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Hi there!
Really nice session here! I know you mentioned that the park was more crowded than before, but he was very focused! Good choice of reward target there (instead of the MM) so he was able to get it right immediately. He was highly successful here, the hardest parts coming when he wanted to look at you on the exit rather than find the exit – especially when he was on your left. Those left side exits require him to look away from you (so hard!) so one thing that helps is to overcompensate with the reward: instead of placing it out straight ahead like normal, you can throw on the opposite side of the poles from where you are. That can really encourage him to want to look away and get that last set of poles because if you are near the 7 o’clock side of this poles, the reward will land more at the 4 o’clock side. I do it with my big dog on the last couple of videos a lot because he didn’t to look away from me either (these mommas boys haha)I think he is ready for more motion here and more handling challenges! And, separately, adding more poles (6 and 4 then 6 and 6).
Great job!!
TracyHi! Super nice session here! He was able to hit and hold position while you moved past… without the target!! YAY! The only errors were when you didn’t take the moment to get him ready before the send, so he was not quite focused yet. Otherwise, a really great session!
Using this setup, you can add arousal: get him setup next to you, get him more pumped up (tugging then gentle restraint then ready ready ready….) then see if he can do his end position while you move past. Separately, you can also add running to your motion! Wheeee!
And when the crazy winds die down, you can totally add this to the bang game (ideally without the target) and then to the elevator games.Great job here!!!
TracyHi! I fell like there was a question about reinforcement here that I was coming to chat about but I can’t find it now? Hmmmm. Anyhoo – the reinforcement procedures might be the hardest to figure out with all of our dogs. With weaving – it is a behavior that might not be naturally self-reinforcing because it is not a running behavior (it is a collection behavior) so the dead toys might be less exciting? Sequences have a lot of running and motion. A RDW is pretty exciting on its own 🙂 You can try more friz rollers with the weaves, or tying a jolly ball or something to a rope so you can drag it can keep him moving to chase it – that can add the running component that the weaves don’t bring, and ramp up the value of the reinforcement too.
let me know what you think!
TracyI am really excited about the upcoming Top Chef: Teeter Edition with the compilation of ice cream concoctions! And the photo at the end of him holding his new toy was SO CUTE!
Both sessions looked REALLY good here. Strong mechanics plus confident dog plus layer of understanding are coming together to move things along really quickly. Happy dance!
The bang game went really well. He seemed to have no questions about the motion or end position or anything. So, you can add some more height to this, but this game can go on hiatus for a moment while we turn out attention to the elevator games.
Was this his first real experience with the elevator games? He did really well!!! You started with the board pretty high up but he didn’t seem to mind at all. And I think you had the countdowns going (couldn’t hear all of them) so be sure they are in place if they were not 🙂 and ignore this if they were LOL! You can totally add motion to the regular elevator game.
The ice cream hippo was a delicious addition to the zoo of ice creams that have given themselves in order to produce a great teeter. So funny!! He was a GREAT job on the crazy elevator game. Fast up the board, happy to go to end position, and didn’t mind when you added your motion too. Perfect!
My only suggestion is that for now, don’t have the toy out front. The countdown on the crazy elevator game does produce a forward focus moment – and with the toy out front on the ground, he was not sure if he should focus out to the toy or down to the ground for the target position). We want the downwards focus, so the toy can be out of the picture for a bit as he gets more experience on this game.I think for the next sessions, you can add the wing and your motion as he is approaching the board, and then very easily move to adding the tunnel. Based on his confidence here, I think it will be just a couple of sessions til we get to the full teeter. Yay!!!
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
The threadle session went well, he was very successful – but I don’t think these were technically threadles 🙂 The threadle setup is the same as the regular setup in terms of where the MM is, but what changes is his position relative to you and the poles – when sending from 11 o’clock for example, a normal weave send would have him on your left and a threadle send would have him on your right. You were generally doing normal sends with an offset MM, except the last rep was a threadle: he was at about 2 o’clock and starting on your left side, where a normal send from 2 o’clock would be from your right. Let me know if that makes sense.
Yes – do more of these, it is good practice – but do them with 4 poles now 🙂 and yes to the frisbee 🙂On the 2nd session – after a bunch of misses early on, he did get into the groove in that 2nd session. What I saw in the first session with the misses was that he was worried in facial expression and body language. There was *something* in the environment that was concerning to him (wind? People? Maybe it was internal environment and he was sore? Hard to tell). But after you focused him more, the rest went well! So that focus can get built into every session of all the things, to transfer the focus into every environment and also to help get the good skills going no matter what is happening in the environment. I don’t think it is moving backwards in the weave training, I think it is assessing his frame of mind before the session and making sure he is really ready.
Let me know if that makes sense! Nice work here!
TracyHi!
This is a good session – tells us what works best for her and what is hard. The most important thing is to move on a parallel line to the wing – she did really well when you did that. When you were moving towards the wing, she thought it was a wrap cue and not a tandem turn. You can see how well she read the parallel line of motion at :42 and :51 and after that.
I thought your arm movement was fine – you were trying to get her attention on your hands and off the wing, which is an important element. She is VERY wing-focused, so when you had her come to your cookie hand at 1:37, you could see her lightbulb moment: aha! It is the hand NOT the wing! That really helped! You can have her come all the way to your hand and eat the cookie then turn her away, to balance the value of your hand with the wing (right now the wing has a lot more value :))
As soon as you convinced her it was your hand after 1:37, she did REALLY well as long as you moved on a parallel line. When you moved towards the wing, she was correct to think it was a wrap.So the parallel motion line and the emphasis on ‘come to my hand’ will really help.
Nice work here! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning! Glad you are feeling better and more mobile – you can definitely send her away to a barrel or wing if your foot is happy with it.
These went well. My only suggestion is to wait til she gets a little closer to you hand before starting the cue – hold still til she is about 2 or 3 inches away from your hand and then move. In the middle of the video, when you had switched sides and she was coming to your left hand/left and turning to her right, those were the smoothest: partially because you waited til she was the closest, and partially because she is more comfortable turning to her right on these.
On the other side at the beginning and end of th video (going to your right arm and leg) – you were moving earlier so it was not as clear and she is not as comfortable turning to her left here. So waiting til she gets to that 2 or 3 inch spot away from your hand will draw her all the way in and make it easier to turn her.Nice work here! let me know what you think!
TracyHi! She is doing pretty perfectly on the plank here, so the real question has to do with the target on the teeter. She probably just needs more reps across the teeter (elevator, crazy elevator and full teeter) with the smaller/partially obscured target. A couple of sessions of that and then the target can get more and more hidden each time. That will probably be easier – on the fading sessions, she seems to struggle at first without it (or if it is reduced) so she just needs more experience and exposure to the teeter end position with the fading more gradual.
Everything else is looking strong! She is a little ‘chill’ going across the board coming from a jump, so feel free to use a tunnel before it or even put the teeter in a little sequence so she can get practice when she is higher 🙂 It can be a sequence to the crazy elevator game, or the full teeter!
Nice work here 🙂
let me know what you think!
TracyHi! I agree, the 2nd run was a better thought out plan – he seemed happy! Be sure to let him get into position at the end on the elevator game before rewarding, just that extra heartbeat – otherwise he will get confused about what the end position is in trials. But in both runs, he was eager to try and happy to do it again – yay! That is the important part. And on the first run, I think going to the full teeter was too early, so be sure he is happy with his crazy elevator game before asking for a full teeter 🙂 Are you trialing tomorrow?
T
Good morning! This was a great way to spend a Friday night 🙂
He looked really good here, and he picked up on the 8 poles really quickly. Plus, he nailed the 6 poles in the mini course! Yay!So, looking forward: I think from this point on, in your indoor facilities, you can be working on the 6 straight poles, no need to open up the poles anymore.
And looking ahead to the next step: yes, move to the 6 and 4 (all straight) and then I think you will easily be able to do 6 and 6. Remember to ‘warm up’ on the 4 poles first then do the 6 then 4. If it proves to be really easy for him, feel free tp go from 4 to 6 in the same session. If it is hard, you can stay at 4 or if it is really hard (which is not likely) then you can open them up).
For outdoor training, you can see how he does on 6 slightly open poles and then maybe 6 straight poles? Outdoors is a step or two behind the indoor progression for him, which is fine – just less experience working outdoors 🙂 But he will catch up quickly because he is doing a GREAT job in his indoor locations!!!!
He is getting close to 12 straight poles! Fun times ahead!!!!!
Tracy
Here ya go!
Awesome! His box cars looked really strong here – striding, forward focus, speed and also accuracy were all spot on (he had a blooper on the first rep but that was just the warm up).
You can do both sides in the same session – the box cars are more of a spot check thing to begin bringing the weaves together, so you can do a bit of left and right side sending in the same session, then bring the poles together. My guess is that he will be perfectly fine to let you bring the poles together to a set of 12 in the next session or the session after it.And the holee roller is a great choice – it is perfect for throwing and grabbing, and yes his retrieves looked great (and you tugged with him when he brought it back, which really rewarded the retrieve :))
I am excited to see him on all 12 poles really soon, fingers crossed for great weather!
>> can’t seem to find All Things Tunnel. It’s probably obvious but ….can you help? >>
It is one of the Facebook classes – I will go grab the link and post it for you 🙂
Have fun! Great job here!
TracyHi! Good session here – you had different angles of send, you were moving ahead of him, and he had lots of success. His striding continues to improve – we are seeing more and more rhythmic striding! And these poles are fully straight, yes? Good boy! And great job NOT falling in the mud, solid dance move there. And no 911 interventions? LOL!
I think the main thing here (and probably in other areas of training) is sorting out what is a consistent use of reinforcement. The holee roller is a great choice, right? But he fell out of interest in it, which changes his ‘attack’ of the weaves which changes his striding. He liked the frizzer thing for sure.
So separately from the weaves, you can play with building up the value of the other toys (dead or alive lol) by pairing them with the higher value toys: keep a friz hidden or tucked under your arm, get some play with the ‘lesser’ value toy, then whip out the friz. This should be done away from any actual training of obstacles because it will take some sorting out. The goal is that he is happy to play with any toy – so keep switching toys, adding new ones to the pile, making the toy you are holding or throwing the MOST exciting thing. That will help him in the weaves (because he will be driving for whatever you put out there) and also everywhere in training. And that way you can save the higher value toys for harder environments (like NFC runs at trials) and they will retain their value.As for weave training – for now, use only the higher value toys (and keep changing toys out before he says ‘no thanks’) so he keeps attacking the weaves. And keep on adding angles of entry, drifting laterally while he weaving, driving ahead, and so on. He gets more solid every time you do it.
Great job here – let me know what you think!
TracyHi! He did really well here! He was driving through the pivot and to the end nicely on these.
You were near him on a lot of these, so I think you can add in moving past him – keep moving so that you are almost at the tunnel after the teeter as he gets into position.
He will also have a little more speed if you give him a straight entry to the board – he had to find the entry here, which slows him down a little because he is getting on at an angle.
And I totally agree that revving him up with a toy will help – he is really fast at home, but being able to rev him up with a toy will help transfer things really nicely to trials. If he likes to tug, you can try getting him to tug on a leash, as that is basically a toy that you can bring into the ring and also use as a reward for the teeter.Nice work here! Let me know what you think!
Tracy
