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Rocking Horse Turn Aways
I could’ve handled these a little better with my arm placement and less motion from me. She tends to jump at me alot while she turns away. I do have food in one or both of my hands most of the time however on the turn aways I reward on the ground. We did have another session after this and it seemed a little better. Hopefully it gets better as we practice more.
Smiley Face Game: Baby Level
I was really pleased with this session. We’ve still be avoiding tunnels in order to build up value for other things so I was kinda a “lumper” this session. This is the first time she has been asked to chain anything in after the tunnel and after a little refresher with each piece she got it! The first rep she wiped out coming out of the tunnel, a prime example of her uncoordinated teenager-ness.
I have a follow up question about this game/setup. I’ve seen videos online of some trainers in Europe training with off course jumps near the entrances of tunnels and the weave poles that are maybe one step off the dog’s line. It’s almost as if they need a “pass” cue. Not sure if I can find a YouTube video of it but I do know of one on Facebook. Hopefully I’m explaining it correctly. I am wondering for this game, when it’s time to take the tunnel, should they be going around the wing to take the tunnel or just go straight into the tunnel without going around the wing? I know for most of the agility I’ll be doing I may not need training to that level even in local UKI trials but I like to think about my training criteria.
Jumping Foundations 3: Beginning the Ladder Grid
We did work outside a little in my backyard tonight. I realized afterwards that I forward chained instead of back chained but it all worked out in the end. If she has issues with this exercise again I’ll try to remember to back chain. Makes sense that she was having such a hard time committing to jumps with me in motion when she struggled with me even standing still. Next time I’ll change up the angles a little bit. I can’t remember, is this one we can use the moving reward target for?
We haven’t really trained in almost 2 weeks. I haven’t really been feeling it. We are really a hot mess express and on the bus of struggle right now. I figured taking a break wouldn’t hurt. I think I need to work on some random tricks and shaping things just to get our team work together and her brain back from somewhere in outer space.
I’ve been hesitant working with toys around agility lately as I really need to work on her return to hand and drop a little more, especially with a single toy. Our two toy game is pretty strong, but we just need to grow the game more.
Working outside has also been a little harder since everything has thawed, so we’ve been working on some remedial engagement skills.
Sends N Serps
We have been really struggling with counter to motion in a lot of the games. We have recently started some counter to motion games separately to these exercises. I send her to the treat and train, a dish, or her toy while my feet aren’t facing it and I start walking away. It’s definitely a lot easier for her with the treat and train than with the dish or toy. My thought process is if she can’t even respond to the direct reinforcement marker I can’t expect her to correctly respond to an agility related cue with motion.
I could’ve placed the treat and train more on the landing side of the jump in this game. I also clicked the treat and train when I didn’t mean to a couple times. We have worked on the more standstill version of this game back in Max Pup 1 but this was a little above her pay grade.Pill Bug Game: Baby & Advanced Level
I was really surprised that she didn’t jump on me. Should I try to reward her coming into my side as straight as possible or does it not matter? Next time maybe I’ll try a toy and/or the double pill bug.
I know in Max Pup 1 we worked just a little bit on multi-wraps. Do you think that they can help bridge the gap in understanding that it’s actually the turn in that specific direction that pays? Could I or should I potentially implement them into some of these proofing games? Of course at a distance from any distractions (aka the tunnel lol).
Wind in Your Hair Game
Should I be continuing to move through the jump? I tend to slow down or stop my motion as she’s going over the jump to get the toy. Is it contradictory that I am slowing down as my reward placement has her powering through the jump?
Wrap Proofing Game #1
This went better than expected. Is my placement of reward ok?
We did work a little on just the tunnel (not in this video) using the verbals with mostly success and a few not so great reps. I think when it comes to the tunnel I need to be very careful of the setups with my positioning and making sure there is success and a good loop of “do the thing, get reinforced, then come back to me” in order to avoid all the self reinforcing tunnel behavior.
