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Hi!
The left turns (dog on right) looked strong here like they did in the previous session – keep your hand low, so she doesn’t jump up for it . The low hand at :35 was great!And you did a great job with the left hand here too! When she was standing still out on the other side of the upright, she needed your hand cue the wrap. When you did that like at 1:15 & 1:35 – perfect!
Her turns are looking good, so you can decide which hands to use, based on what is most comfortable. And take a look at the advanced level – I think she is ready for that.
Great job!
Tracy
Hi!
>Or is the goal just the rear foot movement?>
The goal is to get independent foot movement now that she is moving her feet nicely.
Looking at the perch work – throwing it off the side was indeed getting tiny bits of independent foot movement. So to get more of it, throw it off to the side (kind of behind you) so she gets on the perch at the side then pivots to face you And don’t reward her until she is fully facing you in that center position 🙂 That will help her pivot all the way around to center without you moving.
When you were moving, she did her best pivoting when your hands were lower. Keeping her head lower definitely gets more movement: the higher the head, the more her weight has to shift back, so the less she can move the hind end freely. Lower hands to keep her chin parallel to the floor will get even more movement! You can also try a lower bowl to pivot on – the higher the bowl, the more weight is in her rear, the less she can move it freely. So a lower bowl can also get more movement.
Nice work here!
TracyHi! Hope you had a great weekend!
>I thought this was because it’s her weaker side but mostly I think it’s a ME thing.>
This is so relatable LOL!! Handler mechanics are HARD! A bunch of years ago, I got to go to a chicken training camp and for the entire first day all we did was work on OUR mechanics. No animals LOL And I swear, I pulled a muscle in my non-dominant arm trying to get it right LOL
Also, this game is really hard for handler mechanics to begin with. But the main thing is teaching her to lead with her head, and you accomplished that. How exactly you get it done is not as important as getting it done 🙂
The first side (your right, to her left) went well! And ten it went super nicely when you revisited it at the 2:00 mark too You can have your hand lower and closer to her nose, but overall it went really well!
On the other side – I think you were trying to have your left hand do all the work at the beginning of that side, and it probably felt weird to you so you adjusted to your right hand.
The reps at 1:05 & 1:16 and after that was all you right hand – and that went really well! At 1:47 you kind of had both hands helping and that went well too.
So overall, you got the behavior you wanted (nice head turns!!!) so us the mechanics & hands you used here.
I was also very happy with how well she was coming in to line up, rather than waiting for you to throw a treat. SUPER!!!
You can reward her more for coming to the touch hand to line up to help maintain that. It was a big difference and looked great!Well done here!
Tracy
Hi!
Looking at the stays:
Using the kennel was fun! Have you ever seen the Crate Games video? It is over 20 years old so I don’t know if a lot of people still watch it. He was so funny when he realized he had to leave his beloved toy to get into it LOL!Have you ever played the In-Then-Out game for the crate? As soon as he gets into the crate, you release immediately to the toy. That will definitely help convince him to go into the kennel even with the toy right outside of it.
And since he is small and the kennel is big, you can even reward with tug inside the crate! I have done that with my small dogs and it is really fun.
When you were not using the crate: I was so proud of him for holding his stay for many reps AND focusing on the toy before the release. Yay! You can add more duration while he focuses on the toy with very quiet praise: ‘gooooood’ then release. We will use this skill on jumps too!
That was from 1:37 approximately to about 2:30. Then after that, he kind of lost it. I think his brain was tired: stays are very hard for him, he prefers to run and play 🙂 You did a few easy ones and then ended on a really good one. Yay!
To see him doing his stays all the time, you can structure the session a little differently. You can get maybe 2 stays in a row, then let him run around and do something fast & fun & mentally easy, to release some energy. Then go back to do another stay or two. And you can mix in throwing the reward back to him for holding the stay.
Backing up: he took a moment to remember t o back up onto this but once he got going, he did great! And he is starting to respond to the verbal cue – so try to use mostly the verbal cue and don’t move your hand as much. When you moved your hand, he was backing up on more of an angle. When your hand was not moving, he was straighter. Super!
Do you have a small plank where the edge touches that ground that he can back up onto? Ideally he backs up so all 4 feet are on it. Then we bring it to the bottom of the teeter as a body awareness game.
Great job here!
Tracy
Hi! Hope you had a great weekend!
He is getting the idea of the wrapping the barrel rather than just running to the toy on the ground then driving ahead to the jump and toy. YAY!! We can take things to the next level now: because he still does want to run to to the toy on the ground on the very first rep on each side, and you are carrying him back to the start – I would love to see him walk with you so that he is offering impulse control and not needing to be carried 🙂 Then it will be easier for him to ignore the toy on the ground (and you can start adding stays, etc). Being able to ignore things that he wants but you haven’t cued will be VERY helpful when he starts doing fancy course work with all the jump and tunnel discriminations, so we can start working on the here and that will make the coursework in the future much easier 🙂
It is mainly impulse control (and some stimulus control on the toy). Here are 2 ideas to add in:
– You can work on impulse control using 2 toys: place one on the ground, then walk away with him and reward him with toy #2 for leaving the other toy on the ground. You can do this with food too, but I think he prefers the toy 🙂 At first he only needs to take one step with you then you reward. Then you can build it up so he walks many steps with you and ignores the placed toy.
– He pivoted really well with you when you didn’t want the jump. So now we can go to the next level there too! When you don’t want the go(to the jump and to the toy on the ground) and you want him to pivot with you: you can fade out showing the toy first to get him to come to you.
You can stay closer to the the wrap barrel, and decelerate and have him come to your hand and pivot with you: then whip out the toy and play 🙂He has a LOT of value for come to hand thanks to your training! So decelerating and come to hand will help set up the turn which will be useful when he is doing future course work.
Starting the pivot closer to the first wrap barrel will get more success right off the bat, rather than being close to the jump – being further from the jump and toy on the ground at first makes it easier to resist the jump & toy 🙂 When this variation is easy for him, we will make it harder and have him wrap the jump rather than go directly to the toy.
Clicking for his head turns is off to a lovely start!
One suggestion to add is starting him next to you each time – that makes for smoother starts and clearer head turns to click. For example, the rep that started at 1:14 was perfection: he turned his head brilliantly a he approached the upright, then when he turned away for the 2nd wrap he was VERY tight and your click was great. The next rep was fantastic too in terms of how tight he was turning because he was leading with his head. On the reps when he did not start at your side, he was not as sure about what to do it and was harder to cue him, so he got mad and it got a little messy. So definitely keep doing what you did at 1:14 – that was lovely!
This is a good warm up game before he does the other games too, it gets his body moving before he starts to go really fast 🙂 And definitely check out the advanced level with the backside circle wraps.
Great job!
Tracy
Good morning!
>I think the way he plays with it is kind of like a herding ball. He definitely gets really excited about it, and I was also thinking it could be the key to the wobble board.>
Yes, that high value reward and help the wobble board become a play game for him, rather than something to think deeply about or worry about. You can minimize the movement and noise of the board while bringing out the great fun toys.
>Juli mentioned that Keeper’s sister Phire also needed some extra encouragement on the wobble board and did well with reddi whip.>
That is right! I remember she did that! Reddi whip is a big winner, just test drive it before you pair it with the board – some dogs hate the spray noise. And also, some dogs LOVE it but it gives them vicious diarrhea (one of my dogs would do anything for it but then gets sick from it 🙁 )
Looking at the videos:
Ooh, that was VERY clever to use the wall for contact foundations! He was really happy to be up high on it and turn around – he was mostly focused on “gimme the ball” LOL but didn’t lose his balance. He loves balls so we will definitely use that!
The Wingin’ It game also went well. He was committing nicely! He wasn’t going fast on the first couple of reps (“Mom, why aren’t you running??”) then we got more bursts of speed when you were walking a little faster later in the session. No worries Keeper, we will let da momma run for real soon LOL! He had no questions on the commitment after the tunnel, or when you cued wing-to-wing. Yay!
We build on the handling games (with running so he is happy) starting tomorrow.
Great job here!
Tracy
Hi again!
Spoiler alert: it looks like Dangerfield has a US division. Bye bye money LOL!!!
That is a lovely agility paddock! And you are heading into summer while we are heading into winter. I need to make a field trip to enjoy some NZ summer!!
I am super proud of his engagement and focus in the new place! He was able to immediately find jumps and the tunnel, with you barely moving. LOVE it!
The games when you do actually run will be much easier and he will have an even easier time. You can see the speed and focus already when you moved the middle jump out: he was like: yay, this is fun! We do FASTER! And if he is already doing that with you walking… imagine how fun it will be when you are running for real. Fun!
He got a little sniffy after a bunch of food tosses, but no worries – the food tosses go away at this stage and we can move to toys or food carriers when we want to throw rewards on the line.
We add the next steps starting tomorrow! Stay tuned! Great job here 🙂
Tracy
Hello!
>Dangerfield is an aussie clothing brand with cute stuff like this.>
Pardon me while I go Google Dangerfield and see if they ship to the US haha. My bank account hopes they do NOT ship to the USA but I really want some cute dog pants LOL
He did really well interacting with the wobble board! He was thoughtful about it but not acting scared or too suspicious about it. I liked how he very intentionally moved it with his front foot and then both front feet at the end – he was totally getting the idea of “if I smack it, da momma throws the treats”. Perfect!
So the next step is to convince him to get his back feets on it too. You can make a bigger playing field for that, maybe use other planks and stuff next to it so he can easily walk across it. That way, when he puts his front feet on it, you can place the reward on the other side of the helper boards to encourage him to move over the wobble board to get the cookie. And if he is happy with that, you can move to having him stand with all 4 feet on the wobble board (but with the support of the other stuff nearby that he can step onto).
He liked the cookies here, and you can go to even higher value stuff (like leftovers from your dinner LOL) or even a ball or toy he really loves.
Great job here!
Tracy
Good morning!
I am really liking how the rocking horses are looking! Fast and fun! She is sending and turning pretty equally on both sides. You can keep adding more distance between the barrels. Nice connection, timing, and sending in the handling, plus she is locking into the concept so you can keep building up distance.
>The rep where she was leaping up is because I did have food in that hand at the start of the rep. >
Yes, that is something we will help her out with. Having food in the hand there was hard as she let you know, and it gives us an insight into what she might do when things are hard (leap up). Since we will eventually want you to be able to send her past you with a food or toy reward in the send hand, we can isolate that concept:
Using just one barrel at first, do a little warm up of sending her to the barrel with an empty hand (sending to her stronger side). Then when that goes well, probably after the first rep: put something low value in the send hand and try sending her to the barrel. If that goes well, we can increase the value and also add in more excitement by having more running with the rocking horse game like you did here.
Looking at the backsides:
What was happening here was that the parallel line motion is the most powerful cue. The verbal is secondary at this stage, so if there is a conflict between motion and verbal, she is likely to go with the motion or go with what has the most value. So if she doesn’t see the line of motion before she has to make a decision on where to go, she will head to the front side because that is where the value currently is.
It comes down to the timing of the motion relative to her movement of the line (especially the timing of the motion relative to the release). The motion has to be clear before she moves, because she is going to make a pretty instant decision at this point.
On the reps where she got the backside:
At :57, you did a cookie toss start so you were moving before she started moving up the line. At 2:16 & 2:30, your movement up the line was before the release so the motion cued the line and she got it!When she took the front side at 1:09 & 1:36, the release and the parallel line motion were simultaneous. She was already looking a the front side as you released and since the motion didn’t cue anything before she started moving, she went to the front.
When you were simultaneous at 1:23 & 2:01, you also moved a lot more to the barrel so she got the backside.
Ideally, you would move 2 or 3 or 4 steps up the parallel line then start the backside verbal like at 2:16 and 2:30. And you can mix in throwing rewards back to protect the stay 🙂 and also mix up the number of steps you take before you release her. I am sure she can count and we don’t want her thinking the release comes on your third step.
I agree with you and am very happy with the pivoting, WOWZA! I had truly forgotten she is only 8 months old. Very very lovely movement on the reps you had here!! In my anecdotal experience 🙂 seeing this precision at this age leads to really good outcomes when we teach the harder behaviors later on in training.
>I did a few more, but she got sloppy. Hmmm. I’m sure she was tired by then.>
Probably! Or maybe it was too easy? When things are too easy, proprioception gets sloppy (the mind starts to wander and mistakes are made). So you can make is harder in 2 ways:
– Add the 3rd pole
– Adding tugging before it and during breaks: can she still control her movement in a higher arousal state? I have been doing this more and more (adding arousal to proprioception) because the science directs us to do so, and the outcomes have been phenomenal!Great job here!
Tracy
Good morning!
I am glad she did so well! She might have just needed to sleep on it 🙂 then came back knowing it the next session 🙂
>Think of all that time we spent convincing the dog to only release on one word!>
Ha! Yes!!! That is one of the joys of agility: any time we make these rules for ourselves (like only use one release word, or we will ruin the stay LOL) the sport evolves so we need to evolve too. We also spent a long long time telling ourselves to NEVER do blind crosses LOL Now we do them all the time and they are great!
>Last question on this. You mentioned using either the dog side arm outstretched or the off arm in front of your body for the threadle cue. Did you clarify somewhere when you would choose one over the other?>
I did not 🙂 I left it a little vague because it is handler preference, based on who they train with locally. But all of the games are played with the dog side arm outstretched like in the Strike A Pose game – that is the most popular threadle arm use now and, more importantly, it is the easiest one to do while running. The cross arm/opposite arm is very hard to do & make visible to the dog, while also trying to run fast.
Tracy
Good morning!
I think the TnT and wing definitely helped the plank game! She was running across it more than leaping and doing ballerina moves 🙂 She was better going to the TnT as you mentioned – perhaps the TnT is a more obvious target, and also it could be that on your left she was defaulting to coming into your heel position a bit? So on that side, you can position yourself closer to the board to help her get right on it. And having the 2nd TnT is a good thing too!
She was a super good girl on the wobble board, really slamming it and making a ton of noise LOL
>It looked like she was thinking (YEA) about what I wanted vs worrying about the sound. What do you think? I can add the blankets back under it.>
I agree – she was offering behavior and trying to figure out how to get you to trigger the TnT (she would offer a very direct look when you didn’t trigger it as fast as she thought you should have LOL!). I did not see any worry or fear about the noise or movement, so no need to put blankets back under it.
>Sunday we are doing NADAC FEO jumpers and tunnelers. I’ve never fine NADAC so it should be interesting. We’re in intro so I’m hoping the obstacles are spaced similar to AKC or UKI>
I think you will find that NADAC is a little closer to UKI in terms of distances, which is good for Rou! Just be sure they bag the tunnels really well – that can differ in different regions. I would love to let my young dogs play in NADAC locally, but they only put on little tunnel back on each end of the tunnel so my dogs would go splat as the tunnel moves all around. So if you feel that there needs to be more tunnel bags, definitely speak up. They do have some ‘different’ rules about food near the ring (something like it can’t be closer than 10 feet away, but you can run with a plastic bag of treats in your pocket). So that would be good to ask them about too 🙂
Have fun! Keep me posted!
Tracy
Good morning!
The one step sending session went great! He seemed to have no questions about the line once he was out of the tunnel and when going wing-to-wing. Yay! He still gives a tiny head check when he exits the tunnel on your left side (can’t see the right side exit) so as we build up the more complex sequencing, we can give him info sooner to let him know what is next (probably before he enters the tunnel). And with more experience, he will anticipate what is next more and won’t need the little head checks.
Backing up onto th teeter –
He is backing up well! He was putting his left rear on the ground a bit, backing up a little sideways. This is usually when they are locked onto one hand delivering the reward, so they back up on a slight angle. If the reward is always delivered with your right hand, we get that slight angle to the left. It was hard to see if that was the case in the video, but the super easy fix is to alternate hands with the cookie delivery which helps him back up straight. It sounds easier than it is, because we all have side preferences and tend to deliver with the same hand LOLHe did really well jumping on and off the elevated teeter board, and turning around too. Seemed pretty easy for him! As the RDW training gets ramped up, this is definitely a game to revisit, basically saying to him “do you remember how to jump off if needed?” And also telling him that he doesn’t need to try to stay on the board if he gets off balance. With that in mind, 2 things to add:
– toy play for more arousal. Can he stay balanced when he is more stimulated?
– For dogs that are likely to see a lot of UKI/ISC style courses, a scrunched up tunnel in this setup can provide valuable visual info. It doesn’t have to be a fully extended tunnel, it can just be a short tunnel with the ends turned down so it is just a couple of feet long. That will help prep him for when he will need to run the board with tunnels under it, and also if he ever has to jump off with tunnels under the DW, he will have experience avoiding the tunnels and finding the ground safely.
Basically, we are teaching him to be a cat on the dog walk LOL!Great job here!
Tracy
Good morning!
>Dublin had some distractions right before this since my BIL is here making beer with my husband on the patio to the right side of our set up. >
Ooh. That is a fun distraction and hopefully you get some good beer out of it!
>Dublin did great. >
Totally agree! You had the perfect level of laziness LOL and he continued driving around the line. Good boy!! There was some nice distance happening there too! And he was happy to have the tunnel added in – super fun.
This sets you up perfectly for the new games we are adding!
>Earlier we had some noisy motorcycles go by too which he froze and stared at them so sound is definitely something for him at times. Aspen and Frisco were with who didn’t even budge so good older dog mentors.>
Good social support from Aspen and Frisco! I wonder if Dublin is just sensitive to weird noises that pop up during normally quiet times. The sirens and motorcycles are definitely weird. And also, it seems like he is not freaking out or having a panic – he is processing it then bouncing back, so nothing to worry about 🙂
Great job here!
Tracy
Hi!
> But, I have noticed some koolie’s showing some pretty impressive lower back flexibility. Vibe himself just when he pees will lift his leg up and over the level of his own pelvis (like 6-8 inches above his pelvis) and hold it there to the point where his little rear starts to tilt over to the other side. >
Ha! Glad to know that I am not the only one who analyzes the leg height when my boy dogs pee. Very nice work, Vibe! My 18 month old pup doesn’t lift his leg yet at all…
>He’s comfy and happy doing it but it’s pretty odd given that most dogs just lift the non-supportive leg to about knee height. I’ll have to get a picture sometime.>
I will have to watch more, but I think a lot of athletic dogs go above hip height – that might be my frame of reference with specific types of dogs, though (terriers, sighthounds/lurchers. I will have to watch the herding dogs more closely now 🙂 ). My Papillon gets his leg over the top of his pointy huge ears LOL!
> I just remember seeing these crazy pics of him at USO and TDC showing this extreme back flexibility.>
Lovely dog! But zoinks, we do not want to show that to Vibe, he is not allowed to do that LOL!!! I would worry for the spine/psoas safety, and shoulder safety from the landing impact. My terriers all offered that behavior early in their running a-frame training and I immediately helped them to NOT do it 🙂
T
Good morning! Thank you for the update! Great questions here:
>Nim (who is a toller) has a great start line stay. The “catch” word worked great. But now that I’m trying to work on serps/threadles and backsides, I’m having issues with her not moving from her sit. >
>Basically, I get her in a sit, move away and then use my release word but she doesn’t move. >There could be a number of reasons for this, so we will get it figured out. When adding the serps/threadles/backsides, are you releasing with the ‘regular’ release word (like OK or break), or the new release word (backside or threadle).
If you are releasing with the new words, there might be some release confusion: you can try using the new cue then the old cue, then reward her for releasing.
For example, I would say “close” (threadle cue) then “break” (regular release cue) then reward her for moving 🙂
If she is not releasing on any cue, it could be a value question (needing more value for moving out of the stay) or the challenge is too hard so she freezes up a bit. So try rewarding the release more (even if you say the word then add some of your motion) and making the challenges easier, with the visual of the jump.
>Another start line stay question: is it confusing if I am using, for instance, a threadle word and expect her to release? I had always been taught that you only want a release with your release word.>
Based on how agility has evolved in the past few years, we have added a variety of different release words because it gives the dog the info sooner. For example, I used to only ever use the ‘break’ verbal as my release. But that was back in the good ol’ days of the first jump also being taken relatively straight with me in the picture. Nowadays, we have all sorts of different starts (tunnel versus jump, wrapping away from the course, lateral lead outs, etc) so the different verbals give the dogs very specific info before they even leave the sit: it is actually very clarifying, and not confusing at all.
For example at the trial yesterday, I used ‘break’ on the release when the dog had a straight line from the jump to the a-frame and I was in the picture moving up the line. On a different course, I used a wrap verbal to indicate a wrap on the first jump, moving away from the course. And on a different one, it was a tunnel verbal as the release to indicate the tunnel as the first obstacle on a lateral lead out when jumps were visible. So many different words, but the dogs are thankful for the clarity and it leads to more success 🙂
Let me know what you think!
Tracy
