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Hi Tracy
It’s been a very long busy day, but I managed to squeeze in a quick session with Hero at lunchtime.
I’m glad I did. He is amazing! He’s made so much progress. There were a couple of times he was starting to come off the seesaw before the release, but he corrected himself and I rewarded him. He’s really into it and you are right, switching to the seesaw was not an issue, he just got it.
L.
Hi Tracy,
I just picked one thing to concentrate on tonight. Poles 1&2 remained straight, and Poles 3&4 went to 1-7. I added the weave command and did a bunch of different entries. Hero is nailing it.
So when we do the next session, I will have to move the second set closer to the first set of poles. Also by find ’em game, do you mean the tunnel discrimination game we played earlier?
L.
Hi Tracy,
I added the target word “Slam” tonight. Hero was getting it! I am so excited. I didn’t think he would learn this with my uncoordinated teaching lol.
I tried to stand near the end of the plank and just let him hop on. He wouldn’t get off at one point and was struggling in the collar hold for me to just let go of him so he could just get in position and get rewarded hahaha.
L.
Hi Tracy,
In tonight’s episode…..
I did a recap of the smiley face game. I did one rep where I used dog side hand and a couple where I used the opposite hand to bring the dog around. I was easily able to stay upright doing it that way. Rusey was feeling very fast! lol
In the second part of tonight’s video I had a crack at the tunnel exit turns. Shoot the handler lol. Ruse gunned everything and did not listen to my left and right, even though we have done plenty of this off the DW (she doesn’t listen to turns off the dw either). I find she can cope and turn with no speed, but as soon as her speed gets up she is just a rocket blasting through tunnels.
I am not sure I played the game right, and I wasn’t sure how to break it down to help her, so I thought I would leave it to the expert…..
Cheers,
L.Hi Tracy!
Rainy day here today, and I’ll be away tomorrow, so I wanted to get Hero going with the bang game. By gum I think he’s got it!
Before making this video, I practiced with him putting two paws on a yoga block. Then I folded up the piece of yoga mat and we practiced putting two paws on that. Then I taped mat to the plank.
I just let him get on and get in position a couple of times by himself and rewarded with a click, then a treat. Then I did some restrained bang game. He was going really well. I messed up with the clicker clicking once after he already was chasing the treat instead of when he put two paws on the mat. But he is very forgiving. At the end when I was a bit behind he was only putting one paw on the mat, which is not ideal. I probably shouldn’t have clicked that.
What do you think? Another couple of sessions of this and name it?
L.
Hi Tracy,
I know what you mean about being too far away to control the turn. We played the smiley face game with the tunnel and two wings today. Because I was right at the wing and almost reaching back to connect with her around it, the turns were super tight. That connection is everything. I am always too busy on course watching where I am going and just expecting Ruse to know what I want. Does it matter when you are connecting with the dog you are bent over to her level? I am always getting told off for bending over to handle, but when I stand up I lose connection. I don’t care what I look like as long as the dog understands what I want. If I got turns like that in the ring I would be super stoked! I just hope I don’t have to run to every obstacle. I also get told off for babysitting, because it makes her slow. Send and go gets drummed into me.
Even when we did a couple of post turns today, she cut it really fine to get back to the tunnel. When I tried to front cross her out of the tunnel she was super wide, but she had no information going into the tunnel that it was going to be a tight turn coming out (I think I might have seen a game for that?). Also I was calling too late. It was fun though. We used to do this game when Ruse was little.
We tried your zig zag game with three wings. We did it a couple of times on each side. Then I got a little cocky at the end and tried to add two more wings. I managed to get the entry, but I haven’t turned and exaggerated enough the turn back through wings 3 & 4. There must be a trick!
L.
Hi Tracy,
I think poles 1 & 2 looked 2-8 from the camera, but they were 1-7ish. I made them a little steeper and put 3 & 4 at 2-8. We did different angles and sometimes motion from me, sometimes no motion. I tried backwards motion at one point and that caught Hairy. He was getting used to my forward motion!
During the session I made poles 3 & 4 1-7, and then made poles 1 & 2 straight and put 3 & 4 back to 3-9 which is where we ended the session. Couple of little tricks, especially when I first put poles 1 & 2 straight, Hero entered at 3 & 4! But after that he was fine.
I should really practice more crosses at the exit, but Hairy is so dang fast, I have to get a good head start! Might be easier when we add more poles :-p
L.
Hi Tracy,
Tonight I tried to be anywhere but the end of the board. I am still not convinced that Hero knows to step on the tape. He did some better ones towards the end of the session. I know I am probably still rewarding too soon, but he gets frustrated and thinks I want more if I wait him out.
You are right, I don’t want a down on the seesaw. I just want him to bow and ride it down and eventually go when the seesaw hits the ground, but for now exit the obstacle with a release word.
L.
Hi Tracy,
More angles and motion on the two sets of poles tonight. Hero was amazing. I chopped a bit out of the middle of the video, not because it was bad, but because I nearly did 5 mins instead of 3, so was a bit long to post here. He didn’t miss in that section and I was really lateral and far from the entry. He’s a super star.
L.
Hi Tracy,
More wind in our hair tonight! I got very hot. I edited the video a bit more today because otherwise you would have had to watch me getting Ruse back each time!
Ruse seemed to do really well when I started super close to the wing and almost dragged her around and ran until she landed the jump.
When I moved on to send from the jump the turns got very wide. I still did a front cross and ran ahead and tried to be past the jump when she was rounding the wing to make her trajectory more on the line I wanted her to take. However, I noticed on some of the reps I didn’t have as much connection as I should have. I think I got a wee bit better towards the end.
L.
Hi Tracy,
We are getting better at this! The TT helped the focus. I didn’t make him do a down, but can still do that if it will help. Are we getting close to naming this thing yet?
L.
Hi Tracy,
Here is Hairy’s second session adding poles 3 & 4. He rocked it today. I did the easy entries up til 9-3. He was great. Should I do another session making the entries harder with the same angle on the poles?
L.
Hi Tracy!
We are back from Easter break. I took the dogs up to Lake Pukaki camping. We had a good time, walking and swimming.
Ruse was rearing to go today. We did another session of wind in her hair, and I really tried hard to make more connection.
Should we play more than one game per day?
L.
Sorry Tracy, Just bringing this in from Hero’s Thread. OCD got the best of me. I copied and pasted your comment as well.
Good evening Tracy!
Tonight Ruse and I played the wind in your hair game. I put the bar on the lowest wing height for the session. I had some trouble getting the ball back so had to edit out a bit where she took off with it lol. I am not sure I have enough connection opening up to watch her come round the wing. She was bloody nuts for the ball and went like a rocket. I may have skipped a few steps? Hopefully this is right?
L.
Hi! I think this is in the wrong forum, the joys of being in 3 classes LOL! No worries! She looks good here!!! On the wing wrap, do a front cross (some were post turns) and just like on the pre-game make a big connection to her eyes as she exits the wing. Her commitment is beautiful to the wing and the jump! But note how she was drifting a bit on the wing wrap exit, a bit wide – and since one of your long term goals is tighter turns, the connection is hugely helpful for that. The camera angle here was so perfect – we can basically see what she sees! We didn’t really see your eyes, and that is the source of wideness for a lot of dogs. So to help convince her to go tight tight tight around that wing, start a little closer to it, and as you run forward, make a big connection to her eyes (almost glaring at her, but keep running LOL!). That clarity of line will help her tighten up really nicely 🙂
Great job on the toy throws! She was straight and lovely on the jump here.
When you are more comfy with the connection on the wrap exit, you can add in more distance between the wing and the jump 🙂
Lovely work!
TracyHi Tracy,
I don’t know why, but I find this game hard. Why am I so uncoordinated with this one!! Poor Hero. I tried to release him into position and was trying to reward at his feet like yesterday. But at one point I was a little bit behind and he was tap dancing side on while looking at me for the treat. I might seriously try putting the treat trainer out there as a target, as I feel like I am really confusing him. I feel a little frustrated and he is trying sooooo hard.
L.
