I know, my intention was to document all of Squibby & George's training, but alas, it just didn't happen. But I have the latest updates for you!
Squibby:
Squibby is doing full runs, he brings his ball, he brings it to his tug & drops it. Sweet! He started working 1 jump to the box & back with a passing dog. He does much better being passed than passing at this point. Next we'll work him versus another dog in the other lane, but again 1 hurdle down & back, and then expanding on that theme once he's solid with another dog head to head. The other big news is that Squibby has a new home! He'll be going to Gloria at the beginning of October & will hopefully be quite the little flyball height dog for her team!
George:
Well, George had a total meltdown a few weeks ago, timed perfectly for when his Mom came to see him. We struggled for about 10 days, he literally acted like there was no way he could get his butt over the prop & he would avoid turning on the box even if the carpet board was back in & he was at least going over the prop onto that flat on the ground. I was totally dismayed. He was doing a great impression of a log most of the time. Then I might get him to do a few semi-decent turns and he's go back to being a lump! However he did have an ear infection and once we started treating that he seemed to improve and all of a sudden I had the good George back, so I suspect the infection was making him feel outta balance or at least not quite himself. Cause now I have this...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8TkrDNhhRAE
He is literally worked better than he ever was! So big YEAH! In the video things to notice:
1. His box bounces are nice & high
2. He's not doing them that fast, we stop for treats between each one, so I cut that off
3. I'm sorry you have to listen to my super fake happy voice, it annoys me!
4. Once I add the ball, things tend to look bad, but he's trying to coordinate the timing of popping over the prop, turning, and then picking up the ball.
5. At first I'm rewarding any mouth contact with the ball, so he's maybe hitting the ball with his mouth, or catching it/then dropping it, and he got a reward for that b/c I wanted him to know he was on the right track, even if it wasn't the ideal end product.
6. He's getting the ball, basically where it would be if it was in the hole. I didn't have the right set up so I had to use the carpet board to hold the ball in place.
Future work:
Next time I'll have it in the hole, but the hole will not be triggering. Then we start to very gradually increase the speed the ball comes out at. This generally is done pretty quickly, but with George I think it will be crucial to slowly increase the speed & back off to make sure he's successful and confident before it gets to the end. If he's overwhelmed, you back off the speed, build up the confidence again & move forward.
Of course there is still all that other stuff, passing, running against a dog, running past a dog on the sidelines & putting the whole thing together into a full run. But I still think George has made fantastic progress for a dog who's not super drivey & had to start from scratch!
Saturday, September 25, 2010
Monday, August 30, 2010
The 10 step program continues
7. Just like it sounds, George had to start going & getting the ball from further & further away, and sometimes not that far away, I like to keep it random. George isn't tuned into the ball like some ball freaky dogs, so sometimes he just doesn't see it so we keep it light, no big deal, we'll just get it & move it a bit closer. We worked up to basically a 15 ft radius.
8. Again, pretty self explanatory. While I usually caution people that a moving or thrown ball is not the same as a flyball retrieve (it's not), this is about making the ball fun & unpredicatable, and cause fetch is fun & it's another way for George to interact with the ball. Again I'm working in basically a living room size room so the ball isn't ever terribly far away. At this point I start moving, once he gets it & turns, I take a step away from him, then a few more steps, then a jog away. This is important b/c I want to be able to run away from him and I'm just building up to that 1 step at a time. This is hard for dogs, often when they see movement they will often drop the ball at first, cause you are moving you have the reward! If he dropped it I just asked him to get his ball again & bring it w/ slightly less movement on my part.
9. So now he's picking up a ball, stationary or moving, so we take it on the road, we do it outside, in the training building, in the basement, in the garage, wherever to help solidfy that no matter where you are or what the distractions, the game is still the same. This is something that people tend to skip, or you hear "my dog does this at home but won't even look at a ball here!" Everytime I go to a new place, we start with very easy stuff, just pick up the ball right in front of you, then increase difficulty & I keep it mixed, sometimes it's a dead ball, sometimes it's thrown. I never try to trick him or hide the ball. If it rolls somewhere he's not going to immediately see, we just go get it. We worked up to him going about 50 ft to get a ball, then chasing me back with it about 75 ft. Good boy!
10. So, the next step, is that I take the white prop board and put the ball on the other side of it. Why? Because George is going to have to carry the ball over 4 hurdles, and the prop looks a lot like one. He's also going to have to jump over the prop & get a ball off the box, then jump back over that prop. So we start simple, he just needs to do a short retrieve with the prop in his way. I use my body to guide him over & back and only click for the retrieved balls that make it over the prop. He drops on the "box" side of the prop, no reward. If he'd been really struggling with this, I would have made the requirements easier, like pick up the ball, turn towards the jump, click. Luckily I didn't have to, but if you could literally shape this behavior that minutely.
So that's it, now you have a flyball dog.
Just kidding. Well you can at least see that George is progressing towards something more flyball like in this video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IVSw_AXWpyY
A few things of note from the video.
1. This was a hot, hot practice, literally, 85 plus high humidity. George is now in great physical shape and other than a slow start for box work, he really worked hard this practice. All these clips were shot sequentially, so he didn't wander off & take a nap or have a nice lay down between attempts, he was working hard! So was I! At this point his slowness is more related to him saying I'm not sure what you want vs not being in shape. So you see lazy & unmotivated, but I see a dog who doesn't want to be wrong & is showing me he's not confident in what I want.
2. In the first set of box work, we've gradually moved the carpet board up the box. By the end he's hitting the box w/ the carpet board at the same angle as the box. The next step is to take it away entirely. I do this with out a ball in cause I want him used to the slightly different sound & feel without having to worry about getting the ball.
3. For runbacks, the dog he's running against is my dog Nikki, she is very fast, ideally I'd pair him with a slower dog to try to build some race drive, but Nikki is the dog he MOST loves to chase and body slam playing in the yard. So for this exercise I'm not really looking for race drive, just that he stay focused on me while his favorite wrestling buddy is running. Which he did beautifully! The gating goes about 15 feet past the last hurdle, so he can certainly go chase her if he wanted to. We also moved the lanes closer together & that seemd to throw him off...see all the barriers & I moved the gating over. But as we kept going I was pulling the barriers & gating back away & he stayed on task. He usually does a better job staying in line for runbacks.
4. Best of all, you get to see the very first time I've combined step 10 with retrieving the ball off the box. We put the carpet board down low again, so that he had the best chance for success, then we moved it up slowly but not all the way up. I was more concerned w/ his confidence & success rate than getting the ball up to the ball hole area. He is again working with another dog and staying really focused, the dog is a total stranger to him. Good boy. You can see towards the end after a string of nice ball retrieves I cue him poorly & he drops the ball almost immediately after jumping the prop, the next attempt he is like cool, I don't have to bring the ball, so you can see how quickly stuff can fall apart. I just ignored this, he got no click, no treat & we tried again. The next time *I* remembered to tell him that 2nd cue..."bring it!" and then he brought it back to me. No reprimand, no big deal, my bad, try again dude! If you watch closely to this whole series you can also see him go from jump the prop, put head down, pick up ball, to jump prop aiming his head right for the ball. I've done this enough that I could see that while working him, but it takes a bit of experience to watch & see what you want develop. I also helped him smooth out his turn, by pushing into the lane with my body. George also seemed to enjoy having a whole chorus of "good boy" from my teammates. They all seem highly amused by George's training, I thank them for their support. Angelic you need to buy Skidmarkz a bottle of Margarita, Cuervo Gold preferably :)
Addendum:
We practiced again tonight & George was able to have the ball much higher, so we'll just keep building til he's going to have to grab the ball outta the box w/ no speed (ie the box isn't triggering). He also was doing a great job bringing the ball further & further, and not dropping it til I clicked. Once he's doing a nice turn with the ball in it's actual hole, we increase the speed once the dog is confident by increments, basically, 1/3 speed, 2/3 speed, full speed. Again this enables you to back chain, if it was too fast you slow it down again.
That's it for now. Squibby is doing super awesome, but that blog update will have to wait til tomorrow! And yes, I like to make numbered lists.
8. Again, pretty self explanatory. While I usually caution people that a moving or thrown ball is not the same as a flyball retrieve (it's not), this is about making the ball fun & unpredicatable, and cause fetch is fun & it's another way for George to interact with the ball. Again I'm working in basically a living room size room so the ball isn't ever terribly far away. At this point I start moving, once he gets it & turns, I take a step away from him, then a few more steps, then a jog away. This is important b/c I want to be able to run away from him and I'm just building up to that 1 step at a time. This is hard for dogs, often when they see movement they will often drop the ball at first, cause you are moving you have the reward! If he dropped it I just asked him to get his ball again & bring it w/ slightly less movement on my part.
9. So now he's picking up a ball, stationary or moving, so we take it on the road, we do it outside, in the training building, in the basement, in the garage, wherever to help solidfy that no matter where you are or what the distractions, the game is still the same. This is something that people tend to skip, or you hear "my dog does this at home but won't even look at a ball here!" Everytime I go to a new place, we start with very easy stuff, just pick up the ball right in front of you, then increase difficulty & I keep it mixed, sometimes it's a dead ball, sometimes it's thrown. I never try to trick him or hide the ball. If it rolls somewhere he's not going to immediately see, we just go get it. We worked up to him going about 50 ft to get a ball, then chasing me back with it about 75 ft. Good boy!
10. So, the next step, is that I take the white prop board and put the ball on the other side of it. Why? Because George is going to have to carry the ball over 4 hurdles, and the prop looks a lot like one. He's also going to have to jump over the prop & get a ball off the box, then jump back over that prop. So we start simple, he just needs to do a short retrieve with the prop in his way. I use my body to guide him over & back and only click for the retrieved balls that make it over the prop. He drops on the "box" side of the prop, no reward. If he'd been really struggling with this, I would have made the requirements easier, like pick up the ball, turn towards the jump, click. Luckily I didn't have to, but if you could literally shape this behavior that minutely.
So that's it, now you have a flyball dog.
Just kidding. Well you can at least see that George is progressing towards something more flyball like in this video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IVSw_AXWpyY
A few things of note from the video.
1. This was a hot, hot practice, literally, 85 plus high humidity. George is now in great physical shape and other than a slow start for box work, he really worked hard this practice. All these clips were shot sequentially, so he didn't wander off & take a nap or have a nice lay down between attempts, he was working hard! So was I! At this point his slowness is more related to him saying I'm not sure what you want vs not being in shape. So you see lazy & unmotivated, but I see a dog who doesn't want to be wrong & is showing me he's not confident in what I want.
2. In the first set of box work, we've gradually moved the carpet board up the box. By the end he's hitting the box w/ the carpet board at the same angle as the box. The next step is to take it away entirely. I do this with out a ball in cause I want him used to the slightly different sound & feel without having to worry about getting the ball.
3. For runbacks, the dog he's running against is my dog Nikki, she is very fast, ideally I'd pair him with a slower dog to try to build some race drive, but Nikki is the dog he MOST loves to chase and body slam playing in the yard. So for this exercise I'm not really looking for race drive, just that he stay focused on me while his favorite wrestling buddy is running. Which he did beautifully! The gating goes about 15 feet past the last hurdle, so he can certainly go chase her if he wanted to. We also moved the lanes closer together & that seemd to throw him off...see all the barriers & I moved the gating over. But as we kept going I was pulling the barriers & gating back away & he stayed on task. He usually does a better job staying in line for runbacks.
4. Best of all, you get to see the very first time I've combined step 10 with retrieving the ball off the box. We put the carpet board down low again, so that he had the best chance for success, then we moved it up slowly but not all the way up. I was more concerned w/ his confidence & success rate than getting the ball up to the ball hole area. He is again working with another dog and staying really focused, the dog is a total stranger to him. Good boy. You can see towards the end after a string of nice ball retrieves I cue him poorly & he drops the ball almost immediately after jumping the prop, the next attempt he is like cool, I don't have to bring the ball, so you can see how quickly stuff can fall apart. I just ignored this, he got no click, no treat & we tried again. The next time *I* remembered to tell him that 2nd cue..."bring it!" and then he brought it back to me. No reprimand, no big deal, my bad, try again dude! If you watch closely to this whole series you can also see him go from jump the prop, put head down, pick up ball, to jump prop aiming his head right for the ball. I've done this enough that I could see that while working him, but it takes a bit of experience to watch & see what you want develop. I also helped him smooth out his turn, by pushing into the lane with my body. George also seemed to enjoy having a whole chorus of "good boy" from my teammates. They all seem highly amused by George's training, I thank them for their support. Angelic you need to buy Skidmarkz a bottle of Margarita, Cuervo Gold preferably :)
Addendum:
We practiced again tonight & George was able to have the ball much higher, so we'll just keep building til he's going to have to grab the ball outta the box w/ no speed (ie the box isn't triggering). He also was doing a great job bringing the ball further & further, and not dropping it til I clicked. Once he's doing a nice turn with the ball in it's actual hole, we increase the speed once the dog is confident by increments, basically, 1/3 speed, 2/3 speed, full speed. Again this enables you to back chain, if it was too fast you slow it down again.
That's it for now. Squibby is doing super awesome, but that blog update will have to wait til tomorrow! And yes, I like to make numbered lists.
Tuesday, August 3, 2010
Top Secret Training Tool aka the GOB!
Let's see, I kinda left you hanging. So the GOB...
BTW, props to Laura Dallas who first mentioned this concept to me, about 2 years ago. Her idea that if the dog had to move a ball to get to something underneath was pure genius! This is the first time I've actually had the dog to attempt this with!
Still this can't possibly work right, I mean, seriously, it's a christmas ornament & a bowl.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=popT9Yv1mPs
Oh damn it did! Notice what I'm not doing? I'm not begging, I'm not flailing around motioning at the ball, I'm not saying much at all, just asking him to try again when he fails. He learns through failure and you gotta have the patience to let the dog try & fail, and not let it be the end of the world. Of course then you add more turkey ham to the bowl when the times get really rough and he rolls over & pretends he's dead.
So we did a lot of GOB work, with the nubby up, concept: pick up the thing, get a reward. The bowl kept him from dragging or pushing the GOB, I kept him from nudging it aside to get the food underneath. Almost immediately, I didn't allow him to get the treats himself out of the bowl, I doled out the treats. Probably the most key concept is that I never allowed him to get the GOB out of the bowl any other way than with his mouth. And reward heavily with high value treats (ie with lots of little bits of diced ham!).
Here is some more of George's first GOB work, it's not very exciting, but you get an idea that just b/c he figured it out, doesn't mean he's "got it" perfectly yet.
http://www.youtube.com/mcjayne#p/u/0/KWeCOqIBNcU
I know I read in an agility magazine that you go for a 80-90% success rate w/ a clicker. So when they do it right 90 times outta 100, you can consider it pretty solid. Dang, that's a lot of clicking! I guess my point is that just because a dog does it a few times, don't assume that they are solid & always be prepared to take a step back in training to make sure they really got it. Don't see it as a set back, but instead as a sign that the dog is telling they just don't understand yet, could you show them again?
Step 6, part b. So we played with the GOB, nubby up for a long time. It got easier & easier for George, you'd set the GOB in & he'd pull it right out. I phased out having treats in the bowl really quickly so the bowl became really only a reason to lift the GOB high. So it was time to up the ante. I flipped the GOB over, and it was just a round ball, granted it has a little texture to it, but it's bigger than a normal tennis ball. My hope was to switch to a tennis ball as soon as possible but of course we needed a bridge between the nice easy grab the nubby side of the GOB gave him, and a real tennis ball. It took him several attempts to actually open his mouth wider and get a grip on the non-nubby side of the GOB. Once he figured out how to do that we were golden! He quickly worked up to pulling the GOB out almost as soon as I put it in the bowl. Yeah!!
Step 6, part c. So that whole GOB thing...yeah well, we were done with the GOB. But here's the slick thing, he got the concept: pick up something, pick it up high, use your mouth, get a reward! So part c was simply putting a real tennis ball in the bowl & letting him ponder that. He figured that out so quickly it was just lovely. But then we were stuck for a long time, if I moved the ball out of the bowl & just had it on the ground he was totally befuddled, in the bowl, he'd instantly pick it up. So I alternated 1 time outta the bowl, then bowl disappears & I would cup the ball with my hand and have the back of my hand on the ground. It took a few tries but he started picking it up out of my hand, and then I was able to transition to just setting it on the ground in front of him. For several sessions we had to always start w/ the ball in the bowl, at least once then he'd retrieve it off the ground. That's okay by me, that's some really easy back chaining to do. After several more sessions w/ the bowl we phased it out completely & he was picking up the ball off the floor with no problems. Yeah!!
Steps 7-10 details will be blogged another day sadly.
Squibby!
Yeah you remember him right, I do every time I work with George cause Squibby makes it a lot easier on me. Nonetheless, he's still a young dog & he can meltdown just cause his little brain is overwhelmed.
Tug 4 Ball:
We humans spend a lot of time wiggling tugs for dogs, but we don't always explain to them that they are working to get the tug. I mean great the dog loves a tug, but will they work for it, will they do something specific to get the tug? So for Squibby, this video just shows that we are working the same concept as George is...minus the need for a GOB. For this I'm asking Squibby to go pick up a ball and then we'll have a nice game of tug as his reward. We've worked a fair amount of food for the ball, so I wanted to make sure he understood that picking up the ball could also lead to other rewards. This is also a training exercise that helps balance tug vs. ball drive. I'm making a big deal about the tug, not so much about getting the ball. In this case, I don't actually even care that he brings the ball to the tug, just that he go & pick it up, then we'll tug like crazy. Look the tug is more fun than the ball!
http://www.youtube.com/mcjayne#p/u/0/tgc-UGwGj3k
Bring me the Ball!
Hum, but the ball is really important in flyball, and this is why I'm working to balance how much Squibby loves both those things. I also think it's important that the dog understand that bringing the ball TO me is important. So this video shows not only just how awesome I can stop a rolling ball with my feet, but that I'm specifically rewarding a retrieve based on having him bring the ball to me, not just sorta near me. And a warning, this video is duller than most, but you can look for these nuances. IMHO there are two parts to a retrieve, you'll hear my two cues in the video, 1) Where is your ball (ie go find the ball) and 2) Bring the ball (duh). The nice thing about using a clicker to teach or hone a dog's retrieve is that they sort of naturally start holding the ball UNTIL they hear a click, so you can get them to bring you a ball a longer distance just by not clicking until they are closer to you. I also reinforce that by making them go pick up the ball if it's not close enough to me (and heavily reward dropped, then picked up & carried further balls). Even George has picked up on this skill. I don't make a big deal about it, just whoopsy, "where is your ball" to recue them to pick it up. We start small, with just bringing it a few inches, but you can clearly see that Squibby's got it, he's bringing it to almost the exact same spot each time. And he's getting very tiny rewards, but a lot of them for bringing the ball nice & close to me.
http://www.youtube.com/mcjayne#p/a/u/0/tlFa6vfhWpo
So that's it, a nice burst of blogging but sheez I'm tired & still have more video to edit, laundry to do, a lawn to mow, sigh.
BTW, props to Laura Dallas who first mentioned this concept to me, about 2 years ago. Her idea that if the dog had to move a ball to get to something underneath was pure genius! This is the first time I've actually had the dog to attempt this with!
Still this can't possibly work right, I mean, seriously, it's a christmas ornament & a bowl.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=popT9Yv1mPs
Oh damn it did! Notice what I'm not doing? I'm not begging, I'm not flailing around motioning at the ball, I'm not saying much at all, just asking him to try again when he fails. He learns through failure and you gotta have the patience to let the dog try & fail, and not let it be the end of the world. Of course then you add more turkey ham to the bowl when the times get really rough and he rolls over & pretends he's dead.
So we did a lot of GOB work, with the nubby up, concept: pick up the thing, get a reward. The bowl kept him from dragging or pushing the GOB, I kept him from nudging it aside to get the food underneath. Almost immediately, I didn't allow him to get the treats himself out of the bowl, I doled out the treats. Probably the most key concept is that I never allowed him to get the GOB out of the bowl any other way than with his mouth. And reward heavily with high value treats (ie with lots of little bits of diced ham!).
Here is some more of George's first GOB work, it's not very exciting, but you get an idea that just b/c he figured it out, doesn't mean he's "got it" perfectly yet.
http://www.youtube.com/mcjayne#p/u/0/KWeCOqIBNcU
I know I read in an agility magazine that you go for a 80-90% success rate w/ a clicker. So when they do it right 90 times outta 100, you can consider it pretty solid. Dang, that's a lot of clicking! I guess my point is that just because a dog does it a few times, don't assume that they are solid & always be prepared to take a step back in training to make sure they really got it. Don't see it as a set back, but instead as a sign that the dog is telling they just don't understand yet, could you show them again?
Step 6, part b. So we played with the GOB, nubby up for a long time. It got easier & easier for George, you'd set the GOB in & he'd pull it right out. I phased out having treats in the bowl really quickly so the bowl became really only a reason to lift the GOB high. So it was time to up the ante. I flipped the GOB over, and it was just a round ball, granted it has a little texture to it, but it's bigger than a normal tennis ball. My hope was to switch to a tennis ball as soon as possible but of course we needed a bridge between the nice easy grab the nubby side of the GOB gave him, and a real tennis ball. It took him several attempts to actually open his mouth wider and get a grip on the non-nubby side of the GOB. Once he figured out how to do that we were golden! He quickly worked up to pulling the GOB out almost as soon as I put it in the bowl. Yeah!!
Step 6, part c. So that whole GOB thing...yeah well, we were done with the GOB. But here's the slick thing, he got the concept: pick up something, pick it up high, use your mouth, get a reward! So part c was simply putting a real tennis ball in the bowl & letting him ponder that. He figured that out so quickly it was just lovely. But then we were stuck for a long time, if I moved the ball out of the bowl & just had it on the ground he was totally befuddled, in the bowl, he'd instantly pick it up. So I alternated 1 time outta the bowl, then bowl disappears & I would cup the ball with my hand and have the back of my hand on the ground. It took a few tries but he started picking it up out of my hand, and then I was able to transition to just setting it on the ground in front of him. For several sessions we had to always start w/ the ball in the bowl, at least once then he'd retrieve it off the ground. That's okay by me, that's some really easy back chaining to do. After several more sessions w/ the bowl we phased it out completely & he was picking up the ball off the floor with no problems. Yeah!!
Steps 7-10 details will be blogged another day sadly.
Squibby!
Yeah you remember him right, I do every time I work with George cause Squibby makes it a lot easier on me. Nonetheless, he's still a young dog & he can meltdown just cause his little brain is overwhelmed.
Tug 4 Ball:
We humans spend a lot of time wiggling tugs for dogs, but we don't always explain to them that they are working to get the tug. I mean great the dog loves a tug, but will they work for it, will they do something specific to get the tug? So for Squibby, this video just shows that we are working the same concept as George is...minus the need for a GOB. For this I'm asking Squibby to go pick up a ball and then we'll have a nice game of tug as his reward. We've worked a fair amount of food for the ball, so I wanted to make sure he understood that picking up the ball could also lead to other rewards. This is also a training exercise that helps balance tug vs. ball drive. I'm making a big deal about the tug, not so much about getting the ball. In this case, I don't actually even care that he brings the ball to the tug, just that he go & pick it up, then we'll tug like crazy. Look the tug is more fun than the ball!
http://www.youtube.com/mcjayne#p/u/0/tgc-UGwGj3k
Bring me the Ball!
Hum, but the ball is really important in flyball, and this is why I'm working to balance how much Squibby loves both those things. I also think it's important that the dog understand that bringing the ball TO me is important. So this video shows not only just how awesome I can stop a rolling ball with my feet, but that I'm specifically rewarding a retrieve based on having him bring the ball to me, not just sorta near me. And a warning, this video is duller than most, but you can look for these nuances. IMHO there are two parts to a retrieve, you'll hear my two cues in the video, 1) Where is your ball (ie go find the ball) and 2) Bring the ball (duh). The nice thing about using a clicker to teach or hone a dog's retrieve is that they sort of naturally start holding the ball UNTIL they hear a click, so you can get them to bring you a ball a longer distance just by not clicking until they are closer to you. I also reinforce that by making them go pick up the ball if it's not close enough to me (and heavily reward dropped, then picked up & carried further balls). Even George has picked up on this skill. I don't make a big deal about it, just whoopsy, "where is your ball" to recue them to pick it up. We start small, with just bringing it a few inches, but you can clearly see that Squibby's got it, he's bringing it to almost the exact same spot each time. And he's getting very tiny rewards, but a lot of them for bringing the ball nice & close to me.
http://www.youtube.com/mcjayne#p/a/u/0/tlFa6vfhWpo
So that's it, a nice burst of blogging but sheez I'm tired & still have more video to edit, laundry to do, a lawn to mow, sigh.
I am a bad blogger!
Well between visitors, mowing, and hot, hot weather, my training efforts got slowed down for about a week or so. My blogging efforts definitely got slowed down but training has been kicking along, it's just boring & repetitive training so it's dull to video. Well it's too hot to mow today so I'm going to get my blog on (and avoid doing laundry).
So what's been up.
Well I'll start by showing some video of both Squibby & George doing box work. Hum, it's old footage, but another step in the process anyway. http://www.youtube.com/mcjayne#p/u/0/6wye0csmET4
Squibby the Squibbler!
Squibby does a good job work for his tug, but we've struggled at team practices with the distraction of all the fun people & dogs he can visit. So he needs a lot more work on making flyball super fun & slowly increasing the level of distractions. Turns out flyball is played in a setting that's just chock full of distractions, but for a young dog this is something I would rather expect. Squibby however is currently in another foster home as Jo was watching a friends dog that I normally dog sit, and he wasn't thrilled with her social butterfly/playmaniac young dog. So we traded Squibby for Cisco until Cisco's owner gets back from vacation. Squibby is really happy there and is playing up a storm with her dog. So good to know he is exactly the same dog no matter what house he's in!
George of the Jungle!
George has lost weight & is in really nice shape. With his endurance and physical fitness in better shape he's been able to work for longer sessions, which is helpful. So aside from runbacks & box work our primary focus has been on ball work. It went like this:
Step 1
Look at ball, click reward
Step 2
Nose touch ball, click reward
Step 3
Open mouth a little while touching ball, click reward
Step 4
Nibble on ball, click reward
Step 5
Nibble a LOT on the ball, click reward
Step 6
Use teeth to pick up ball, click reward
Step 7
Pick up ball from further away, click reward
Step 8
Chase moving ball, pick it up, bring it back towards me, click reward
Step 9
Do step 8 in various locations, and ball placed further away and is stationary or moving.
Step 10
Jump over a jump and bring the ball back to me, click reward, and lots of rewards!
Yes folks it's just that easy, in only 10 steps he's getting the ball. Ha aha ha. Now for some details.
Step 1, easy, he looked at it, he got a click, reward
Step 2, still easy, touch it with your nose, get a reward, once they got this I start waiting for them to offer a double nose touch
Step 3, smear ball with gooey treat, he opens mouth to lick it off & gets a click reward and lots of them b/c the reward needs to be better than the goo on the ball. He really liked Step 3!
Step 4, ball now has a slit in it, and a treat is wedged in the slit, so he has to work to get the treat out (or further in the ball), and when his teeth make contact he got a click & rewards, again heavily rewarded b/c he's leaving another treat to get the reward. We worked a lot of Steps 3 & 4.
Step 5, George now has the concept: put teeth on ball, move teeth, get reward, so we stopped baiting the ball with anything tasty and he had to do it on a regular old ball. He got that quickly because in steps 3 & 4 he was consistently rewarded heavily for leaving the baited ball to get an even better reward. We did this A LOT, I have an immense amount of video of this, it bores me to fast forward thru it so just imagine lots of repetitions here. When he would consistently nibble, look at me and nibble some more, it was time to move on. Here is video of George ball nibbling.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=97HzIqKSGRw
Step 6, Part a) I cheated. I have this ball toy that looks like a christmas ornament, it's got a nubby on one end so it makes for an easy thing to pick up. I then took a tiny bowl, and put the ornament ball into the cup...but the bottom of the bowl was filled with diced ham. Yummy. I kept a finger on the ornament ball (let's call it GOB for short), so that George couldn't nose or paw it out of the bowl. The only way to gain access to the ham was to put his teeth on it & pull it out. I let George problem solve his way thru that puzzle, and he figured out that he could easily bite on the nubby part and pull the GOB out of his way. At which point I clicked and he had full access to the ham in the bowl & I gave him additional ham bits. Repeat, although I only let him have the ham in the bowl about 5 times before I started clicking & making the only treats he got come from me & not the bowl (the focus is not the bowl's goodies, the GOB is the magical treat producing element!). If I had not had the GOB around, I would have rigged up a string or loop around the ball so he had something small to grab onto to pull the ball out of the bowl.
THE GOB!
I know you are thinking, this GOB thing is a total crock! It is barely a ball, but I am teaching a concept, not just to pick up a ball. And for a sensitive dog like George I wanted to make it as easy as possible to LIFT the GOB outta that bowl & get a reward. It meant I didn't have to fiddle around with a regular tennis ball for a long time til he opened his mouth super wide & shoved it in himself, then picked it up. You'll see, trust me, have a little faith in dog...
So what's been up.
Well I'll start by showing some video of both Squibby & George doing box work. Hum, it's old footage, but another step in the process anyway. http://www.youtube.com/mcjayne#p/u/0/6wye0csmET4
Squibby the Squibbler!
Squibby does a good job work for his tug, but we've struggled at team practices with the distraction of all the fun people & dogs he can visit. So he needs a lot more work on making flyball super fun & slowly increasing the level of distractions. Turns out flyball is played in a setting that's just chock full of distractions, but for a young dog this is something I would rather expect. Squibby however is currently in another foster home as Jo was watching a friends dog that I normally dog sit, and he wasn't thrilled with her social butterfly/playmaniac young dog. So we traded Squibby for Cisco until Cisco's owner gets back from vacation. Squibby is really happy there and is playing up a storm with her dog. So good to know he is exactly the same dog no matter what house he's in!
George of the Jungle!
George has lost weight & is in really nice shape. With his endurance and physical fitness in better shape he's been able to work for longer sessions, which is helpful. So aside from runbacks & box work our primary focus has been on ball work. It went like this:
Step 1
Look at ball, click reward
Step 2
Nose touch ball, click reward
Step 3
Open mouth a little while touching ball, click reward
Step 4
Nibble on ball, click reward
Step 5
Nibble a LOT on the ball, click reward
Step 6
Use teeth to pick up ball, click reward
Step 7
Pick up ball from further away, click reward
Step 8
Chase moving ball, pick it up, bring it back towards me, click reward
Step 9
Do step 8 in various locations, and ball placed further away and is stationary or moving.
Step 10
Jump over a jump and bring the ball back to me, click reward, and lots of rewards!
Yes folks it's just that easy, in only 10 steps he's getting the ball. Ha aha ha. Now for some details.
Step 1, easy, he looked at it, he got a click, reward
Step 2, still easy, touch it with your nose, get a reward, once they got this I start waiting for them to offer a double nose touch
Step 3, smear ball with gooey treat, he opens mouth to lick it off & gets a click reward and lots of them b/c the reward needs to be better than the goo on the ball. He really liked Step 3!
Step 4, ball now has a slit in it, and a treat is wedged in the slit, so he has to work to get the treat out (or further in the ball), and when his teeth make contact he got a click & rewards, again heavily rewarded b/c he's leaving another treat to get the reward. We worked a lot of Steps 3 & 4.
Step 5, George now has the concept: put teeth on ball, move teeth, get reward, so we stopped baiting the ball with anything tasty and he had to do it on a regular old ball. He got that quickly because in steps 3 & 4 he was consistently rewarded heavily for leaving the baited ball to get an even better reward. We did this A LOT, I have an immense amount of video of this, it bores me to fast forward thru it so just imagine lots of repetitions here. When he would consistently nibble, look at me and nibble some more, it was time to move on. Here is video of George ball nibbling.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=97HzIqKSGRw
Step 6, Part a) I cheated. I have this ball toy that looks like a christmas ornament, it's got a nubby on one end so it makes for an easy thing to pick up. I then took a tiny bowl, and put the ornament ball into the cup...but the bottom of the bowl was filled with diced ham. Yummy. I kept a finger on the ornament ball (let's call it GOB for short), so that George couldn't nose or paw it out of the bowl. The only way to gain access to the ham was to put his teeth on it & pull it out. I let George problem solve his way thru that puzzle, and he figured out that he could easily bite on the nubby part and pull the GOB out of his way. At which point I clicked and he had full access to the ham in the bowl & I gave him additional ham bits. Repeat, although I only let him have the ham in the bowl about 5 times before I started clicking & making the only treats he got come from me & not the bowl (the focus is not the bowl's goodies, the GOB is the magical treat producing element!). If I had not had the GOB around, I would have rigged up a string or loop around the ball so he had something small to grab onto to pull the ball out of the bowl.
THE GOB!
I know you are thinking, this GOB thing is a total crock! It is barely a ball, but I am teaching a concept, not just to pick up a ball. And for a sensitive dog like George I wanted to make it as easy as possible to LIFT the GOB outta that bowl & get a reward. It meant I didn't have to fiddle around with a regular tennis ball for a long time til he opened his mouth super wide & shoved it in himself, then picked it up. You'll see, trust me, have a little faith in dog...
Tuesday, July 6, 2010
Building a foundation
Squibby foundations skills:
THE BALL!
Squibby has a basic interest in toys, but I want him to love the game of tug & I also want to channel his interest in balls, at first he wanted to trap the ball with his paws all the time. So before I started I spent about 3 sessions doing a clicker intro (click-treat, click-treat). Squibby caught on very fast and started offering behaviors, yeah, smart boy. We moved on to a basic intro of me holding the ball and if he put his nose on it instead of pawing at it he got a click. Since I held the ball, it was easier for him to nose touch than paw at it anyway. We progressed in one quick session to having me set down the ball & start to roll it & clicking only for him nose touching or picking up the ball with his mouth. He loved that puzzle! Here is video of our 2nd ball session. I'm clicking (primarily) for him clearly picking up the ball. I don't care if he doesn't hold the ball or bring it to me. It's about the pieces...not the end product at this point. Does he understand that balls must be picked up with your mouth...yes. I'm not perfect at clicking every time, and you may see him pick up a ball then drop it, then pick it up again. That is often b/c he hasn't actually swallowed his last treat & he coughs it falls down when he picks up the ball. It's almost like he's training himself, (ha ha). We did this for about 5 minutes and he never tired of the game.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mmhcBEz5h94
THE TUG!
This second video shows us working on tug play. Usually when we play tug we let the dog "win" the tug, ie they pull it out of our hands & we chase them around like they have stolen something super duper awesome that we want back. Squibby is different in that when I drop the tug, so does he, so I'm playing gently with him at first and just encouraging him to hang on & enjoy the game. I am also teaching him that letting go of the tug doesn't mean the end but that we'll start up again pretty much immediately. The good thing is he's not particular about what he tugs on, and that he relates the fun of the tug to a human being on the other end. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dDFdBaJnDPY
Since I don't know what training George has had, I'm acting like he's had none. I started w/ a clicker intro, then when he started offering me behaviors (his shake is adorable), I introduced the ball. All he had to do was look at it and we progressed quickly to a nose touch and I ended the session. This is video of his first nose touching only session. With a less confident dog I want to build lots of value for the ball, cause they are going to have to leave their handler and travel far down that lane to get it. If George was a ball crazy dog I would not be doing this, I'd be doing lots & lots of tug sessions to try to raise the value of the tug/playing with me. As you can see George isn't the swiftest in this video, but he's really thinking hard about what I want and I'm using PATIENCE to let him think through the puzzle I've presented him. I'm also working him with distractions already. The door is open w/ fencing to my yard & you'll occasionally hear a piercing squeal from Cisco (my friend's JRT who is a ball fiend). In any case, having PATIENCE pays off as a training, many people are quick to decide the dog has lost interest in the game or doesn't get it, when really they need to let the dog think things through. Sometimes them not paying attention can really a sign of stress from them. Of note for clicker purists, technically I shouldn't even be labeling this as getting the ball, but George already understood that word meant the green fuzzy orb so I'm going with it. My goal for this session was just to reward those nose touches and his understanding, not going for speed or anything else. Knowing that before hand helped me be patient & not push him and keep it calm & relaxed, no pressure George!
THE BALL!
Squibby has a basic interest in toys, but I want him to love the game of tug & I also want to channel his interest in balls, at first he wanted to trap the ball with his paws all the time. So before I started I spent about 3 sessions doing a clicker intro (click-treat, click-treat). Squibby caught on very fast and started offering behaviors, yeah, smart boy. We moved on to a basic intro of me holding the ball and if he put his nose on it instead of pawing at it he got a click. Since I held the ball, it was easier for him to nose touch than paw at it anyway. We progressed in one quick session to having me set down the ball & start to roll it & clicking only for him nose touching or picking up the ball with his mouth. He loved that puzzle! Here is video of our 2nd ball session. I'm clicking (primarily) for him clearly picking up the ball. I don't care if he doesn't hold the ball or bring it to me. It's about the pieces...not the end product at this point. Does he understand that balls must be picked up with your mouth...yes. I'm not perfect at clicking every time, and you may see him pick up a ball then drop it, then pick it up again. That is often b/c he hasn't actually swallowed his last treat & he coughs it falls down when he picks up the ball. It's almost like he's training himself, (ha ha). We did this for about 5 minutes and he never tired of the game.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mmhcBEz5h94
THE TUG!
This second video shows us working on tug play. Usually when we play tug we let the dog "win" the tug, ie they pull it out of our hands & we chase them around like they have stolen something super duper awesome that we want back. Squibby is different in that when I drop the tug, so does he, so I'm playing gently with him at first and just encouraging him to hang on & enjoy the game. I am also teaching him that letting go of the tug doesn't mean the end but that we'll start up again pretty much immediately. The good thing is he's not particular about what he tugs on, and that he relates the fun of the tug to a human being on the other end. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dDFdBaJnDPY
THE BOX, SORT OF...
The method we've used it sort of a hybrid of Springloaded training, with a mix of other stuff. I'm not sure where the carpet board idea came from. I must also give *props* to Rocket Relay, the first seminar our team went to years ago, for teaching us some basics of training. And most recently to Splashback Training/Craig & Kristie Knowles from Slammers for really encouraging me to do what I'd already been doing (using a clicker). They also gave me some great tips on speeding up things w/o having the finished product in place. The carpet board...is about the shape of the pedal on the box, plywood, covered w/ carpet. It could be covered w/ matting but we've been too lazy to change it out. We also have a much bigger one, it's about 1/3 bigger than this size one for really super big dogs, that then we transition to the smaller board once they are comfortable. The purpose is to help dogs who maybe aren't high drive, who have never been asked to step on something, who aren't comfortable touching a pedal on the box (eeek, it wiggles!), to increase/decrease the angle of the box, and it dampens the noise of the dog hitting the box. I used this briefly with my high drive aussie pup, she was willing to jump on/in/around/over anything I asked her to so after maybe 2 sessions just getting her use to the box it was outta there. My less confident dog Betty had it in for much much longer, moving up & down the box to match her level of confidence. The Knowles teach dogs by using a couch cushion, on/off on/off quickly and this is relatively the same idea. Since we teach a lot of those dogs off the street & owners who are not experience in training much beyond sit, it's worked really well & gives us some crucial back chaining ability at the box. I don't have the other stanchion on the prop because I'm lazy and because he's a small dog and he's not even going to notice the other side.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MfHj7Npk7Mw
George foundation skills
The Ball:Since I don't know what training George has had, I'm acting like he's had none. I started w/ a clicker intro, then when he started offering me behaviors (his shake is adorable), I introduced the ball. All he had to do was look at it and we progressed quickly to a nose touch and I ended the session. This is video of his first nose touching only session. With a less confident dog I want to build lots of value for the ball, cause they are going to have to leave their handler and travel far down that lane to get it. If George was a ball crazy dog I would not be doing this, I'd be doing lots & lots of tug sessions to try to raise the value of the tug/playing with me. As you can see George isn't the swiftest in this video, but he's really thinking hard about what I want and I'm using PATIENCE to let him think through the puzzle I've presented him. I'm also working him with distractions already. The door is open w/ fencing to my yard & you'll occasionally hear a piercing squeal from Cisco (my friend's JRT who is a ball fiend). In any case, having PATIENCE pays off as a training, many people are quick to decide the dog has lost interest in the game or doesn't get it, when really they need to let the dog think things through. Sometimes them not paying attention can really a sign of stress from them. Of note for clicker purists, technically I shouldn't even be labeling this as getting the ball, but George already understood that word meant the green fuzzy orb so I'm going with it. My goal for this session was just to reward those nose touches and his understanding, not going for speed or anything else. Knowing that before hand helped me be patient & not push him and keep it calm & relaxed, no pressure George!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1WYkBw9VBeA
The TUG:
Um, no, George does not tug & since he's very food motivated & his owner didn't care if he was a tugging fool I'm sticking with treats as his reward. Frankly, building a non-food reward is time consuming and George shows little to no interest in toys, so teaching him toy drive, then teaching him to do stuff for the toy, when he's not enthusiastic about toys, and not very confident doesn't make much since to me, We could end up with him thinking, screw this I'll just go over here & lay down...I don't really want that toy anyway.
THE PROP:
I spent a session clicking for George looking at & touching the box, he thought that was super fun. So since I already had it in place after working Squibby I just move the prop/board away from the box. Being long & heavy bodied, a good turn will be much harder for George to do, but we'll see what we get. He's going to have to develop some of the flexibility & muscle memory that Squibby comes by a bit more naturally, so it'll be a bit slower going. Again I'm not asking for speed at this point, just that he get the idea and that he find it rewarding. It's beginning practice for getting the long body in a U-turn! Compared to Squibby I am actually clicking later, so when George jumps the prop & then turns back toward me is when I click. Primarily that is because turning is so much harder for him, I wanted to make it clear to him to turn back asap.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qmrl5f-vqJo
That's it so far, at least what I got off my video camera, edited down, rendered, uploaded, then pasted into this blog. Geez, it's certainly easier not to document this stuff.
Friday, July 2, 2010
Training 2 very different dogs
I typically have a flyball project dog, courtesy of Protege Canine Rescue (http://www.protegerescue.org/) but in the last year I haven't due to training my own 2 young dogs. The project dogs are usually high drive aussies, border collies or terriers all of which need a job and so I train them for flyball & try to find them a flyball home. Past experience has shown that people aren't interested in aussies very much for flyball (a darn shame!), the border collie better be amazing, and the terrier better be short & fast. I started just teaching the basics, but I found that the best thing to do is to teach the dog a good box turn, work on drive to & from the box & then fish for a flyball home for the dog. I want to show proven potential to perform, cause just having "potential" is pretty vague as far as rescue dog advertising goes. Having dealt with many shelters who equate such potential with things like the ability to jump a fence, or being a ball freak, I understand that "potential" isn't much to go on. I look for young dogs, with a big desire to work with humans, good temperaments, good with other dogs, and no outstanding behavioral issues. As it where, a friend asked me to train her cardigan corgi at the same time I got in Squibby, my latest project dog. So I thought hey, I should document the training for her, but also I can work on showing different techniques for working with 2 very different dogs.
Squibby:
It's hard to catch him in a still photo!!
Squibby came along from the ARL shelter in Des Moines. He's a 9mo - 1 yr old terrier mix, mix of what, I don't know but I like his build & his attitude. He is one of the shelter's least favorite dogs, very active ones!! They know if they adopt them out they will get returned. Squibby is not a bad dog, he is who he is but he isn't for someone who wants a little lap dog. I've developed a relationship with this shelter and luckily my two favorite ladies who spot dogs for me snagged him up & sent him my way. I've had him since June 18th. He's been to MN, stayed in a hotel, a campground, has been stellar in our house & blended in beautifully with my gang of dogs. He seldom barks at all, except at flyball training!! Squibby is about 14 lbs, and quite the character. He enjoyed throwing toys for himself at the shelter and basically made his own fun in a pretty dull environment. As far as training challenges go, I have pinpointed a few broad topics to work on with him.
1. He plays with toys with his feet.
2. He needs to know that playing with the toy, with the human is the best game, not just taking the toy & playing by himself.
3. He needs to learn how to retrieve toys/balls
4. He likes to tug, but he doesn't know the rules yet or that you need to do something to get the tug.
George: in one of his favorite positions!
George on the other hand is possibly Squibby's polar opposite. Not only is he built totally differently (being a Cardigan Corgi) His owner reports that he's very soft temperament wise, scared of the box, and at 3 yrs old he's not exactly brimming with youthful vigor. He is however, attentive, food motivated, and knows basic obedience so he's familiar with do something, get a treat for it. He's in good shape physically & good with other dogs. For him it's a totally different ball game (so to speak!)
1. Confidence
2. Confidence!
3. Ball retrieval skills
4. Learning to bend his body & get up on the box
5. Learning to love touching the box
So the plan is, to train a nice box turn for box these dogs, and document the training in this blog with video & my blah blah blah commentary on what I'm doing & why I'm doing it. I'm not an expert flyball trainer who can tell you how to get that 3.7 border staffy, but I'm pretty dang good at getting the most you can from the dog off the street (or straight outta the shelter) and fixing dogs with problems. Many flyball clubs have just that, and need the growth that new members can bring, so I'm sharing what I've learned works from years of training dogs, going to seminars from the folks who do create the 3.7 running dogs & teaching flyball classes (to that dog off the street).
Squibby:
It's hard to catch him in a still photo!!Squibby came along from the ARL shelter in Des Moines. He's a 9mo - 1 yr old terrier mix, mix of what, I don't know but I like his build & his attitude. He is one of the shelter's least favorite dogs, very active ones!! They know if they adopt them out they will get returned. Squibby is not a bad dog, he is who he is but he isn't for someone who wants a little lap dog. I've developed a relationship with this shelter and luckily my two favorite ladies who spot dogs for me snagged him up & sent him my way. I've had him since June 18th. He's been to MN, stayed in a hotel, a campground, has been stellar in our house & blended in beautifully with my gang of dogs. He seldom barks at all, except at flyball training!! Squibby is about 14 lbs, and quite the character. He enjoyed throwing toys for himself at the shelter and basically made his own fun in a pretty dull environment. As far as training challenges go, I have pinpointed a few broad topics to work on with him.
1. He plays with toys with his feet.
2. He needs to know that playing with the toy, with the human is the best game, not just taking the toy & playing by himself.
3. He needs to learn how to retrieve toys/balls
4. He likes to tug, but he doesn't know the rules yet or that you need to do something to get the tug.
George: in one of his favorite positions!
George on the other hand is possibly Squibby's polar opposite. Not only is he built totally differently (being a Cardigan Corgi) His owner reports that he's very soft temperament wise, scared of the box, and at 3 yrs old he's not exactly brimming with youthful vigor. He is however, attentive, food motivated, and knows basic obedience so he's familiar with do something, get a treat for it. He's in good shape physically & good with other dogs. For him it's a totally different ball game (so to speak!)1. Confidence
2. Confidence!
3. Ball retrieval skills
4. Learning to bend his body & get up on the box
5. Learning to love touching the box
So the plan is, to train a nice box turn for box these dogs, and document the training in this blog with video & my blah blah blah commentary on what I'm doing & why I'm doing it. I'm not an expert flyball trainer who can tell you how to get that 3.7 border staffy, but I'm pretty dang good at getting the most you can from the dog off the street (or straight outta the shelter) and fixing dogs with problems. Many flyball clubs have just that, and need the growth that new members can bring, so I'm sharing what I've learned works from years of training dogs, going to seminars from the folks who do create the 3.7 running dogs & teaching flyball classes (to that dog off the street).
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