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Hi Tracy,
I asked this question on your new ladder grid post but I’ll ask it here because I also have another question so you can just answer one time here:
1. Do we do one run thru on the regular grid prior to introducing the progressive grid in the same session or just go right to the progressive grid?2. Benni was working at a 4.5′ ladder grid distance but if I use that as the starting point for the progressive grid, that means the last grid spacing would be 6′ assuming I increment by 6″ in the progression. 6′ sounds like a lot for him to bounce or not? As you remember he got ahead of himself at the 5’spacing I had tried before. I was thinking maybe to try 4′ – 4.5′ – 5′ – 5.5′ at first. What do you think?
Thanks.
Sandy and BenniHi Tracy,
Do we do a run thru on their regular ladder grid before adding the challenge or go right to the variable distance on the first run?Thanks.
SandyHi Tracy,
I’m getting behind on the games! Yesterday was a weather wash out with a small window of no rain where I decided to just do a quick tweaking of the set point exercise as you described….opened up the spider V point and decreased distance to 3.5′ instead of 4′ with a 10″ jump bar. Let me know if this needs more tweaking or looks good now with this set up.
I just noticed that 2 of the 3 wing jumps I have do NOT have 10″ jump cups…only 4-8-12 etc. My clip and go jumps which are wingless 4 ft bars have all heights. I can put wings next to it but prefer the 5 ft bars for some things in sequencing. The aluminum slatted wing jumps from Max 200 have all the variations in height.
I do have a question on the decel exercise and a verbal I’ve been training which comes via Soshana Dos. The verbal which I chose to copy from her since other words that people use I already use for other things (close, here, etc). The word is Suda (Russian for “close” apparently) and I shorten it to “Su”. The exercise she had us doing is like the toy race/decel where I release him “break” and either with or without motion using toy or food in my cross body connection say “su su su” and when he comes to my side I do a 360 spiral in place and give him the reward (or send him to the food bowl/toy up ahead). SO…is this the verbal I would use in the scenario of the decel games? I use “here” so much in his life at home and I don’t like to over use his name…what do you think? Soshana was teaching it to us as a bypass verbal as in “come directly to my side and do not take any obstacles until I tell you”.
Question on the advanced mini pinny. Since I have chosen to use “switch” for a rear cross…maybe I’m over-thinking this but…say I’m doing dog on left for “right” mini pinny and then I want dog to take jump 1 and go left to the MM reward from my left side…is that not considered a rear cross? I can see if i do the mini pinny dog on left and then kind of do a FC so dog is on my right side when I say “left” to go to the MM. That would be how I would use a left command in this instance. I guess the dog should “know” right and left no matter what side of you they are on in the case of the dog being too far ahead of you in which case then maybe “switch” might not work? Just trying to clarify in my own mind so that I do not dilute my verbals and cause dog confusion…and handler confusion! LOL
Today the sun was shining so we got some games in:Here are the mini pinny videos:
1. https://youtu.be/NyRau6ZpiTc2. https://youtu.be/hWPHAq0QTVI
Video 2 – I don’t know whether he was getting distracted by something in the woods and got stuck or was having brain freezes or what! Then I finally got what I wanted and had the stupid MM remote in my pocket and rewarded way late…oye. I tried to get one more good rep but it wasn’t going to happen so I stopped. When he freezes like that what do I do…call his name, keep saying the directional verbal, just collect him and start over…not sure how to make it easier if I’m getting too many failures.Starting on the rear crosses:
Video 1: https://youtu.be/ohttTZPKiJIVideo 2: https://youtu.be/ctBHJDI3xvM
This one did not go as well. I was using a 4 ft wingless to which I did add one wing after we got started on it although I’m not sure if it really mattered to him. Initially I was using an udder tugger with food stuffed in it placed on the ground and something I didn’t have to time a remote button for reward and could toss if needed without him running off with it. But you will see he didn’t get it until I tossed his favorite toy…which he ran off with for over a minute. So I only did one more rep after that and let him run with the toy again. I think I use my verbal late (and I know from years in the past it was a thing I did and couldn’t seem to time it well enough). So today I tried a couple reps of saying nothing and I think it might have gone better with my silence? Better to be silent than give a late verbal?Well, that’s what we got for now! Thanks!
Sandy and Benni
Hi Tracy,
Here are a couple of videos we did today. Revisiting things from before:Video 1:
Set Point new height of 10″, spread distance of 4.5′
I squatted down on the first rep like you had suggested to help him keep his head low but I think it confused him and he ducked under the spider. Then I played around the next 2 reps on my position to avoid that happening again. Let me know if I should repeat this and how much of it to do prior to starting to do sequencing at this height…or does he look fine and I don’t need to repeat this exercise until we bump up to 12″ eventually?Video 2:
Ladder grid backchain jumps 2-5 and then completing jumps 1-5 @ 4.5′ spread.
I’m still in the process of getting photos off my phone and filed…a huge project before I factory reset my phone. I did try the tunnel decel game and he was getting it but I did not record it yet. Just to clarify, what is acceptable performance on this… if the dog passes me but then stops himself and comes back is that not showing understanding? Is the dog supposed to just come right to me as I either stand still or move and then decel/stop? There is no verbal cue associated with this right?
Haven’t dived into the rear cross yet. I started teaching it a different way but haven’t worked on it much so I’ll try it as you have instructed. I have always used the word “switch” for my rear crosses meaning change lead and take the next obstacle you see versus “turn” for the dog to turn away from me on the flat and then look for the obstacle. Is “switch ” okay to use for the rear cross?
Thanks.
Sandy and Benni
PS thanks for the response on my extreme connection exercise…i know it was past the 48 hour mark. I appreciate it. 🙂Hi Tracy,
Here are 4 videos. Two of them are revisiting the turn criteria…aside from my bad toy throwing on the go, I don’t think he is quite getting this challenge even on just the turns on the wing and I’m not sure if you think this but it seems like he does a bit better turning right? Anyway, please let me know what to do to improve his understanding. I have about 4 – 4.5 ft distance between the wings and the second jump.
As for the toy race and decel work, I used the manners minder to start out with rather than a toy. He will gladly self reward if he gets the toy on an incorrect performance and run off having a good old time. So I didn’t feel that was going to help me train him on the concept too well. Maybe progress to a toy later. I hope that’s okay.
Video 1 wing wraps:
Video 2 wraps and go:
Video 3 toy races and adding decel standing still:
Video 4 decel adding motion (not sure my mechanics were right on this):
Hi Tracy,
After watching Benni yesterday on the course work jumping 8″, do you think I could begin to raise the bars to 10″? Should I do set point first at 10″ and how much of that should I do if that’s the case?
Here are some videos:
1) Progressing on the backchaining of the ladder grid using 4 1/2 ft spacing for jumps 3-4-5.
2) Turn criteria wing wrap (4 ft between wings and the jump):
3) Turn criteria wrap vs GO:
“GO” did not “go” so well which surprised me…LOL… and I was too close to the wings or shoudn’t I have been running forward?
4) Threadle just a couple of reps and I forgot about looking down at my hand….I thought he was going to go straight to the toy. Haven’t trained this yet with him. I’m thinking “in – in”…is that the right way to use that verbal?
I’m thinking that the next exercise on deceleration is going to be a challenge with his party of one episodes…it may take me forever!
Thanks.
Sandy and BenniHi Tracy,
My phone was cutting my videos short today which was really annoying. I’ve been deleting videos as I go to avoid storage overload so I guess I better delete more things. And then it started raining…I wasn’t up for starting anything new today on the threadles so we worked on the ladder grid as you sugggested at 4 ft distance….he over shot the 4th jump a few times. I was lazy and didn’t drag out all 5 of the homemade ladder jumps, therefore jump 1 and 5 are “different” in appearance (which didn’t seem to bother him when I did the 5 ft distances) so I moved the blue jump to the 4th jump position, I also tried putting a wing by jump 5, and tried putting a toy in the space between 4 and 5. I also wasn’t sure about rewarding these reps where he was incorrect. I think I rewarded it the first time for his effort but not after that…let me know about that.
So maybe I should try 4 1/2 ft? And should I make all the jumps the same type?
Here is round 1 and 2 (rd 2 got cut off for the last rep by my phone):
Here, I put the blue jump as jump 4 instead of jump 5. I’m trying to remember what got cut off on this, but I think he went back to overshooting the 4th jump…he choked on food the last rep.Next video is mini pinny with slightly opened middle wing jump:
the second round of going “right” got cut off so you can’t see if his rhythm got any better. I don’t know if you were expecting him to bounce this or not.In case you didn’t see my message in Google classroom for boot camp 2, please let me know if the test assignment for submitting a video worked. I submitted a random video, not training related.
Thanks.
Sandy and BenniHi Tracy,
Here is our tunnel-GO video:
1 jump:
2 jump:
hope you don’t mind skipping thru the tug part (it’s not too long anyway)Next is our ladder grid with jump spacing of 5 feet and height 6″:
Next is our review on step back wrap and FC/BC:
LOL…one of these days I’m going to get my act together on this exercise. I think I need a toy in each hand because having it in just the one hand messes me up when I try to figure out which hand need it to be in when doing the blind and I get confused…as i’m sure you can see! And by the time, I get a rhythm or remember I’m supposed to be doing counter-motion, he’s already done like 3 wraps and I don’t want to make it more repetitive for my sake. Hopefully, it becomes easier and easier for me over time. I think I might do better on a course where I only have to do one in context of the course and not one after another after another. We’ll see…
Anyway, no matter what we have fun 🙂
Thanks.
Sandy and BenniHI Tracy,
The distance between jumps was 3 ft 9 inches which is also what I do with the set point. Is 4 ft what you want me to try? Or even more than that? I see you have listed medium dogs about 5 feet.
Thanks.
SandyHi Tracy,
Are you crossed eyed from all the computer stuff with the online seminar?!
I set up the ladder grid. I didn’t realize you had responded on the height so I used the jumps I made which are 6″ I believe. Anyway, we did 3 jumps, then 4, then 5 with me on the right side and then the left side for each one. I forgot to move the manners minder further out when I added the 4th jump so he may not look good on the exit? And for 5 jumps, I think the 2nd rep looked like he got a little ahead of himself by jump 5 so I did a bit of remedial work in the way I have done in the past by placing a toy between jump 4 and 5 and then did one more rep without the toy…seemed like that helped him but see what you think. He has done these jumps before at 6″ prior to this course. But if you think 4″ is better for him then I can put out my regular jumps in the future.
I had made notes from past homework to work on but after having done the boot camp, I left it at this for now and will resume after a day of rest.
Thanks.
Sandy and BenniHi Tracy,
Apparently, we have aggressive hawks in NJ. A friend told me a hawk swooped at her papillion and the BCs chased it away. And there were a few more stories when I asked on my FB page about it. Yikes. Benni is about 14″ tall and weighs 12.5 lbs. And he’s white which someone said draws more attention. I looked all around today before I took him out. I didn’t see any hawks today but that doesn’t mean they aren’t perched someplace watching for an opportunity. Crazy thing is I’ve had toy poodles the whole time I’ve lived here and never gave it a thought….coyotes yes but not birds!I’m leaning towards signing up for boot camp auditing. But if I see the weather will turn out okay, could I upgrade Sunday morning or that’s too confusing for you?
Question on the ladder jump exercise….do all the jumps need wings? I have simple 6″ fixed jumps that I made for when I took the Salo course with CAVU. I used those for the jump grid exercises at that time. I’m assuming they will work or I can just use my regular jumps set at 4″ or 6″ whichever you prefer. I actually have done a bit of this with him before so should I just start with 4 or 5 jumps are still start with 3 then 4 then 5?
LOL…first I did the FC/BC too fast, now I don’t do the BC soon enough. I’m gonna get that right one of these days! He sure does love when I run away from him so he can catch up!
Let me know about the Boot Camp and I will sign up tomorrow.
Thanks.
SandyHi Tracy,
I sent you an e-mail regarding the boot camp. Not sure if you received it…sent it to your regular e-mail address. Are both 1 and 2 appropriate for Benni? Supposed to rain on Sunday and I do not have access to internet outdoors where I train. I have 4G…just not sure about the logistics for me to take a working spot. I put more detail in my e-mail.Also, I looked up this evening and saw a huge hawk sitting at the top of a tree in our yard. Fortunately Benni was inside and had trained earlier. CAVU was practicing recalls. Freaked me out…now I’m afraid about training Benni outdoors… and for sure I don’t want him taking off on a run with his toy. I’m hoping as long as I am right with him during training they would stay away…what do you think? My only other option is very limiting on space in my basement. People have sent me links for coyote wear with spikes but not very conducive to training in that.
So here are a few videos:
1. Revisiting bend work on the tight mini pinny since you said the spread mini pinny he was not really bending. You can see one rep here where he doesn’t bend on the 3rd jump of the pinny.
2. Revisiting part 2 Rocking Horse (FC/BC) – see if I do it any better?
3. Part 3 Rocking Horse step back – towards the end of the video you will see me get my feet out of whack and step back on the wrong foot but I just need more practice getting that better. I thought he did really well on his part. I see I got a little carried away on the reps without reward…my bad. Throwing toys would be great but like I said…can’t risk having him run off having a party of 1 with those hawks around. I could throw a food tube or lotus ball but he’s not thrilled with either one of those.
4. Serpentine foundation:
The first rep, I forgot to stand still…
Supposed to get rain the next 3 days so I wanted to do a little of each thing and let that process the next couple of days. At least the serpentine stuff I could do in my basement as it doesn’t need much space.
Thanks.
Sandy and BenniHi Tracy,
Did a little building on part 1 rocking horse, trying to get some counter-motion going and also to get my own brain warmed up to try the FC/BC thing…for some reason that messes with my brain on the mechanics. I forgot to use wings and used cones and they are set about 20 ft apart so I can get more steps in on the motion part. The neighbor picked this time to come out with his barking shelties…I guess it’s good distraction training. Here is the video:
Thanks.
Sandy and BenniHI Tracy,
Thank you for answering all my questions regarding training. As you know, that is NOT the typical way agility people do things (most drill daily or multiple times a day) but I want to do right by my dog…had enough issues with the other one in the house!How often do you do set point or is that something that once the dog shows understanding you don’t need to to it anymore?
For the video on set point where you want his head lower – I was out of the video frame standing stationary and facing forward looking back at him. Manners minder was much further out per previous instruction. I will try it with me kneeling down and send another video to see if that looks better to you. On a side note, how do you teach weaves for dogs built upright to encourage head low? Someone told me they wouldn’t do 2 x 2s for that reason…I’ve never done 2 x 2 method but the instructor I have now for pre-novice uses them. Just curious.
For wing wrap to “GO”, I was saying “go” the whole time…LOL…can’t get those darn verbals right. So next time I try it, I will say “tight” and then “go”.
Ah lumping…yes I tend to try to do the whole assignment so I can get feedback and then repeat the training with the suggestions for improvement. So I will go back to the tight mini pinny in a day or two.
I think that covered everything for now. Thank you! Stay well!
Sandy and Benni
Hi Tracy,
Beautiful weather so we took it back outside today to give the extension exercise another try with more space. I kept it very minimal reps because I wanted to focus on the mini pinny exercises. I also submit here 2 reps of the set point as you said it was okay to raise the oxer jump bars to 6″ and 8″. The spread is a bit more than 6 inches because the feet on my jumps would overlap in that small spacing but he has no trouble with it. On the “GO” exercise my camera placement didn’t show our start position for one direction where dog is on left…but hopefully you can tell something about how it went anyway…
So here are those 3 videos to see if there are improvements. I did what you said on the extension exercise and said go,go,go instead of “ready”.
1. set point – 2 reps
2. “GO” slice jump 3 reps (thought I did 2 + 2 but nope)
3. “GO” straight approach with cone wrap start ( 1 each direction)
I did the set point at the end of our entire training session. What is your theory on bend work? Should we always do something like set point or straight line work to rebalance the dog afterward?
Also, is the distance you set the dog up for set point work the same distance you should set the dog up at the start line for consistency?Next up is the tight and open mini pinny. This was interesting. I’m eager to hear your observations and any correction or progression. I measured from the center of one bar to center of the next bar in the pinwheel at 3′ 9″ which is his set point distance also to get one stride. It was just something I tried but let me know if you want something different for him. I thought this exercise was very cool and lots of fun!
1. tight mini pinny – first rep was wacky but then he figured it out
2. open mini pinny – I flubbed one toy toss placement but were the others on the correct line?
As we add more and more games, do you suggest we have some sort of schedule of games to combine the new with the older ones or just focus on the games for each week to strengthen that particular skill set for the week. I’m thinking about what you said on repetition so we wouldn’t be doing the bend work every day right? Then separating those days with other types of games might be a good plan?
This course is super fun! Thanks.
Sandy and Benni
