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Hello!
This tunnel activity is a great break from all the concentration on threadles and serpentines. Keiko and I had fun. Here’s the video from our first go ’round. 🙂 ~KristieHi, Tracy,
Yes, I agree. The threadle is important, while the serpentine is more common, so I have been balancing the practice. As a matter of fact, I have a serpentine video that I’ll post here for you to critique. I am trying to be sure I stay near to and parallel to the jumps and she seems to be responding well. ~Kristie
Hi, Tracy,
We worked again on the in-in with 2 jumps and I tried to keep moving and remain parallel to the jumps without backing up or using 2 hands. Better?Thanks for the tips on the in-in, Tracy. I do tend to fall back on old, old habits. Absolutely want to keep moving forward, not backwards(!) so will work on smoothing this out. I think Keiko will pick it up just fine.
Good Afternoon! We went out to try to accomplish a couple of things. One was to release Keiko with an obstacle cue rather than her OK release word. That worked really well, and there was no confusion or hesitation. The other was to work on in-in with more motion, and to see if it made sense to her beyond the one jump scenario. So, I used 2 jumps. We did it from different sides in different spot, and it seemed to work really nicely. I realize she was probably following the visual more than the verbal, and I did like seeing she was able to put the pieces together.
Hi, Tracy,
Keiko and I did some distance “send and leave” stuff as you’d suggested. In the first clip, I waited to see how far she’d send to the barrel…She trotted right away so I figured I could start trying the early leave motion. 😉 As you can see in the rest of the clips, she didn’t have any trouble with me sending and leaving while she trotted around the barrel. After a few runs, I added a cone (off the camera to the right) thinking that might speed her up, but it didn’t. So then I changed the barrel to a wing, knowing that she would be able to see me leaving because the wing is open lattice work. She didn’t seem to care – did her job, then joined me for run and tug fun. Yay, Keiko! 🙂HI, Kim!
I “dropped by” to see how you and Sly are – you two are doing so beautifully! He’s such a great little guy, and I enjoy watching your handling. He looks like a lot of fun. 🙂
I also wanted to thank you for the great questions you ask Tracy. Her responses to you have helped clarify some things for me, too.
Are you back to teaching yet? Our agility classes are all still “on hold”. However, Keiko is in a “hiking with your dog” class and an “Out and About” class. These are both really essential for us since the lock-down orders in CT came just as she was turning 4 months, so we didn’t get a chance to do all the real-world things I usually do with pups.
Take care! ~KristieHi, Tracy,
Thanks for the all info/ideas about the release word vs behavioral cueing words. Makes sense and I’ll work on being consistent. She’s a bright girl and should be able to pick up on what everything means and how it works. 🙂 ~Kristie
This morning, before I saw your comments, Keiko and I did some serpentine work. It will be fun to give things a whirl mixing up the various cues and verbals. We also will want to do an exercise mixing threadle and serp verbals without arm cues, but I don’t think we’re quite at that point yet. She is doing very well, and I don’t want to overload that puppy brain. 🙂HI, Tracy,
We have a little issue with release, and I’m not sure how to deal with it without breaking her sit/wait. Keiko has been taught to sit and wait for her release “OK”. She’s really good at this, and does it for everything – meals, play, going in and out of crates, house, car, etc. So, when I put her in a sit/wait for a class exercise, she is waiting for the OK so she can do whatever is next. I’m concerned that if I start releasing her on whatever command/cue is the skill we’re working on, I’m going to muddy the waters. This is why you’ve heard me release with “OK” before I give the in-in.
Your thoughts? Thanks, ~Kristie
Hi, Tracy,
For the past few days, Keiko and I have continued working on our verbal for threadles, “in-in”. We moved through the stage with motion and the the arm still out. For a true verbal, I don’t want my dog to be dependent on my body or arm position. So I moved us ahead to working on motion and different starting locations (for both dog and handler) using only the verbal cue. I planned to toss the reward with my outside arm, but that was too awkward and caused me to turn my shoulders, so I just moved the treat from left to right hand and then tossed. I was really quite pleased with Keiko. What should I be focusing on or cleaning up on this? Thanks!
Good morning, Tracy!
Here are a few sets on in-in. We worked with the tossed treat to get more motion and excitement toward the reward. Verbals take time, so we’ll be doing more of this. I expect you have another step on this in week #6.
Question: I realize this is a 6 week class and you are giving people 9 weeks to complete it. Will you be offering a “next steps” more advanced class after this? Just wondering.
Thanks, ~KristieHi, Tracy,
I’m not sure how to insert a reply after each of your comments to my postings, so I’m just going to reply to everything all at once here. 🙂
Sends and leaves (barrel). We’ve done some work on obstacle commitment, and she’s been doing pretty well. Thanks for the reminder that I should be practicing in a variety of situations, whenever the exercise lends itself, which this ones does well. We’ll increase those distances.
In-In and Serps: Thanks for the ideas to help reinforce correct decisions on her part, and give her clues she’s headed in the right direction when she hesitates. I thought I was supposed to be using a stationary reward, which is why I didn’t try throwing treats. She’ll respond well to a flying treat, so we’ll head in that direction. 🙂
Get Outs: Thanks for sharing your thoughts on dog-side vs. off-side arm for sending out. I have a feeling that, while I will most likely use the dog-side arm most of the time, there may be gamble set-ups where turning into the dog for emphasizing a turn or a piece of equipment might be the best way to go.
Take care and stay cool, ~Kristie
Get Out vs With MeHi, Tracy,
Here’s our work on the Get Out piece. I realize I’m not totally visible, but the fireplace glass shows when my arm went out. I have done Get Outs with my other girls, and had been trained to use the dog-side arm most of the time since the motion is usually going forward. I started that way automatically, then changed to using my outside arm (going across my body). This changes the picture for the dog a great deal, and also can cause the handler to have to pay extra attention to their feet (as in a gamble line). So, do you personally always use your off-side arm to send to an “out”? I’m just interested in your thoughts about the pros and cons of using either arm. Thanks! ~Kristie
