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>>– you can use some boring cookies for this too – the toy looked really interesting, so he was less likely to leave you to commit to the barrel. Starting with boring cookies can get him moving away form you better,>>
Ha ha, boring cookies. Very funny, Tracy. LOL!!! He’s a schnauzer and even kibble is fan-freaking-tastic!
Just kidding, I get your point though and will also think better of using a brand new super fun toy for that kind of thing. 😝
~Kristin
Yes, yes, yes to ALL the things you said!! As usual it makes complete sense.
>>On that first rep, you were not connected enough…Any time he ends up on the wrong side of you, assume it was a handling error (because it was LOL) and reward him for his effort.
Compare the hand position at :03 to your hand position at :11 and :27 – all the way back ad connection was much clearer, so he had no questions.>>Absolutely you are right. I looked at the video again at the points you mentioned and I can totally see it now! And yep, I need to pay more for the effort anyway, because it was, as it 99.9% of the time is, my mistake! 🙂
>>If he goes wide or looks at the toy, try not to mark when he is not quite right or still making a decision like at :30 (you were late so he was wider there and not sure).>>
Yep, totally agree with this too. That non-reward marker is kind of a bad habit I’m trying to break, but it’s hard!! Will keep working so I appreciate the continued reminders on that.😀>>Being on his line will cause him to bubble out to get to the toy when you drive ahead (not a big deal here, no worries!) but it will not cause a side change question – that is all about the connection.>>
Great, thank you for clarifying because I wasn’t really sure. Definitely need to focus on that connection more so in that case!>>Retrieve – sometimes these early sessions are ‘exploratory’ >>
Yep, it did feel like a little trial and error and I’m comfortable with that now that I kind of your blessing and ideas to try a couple of other things to figure it out. I have a few ideas based on what you said and will try them out.Parallel Path:
>>The click tends to get the dogs looking at us, so we can avoid that by just tossing and not clicking. You can mark with a get it before the toss but the early toss will be the best info for him 🙂>>
Yes!!! I definitely sensed that as I was doing it that the click was encouraging to look at me rather than forward, so glad to hear I can fade that right now how. Super!We did a little gaming tonight with the Rotated Sends. I had a total brain fade at about :52 where I forgot which hand I was supposed to be using and also of course completely forgot to use my new verbals until it was over and I kinda went Doh!! But that’s okay. Ronin and I got through it together. 🙂
Thanks again for such detailed feedback – it helps SO much!
KristinHi Tracy! Thanks for the great feedback. I did some more work and have a few questions on some of the things.
First, here is my final video for Week 4 Handling Combos. I tried to be a bit quicker on the front crosses this time, but have a question about the first rep where he went to my wrong side. I was trying very hard to have good connection with him and maybe it wasn’t enough, but I also was wondering about being on Ronin’s line here – and I was in some other reps also – if that may also cause a side error?? Do you think he even knows what his line to the toy is at that moment? If so, do you think that fact that I’m totally in his way contributing to the confusion?
And now we have some of the Week 5 retrieve practice. It was kind of a disaster! LOL!!! I had his favorite toy, but the second I had food out he would not really show any interest in the toy AT ALL. So, I thought I’d switch two toys, but despite watching the video of Hot Sauce somehow I just totally didn’t know what I was doing with this one. Ronin likes toys and tugging and carrying them around, I guess I just am still not sure how to start with that to get the retrieve. Should I use to toys that are more similar and equal in value? Other suggestions to help me wrap my brain around this in the moment? Need more video first?
Parallel Path Commitment:
This was fun and of course he did quite well right away, despite the fact that I could see after watching the video I was late on several of my clicks. Note: it is a rolled up then kind of flattened hand towel on the floor between the jump standards (very safe).
As always, thank you for he wonderful feedback!
KristinSuper good advice about the focus question, thank you!
We worked a bit more on handling combos with the distraction of the toy. I didn’t get very fancy in combining my moves, but figured I needed to start much simpler in the wake of the confusion during the first try. LOL! I picked my wrap left/right cues and started to apply them for the first time also. It’s ‘za za za’ for left and ‘choo choo choo’ for right.
I focused too much on the right side though, so next time I’ll do more left wraps. 🙂
I also have been doing more rewarding of the collar grab and he’s quickly learning to appreciate that a bit more.
We are a little behind but having fun!
Thank you, Tracy! We did a little more tunnel practice tonight, but I have a question. When I am holding him and ready to say ‘Tunnel!’, should I be waiting until he’s pretty much completely focused and turned towards it? Ronin obviously now understands the value of the MM and it’s a distraction, which is good practice, but not sure how much to test that vs. making more sure he’s focused and ready before giving the command to do the tunnel. I know, not really a black and white situation, but curious about your thoughts.
Thanks!
KristinOh that is such great feedback, thank you!
I worked on the rear cross on flat with prop again and although some of my turning him was too fast on a few of them it was still overall better. Also, I am not thinking I moved far enough past the prop like you had said to do…I guess I forgot that in the moment. Doh!
And some more tunnel work. He seemed to be getting it a bit more this time around and was finding the tunnel pretty reinforcing:
Let me know what you think!
KristinI can see I am going to really do some thinking about my marker words. Long way to go there, but I’m grateful for all the ideas you are giving us for those things!
Looking forward to your thoughts on these.
Practicing the Stays (Catch only):
Tunnel practice! I tried a few things at the end before a) deciding to use the Manners Minder, and b) remembered that I needed to hold him at the beginning at first.
I actually have another session or two after these that I video’d but that would be over 2 minutes to start, so I decided to show what I did at the beginning. And he was new to the MM so I had to work that separately first because he was pretty suspicious of it initially (NOT rewarding LOL!).
Rear cross on the flat with prop:
So actually the rear cross work on the flat WITHOUT prop I can’t figure out where my video went, but I swear it went way better than this! Here’s where the wheels start to fly off the training wagon. Again, without prop seemed super straightforward for him, but I didn’t feel like I knew what to do here very well. 😁
And then this Handling Combos stuff…Oi! Wheels have now completely flown off the wagon. LOL! I don’t even know what to say about this one. 🙂
~Kristin
Thank you, Tracy! Quick question….do you have a different command to get the cookies/toy from hand vs. throwing? For example, do you also use “bite” to get the toy when you throw it? Or with the cookie is it “snacks” to get from hand and something like “search” or “Get it” when throwing? I have seen the differentiation of that before from some other people/instructors and am not sure if it’s an advantage to have separate cues for throwing vs. taking. Curious your thoughts on that (or maybe I missed it in a lesson somewhere!)
Trying to utilize your feedback from the last two practices below. Definitely went better on both.
Rear Cross:
Serp/Threadle cues:
Thanks again!
KristinOh my gosh, this is why you are THE BEST at what you do!! Superb feedback – I can’t wait to try it. I read it this morning and have been itching all day to give it a go, but will have to wait until the weekend to try (BUSY!) 🙁
But between late last night and early this morning I managed to get in two games for serp/threadle one with food and one with toy.
Let me know what you think!
Thank you!
KristinHi Tracy!
Only had time to do a little more rear cross practice today. I was still not as timely in most cases, but still better. Ronin is so funny and started taking his lotus ball to the prop and then open it there to get his treat. Weird but cute!
We will continue to work on this and I will work on the turn on the flat.
~Kristin
Thank you, Tracy.
Okay, so I swear I read your replies at least 3 times, rewatched, trained again, and feel like I am not really any better for the Sandwich games and Rear Cross work.🤣I re-watched the demos again and also my latest try, have had a few ideas of what went teensy better and what is still wrong, but not totally sure. I swear I tried to stay more connected on the blind crosses and still we struggled. And rear crosses…eh I dunno. I wish I had some highly astute questions to ask but I don’t even have that! LOL!!!
Sandwich Second Try:
Rear Crosses Second Try:
BUT…all is not lost, because Ronin and I did way better on the wraps than I thought we were going to. Ha!! The funny part of this is that I was practicing the mechanics on old guy Emmett first and it did not work AT ALL with this prop because he kept trying to figure out how to get INTO his kennel! Hee hee hee! The little guy doesn’t really know it’s a kennel yet I guess.
Have fun trying to train me on these – I will continue to work on getting it right. 🙂
KristinSorry to layer my posts here and not wait for a reply first, but we did some more catching up this weekend. 🙂
So in addition to the new stuff in my previous post, we did Backing Up Part 2, Collection Sandwich and Rear Crosses.
Backing Up Part 2:
For this, I struggled to find a better object than the mini-teeter in a pinch, but curious about your thoughts on whether I should avoid this object for backing up if I plan to teach running contacts?? Otherwise, how do you think this went?
Collection Sandwich
Wow, this was hard to coordinate those hands, run straight, get my timing down, etc.! LOL!!! I actually practiced this in several sessions but am only submitting video for a little bit of it so I wouldn’t go over the initial 2 minutes. I do have additional video of sessions where I’d switched the camera around and was running away vs. towards. Let me know if you’d rather see that.
These were our first tries:
Rear Crosses:
I think he was a little tired for this because we’d just filmed a bunch more collection sandwich stuff with a fun toy too so he was less enthusiastic. I am also really glad you mentioned in the demo video not to worry about him turning the wrong way at first because we definitely had a lot of that!
I hope you had a great seminar today and get a chance for some good rest before starting off the new week!
~KristinHi! Sorry for the super slow reply; it’s been a crazy week!
Regarding the canine fitness course, it is the one taught by Debbie Gross Toracca through Fenzi Academy. You can take courses 1-4 separately or buy the whole package, do the case studies and take the exam at the end for your certification. I learned a huge amount across all 4 classes, but also in this case the homework and instructor feedback on the other students’ work was particularly educational because for I didn’t realized for fitness training there are often more than one approach that will work or be “correct” for a particular case so the learning went more beyond the lessons than I have experienced before. I am sure there are a lot of great courses similar to this, but I definitely had a good experience in that one.
On to training stuff! I worked on Parallel Path and Countermotion this week. There were a few struggles but one of the biggest was keeping his attention enough not to leave for the prop without me. And it took me awhile to remember when i was supposed to throw the treat vs. having him get it from my hand. But we’re working through it together. 🙂
Parallel Path:
Countermotion:
Looking forward to your feedback!
KristinHi!
Regarding getting a vet fitness expert…totally agree! I recently completed a year-long canine fitness certification course and really gained a new appreciation for the knowledge required to properly design a program based on the unique needs of the individual dog and at that will totally change based on life stage, health and a myriad of other factors. My course was fairly comprehensive for a lay person, but no where near what a true specialist in that field can do. So it was great, but made me only just slightly more experienced than average! Full disclosure, I didn’t actually sit for the cert test once I finished the class (long story) bu I was only doing it for my own dogs’ benefit, not to obtain clients.
P.S. when I started that class – which I highly recommend – I had no idea how badly I’d need it to get Emmett back in shape after he got sick and wasted away to almost nothing. He’s getting better but now I have tot safely build that muscle back up slowly.
P.P.S. when doing work on the big peanut or egg ball, ideally the dog would have a harness on with a handle on top if possible for safety and to help with stability if needed. Which I did not do in that video because it was a quick and dirty session just for video!😀I am also kind of passionate about the subject of fitness! LOL!!!
On to training… I advanced slightly the Wing Wrap game for week 2, using your idea of the pop-up crate and sitting on a ottoman vs. on the ground. I think it went okay (until I got an unexpected visitor) Trainus Interuptus!! 😆Based on what you are seeing here, how would you recommend I proceed or tweak? Maybe stand up with it flat, or open the crate up and try sitting?
Thanks!
KristinHi! So I did not explain the first goat game video well at all LOL!! That video was taken about 2 months ago and was my poor attempt to explain why we hadn’t done much with Goat Games 1.0. 🙂 He was much littler in that video, but has long since graduated to this:
He loves his ball work!
So on the baby teeter thing…earlier today I was down in the basement doing something else (not paying attention to the dogs) and Ronin started running around on that teeter tippy thing all on his own without me. Sooo, I thought maybe I would just keep it the same (not easier with towels, etc.) but add your suggestion of trying the back and forth reward pattern. I think it worked great!
>>you can move the bowls back to behind your hips a little so he has more room to be able to turn around and wrap again.And you can change your position to sitting on a couch, or in a low chair… working up to standing.>>
Aye, aye, captain!! I can do that, especially since with explanation that it’s not as much about he distance right now, but the back and forth pattern. I’m excited to try this again with those progressions and see how he does!Thank you!
Kristin
