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Good morning!
>He is very good at communicating.>
This is true, he is always very clear with his opinions and I love it LOL!!
>He got to do tunnel running beforehand. Today’s version of tunnel running I thought might be a little bit too hard but he said it was perfectly fine.>
He did great on relatively complex challenges! He is really locking into staying on his line which is one of the biggest course design trends lately: stay on your line, even at a big distance. It was fun to see him find those lines!! Good boy!
He also did a greta job with the accordion grid – he was holding the stay beautifully and that helped you be able to use the moving target. As he gets more experienced with this context of stay, you can lead out further and move faster too. I am happy with his jumping decisions here:
He was a little ‘upwards’ in his movement on the first release to get to jump 1, but then he adjusted and pushed forward rather than lifting up (hope that makes sense, there is not a lot of coffee on board yet haha). His striding between 2 and 3 was also really good, as jump 3 moved out and back in. Yay!As you continue to show this to him, you can have jump 3 start further away, so it ends up even further on the 3rd rep. If it begins at 5 feet from jump 2, the next session can have jump 3 start at 8 feet away, so the biggest distance is 14 feet (or 15 feet if you like that distance better :)) Then you can keep playing with showing him bigger and bigger distances so he gets experience with all sorts of distances!
Great job here 🙂
Tracy
Good morning!
Nice job with the lateral lead outs! And yes, thank you Kathy for keeping you on track with leading out to the side before moving forward to set the line 🙂 All she had to say was “sideways” and it was cracking me up LOL
The wing and jump set up went really well, and so did the 2 jump set up. Leading out next to another jump is a big visual draw for the dogs, so it is not unusual that she will want to come directly to you. Yes, moving sideways then leading out straight will help! And you got your toy throws in early, which also helped a lot. It was easier when you were on the landing side.
But most of her questions were because she was looking at you, so we will get her looking at the jump before the release which will increase the success of finding that jump. Ember has the same homework 🙂
The way to get her looking at the jump is to have her in the stay, and put a reward target (toy or food bowl or lotus ball) on the landing side of jump 1, tucked in where the wing and bar meet. When you lead out, slowly raise your hand (so she doesn’t think it is a release) and point to the jump.
When she looks at the jump/reward target, even if it is an eyeball flick, release her. As she gets better and better at looking at the jump/reward on cue, you can start to fade it out by tucking it more and more behind the wing, so she can’t really see it (but trusts that it is there) and still looks at the jump. Then when she is good at that, you can fade the reward target out entirely but still cue her to look at the jump, then throw the reward when she takes the jump.
Looking at the accordion: She is reading the distances well, but you will also have the same homework as Ember on these: moving target time 🙂 so you can get her powering off her rear and not driving from her front.
>The initial jumps were 5’ apart. Does that look ok or do you think it should be bigger?>
I think the distances are good for now, but we might change that to 6 feet when you add the moving target. By using a stationary target, she is working to slow down on jump 3 rather than power through it, so she is shifting forward to her front end. At :57 and 2:53 she added a little chip stride to be able to slow down (she will be able to bounce that distance). The other distances have better striding but she was thinking about stopping at the target, even with you in motion. Those were the correct jumping decisions so now we can ask for different ones 🙂
So, for the next session: use a toy or lotus ball that is on a line so it can drag on the ground as you move. Her stay looks great so you can lead out to where the reward was here, put the reward on the ground then start to drag it as you move forward after the release. I bet we see more hind end and power!
Great job here!
Tracy
Good morning! You had two really good threadle wraps (coming towards the camera) and a few that caused him to go to the other side of the wing (moving away from the camera).
The difference was in how you cued them: on a threadle wrap, we humans have to turn to move parallel to the line the dog needs to take to get to the threadle side of the wing. This is a subtle adjustment in line which generally needs us to pull away from the wing (or jump). And while we are setting the line like that, we also decelerate which cues the collection – and we continue those cues until the dog locks on and turns to the correct side of the wing (or jump).
So on the threadles that went great (:05 and :32) – you turned to be parallel to the line you wanted him to take and decelerated, showing the hand cues and using the verbal. Nailed it! He didn’t find the tunnel on that first rep but no worries that will be easy soon 🙂
Compare to the 2nd threadle wrap at :19 – he went to the other side of the wing here because you turned towards the wing and used your outside arm to show the wing, so he read it is a rotated send/throw back.
At :50, you converged towards the wing and accelerated, so he read it as a normal wrap there too.
You almost had it at 1:11 where you did turn to move parallel to the threadle line! But before he could get past you, you accelerated and converged towards the wing, which pushed him back to the regular wrap side.
So turning to move parallel to the line he needs to take (and not moving towards the wing) and decelerating more will get the nice threadle wraps on the left turns there too 🙂
I think there was one other spot where he did something you didn’t intend but you kept going beautifully: He was a good boy at :45 and 1:04 to go straight after the tunnel. You said the ‘right’ verbal after he exited and you were facing straight, so he thought it was ‘go to the wing ahead then turn right’. Good job continuing! So if you didn’t want the straight-ahead wing, remember to cue your right verbal before he enters and let him see your turn your shoulders. If you wanted him to go straight, you can use your go cue and then continue the right verbal and handling when he exits the tunnel like he did here.
Great job here!!
Tracy
Good morning!
The lateral leadouts are going really well! The first session with the wing and jump was pretty perfect 🙂 The possibly second session was a little harder, because the jump next to you was ore of a visual draw for her – but she figured it out really quickly 🙂 The stays are looking strong and she found that first jump really well. Super!
The only suggestion is that we can get her to look at the first jump more, so she doesn’t take a step towards you (especially as you add more and more distance). You can do that by placing the toy on the ground near where she would land on the way to you. Then led out, slowly lift your arm so she doesn’t think it is a release: then when she looks at the toy, release her to the jump (and to the toy). That will get her looking at the jump on cue, then it is easy to fade the toy out by tucking it behind the wing so it is harder to see and she looks at the bar.
Looking at the accordion: She was reading the distances here but also jumping looking at you – the reward was far away but you were stopped before it, so she was not sure if she should go to the you or the reward. You were moving towards it on the 3rd nd after that, but the stationary reward causes her to shorten up on the 3rd jump so she is using her front end more than her rear. Easy fix! Use a moving target reward 🙂 You can lead out to where the reward was in this video, and use a toy on a line or a lotus ball on a line that os long enough to be on the ground while you are holding the other end and standing up. Then as you release her, start moving forward/dragging the reward. This will help her use her rear and look down to the target, really powering through the jumping.
Nice work here!!!!
Tracy
Hi!
He was very good about going to get the toy AND bringing it back every single time. Most puppies his age might go get the toy but they don’t bring it back like he did LOL! 😂😝🤣
Since he is happy to get it and bring it, there are a couple of ways we can get more exuberance 🙂 I think the smaller space with you facing him was getting him to be a bit calmer about it. So you can add more excitement: in a bigger space with grippy footing – hold his collar. Then toss the toy. When it lands let him go get it… and when he has it in his mouth, you can start moving the other direction, encouraging him to bring it back. When he gets to you, you can play a bit of tug then hold him and throw a 2nd toy in the other direction. The retrieve might not be as perfect as it was here, but we can balance that with the excitement of the moving toy.
I recommend holding him until the toy lands so he doesn’t chase a moving toy and accidentally twist himself or splay.
He definitely liked the ball a whole lot! He was fired up for it! This is good to know – we need to be careful when using balls so that he doesn’t splat or splay himself trying to get it and hurt himself. You can hold him before a ball throw as well – it makes it safer to let the ball land and stop moving. The pups tend to jam their bodies when the ball is moving unpredictably so I always let the ball stop moving before sending the dog.
I also like to put a tennis ball inside a hollee roller toy – I cut one of the plastic lines on the hollee roller and shove a ball through the gap 🙂 That makes it easier to throw, it won’t bounce as unpredictably, and it is much easier for the pup to scoop up. I bet he will lov that too 🙂
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
Tracy
Hi! Sounds like a great weekend with Kamal! I bet Rusty had a ton of fun. How did Folger do?
Rusty thought the Manners Minder was a gift from the dog training gods LOL!! He seemed almost shocked in a happy way that some random robot would dispense easy cookies LOL!!
And he did well going through the box and over the mat to the manners minder.
Now that that has been established, we can do 2 things with this behavior:
– Isolate the criteria and only click the MM for his back feet hitting it (rather than front feet). The easiest way to do that is to stare at the mat as he moves and not at him 🙂 I literally count 1-2-3-4 for each footfall, and click when I get to 4. If I don’t get to 4, I don’t click 🙂
– Take out your motion! That will make it really independent 🙂 So for this game, you have 2 options:
* you can stand on the opposite side of the Manners Minder and just send him without you moving. When he drives ahead to the mat, click the MM when you see foot #4 hit it. Then call him back to you and reward when he comes back over the mat.
* Another option is to pull up a chair and sit a few feet away from the mat: toss a cookie to one side, then let him offer going across the mat (and reward from the manners minder).>Should I be using a yoga mat rather than the rug square and doormat.>
Anything that has good grip will work well! As he gets older and more into the training of this skill, we will be attaching it to something a little taller, so the mat is elevated.
Great job here!
Tracy
Good morning!
The tunnel running looks SO FUN!!! You can add it in between the more cerebral work of the forward focus, so he can let loose in the middle too 🙂He did really well looking forward! I am glad you started moving the reward target to more of a turn line – having it out straight was encouraging extension when the physical position was a strong turn cue. That is what his feedback was about at 1:02 😂 He was like “why do you want me to jump in extension when clearly you are showing a turn cue?” Having the reward target on a turn line made more sense to him.
You can keep tucking it in more and more behind the wing (where the wing and jump meet) to begin fading it out. Since the bar is really low, it can be relatively close to- making it less visible so he will look at the bar more without needing the target.
As the behavior grows, you can start to delay the release and add in some quiet praise before the release. That way he won’t anticipate the release (like at 1:41) by releasing as soon as he looks forward. He might hold the forward focus when you delay and praise, or might flick his eyes back and forth: both are perfectly fine 🙂 You can add a forward focus cue as well when you raise your arm: that can help cue the forward focus and it is also a secondary ‘stay’ cue for a lot of dogs 🙂
Great job here!
Tracy
Good morning!
It was hard to see her cute face for the beginning ad towards the end (she was hidden behind the wing :)) but it looks like you made really good progress getting the forward focus! You can keep adding in your lateral distance, as well as moving the reward target further and further off the line – ideally, it gets tucked in behind the wing on the landing side where the wing and bar meet, so she can’t really see it 🙂 Then we fade it out entirely 🙂
When you put your hand up to indicate the jump and she looks at it – add in some quiet praise now and even a reward tossed back to her here and there, so she doesn’t anticipate the release from the stay. She was leaning forward at the end and we don’t want to lose the lovely stay 🙂 You can also add a forward focus cue when you raise your hand if you like, but plenty of people don’t use a verbal and that is fine too 🙂
Looking at the accordion grid:
>Is she started to close? She looks odd.>
She was not too close – what you were seeing was that she was adding a stride in between jumps 1 and 2 (instead of bouncing) on all the reps except rep 3. That could happen for one of 3 reasons (or a combo):
– If you were facing her when you released her, she might be shortening up because facing her cues collection (you were not visible so it was hard to see). Let me know if you were turned away and dragging the reward.– The distance might be too big. I scrolled back to her ladder grid and the initial distance was too big, but when you shortened it at :28, she was able to bounce. The session is here:
Was the distance used in the accordion a 5 foot distance, or a smaller one like the ladder grid (looks like 4 feet?)
– she might be sore in her shoulders, and jumping short because of it. A young Border Collie coming out of a winter with lots of snow & ice could very well have banged herself around 🙂 so if there is a massage therapist or sports vet you can get in with, have them give her a massage to look for trigger points and see if that helps her feel more comfy to power through.
The reading of the distances here went great, so we can focus on sorting out why she wants to be a little short in her striding in that first distance.
The backsides went really well! You were connecting brilliant so she was getting super independent on the finding the backside. That allowed you to get further across the bar which helped her commitment to taking the bar when she got to the backside. SUPER!!!! Great job with your reward placement! The tunnel was not a distraction at all.
Since she was so good about getting to the backside independently, you can keep working your way across the bar so you can easily slide past the exit wing – that brings the countermotion exit into play so you can build up to those fancy independent backside moves like the German turn.
Great job here!
TracyGood morning!
Skizzle gets a gold star for working so well with kids on a trampoline in the background and another dog expressing displeasure about that LOL!! I noticed it immediately and was distracted (had to restart the video twice 😂) so I am sure Skizzle was aware of it! He worked brilliantly!
>I do have sincere thanks to the neighbor kids on the trampoline and the neighbor dogs barking – to help with environmental distractions.>
Right – he was not distracted. The only ones distracted by it were me and the other dog LOL!!!
He is paying close attention to your line of motion as well as your connection. When you were connected and moving up the line, he went to the backside every time. Super!!! When you disconnected to look forward (like at :25), he saw the turn of the shoulders and it looked just like a blind cross – that is why he tried to change sides there. Good boy! You reconnected so he then adjusted to get to the backside.
The weird thing about backsides is that you don’t need your arm much at all – connection is more important because it turns your shoulders to the backside line, and an arm showing the line ahead will potentially turn your shoulders away from it. So the further away you get from the entry wing, the less arm you need and the bigger connection you will need. Counterintuitive for sure! But works really well 🙂
So you can keep adding a bit more lateral distance, so he learns to stay on his line even when you are not right at the entry wing. You can also put a wing on the entry wing (or both wings) – that helps him find the backside and also, I believe the rules on all backside jumps in all organizations that have them require wings on the jumps.
>If my notes are right, I think tomorrow or Wednesday is the last day to post…this likely will be my last one. Thanks for another great course! I don’t feel like we’re ready for the MaxPup3, but plan to sign up anyways to have the progression for next steps available.>
Yes, today is the last day for videos. He has come a long way in a short time in terms of finding lines and commitment, as well as focus with distractions!!!! The MaxPup games build off of these, so I bet he will be able to do lots of good work on those too 🙂
Great job!!!!
Tracy
Good morning!
Bummer about the tree 🙁
Lateral lead out session:
You had good stay rewards throughout, after the broken stay at the beginning and on the first rep when you were on the other side of the wing! He might think the release is hand movement, so be careful to separate the two things (more on that below).
He found the jump really well and turned beautifully on the jump. When you get to the other side of the wing, you can still use your dog-side arm to indicate the jump. The opposite arm might pull him through the gap if the distance is big.
He is staring at you the whole time (one little eye flick at the jump though, which I liked!), so we can also get him to look at the jump more. You can put a toy down on the landing side of the jump, kind of tucked in where the bump and wing meet. He should kind of be able to see it 🙂
Then when you get to the lead out position, slowly bring your arm up and point to the jump – but watch his eyes the whole time. When he looks at the toy/jump, release! When he looks at it reliably after you raise your arm, you can start to praise before the release (so he doesn’t think of self-releasing when he looks at it). Then we can fade the toy by hiding it more and more behind the wing so he is looking at the jump bar 🙂
The 2 videos here were the same – let me know if there was supposed to be a different one. Great job here!!
Tracy
Good morning! Lots of good work here!!
Looking at the turn away videos:
The successful reps on the lap turns were when you let her get almost all the way to your hand, then stepped straight back and drew your hand straight back before turning her away… and she found the wing on her own, you didn’t have to indicate it.
At :35 & :45, & 1:18 you started a little early and indicated the wing while stepping back by moving our hand towards it, so she (correctly) went to the other side like.
You can still reward her on those handler error moments – she was reading your cues correctly 🙂
Tandem turns went really well – you made your opposite arm really obvious so he knew to come to the inside of the wing, then you turned her away really well.
She was really fired up during the smiley face game 🙂 She didn’t know what you wanted when you were near the wing so offered wing-to-tunnel (like in the other games) but did much better when you started moving! When you turned your shoulders to the correct line and kept moving, she was great about finding the correct end of the tunnel. The reps at 1:19 and especially 1:27 & 1:38 had really great handling lines!!
She had a couple of questions about getting directly into the tunnel on those – be sure to move slowly for now and don’t say ‘yes!’ because that will draw her focus to you. You can also put the lotus ball right inside the tunnel entry for a few reps, to give her something to lock onto.
Backsides:
Great job with the parallel line to get her to the backside! Those reps looked lovely. You can keep moving along that parallel line as you get further and further away laterally (aiming to have a path that takes you to the center of the bar).The countermotion is off to a good start too – on the first rep, she was not sure because she needed you to look back at the landing spot as you moved forward so you stayed on the landing side for the other reps. She got it easily with you on the landing side – so now you can start releasing after you have passed the wing and you are on the takeoff side. When you do that, look back to the landing spot behind you and point to it (and of course throw the toy to it too :))
Great job!
Tracy
Wow, she found a new gear of speed here! So fun!!! And she was still able to thoughtfully respond to cues. Yay!
> The first run I think I cut out too fast on the right wing so she cut through but we managed to keep going.>
Yes, that was at :06 – there was a little disconnect when you turned your shoulder, which pulled her off the line. Compare that to :29 and :43, for example when your connection was perfect and you line was parallel to hers, so she found the line with no questions.
>On the opposite side she had trouble finding the tunnel after doing the right wing but I think it was because I was going too fast to the tunnel?>
I think she was surprised that she had to collect to get into it 🙂 Up until then, it had been pretty easy to get into the tunnels! But this had more speed and she didn’t collect til she was past it (1:11). Oops!! You helped her with decel on the next rep and she found it nicely. As she gets more experienced, you can fade out the little bit of decel help.
The rest looked awesome! You had lovely connection as you drove her around the wings. I am really excited about how well she was reading those tandem turns!!!! You had to work hard to get her to the wing after it (lots of connection and acceleration) but she only had one question which you fixed on the next rep.
Great job here! It is super fun to see her getting to open up and go fast, while still responding to the cues. Yay!!!
Tracy
Hi!
Heck yeah, he did seem to love it! And I get to see his real speed (everything has been pretty controlled til now :)) And excellent job to you for running hard AND staying connected. That is not easy and you were lovely!On the first video:
The sequences looked fabulous – finding the wings and the tandem turn after the straight line all looked great! He didn’t quite get into the tunnel at the end of the first one because I think he was surprised by how much collection was needed. He got the tunnel entries on all the other reps, including the tunnel threadle! A little more decel as you headed to the wing before the tunnel threadle will tighten that line up a bit too.One little blooper at 1:44 where he didn’t come in for the tandem turn but I don’t think he could see the arm as well as previous reps (like at :54) and he might have felt some convergence towards the wing which pushed him to the other side of it. You were much more obvious at 1:52 and he nailed it.
On the 2nd video, I LOVE how he drove ahead to the wing (:05 and :38, and 1:09 on the other side ) so you could peel away to be able to beautifully execute the tandem turn on the other side of the tunnel. He is really fantastic about looking forward for his line, and not requiring you to stay ahead of him. There was some serious obstacle independence happening here!! Super!!!
One little blooper at :20 when he didn’t find the wing: it looks like you were across the line/blocking the wing, so he didn’t see it. You were definitely not blocking it at :53 and he found it perfectly.
Overall, adding the big distances really showed us that he is understanding his lines and is confidently driving to them. This is very exciting!!! Great job!
Tracy
Hi!
Congrats on her Star Puppy title!!! And it is great that you are taking her to a CU class – those are valuable games!We actually didn’t get any storms here – a couple of downpours but nothing else. I am relieved but also laughing because everything shut down and it turned out to be a nice day LOL!
T
Hi!
Very nice job setting up the backing up session: you got him doing multiple steps backwards – and they were good steps!! He was definitely getting it: He wasn’t flinging himself backwards – he was properly stepping. Super! You were getting more steps on the reps where you tossed the reward cookie between his feet so he had to back up more to get the treats. Delivering the treat in front of him tended to make him stop, so the tossing was definitely better even if he had couldn’t immediately find it 🙂
To get him to play at the end, try moving the toy away from him so he can chase it. When it was stationary in front of him, he was totally in treat mode 🙂 But if you swing it away for him to chase, or even toss it, I bet he gets right into toy mode. You can see it at the end of the 2nd video where he gets right on the toy as you move it away from him.
He definitely loves to look at you on the prop games! He is able to hit the prop AND look at you. Easy fix – we can change the reward placement 🙂
He was definitely going to the prop and hitting it really well with his front feet when you sent from your right side. The left side was a little harder at first because he might have more value for walking with you on your left side? But you were patient and he got it!To get him looking at you and your hand less, try this:
For the send hand, try a closed fist and a pointing finger, so he does not think the open hand means hand touch.
We can speed up the cookie delivery and place it so he doesn’t look back: before you send to the prop, have the cookie ready in your other hand (no clicker needed). As soon as he is heading to the prop and even before he touches it, you can say ‘get it’ and toss the treat to it. That will get him looking forward better, making the sends easier. The ‘get it’ will replace the clicker because it tells him to look ahead for the cookie, while the clicker often gets the pups looking at us. And, throwing the treat early and ahead will get him to look at you and your hands less 🙂
After he gets the treat, you can call him back to you then do the next send rep.
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
Tracy
