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Weather has been AWFUL here! So windy and rainy 🙁 We did work on some stuff in our basement, mostly serps/threadles and tunnel.
So, we are having issues with threadle/serp discrimination. Everything is a threadle to him lol! I’ve tried to do MORE serps to try to tip the scale, but it doesn’t seem to be working. I’ve tried making my physical cues different, by not opening up my shoulder as much for the serp. And for the threadle I throw my arm pretty far back, shake my hand a little and give the verbal “in in in.” You don’t use a verbal for the serp, do you? I’m not sure if they look too similar that he can’t tell which is which or what. If he’s lined up perfectly across from the bar for a serp, he will nail it, but otherwise the threadle is very likely. What should I do?
Also sometimes, he goes to the correct side but then doesn’t go over the bar, he just kind of goes parallel to the bar. Is that just a baby dog thing, or should I be doing something else?
Here is threadle and serp proofing with the tunnel. It was my first time doing this with threadles, which I why I did more of those. Then I tried the serp and it was a struggle. I did a couple oopsie rewards.
Then I got rid of the tunnel and worked just on threadle vs serp and he just was not getting it.
We worked on the wrap and tunnel proofing again, but I made it a little more fun this time. He did great!
Then we tried the Strike a Pose Part 2 a second time. I added some motion. He had a weird moment where it was like he forgot how to stay, but otherwise he did well. One mistake where be took the tunnel.
Hi Tracy! I tried to go out and train yesterday, but it was sooo windy, my wings kept falling over lol. This little race track session with a toy is all I could manage. It was like a slapstick comedy show, as soon as I propped up one wing, another would fall lol.
Anyways, I was trying to run with connection, rather than sending so much. What do you think?
And today is super rainy, so I’ll work on some of the proofing in my basement.
We finally did the wrap verbal vs. tunnel proofing game lol! It took lots of baby steps to get to the point where he could do this, as the wing had SO much value, he couldn’t take the tunnel in its presence. But look at him now! One mistake, but so much improvement!
We also worked on the strike a pose proofing game with serps. He did pretty good here too! The tunnel is increasing in value, so we had one mistake where he got sucked in.
And I did a little bit of race track with all wings, in preparation for the diamond game. He seemed to do well with this and I think he’s ready for the diamond game, but let me know 🙂
I loled at the thought of Lazlo having a personal epiphany hahahaha! I’m glad he’s doing so well with the jumping 🙂
We tried the Send and Serp again, but we had some issues. I worked on having my arm locked back on both sides (which you pointed out I was not doing consistently from my last session), but on the first side, he really struggled to go to the correct side of the jump. In the video, it looks like my arm is consistently back, so not sure what was going on. I moved the wing closer to the jump and then once we got success, started gradually moving it back out, but then had more mistakes, so I moved it closer again. The other side seemed better. Then I tried the first side again, hoping we had worked out the kinks. One error and then a couple successes. This wasn’t one continuous session, he had breaks in between. I’m not sure if I was doing something to confuse him, or what. The last session, he had a much higher rate of success than this session.
Then we tried the Wind in Your Hair Part 2 with the rear crosses, and he wasn’t understanding it at all. We did 2 reps of the regular Wind in Your Hair, although we didn’t have the Ready Treat out there, I tossed a treat, so that was different for him. After a couple tries of the rear cross, I could tell I was beginning to get frustrated, so I knew that was my cue to stop lol! Let me know what I need to do here. Pre-placed reward? He just wasn’t understanding to drive ahead to the jump. On the first rear cross attempt, I rewarded him because he did move ahead of me and turn the right way, so I wanted to reinforce his effort.
We finished with Find the Jump and this went great – YAY! I had him on my right this time, and he did great with me being lateral. Then did a couple reps with me ahead – wheeee! And a couple with me behind, using the “go go go” verbal 🙂 Very fun!
I’m really having a hard time understanding the “right” and “left” verbals. The only context I have used them is in the Minny Pinny game, which we are still working on from Week 3 (helping him understand the cues no matter my position). So using it on a single wing in a sequence seems a little confusing since that looks so different from Minny Pinny.
I’m also confused about when to use R/L or the wrap verbals. Like in the Send and Serp game, I think you use R/L, but I would have guessed to use the wrap verbals since they are wrapping the wing. I don’t know where I got this idea, but I had in my head that R/L was for softer turns like no sharper than 90 degrees. Did I totally make that up? LOL!
And then does R/L take the place of an obstacle cue? So if I say “right right” does that mean to turn right and take that jump, or does it mean to take the jump and THEN turn right?
Sorry, I know that’s a lot, but I’ve been really hesitant to incorporate left and right because I don’t fully understand them. Thank you!
I’m also wondering if I need to work on going out and around wings like in the Diamond Game, but not in a sequence yet. He’s really only done wraps on wings, so I don’t think he’ll understand to go around it, but then the take a much softer angle. I only did a teeny bit of this in the previous class over the summer and he didn’t understand it. I think he doesn’t quite get getting on a new line after he goes around the wing and just wants to come back into me. Is there a way I can work on this skill and then insert it into the sequence?
We tried Find the Jump again this afternoon. He did pretty well with both the lateral distance and going ahead of me! He seems to really get “go go go” which was cool to see!
Then we did a teeny bit of Smiley Face Game with a toy.
Last, we did the set point again but with more space between the last jump and the RT so he wasn’t pouncing haha! I cut out the rewards for staying in the sit for time.
Thank you for the feedback. I’m glad you pointed out my arm on the serps, I hadn’t noticed it, but after rewatching it, I can see what you mean.
I forgot to post Wind in Your Hair from that same training outing. He did really well! I moved the wing several times until it was quite a ways from the jump. And the RT was way out past the jump so he was really running.
We tried Send and Serp outside.
And then worked on Find the Jump for the first time. I’m not sure I did the 3 different handler positions right. I started by the juml wing, then went ahead of the jump and then a little bit lateral.
Thanks for the feedback! I think he will hold the stay, so I’ll move the Ready Treat further away. A dead toy on the ground isn’t reliably interesting to him, so I probably shouldn’t use that.
It’s been rainy here, and that means wet grass, so we worked on some things in my basement. We tried the Send and Serp, which was fun! Bonus, you get to see me run into my wall LOL. I was watching my dog so much I forgot there was a wall and ran into it hahaha! A little bit of struggle when we switched sides, but he figured it out. I’ll have to try this again outside with more space when it dries.
We also worked on left and right with Minny Pinny. First I did the step where you just stand still and give the verbal, no motion cues. Then I tried to move over so that he was on the inside of the turn. You can see the left turn was confusing for him. He could not figure it out. But he got the right turn pretty quickly! If I remember correctly from the rear cross game in last class, he struggled to turn left. My thought was to maybe put the Ready Treat past the second “jump” so that he has something to drive to and then fade it out quickly and see if he can get it on just a verbal? Thoughts? I don’t want him to keep failing 🙁
We worked on Wind in Your Hair again. I tried to be closer to the wing, like you suggested. I think he looked good here! He was really driving ahead to the Ready Treat. Then we did Set Point again, but with 6 feet between the jumps. His stays were perfect! I cut out some of the “catch” reps, for time, but I did reward lots for staying in place. It’s all in one video.
Thanks, Tracy – great feedback.
I’ve been trying the wing wrap/tunnel discrimination – and it’s been a struggle. When I cue the tunnel, he doesn’t do the tunnel, he wraps the wing, or interacts with the wing in some way. I tried moving the wing further away, and he is still confused. So, I’ve been building up more value for the tunnel and then added in a jump stand. So far, I haven’t placed the jump stand in the location you suggest for the exercise, but I just have it in the training space so he understands he CAN do the tunnel with another obstacle nearby. I think soon he will be ready to try it again.
We worked on Smiley Face Game again this evening. It was a cool evening, so no risk of him running hot. And I used a toy, but you can see on the first reps with the tunnel, I couldn’t get it out of my jacket fast enough, so I switched to my pants. I also tried to give more space so we could really run. The video shows the whole training session, minus the play time in between, but all the reps we did are in the video. I tried to keep it short and not drill too much, which I think I did in the past sessions. Also, there is a giant flock of geese at the other end of this field – he was a little distracted at a couple moments, but chose to stick with me! He could see and smell and hear them, but never ran off. That’s probably the ONLY benefit of not having a yard – you’re forced to work in distracting public spaces lol!
We also did Wind in Your Hair again. I think this went MUCH better. He wasn’t hot and he was powering past me. A couple oopsies moments, but I like that he caught himself on the wing wrap fail. Again, the reps shown here are the full session, just cut out the walking back to the start.
It wasn’t hot out, but he does pant really easily. The few days before had been chilly, and so maybe compared to those days, it was a little warm for him. I did give him a few breaks, and he kept pushing me to go back out into the baseball field. He even stood out there while I loaded up the equipment, like, “I’m not finished out here.” LOLOL. So maybe I just need to set more boundaries so he isn’t doing reps where is looking hot and/or slowing down.
With the Smiley Face game, I feel like I am kind of always waiting for him and that feels weird.
So as far as using a toy with the tunnel and smiley face game, there are still some issues. Sometimes he will jump up and try to snatch the toy. Or sometimes he will out the toy, but then start humping me lol. That tells me he is in a higher arousal state and doesn’t quite know how to regulate his feelings. Also, if we are outside my basement and I let go of the toy, he will start sprinting around in circles with it and it takes forever for him to bring it back. I don’t really want him practicing that. Should I still use a toy?
Oops, here is the Wind in Your Hair Game.
We also did the Set Point game in my basement. I used a 4 foot space and he did well, I think. Do you think I should increase the distance? 4 feet was just my guess based on what you said your dogs can do.
I set up the Smiley Face Game, ran it with my arms behind my back and then once I got Lazlo out, I completely forgot my plan and went back to using arms. *face palm* I’m not sure it’s any better than the last time. I’m really trying to rotate my upper body towards him and I feel like I am in the moment. I can clearly see his face, but when i look at the video, I still think i could be more turned towards him. I do have neck/shoulder issues, so maybe that’s part of it?
Also tried Wind in Your Hair again, but not sure I did it right. I tried to stay close to the wing, but watching the video back I think i needed to spend a little more time making a strong connection before running forward. And there weren’t any reps where he passed me by.
I *think* it all makes sense, though I will probably have more questions as class goes on 😉
I had all my equipment already in my van from UKI at Home, so we worked on Smiley Face game at a school field. Again, he was very focused even with people running on the track and kids playing soccer nearby. I was using the wrap verbals (I’m proud of myself for keeping them straight lol!) and he did well. Getting a little more speed too. I can see a few moments where my connection wasn’t quite a exaggerated as it could be, but some good moments too. I can see where extending the arm way back rotates our chest and neck towards the dog, making it very obvious where to come.
I also tried a little bit with a toy, and you can see he was much speedier! He had a couple chompy moments, which aren’t in the video, (snatched at the toy, not my skin), so we are definitely still working out the kinks on his toy stuff. But happy he was so interested in the toy after working for food. I can see the value in having both food and toy rewards, as the toys seem to add more speed, which may not be desirable right away with a new skill.
And lastly, we did the Wind in Your Hair game. I don’t know if I did this right. My timing of tossing the treat may have been off. I was trying to watch his face for commitment and then my path was getting wonky. But he seemed to do well with the pre-placed Ready Treat. His skills with leaving a dead toy on the ground are not polished enough for this yet, so we stuck with food. Let me know how we did 🙂
I’ll have to visit a park to work on this week’s games, as I can already tell my basement will be too small lol! I think we can do the Set Point game down there, but otherwise will need more room. So, the use of verbals is very new to me. I basically only used obstacle names as cues with my Ridgeback. I am not against using verbals at all, but I’m a little confused about when to use them. If we are right by the wing and can use physical cues to indicate a wrap, should we still use the wrap verbals? And what exactly do “left” and “right” mean? In what situations would you want to use “left” and “right”? And when do you start saying the verbal and does it mean turn and take that obstacle? Or just turn? The only “left” and “right” we have done is with Minny Pinny – do you think there are in between steps he needs to understand what it means in the context of the Smiley Face Game? Like should I isolate the verbal with just one wing at first?
