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Hi!
Brrr it looks cold, I am ready for some warm weather!He did really nicely here! And he had some good environmental distractions – wind, sirens, LOL! Good boy!
On your left side sends, he was super accurate with the angles! and fast! There were a couple of misses on the harder angles but then he quickly corrected it on the next reps. On the harder angles from your left side, he was bending out of the poles after the entry (on the side closer to the house) which I thought was odd at first but then I saw here was a pole missing I think LOL!
On the other side, where all of the poles were there – no problem, he was fast, accurate, perfectly inside the channel 🙂 So if you are still missing a pole, you can move one to the other side based on which side you are on: on the left side sends, have all of the poles on the side opposite you (closer to the house) and vice versa for the other side. That will allow him to stay squarely in the poles and not slide out because there is no pole there 🙂Overall, he looked great here. You can move the MM a little further away, which will create even more speed (which in turn adds more challenge :)) He was happy with your motion, no distractions there that I could see! So keep up with the excellent use of motion and you can also add in even harder sends to the entry, like from the 4 and 5 o’clock angles, and the 7 and 8 o’clock angles.
Great job!
TracyHi there!
The TT is a great distraction for him, even with this relatively easy setup on just 2 poles! He definitely was skipping to get to it on some of the harder angles: But mum, it is faster to just go to the TT! LOL! And that could correlate to skipping out of weaves early in trials where the other obstacles would be distractions 🙂 So this was a really useful session and he ended with a lot of great reps on really hard angles. Nice!
So next session – angles the poles a little, and add your motion so you are running as well 🙂 And because he is more experienced, you can mix in the threadle side entries and also some shaping of the 2x2s near the tunnel (both are in the course syllabus). He has enough experience with weaves that I think you can start this now – as long as you do an easy rep or two so he knows which way the reward line goes, those are good challenges for him.>>Should I keep following the 2×2 track for now?
I have been working both the 2×2 and the channel tracks with all 3 of my youngsters, and I have found the 2 methods to really complement each other! It is helping the dogs learn a lot faster than they normally would 🙂 So, if you have access to channels, I suggest you work both tracks!
Have fun!
TracyHi!
I see what you mean about the efficient path to the pet tutor! I have a whole bunch of ideas for you – definitely a training issue and now is the perfect time to work through it!
I suggest working through it *away* from the weaves at first, and then using the weaves approaching it a little differently at first.
When she bypasses the weaves (or RDW mat) in favor of going directly to the PT, don’t give her an oops marker or anything – just call her back like you were in the 2nd half of the video. I also use line up cookies all the time when I am using a the MM, after the correct reps and also after the incorrect reps 🙂 That helps keep the value balanced (and getting the line up cookie after an incorrect rep has not been a problem for the dogs learning the weaves). For a dog that is driven to distraction by the PT, I use a high value food in my hand (I use string cheese) and it is one of my few markers: I say “ice cream” which means come get a bite of string cheese from my hand.
This serves as a way to keep the session stress-free, rate of success is super high, the balance of the momma/work versus the PT is maintained, and also the string cheese is a little distracting 🙂Specific to the weave training: some of the angles were easy to get the poles on the way to the PT, and some of the angles were hard because she had to go out of her way to get to the poles before heading to the PT.
On the easy angles, you can be a tremendous distance away from the poles, But on the harder angles, place yourself very close, so it is easier to get into the poles and harder to go past them to the PT.
And if she gets it wrong, call her back for some ice cream and try again 🙂Now, you can totally go to using the lotus ball on the poles as well, it is something that we will go to pretty soon anyway – but we will want to have both tools at our disposal (and when we add independent crazy moves, you will definitely want the PT :))
As for getting her to learn to NOT go directly to the PT, some ideas:
in the teeter class, some of the adjunct behaviors involve the a Manners Minder and a wobble board, where I just stood back and let my piggie girl figure out that she had to leave the MM and do something with the wobble board in order to get the MM 🙂Here are some other examples of the silly things I do to get the dogs to shape and offer without obsessing on the reward dispenser 🙂
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cHMbUOjaImY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hHpXAo2ZNqQLet me know what you think!
TracyHi! The other person clicking confused me for a moment LOL!!
The frisbees target to remind her what to do was a great start to the session, then she did a fabulous job finding the channel and looking straight ahead after that. Yay! The entries went pretty well (and it was nice to know she is not distracted by another person or dog nearby). Nice!One thing I noticed was that she was hitting the poles – I think it was that they were too tight for her to run through, but too wide for actual weaving, just a slightly awkward distance for her LOL! So for now… leave them wide open so she doesn’t hit them, and then as the 2×2 track progresses, we can start to tighten the channels (tighten the channels is not on the agenda for a while longer, but the 2x2s get more into ‘real weaving’ starting next week. I think the 2x2s will let her sort out her footwork and then we can tighten the channels without her hitting them. So for now, leave the channels nice and wide as she learns the entries and learns to ignore your motion 🙂
Great job here!
TracyAh, he is so cute with his joyous leaping up! I really love this breed, it is on my list for the future!
He did a great job here. Because you were adding distance and moved the MM a little further, his head was starting to come up and he was sometimes ‘cheating’ and turning around to get into position. So, since distance is not all that important, no need to add more distance: move the MM in a little closer to the board so his head stays low, but add challenge by adding a little more height to the board 🙂I think you can also put his target in on the end of the board – so he backs up to it and the target will help keep his head down. Because he is so confident on the downhill games, I want to really emphasize the targeting skills so we can build the bang game and end position in these next 2 weeks, then start putting the whole thing together in games package 3 for him! This is getting exciting!
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi! One of the very first things I learned in dog trainer school was to “be a splitter, not a lumper”. That was maybe 100 years ago but it really stuck with me LOL! The dogs prefer splitting 🙂
He is SO speedy here that I had to check that the video was not in fast forward. WOW good boy! He is running really fast to the end but what I also really like is that he is shifting his weight and not thinking about flying off. That is what is great about training an adult dog: he knows how to use his body!
On this game, we are now in the ‘add more tip’ mode, incrementally. Add more tip every couple of sessions, a half inch or less, until the board is maybe a foot off the ground. You will see the new games posted, and the downhill and uphill tracks are both about adding more tip.
Take your time, it might take 2 weeks and that is fine because we are working on the end position separately. Great job!!!
TracyHi! It sounds like you had a great weekend, congrats on your win!! I am not surprised that he got first. Yay!
And also hooray for the full set of weaves (see, instant cure, just for signing up for a class hahaha)This session went really nicely! And extra gold star for how quickly you got back to the board to help him off of it LOL! He only tried to be a circus acrobat once haha!
He did well with all the challenges. I thought he had a tiny question on the first rear cross (slowed down), but then later on he did not have a question on the rear crosses and maintained his speed. And he had no questions on any of the challenges when you were out ahead and moving at an even pace.
When you turned on your speed just a little at 1:42, you were running a little… well, he showed he could go even faster. Wow! So when you start adding running and when you are ahead, because that you have a big jackpot of stinky treats on the target because he is possibly going to kick into running dog walk speed (that is what it looked like at 1:42). And that as fine, as long as he remembers to weight shift and stop, rather than launch off the top. You did have other running reps but you were parallel to him or doing a rear cross, and he was fine with those.So since he was happy with this… next session can be the same tip, but you can add more fast running with you ahead and let’s see how he feels. I know he will be happy, but we want him to be weight-shifted and happy at the end, not flying happy 🙂
If that goes well – onwards to more tip! I posted new steps for the games today and that is mostly about adding more tip for the mountain climbers.
>>I still don’t have a target word in place because I thought I really need to get solid behaviour on the plank before adding the word. I might work on a session of that tomorrow.>>
I agree – the verbal cue gets added on the plank and we don’t need to add it til he is really getting it right consistently. After he does well on the plank, we add it to the bang game (see today’s game). Eventually it gets added to the mountain climbers, but not until package 3 🙂 For now, the presence of the food is what is cuing the stop at the end (and I am 99.9% he will stop there is there is good food :))
Great job!! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi! She is being so confident with all of these teeter games, this is exciting!!
She seemed to do well with her backing up – nice use of back feet, no worries about the movement of the board, no worries about the little bit of noise. And she held her position here too!
My only suggestion for this game is to sit down on the ground as she is backing up, so her head stays low. That sitting-down suggestion is only for the backing up game, it won’t work for any other games LOL!!
You can also add a little more tip here 🙂 She looks ready!
So, with the down at the end of the board, did you use a target to train it? I am asking because to get the best down position and low head (for balance), we will want to be helping her understand that she doesn’t need to look at you as she is moving into position. Let me know!
Great job here!!
TracyHi!
She did a great job on the wobble board! That is one tall wobble board so it really moved and slammed – she looked a little surprised at first but not put off by it. It was a good warm up for the teeter and the width made it easier to find for sure.I think part of her question bout backing up onto the teeter might have been about the value for running up it – at first she was looking at the top and seemed unsure as to if it is a run-up game or not, but not unsure about the movement or noise per se. As soon as she figured out it was about backing up into position, her only question seemed to be about how to back over when you got to be a certain distance away, rather than turn around and get into position. So two ideas for you – when you start a backing up session on the teeter, have her step forward into 2o2o and then you cue her off, then backing up onto it. That can serve as a little reminder about the game being about the end position. And she also did her best when your cookie hand was a few inches in front of your knees.
The closer to you your hand was (and closer to the edge of the mat), the harder it was for her to back up rather than turn around. So for now, I think it is more useful to add a tiny bit more tip and keep your hand closer, no need to add more distance to the backing up.
That low hand was really perfect for giving her a focal point to keep her head low while moving backwards, which really makes for lovely hind end independence! Yay!Great job!!
TracyHi there!
>>I couldn’t recall if I was supposed to keep her always on the same side all the way around or not. It felt more natural to change sides depending on the side of the clock we were on. >>
At first, change sides as you move around the clock: when you are on the 1-2-3-4-5 side, she is on your right. When you are on the 11-10-9-8-7 side, she is on your left. That is easier for the dog at first. And you can do the 12 and 6 o’clock positions on both your left and right.
>>Otherwise, I would have been doing rear crosses as she entered the poles. On the other hand, that may be what you intended since the sooner they see motion in all it’s forms, the sooner they adapt.>>
Yes! We do show the dog the other side as well – as soon as she is doing well with sending on the “normal” sides, we do have you switch to the other side: when you are on the 1-2-3-4-5 side, she is on your left. When you are on the 11-10-9-8-7 side, she is on your right. That is much harder but I do show it to the dogs very early on rather than wait too long – you can see more about it in the Threadle side entry game:
https://agility-u.com/lesson/2x2s-track-step-4-threadle-side-entries-on-2-poles/The motion here looked great! And if she weaves back to you by accident, you can reward that too.
I really see now questions from her about this – she is finding the entries and bending her body to get through them. You can definitely angle the poles!If the weather holds, you can probably get 4 short sessions in the next day or so:
poles at 2 and 8, short session sending, short session with motion and you can add in running too and see how she does!)
then go to poles at 1 and 7, with a short session of sending and a short session of adding motion. My guess is she is going to absorb it like a sponge. If I am wrong, you can dial it back and proceed more slowly. But if she is getting it, we move through these early stages pretty quickly 🙂The 2nd session with motion and the poles at 2 and 8, you can throw in threadle side entries too!
Great job! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
>>When I first saw your video for this exercise, it bothered me a bit that there were times when it seemed the dog did not enter with the first (closest) pole on their left shoulder. However, after watching the next videos and seeing how the angling works, I see that it all comes together.>>
yes – at first it makes everyone twitchy haha because it seems like the dog is entering “wrong”. But they aren’t and plus we quickly angle the poles 🙂 We humans are visual, so when I see poles I immediately think pf them as straight. In this set up, I try to visualize the MM as pole 12 and an invisible line of poles that the dog is traveling along.
She did well here! Sending without you was a little harder at first but when she was really getting it, especially as you go to your right side and the 1-2-3-4-5 side of the clock. When you revisited the left side sends, she only gave you the look of “this is weird” on a couple of the REALLY hard entries (you were at the 6:30 spot!) but then she nailed it! Yay!
Normally I would say that you can add motion, but I see that below! See you there in a moment 🙂 Great job!
TracyHi! He is looking good here!
Uphill Track Mountain Climbers – You were smart to go back to no tip! This was a really good session, he seemed super confident. If I remember correctly he was asking questions about adding tip, just before things stopped for the winter? So it was a good refresher to start here, he was great. You can try a bit of peanut butter at the end of the board so he doesn’t leap off the top as you run past 🙂
He did well with the various challenges and seemed confident on all of it so…. onwards to tip! Add a little and see how it goes!On your bang game videos:
Bang game 1:
I think cookies were a better start for now with tugging before and after, rather than the tug as the reward – you noted that he was leaping for the tug so wasn’t getting his hind end on, and smartly switched to food rewards. The cookies reduced the energy (and is easier to place precisely) and he had more success with his hind end! When he is on your right side, experiment with which feeding mode helps him – feeding across your body with your left (he was curling in a bit when you did that) or feeding with the dog-side arm to see if he stays straighter. He was pretty straight on your left side so I don’t think it matters which hand you feed with when he is on your left 🙂Bang 2 –
He is still working out what to do with his body here but already looking much better 🙂 Have you tried this on a travel plank, to refresh the idea of getting on without the movement of the board? If not, that is a good place to start, especially with tugging before and after. If so, you can bring the plank to the barn and, right next to the teeter, give him a reminder rep – then move it to the teeter. He did work out how to get all the way on, but his front feet were making the decision and then his back feet followed along afterwards (often after the cookie went in to help him). So leaping onto a travel plank can get this started as a good reminder 🙂When he was on your right here, feeding with the dog side hand did seem to keep him straighter! Plus, he was figuring out how to use his hind end. The target was good to have there as a place to put the cookie, even when you were getting the treat in before he had to make an end position decision. When you see that he is making good hind end decisions reliably, then we will start asking for the end position decision.
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyPerfect!! And yes, I have found peanut butter or cream cheese have been great for high value rewards AND slowing down the dock divers 🙂
Keep me posted!
TracyGood morning! Thanks for the progress report 🙂
I like the hose reward – I think his mind was a little blown for a moment there. “Wait, we get the HOSE next to the teeter??” LOL!! The mechanics of the reward were solid: you let him offer the behavior, then got him off the board and got out the high value reward. The only suggestion would be to see if the hose and be a little further away? And you can also play with the hose before the teeter game and see if that pumps him up: hose, run to the teeter, one rep, hose.On the uphills – no worries about him stopping as little short of the end of the board – it will percolate with more drive to the end. He is shifting his weight a little sooner than I would like but getting better and better on each rep, as you noted! And he is able to hang out there AND offer behavior at the top.
And you saw the percolation process in the next session – much more drive to the end as well as offering behavior.On the teeter tables game:
HOLY COW he loved the dog chasing reward LOL! Wow! More of that please, just throw one random teeter rep in with the dog play, here and there, nothing “formal” in terms of training sessions. The treat session were good there too but the dog chasing rep was SUPER.I am also happy with the confidence of the last 3 reps where you added a lot of tip going down to the table – he ran right up and almost all the way to the end, then offered an end position.
What I do see on those reps, though, is something that might be causing the confidence questions when he is doing the full board at top speed: as he is arriving at the top, he is *not* actually shifting his weight, he is leaning forward – the board drops from under him, he is not balancing all that well. Then when the board lands and stops moving, he goes into his down/bow position.
But it is that moment of the board moving without him in a strong weight shifted position that we will be isolating and working on: if he does not know what to do with himself in that moment on an unfamiliar teeter when there is a lot of running from da momma… I can totally see him bailing or avoiding or both. It is kind of an a-ha moment for us that we can help him with, and that should help open the floodgates to the fabulous teeter that I know he can do (and we are seeing here).
The games that come out tomorrow will have some things that address that and also I am going to add something based on what one of my young dogs is doing that is similar to Krome here. I know it sounds nutty, but I am totally pumped up now to see this in my Elektra and your Krome because we can fix it easily!!!!
In the meantime: don’t ask for that big tip again til we get him weight shifting more. I want to protect the confidence you have built and add this other piece separately. In the meantime, revisit things like balancing on an inflatable if you have one, and tugging on a wobble board nice and low so he shifts back. On the flat, see if he will pull the toy out of your hands with weight shift!Great job here! You’ve made tremendous progress in just two weeks!!! It is easy for me to see because I see the cumulative videos 🙂
TracyOoh, clever set up with the teach it on a table! Yes, getting him on it won’t get as much speed at this stage, but that is fine – we have the speed in mountain climbers and I am confident we will get it here when he has more room to run into it.
He did really well with all the challenges here – when you were moving or running past, he was great about running through the board and offering the down! On the sends down to the end with you hanging back – he sent but he definitely had some questions: ‘why are you standing back there’ and also ‘should I do the down near you’? LOL! Those are actually helpful questions about the end position because on the plank at home, you can emphasize the go to the end and assume the down position with you further back. On the short plank, it will be easier of course, then you can start further and further away from the plank to send him forward.
The other challenges all looked pretty perfect! So…. more tip 🙂 I think you are going to hear that a lot in coming weeks! The games coming on Monday emphasize that too and will also give you another end game to work the down position.Great job here!!!!!
Tracy
