February 1, 2025
Millie Six-Turn Stair-Step. Goal: Develop a better sense of when she is/is not showing commitment at a turn, and to work on letting her take more responsibility for the decision when I know she has the right line and is not merely exploring. 360 yards, aged 1:40. Sunny, 57°, Light Breeze. Low Humidity. Markers 5 yards before each turn.
Generally a good track, but she gave me far more practice in keeping her from going off and exploring than I was hoping for.
Start was good, and first two legs were fine. I was particularly pleased with the way she took the second corner. Some distraction on third leg and subsequent legs. She had to work some at the third (left) turn at wood line, but eventually got it right. From the video it looks as though I guided her when she was having a lot of trouble on the sixth leg; I also should have offered her water at that point. Struggled considerably on the final leg
So-so indications on several articles (although she did indicate several of the turn markers!). She saw final article from a distance, and indicated then, but when I waited for her to get closer she didn't seem interested ("Hey, I indicated that already!")
Good points--some very nice turns.
Exceedingly distracted on the last several legs; I'm not sure what it was, except the usual critter and deer smells.
Next exercise will be articles, where she showed some weakness.
Video: (caption mistake--turn into final leg is LEFT, not right.)
Overall, your line handling, letting the line run through your fingers before stepping off and keeping your feet still is MUCH improved. And no chatter, excellent. She did a great job with your support. I would have watered her three times minimum on this track - especially when she came to you on the last leg.
ReplyDeleteYour food placement was good early on. I don't know if she is doing 300+ yards regularly but I would have increased the amount of food as the track got longer and harder - maybe you did and she just didn't pick it up. Next track, easy.
Lovely start. YOU WAITED!!! Quietly!!!! First turn, lovely. First article, I think she did the entire sequence. My only comment is to throw food rather than moving up to the article—let her indicate, and the food falls from the sky, trying to keep you out of the picture. Third leg, she is clearly challenged by having the woods right next to her. Question—did you anticipate the difficulty of this and augment the track to help her? I think the piece of Ralph I’d like to see you work on is appreciating challenges for the dog, and designing the track (altering your plan) to TEACH the dog how to handle the challenge. For this one, I would have scuffed the entire leg, and placed food at least every 3 yards. And food every foot step at that third turn. That’s what training is all about—setting them up to do it right, which teaches them the correct behavior. I’d also move up, right behind her. She’s trying SO HARD here—conflict is stressful, and she’s handling a bunch of conflict here. When she indicates your turn marker, she is correct—treat it just like an article—every bit as bit of a fuss, as much food, etc as you’d give an article. It’s the same to her. And, she blinked the next article. You got a stop…and none of the other behaviors. But you reinforced them by moving forward. And so this is the challenge with the article indications you picked. They work—they are clear—but none of them are on cue. So when she fails to offer them, you’re screwed—there’s no way to help her or cue her. And moving forward simply weakens the indication you have.
ReplyDeleteOK, she starts struggling. As I read your comments, I’m reminded of my blog post. It feels as though the struggles are Millie’s problem, not yours. As the member of the team in charge of training, it’s your job to see that she is successful—nothing is gained by struggling. Struggle followed by success? Awesome. Struggle followed by more struggle, or by failure? Demotivating to say the least. So when you see struggling, you need to ask yourself….did I leave a SP or jackpot close ahead? If she solves this problem, will she win? Or will she simply find one piece of food (not equal to the calories she used to get there). You can, when she finds that one piece of food, shower food down in a huge scatter—make the struggle worth the effort (it’s all calories to them). BUT, if that piece of food is a distance away (in her terms, not yours)….throw the scatter now.
This dog has SO much heart. She keeps trying, when most dogs would have quit, or made up a track that isn’t there. You are part of the team—help her to keep thinking she can do this. And do that with reinforcement, not with your voice. And MAM is correct—she needed water. Perhaps offer it at every article?
SO much better. Now, can we get you to see her as an extension of you, rather than “she who must be trained?” Happy to help you with this, it’s a big step for you I think.