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Good morning!
>> Yes, Kip is a bigger dog than I’m used to running. He’s definitely going to be jumping 24” in Usdaa and possibly AKC as well. Which means I’ve got less margin for timing error and I’ve got to really work on being more proactive in giving info to him much earlier.>>
His size is the good news and the bad news: good news is that his size and stride length will fill the gap between obstacles and you will have an easier time with commitment! And the bad news (which really isn’t bad news) is that your timing will come earlier that it will with a smaller dog. On most normal distances (up to 21 feet), he will need to make his next decision when he lands from the previous jump or exits the tunnel/contacts/weaves. But that is a little easier, in a way – you can see him jumping/exiting and start delivering the next info.
>>And yes, I’ve been doing my Rear Crosses with more of an L shape and controlling the tightness of the turn with the angle and intensity of the L shape. I have not really associated deceleration as a way to control the tightness of the RC! But as I think of running with Apache, if I’m going to set up a tight rear with a hard “L”, I do decelerate quite a bit to set up my hard angle drive into her line. I say she reads my mind but she is probably just very good at reading my intention thru subtle body language cues and my deceleration cues the fact that I want a tight turn as much as my angle toward her. >>>
The L rear crosses are more like tandem turns, and there is indeed a time and place for that. But on a normal rear cross, you can set the line with the diagonal and then you are not left out of position on either the extension RCs or the tight ones. Also, differentiating the L rear as tandems (outside arm cue for me) with diagonal rears also gets rid of some of the questions I have seen dogs ask when they turn away on post turns: that happens when it looks too much like the L rear crosses, and it is confusing.
And yes, the adult dogs are masterful at sorting us out 🙂 The youngsters are the only ones who give us the most honest feedback LOL!!!! At this point, my 8 year old dog just rolls his eyes at me and gets it done, but the baby dogs are much clearer when I am unclear 🙂
>>>Intention is everything and sets up subtle cues the dog can read! (They can also read our worry about an off course obstacle and thus be drawn toward it ).>>
True, and TRUE! LOL!!!! Off course options are to be ignored, pretend they are not even there 🙂
>>Whoa, too much Sat morn agility philosophical ranting- I need to get more coffee!>>
HA! More coffee is always the right answer.
>>You are right about the wing wrap start being awkward with Kip as I have to unnaturally hang out at the wing. I think I’ll try some of the same work but perhaps with a tunnel start to give the RC a more realistic flow.>>
One of the recent games presents the RC option from a tunnel to also balance with the GO lines – that gets into the nitty gritty of making sure the GO and the RCs look different while adding speed. It is the Week 5 Concept Transfer Game for Rear Crosses.
have fun!
TracyGood morning!
>> My verbal for jump in extension is “jump”.
that’s why I was mixing it with go on because it’s almost the same meaning but it wasn’t intentional for me to change the words. Go on , for me, is supposed to mean go on without me and take the obstacles in the line in front of you.>>In terms of trying to remember all the various verbals and be consistent, this might be a redundancy and you can choose one or the other, so you don’t have extra verbals that mean the same thing.
>>I was having trouble figuring out best way to be in a position when he exited the tunnel so that he would be driving in front of me instead of lateral/parallel or behind/chasing…ended up being too much decel by accident.>>
The decel was fine, actually, if the verbal is used before he goes in 🙂 But if he sees/hears the decel and there is no verbal to tell him to ignore it, then he was correct to come out looking for you. I work go to override decel all the time, because sometimes I need it for gamble skills and sometimes I need it to get my butt across the ring while also convincing the dog to keep driving a line ahead of him 🙂
>>Did you notice I did take your advice and kept running after throwing the toy this time? he liked that much better than me slowing after throwing…lol!>>
Yes! It was awesome! He loved it 🙂 Dogs love to race and love the motion, so keep on run run running 🙂
T
Super happy dance! She looked great. She had one moment of trying to splat herself in the crazy elevator warm up section but was great otherwise. As you add the complexity of the crazy elevator and the full teeter, you can dial back the running past the board: move, yes, but don’t run hard. That way she is less likely to self-release and more likely to get reinforcement. We want to reinforce the drive across the board and the end position, and don’t want to risk withholding reinforcement if she self-releases.
I think the full teeter looked great and it appears she was happy with it based on her response on the NEXT rep (that is the one that really tells us how they feel about the full teeter. Great job differentiating between “the real thing” with your position and verbal and the Crazy elevator game with your position and no verbal. Really strong!!!!!
So I think the next step for her is going to be replicating this session as you did… but with a tunnel instead of a wing. The hardest part for her will be the “please don’t splat yourself” so it is possible that just the visual of the tunnel will raise arousal, so you can dial back your motion to balance that for now.
Question: what does the Ontario summer look like, in terms of training in the ring opportunities? Trials, matches, seminars? Ring rentals? I know things are still in bad shape with Covid, but we can start to plan and hope for the best!!!
Great job here 🙂
TracyGood morning!
Great job on both of these sessions!!
On the home teeter, he was great. That teeter has so much side-to-side and whip that it is probably the hardest one he will see, so it is great that he does so well on it. While I am thinking of it, do you have access to a Clip And Go teeter? It moves really differently and so it would be good to play some games on it.He LOVES his end position and is also great about holding it til released. That helps him drive up the board too – he was flying here and you had some significant hustle to get to the end LOL! He liked the hustle too 🙂
Remember to use your words on the full teeter though: you got really quiet and we don’t want to surprise him 🙂 Add the target cue as he is getting on the board. I think on the full teeter you were holding the ball in your shirt pocket: that, plus watching him, made you silent LOL! So remember the words and might as well run with the ball in your hand – it adds a nice layer of distraction/stimulation that I think he is ready for!The outdoor session went well – he is *almost* as comfortable outdoors as he is indoors, which is truly amazing considering his lack of experience doing this outdoors and probably less access to being in different environments due to the pandemic. I am happy with how he did!!
I will bug you to use your words here too LOL! Remember those cues so he can differentiate between the elevator game and the full teeter.
And smart training to put the target on the ground, to help make the food more visible. He doesn’t need it to get into end position but it certainly clarified the reinforcement placement 🙂 Yay!!!The trial season is picking up in your area… do you have access to any training in the ring opportunities in any of the venues? We can start getting his lovely work into the ring!!!!
Great job 🙂 Let me know what you think!
TracyHi! This session went really well too! I agree, working with a mask is challenging but with practice it gets easier. I have tried dozens of types of masks before finally finding the type/fit that is best for dog sports LOL! Welcome to the new normal, right?
He did well without his target and without your apron. You can leave your cookie bucket on the table outside the ring at the trial, kind of like you did here, so he knows where the rewards are (I think that is helpful for the dogs).
As with the previous session, my only suggestion is to resist the temptation to face him: keep facing forward and moving forward, as facing him stops him shorter on the board.
And an observation: on the full teeter, he was better about driving all the way to the end when you were closer to the end as well, like at 1:39 (almost looked like you were going to catch the board there). When you drove further ahead on the previous full teeter, he was a little higher when he stopped (still good, but you were patient and reminded him). So at the trial, stick a little closer to support with the body language on that first full teeter.
Otherwise, I think he is about as ready as he can be! This si exciting! During the week, if the trial is on Saturday, I would put the teeter into the sequence to replace the board and do some elevator games in sequence and some full teeters in sequence, with tons of rewards 🙂 A session every-other-day will be best: Sunday-Tuesday-Thursday if weather permits, with Friday as the rest day (I always give dogs a rest day or two before a trial).
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi again!
That is interesting – the environment had enough stress in it that he had to take a run around to relax. Good to know, because the trial environment might produce that too. What is your first class at the trial? Also, definitely get there early enough to let him just walk around, acclimate, sniff everything and then maybe do some tricks for treats 🙂The teeter work here looked great. Be careful not to face him as you catch the board or after you drop it, just keep facing forward or moving forward. We don’t want him to think that you turning to face him is part of the cue at all.
The full teeter looked FABULOUS, it was the highlight of the session. And he did a great job finding the board on an angle when you turned him left around the jump! Really nice session!
T
Good morning and Happy Mother’s Day!
This was a lovely warm up! He looked relaxed and focused here. There are a LOT of different variables: the environment, the footing, mom in a mask, etc: and he was able to replicate his behavior beautifully! The footing is going to take some adjustment for him because the turf is less grippy than your grass, so you might see some slipping but I think he will figure it out. Nice work!T
Good morning!
Thanks, yesterday was fun – I was at a flyball seminar and all the young dogs got some training in a new environment. Fun!!!
Presto looked good here and I don’t think you got ahead of yourself: adding the wing was the next logical step. One thing you can now add too is the motion after the target cue/board drop where you walk forward.
The target out ahead was VERY helpful for getting him to focus ahead! I agree, he was probably not using the target on the board but he has a little bit of a ‘superstitious’ nose touch to that area while he is in the down – I am fine with that 🙂
One thing I noticed on the target out ahead was that it was putting him a bit forward on his shoulders up the board on the first session then for the first minute of the 2nd session. Then at 1:14 of the 2nd video, the teeter almost made it to the ground and he was like WHOA! And that changed his perspective a bit: “I think a little weight shift would be good here”. So he weight shifted too early on the next rep, but then on the rep after that and the others, he was running to the end AND weight shifting. It is cool to see him being able to go fast AND be thoughtful about his body too. Yay!So for the next session, I suggest 2 things:
Warming up with the regular elevator and the crazy elevator from the stay – adding your motion forward after the target/board drop.
Then I want to do a couple of crazy elevators with one full teeter thrown in, nice early target cue, you moving slowly and nearby. Ideally, you would do it from the tunnel but it memory serves, you can’t always move the equipment around at TCOTC. So doing it from a wing is fine too!
3 things to keep in mind:
– use your knees more on the catching of the board when it drops really far, you were using your back a lot and I don’t want to have your back get wrenched! You used your knees better on the 2nd video than on the 1st video.
– when you do the full teeter, do it on the Clip and Go. I think the teeter in the first video was a different one and it was very bouncy when it landed – usually that is fine but i want his first full teeters to be on a board he can’t control easily and that won’t bounce him off if there is a lot of speed.– on the full teeter rep: do just one rep. And basically, reward ANYTHING. I mean, if he dock dives off the end I would probably not reward it but ask for a trick and give a cookie instead, then go back to elevator games. But if he is even remotely close to accurate? Reward it because the variable of doing the full teeter is MASSIVE and we want it to be a great experience.
Then go back to a crazy elevator game for rewarding of more accuracy and also to see how he felt about the full teeter 🙂Nice work here! Keep me posted!
TracySuper nice session here, so fun to watch! Yes, a couple of the errors were because the handling didn’t help him as much as needed because he is an inexperienced dog, but as he gets more weave experience you’ll find that he will get those entries too 🙂 Yay!!!! You set up the session really well to get the added challenge of speed/running/harder entries while still getting correct weaving and striding. He seemed really pumped up and also didn’t lose his accuracy or striding.
One little detail is that sometimes on the harder entries you decel a little and hang out by the entry before running up the line again – you’re probably watching the entry and don’t even realize it. So think of the poles now as a tunnel… stay connected like you did but run run run 🙂 That will add an additional layer of challenge but will be very useful on course!
For the next session, you can replicate what you did here but with 6 poles 🙂 I think 4 straight and then poles 5 and 6 a little open is the right place to start but if he has questions, you can open up poles in any spot where he has a question.
I also love how he is handling himself on the turf (and also grass) so the more you can get on the turf or grass, the better!Great job here! Let me know what you think 🙂
TracyGood morning! She looked great here! She is being thoughtful about the entries on the harder angles, but I prefer that over just blasting past them 🙂 One thing that she is way ahead of the game on is finding the weave poles on course. Many young dogs struggle with that, and from the looks of this: it will not be a problem for her. Yay!!!
I agree about going to 6 poles. Introduce them a little open, let her sort it out before you add more speed. One thing to try to do (and I say try because it is very easy to say and much harder to do haha) is to throw the frisbee or lotus ball really low, almost bowl it. When she has questions driving in, she is lifting her head – but it might not be a weave question at all, it might be a toy tracking question! So if the rewards are bowled low and long, she will get in the habit of the lowered head which makes the entries easier in terms of weight shift 🙂
So to set up 6 poles – spread out your sequence so there is a TON of room, maybe 21 feet between obstacles. At first just have her go through without anything before or after, so she is not surprised by poles 5-6 🙂 And the 21 feet will give you room to bowl the reward after the exit (the lotus ball might be easier than the squirrel for this).
If she is a happy camper on poles 5-6 in terms of accuracy, then add them into little sequences but with the side open distances and bowling the reward right after the poles.My guess is the introduction of poles 5-6 will serve as a warm up and then you can do a few reps of them in sequence, in that same session. If my guess is wrong, just stick to the poles without sequence.
Keep me posted! I am pretty sure we are not at the stage where 6 poles will be easy, she’ll have them straight in a couple of sessions, then we will be adding the rest of the poles shortly too 🙂
Great job!!!!
TracyGood morning!! Really strong session here.
Excellent choice of frizzer! And good catch about the Nemo-on-the-ground question he has. Definitely love your idea of working through it with simple stuff, and also you can have it behind him in a stay and you release forward to a jump – very useful for future trial experiences (how did his seminar go yesterday?)The weave session went well. Looking at the session *after* the first two reps, I think you can add in the harder angles now too, which will put you further ahead and might either help the exits or add challenge – we shall see LOL! But he was excellent on his speed/accuracy/striding.
Now the first 2 reps where he missed the exit – I think it was friz related, in that he was wound up (yay!) and you might have twitched a tiny muscle to prepare to throw (which is really just something they will learn to let us do otherwise it becomes impossible to be perfectly still).
I want him to be successful on those first 2 reps, but I don’t want you to have to slow down and I don’t want you to have to run in fear of twitching too early… so perhaps when you are running hard early in the session and carrying the friz, the PT can be out there as a focal point to get the ball rolling? He was looking at you and the PT can help him when he is stimulated and you’re both going fast, without dialing back the stimulation or speed. Then it is easy to fade the PT. Getting that first rep accurate while he is fast and stimulated is important for the youngsters as they get into trialing.Let me know if that makes sense or if I need more coffee haha! For the next couple of sessions – your idea of doing the same exact setup is a good one, with similar challenges, trying to get the first reps accurate and fast, and then if it starts well, add crazy angles and handling challenges.
If that goes well, then for the next session, let’s just go to 6 basically straight poles (they can have the tiniest wiggle room kind of like 1-4 do here) and see what he says – dialing back the other challenges and just walking for that first session.
Keep me posted!! Tracy
Hi everyone! Just a reminder, I am offline tomorrow. I am heading to a flyball seminar 🙂 See you all on Sunday!
TracyHi! I think the training technology has advanced soooo much in recent years that we now know how to convince the dogs to turn REALLY tightly with a minimum of handling effort 🙂 The head turns are a definitely first step.
>>We’ve done some more rear cross work trying to keep my movement simply toward the center of the bar and trying to see how timing and pressure affect Kips turning. He does turn more naturally to the left so we work the right side a bit more as well as do straight “go ons” which I didn’t record since Kip has no problem with his “go ons”!>>
I thought these were definitely better!!! And a nice by-product was that you were not that far behind 🙂 You can get on that line even sooner – I think the setup might feel awkward for that, because you have to wait for a long time at the wing. When you left earlier, you did a few steps up te line before putting the RC pressure on and that creates an L shape to your path. When you got on the RC line sooner, it was a nice diagonal. Here are specifics:
On the first video, rep 1 was my favorite, you were on the RC line the earliest there. The other 2 were good but can be even sooner.
On the 2nd video, rep 1 went well. Reps 2 and 3 (marked as 5 and 6 here) were late – this is where you left the wing a little too quickly and ran the L shaped line, which makes the info a little late and also puts you out of position on the other side of the jump (ending up further behind).
When he turned the wrong way at :18 you started to show the RC but it was too late – he was already center of the bar, thinking left and less that 6 feet from the jump so his jumping decision had already been made.
On rep 4 (marked as 7) – I liked this one MUCH better! You got right on the RC line at :23 and he looked to be about 10 feet from the jump so he had time to make the adjustment. The last rep at :30 was good too! So hanging out at the wing on this setup to be able to get right onto the diagonal for the RC will really help get him turning before takeoff.>>I want to do some more RC work to try to get a quicker, tighter RC after the bar. I feel like maybe the minimal pressure I used in this made me almost late creating a soft turn after the bar. >>
It wasn’t minimal, per se, it was just later than he needed. So you can get both the tight and the wide RCs on the same diagonal… and the transition/decel tells him how tight or accelerated you want the turn.
>>Perhaps if I think more about his commitment point, the result will be a sharper turn?
Think of it as more of a ‘need to know’ point for him so he can choose a commitment point with all of the info he needs. I think by the time you see commitment, it is too late: the decision has been made. But if you think of his ‘need to know’ point as being just after he exits the wing wrap, then can start giving the info to him then – and you can get him to commit with the turn you want and then he has plenty of time to make the adjustment for the takeoff. A big dog’s ‘need to know’ point is no later than exit of the previous obstacle (exit of tunnel or weaves, landing from a jump, etc). I start giving the info and then I left the dog sort out what he needs to do 🙂
Let me know if that makes sense! Nice work on these rear crosses!!
TracyHi! Yes, revisit that game. You can do it without the clicker if you like – let me see some video of it so we can help him sort it out 🙂
I can’t find any of the ‘before’ videos of the head turning with the less noddle-y dog, but here is what it looks like in practice a bit:
https://youtu.be/Clwprf2SJpM?t=22
I will keep looking, I know they are loaded somewhere!!!T
