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Hi Tracy,
For the previous discussion: he can do the threadle when we approach it at an angle or with less speed. It is just a thing we need to work up to.
AND, we finally got some time to work on a bit of this! First up: Transitioning to Trialing. Here is our video: https://youtu.be/DeQjdcEfJ_8
Thanks,
BarbHi Tracy,
Yes, dog #3! In 2013, I introduced Patt as follows:
Patt is a sweet boy and moderately fast. He loves agility and is willing to play by my rules: he has a solid start line, good 2o2o contacts and very good weave skills. Patt also has very good focus and attention. He is not as physically gifted as some dogs and needs practice to manage his body over slice jumps and awkward approaches/striding.
Really, not a bad summary…
On to Enzo and our woes. Here is an example of a threadle we are having trouble with: https://youtu.be/NXoO-pGCuNA
(this is the only way I know to put in a picture — make it into a video. There must be another way?)
Barb
Hi Tracy,
Here is a bit of Game 10. He did well with the beginning stuff, even turning away from me. He started out looking very sharp in the neutral position but I think that was luck. Next time I’ll creep up on it more slowly. I also think this training session was too long (too many mistakes) and he needed more help. I am a bit surprised since he is spot-on with spinning left and right.
(Enzo’s AKC debut this weekend – very excited.+)
Thanks,
BarbHi Tracy,
What fun! I had a bit of time today so we worked on the fun ones.
First up: backside slices. https://youtu.be/60lIYTJ7sSM
I really, really want a perfectly independent, verbal backside. So I worked on it a bit. It seemed to me that if he’s lined up to the backside, he will go there even when I move across the bar. Then he was “backside crazy” so I had to send him to some straight jumps. Then back to backsides. I tried starting with him way out to the side and moving hard across the bar – mostly with good success. I got one refusal to jump but mostly it looked good. Tell me how to continue to progress this. <grin!>Then Serp/Threadle/Tunnel: https://youtu.be/-VDn4o5ida0
I put out the blue marker to help with “around the clock”. I think he did this extremely well. 😊 I went to the point where I thought, irl, I wouldn’t use the threadle in that manner.More tomorrow or the next day. These are fun!
Thanks,
BarbHi Tracy,
Love it. Happy to be moving on. Enzo sees a chiro on a monthly basis. Next one is on the 10th. Unless I see something else, I’ll just keep my eyes open and wait.
So, moving on.
Game 7: https://youtu.be/hje-2qiGICo
I have to be happy with this: once we got warmed up he was brilliant. “In’s” were good and he committed early to the tunnel and drove.Game 8: https://youtu.be/NK_rMIg7erU
I did this with the tunnel which is set up for tomorrow’s course and my RDW mat. His DW “touch the mat” command is “zing”. 😊Game 9: https://youtu.be/6E554zIcKy0
I wasn’t very good at throwing the toy. I feel like he “knows” a German turn but you couldn’t prove it with this session. There were some oopsies which surprised me; I thought he knew “around” by verbal alone but NOT TRUE. Apparently, by verbal alone with NO motion. Once I add motion, he needs more help. We’ll work on it.Left/Right: https://youtu.be/yjDBJRTqnGE
On the left-right turns, I forgot the objective at first: I was trying to get him to bounce all the way around. AND, shockingly, I reversed left and right for the first little bit. Then I remembered what I was doing and he did pretty well.(In exciting news: Enzo’s sister just earned a bye into the World Team tryouts at the Texas Hold’em ISC cup).
Thanks,
BarbHi Tracy,
First, what I think is this: one reason I keep taking classes from you is that you can deliver feedback which is informative and doesn’t make me feel like a doofus. Thank you. (There are other reasons but this is today’s gift.)
Second, I don’t think we’re progressing – maybe even going backwards. I don’t think he turned his head before takeoff on any of these.
At the end of this video, I even tried to just isolate the left head turn. Short of removing the jump entirely and circling a cone, I’m not sure what to do.
As I look at the video for the n-million-th time, I consider that he is on his right lead exiting the tunnel. Therefore, in order to wrap left, he has to do a lead-change. I should probably take a few minutes and work the problem with the tunnel going the other way to see if it matters.
😊
I may just pick up the new exercises when they come out and leave this alone for a while. (sigh)
Thanks,
BarbHi Tracy,
Hmmm – committing with a head turn on a wrap. I think this is one of the most important things for me to work on with Enzo. So, when I had a little time today, that’s all we did. Also, I didn’t trim this video very much so you could observe and critique the reward versus jackpot.
Funny thing, however. When I studied the video at slow speed, it seemed to me that he was turning his head pretty well most of the time but not adding a “good enough” collection stride on the less excellent efforts. At any rate, since I left in a lot, you’ll be able to see how I judged them at the time. I mostly agreed with myself (how nice*) during video review. Except for 3:50 where I gave some eye contact help, I mostly tried to be “the same” for every rep.
Sorry about the length but it isn’t that many reps.
Thanks,
Barb* My biggest initial problem with training the running DW was that it took me a very, very long time to develop my “eye”. Being able to see front feet versus rear feet on a zooming BC is a big deal. So I had the uncomfortable experience of watching myself do a poor job of deciding whether a given rep was good or bad. Hard enough to learn that skill when you are getting correct feedback. Almost impossible when the feedback is bad.
Hi Tracy,
Not sure what the deal was with me today. Maybe it was the 3 Zoom meetings in a row (noon, 1:00 and 2:00) that did me in. At any rate, I did a lot of training but very little taping. <sigh>
This is Game 5 but not the first session. I think it is interesting how he does really well on the right (dig) side but struggled some on the left. Especially considering that we went right first.
I was happy with all of the turn right work. Then we move to turn left.
:46 huge wide turn
Then that improves and I send him on a “go on”
1:09 weird head-check on the go-on
1:13 same thing – head check
1:16 it took me 3 times to believe it wouldn’t just go away
So I worked through some shorter forward sends until no head-check
1:28 finally got a real one without a head check. 😊
Back to turns and a final, good go-on.I also worked on Game 6 (soft turns) and I thought it went well but I failed to push the button.
Hopefully, I’ll have my head screwed on tighter tomorrow.
(Also, I didn’t see your latest note before I trained. If I had I’d have delayed my click/”yes!” until the head turn on the wrap. Tomorrow!)
Thanks,
BarbHi Tracy,
Well, I’m starting to come back from whatever it was. I made some time today and worked on game 4. What a hoot! We started off brilliantly – Enzo was perfect with the wing; showing good confidence and reasonable speed. So, I decided to move to the next step and put up a jump instead of just a wing. ALSO, because Enzo is brilliant and I might be known to occasionally skip steps, I put out the manners minder (MM). I didn’t like the way I was throwing the toy.
Turns out the MM was a HUGE distraction! Enzo went out 3 times on his wrap cue. I was just about to dismantle the setup and work the pieces when BOOM he got it. Once he got it, he was home free. I did find that working the manners minder button versus a tug toy was a bit of a juggling trick. It was a lot easier to go MM versus click/treat (as I did in game 3). But tug is the thing, so I’m glad I worked it that way. (and I only clicked the MM once by accident.)
I hope to find more time to work on games 5 and 6 this week; they look like fun!
Thanks,
BarbHi Tracy,
Just some thoughts (I’ve been a bit under the weather so haven’t trained – maybe later today).
Game 2: Serp
I am torn. My threadle is always accompanied with the threadle cue (“in”) but I do not always use the off-arm. In fact, I rarely do (just shoulder drop). I think for this case, I’m going to use “Enzo jump” and expect the non-threadle side. HmmmmmmmmmLooking at game 4 (wrap versus go), it seemed to me that you were always sending to the left wrap off your right side and right wrap off your left side. This is normal and natural. Do you teach a “switch” or just expect the right/left to work regardless of the side the dog starts on?
(This is mostly curiosity for me; I taught Enzo “switch” as “take the jump and turn away” and it seems to be well understood.)Thanks,
BarbHi Tracy,
Wheee! Let’s train some more.
Game 1: https://youtu.be/LIOrLekgNPo
When I was halfway through this training session, I thought: “Wow, he’s got it!”. Only one mistake and he was going great. Then I switched from the “check” side to the “dig” side.
Lo and behold, I saw the little cheater wasn’t making a choice and driving. He was waiting to see if I gave him a hint about whether or not he was correct. It is pretty subtle but you can see it. From 1:00 to 1:30 I worked very hard to not give away any hints. And I think he can do it without hints, he just wants some, if he can get them. Smart kiddo!
Bottom line, this discrimination can use a bit more work but it is really coming along.Game 2: https://youtu.be/oVne2D3Sq0I
I think I did a poor job of handling the serp discrimination when I added handler motion. Here is what I’m thinking: If I cue “tunnel, tunnel” then I want him to drive to the tunnel immediately without waiting for any further information. If I release him with his name, then he needs more information (handler motion) – HOWEVER, if I am not in the correct serp position, then he is correct that he doesn’t know what to do. Therefore, I think most of this session was wasted because I wasn’t where I should be. When I was (:40, 1:05) then he came in correctly.
What do you think?Game 3: https://youtu.be/q7sgHPBNNhw
First, I was pretty darned happy with this session, I think he is really starting to get it. Only one error and I followed your advice to start saying the cue sooner. Next time, even less help.
As far as changing how I say the cues, this is a case of: I hear your advice but I don’t think it will work for me. While I might be able to TRAIN using different tones and energies, I can pretty much guarantee that I won’t be able to exhibit that way. I get excited and my voice gets high and (sometimes) squeaky – Enzo will be lucky if the correct word comes out – forget getting it out with the correct tone/energy. (Proof once again, if any was needed, that I cannot expect to be successful in Schutzhund—they use that kind of inflection-help a lot.)I think today’s work went well. I will probably skip tomorrow and have another session on Friday.
Thanks!
BarbHi Tracy,
Here are my homework videos. So excited about how well they went!
Game 1: https://youtu.be/FEkUlDarHDw
You might remember showing me game 1 sometime last summer, so we have played it before. I was very pleased with Enzo, who was working on verbal only with a very high rate of success: out of 9 tries only 1 mistake (88.9%). I think we can add the motion challenge next session.Game 2: https://youtu.be/B1q4palthio
Enzo is all over serps. He made one mistake and then he was solid. (13 tries; 1 error; 92%). Next session we will add motion.Game 3: https://youtu.be/5pJOrGzjeTE
Oddly enough, this is the one we have been working on and it is the one we are having the most trouble with. At least he is making both types of error – for a long time he was 100% on “crate” and much less on “tunnel”. I am still working on releasing him when he is looking in the correct direction. Until that is gone, we aren’t ready to advance. This was 11 tries with 2 errors (82%) with lots of handler help.These are fun!
Thanks,
Barb
