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Sequences for success!
Editing this video took all of my functions brain cells. I think I have to turn in my Millennial card because I could not figure out how to do superimposed videos. You’ll have to accept these poorly edited picture and picture ones instead.
Interestingly the left wrap wider turn was much slower but his overall speed was lacking 12.3 versus 10ish. We had just gotten started so his motor may have not been reved. Right side was about the same 9.4 versus 9.3He got bar at the tighter wrap on the right. I said yes at the jump. 😭 I had to turn in my #overpraisersanonymous chip and apparently I could really use a meeting 🤷♀️. I did do the sequence again after telling myself to STFU Jamie and he still had the bar- which made me feel a little better 🤣.
thank you for your insight here! <3
– even though he got rewarded for the openings, he still has a sense that something went wrong and I don’t think he is a fan of the start and stops in training (even with rewards)
So I understand what start and stop means, but how do I best avoid while still frequently reinforcing? Just terminate the session? Keep moving on in the sequence?
Or is this the correct answer ?
So…. keep going rather than stop. And if you want to reward – keep running and let him chase you, as if the course is finished.
Circling back to the backside, should I run out of it with the toy to avoid tossing?
So I use all of my props, not just the mat (Hot Sauce has the mat but also a flyball jump and the MM to help her when I am running courses)
The only prop I’ve utilized is the mat, well and occasionally a standard for hard turns. I am intrigued by flyball jump, does that work as a stride regulator?
I think a lot of this is coming from the one day (about a month ago) that I changed to a smaller mat and moved it down on the DW to shape a lower hit. We were just on the last plank but he failed several times which has causes an existential crisis (boys man, so much drama).
He has also done best when I have reinforced everything even misses and really really lost my shit for for good hits. He’s not so big on the MM for RDW training. He just kind of trots for it, not as excited.This is where I get a little confused on my reinforcement strategies because in his DW training (and mostly in the weaves) I get super excited and throw the toy. Jackpot is we do that several times and he seems to love it (most of the time). When I did you weave class there were sometimes where he was a little mehh about it. Usually depends on the toy and how many reps we’ve done.
Instant focus
Shaping is my jam. I could shape stuff all day and be SO HAPPY. For the sake of not boring you, I just featured sitting and standing. I initially forgot my clicker but then remembered. He happily offered to pick up this prop. I had no idea what to pick so I cut a heart out of cardstock. I was trying to adjust criteria to just a nose (or open mouth because that’s how he rolls) target on the ground and I think we were getting there. You can’t be over excited about dogs moving if your staring at a target in the ground/targeting with your face on the ground ☺️
Course three! Wheeewww I’m on a marathon here trying not to get behind. We are taking tomorrow of because I’m going to eat with friends. It’s a restaurant called maypop- you should look it up and I’ll totally bring you when you come visit for NOLA winter camp 😏
So in my head (and the way I walked this opening) I wanted to put him far enough back that I could show decel and lateral movement. Unfortunately this also opened up the off course DW that I didn’t even notice 🤦♀️. He was 100 percent certain it was the dog walk. Even when blocked off, he was convinced. Best line for him was placing him closer with not much take off and the spin.
He was not loving that backside at 4. Not sure if it was the pressure of my movement or proximity to the fence but I couldn’t get him to come in tightly. I felt like I was stopping to reward there appropriately before moving on.I had one lapse in judgment by screaming yes because he got that freaking right turn out of the tunnel and I lost my mind with excitement. I’m in the 12 step #justthefacts program and the first step is admitting I have a problem. I threw everything at him to get that turn. Name, tunnel break (which was late 🤣) and a turn verbal. He was a rockstar there. When he actually does the skills I’ve trained it makes me so excited. (Why I don’t know because it’s not like I haven’t invested the time and am asking him to do things he doesn’t know 🤣)
I modified the ending to get the dogwalk. That backside was much better than the opening one even with my late blind. My position there could be better too.
First dog walk was high. The second one 😬. I will not worry about this (she says for self assurance). They were amazing before we stopped working them regularly. His speed and striding need to work together. His ground speed has increased tremendously and he really just needs to do some more reps.I think we only had one mehhh reward here at the #4 backside. Otherwise he seemed happy and engaged even with my bobbles. He really wasn’t even bothered when he took the off course dogwalk which was awesome!
I hope you are well rested and adequately caffeinated by the time you get here! I hope you took a break too and that Hot Sauce Marie had a super weekend!
Several hours and naps later for Fever we tried course 2. Thankfully Carrie’s yard drains quickly. Unlike mine which is the current LA breeding ground for the anopheles mosquito.
His speed and engagement was killer this session… which probably has somewhat to do with the lack of distractions here.I did the opening… I didn’t realize until I reviewed my video on our break that idk which course I was trying to do but there’s so good parts here.
I still haven’t mastered the verbal game with the 180 because he needs more info here and I’m just standing there. He loved the straight tunnels.
We also got a decent DW hit here. Not jackpot but pretty close.We practiced the tunnel by the pool once. I was having trouble figuring out how to handle this because he couldn’t go by the other side of the DW. Ultimately we figured it out. On the closing after three wide turns, I decided I should use a left there. He seemed to pick that up. Words are great… use your fucking words Jamie.
I still got crunched up in the serp closing. I didn’t keep attempting it because I was the limiting factor there.
I also had a really hard time sending him out to that far jump (which should be the teeter). We got the off course a couple times which wasn’t awful but it was a really hard line for me to let him land and push back out. I don’t often layer and he wasn’t reading that.I also did the opening correctly to the backside (totally missed that first go round). I was so proud he bypassed that off course jump to get the backside. Not sure he would have taken that jump if I didn’t do the front cross rotation with the toy out of it but it was great in the moment.
He was super here! He was killing it for his toy! I lost his flying squirrel in the yard so we had a toy change midway through.
I hope you have a super end of seminar and safe flight! Gosh I wish I could have been there 😭. I’m so jealous because I saw you had a long sleeve shirt on 🤣
Standard course 1
So this set up was perfect because it forced me to stop and reward more! Yay! I was still having some reinforcement issues. I’m trying to be upbeat and positive about him taking the toy but there’s still a disconnect. You’ve mentioned that I have a tendency to just hand it to him, but when he’s happy I do tend to kind of do that too but he views engages in it. I left most of the end run footage because I think there were two times where he didn’t really accept the reward. One was with a bobble but I didn’t say anything and I didn’t really think I gave an indication that he was wrong (clearly I did) and the other was after his DW turn 🤷♀️
Although watching the bobble where he took the backside it was just awkward reward placement because I was in the way of his landing side.The tunnel facing the pool BLEW his mind 🤯. We had to spend a few reps relearning that we could tunnel in the presence of a pool 🤣. He crushed that.
Also, I killed my time management here. First run we stopped before the three minute timer, and the second turn was super short with just the two DW sequences because a thunderstorm came up OUT OF THE BLUE.
The area from Aframe 8-10 was crunchy for me. Initially I was like ima’ serp this bitch… but then I ended up screaming because I thought we were going to collide. He really is so considerate of me. Then I wanted to keep the slice so tried a spin. He went to the backside but understood it wasn’t the other jump. I did the wrap last. I’d love your guidance on how best to handle that space.
I didn’t really notice he got up at the DW in practice but I see it here. 😬
About that GOOD – it is a habit we all need to break
This!! I think I need a shock collar to break this. I believe I started it with Callie when she was slower and needed cheerleading, I tend to do it with Fever when he’s running slower because I feel like it’s encouraging. I was listening to an agility podcast this week that brought up how that may be unintentionally reinforcing the slower behavior you don’t want 🤦♀️
Callie does like me to run slightly frantic yet aggressive and Fever really is a #justthefacts guy.did you set a timer on the session? The video was 3:35 long but it was edited, so total time was longer. That, plus a storm rolling in… set the timer to 3 minutes of total training time and no matter where you are in the session when that timer goes off: reward and leave. You can take a break in the a/c and come back in 10 or 20 or 30 minutes or a couple of hours or juts leave it be for the day – but shorten your sessions so that you end long before he does.
I didn’t set the timer but I looked at the time of our video. I did edit out a good bit because there were pre and post run swim swims. He worked for 4 minutes the first set(you can tell which one that is based on lighting). The second set where he deflated was fresh off 15 minute break and a quick swim and his first run. I was trying to do better there.
I’ll try the timer suggestion today.Jumpers Course 3!
I am SO SORRY about the background noise. I left Callie at home but Carrie had yard company. I was happy how he worked with the new distraction. We also accidentally left the gate slightly open so he was a GOOD BOY.
This presented a few challenges and I learned some timing things! Which was nice!
My major question would be understanding why the backside at 5 deteriorated. First run was the best backside exicution. My cue is late but he understood where to go. He doesn’t look overly wide. On the subsequent reps, he has a question every time. I feel like my execution is the same but he clearly has a question. The only thing that I can see is that my position is slightly more lateral than in the first rep and I’m not sure if that’s just putting too much pressure at the jump?This tunnel threadle was my timing lesson. I was late the first time and he really couldn’t see my body rotation. We played with it and he was a super! I also learned that if you say in-in he will bypass the tunnel directly in front because looking for the no obvious side. I was so happy he did that even though it wasn’t “right” because I took the tunnel for granted.
Last try- I’m really trying hard not to deflate him but I really don’t know it’s going to happen until it does. He missed the backside and I sent him again. I should have stopped and rewarded. But I didn’t. Then he took the bar and was just sad. I promise I didn’t beat him here 😭.
We stopped there because a pop up storm rolled in.
Hi! Sorry for the delay, being on the west coast is messing up my time schedule!
Hahaha not me stalking your facebook/argus FB all day because I had WA seminar FOMO
Really nice line on the blind cross 6-7! You almost had it on the 2nd rep art :53 but just needed a little more connection as you ran up the line – more direct eye contact.
I really liked the way moving through this box went with the blind. I am not sure if it went so well because of the line set or because he isn’t one to shop for jumps yet. I need to run it with Callie and see what results I get. We do some box work but they are never a give me when you have to bypass inviting jumps.
You turned to the inside (wrap) on the 8 jump – the faster line is to the outside (slice line) if there is room with the fence there – he did read the wrap nicely but it set up a harder line on the 9-10 line
Slice would have been my choice too for the line but it’s pretty close to the fence and I didn’t want to make him work that hard and have that much pressure.
At 1:06 there was an awkward start line moment – he stood up and shook and you took off and ran, and things went a little sideways for a moment. So keep working the connection and release so there is a smooth transition there. He got back on track really nicely and then the ending looked great
this was evidence that I really should have ended the session sooner but kept pushing. Thankfully he stayed happy and recovered beautify .
Looking ahead to course 1 of standard with opening 1-3… I feel like my mechanics on a forward send from a stay are not the best. If they don’t have a lot of space to take off and you want to be on the landing side to serp, how do you get this done without moving backwards? I feel like that’s often my solution and probably not the best execution. Although looking at your map, it’s about 15 feet of take off.. Def not the same in my current build
Also, I’m having some trouble with the coordinate maps displaying?
sorry for the jumping, I’m not fully caffeinated and trying to multitask
Good list! Plus obstacle names, right?
Sooooo… my backsides, threadles, and wrap words should mean do the thing and take the jump without the obstacle name. GO, out, and soft turns will require the obstacle name.
I hope your travels went well!
We dabbled with the jumpers course today. I am not sure if it was just the way we built it or the actual course (I couldn’t get the coordinates map to work for me so we just roughed it) but this felt super tight.Also, I am so sorry if you can’t see this well. I’m using the tripod. I can pinch in to view it on my phone but not sure what or how you review videos on.
I handled the opening several ways. Ultimately towards the end I line him up on a slice which is the best approach. I was hesitant to do that because the fence was so close, he couldn’t get much of a stride in before the jump. We did have one broken stay (Rome wasn’t built in a day 😅), I didn’t say anything when he did break, brought him back and did a short sequence and rewarded.
We did open weaves again, I think I recall twice that he only did 1 set, I didn’t correct but am not sure what the best procedure would be for there. There rest he did just fine. Should I leave them? Should I sub them for something? I really need to work the independently to keep success high.
On our first rep at the straight tunnel I cued an out jump. He went wayyy out of the tunnel but did catch the jump. Also his tail flick there is super cute. I’m so happy to have a dog with a tail finally. Was this an appropriate use of my out cue? Should I have given a backside word instead? Also what could I have done to to improve him understanding not as much extension there? I didn’t feel like I was running super hard but not sure.
I couldn’t seem to get the right words out around 12-13, he needed more collection. I kept using his wrap cue at the wrong jump. Towards the end, I did a landing side blind with extreme connection over the jump and liked that handling best.
Second course
😑 ugh I got lost at 10-11 because I kept walking it with a cross. I knew I didn’t need a cross and walked it correctly several times and of course the first time I handle it, I do the cross. I tried to be a good actress here but he melted a little. I picked it up from my mistake. He was a bit sniffy on the ground, I accidentally edited that out and couldn’t get it to come back. He picked up at the tunnels and then we were done. Overall happy with his effort and recovery.
This might be a place (10) where I do a reverse spin because standing still for post turns is JUST SO HARD for me. The spin occupies my time and keeps me moving.Also, looking at your jumpers course, can you check the image for the coordinates map? It’s not showing for me
I’m not sure Carrie’s yard is wide enough to accommodate the while course. It looks like a majority is on the left but the tunnels seem important. Can you prioritize which section you think we could most benefit from? Or suggest a space modification?
Are you sure I can’t convince you to move to New Orleans and let me cook for you? Your feedback is just so awesome and detailed!
I’m very glad you brought up the stay because this is something I need accountability on. It’s been evolving. Initially he had A WONDERFUL stay. So good in fact that he often wouldn’t release and would stay there sniffing the ground- which was a major source of frustration and tested just about every skill I had in patience- but he’s super eager to run now hence the breaking and me being happy about it! To get around the initial disconnect and failure to release I did a lot of stuff where we didn’t require a stay- start with a wrap or send him through my legs. I acknowledge that I need a good stay.
Now back to the stay. I don’t have a formal position requirement between sit or down. I do feel like it’s a bit easier for me to see when he gets up from a down over a sit, but often I miss that. I try to stay connected on the walk out but like I’m not always seeing it even though I am looking.
As far as release goes.. this is probably where the grey area exists. Starting out if I just said okay (his release word), he was so literal that he wouldn’t take the first obstacle in front of him and would run directly to me, so I started cuing the first obstacle as the release… In all other times (non agility) I use okay and I could see where that would be confusing.
I have been just so happy that he’s been into the game that I’ve not worked his stay much. Would you just recommend releasing to reward a stay intermittently to keep him successful?At 1:30 I think you said settle down? but then there was no clear release – you turned your head, he got up
It was a Lie down said in a sing song voice. I listened back and I’m pretty sure I said okay but it was hard to hear.
I have gotten so many different opinions on releases. You should be completely still, you should be moving, the obstacle can cue the release… no wait it CANT so it’s just all bad. Keep bugging me, I like to people please and be right so I am happy to morph it into whatever he needs.
4-5 – you said ‘jump left’ at 1:00 and 1:41 and 2:15 – he was not sure if it was a wrap or a 180. I think left is the 180 verbal? You used ‘right’ on the 8-9 line in Seq 1).
this is where I need a bit of clarity to think what I want my words to mean. It didn’t quite seem like a full wrap to me but not quite a soft turn so I didn’t know what word to use…
Check and dig are my right and left wrap cues
Left and right should be my soft turn cues (still work in progress)
Pass is my backside slice
Seek is my backside wrap
Zip is my threadle wrap
Look is my threadle slice
In is my tunnel threadle
Out is to lead change and take an obstacle away from me
GO GO GO means run in extensions mostly straight until I cue you otherwise.When I did the verbal training in one of your last courses (not sure which one >_<, I just used the word, however I do want these to apply to like turns off the dw or perhaps out of the tunnel so I feel like the obstacle should also be cue? Maybe that’s the wrong though?
On the 5 backside at :39 and 1:34, you gave a serp arm to bring him in (I think that is what was happening) – you don’t need it, you can just stay connected and keep running, that is all he needs 🙂
Oh I didn’t even notice this. In my head it was a threadle arm at the next jump to support and him not to carry out to the backside but that’s not what I executed at all as it was at the backside jump and not the next jump but also probably not needed since you said just stay connected 🙂 .
Remember, it is more about concepts and less about running all the courses.
Cries in task organized fashion 😆
So we got several naps in and a few hours of better weather so we made some new attempts.
I first tried to implement the first sequence improvements. I felt like I supported the tunnels better and tried to say his name in the tunnel sooner. I also tried a spin at the wrap but I think my eyeballs sent him to the backside- good boy!
Second sequence- I had an ah-ha movement after he went around the tunnel in that I’m really overthinking handling the turning instead of just trying to set the lines. Conceptually I know that’s what I should be doing but I’m still over handling. We missed 10 on the second one- my fault. The last time I was like I AM NOT GOING TO SCREW UP 10…and well we sure didn’t because I sent him on a lovely go line forgetting where 10 was 😂. He really enjoyed the go line.
Sequence three…
This opening hurt my head. I was at a loss on how best to handle it. If this were a trial and I was running Callie, I’d take the NQ because we DO NOT have a great start line due to her nerves and I wouldn’t be where I needed to be.
I am also sorry that his start is out of frame. I tried a front cross.. late but I rewarded him- click treat for me!
His turn at 9-10 could have been better both times.
Second time I tried a lead out pivot/forced front. I hate these. It wouldn’t be my go to, I can’t stand still for that long. I think maybe I should have tried a blind but also didn’t feel like that was the best choice either 🤯.
The weather here is really biting me in the ass in terms of limiting what I set forth to train. I have a feeling we will get behind this week because it’s supposed to rain every day. We’ve gotten something crazy like over 4 feet of rain in the last 3 months.
We aimed to get at least the first two sequences done today but the thunder started to be too much for the red child.First run, my fault. I said oops- I am really working on breaking it. It was much easier to learn than to unlearn. Dangggg old SG videos. He seemed okay and happily took the toy.
Second run through- pretty happy with this one. We got a much better turn at 5-6. He also got a pretty decent turn at 8-9 almost too tight because I had to push him back out. I should have done a landing side blind or toilet bowl at 11-12. He also had a bar right after I yelled cheerfully. Working on that too 😅.
From a handling perspective, these courses where I don’t move are a lot easier for me to be timely and show appropriate decel. I feel less prepared when I’m running full out.The rest were attempts to get a second take after to improve but it wasn’t really good for me to keep going. If the weather clears up again, I’ll try to get back out.
So I think the theme of these videos would be reinforcement strategies. This is something I feel like I really need to improve but it’s been evolving and I just don’t feel like I’ve been the best at sorting it out alone. I will notice when it’s not working and as you noted change things- this is more of I think a helicopter parent thing where I just start to throw the kitchen sink at him to keep him happy because he can be so quick to disengage or lose enthusiasm and I perceive him as an overly soft/fragile dog.
So raising the value of food will help – you can have him eat the tossed treat, then you can toss a toy as part of developing the pattern. Or, you can toss the treat and when he eats it (swallows it!) you can take off and run (action!) then toss another one.
He had not eaten prior to this session, initially he seemed excited for these and then he lost it. I can certainly use a higher value cookie- he loves cheese but is weird about cheese that touches the ground, and pair it with movement. I do think running off would help his excitement. When we train in a known space and the food is coming directly from my hand he will take it excitedly 100% of the time so I do get confused regarding his food drive.
I thought he was happy with the frisbee throws… so if that is what is reinforcement to him, then we go with it. Food is not incredibly reinforcing for him – and he was chasing the frisbee so you can work that in. I think overall, working out the reinforcement is the key – and doing it in one or two rep sessions is the way to go. If you do a couple of minutes in a row, you might end up changing things before you find out what works, and then lose him because he doesn’t understand what you want because it keeps changing.
So he will pretty much always chase a thrown frisbee, whether he goes for it on the ground may be a different story. Do you think the act of chasing it but maybe not getting it is reinforcing enough for me to build on? I will usually stop throwing it if he’s not chasing and then CHANGE again because apparently I really like to do that 🙂
At the beginning, he had some trouble finding the wing with distractions. Pool? Or stuff? Either way – it is a great training moment for wing wraps! And even if he was not perfect, reward him before a small bit of it – he needs more reward in those moments or he tends to check out.
This is a good reminder for me, and please point it up if it keeps happening. I will usually eliminate the difficult behavior in order to sequence instead of doing it and then reinforcing it. It just doesn’t automatically occur to me and hopefully it will
totally relatable, it is so hard to train all the things, all the time. Feel free to use your training props when you are working the contacts in a course – for example, I use a mat and a MM and a flyball jump for the RDW and I leave them out there with the youngsters if I am sequencing the DW.
I did initially have his mat out but if we have too many failures on the contact, he will get avoidant of the mat. I am better about reinforcing everything on the DW with super enthusiasm when he hits as a jackpot. Hopefully I will get a good hit so we can show you. Although usually it stops the sequence… which maybe something I need to train through later. You can also usually hear Carrie scream yes if I get a great hit too which will usually terminate the behavior ha!
Back to the reinforcement strategies here. I want to make sure I’m understanding. It would appear that I should always keep moving until I reinforce and action movement with toys appears to be the best. So a dangling tug that he can strike/bite or a thrown toy?
I REALLY appreciate your observation here because I do think it’s the piece that’s missing to take us to a higher level in training. I just feel like I haven’t quite put the pieces fully together. I see progress but there’s still more struggle in our training sessions and if it’s on my part, I want to fix that! He gives really great feedback to me but I am not the best at putting it all together and in the moment its harder for me to sort out. He’s so different from Callie who 100% of the time lives for food and would jump through flames for it but has lower toy drive but I have figured out what’s reinforcing for her.
