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Hi Melissa,
Some really nice stuff here!!! The forward focus looks great and you are doing a super job following up with play.
Sequences look really good too. As you mentioned the disconnect. There is a bit of a fine line with the level of excitement and her not staying. Are you working this away from agility? I think it would be super helpful if you grabbed her a couple times a day for a few minutes and worked the startline games. As you said, she REALLY like this. You are getting some great focus and attention from her. I really like this game for you two.
So when you say she has a hard time when you turn away from the gate, do you think she is drawn to the reinforcement, she just wants to leave the course, or something else? I can give you some ideas to work through this, but I would love to know what the draw is for her. Let me know 🙂I like the running starts too!!! I would keep this up and start to add more obstacles. Nice work. Just be sure you are watching in the event that Tails breaks early (like you did). Connection was really nice. I LIKE IT!
Sure. Personally, the fact that you get really great effort, then it diminishes, this gives you her threshold to work with. You want to find that perfect time to quit. That can be 4-5 obstacles with rewards, then a walk around the training building or block and then back to agility. Is there a connection between your level of energy and focus on 4-5 obstacles, then maybe you get more thoughtful and put less energy into your dog because you have more to remember? If she were my dog (solely based on the video I’ve seen), I would keep technical short (more handling on 3-5 obstacles) and big open speed circles longer with running rewards. I would try this for a couple weeks and see if I can start adding more handling.
Absolutely PERFECT!!! This was great! I love how she can work around her toy and not run over to it! Vary the placement. I think it is important for them to know where it is, but that might not always be the case. Think of it like a trial where the toy might be near the ring (or if you use your leash – she might not know where the leash runner dropped it). SHE REALLY LOVED THE RUNNING START TOO!!! Nice work!
Okay, so here is your toy assignment. As you can see, I am playing this with my little terrier in my bedroom (meaning you can do this anywhere). Go ahead and play a few sessions of this, then send me some video of your 3rd or 4th session. If you run into any problems, let me know and we will address them. 3 other things I want to see:
1. Lazy Bastard Game
2. Forward Focus Game (this is HUGE for you two – make sure you are looking forward too and not at your dog)
3. I want all rewards to be off of you for a while, meaning nothing comes from your hand
Here is the video. Let me know if you have any questions.
Hi Tatjana,
Stay positive even when you have something come up that’s really technical. When that happens, drive hard to every obstacle and out of it. I want YOU to put more energy into the run and your handling. I have a video coming out in tomorrow’s lesson that I want you to apply to your course on Tuesday. It might not be 100% or even 50% the first time, but I want you give it a try.Hi Kathy,
Thanks for the videos. One thing that I noticed right off the bat is the mechanics with your toy. I assume that is a toy that has treats inside it? When we play with toys, we want the dog to focus on the toy and we become part of the fun. However, when you take the toy and open it, then feed the dog from your hand, you have just taken the fun from the secondary reinforcer (the toy) and now drawn the dog into handler focus with a primary reinforcer (food). What this does is reward handler focus. Does that make sense? I think that Banche spends a lot of her runs in handler focus (meaning she watches you) and that’s why you’re not getting the speed that you want. Does that make sense? Watching your first video, and the big disconnect you got, if you notice you actually disconnected with her. When we have dogs that are predominately handler focused and we look away, they tend to do the same.
I would like to change things a little for you and I will send you a video here in a little bit to show you what I would like to see with your toy mechanics. Our goal is going to be to build more obstacle focus. I would like for you to play to forward focus game as well as the LB Game.
Your invitational run was very nice, but you’re right, there is MUCH more speed there!!! The obstacle focus games will really help with this. Do you see on your first line (jump, jump, teeter) how because you are running with her, and not ahead of her, she keeps looking back at you? This is what happens when we have too much handler focus and not enough obstacle focus. So that is our goal. Does that make sense? I will send you a video of the toy mechanics later today. Let me know if you have any questions.Hi Joan,
So glad you are getting some good ideas!!! I interject these games all the time. Typically, I try to use 1-2 them every training session. If I notice my dog losing motivation, I might spend most of my training session playing LBG and not ask for any startlines.
Super thoughtful dogs are like that. Even today, if I repeat something too many times, Pepper gets this look and she starts slowing WAY down to be correct. At that point, I immediately get her “out of her own head”, we resort to barking (not me, she barks 😉 ) and we play. I might not even return to the exercise we were doing and we may or may not do some agility (speed circle). If I get her back and motivated (which she will now do rather quickly) then we return to the exercise. Does that make sense?Yes, I would start the running routine at the start. Just be sure you are releasing her while “IN” motion and not “with” motion. I would also interject some releases with you running out and stopping once in a while. Just be sure she is waiting for that release word or obstacle name (however you do that).
With Pepper, I say wait and I may say it more than once (nationals finals where I didn’t want her to break her startline because I needed to get partway down the dw). As far as the “get it” I would prefer (personally) to have her get it and then come play with me.
You can have a toy on the ground and release her to it. That would be a good proofing exercise for your startline. Then move to throwing your toy and so on.
Did I answer all your questions? Let me know if this makes sense.Hi Stacy!
I would like for you to try a couple things. One is a running start where you release her while running. I am going to send a link or our EOTT and I want you to pay particular attention to our startlines. Pepper broke one of them (whoops), but other than that, they work super well with her. You have very nice focus from her when you are running, let’s use that. Without watching the rest of the video (I am commenting as I watch it), I think she stays more engaged with movement. https://youtu.be/hXWkNaEkKqM If she moves, you simply stop. Same kind of startline game. Also, use a word “get it” or something to send her to her leash. Going back to this question, you should literally be able to work with “the toy” (no matter what you are using) dead anywhere on the course and have a word to send the dog to it. This is a wonderful training skill to have and makes helping the dog find the line really helpful. With that said, you should be able to have the toy outside the course too, and use your word to send the dog to it. This is also helpful in that the dog should technically go to the leash at the end of the course unless you use your word to send her to it. I will admit, I am not the most consist with this and when my dog gets overly thoughtful with this, I just let them get the toy. I would also reinforce the sits more at the startline. Bark, bark, sit, wait 1 second, send to toy and not over the jump. Does that make sense?
Drill #2. This was good! I believe she dropped the bar because when you were pulling her in on the serp, you were looking at her. Be sure you look at her landing spot when serping, the pressure from looking at your dog often causes that bar to come down. The second time your blind was MUCH earlier so you didn’t have that issue.
With the bar knocking, did you spend a few minutes doing one jump work at 20″ before starting the sequence? I would be sure to do this so that the dog knows about the height change. At some point in my dog’s training (when they are more mentally mature), I work with the bars on a single course at all heights. That way they learn to read the jump height (in the event that a bar setter sets a bar incorrectly or if you do different venues with different heights or your dog is a 20″ dog and you want to do world team stuff where they will jump 24″ – I personally don’t want to work my dog all the time at 24″). The other thing I would have done is because that was a pretty hard crash and she looked like she just misjudged it, I would have done some opposition reflex with her and immediately sent her over one jump. Does that make sense?I like how on your first course you made it more wide open and allowed him to open up a bit. Then the second one was more technical.
So, I thought you guys looked faster, so I went back to the first video you posted and had a look. Granted you are not jumping at the same height, but his stride between jumps is much faster and he is putting forth more effort. https://youtu.be/3lgKInP6460
I think you both are doing great, you both seem to be having loads of fun!!!
I look forward to hearing about the trial this weekend!Hi Louise,
For the weekend, I would do the same thing you have been doing with the reinforcement station. Let Piper know that the reinforcement is at the end of her run and that you will leash up and head directly to it. Practice this Saturday doing 2-3 obstacles, then to the reinforcement station, then 3-5 obstacles, then the RS and slowly adding more obstacles but also varying the number of obstacles. You want to get your cookies as close to the ring as you can (of course not distracting Piper or other dogs), but you want her to know they are within close proximity. If you notice that her level of excitement changes on the course, find a speed circle (or a straight line of obstacles) and head to the exit. You want to get her to speed up before you head to the RS. Does that make sense?Okay, here’s some more info on rear crosses.
5. Why is patience so important? Remember in the beginning where I said that our dogs must be moving ahead of us? In a world where we are always told to move down the line and we get in a rush, we charge down the line and end up beating our dog to the critical point. If you and your dog reach the critical point at the same time (or even close to), you are no longer ahead of your dog and the rear cross will not work. Like I said, you must plan to go a little deeper into pockets and set the line for the rear. However, if you have a dog that has quite a bit of forward/obstacle focus, then you don’t have to be as patient, but timelier!
6. Drills:
Drill #1: Wing to a straight tunnel. I like this drill especially for dogs that love the tunnel. This is a great drill to teach the dog to turn away from you and head into the tunnel (allowing the handler to rear cross).
• Step one will be a jump wing right next to the tunnel opening (although I would start with sending the dog thorough the tunnel a few times and rewarding at the end). You can throw a toy, place a toy, use a target, treat and train or a person holding the food at the end of the tunnel. Position the dog between you and the tunnel. Send the dog forward, tell them to “switch” or whatever your verbal is for the rear cross, them say tunnel. At this point, you should be crossing behind them as they are headed to the tunnel.
• Step two, you will repeat step one, just add some distance between the wing and the tunnel. You will also want to say tunnel as the dog commits to the turn.
• Step three, add more distance between the wing and the tunnel. You can also move the wing around the opening of the tunnel, or towards the middle of the tunnel. The important thing is to send the dog around the wing, turn them away from you and them send to the tunnel. BE SURE THEY ARE GETTING REWARDED EVERY TIME!
• Step four, change the wing to an actual jump and repeat the steps 1-3.
Video: https://youtu.be/eXcbS_7Qrm4Drill #2 – Adding a Jump. This is a great drill geared towards small progression. Some of you may be past this step, but if you have mastered this one, let me know and we can make it more difficult 😊
• Step one. For this step you will set the jumps at about a 90-degree angle with just a few feet between the angle itself (see video). Start with the dog closest to the angle and you on the outside line. Send the dog forward, then as the dog commits to the jump, say your verbal and then cross behind them (sending your dog forward and over the second jump).
• Steps two through 4 are the same, but you are moving the second jump further and further down the line. Be sure to keep the 90-degree angle between the jumps. Also, make sure you work both sides.
Video: https://youtu.be/KBbd7QAYZXADrill #3 – In this drill, you are going to use a jump and a curved tunnel. There are several variations of this drill, so I will discuss each one.
• Rear on the flat: For this exercise, you will want to place the jump in the middle of the curve at the tunnel. Here you will start with the dog, send them over the jump, then tell the “switch” (or whatever your verbal is) and tunnel. Reward on the other side. As the dog begins to understand this exercise, you will put more distance between the jump and the tunnel.
• Rear at the jump: For this exercise, you will put the jump closer to the opening of the tunnel that you are sending the dog to. Your cues will be “jump, switch, tunnel” (or whatever your cues are for those three behaviors). Then the idea is to move the jump further and further away from the tunnel.
• Adding another jump and more speed: As the dog progresses, you can add a second jump so that you get more speed going into the tunnel. This also opens up the incorrect side of the tunnel. For the handler, there are a couple things you want to think about here.
o One, be patient with the line of approach before the rear cross. If you put any kind of pressure on the dog’s line (begin merging too soon), you are likely to send the dog into the wrong end of the tunnel.
o Also, this is a good place to work on a focal point for the handler. Meaning that as the dog approaches the rear cross, you will want to head parallel to the dog’s path until the dog is committed to the jump where the rear cross will happen. For some handler/dog teams that is the jump wing.
Video: https://youtu.be/wkJdz27i2o8
