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We had a real world young dog day and we were able to implement verbals for soft turns. It felt like cheating, lol, he did everything great. I did some backchaining so he would know my expectation on the turns. Then we went to a new venue where an adult dog course was set up and I TOTALLY forgot to incorporate many of our verbals. When I DID use them, it was great!!! When I did not, there were wide turns. I can do so much better than that. NO ONE in this group does this level of training the dog/human partnership.
Love your feedback from last week. The “hot mess” was certainly in my head. Ginger would NEVER forgive the mental uncertainty.
Here are 2 videos from one session. I really think we nailed the one with the GO WRAP vs RIGHT.
On the SERP I messed up the verbal (word) a bit, but not the cadence or timing and we eventually got it just right.
We worked a lot of GO because Prism has struggled with this previously and this set up was perfect for training it better.
While we had a lot of learning going on, I think it was a good session. I will have to work the other side next. I stopped because he showed a very good result at the end and he fatigues and we don’t do well with more. And my birthday dinner was ready 😉
We will repeat this until we get it more better. 😉I cleared out most of the yard and set these exercises up using a ton of space. We used to have grass, but 4 dogs and hurricanes really makes it suffer. We have had dirt/mud, weeds, mulch, etc for many years (20) and last year, I had had enough (since we were home so much) and had turf put in. I personally dug out a lot of bushes and trees to make room for the 60×40 space needed for “at home UKI”. I LOVE IT! (My husband is a saint. He got me the AF for Christmas this year) I feel so spoiled. But if you had seen the “before” pictures, you would nod in approval. It was dreadful.
Unedited full session with some HOT MESS moments.
Maybe tried too much (for my brain) whereas I felt that I was not solid on my set up choices (once he even ran between my legs trying to keep up with me when I changed my mind, poor boy).
SEQUENCE of this video: SIC- RIGHT- TIC- LEFT— PUSH- push with FOCUS verbal cue- CIRCLE- and CIRCLE with FOCUS verbal cue.
training goals: various v.c. discriminations without help from my motion handling.
Training plan (next): increase motion running toward the jump (for BACKSIDE SLICE) which I did not really do, but you had recommended.
WHY: I think I need more space in front of the set up to get motion toward the jump before we are on top of the jump. Next session goal-bigger space. Or are you thinking something else is going on in my head??? Besides self doubt.I think he did great. I dropped his toy poorly several times (hitting the wing on the soft turn! And sending him off line on a push) and being in his way.
I was very happy when I remembered to use the v.c. “FOCUS” which we have for looking toward the target line. If there are choices, he will “sprinkler head” between them until I release him (once there is enough of a pause on it).
Trying to say “GET IT” for toy release instead of “YES”. I think I did it once. He still snagged the toy in my hand once, but I did not cue him “MINE” before I took it.Probably should do a bunch of “GO” in next session.
I really love these skill development exercises. I don’t want to rush them. However, I had confusion on the exit line on the backsides, because I needed a real world example. Once I got that in my head, for the backsides, I felt like I moved in better lines. Is it time for me to get a running start (like from a tunnel or wing wrap) so that I can work the verbal cues with real speed? I like the tunnel since I am concerned for slipping on the turf and the wing-wrap is extra turning I could avoid.
My prior training (with GINGER) had a lot of foundation exercises, once I learned how important they are (my first agility dog), but there is a zone between foundation and real trial experience. I think this exciting stage of developing speed during this phase is going to be missing link. WOOHOO!
SERP with soft turn cues (mixed up momma). Inappropriate use of the word “GO” on the release. Help please. Initially I used AROUND and I may have used that word on Barrel wrap games we played for send, wrap, some crosses, and focus cues many months ago. However, I have done a lot of Rally (not with Prism yet) and I used AROUND for the heel to the right cue, so I don’t want to use that for Agility. WHAT do I say to release the dog to just go away from me and use a contextual cue to take the wrap jump?
BACKSIDE SLICE
I skipped the step 1 because we have done this (just about identically to your system). Then we worked on the toy/out cue. You can see he kinda knows what I want, but when he is jacked up, he really wants to tug longer. Then I use our alternative method of OUT which is the collar hold/toy release.
I forgot to use VERBAL cue (right/left) for the SERP turn, so I need to get those sorted out/timed and out of my mouth.
Yes, I noticed he is going for the toy in my hand kinda often. I have had to mark that previously (grrr emoji) excited little puppy boy with poor impulse control 😉Hi, thanks for the extra pointers. Yes, Prism loves food too. Yes, I can give him a food reward for the *prompt* toy release. I used “get it” for available toy, “grr grr grr” for keep tugging, “out” for release, and “mine” for it is in my hand/not available.But I don’t think I was doing that in any of your videos-nervous about performance. 😉 We typically tug for a while longer than we are doing on video (did not think you wanted to see the tugging) for this class. Maybe he is showing frustration that he is used to longer tug rewarding time?
I used food mostly here. He is a calmer/thinking boy with food.
This is SERP part 1. We have done this before. (Funny how the “simple” soft soft turns got less training attention (before I found you!)
I guess the message changed the colon/semi colon to emojis, (yay).
Here is the lightbulb moment when it FINALLY sunk into my soul regarding the rate, rhythm, and sound of the verbal cue…more from the dog’s perspective.
Do you ever want to tell us students, “yeah, sure you can use whatever verbal cue you want, but I can tell you which ones won’t work.”
This video has some nice work and some funny mistakes. Maybe you can have a laugh when you drill me how to not make those mistakes repeatedly. OMG (did she really just do 2 reps of “LEFT” for a right turn?!!! And I can’t wait for the rear cross. But clearly I need to, so that was the only slip in my progression.
Happy with these reps
I like the plan!! We did this “collar hold with a pre-release repeated verbal cue” in your seminar 101 on discriminations and Prism LOVED that course. He thought you were brilliant (fun games) and I never had a mistake with him choosing the off course! But… He THEN had trouble taking the tunnel right in front of him, thinking I would not want that. hee hee, an easy fix. I will work on the verbal cue improvement. I like that you are gently shaping my behavior too. I was wondering about the difference in tone and volume and was playing with that. Probably better just to stick with the plan as I was getting too many variables changing at one time to be able to tell which one was the winning ticket, and you have done that for us! 😉
(I don’t see my cute emojis button! 🙁Thanks for the feedback on the other videos from this week. I agree it was too messy. That was probably the worst it has ever been with the hooligans involved. They usually lay around disengaged, but I think they can tell I am up to something exciting. Yes, they blocked his line a number of times. I did see how Prism pushed his way through them a few times. Totally unfair to him. I see that so clearly through your eyes.
We did the warm up on the wing like you suggested and moved to bars, but I have not had time for the pre-wing wrap for increasing speed, plus, I forgot my notes and could not recall what was our next move.
I think this was our final work of the morning.
Two low bars (yay me, learning!!) TIC/SOC, LEFT/RIGHT. I might be seeing less tight wraps since we have been doing more RIGHT/LEFT soft turns lately. Or maybe it is the way I am driving the line toward the soft turn???I am also getting this thing where he goes around the back side of a jump from a set up (start line type position). I left that in, because it is baffling. We have not been working backsides. I don’t feel that we have drilled them in the past either. Nor do I think I indicated a backside at the start. However, if you tell me I am *looking* at the backside, I would not argue.
RIGHT and LEFT
I think this was the first video of the morning. Pretty steady.
I had a couple of errors as I was trying to add speed.
On the left turn early in the video, he started for the off course and course corrected at the last moment. I am mostly blocking the view, but a bit of his head can be seen passing on this side of the wing.Week 2: worked on wraps with variable speed (challenge to me). Avoided jumping since we had a lesson on Sunday with jumping.
Less time to work alone, so guest appearance by Tortelini (BC with medical issues) and Ginger (10 year old Aussie), neither of which have a place/stay with distractions, so Prism has to work around them. Messy training area. Is this TOO messy? I put them up when we have serious learning to do.
I am pretty happy with his tight turns at slow speeds and especially when I move in congruence with the type of jump. Sometimes he has to make a tight turn and avoid a dog!! Performance deteriorates with increased speed and with handling that drives the wrong direction. I left the mistakes in as those are learning opportunities somehow. I am learning how to watch him, so while these may look like repeats of prior skills, I am logging reps, therefore, wings more than bars. I am working on my own “bad handling” (driving a wrong line or turning late to test his verbal skill) not sure how successful I am being as a gradual progression would be better and after spending years trying to get the right timing on handling, this is KILLING me!! LolAND….big learning curve on the RIGHT/LEFT verbal cue and NOT using those for turns on the flat and expecting a “JUMP-THEN TURN” behavior. So many details to clean up.
AND…I am so glad the squeak in the group chat video was yelling at me and not a different issue. Ginger (the Aussie) barks, woofs, and (used to get) hopping mad (various bark style and volume) to teach me how to handle better. I am used to being coached by the back seat driver, ugh! Just a different sound.
Week 1: game 2, wraps TIC and SOC variable speed on a wing
Four seconds of week 1, game 3 on 2 low bars
WEEK 2: RIGHT/LEFT Soft turns, getting started on wing
Week 1: game 3 on a wing (wraps)
A funny thing happened this weekend. I took a lesson and this was set up for us. We put his bars “low” at 16, (his eventual height will be 20) but after our conversation last week, I am thinking we should put them even lower, since I heard his squeak after the last jump. When I reviewed the video, I thought it looked a lot like our wrap discrimination exercise. We have worked these skills from stationary starts, but this is new “at speed”. On top of that, he has recently increased his speed, so I would like to hear your thoughts on jump heights during this training period when transitioning from baby dog to big boy. Help me be a better caretaker.
OMG, it is like you are in my head!! YES! The urge to run courses and enter a trial is BIG. But I look at him, his skinny body, and his newly minted speed, and I just cannot ask him to turn on a dime until he builds some muscle, and turning skills. So here we are. Thank you for that pup-talk!!
What a keen eye you have. Thank you for the detailed feedback. I love that this is a missing link (now found) in skill progression. I could see the breakdown in performance, but did not know (previously) how to plan training to fix it. WOOT!! Have not had anyone train dog body mechanics at high level skill (jumping) just for conditioning drills posture/position/form.
Cool that you have a FETCH relative!! Yes, OCD in rear view mirror. I did a lot of conditioning drills and jump grids to get us to this point. VERY, Very little sequencing. I also used Lisa Frick barrel work early on and that was a boon of puppy learning (age 3-6 mo).Prism is a selected breeding out of friends of Barb Davis who live in Washington state. His father is Moel Sweep – a fantastic herding dog out of Wales, living in Texas. (Sweep the grandSIRE, who is a fantastic herding dog in Wales, just lost his human dad last year). The bitch is Jinks who is a granddaughter of FETCH out of Italy, who Marco Giovani ran some years ago. He is a grand-nephew to Barb’s Flex who just passed in 2020. I believe Kelsey used Moel Sweep for one of her breedings recently. I think the pups are just a bit older than Prism’s litter. Barb has a litter-mate brother, but they are different dogs, if you ask me. Nancy Kemna and Sally Connell have littermates as well, if you know them. Thanks for asking. He is perfect (except that he had surgery for OCD shoulder, so we were out for 4 months).
