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Inverted target – Yay, me too! Plan for that is to get good success then try again with my smaller, original one, right?
Half height DW –
I focused on the left side to see the results. I also tried sending her to the load wing from further away so I could get ahead of the DW. Here is the video of that- https://youtu.be/vuyPc5TwdvA . I think she had 2/13 bad hits here even with my motion so better?
I also played around with her hitting percentage when not using the load wrap method. But I used MM instead of toy to make sure she was thinking. I do think she had a higher percentage of good hits when she was halfway but I am still trying to find her sweet spot. https://youtu.be/NH4lEU82R_IHere is what we did today: https://youtu.be/vDGoycmbwfc
I got a slightly larger inverted target and saw way better improvement…and honestly some great RF hits too. It was just a short training session; wanted to see your thoughts on it. Next, I went back to the pole method for the jump (not just wings this time) at the end of the DW and rotated around the clock for the left side. Saw great results. Which leads me to next session we will try:Next session I will try to find that sweet spot for her: most likely halfway on the DW like you said. Here’s the plan:
1. Two reps with pole loading method to static toy straight ahead. Goal: get her thinking.
2. Put her halfway on DW with toy straight ahead. See her JP hit percentage. If it’s a low percentage, I will try to adjust her on the fly (maybe higher up the DW by a foot or two).
3. Slowly move toy around the clock with her already loaded on DW waiting for my release.
4. I’ll see how this goes (#2-3) and then if well, put her at top of the DW and repeat around the clock.“Half DW to different exits – Yes, I think this was too much. Mostly because you are trying to develop a muscle memory of how you want her to hit and she is not doing that with all these different exits. HOWEVER, I think you could this same exercise starting from the pole wrap and going to all the exits and I think that would be SO GOOD for her. Again, the pole forces her to slow down and think about her job so what a perfect way to really encourage her to think while doing the exits”
^^ Ahhh yes I get the muscle memory part now- not sure why that was a brain stopper for me earlier. My only struggle with this is I have to rotate her around my body to load her up using the pole method so I don’t have enough time to front cross or push for a backside. Does that make sense?zDumb question: Right now I have the mat at the end of the DW where half is on the dog walk and half is on the ground. My goal for this was to not have a sharp edge of the dog walk. However, is this going to mess up her muscle memory? Do you need a picture or can you tell what I am talking about from my videos?
As always THANK YOU!!
Ok I might be crazy but watch this DW video instead of the last: https://youtu.be/VUgI_gc2xzk
I added some more complicated things to the end of the DW and want your opinion on if I need to slow down or if it looks good.Haha you are too nice. We have our moments. But when we mess up on the dog walk 3 times in a row, I want to bang my head against the wall and be like whyyyy am I doing this!!!
DW: Luckily, this week has gone fairly well. When I load her on the DW with the jump, she rarely misses anymore. I did some static toy at the end of the DW and it went great! Here is the video: https://youtu.be/ZZGHxuurCec. I think next on our list is to go back to the wing at the end of the DW and quietly start my commands for her wrapping the wings.
Inverted Target: Geez this is so hard for us. I’m concerned about her not hitting perfectly every time, and I have even taken out my motion. Do you think I should do some more with elevated target to MM with my motion, or would that be too much for her right now considering she isn’t perfect with the inverted target? https://youtu.be/1iqYImCfm4M
I LOVE that idea about having the elevated/inverted target curves from the beginning of the session. I will try that! Great observation! It will definitely help her start thinking at the beginning. Haha and your previous post is exactly how Mercy is: fast as lightening and want to goooo but I’ve drilled a lot of thinking into her. I like the thoughtful dogs who gain speed later and rarely miss, so I’ve been trying to do that with her too since she was a pup. But she isn’t as sensitive/soft as Cassie which is nice too. She definitely doesn’t shut down! Wahoo!
Yes, she drives well to static toy. I can try adding the toy in place of the wing at the end of the dog walk and see how that goes. She is pretty good about only getting the toy when I say “get” (knock on wood lol). After I do some of the static toy with end of DW, I’ll add her wrap commands to the wings at the end. I’ll see how both sessions go!
PS, I did the left side around the clock with the wing yesterday and it went as smoothly as the right side. We got to 90 degrees- same as right side.
Elevated Target- Worked today on right turns off the elevated target. I switched to this grippy exercise mat that is shorter in length than my previous elevated target (Cato board).
Inverted target- My box is finally ready and wow this is very hard for her. And not going to lie, also hard on me trying to see which feet she got in the box. It really takes a trained eye for this.
Video of target on ground: https://youtu.be/OWRRjveQR4o
Half DW- We worked the right side of the DW today (she was tired so didn’t have the chance to go to left side). We even got to 90 degree turn off the DW and I am impressed. Her best hits are when I load her up (properly) using the pole method. If she walk up the DW halfway and turns around, she typically does not hit how I want her to. Must be the momentum or what, but I think I will stick with the proper pole method and discourage her from walking up the DW just to miss the target (and frustrate me lol). I haven’t added the wrap command on the DW yet like you mention in your last post. I will go to the left side tomorrow, and if we get as good of results as we did today, then I’ll begin adding her “left” and “right” for the wrapping wing stanchion. https://youtu.be/Pi8pJdG_dwg
Hey again! Okay so lots of training again today because this weekend we will be off to a jumping seminar (Mercy taking off a tiny bit too late) so not much DW going on in the next couple days.
Elevated Target + Inverted Target – We did elevated target and inverted box target. You were right on her being closer to the target with lower speeds in order to get more accuracy especially on the inverted target as that is quite the challenge and on elevated target with harder turns. Also, my box still slides on the grass and it is driving me insaneeee. Hard to do turns off it with it sliding. GRRRR. Then on the elevated target we have been working around the clock with MM. Keep in mind this is still with not much handler motion. I might finish around the world with the MM then introduce my motion slowly end of next week. What a week! I am too tired to put together a little snippet from all the targeting stuff today, here is my last session only, haha, make sure I am on the right path at least: https://youtu.be/fn5yVdVrM5U
Half Height DW: VERY pleased with results from today. Lots of rear feet hits. Of course no speed but she seems to be getting the hang of going around the wing…and this time the right way (haha). Here is that video: https://youtu.be/ukeXTnrr3eM I am assuming to keep this up with around the world for both sides which will lead into next week. How is it looking to you?
– Elevated Target work on around the clock: https://youtu.be/KTcyI_o4cdE
Hey – ekkk sorry about your message! That is so annoying. But this was a good message too 🙂
-Elevated target: I have been doing the indoor elevated target as “warm up” at the start of the day. For the outdoor stuff I am going back to the MM and doing “around the clock” for that. Using the MM so she chills and thinks for now.
–Question 1: How many “good hits” do you strive for before you move the MM to a harder position? My goal is to make this a little bit more organized on my end as I kind of have been all over the map. So get XX number of good hits in a row, move the MM 10 degrees or so more angled.
–Question 2: have you ever put a MM on both ends of the target and dog runs back and forth between them? No clue if that is a thing or I just made it up while I had 2 MM’s outside haha.-Inverted target: glued some cabinet liner to this upside down piece of wood with small wood sides, so that has to wait a day to dry. More on that once it’s ready. I still find she is not as good with the inverted target – my initial thinking was that it was slipping and she doesn’t want to hit it and slide. Not sure if I am overthinking that. Thoughts?
-DW: I started this this afternoon. I’ll post video shortly. My wing is straighter off the DW than yours but so far good results. In parallel to my elevated/inverted target around the clock, I will start this around the clock on the DW with using the wing as a loader to the DW.
–Question: While doing this, I am thinking I should pause the further back dog walk with speed for now? Only focus on concentrated and thoughtful hits on the target on the DW? Meaning, get her on the DW using the wing/jump up method only for the new few days and see how that goes? Not sure if what I said makes sense…Video to come soon so you can see.
Okay rewatching your half height DW with Kirbee after doing Mercy yesterday made me think of some things I’ll try today:
1) Still less handler motion from me.
2) Perhaps I need to be further back – her hits are better with me behind her cause then she plays the chase game.
3) Don’t worry about which side she takes running around the wing…(?)
4) And maybe I need to move my wing closer to the end of the DW so it’s slightly more obvious for her first time.
5) Begin moving location of wing.What do you think?
YAY no rain today!
Here is our target with motion distraction…what a distraction omg.
And here is our half dog walk with wing at the end…challenging…
I feel like she got some great hits…and some not great hits. However, overall I feel our success rate is higher than our not-success rate.
Verbal Brainstorm: I know I should add in my directionals soon (if not now) but I can’t for the life of me figure out what those will be. Currently we have “right” and “left” for wing wrap stanchion. I’m unsure if using those at the end of the dog walk will confuse her so perhaps I need some new words. I was thinking:
Tight turn away: Out (..same as Cassie’s)
Tight turn towards me (probably less common): Tuck
Soft Left: La-la-la (lol, kinda like left)
Soft Right: Row-row (LOL!!!)
Straight: Go onQuote for the day: Running dog walk is a lot of work.
Here is our target distraction video trying to mimic your first video in your last message.
I’ll do your next two once it stops raining 🙁
I am SO glad to have your help and talk through some of this with someone!
I think what you are saying totally makes sense with both the elevated target and the half height DW.
Elevated target- I will begin soft turns with that.
DW- love the tunnel bag idea and I totally think you’re right about me saying run too much and my option being too hard for her right now. ESP with the new height change.
Looking forward to your other videos!
Another quick question- I am struggling on what verbals to say for the dog walk. I already use right and left for wrapping stanchions for jumps (where I want tight collected jumps). Do you have 5 verbals total for the dog walk? 1) straight ahead. 2) soft right 3) soft left 4) hard right 5) hard left. Ekkkkk.
-Fast forward to today: I like the elevated target idea as she doesn’t seem to ever “miss” meaning she doesn’t skip right over it esp with turns. However, with straight speeds, I have noticed she will either get front feet (more common) or back feet (I’ve been JP those). Do I continue to only reward all 4 feet? See video from today’s training: https://youtu.be/X-Qt0Xp-XBU
-Here she is on the dog walk today: https://youtu.be/Kj8Nz5bmEns
I did this a session after she did some of the elevated targets you see in the last video. …Is it possible my mat is too far down? I am trying to soften the edges a bit with it otherwise the dog walk plank is not smooth enough and worried about her toes.#HELP (…lol)
