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Hi!
This is looking really strong! She is a smartie pants! And going back to the normal sends on the 4-5-6 side looked great – at this point with the threadle side entries, don’t do them past 3 and 9 (different can of worms that we will open later on LOL! )
I suggest 3 things at this point –
you mentioned she is nuts for the flying squirrel toy (I think that is the toy you mentioned) – lets get her a bit wilder and see if she can still find all these entries when she is more stimulated! You can start just by playing ith the toy before, using cookie rewards from the MM, then back to the toy.That brings me to the second idea – if she if fine with the toy being incorporated along wit the MM, you can then do entire sessions for the toy (no MM). Or, you can use the lotus ball. As long as she keeps looking straight and you throw to where the MM would be, she should be fine. You can also leave the MM there as a throwing target 🙂
You can also add more motion, pushing harder to see if she will ask questions when she is more stimulated by the running.
And if that is all good (and I think it will be!) – onwards to straight poles!
Have fun! Great job here!
Tracy
Hi!
These look great, I didn’t see any real questions from him. And yay for being outdoors and the snow going bye bye!
I think you can work up to straight poles for the sends w/ motion and also the threadle sends (but there is no need to go past 3 and 9 on the threadle sends, because otherwise it opens up a can of worms )threadle vs. no threadle) that we will address in future games 🙂 Getting the poles straight will set you up perfectly for the new games coming on Monday.I totally agree about adding in returning to you for the ball between treats. It will add even more excitement! Coming back to the toy will also help transition for efficiency – some outside distractions caught his attention after he ate from the PT, so the routine of coming back for the toy will help him grab the treat and drive back. And of course, I think you can also do sessions of toy-only with him instead of the PT at this point.
Love the stealth changing of the angle of the poles while he was eating and didn’t see it happen LOL! He had no questions on the angles at all, from what I could tell.
Great job!
TracyHi! Super video! Do they let you go in and train in the mornings? Sounds like an awesome perk!
He was driving up nicely. He was looking for the weight shift moment right at the top of the contact, but it was subtle and it gets better each time so keep going with the party atmosphere you’ve created here 🙂About the RDW training… I’ve had the dogs offer the teeter target position on the end of the DW board when I am annoyingly slow getting ready, but never during the training. 3 reasons for this, 2 of which might be useful for you:
1 – they aren’t all that well-trained on their teeter end positions, and Stark is much better trained haha
2 – I have used their mat in a flyball setup before putting it onto the DW- so they learned the hit and go on a flyball board first, and it is super fun. Definitely something you can tr y with Stark, I have video of it if you are interested.
3 – on the DW itself, 2 things : I used my elevated and inverted targets on the DW plank first, to show them what that plank was all about before going to the flat mat (I truly can’t remember if that is what Jordan recommended or not lol) I did all my back-and-forth reps with those targets.
Then, when I went to the mat on the DW, I used the same body language I used on the flyball training, so they all immediately said “where no stoppy”.Let me know if that makes sense!
TracyMy teeter training body language is very different (more like what I use for the bang game) so they are discriminating pretty well).
Hi! Based on this video, you multi-task really well 🙂
On the first couple of reps with the cone, she was jumping on a little high and then moving down the plank, so those were really more of a warm up.
When you switched to the other side and without the cone – she was leaping right into position much more. And when you went back to your left side without the cone, she was definitely moving right into position, no walking down the board. Nice! And I don’t think she noticed the increase in tip. Yay!
So for now, leave the tip where it is an add some handler independence: start the same way you left off here, but as you release her to target, start to walk forward to challenge her to hit and hold target position.
Then if that is strong for a session, increase the tip and repeat the process of introducing the different challenges 🙂
It should be very gradual increases like you did here. We’ve got about 10 more days til we build on it, so you can make a goal of maybe 2 or 3 inches total to add from what you had here (and see how see feels about it :))
Great job!
TracyHi! This was super! It was a pretty challenging setup: the board definitely was bouncy bouncy and also a little noisy – but you structured the session really well. Smart to intro it as a recall with the support of the other person, then gradually add more and more speed. And, I think she was quite motivated by the peanut butter LOL! I was happy to see her start off happy and continue to grow her confidence. The more you can have her do this type of stuff, the better things will be for the teeter.
Great job!
TracyHi! Thankfully he didn’t seem to care when he pushed the peanut out on the last rep! You kept it fun when it happened. The tunnel bags will help for sure.
I was starting to see the weight shift we want here! On the rep where he was on your left for the first time, we would really see it. After that, he was doing it too but the cheese was a little more on the other side of the peanut, so he was stretching to get it. I think keeping the cheese reward more centered on the peanut will keep him more in that weight shifted crouch (his targeting and end position will produce it when we put it on the teeter :))
Nice work here! It was great to see him tackle this strange new setup with confidence!
TracyHi! I feel your pain with the soggy weather!!! I’m ready for spring!
Yes, channels are fun and allow for a lot of additional challenges in training. If you have 6 or 12 2x2s, you can set them up in their straight line like regular poles, then “open” them into channels by rotating each base so poles 1, 3, 5, 7 ,9 ,11 are facing 2 o’clock on their own little clock, and the even-numbered poles are at 8 o’clock- so it ends up looking like a channel. Let me know if that makes sense! I can also take a photo or video if you prefer a visual of it.
TracyGood morning!
>> I think I have a Go Toob somewhere, I’ll find it and fill it so I can just squeeze a bit out, that will be faster and easier and won’t end with a pyrshep in my peanut butter lol.>>
Ha! I was just thinking I needed to gt one of those tubes! And I have marked the peanut butter in the house with a big “X” if it is dog peanut butter… my husband prefers to NOT share his peanut butter with the dogs LOL!!!
>>I didn’t remember where the stool was and I have people come and use my arena. >>
Take a look at the field guides – I have them on my phone and jot down where I left off so I don’t forget. The other thing I do is take a quick photo of where the tip was at the end of the session so I don’t have to remember 🙂 Memory is not great plus training 3 dogs who are all at different tips… I need notes and pictures LOL!!!!
On the video – he certainly seemed happy with the peanut butter! And no diving off the end! Either the peanut butter was calming or he ‘felt’ the tip, as he was good about running up the board but not quite as speedy as previous reps where he was running into the weight shift right at the end. It is not a concern though – he wasn’t worried from what I could see, he just needs another session on this level of tip. I think he will then say “got it!” at which point, you can get more even more tip added. The speed from the wing was good, and your motion at the end was not hard for him at all.
Great job!!!!
TracyGood morning!
Wow, still growing! But I guess that makes sense, he is still young and he is a boy 🙂First video: this is such a great training teeter, so much whip and noise and wiggle LOL! And I love that he doesn’t give a hoot. He was happy to be eating his treats and hoping for more. LOL! Good boy!
So yes – more tip. Over the course of the next two weeks, try to very slowly and progressively add more and more tip so the board ends up horizontal (parallel to the ground) when he is at the top.
Now, if it takes longers than 2 weeks to get it there, that is fine! 2 of my 3 youngsters too more than 2 weeks. But it is a good visual goal to work towards. The key will be high value, and tiny incremental drops, and if he asks any questions: make it easier.The bang game will be adding in his down position, so that focus on the end position will be there and I think you will see him adding it faster here on the uphills too.
Downhills are also looking confident! I think you can delay the click of the MM until he elbows get down on the board – you had this at :34 and then also on several of the reps towards the end (before you went to the ball throwing). That can help him want to get into the down faster! You can give him more room – pull the table under the bottom out a little so the MM is further away so he has more room on the end to gt into the down right at the bottom.
And yes… add more tip here too LOL! You were already adding tip and he was fine. The core and balance games will continue to keep him learning to balance as the board drops more and more.
>> For the Mountain and downhill – is it basically just keep adding trip for this round? That is PLENTY to work on for that – I just want to make sure I’m not missing a nuance. I know the end position games are definitely bring some changes – so that will be fun!>>
Yep! The 14-day goal is to very slowly add tip to both, with the ideal goal to be that the board is parallel to the ground – but if it takes longer than 14 days, that is fine too! The bang game is where we are definitely putting more emphasis in terms of getting the end position very solid (different mechanics and adding it to the teeter board, although you have already started that).
Great job! Have fun!
TracyHi! Very clever set up – I love the bench near the top of the board for him to hop onto then get on the board! And he seemed to be enjoying the game. He also looked confident jumping on the middle and on the end of the board. Yay! Fabulous drive downhill on the board, so…. add a little more tip at the end 🙂 You can raise the top more to get it like you did, or lower the bottom 🙂
Great job here!
TracyGood morning!
>> the target on the end of the board was disastrous for nuuptse!!! He just turned back to ity. therre was no backing up!>>
Oh dear! LOL!!!! At least he is efficient and knows that we like the him to do his target position 🙂
He did well on the bang game here, and he totally does things with a full-on zest! This is moving along really nicely.
When you were moving ahead past the board, he was at his best in terms of nailing the position and looking down/shifting his weight. When you were staying behind him, he wanted to stop short and look at your hands a bit to watch the cookies come in. So – have the cookie ready in your hand and then when he arrives in position, toss it to him so it lands in between his front feet (or close to that area hahahah). When you toss it, you can use a word that means “get yer cookie” so he knows it is ok to eat it and also ok for him to leave position to get it (I use ‘catch’). That can help him look forward and down even when you are behind him, because the cookie will come from the target area and not from your hand. Plus, he won’t need to look at you as you approach with the reward so it should help keep his head straight.
It is not as important to do this when you are moving past the board, but definitely will be useful when you are sending him ahead.
You can add this cookie tossing when you move to the next level bang game: starting him right at the very end so he is leaping into position at the every end, rather than starting him further back where he would run down the board into position.Great job here!
TracyWhat a fun session!! The tunnel was definitely a little distracting (rate of success is lower, especially on the right hand sends) but he worked through it really nicely! This is definitely something to show him again, then add more of your motion. He gets a gold star for not actually ending up in the tunnel LOL! We are starting to see this challenge pretty regularly so I figure we should train it really early on in the progression.
>>Mostly he didn’t care about the tunnel, but with a bit of speed on, I wonder if he would think the same…. When I do turns of the dw with him, he can do it without speed, but as soon as we are in full flight across the dw he eyes up the next obstacle and can’t do a tight turn. It’s quite frustrating and shows a hole in my training!>>
The tunnel is very stimulating especially when the dog is in high arousal! So he was ‘calmer’ here but we could still see the bit of distraction happening (which will also happen when the dogs need to stay in until they finish pole 12 but want to pop out at pole 10 :)) For my RDW training (currently in progress with my 3 young dogs, I am a GLUTTON for punishment hahaha) I added the distractions VERY early on (currently sitting on the floor and whacking toys on the ground while the dogs do their mat work LOL!) as well as when the behavior goes on the DW. I think in the past I subscribed to the “finish the obstacle then introduce the distractions” theory but my dogs have struggled with that, so I reversed it with this younger generation: “handle the distractions at every stage”.
Let me know what you think! Great job on your sessions!
TracyHi! This looks great! He had very few questions – yes a little question on the threadle on the hard angle, but we will be adding a cue on those shortly to help clarify what we want. He had one question about bending into the entry on a hard angle from your right side – but then got it on the next rep.
So for the next session – warm up with a couple of reps here at 1-7 with more of your motion thrown in (on sends reps, you can leave the threadle reps alone for a bit) and then in that session – straighten the poles. Yay! He is progressing very quickly!
If you have channels, or can make channels out of the 2x2s, you can also have some fun with the challenges to get him to stay in the poles 🙂
Great job!
TracyHi!
These are all good questions:
>>He was trotting along smelling the flowers with the Pet Tutor (but getting the entries right) and he picked it up when spiderball got tossed in.
He likes his treats, but it looks like it will be toys to train the weaves! And that is fine 🙂 And if he is on the same track as CB, then toys on the RDW too.
>> I ended on an easier entry since he was really running for it. Should I be swithing back to the PT if he starts turning his head back on exit? Or should that not be an issue if I’m tossing the ball early enough?>>
Bearing in mind that his progress will guide us… I think you can introduce new concepts with the PT and then quickly go to the toys. Also, you might find that the PT to reward weaves then the ball for coming back and lining up… that is what I am doing with Elektra at this point, you’ll see it in next week’s demos. It is basically all about figuring out what produces the right balance of thoughtful/accurate and woohoo/giddy up!
About the looking: if he exits the poles and then looks back at you, yes throw a little earlier but more importantly: throw further. If he is looking at you *while* heading towards the poles or while weaving, we will go back to the PT.On the video:
He liked using the PT more when you were running but then after the 2nd rep with the ball, it was much more GAME ON!!! Perfect! What other throwing toys does he like? Frizzers? On mats, you can also go for giant meatballs, he won’t be sad LOL! But overall he was NOT looking back at you while heading to the poles and also while in the poles, so I think this was great. Keep working the various angles with the toys and then onwards to straight poles here (they are almost straight anyway) 🙂 He is looking strong!Great job!
Tracy
