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That is exciting!!! I found a photo of one of my dogs captured in the moment on a teeter where he did not know he needed to shift his weight back – it is a really exaggerated example of what some of the dogs here are trying to figure out! I will post it and you will have a good chuckle LOL!
Yay! I love these short, high value sessions (I was out in the field in my pajamas with a dog, a tub of cream cheese, a frisbee and the teeter to do a couple of high value reps this morning LOL!!). She is still sorting it out but doesn’t look worried about it. She looks like she is trying to figure out how to keep the weight in her front, so she has to slow down to do it. You can jazz her up at the top of the ramp so she heads down the plank with more speed – and with peanut butter there, she is more likely to shift her weight back. I think once she gets the feel of that, it will be super fun for her and we will be seeing it everywhere.
Great job!
TracyYay, this looks really good!!! He was even adding a lowered head along with the foot target, which will lead to a nice crouch on the end of the board. Excellent!
It looks like he was driving directly to the target and not looking for you until after he arrived there. Very nice! It was definitely harder – he was not as fast (no cheese lure, so he had to think harder) and at the beginning he had to take a moment to consider taking himself for a run – he seems to do that when he has to really thinking through a puzzle. So, because it was harder – do a couple of sessions just like this one. Add in the various challenges (running past, hanging back, adding crosses, etc) but mainly look to maintain criteria and make that spot rich with reinforcement. When he is back to full speed on it, we can build on it very quickly.
Great job applying this so quickly!!!
TracyHi! He is so clever, I could see him working the puzzle here of where the feet had to go to trigger the MM! Yay! I think the MM needs to be further away but a foot or two, so he doesn’t end up in 2o2o – he hits 4on and then the MM beep is the release to leave the board entirely. I think he was really figuring it out nicely here!!! You were hanging back which is great, because that is where he wanted to stop short. You can add in the other challenges like running past too, because the MM might add more temptation to leave position there 🙂
I see you posted a teeter video below – onwards!Tracy
Yay! I am excited to see you there – it gets really exciting with bigger games now that the pups are old enough 🙂
Hi!
About those line up cookies… the dogs do get treats from the Manners Minder, then they get another bite of cheese for coming back. They get a lot of cookies LOL!!! So that way we get a nice balance of drive through the poles to the MM, then hurry back to me to start the next rep 🙂T
Hi!
This is a good start to the bang game with the target! A couple of ideas for you –
I think he might be targeting the strip of green tape across the board – if possible, take it off so that he only looks for his target.
About the target – you can elevate it on the board a bit but also – don’t move the magical cookie until he hits the target now 🙂 He was delaying his target hit because he was watching the cookie – so now, no cookies move until he hits the target. And then you can deliver the cookies. As you go in to deliver the treats, you can place them right down on the target, not in his mouth, so he continues to look directly at the target.I think with those tweaks, he will get really good at looking at the target and not at you 🙂 You can do this on a plank on the flat too, the more the merrier in terms of targeting practicing.
Great job!
TracyWow, he is so fast up the board even with all the movement underneath him! This game can stay where it is, you can revisit it sometimes to keep the value high for the skill. But he mastered it amazingly fast!!!!
For this game, the lure can remain there forever 🙂 See above about adding the target into the downhills! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi! This is looking great! You can keep very gradually adding tip, but at this point I think I would also like to add his target at the end so it is a bit of a downhill-bang game combo (it puts you ahead of the games for now, but I don’t want to wait much longer :))
So using the same amount of tip that you had here, add your end position target to this game. And, to introduce him to the target, have him jump on at the end and go to his target, then reward reward reward 🙂 You can then back chain it so he ends up driving down the board like he did here, but to the target and not to the cookie lure 🙂 Let me know if that makes sense!
TracyHi!
This is a really good wobbly set up! And he cracked me up with his leaps up during the release LOL! And then he was foot pouncing on the target LOL! The straight line up really helped him – your motion didn’t seem to bother him at all and as he got even more comfy, he was keeping himself straighter and straighter and dropping faster – especially when he was on your right. On your left, not as straight (that right hind rolls out) so I wonder if you can change the placement of reinforcement ever so slightly to get him to balance by reaching over and handing it to him on his left side, so he has to turn his head away from you to get it?
I agree – he was doing a GREAT job dropping into the down and I was especially happy with some of those sliding-into-home-plate moments!!! You can totally jackpot those, we would love to see more of them. And because he likes to watch the treat delivery, you can mix in a lot of releases to get the reward out ahead.
Great job!
TracyHi!
The downhills are definitely harder to adjust when using tables – the towel was a great idea.
Yes, I could see her trying to assess the pivot after the first rep – but even on the first rep after you fixed the towel, she had worked it through and was already driving across more and looking for the pivot less. So her needing the moment to sort it out might have more to do with not being as experienced in the downhill game as she is in the uphills? But either way, she sorted it out very quickly and was moving nicely across the board. So on the next session, start where you left off here and maybe do a couple of super high value peanut butter sessions with only one or two reps. That will help make it easier for you to fade the towel and add tip.Great job!
TracyHi!
I love how you break down the sessions to really make sure she is a happy, confident girlie and also that she is NOT surprised by any changes. I think that was the main factor in the success of this session – she was happy on the new board and tried to start without you LOL!!! Good girlie! And yes, it is smart to show her as many different teeters as possible – I think they have the most variation out of all the obstacles in agility. This one wasn’t really even moving and I could see it had a different feel and a different ‘whip’ to it. You should totally incorporate it into the games, adding tip, etc. – we see those teeters all the time at trials LOL!!! You can go back and forth between your two teeters so that she just gets used to the idea that she will encounter all sorts of different tips.Great job!!!
TracyHi there!
Shoes are only for the bang game, where I fear the board can smash toes that are nearby LOL!!!
My feedback is a little boring because the games look so good!
The uphills look great, she is very confident running and does not seem worried about the movement at all. You were able to add crosses and stuff – no problem. So….. add more tip!
The bang game into end position also looks really good – you can add the challenges to this one (motion past it, crosses etc) and also add more tip 🙂
I think you will find that the amount of tip can be added pretty quickly for her! Yay!
I think we need to add the verbal for her soon rather than later, because the AAC dog walks have no slats so she will need to differentiate early on. For your bang game – you can totally add your tee verbal now, maybe just once. And then for the uphills – you can add a tee verbal (just say it once)
Eventually the full verbal will be tee tee tee so that should really help her drive to the end position AND it should sound very different from your RDW verbal. Let me know if that makes sense!
Great job!
TracyWelcome back, hope it was an easy trip!
He liked the barrel wrap before the teeter! He seemed to be driving very directly to the top without concern, both on the early reps and then when you added more tip (and also when you did the rear crosses, he seemed fine and no different than when you drove ahead or sent him ahead). The ball throw between reps was VERY happy making for him LOL! Good boy!
Fabulous session here! So next session on the Mountain Climbers – start in the same place, if he is happy still – add a tiny bit more tip 🙂 I am excited by his progress! Great job!
TracyHi!
>>You probably noticed I’m also having fun with colored poles. I have three colors (plus white) at home and I’m trying to vary it all the time so that color isn’t relevant to his understanding. >>
YES! I use all sorts of rando poles too because ya never know what they will see. Love it! Glad you are starting him early with the ‘weave whatever is there’ protocol LOL!
Really nice session here! A couple of ideas for you:
>> It’s very clear – as you already noticed – that now he is having trouble with the other entry.
Yes, the pendulum of entries has swung back to the left side being harder. You can think of the 1st 2 poles as being 2x2s and change your angle based on the clock relative to pole 2: so 3 o’clock would face pole 2, not the middle of the channel. Starting nice and close should help too (and also isolating it on 2x2s). I also think using just a toy for a bit might help – because he won’t be seeking out the MM as much. It might help him look for the first entry a bit more.
>>He is now super successful from the other entry – unless I add motion a little too soon on the really hard ones. But he was getting some really tough ones even with motion.>>
Yeah!! He did really well! I don’t know if you were moving too soon, or if it was more that you were moving too fast. I am curious to see how he would do if you started moving at the same time, but walking. You were moving fast so that might be the distraction? Worth a try to see if we can isolate the distraction – speed of motion? Or timing? He will let us know LOL!
>>I also switched up and added a toy for part of the session like you suggested, and other then some awful tosses by me, it did rev him up but he kept his success rate consistent.>>
That is why we started with the MM – to get them looking down the line in preparation for our terrible throws. My frisbee throws would qualify as “horrendous” but the dog is fine LOL! Your throws were fine 🙂
So I think on the next channel session – hard angles on both sides (from a little closer to the poles on your left) and move early but not fast. Let me know if that makes sense and how it goes 🙂
Tracy
