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Good morning!
The forced fronts are looking good! You have taught her a lovely stay and that makes this much easier 🙂
Your position on the jump was more of the forced threadle (where your belly button was facing the wing more than your behind was) but that is actually fine – we use more of the forced threadles nowadays anyway 🙂 You can switch to the full threadle with your in in cue and using the outside armOn the 2nd side, the line was harder – be sure to set her up on a pretty severe slice over 1 so she goes directly to the hand cue. You did more of that on the last rep and it really helped her!
Speaking of the stay – be sure to put your hand in position and *not* release at the same time. We don’t want her thinking that the hand cue is the release. So you can put your hand in position, praise, then release. She might break the first time or two because she is used to the hand cue and the release happening mostly together, so you can have a laugh, reset her, then reward her for not breaking with you move your hand into position.
Decel video: you got to the decel jump with great timing at the beginning so she had a great turn 🙂 And when you did it on the other side, she also had a great turn – it is VERY nice to see how well she is turning in both directions!
The sends went really well too! I think you were quietly saying your wrap verbals? If so – yay! If not, you can add them, she is ready.
Great job!!!
Tracy
Good morning! These games are looking lovely!
Forced fronts:
Hooray for a great stay – that made this session so much easier. My only suggestion is to remind her to stay as you slowly put your hand in position – then release. The releases were all coming as you moved your hand, which means she will start to think the release is your hand movement.Overall, the session went GREAT! The first side was pretty perfect 🙂 She had a question at 1:48 when you switched sides: she was set up on an angle facing the front of the jump and had to make a severe turn to get to the backside – she didn’t really see the hand cue, she mainly saw the bar. Lining her up on a lice at jump 1 so she is facing the line to your hand will make a big difference. But everything else was terrific!
Decel video:
The first rep of this game always cracks me up – she was definitely not decelerating LOL!! But then the 2nd rep turn was VERY different and she was great. She also did a great job on the other side with a distraction jump out ahead – I think she figured out very quickly that when Da Momma slows down, she needs to turn. You can see that when you added motion too: great job getting to the decel position with perfect timing. She also did well after you did a Go rep!The sends went really well too (click/treat to Donna for reminding you to not use your go verbal :))
On the sends where she went to the jump, you held you send position until she was taking off. When she was a less sure and didn’t take the jump, it was because you stepped back a fraction too early. No worries, she will commit better with more experience so for now, keep your arm and leg pointing forward until she takes off for the jump on the send.
Decel video 2:
First 2 reps were a little wide but you were late getting there. When you sent to the tunnel and got to the wrap jump sooner: perfect! That was at :35 approx – you got there sooner by trusting that she would take the jump after the tunnel based on your motion. Super!Gorgeous sends here too! You held your commitment cue a bit longer, plus she is figuring it out really well. Yo can use your collection verbal but resist temptation to say ‘go’.
Great job on these!!!
Tracy
Good morning! Lots of good work here!
Reverse retrieve:
Working this in an hallway was perfect – it limited his option for running off with the toy while allow you to build in a lot of reinforcement and fun! Super! And when you are ready to the game to bigger locations, you can put the first toy on a long line so he can’t go off to far with it 🙂
Minny pinny:
He is relying on handlign a bit here, so ideally we can get him to do it without you moving. The way to do that is to move all of the wings together so they are touching in the middle. That way the distances are shorter and he can bounce without you moving as much (or moving at all :)) Then you can send him around it with you in the middle: if he is uncertain, you can throw rewards after every jump to get him started, then after every 2 jumps. That will get him zipping around in without needing as much help, which will hen make it easier to add the verbals.Rocking horses:
He is doing great with the bigger distances! Super!!! And you were being patient and clear with the connection, and that made a big difference. If he is going to go really fast, then you don’ need to be fast, you just need to be clear. That is exactly what happened here and it was very successful!Turning away: He did a great job coming to the threadle side – it was harder for him to turn away to his right at first. You were again super patience and clear which really helped. To get him to turn away without first turning towards you, you can put and empty food bowl as a visual target out on the other side of the barrel: when he comes to the threadle hand you can turn him to the bowl and then toss the food in or near it. I think that will help him get the turn away even more smoothly.
Remote reinforcement:
He was very excited to work but also getting very bitey, which means he was a bit overaroused by the setup. So rather than ask for any work like sits or arounds on the cone, you can simplify it to get ride of the bitey behavior: just walk away one step and if he moves with you, use your marker and run back to the treats. Then if he can easily do one step without getting bitey, add two steps. Don’t add anything harder until he can do it without grabbing at hands or clothing – that is his way of saying it was too hard.
O n the last video – I am not sure he knew there was a treat there until about 1:50 but then he did well ignoring it as long as you moved away from it quickly. I think he does like the toy better so you can use a toy reward in these sessions as well, so he gets a great reinforcement for ignoring the food. And eventually he can transfer that to ignoring the toy on the ground 🙂
Great job here!
Tracy
Good morning!
>We did another round of the Shpile game and I wilded him up with a toy and he was much wilder jumping around the pile. I could see him working to control his body when it felt out of control. I messed up the video though>
Bummer about the video but great that you could see him working on controlling his balance and movement! We definitely want to see that.
He was definitely getting the idea of the tight turns around the upright! There were one or two questions early on for the right turns but he sorted that out really quickly – having your hand move slowly really helped him. The left turns were more challenging for him, so keeping your hand low and slow will help get those nice and smooth too. He will probably sleep on it and “know” the left turns perfectly for the next session.
The backside session went great! He found that line every time, no probably (and I am glad Frainke and Bazinga got to play too, even if their verbal was different LOL!!)
He seemed to be waiting for the cookie to drop before coming over the bar when you were not backing up as much or dropping it as early. So when you revisit this, you don’t need to back up (you can add in moving parallel to the bump like it is a serpentine) then throw the cookie back behind you. Use a big exaggerated hand gesture to do this for a few reps (pointing at the landing spot then throwing the treat). After a couple of reps of that, you can use the hand gesture to point at the landing spot, but change the timing of the treat throw: throw it after he goes over the bump. That should help him keep moving.
The threadle wrap game is off to a great start! He picked up the concept of coming to the threadle side really quickly. He had to sort out finishing the wrap in both directions – I think part of it is he had to look up at your hands so you can try to keep your hands as low as possible (without making your back angry from too much bending over) and see if that makes it easier for him to turn his head away. He was getting the idea for sure, so it might not even be needed the next time you do it – he is a strong latent learner!
Great job on these!
Tracy
Good morning!
He did well going back and forth over the mat, he definitely loves it! And was finding the wings really well too – yay!
Going between the wings after the mat added a post turn element, where he continues on the same lead and turns toward you. For the ‘get out’ element where he moves away, the wings would be on the other side of the set up:
The mat would be in the center, and he would be on your left side for example. And the wings would be also on your left side, on the other side of the mat. It is kind of a mat sandwich: you and the wings are the bread, and the mat is in the middle 🙂So he either goes straight over the mat and continues straight – or if you cue the ‘get out’ he goes straight over the mat and then moves away from you to the wings.
Using the set up on the video – in the first part, you had the mat on your left side. In this setup, the ‘get out’ wings would be on the side where the weaves are (like at :42). That way he would turn slightly left to get to them – for the wings here, he turns right to get to them. Let me know what you think!
Tracy
Hi! I agree, this went well!
>here were a couple places where I persisted or re-tried the movement – in the moment. I feel like it’s probably better to continue, reward the dog, and try again >
Yes, I agree here too – keeping things in flow was where you were able to put together the smoothest lines.
His stay is going really well and that makes a big difference! Good job rewarding it on the 1st video as you showed him a new position – things really locked in with the stay on the 2nd video and you got some really long lead outs! Yay!
The forced front crosses on the first video went really well! He did a good job figuring out this new weird cue 🙂 I think there was only one spot he had a question (the throwback) – on the throw back,you can keep your feet rotated to the next line and think of the upper body as doing a backwards send so he commits without you needing to turn towards the jump.
The other thing that will help on both the first video and as you added th sequence in the 2nd video: you can have the toy hidden 🙂 Switching it from hand to hand was drawing his focus to your hands and off the jump, and it was delaying the cues a little. When you used food towards the end of the 2nd video, it was all a lot smoother 🙂
>Question on cues – in the second video, at 0:38 – is there a more specific verbal cue you use to have the dog take the red jump?>
I think you used ‘over’ and that was correct! You can turn your shoulders towards the tunnel entry sooner to get him to take the jump. You did an earlier shoulder turn at 1:17 and he had no questions! Yay! That was part of a bunch of really smooth reps in both directions.
You ended with the blinds on the 1-2-3 line. For the BC at 2:01 – after the blind, he needed to see more connection from your eyes and less arm on the new side.
Compare to the BC on the last rep – really nice long lead out and clear connection! He nailed it.Great job!
TracyGood morning!
Overall this is looking really good – your connection on the exit of the blinds is really strong, so he is getting clear info on where to go. Yay!
And because of the clear connection, you are consistently getting a good turn on 4! His only question on that line was at 1:06 where you were probably just too far ahead and he was a little gassed out.
The BC (1:27) and the FC (1:48) between the jumps at the end also both looked good – it is hard to tell which is the better choice because he is not driving as har as he can yet (more on that below).
His main question was on the commitment to 5 as you were decelerating (like at :11 and later in the session too).Having more motion on your line into it helped but you can also convince him to commit better by throwing the reward: if he takes the jump, fling the reward as far as you can for him to get – he seems to love that 🙂
Dropping the reward or handing it too him seem nice and all, but he really lights up when he gets to run run run for the reward – so you can totally do that on tight turns as well. No worries about him starting to turn wide – he is a nice turning dog so I am sure he will still respond to your turn cues.
>he next course tomorrow after IGP training and then run it closer to dark. But if you think we should stay here and practice more then that is totally fine too. Or if I should break these down and reward in the middle somewhere.>
You can totally go to the next course (week 3 part 2 :)) No need for the week 4 stuff yet (crazy backside stuff) because you can use the week 3 courses to randomize that thrown reward on the line. That will bring a massive surprise factor to the courses and will get more speed 🙂 So you can run closer to the lines (which will make you scramble a bit, which cues acceleration) then randomly fling the reward for him to get. It can be on an easy line, after a blind, on a turn… mix it up so it gets really fun for him to keep driving hard with the hopes that the toy can be flung at any possible moment. And don’t reward from your hand – be sure to throw it far so he can run run run to get it.
Fingers crossed for nice cool weather ahead! Nice job here!
Tracy
This looked great! Yay!
The verbals 2-3 helped and the line looked really good – that allowed you to easily get the blind 3-4, not questions and a lovely turn!
And the sends to the backside jumps looked good, especially at :18 – that allowed you to get outta there for the all-important blind before the tunnel. He could clearly see the new connection and line before he took for there and never considered the off course tunnel. SUPER!!!!
Well done 🙂
Tracy
Hello!
>I thought it is better to ask for your advice instead of torture my dogs further with my bad handling.>
I thought this was overall a good training session on very challenging handling. You were NOT bad! In fact, you were very connected and really supported them with lots of rewards. The skills here were harder and they had to think about it a lot, but they got lots of rewards so I know they were happy 🙂
Sequence 1, push to backside for the German turn. Do you call in a German turn, in Germany?
Sammy had a few questions and needed a little more support to find the line to the backside. You were running towards the exit wing but you can switch that for now and run to the center of the bar for the backside on 4 at :10 & :22 & :35. That will help get smoother commitment to the backside.
For Jazz – he also had a question on the backside about taking the jump after getting to the backside, like at :48 (good reward there!) He seemed to find the backside line more easily but is not sure about jumping the bar as you move forward. Pointing to the landing spot and looking at it as you point will really help as you keep moving through the line there.
Blind to threadle – both dogs knew it was the backside and not the front side on 4, and that means the blind cross was clear. Excellent! What they had questions about was whether the exit was a threadle wrap or a threadle slice.
They thought it might have been a threadle wrap because your feet were facing forward (which is part of the wrap cue).
Compare 1:25 where Sammy thought it was a wrap versus 2:20 where Jazz knew it was a slice – at 2:20, you had really strong motion to the center of the bar on the threadle side of the jump, so it was very clear.
If you want the threadle wrap, you can add deceleration and keeping your feet facing forward like at 1:25, until he starts to wrap back towards you.
For the threadle slice, continuing your motion across the bar (like at 2:20) will really help them know for sure it is a slice.
Sammy knew it was not the front of the jump at 1:25 but he (and I) thought it was a threadle wrap better at 1:38
A2nd sequence:
We see here too that Sammy needs more support to the backside line but not as much support to take the jump after getting to the backside, so you can keep moving through at 2:30 and 2:43 and 2:55 to be able to show the new connection after the blind sooner.He was finding the backside really well here because you were not as far across the bar and running a connected, parallel line to the backside line. As he gets more experienced, you will easily be able to be further away.
Jazz did well with more speed when you added the tunnel – he was thinking hard and slowing down for a rep or 2 (the backside lines are hard!) but then came back to good speed after a couple of fun rewards. He also really liked it when you dropped the reward on the landing side of the jump after the backside – it seemed to really help him understand.
So overall, I think this was a really good training session! The backsides/threadles are hard. Don’t worry about the soft turns – they were a little wide but the focus on the training was the backside pushes and threadles. The soft turns will be easy when the boys don’t have to think about the harder stuff as much 🙂
Great job!!
Tracy
Good morning, sounds like you had a great vacation!
> If I understand it, we should be starting the blind as the dog is taking off from the previous jump so the blind is completed before take off of the next jump.>
Yes, that is the most ideal breakdown, with a couple of exceptions for the ‘fancy’ stuff 🙂
> It seems to me the timing might should vary based on the distance between obstacles and the speed/stride length of the dog. >
It can get problematic if we start to over-adjust things and we end up being late (especially with smaller dogs). And yes, there are some instances where we end up on 40 foot distances where being ‘on time’ is actually too early… but that is rare and also actually not legal distances per organization rules anywhere in the world (except maybe NADAC? But I am not sure).
Smaller dogs having to run the same distances is what makes it tricky. They make their takeoff decisions at roughly the same time as the larger dogs but can also be pulled off a line more easily because they need better commitment skills than large dogs. So if we wait longer to start cues, we are often late with the small dogs.
But also, handler line of motion plays a big role in this – line of motion is what helps commit the dog to the line for a blind, and can make or break the timing.
Looking at Nifty’s video:
Nice timing and connection on the blind to the tunnel: lovely turn!!! It is hard to get a good turn there and you nailed it on the first run. The last run at 2:59 was similar to this run, also really strong.
The middle reps on that blind were trickier:
The blind there at :43 actually disconnected too early by pointing forward – that pulled the rail plus you were moving towards the wrong end of the tunnel (side stepping) rather than towards the end of the tunnel you wanted
2:02 better line but started late (head turn started late) – you were quick to finish the blind but she had to adjust I the air (bar down)
For the blinds at 3-4, you can run more forward towards 4 rather than side stepped through the box at :29 & 1:49 (it makes the turn a bit wider). You can keep moving forward more like what you did at 1:27 but then keep moving forward and indicate the next jump (she followed you really well there)
The blinds 9-10 at :37 & 1:58 were also good – try not to get past the mouse line on those because it sends her a bit wide.
Looking at Canny’s video: this was good to see the timing and how it as impacted by the line of motion! More below.
Looking at the timing of the BC to the tunnel:
On the rep at :08, the BC was late and he had to hop around behind you and a bit at 2:49 too.
:36 was correct timing and a better BC because he did not have to adjust from behind you after landing.
You were saying ‘here’ (I think that is what you said) as he was catching up to you which brought a little too much focus to you so you can say it sooner then switch to the tunnel verbal I this scenario.At 3:51 (last rep) was definitely late but he knew the sequence 🙂 plus, clear connection can cover us when we are late starting the blind. And the connection was really clear here! Yay!
BC 3-4: he is reading the commitment to 3 thanks to a good line of motion, no problem with the timing there at all. You can use less arm pointing to make it even clearer: try not to have your hand up and pointing ahead at 1:05 & 1:37.
The rep at 3:30 was a little late but you had good connection so he still got it.The BC 8-9-10 is where we see some of the pulling off a line you mentioned. It was a line of motion question from Canny, not a timing question. You were cueing 8 then going directly to 10 (in terms of your running path) while actually starting the blind too early 🙂 I don’t think you were intending to start it too early, but the high arm pointing combined with pulling away to 10 caused the disconnection that cued the beginning of the blind.
At 1:13, for example, you were disconnected and pulling away too early so the BC was basically finished when he landed
You were later to start the blind at 1;45 but the cue to 9 was not clear (line of motion pulled to 10, not to 9).Much better line of motion towards 9 at 2:04 & 2:40! The BC was late there because you were trying to get commitment but I bet that line of motion and the good timing will get the blind beautifully there. This is what was happening at 3:41 – better timing and motion was good so he got it 🙂
> But if I begin a blind as Canny is taking off from the previous obstacle, the blind is completed while he is still 2-3 strides from the next obstacle and, more often than not, he pulls off that obstacle. >
So I think it is more about being sure your line of motion is strong so you can start the BC on time. If you have videos of him pulling off, you can check to see what the line of motion was – you might have been pulling to the next line without supporting the line you wanted while doing the blind. For the blinds, motion supports the line while the change of sides & connection is what cues the turn. Let me know what you think!
Nice work here!
Tracy
Good morning!
It takes a lot of trust to start blinds before position is perfect! So it is understandable that it would be harder with a less experienced dog. You’ll find that part of the strategy is being able to get to good position so the timing feels very comfy 🙂 That is what we work on this weekend!
Tracy
I don’t think I ever answered about Dogs4Motion? They come highly recommended. I have never seen the ‘inside’ of their website but I have heard good things from veterinarians that I respect a lot.
T
Good morning!
The drive was long and boring but thankfully uneventful!
Lots of good work in this video!
– Nice job with the verbals here! There are a lot of verbals and you had them going for all of the reps!
– For the blinds, turning away from him sooner will help get the connection on the exit of the wing sooner. Both of these will help tighten up the turn. You can probably start the blind when he is still a meter or so away from the wing – your motion should support commitment. And remember to turn away from him on the blinds (a couple were spins where you did a FC to the BC)
– He did have a few commitment questions, when you were trying to draw the line with your hands. The rep at 3:24 is a good angle – you were pointing forward which changes the line of your shoulders by turning them away from the wing so he had questions.Compare to 3:42, which had a lot less pointing so he read the line a lot better same with 4:15 and 4:18. A fun challenge would be to try this without your hands at all 🙂 Try with just motion, verbals, and looking at him. That will help him find the line, especially to the middle jump of the diamond. He is also still learning it all, so all of the commitment will get a lot easier with practice.
He probably needed more run around moments after every run or two at the beginning – he did several reps in a row then was wandering a bit. You might have added more of that later in the session, it seems he maintained his engagement better?
The toy placement at the very end was great even though it might have been accidental 🙂 I love that you had a big laugh and enjoyed the moment – he was such a good boy!
Great job!
Tracy
>The very next rep he breaks the stay. An yes I’m making it lol
The same like he doesn’t know he’s getting paid for a stay. lol. Half the time he sat there until the frisbee almost hit him in the face lmao!>Those are good observations! There might be something that he notices that makes the releases predictable so he anticipates. And try throwing the reward behind him so he can get up and grab it – moving might make it a more valuable reinforcement.
Good morning!
>Today we tried to work on some parallel path. Also tried some throwback and other sequences. He was staying very well today! He was also quite excited about the fuzzy treat pouch with croissant inside. >
He did great! The magic croissant carrier was VERY EXCITING 🙂 and he was finding all of his lines! Super!
Subtle detail for the throwback – use countermotion to move ahead towards the correct tunnel entry before he arrives at the throwback jump, rather than stepping sideways to clear the path.
Moving forward will show the line and also get you out of the way 🙂 Stepping sideways shows a tiny bit of motion towards the ‘wrong’ end of the tunnel and widens the turn. You had good countermotion at 1:22 (when you didn’t want the tunnel) and he read it perfectly!His only real question here was the BC on landing of 3: at 1:15 it was a little late in terms of him seeing the connection fully (same at 1:33). The cue was clearer at 1:49 but the dog-side shoulder is still closed which blocks the connection – you stayed there which helped get the line for sure. If you open your shoulder more by pointing your dog-side back down to his nose, I think he will see it better and you can move away sooner.
>At the end I was trying to do a rear cross on the farthest jump but I think I was too far ahead already and not on the correct line.>
This is a hard RC line! I agree that you were a little too far ahead at 1:52. I liked how you set up the RC line at 2:03 with that little decel on jump 4 – then you pulled to the right turn line before getting onto the RC line, so he turned right. From the set position you had at jump 4, you can move directly to the center of the bar at 5 and I think he will read the left turn RC there.
Great job!!!
Tracy
