I forgot to take a photo of Cruze this morning, but here's a video of how our down in motion is going. I don't think it'll ever be fast, but the concept is finally starting to click, so I'm happy!
Can you see/hear the difference? We've been working on improving the consistency, intensity and rhythm of Spooky's barking. When we started his bark was more of a squeak and he would only do 2 or 3 before pausing. The first clip is from a little over 3 months ago, the second clip is from today. Great progress 😊
Thanks @malijp72 for helping develop this
Bear was very nervous of Lena in her rain coat this morning, so we spent some time working through it, as well as having Oscar present as an added distraction. We would approach, reward a few times, and then move away to relieve the pressure and give him a break. Once Bear was comfortable with Lena standing still, we progressed to having her moving, and at the end we had a stranger pass by which was another extra thing to work through. Very proud of how well he handled all this.
Heelwork practice with Cruze today. Had a great day training despite the rain. Thanks @nzwolfedogs for filming 🎥
Beth demonstrating one of our favourite games for increasing engagement; ready... get it! One thing I actually really like here is that she misses where the treat lands a couple of times, and instead of searching for ages she quickly checks in with me, which prompts me to throw another treat. Although you could say this might indicate a lack of persistence in finding the treat, I think it shows some intelligence. Why waste time searching for a lost treat when she can simply offer eye contact and get a new one?!
Expanding on visual targeting with Cruze, working on switching between looking at the target and looking back up at me in heel. We also vary the pattern a lot so its not too predictable. This keeps him focused and listening closely, reducing the risk of him anticipating the release cue and wanting to immediately break position every time he's asked to target.
Is your training effective?
This video shows the first 2 minutes of Indi's training session today. Upon getting out of the van, she was very externally focused, looking around a lot and struggling to engage with me. So I set up the camera to demonstrate the very very start of how we improve engagement. It's extremely simple, I just wait for her to make eye contact, and when she does I mark "yes!" and reward with food.
What you'll also see in this video is a clear improvement from beginning to end. To show this, I have included a timer in the bottom right corner, which is measuring how long it takes for Indi to offer eye contact each time. I have taken each of these times and separated the 2 minutes into 30-second blocks so that we can assess how effective this training session was.
In the first 30 seconds, she engages twice. The times are 15.42 and 4.32 seconds, and they average out to 9.87 seconds.
30-60 seconds, we get 3 engagements. These take 14.50, 7.21 and 3.80 seconds, averaging 8.50 seconds.
60-90 seconds; 3 engagements, 13.52, 5.77 and 4.06 seconds, averaging 7.78 seconds.
90-120 seconds; 4 engagements, 1.44, 3.48, 2.23, 8.98 seconds, averaging 4.03 seconds.
As you can see, the data shows a gradual increase in the number of times Indi offers engagement, as well as a decrease in the average time it takes her to choose to do so. A great example of positive reinforcement; adding something (a food reward) to increase the frequency of a behaviour (offering eye contact).
Now, you don't necessarily need to be taking down and analysing detailed data like this every time you train, but it IS important that you are regularly reflecting on your progress. Are you seeing more of the behaviours you want and less of the ones you don't? If not, it's time to take a step back, assess why this may be the case, and make changes to your plan if required. If your training is not effective, it's not training!
Spooky starting to show more powerful, consistent barking 🥰
Decoy: @malijp72
One of Cruze's searches from this morning's training. I've left in the original audio so you can hear his sniffle snuffles 🥰
Yesterday I did two searches each with Buddy and Bear, with just one hidden article. Really pleased to see they both remembered the task from last week. Bear is showing really nice stamina and persistence in his searching. Buddy is quick to look to me for guidance if he doesn't find the article immediately, so I start him searching closer to the article and next week I will probably go back to using multiple hides to increase his chance of success.
Huge improvement with Spooky's barking and his grip today. Thanks @malijp72 for really bringing it out of him in this session 😁
Thanks @fh_dogtraining for filming 🎥
A few clips of Awa and his mum doing the engagement game "ready.. get it" during today's coaching session. In the first clip we are practicing in the carpark with minimal distractions while mum learns the mechanics and cues, and in the next two clips we are working with another dog on the field a decent distance away.
