Inger and Zelda, soon 3 years old field golden, Norway

Welcome! 🙂

“Maybe this class can lead to better focus, and even more motivation and speed?”
Absolutely! 🙂

That was a nice and happy start! I loved how super excited and happy she was during “poke me”/personal play at the beginning of your video. It was well played from your end! We are going for emotions here, so it doesn’t matter what is the exact behaviour you get when you place your hand down. Everything from happy wiggles to bowing to side stepping is ok. Barking – you can decide if that is what you want to reward or not. There is plenty to choose from so perhaps it is not neccessary, unless you don’t mind it. 🙂
Playing outside – partly she was probably confused due to the fact that she was used to playing a different kind of game in this particular area and also that she wasn’t quite familiar with the new game yet. But I also noticed that while still inside, she got a bit confused when you ran away and hide. Almost as if she wasn’t sure if she was supposed to follow you or not. So you running away could have played a little role in it as well, but whatever the issue, it will go away soon as the progress was significant already from one little session to another. 🙂
You can help her sort this confusion out by having really big treats to throw, so they are almost like little balls. That way they are clearly visible or they even bounce around when thrown, so she realises she doesn’t have to search for them. When you see she got the treat, you can call her and start running away as soon as she looks up. You can also make it clear that you have another treat for her.
It also helps if you can play this game in a giant field, so you can escape really far away from her once she is after the treat. Big distance helps the dog feel the desire to chase you down asap.
Once she is very clear about the new game, you will be able to combine both sniffing for treats and calling her out for a fun play in one session.

Haha I loved the creative video! 😀
Food throws – you still can improve your reaction time. When it is clear Zelda saw the throw and is heading in the correct direction to get it, you can easily turn around and sprint away as fast as you can. Even if it takes her a while to micro locate the treat – it just gives you more time to get away so she can properly stretch her legs on the way to you. But make sure to throw the next treat once she is close enough for her to see the hand and the throwing motion. The only time you stay (and help if needed) is when it is clear she didn’t see the throw and is looking in the wrong direction. If that happens you can run to where the treat fell and point to it, than throw the next one close by to buy yourself some time and get away. The dynamic after 0.56 is pretty much perfect.
Poke me – those little prances around your hand seem like a good thing to reward. She is active and playful!
Now given that her food drive is strong and she is easily engaging when you offer her action, we can insert some “obedience/tricks” into your playing routine. Starting with asking for just one at the time. Do a little poke me, than ask for a lie down, reward one time in position and release with a throw. If you are up on your feet you can start with a short round of throws, than ask for whatever she knows well (nose touch, spin, sit, heel,…), reward in position first and than release with more throws. Than you can gradually (and not linear – meaning you don’t just progressively ask for more and more, but you switch between asking for more and asking for less) ask for 2 or 3 behaviours in a row, rewarding each one in position (with treat directly in dog’s mouth) and than jackpot with a little round of throws/hide and seek.

“Wow, you really give useful and detailed feedback, thanks!”
Thanks! I am glad to hear that. I am sure aiming for it to be useful yes. 🙂
Barking – I have nothing against barking in general, especially when the dog simply displaying pushy behaviour. With many of my dogs I encourage it with a specific cue, because it can be used in training to give a dog a boost of energy. I will not encourage it with dogs that are VERY vocal overall or if the owner has a huge problem with the dog barking. So tell me more about why barking makes you unsure, so we can figure out what to do with it. 🙂
On the first glance I would just ignore it, because it happened out of increased emotions and anticipation and not being able to process the cue that was given quickly enough. Now that she gets more familiar with exercises being “thrown” in the mix, I don’t think she will bark much.
Given that she obviously has some skills and she was highly enthusiastic during both those sessions, you can make the “work” segments slightly longer already. It can be a series of different cues done one after another or a longer stay in either heel or any other static position where you reward stillness and focus couple of times with a reward directly in her mouth and than release into action as a jackpot.

Yes I see. On these video examples the barking is really not productive. It is more of a complaint than anything else. 🙂 And she is complaining because her emotional state is not in line with what she is supposed to be doing. She would rather be running than sitting and he doesn’t consider sitting an activity but rather lack of it and that is what frustrates her. That is why I find it important that a dog understands the concept of active stay – where they are still, but still active with every fibre, kind of like when we are holding a plank in fitness. When the dog understands the position as an “activity” rather than “lack of it” – this is where it no longer is frustrating for them. We will get to active stays later in this class, so don’t worry. We will fix that. 🙂
For now try to create an anticipation freeze as often as possible. When you ask her for a static position have several treats ready in your hand and reward her in quick succession. Hand in mouth, hand away, hand in mouth, hand away. So she has nothing else to do but watch the hand go back and forward. Than at one point you can hold on for a bit when the hand is away. It usually creates anticipation freeze, when the dog is all tensed, almost forgetting to breathe. When you see that you can mark that and deliver a big jackpot – release into action.

Overall I think the barking in your indoor session was not the same as barking on those agility videos. It was more engaging than disengaging. So don’t worry if it happens now and than. Don’t provoke it or reward it directly, but don’t worry about it either. Give her something to do and reward her when she completes it.

“Tried to develop it like you suggested, asking for more work. Did you mean it like this?”
Yes, that was pretty much perfect. The only thing that you could add is trying to provoke some anticipation freeze – the thing I was talking about in the previous reply. So for example at 1.47 or 2.07 you can reward those static positions in a way I was describing – in quick succession, only pulling the hand away and back so she focuses on it and tenses up in anticipation. Without reaching for the pocket or removing your hand out of sight for her.

“This is also some barking she gives me, when entering training field. Is it ok to say no, or should I handle it differently?”
I would probably just ignore it and start prising her when she is quiet but offering attention, which is basically what was happening as soon as you2 appeared on the screen.

“Wanted to introduce her to the engagement game in the beginning of the session as well.”
Yes. As I mentioned earlier she offered nice engagement from the very beginning and you can acknowledge that with your voice, even if you know that in these specific situation she can offer more. In a more difficult scenario you could even reward that kind of attention, but if when you are aiming for more, I usually start talking to the dog in response to them giving me attention: “o hey… look at you… are you up for some fun?” with a nice cheerful voice so they know they are on the right track. If you ignore attention they are giving and there are some distractions around the dog can easily think “oh ok, so we are not cooperating at the moment, let me check that out instead… and it disengages.

“The second time she read me like I wanted her in position, so I rewarded that.”
Yes, that is perfectly fine!

“Are there other games we should try from lesson 1? What should I plan for next session?”
If she has troubles with retrieving or switching between toys and food, you can add food pocket toy to your schedule. Otherwise nothing in particular. Just try to play in different environments and with some distractions. 🙂

• This reply was modified 4 years, 2 months ago by Polona Bonač.

“Watching the video, I think maybe I should have kept the criteria better like at 0.35 when she’s out of position. Maybe be careful with too much of the obedience stuff that requires precisely stuff? Or is her engagement more important than correct position here you think?”
In general motivation and engagement always comes first, but she is not having major problems in this area, so I wouldn’t want to make her too sloppy on account of attitude. So yes, you don’t have to do too long heeling segments – mainly to not give her a chance to loose focus when you are working. The positions (if not exact) you can “correct” – ask her to correct herself or lure her in better position, make one more step and reward when she does it correctly in the first try.

The 0.50 situation – When a dog is eager but not processing my cue, I usually help with my body-language to snap the dog out of the “hypnosis” they are in. And what is even more important – mark and reward as soon as the dog does it as that helps them “organise” themselves as well.

Anticipation freeze – you are starting to get bits of it. What I am looking for is what you can see before release at 1.25. You can try to move food very slowly towards the dog and watch her tail – when it slows down or stops wagging, bam, speed up how fast the reward gets to her. And when practising active stay ALWAYS always release into some kind of action afterwards as it enhances the anticipation. And one more thing – when in heel position, reward with the left hand and move the hand up when you are not rewarding. 🙂