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So I did a tighter angle and it went well and then I had camera issues- so here is the 12 and 6. I didn’t add motion for this session but plan to next session. He did well until the off side weaves around 9 o’clock to 10 o’clock. I tried to make it easier after a few failures and then went back to super easy to end on a positive rep. Is that how I should handle the multiple failures? I thought he was going to get the third try but apparently not (whoops).
How far do we go around the clock? So we stop at 2 and 10 or 1 and 11?
I’m also going to work on threaded and I need to pay attention to him self releasing!
It’s so funny that Cole has been wearing those shorts all day and of course when I’m filming he decided there was a problem! Life is never dull with kids and dogs!
I did another session of back up and tried to reward the lean forward and put your front feet back. I think this went pretty well. I pushed the distance a little too far and he started circling around with his front feet.
We also did the bang game end position again. I tried to be more boring this time. I’ve noticed that chapter gets more whinny during this one and more impatient and frantic. I’m trying to keep his sessions short while also reinforcing the 2 on 2 off. He has a lot of reinforcement history for doing four on with this exercise so I think the whining may be frustration in changing the rules- he’s VERY rules driven. But he does seem to be getting the idea- especially with the target.
Let me know what you think!
Two on two off it is! I like the idea of clear criteria- chapter has shown me he needs to know the rules and they need to stay the same! I also don’t like the idea of a slow teeter!
We did two sessions of the downward plank game. The clip here is the second one- the first time I was a hot mess express- I think I got the criteria down better this time . I was surprised he noise didn’t bother him- especially since the crate on the one side was noise than I thought.
We also did the end position. I don’t have a plank to use for the first one and I also forgot about the first video so we did two on two off on the teeter. It took a second but I think he was getting it.
Lastly we did the bang game. I wasnt sure what to with the reps where he didn’t back up but instead put his front and then back feet on. I tried to not reward that but reward any subsequent backward movement or weight shift back. As you’ll see we have some distraction here with a pant-less child, but it didn’t seem to phase Chapter!
Good to know about the speed- I’m slightly terrified of having a slow teeter! I’m going to film a few sessions today but I wanted to chat about end position. I was planning on do four on- not sure why- maybe because a previous class I was taking was four on but he also has a running dog walk so I wasn’t sure if two on two off would be confusing. Now I’m seeing that wouldn’t be be an issue since it’s different contexts. When I do the backing up to teeter and backing up to a target (like fit bones, Cato board, etc) I struggle to get him to back up to four on so it ends up being a two on two off. But we’ve also done a fair amount of bang game where he goes into the four on. Since we’re so early in the training, I’m wondering if I should do a two on two off? What are the advantage/disadvantages of each? Not sure if size matters but he’s probably around 35 pounds. I’m interested to hear your thoughts.
I didn’t realize I was doing a send until you pointed it out! I totally was! And I can see how that really affected my ability to get into position. I’ll try it this weekend with more lateral and no sends! That’s also a good point about Chapter not getting upset with the late info- I don’t think I really understood what limping was until him- he will check out if I, not clear or progress too fast -basically a ‘get your act together lady’ kinda thing so I’m happy he’s tolerating my poor timing.
Here’s the video from the send and go BC tunnel from last weekend. I did the break down like in the demo for most of the reps. The middle ones are where we tried the whole thing. He got it on the left but was wide in the right and missed the jump before the tunnel. He was also wide in his turn on the left but was able to come in. On the last rep he missed the send so I ended up doing a normal pinwheel since I was going to be late anyway. We normally train at night because there are less distractions so I was happy with his focus during the daytime. After the last rep we worked in the engagement ready game which he’s seeming to really like. Are those turns wide because I’m late or do I need to look back to get connection more?
Thank you!
I’ve hit an editing video slump so I have four days of training and didn’t do any editing until tonight. I have our session from Thursday and Friday where we worked decel on Thursday and fluffy BC and FC on Friday.
The idea that serps are hard for young BCs due to the flanking issue makes total sense to me. Serps were so easy with Maddy and I loved them but she was all about being as close to me as possible so she was super motivated to come in. This actually makes me feel better that I’m fighting a little genetic instinct rather than going down a mental rabbit hole that I have no idea what I’m doing!
I also like the idea of entering chapter in a lower jump height to be a better partner so I don’t get all caught up with the Q. I know in my head a good start in trialing will be so beneficial in the long run- especially since he makes associations very fast- good and bad ones- but it’s tough when you have a Q on the line. That would definitely take that pressure off myself. We only have AKC here and I’m pretty sure even with traveling out of state it’s the main venue minus some USDAA. And thank you for your thoughts on the jump heights- that totally makes sense about training new things low and working my way up as it gets easier.
Okay- to the videos. I worked decel again since that was a bit of a struggle last time. His wraps to the right felt and seem to look tighter than the left – probably because he tends to flank to the left when he does run laps or outruns a ball or frisbee. I’m thinking I need to make sure I’m working that side more. His one jump reps weren’t bad but once more motion was added he was wider.
Friday night we did the fluffy BC and FCs. He did well with the wraps to the outside of the pinwheel which I was happy with, however I’m now seeing I was late on all of the BCs and FCs. I was making a conscious effort to be early too! I think I’m still getting accustomed to how big his stride really is. We did the tunnel BC Sunday which I’ll post tomorrow, but he did the sends to the middle jump pretty well- so i think I could have definitely moved into position for the BC and FC earlier. I also need to rotate quicker in my FCs- I don’t know why I’m in slow motion lol! So many things to think about. On a good note -my husband decided he should take out the trash while we were training which is right next to the yard. Chapter found this VERY interesting but I was able to work on keeping his attention and letting him look but reward for engagement back to me. He didn’t leave work which was huge. He was able to focus pretty well despite the distractions. We also played the first engagement game and he really liked it.
Thanks!
No worries on the delay! I knew you guys got tons of snow and had outages so I didn’t even check this page until today because it sounded crazy! I’m glad everyone is safe and things are ‘normal’ until the next one hits.
Thank you for the outline on what we should train and how often- super helpful. I’m not in a huge rush to trial because he still needs to do some growing up and we have struggled with some focus and over excitement/reactivity with other dogs- he has a very big personal space bubble right now and I’m sure COVID hasn’t helped that. I really want our engagement strong before we enter the ring.
Question regarding jumping heights- he’s now 2 years old and will jump 20 for AKC. I rarely have him jump 20 because we’re still learning skills and I don’t want to make it too hard and I also want to preserve the impact on his body. Is there a time or age when you start jumping full height or do you rotate between lower bars and full height depending on the training season- ex. Prepping for a trial versus skill work?
This weekend we worked on serps which I have struggled with timing on. I switched over the weekend using different reinforcers- manners minder, toys and food. The first rep here I used the manners minder. The middle reps are where we struggled- I can’t tell if I’m in his way, too late, too early etc. the one middle rep he was determined to go into the tunnel so I’m not sure if I accidentally cued that or if it was a baby dog moment. Prior to that rep he has been running around the first jump so we did a few one jump serps so I’m wondering if I was out of position. The second middle rep he also runs wide on jump 2 but I was able to bring him back around.
Thanks and stay warm!
Great feedback on the tunnel threadles- especially the not needing the dog side arm. I’ll work on that more this weekend along with the decels.
I was going through the class and realized I never did the lap turns and tandem turns. These are both new to me so it was a learning process for both of us. Chapter picked up on this pretty quickly. I have an old habit of saying ‘here’ instead of his name- does it matter if I’m consistent? I’ve had other instructors say here is not good so I was curious. We had odd tunnel refusals when I started putting it into sequences- I’m wondering if I was moving away before he committed to the tunnel so he wasn’t sure if he should come with? This session also probably went on a little too long so it could have been that as well.
How often do you practice these skills with your young dogs- such as tunnel threadles, forced fronts, lap and tandem turns etc? Do you rotate through like this class has- or once they seem to grasp the concept so you incorporate them into different short sequences? I’m training in my own so I’m trying to figure out what skills to do when and how often.
Thanks!
I do need to keep remembering about connection- I get worried about where I need to be and I forget about connection which is the most important! On the race track rep I did call him into the box for the reward so he was a good boy to do that. I ended up putting the toy in my jacket because I was struggling with the handling with the toy in my hand. I felt like he was too focused and distracted by the toy and was following the toy instead of the handling. I wasn’t sure how well it was going to go, but I think he did better when I ended up having the toy out of sight.
We did tunnel threadles from week 7 and deceleration from week 9 the last couple days. He has never done a tunnel threadle or heard a verbal for it, so we did lots of reps on just the tunnel. On the left side (left side of the camera) we were able to get the tunnel threadle fairly easily, but he struggled on the right. He first pulled off the tunnel completely and wrapped the right wing. Then I think I over compensated by not showing the threadle enough and being too late with my verbal so he kept taking the tunnel. I ended this session with more tunnel only reps because I wasn’t sure he understood what we were doing yet.
We also did deceleration and like all the other exercises one side went better than the other. His decels were pretty good when we did one jump only or one tunnel and one jump, but anymore than that and I got super wide turns. I’m wondering if I need to start rotating earlier because I’m not sure he understands standing still means decel – should I got back to one jump then? The video has a mix of all variations that we did.
I think you said this was the last week of lessons but we could still post video on the thread until the end of the month- did I read that right?
Thanks!
Great tips on the timing on handing. This has been a challenge for me since he’s a much bigger and faster than what I’m used to!
I felt lazy last night and didn’t want to set up a tunnel so I revisited the counter motion wings from a few weeks ago. I struggled with how to do all four wraps handling of wise but I think I got it figured out lol! Near the end we were able to do the counter motion wraps and race tracks.
I will definitely be more conscious of my leg and arm position on the forced fronts.
The last couple nights we did the lead outs and long sequences for week 6 and then zig zag grid. For the lead outs I struggled with my timing initially on the front cross- basically I’m always late. I think I finally got it together by the end of the session. I also struggled with the throw back to the tunnel- I’m not sure Chapter was reading the throw back as a turning cue or if the tunnel is just very high value. The rep I have in the video is the best effort and I think he was getting the collection. I tried the rear cross as well and he was not reading that at all. I’m not super comfortable doing a rear as a turn since I haven’t really done this prior.- so it could be I’m not where I should be.
The zig zags went well. We did lots of jump grids before so I think he understood this. I only have two reps because when I was on the other side I completely blocked him from the camera. Poor camera skills!
Great feedback on the verbals- I need to focus on that so much more! I’ll try the wings it again with the verbals and the teeter up higher with me closer in the reps.
His focus has gotten so much better! I’m not going to overthink it as to why but I had zero issues in this session with his focus. He didn’t have any crazy outbursts for the discriminations session. He just turned two so maybe maturity lol!
We did the forced fronts last night. After screwing it up by using the wrong arm on my first attempts I fixed it and I think he caught on pretty well. I did a bunch of reps where I rewarded the start line and also rewarded jumping straight but I didn’t include those clips.
I think the trigger for the running off was noise on the other side of the wall- either people talking or walking by. That tends to be the issue.
We’ve did a few things over the weekend and I finally got them edited. I did a session of wraps and tunnels at night. I had issues with the tunnel on the right. I ended up switching to the other side where there was more light so I’m wondering if it was a lighting issue. I tried the side we had issues with the next day during the day and it was a little better. Here’s the night session.
This is the day time reps. The second one I can see now I didn’t give enough motion for the wrap.
I also did the bang game and tried some reps from the side. Chapter definitely found this more exciting. I had some issues with him staying on the board but I tried to give lots of treats when he was in position and the last rep he seemed to get it.
Lastly we did the discriminations. I’m not sure I totally did this right especially when he made a mistake. Should I face the crate and tunnel less? Overall for the first session I think he did well and more importantly he stayed with me and kept working.
Hi-
So he did used to run off on the teeter but starting week one of this class I started doing super short sessions per your suggestion and that has seemed to help a lot. He’s wanting to work and offering the behavior before I’m ready. I was surprised at the speed of his drive to the end but now I know so I’ll need to be faster (I sense a theme here with him- mom be faster!). Ironically I don’t get the running off when I do dog walks and a frames with him and I think it has to do with the value I’ve built for those obstacles and also maybe the clarity of the criteria. He seems to have less frustration with contacts once there is value. The teeter and contacts are also in the other half of the yard where he does less running around and the yard doesn’t border the street so that may contribute as well.
We did start lines again and I did lots of reps of rewarding at the start line (I didn’t include those). He broke his start line maybe once this whole session. I also tried to be mindful of my arm coming up and releasing at the same time. We did reps of blinds, fronts and a wrap. He did a great job staying focused and he in my ran away once but came right back when I used my collar to hand cue. Baby steps!!!
Hi-
Lots of great tips to try this weekend on the wraps! I can’t wait to work in the lefts. Totally makes sense about the running past and how to break it down for him. Before I had instructors tell me to be more exciting with my other dogs- so to hear that I’m too exciting means I must have improved lol!! I’ll have to remember that with Chapter though- if we’re struggling maybe take it down a notch.
We did a super short session with angled entries with the teeter. Unfortunately, my camera placement was bad and you can’t see where I started, but the first one was slightly off to the left, second more was about a 2 o’clock entrance to the right and then the same to the left. I guess our mountain climbers have paid off because he was really driving to the end! Should I also make him target at the end? – I did here but I wasn’t sure I saw that in the video demo. Are we working the targeting more when the teeter is moving in the bang games and not worrying about it when the teeter is not moving?
