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Hi! He is doing so well!! One thing I just thought of for your arena rental – do some sessions during your time without your training pockets on, so he can play the games without all the cookies right there 🙂
The elevator games looked great! Only one suggestion: when he is on your left and you cookie him with your right at the top of the board, keep yoru cookie hand low and forward – it was getting high and towards him so he was sitting. When he was on your other side, your hand position was much better and he was great (1:16 is a good example of that).
The full teeters looked terrific! Remember to use the paw cue on the one you cued – and he was a nut to offer the complete teeter without being asked, but it was a rather beautiful performance LOL! Good boy!!!!
I am exciting to start taking these games on the road!
TracyHi!
About the rear crosses –
He must have slept on it and came out ready to be perfect LOL! You handled them really well too and the cookie bucket out ahead also seemed to help.I was very proud of himfor holding his position on your fast moving fronts and blinds – he wsa a little forward but he caught himself! And that last rep was especially perfect!!!!
Keep me posted on how the rental goes tomorrow!
TracyHi! I agree, this is the most tip he has seen and you were smart to proceed slowly on this first rep. He has a ton of speed and confidence on the board so there was no need to risk that by going too fast, too early – I thought your pace was perfect!!! You let him lead the way in terms of speed and you are right – he was asking for more by the last few reps. YAY! Interestingly, he was also MUCH better about getting into target position when he was faster. I suppose on the first couple of reps he just needed to sort out the setup, then he was all like GAME ON. Ha! It was lovely.
So…. you can start the next session of this asking for more speed right away! And keep moving past the target like you did, stopping only after you’ve gone an additional 2 or 3 steps after he has stopped.
Great job here! Very exciting to see his progress!! We can stick at this level for a few sessions then get that table even lower.
Keeep practciting your elevator game, it gets really comfy when you play with it 🙂
Great job here!!
TracyHowdy!! If possible, replicate the indoor session with the teeter near the tunnel:
With the target still visible, start with a warm up of the normal elevator game on each side.
If that is happy, do the crazy elevator with Sly starting from a stay between the tunnel and the teeter.
If that is happy, start him by sending through the tunnel to the crazy elevator game.
If that is happy, do it again.
If that is happy, do a full teeter, jackpot the daylights out of it..
Then session over, go out for ice cream 🙂
Keep me posted!Good morning!
I think you were for sure throwing sooner! He did a great job of driving straight with a ton of speed 🙂
Little details to consider here:
You mentioned having too much voice – I have no problem with loud exciting verbals, and most dogs LOVE that! Just be sure you are yelling the right ones and yelling them early (I am an ‘early and often’ type of handler when it comes to verbals LOL!)
For example on the first couple of reps, your verbal was “Robbie jump”
Then you went to Go on but it was late (he had exited and looked at you because you were decelerated near the tunnel exit) and I think the last rep was just ‘jump’. So try to define your verbals super specifically and get hyper-consistent (easier said than done LOL!!)For example, if I say “Bandit Jump” that means I would like a soft collection on the jump and he should pay attention for more turn info coming. And that would mean the reinforcement would be on a turn line. So for this game, I like the GO GO GO or GO ON verbals because we want that straight line full on, pants on fire extension 🙂 And start saying it before he enters the tunnel so he exits in extension and doesn’t wait for more info.
About the beginning – his speed exiting the wing to the tunnel was fine, he was running and driving straight and you were exciting. If you want more drive to the cone start him in a better position: facing the cone, a little further away, at your side. He might also like it if your hand is on his collar gently, or on his chest, and you start a little quiet “ready……. set……………” and then when he tenses up, explode into the motion towards the cone. Because he is starting from a standstill, it will feel slower than when he is already starting at a run, but he was definitely not slow running to the tunnel here!
Nice work! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning! Thanks for the kinds words, I love obsessing on the little details of handling. And rear crosses are under-trained around the world but yet we use them all the time.
Great job on the find the jump exercises, Kip was utter perfection on the driving the line. This might be his favorite thing, ever LOL!
Plus, the distance skills are going to be “The Thing” for 2021 and beyond – that is the current trend in Europe and it will make its way here soon enough in all venues. Distance and layering and fast moving blinds to get where you need to be on course are all the ‘in fashion’ challenges at the moment.
So yes, keep playing with that, but let’s turn our attention to his wrap turns:>> I’m primarily working the initial wrap in these exercises as Kipling is still trying to learn to wrap tightly and use his rear power to blast out of the turn.>
Watching him work the wraps here, I don’t think it is a hind end thing: he is not leading with his head to start the turn. By that, he is not turning his head/neck into the turn so he is not fully bending. He is squaring the turn more, if that makes sense. That is why he is not yet tight and not powering out, because he is moving his whole upper body as one unit. Not sure I am explaining that correctly LOL!
But it is an easy fix. The ‘leading with the head’ shaping exercises are the answer to reinforce him for turning his head into the turn. If he turns his head, the rest of his body will also turn and then you will see him bend like a noodle.
I will pull up the link to it from the Max Pup 1 class – I think this is a good one to start with you using just a wing and no motion, to really isolate the turn of the head. My 2 demo dogs are both high percentage of whippet, so they found it easy to slide around like a noodle – so I will also go find the videos of my non-whippet dogs so you can see what they used to do and then how it changed by teaching them to lead with their heads into the turn (my Croatian/BC mix is a great example of it – he is NOT built to slither but by getting him to turn his head, you’d think he was highly angulated 🙂 )Nice work here! I will go find those links and be right back.
Tracy
Good morning!
I think people don’t realize that NADAC skills require some serious foundation – I cannot imagine how to handle those courses without verbals and massive commitment skills. And yes, Indy is brilliant too 🙂
>> My tunnel verbal is END, I purposely stayed away from IN, but your point might still be valid.
I run around my field and yell my verbals to see how they end up sounding at speed. My neighbors think I am insane (correctly hahaha) But it helps with the quest for different-sounding verbals 🙂
>>The handler has issues with determining where the exit is on the barrel, ie just a pass by, a 280 or a 360, so was trying to keep it simple with one set of commands.
That is totally relatable. I think of the exits as shapes: U or L or O. It helps me keep things straight without over-obsessing 🙂
>> My other thought process was that with a wing, the dog needs a directional, but I also like the dog knowing there is more to it (must jump as well, especially for the back sides). Where as the barrel, is simply dig and get around it in the correct direction and drive to what is next. So I think I want to keep the cues distinct.>>
Right, but in the interest of sanity and trying to spit out all those words at high speed: I have never seen a dog have any questions about whether the cue was for a jump or barrel or tunnel. It takes the pressure off because we can use the dog’s amazing skills to differentiate. The only time it might be an issue is if you ever see a jump and barrel very close to each other, as a discrimination – but I don’t think that ever happens, so no worries 🙂
>>>I am favoring the outside arm in and bent when the dog is behind me, but what happens when we are driving the DW and need the far end tunnel at the end and I am behind. Will she be able to see it.>>
Especially on a running dog walk, if you are behind and she might not see the physical cue…. it is alllllll verbal directional at that point. If you have a stop, the dog needs to wait til you are in the picture. But on a run? All verbals delivered pretty early. That is why RDWs take a long time to train because the end behavior AND the verbals must all get trained up.
>> An extended outside arm (lower) seem like it would be better. (Been working on thumb down in that position – helps keep arm lower and palm up, arm higher for NADAC turn aways). I need to decide and stick with it.>>
As I sit here playing with my thumb directions LOL…. yes, if you can do that, it will definitely help. It is hard to have a high arm with your thumb pointed down!
>>>I suppose it is good that I am thinking about this stuff and that my life is blessed, if this is what keeps me up at night!!!
This is SO TRUE lol!!!! My 3am obsessing was how to combine 2 toys to create my dog’s favorite toy into more of a tug toy LOL! It is a good life 🙂
T
Oops, sorry that I left out an important detail! Move them all to the half inch width at the same time. I think he needs them to remain in that one spot for a while so he can sort out the final details of the striding 🙂
And hooray for the full height dog walk! That is so fun!!!
TracyGood morning! Nice work in these sessions!
The first session looked good – the toy on the ground as a reminder to focus ahead worked nicely. She was fast and accurate in that session so I agree with you about moving in the next pole. That made her head explode for a tiny moment – when you moved the 4 pole a little further back out, she got it but she was thinking deeply about it. But that is GOOD! She was able to maintain her striding, maintain her focus ahead, get it all correct. She had to slow herself down to do it for a couple of reps but then she was back up to speed at the last rep. And you were great about just letting her figure it out 🙂 I really like it when the dogs think about things then add the speed back, versus when the dogs just go as fast as possible and don’t think about getting things right LOL!!So, because she was thinking about this – do the next session exactly where you left off here. You might want to do 2 sessions like that to hit all the entries (too many reps to do them all in one session). The poles were virtually straight here so then if the next session or two go well, you can just get the 2 pole into the center line, then we will just close them all the way up. I think as soon as she figures out the 4 pole, then it will be clear sailing to straight poles!
Keep me posted, this is looking great! How did your arts & crafts adventure go with the sand paint?
Tracy
Hi!
IT IS HAPPENING FOR SURE!!! I wish I knew how to get this device to put emojis here LOL!
And I have faith in your throwing skills (also, you can practice by throwing towards a bucket or something lol!)
>> With the striding, should I consistently look for swimming before making any closing advances?
Yes, you might spend a few/bunch of sessions at the half inch width, and that is fine.
>>Is it okay if he has an occasional hop as he’s trying to figure things out-
Yes, totally! Even the most experienced weaving dogs sometimes need to re-balance in the weaves.
>> I think some of that is related to the last pole opening and running for the toy.>>
Throw later. Let him think it through, find his balance – and throw after he exits (I am fine if he looks at you when he is done, for now). He might slow himself down for accuracy of striding right now: DON’T FREAK OUT. LOL!!! That is why I left the videos of CB slowing down to think about it and then speeding himself up again. They can’t go fast is they are still learning the coordination. Think of a mechanical skill you learned: typing? Playing an instrument? You had to slow down to get it right, but now you can fly through it. So let him get it right and then he will speed himself up 🙂
And of course – keep me posted!
Hi! Seeing both views is great, it is fun to see how he is using his hind end.
I think he is *almost* at the sweet spot for the poles but not yet. He keeps changing what he is doing at the entry (he was leaping in then he got his head lower then he was figuring out the feet) and that affects the striding. He did produce several reps of really lovely swim strides, which is great!
So I think the next step for him is to continue forward in the sweet spot quest and get him to feel the consistency of the rhythm, both at the entry and through the rest. That means all the poles should be the same distance apart. 1 inch might be a good starting point but I think at this stage you can go to half an inch, all poles. That will allow him to sort out the entries, exits, and striding.With that variable being changed, two other things come to mind:
Dial back your speed, reducing that variable for a session or two until he says “ah, got it!” Then we add back your speed at the half inch distance.
Also, click the MM later. Your clicks were coming during the poles, which was fine but now we are asking for duration on the striding and balance – and when he hears the MM click he tends to want to rush to it and will lose the striding. So, just delay the click til he exits or use a thrown toy after he exits. It is fine if he looks at you when he done for now, because there is nothing else to look at LOL!!And good job paying attention to the number of reps – limiting sessions and rest days get us closer to the end result faster, so with the next session being all the same distance, you will find it easier to keep track of things. The bigger dogs move poles all the time even when they are screwed in, so having them all the same distance apart will mean you only have to check that he hasn’t moved them 🙂
Nice work here! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning! The wing wrap looked good here! And he was a good boy finding the poles on both sides of you (excellent job with your line ups to make sure he was on the correct side too)
He definitely was more pumped up for the toy and was faster. That will be great to keep increasing his speed!
The other thing I noticed is that he looks up at you a lot, which we need to change to get the speed and accuracy on 12 poles. We can convince him to not look at you by taking you out of the picture 🙂 During your next session – you will be seated the entire time 🙂 Pull up a comfy chair! Have some snacks! But you will be seated and not moving. Use just one base of 2 poles to get started (because he is going to think you have lost your mind) and the PT. Send to the poles from your comfy seat and reward from the PT. Then call him back, send again. And so on 🙂 When you need to switch sides, either move your chair to the other side, or move the PT to the other end.
When he can do it with you seated on 2 poles, we go back to 4 poles. When he can do it on 4 poles, then you can get moving again – but we need to take your motion out of the picture for now because he is coming to rely on it. He can weave when you are there, so no the focus shifts to weaving when you are not there (because you will not want to have to be next to him when he is weaving, you’ll want to be running to your next position on course :))it is fun to train from a chair LOL! And you’ll see him figure it out very quickly 🙂
Nice work here! Keep me posted!
Tracy
