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Oh I was also going to tell you that I use vet wrap to secure the target on the box or the DW when we get there and it works really well! I will wrap all the way around the DW or target a couple of times. Super easy and easier than tape. Towards the end of the DW training I will put the vet wrap on the DW without the target as the target in the end. 🙂
HAHA well, first I am a night owl… I totally do most of my dog training at like 1AM hahaha. Second, I had so much computer work that day I stayed up way too late to get it all done. Also I time wise I am a bit behind you so it may have actually been 2:45 or 3:45 here. Still too early. Ugh!
Great! I think these proofing exercises will be SO GREAT for her. So take your time working through these (we will do a lot of different types of proofing exercises like this). Yes, I completely agree, continue with this and get her to where she is really driving to the target e=without hesitation every time before moving on. I would also use different toys to keep her thinking more. Then as she is really started to get good at this go to a smaller platform as well. That will make hitting the target with all 4 more challenging.
Also as a side note – I use vet wrap a lot to secure the target to the platform or the DW when we get there. It works really well!
Yay! The toy definitely got the excitement for the behavior I was looking for!! Similar to Electra, try to present the reward earlier to keep him moving forward. He may be more likely to miss with all 4 feet when you do that but after a few repetitions he will figure it out. You could even try already having your hand with the cookies there in the reward position when he heads to the target. Again, you may see more missed in the beginning because he is having to think through the treat being there but I bet he will figure that out really quickly. Continue adding in the toy rewards as well. He is doing really well with that and I love his overall excitement for the game with the toy rewards mixed in. 🙂
Nicely done! Going to your right in the video she does get a little bit sticky so I would try to toss your reward earlier to keep her moving forward in that direction. Overall, I am not worried about it at all and it will likely go away on its own. My guess is she is thinking more in that direction. She did well with the toy rewards too and really did a great job of keeping her head on and maintaining the 4 foot hits. Continue like this, mixing in both food and toy rewards while you start building distance. At some point I would also do this in a new/different location as well. Part of our goal in these steps of teaching this behavior is teaching them how to deal with the excitement and distractions. Great work!
It is possible that this circle target is just a bit too small too quickly. If she was successful with a slightly bigger object I would go back to that object and continue building up the confidence/speed/distraction there then come back to this in a little while. Towards the end she was starting to get it pretty well but you will definitely want to build up speed on the bigger easier targets 🙂
Nice!! That looks great 🙂
She is doing so well with the toy distractions so I would probably stick with toys for this exercise or maybe the MM. And yes, food dish a bit farther away is good 🙂 One other thing that you can do is ask for the behavior when she is looking at you not the target. This will really teach her to search it out and test how well she can meet the criteria with out as much time to think about it. The inverted box also looks great. The next step for you two is add more handler motion distractions 🙂
Crossing my fingers for a clear sky for you!
For her because she is not super foody, try throwing the treats a bit farther away and because you are throwing farther away try to throw them in a straight line with the target then gradually start adding more of a turn. That should make it easier for her in the beginning and make it more of a chase the cookie type game rather than so much thinking and then yes, we can gradually add the thinking back into the picture. Keep experimenting with the higher value rewards. A lot of my BCs have been a bit picky eaters when they are young. With a couple of mine really short (like 10 cookies sessions) scattered throughout the day made a big difference. I would make a big deal of the like 30 second session we were doing then went back to being boring after and that really seemed to help.
Way more excited about the target now!She is getting the bounce in/out hit wayyyyy better now! Really from here all you need to do is continue to get her to generalize the behavior by working on different objects (like you are in the video) and we can move into more of a proofing stage. So adding more distance, different handler positions, distractions, toy rewards, etc. Great work!
Yes that looked great! Yes, I agree if he does the 2o2o then it is best to reward whatever he offer in motion to keep him moving then gradually select for all 4 hits (so yes, 3 in that scenario is fine). However, he did really well even with the smaller object! He seemed like he was offering all 4 really well! I did not notice it being a big issue in these videos at all. Continue like this for a few more sessions building up some confidence! You can also play with using some different objects to help him start generalizing the behavior more!
Yes much better!! Continue like this for a few sessions until she is confidently and immediately offering going to the target. Even with just your hands like that she is already doing so much better. The elevated target is definitely way better too! You can also get closer in the beginning to make it easier for her.
Great work!
Hello!
1 – I do prefer mats that don’t make noise. Because they tend to be so sensitive and will mark even if the hit was not that good. So in some ways I think it can be a bit confusing for the dogs. However I have had a few students that could not train their eye that well and I have had them use them and it was really helpful for them.
2 – I use the same marker regardless of what they are going to. I know there is a lot of new training out there with different types of markers for different rewards. In my eyes, the dogs are so brilliant they will find the reward regardless of what or where it is as long as it is really valuable to them. I don’t by any means discourage these marker words. I personally have so many other things that I want to train that I would rather put my time towards. Again, in my eyes, the dogs are brilliant and they figure this all out without us training it at all.
3 – Yes, it is getting smaller (within reason) and yes, the dog should always hit with all 4. You can make this pretty small mostly because there is no speed at this point so even the big dogs can hit with all 4 on a pretty small space.🙂
The first video looks really good. The most important thing that we are doing right now is developing what type of hits we want. So when you are throwing the cookie be sure to toss it is the same direction that he is going without having him turn away from you. He will be pretty much making a U shape from either side of you. You can change the distance that you toss the reward and you can make it a bit more straight but don’t encourage him to turn away from you or around in a circle just yet. The next thing I want you to add to this is to start JPing him for the best hits and slowly stop rewarding for the not so good hits. So any all 4 hits you will JP for and anything less than that you will stop rewarding. Distance looks great, him finding the mat looks great but some of his hits are so so (which makes sense right now because we are just starting training it).
Nice! The back and forth game is looking awesome! He is doing a great job of hitting with all 4 feet. You moving closer to the target in the beginning was a good choice. With the B&F game anytime their hits are not all 4 it would be a no reward and if he does that 2x then make it easier with less distance (which is exactly what you did, perfect). I love that you are mixing in both food and toy rewards with this one too!
Oh yeah she is already doing better in this video! Yes, I think the main thing is more room to toss cookies 🙂 Same with the smaller platforms. Shes just a big girl that needs a little more wiggle room. This will also help putting things in motion down the road too so might as well do it now. As soon as you added more distance with the med target it was a lot better but I think that was a lot because she had more room with the cookie tosses.
So part of whats happening with the small target is she hasn’t developed that quick “pounce like” type of hit. She is still walking to hit the target. So use the large and med targets for now building up her distance (which will also help with the speed part). Then stick with that until you are getting that pouncing/bouncing/quick on off type of hit. Then when you are getting that consistently try the smaller target again. It might be that you build up all the understanding with the cookies like you are now then as she is really getting it (still with the large/med targets) then you can add in toys and more excitement then after you have more speed then try the small target again. It all depends on how she does with the extra distance. That will decide which way you go with this after. Makes sense?
Shes a wild lady! I love it!
Yes, lets go to the elevated target. I think she will build overall better understanding there then we can come back to this later when she understands the behavior better. I also think that it would help her a lot of you drop the cookies by your side and not move your hands (with the cookies) so much. I think she is watching for your hand motion a lot and not thinking about her feet as much. The elevated target should help with this a lot 🙂
You could even drop the cookie into 2 bowls on either side of you (still in an arc with the target). But this might help give her a target so that she wont be quite as frantic looking for the cookie in your hand. But you not moving your hands as much might just do the trick so we can try both and see 🙂
Yes more distance is the next step. For her I think adding more distance on the tossed cookie first would be the way to go. So just toss your cookies farther (hoping to get a bit more speed from her) for a session or two in all different directions and when she is confident with that add more distance. With dogs her size, I have also added a two small cones or cups or something small and somewhat tall on either end of the elevated target as something for them to go around so they can’t get on the target right in the middle. That might help her understand that she needs to get on the target with both FF and RF. So I would also do a session with that as well. So dogs pick that up really quickly.
