice!
So, definitely keep connection as she exits the wing, let your eyes follow her head as she moves past you (rather than turning and looking forward to the jump while she is still behind you). She did REALLY well finding the jump, so you can add more motion and also delay the reward: keep it in your hand until she is just about taking off, then throw it.
You can also add challenge and hang out right next to the wing, close enough to touch it, til she exits the wrap – them move forward to give her the feel of driving ahead of you.
Great job! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi! I must have scrolled right past this video this morning, sorry!!
She is VERY cool, I love her toy play and the ability to go back to food then back to the toy. NICE!!! Silly question – what breed(s) is she?
>>Here’s our first video! When I first read submission guidelines I thought we only did 2 minutes for entire first lesson but I went back and saw 2 minutes per “game” so I’m assuming you want approx 2 minutes of each game in the lesson?>>
Sorry for any confusion – 2 minutes or so for each game, so it can be 8-10 minutes per week 🙂 And I am not a strict time watcher, I just like to be sure we don’t over-train and we keep it fun for the dogs.
Nice work on the set point here! The very first rep was a great angle on what we want from her: you set her up nice and close and not how she powers off her rear, then lands basically in the middle of the 2 jumps, then powers over the next bump with a nice arc. YAY! And it looks like the 2nd rep was virtually identical. Double yay! It was harder to see on the next reps coming towards the camera – it looks like she was landing shorter to the jumps but that might have just been the camera perspective from the angle. So if it was the same – great! It she was shorter, then you can move the bumps in a tiny bit closer to keep that nice arc. As she matures, you can stretch them back out.
Great job training the stay and also great job training the self-control to get the toy to the ground, it really helps create a good body position!
Nice work!
TracyHi!
>> Regarding the party of one, yes she still steals and runs off, but it is improving. So that impacts my behavior, worried about that outcome. The other issue is the trade game doesn’t work, because she drops the toy when she realizes I have food. I need to improve that and it will help. Perhaps as the game becomes more fun, the running off will improve.>>
You can try working with 2 toys! Reward then trade, without losing the toy value when food comes out.
>>I also noted the stay issue. I thought there was an instruction to face the direction you were going…I took things too literal!!>>
Sorry! I just didn’t want anyone to be turned and facing the dog 🙂
>It will be fun to work on these without the arms. My guess is you will comment on less arms more in the future. It’s a bad handler habit….
Yes, there will be more about arms – mainly, less is more when we are close to the dog, plus we run faster when we don’t have are arms up – and judging by her speed already, you’re going to be running fast fast fast 🙂
Have fun!
TracyHi! I wouldn’t call him unstable, it is more like he is moving like a puppy 🙂 My Elektra (the smaller one) is totally still moving like a puppy and she just turned a year old: hoppy, front legs doing all the thinking and back legs kind of along for the ride. That is what I see with Robbie. I approach this puppy movement in 3 parts:
Part of working on it is the extreme patience of letting the develop and not worrying too much about it 🙂 Some dogs develop faster than others 🙂
And part of it working on proprioception – cavalettis, discs, balance, foot targeting body part tricks, backing up, mat work, etc.
And the other piece is developing a conditioning program specific to the needs of the individual pup (I do this starting at about a year unless I see an issue) – this includes a look at structure, a look at muscle development, and a look “under the hood” (radiographs and soft tissue palpations) to make sure there is nothing unseen that might be holding the dog back. Now, I do this with a vet specialist because it is out of my wheelhouse 🙂 There are a couple of vets I go to in the MidAtlantic area, and online I highly recommend Dr. Leslie Eide (she might do in-person stuff too, but is too far from me). Dr. Leslie and my other vets have given the dogs specific things – for example, quad strengthening stuff for one dog who needs to get stronger there, and core stuff for Elektra.
Hope that helps!
TracyHi!
The stay comes together as soon as we crack the code to figure out what helps him. If he is figuring it out, yay! You can also play with alternate routes to stays, like stationing on a platform (you can leave the MM up there with him) or crate games (old school, but effective :))For the set point, without a stay – I liked the position you used on the very first rep where you were sending, holding him a little from behind – that way you can send him without him also trying to read any body language or position. If he is comfortable with it, you can hold him like that from a sit so he engages his rear on the send. It is also perfectly fine if someone else holds him and you are out at the MM 🙂
As for the distance between the jumps… hard to tell! The first 30 seconds here were basically a familiarization where he sorted out the setup. He did something slightly different on each rep. At about :31, he got into the groove and then was repeating the behavior and striding more consistently. I think for now move the jumps in 6 inches closer, so he is more in the middle of the jumps on the first landing and that arc carries him through to a landing a little further from the 2nd jump. The other thing to add is starting him closer to the 1st bump – his front feets should be about 6 inches from it, as that will encourage immediately pushing off from the rear rather than striding in which encourages more front end use.
I think the more he sees this, the more we will see a form percolate and then might vary the distance – I am sure he will end up at 6 feet between the 2 jumps but he is young enough that he can start on a smaller distance 🙂
Great job! It is fun to see him in action again!Tracy
Hi!
>> for the most part LOVE having the Training Center but damn….I always end up with stuff at home that I want here and vice versa! >>
Ha! I feel that – so much stuff ends up living in my car for that reason LOL!
He did well on the backing up here – he was really good with ‘looking’ for the board with his back feet, didn’t seem to mind the little bit of movement! Yay! I liked your reward placement, and I think he had enough weight shift for what we need here – because the board was not moving, he was a little weight shifted back, mainly balanced – but not fully on his front. You can keep adding a tiny bit more tip to add some challenge here.
On the Think Less Teeter More game – I am glad he likes it! It is supposed to be a bit silly fun 🙂 I am glad you went to the target to prompt the behavior – on the first few reps without it, he was offering a bit of 4on and down, it was unclear what the exact behavior should be. So keep using the target for now, but not the loaded target. The target prompts the behavior but the loaded cookies make it too easy 🙂 On the last rep, he did a 2o2o without the target but he was stretched and might have been cuing off your body language. I think leaving the target in for this and also for some of the end position games will help him as other elements get more complex 🙂 Then we fade it out next week 🙂
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyYeah, I think the teach its will need to be stabilized as we move forward – Elektra only weighs 14 lbs and she almost pushed it out from under her. Helloooooooo tunnel bags!
Have fun with the end position on the mountain climbers!T
This is great! Good girl, Emmie! You can add in a tiny bit more tip, every couple of days, using this one hit wonders approach 🙂 Since she does so nicely with it, you can take the one hit wonders on the road: peanut butter (or massive rewards) in hand, go someplace to play a simple game on a new teeter – massive reward, end of session on the teeter. It will make her head explode because she will want to do more 🙂 But you can go do another rep later on 🙂 She is looking great!
TracyHi!
I think she has reached the point where you will need to bring her into the room on leash or tugging on a toy, so she doesn’t start without you haha!!! She is confident enough to start without you, but still cautious enough that she hesitates after starting without you. So you can change it up – bring her in on a leash or tugging on a toy so you can get ready with the rewards and also get her pumped up… then go into the first rep. When you controlled the entry to the rep, she was really driven across the board! When she started without you, she was more careful. I don’t mind the careful but we can foster the drive up the board by getting her a little wilder and having her start with you 🙂 This is a good point to reach! Great job!!
TracyHello and welcome! I am looking forward to seeing Cowboy play teeter games!
He did really well here with the Mountain Climbers – yes, he totally thought that first rep was WEIRD but then he quickly picked it up and did really well!! Yay! A couple of ideas for you to get him even more comfortable:
I think the jump wing was a clip and go, which is probably not quite stable enough to hold the board under him when he really starts running. I see there were some more solid jumps in the background, you can totally use a really solid jump to hold the board. And put a couple of tunnel bags on the teeter base to keep it from wiggling too 🙂 And because he is just beginning the game – you can put a 24″ table near the teeter, so he can step off onto it on the way back down, or if he gets off balance and needs to get off the plank.
He was already picking up speed and confidence here, so I think he will continue to get better and better here, which will allow you to start to add more challenges. Fun!!!The other idea for you – let him see you load the target, show it to him then go back to the beginning of the board. You might have been doing this and edited it out – you can totally make a fuss over that moment so he becomes very focused on it and thinks less about the board 🙂
>>BTW..I can send you video of Cowboy on a travel plank, wobble board and rocking back during tugging if interested. He has done a lot of the preliminary foundation exercises and is comfortable with the bang and some movement underfoot.>>
If he is happy with those, you don’t need to edit the video. If he has any questions later on, we can come back to these and see if there is a question we can answer somewhere 🙂
Great job here!!! I am looking forward to more!
TracyHi!
Good session – he did a great job driving to the end and there is a whole lot of tip! Yay!
I can see the off balance stuff you mentioned here. I don’t think he was rusty from not having done it in the last couple of days, I just think we have reached the point where there is enough drop that the big dog plate was causing him to have to reach too far forward to get the treat. Switching to the small dog plate was definitely better! But even with that one, I think he had to shift all his weight forward to eat the treat then had to figure out how to get it back and the board is wobbly.
So – I think we have reached the stage where the target you are using on the plank and bang game can go on the end of the board for his uphills, to help prompt the down. That can help him sort out the balance thing as the board is dropping – when you add it, show it to him as a bang game first, and after a couple of reps – go to the Mountain Climbers but with only a couple of inches of tip so he can find the position. And if that goes well, you will be able to add tip back pretty quickly.>> Anyhow, you also may notice that the Teach It is a little unstable until I realize the issue and tweak things again. He did get a little more coordinated as the session went on.>>
I have tunnel bags on the bottom of the teach it, I did notice that it was starting to move a little as the hard-driving dogs were arriving at the top 🙂
Let me know if that makes sense!
Tracy
