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Hi!
This is looking really good! She needed that first rep to remember it (that toy is tempting!) but then she had it. She was pretty darned perfect about driving in to the serpentine even with the toy on the ground. She also did well as you added the angles of her set up, which made for more collection. Your position near the jump was great. Remember to turn your feet to where the reward would be so your feet are not facing her- but that will get easier when you add motion.
She was very strong with the self-control of holding the stay and watching the toy go to the ground and still coming in for the serp! You can use a manners minder for this too, but I love how well she did with the toy. She was very excited but did not mess up. YAY!!
Remember to add in a couple of ‘catch’ and ‘pizza’ reps to reward the stay, especially as you bring the toy to the ground.
You can move on to fading the target out of your hand, and then to adding motion to this. You will see the ideas on how to add motion in the Week 11 games 🙂 She seems ready!Great job! I am looking forward to the threadles!
Tracy
Hi!
Actually, I think there were some pretty strong reps here! And you were asking for a slower, more methodical behavior (the rehab and conditioning vets do NOT want the pups flinging themselves around this with a ton of speed – she was moving slowly and that is perfect).
A couple of ideas to make it even stronger. Question: how does she do with the perch work, without the bar on the ground? If she is not that strong with it yet, you don’t have to add the bar. If she does really well, then you can keep the bar in.>> I supposed I have to go back and have her offer the turning? But she don’t like the pole there.
You can let her offer more, but also reward a lot more frequently. You can reward for the getting on the perch, and for every effort of stepping over the bar. There were some really good reps that did not get rewarded (like at :12 and :32) so then she was not as sure of what you wanted.
You can also release her after each reward, then play then ask her to hop up again. She definitely had trouble getting the reward then going the other direction, so you can separate them a little bit with the play break in between.
>>And then she wasn’t having it.
I think this had to do with the rewards – the idea to reward more will help, plus reward lower – have the cookies down by your knees, so her head stays lower. I think with the cookies up high, she was looking up and then that shifts the weight into her rear: so she was offering sits. If you let her see the cookies down by your knees (I leave my hands there the whole time) then she will lower her head, weight will shift forward – and that should free up her back feet for more movement. So the cookies can stay in front of her by your knees the whole time, then you give her one for moving her back feet. The cookies act as a focal point to help her keep her head down.
Let me know if that makes sense! I think that can help her figure out the whole picture 🙂
Have fun!
TracyGood morning!
>>The idea that serps are hard for young BCs due to the flanking issue makes total sense to me.>>
Yes, serpentines are counterintuitive for a lot of BCs (as well as any breed/individual that can be motion-sensitive or go into chase mode), so that is why we keep the angles open for a bit longer 🙂
The decel work is good for him! He wants to scope running out on a line so driving back to you without a lot of handling help (for now) will be really useful! I think he figured it out really well – my only suggestion is that you give a little more connection to him as he exits the tunnel – he was not entirely sure where to be so had little zig zag line going.
I agree that he was a little wider to his left than to his right – might have been because you did the left side first and then he got the idea? Or might be that he is more of a righty then it comes to tight turns. Either way – he did well on both sides! When you add more motion, try to ‘cheat’ a little so you can get into position sooner and show the decel earlier (for now) but sending him to the tunnel from further away so you can cut across to the wrap jump more quickly. You can totally work that left turn a little more to help him sort out how to turn tight to the left and to build the value for the extra effort. He definitely seemed to like the chasing after the turn, and that will really help him drive to the turn – making ti really fun and exciting like that helps convince the dogs that collection is fun 🙂
FC/BC video:
first rep with the wrap looked really good!!2nd rep (BC) – on these fluffy blinds, you can keep moving through to position rather than decel and send to the middle pinwheel jump. Motion/connection/verbal will support the pinwheel jump – when you deceled into the send, it ended up making you late for the BC because the decel delayed your arrival between the jumps.
The wrap to the ending line looked great!
3rd rep (FC) – same thing about not needing the send on this one (:40) – just keep moving. It becomes more obvious with the FC because of all the rotation. You were not moving in slow motion 🙂 but what happened was you decelerated to send, then had to scramble to get back up to speed and then do the FC… so he didn’t see it in time to make the turn. However, he drove right in as soon as he saw it (good boy!) and the wrap to the ending line was again lovely! Yay! He didn’t get flustered about late info and that is REALLY great.
4th rep (FC) – you drove in more here and did a smaller send – so you position on the FC was much better (1:03) The send did delay the FC rotation so you were a little late, but the better position made a big difference for him already! Nice! And that ending line looked great again – it was really lovely that he could nail it in both directions, every time. Happy dance!
So on the FC, you can work the line after the tunnel more laterally, so you are still in motion and able to get to a good position to start the FC before he decides how he wants to take off for the pinwheel jump. For the blind, you don’t need to be as lateral (because it is quicker to make the cross happen) but definitely keep moving.
>> On a good note -my husband decided he should take out the trash while we were training which is right next to the yard. Chapter found this VERY interesting but I was able to work on keeping his attention and letting him look but reward for engagement back to me. He didn’t leave work which was huge. He was able to focus pretty well despite the distractions. >>
That is HUGE!!!! I mean, I am happy when my hubs takes out the trash even if I am training the dog hahaha but to have Chapter be able to ignore it – fabulous! Feel free to encourage all sorts of distraction things from your husband, it is really helpful! And great job rewarding Chapter for sticking with you 🙂
Nice work here! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning!
This is looking really good 🙂 The confusion on the first rep might have been the standing on the board before the cue, or the cookies moving around over his head, or both. I mean, COOKIES! HA!
On the 2nd rep and all the others, the cookies were not as much overhead, they were more out in front. His body position looked good here and his drive into position looked really good (simulates what he will do on the teeter bang game). And he didn’t seem to have any trouble when you were standing. Yay!
For your next session, a few ideas to increase challenge: keep going with the leaping on from the side, but try the cookies right over his head (not out in front as much) and see what he says 🙂 And you can also mix in more toy play to see if being wilder/more stimulated is harder for him (probably not, but it will be fun to see!).
The other thing you can do is prop up the back end of the plank a little, so there is more ‘downhill’ angle to the target position – you can prop it onto something stable at first so he ‘sees’ the change for a rep or two, then prop it onto something less stable – I have been propping it onto a fitbone so it moves a little but not a lot, you can also use a pillow (sorry Kevin! Ha!) or a balance disc.Great job!!! He looks great!
Tracy
Good morning!
The handling video looks really strong! There were clear differences between the GO lines, the wrap, the backsides and the RCs. Nice!!! I think everything was very obvious for him so I only have one small detail to consider: on the wraps, try not to pull your shoulders towards the wrap wing (:20) as it delays the rotation and looks like a post turn. He should be able to read it if you face forward towards the exit line of the wing and transition in and out of the wrap. Really good job on the backsides – that is harder with young dogs but he got it easily because you made sure to be very clear with position and connection! Yay! Also, these were pretty strong independent sends too because you really did not have to go past the center of the bar for the FC rep there. And the timing on the FC was super nice, you were FCing as he was hitting the commitment plane before going around the wing – he seemed to have zero questions about any element of that. Also, the 12″ bar did not seem to be an issue and he was really driving! Since this is looking comfy, you can raise the turn bar to 10″ perhaps on the next session?
>>I also discovered that toys are single use 😉 He was happy getting rewarded once with a toy, but then the next rep needed a new toy (unless I use the food filled toys). Bringing out a little stronger toy drive is important to me since that’s really the only reward tool I’ll have when I start doing some NFC/FEO runs to test out skills in competition environments (not anytime soon though!).>>
I agree that adding more toy drive will be really helpful! Does he have absolute favorite toys? Those can stay hidden until you are working a sequence at the club. That might help him want to use it more than once. And you can try a session alternating between 2 toys. I also found that a bit of watching will keep his arousal high and you can get more toy reps that way too: doing one rep for the toy, then he can watch as his sister runs it, then coming back out for another rep with the toy.
On the paw targeting video – this was a cool session and he added a twist to it that I never even thought of: hooking his front feet over it. But I like that, because it gives him even MORE reason to drive to the end of the board!
>>At first I stay close to the target because as I move back, you’ll see he tends to drive a little over the target and drop back.
I think that will go away when it gets added to the end of a board (a plank or wobble board, at first) because there is a more definite edge.
>> I think a little bit of the issue is that the target is a little wobbly (which is why I added the cardboard). I was trying to use something (the wide blue yoga mat) that I could then transfer easily to other surfaces and the teeter. If the wobbliness is a problem, I also have a raised wooden carpeted foot target that’s a little longer than this target, but I could maybe attach the target too for now so he feels more secure hitting that with his paws.>>
Hmmm, he will guide us regarding the wobbliness but my guess is that he is going to want to slide into position (which is good) so you might consider the more secure target.
The concept is well underway, though, so I think the next step is to change your position – off to the side and also standing. I am excited for where this is going, great job with it!!!!
Lovely work here, let me know what you think!
Tracy
Hi! His serp skills are looking really good on the flat line here! Yay! This will be fun to open up and put into courses when the snow melts and you can get to bigger places 🙂
Threadles are good to add in – I was thinking the other day that threadle skills had been a little neglected with the youngsters. We don’t need a ton of the threadle skills at the moment but they do need to be brushed up 🙂
He was a good boy and was paying attention, particularly in a set up he has seen before that was all about serps. Try to make your threadle running line the same as your serp running line – straight up the line parallel to the jumps, without stepping sideways or rotating. I think on some of the reps as you opened up your threadle arm, you were stepping sideways and we don’t want him to read that as part of the cue.
He did better on the reps where you gave a turning cue as he approached the jump before the threadle so he was already turning and ready for more. When he had the errors, you didn’t have the turn cues and the threadle cue was after he had landed and locked onto the next jump.
Nice work here!!! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
>> Sometimes I can get 1 stride at about 13 or 14ft but he doesn’t extend enough so takes off long, overjumps and then scares himself a bit so chips on the next rep.>>
I think he did a one stride on the 1st rep at 14 feet then the other one stride reps were 12 feet. So on the next session, you can start at a bounce distance as a warm up (9 feet?) then go to 12 feet and then rather than move it out a foot at a time in the session, leave it at 12 feet, low bar, with you really running so he doesn’t settle back. In the adjustable grids, he *is* adjusting… but we want to convince him to adjust differently LOL!!!
>>Yesterday I didn’t like how he wa turning his head to me in anticipation of the thrown toy so I used the Pet Tutor today. He stayed focused forward but wasn’t as good with extending his stride.
You can throw the toy sooner, as he is over the previous bar. I think the moving reward was the most stimulating for him.
>>I’m not sure how much is a confidence thing vs conditioning vs feeling like it’s not worth his while to stretch out more.
All of the above? Plus footing, there is not as much grip on mats as there is on grass or dirt so dogs add strides (to avoid slipping).
>>I’ll go back to a thrown toy and before he takes off to ses if that convinces him it is worth using his rear more.
I think the thrown toy will also be stimulating enough that if he does something uncomfortable, he is likely to forget it quickly because the ball is very fun.
And, don’t do many reps at all in case conditioning is a factor (might be, it is the dead of winter and he is a baby dog) – that way fatigue is not a factor.
>>What do you think of the One Jump work that vets them to arc over the jump more? I have always just done the Salo set points and grids but the One Jump stuff is popular at Agile Canines.>>
It depends on which one jump work? The popular one jump thing that I see a lot is a definite no for me because it lands the dogs squarely on their shoulders and is highly repetitive. The dog is expected to push off with all that force and they land really close, while also turning their heads to get rewarded close: with no room for hind end to power out and help with the shoulder impact. The vet surgeons and rehab vets I’ve spoken to absolutely cringe to see that. And since shoulder injuries are currently all over the place, I avoid that exercise. If it is a different one, let me know (or send a video) so we can obsess – oops, I mean *analyze* hahaha
I also thing that young dogs go slower and add strides for a bit and then they realize they can go fast. So just making these grids super fun and NOT challenging at all will really help that – less thinking needed and more wheeeeeeeeeee! He is not doing anything incorrectly, we would just like him to open up on the ground a bit more – but that will come with time and experience, plus I think getting out on grass will make a BIG difference (and being in bigger spaces).
Let me know what you think!
TracyHi! He is doing well with the distractions here! And he kept targeting as you got the rewards into him, that is good too!
Wiggling the toy is not a big distraction and having it out ahead when you are next to him is not biggie either. The only moment, as you noted, was when the spider ball above his head caused a bit of a curl then he figured it out and it was not an issue either. Good boy!
>> He does tend to look back at me after the first touch if I am behind him. Not sure if that is an issue or not since he did go in to hitting the target first.
I don’t see it as an issue because when you had the ball out front, he was straight AND very fast into position at the end. If he hits into target position then looks to see where you are without leaving position – fine and dandy 🙂 because when you hang back like that and you are not moving, you will almost never release him forward (unless it is a gamble but most would have you moving along a line).
>>I haven’t been organized enough to get it on video because meal time is a bit chaotic, but he can nose touch my hand near the ground while I hold his dish of raw food above his head.>>
Perfect! The next distraction would be to also have you moving towards the distraction and/or moving and wiggling the distraction.
>>I haven’t done much with it, but so far I haven’t gotten much more tug/pull back on a wobbly surface. I thought the bully stick would work well but he didn’t want to grab it. That may have been because it was later at night and I think he thought it was almost bedtime. I did confirm that he knows he can pull the toy away from me but he doesn’t always really tug hard unless he has just finished a sequence so I think I’ll work a bit more on that without the bosu or wobble board first. >>
Yes, work it on the flat, even if it is just a shaped trick like pulling on a rope attached to something low (because we want his head to stay down and not above his back). It is also a great warm up trick to get him to pull back!
>>I may also see if the rented space has something wobbly I can use so I could do a sequence, get him tugging and transition to the wobbly thing.>>
Yes, if he is more stimulated he might do it. And also you can try the concept of the game with a cookie lure challenge – putting a cookie in front of his nose and slowly drawing it forward, challenging him to maintain being on the board. If he stays on the board – he gets the cookie. If he steps off, no cookie 🙂 That can help get the challenge going as the tugging gets built in as well 🙂
Nice job! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
Serps look really good in both directions! You can add a turn verbal on the tunnel exit but everything else looks great! The 10″ height did not seem to be am issue at all.
2 ideas for you as you do more serps – in this set up, get a little more ahead and see what he does! The other thing I would do with this is add more distance between the jumps to challenge understanding a bit more (with the jumps still slightly angled).
Then… flatten them all out 🙂 Wheeee!On the jump grids: I think that he is looking balanced here! Hard to see from the angle if he was lifting his butt but I think it looked easy and balanced. Yay!
At this stage, before more height gets added – let’s convince him to do more one-stride reps in the bigger gaps. I think the key to get that going is the thrown reward, not the placed reward. When the reward was placed, he was adding a stride before the last jump. When you were throwing the toy, we were starting to see the one-stride (1:11 and 1:27 – 2 hits of the front feet). So let’s keep going with that, both with you moving and then with you standing still but still throwing the toy. The balance parts of the grid look good, so I think we just need to get him to loosen his tie and feel the wind through his hair, first with you moving and then without you moving. Then the bars can go up pretty easily.>>He was jumping with his butt up in the air a bit in his class on Thursday (at 10in), but I think it might have been him still getting used to the footing (it’s that pelletless “turf” so new to him). >>
That is entirely possible, because that turf definitely has a different texture that might be weird 🙂 Plus it has a different ‘dig’ than mats versus dirt versus grass, so he might just be hashing out how to work on it 🙂
Great job! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
Pizza!! I just love that, it makes me smile EVERY time 🙂 Especially the way you say it – SO FUN!
Great job on this one – your mechanics were really strong (arms, feet, rewards, etc. – there is a LOT in this game LOL!). The body position and the reward are the two most important parts and you were great.
Also, nice job working her on the different angles (no problem, says Miss Ruby!) and you were nice aqnd close to the jump. Her only oopsie was when she almost broke the stay and then the cookie hand was moving around.
You can add more challenge by getting closer to the exit wing like yo were at 2:06, and being less in the middle of the jump. You can also show her motion moving into it, like you would be doing on a serp in the middle of the course: set her up in her sit, you walk around the jump the long way and get into position, then release her. That will be the first step to adding motion through the whole thing.
The next thing to add is the reward on the ground – a toy or a manners minder or an empty food bowl to toss the treat into. That increases challenge because it is SO distracting, but she is ready for you to work up to that.
Great job!!
TracyGood morning!
She is doing really well with the ‘get out’ behavior so that allows us to focus on mechanics that will be useful for other behaviors 🙂
For the get out – you can add even more lateral distance, so she is 4 or 5 feet away and your line is 8 or 9 feet away (approximately – you don’t need to actually measure it :)) That way she has to travel further for the get out and you can also mix in reps where you don’t do the get out and instead just call her to you. The stays went well so I think that this will be easy to add.One other thing to add – start to walk before the release, for two reasons:
1 – it gets you moving up the line and makes it easier to cue the get out and also to ask her to come to you
2 – it makes sure that the release and your motion are *not* paired. If you release and move at the same time, she might start to think that motion is the release. So yes, sometimes do that – but also sometimes mix in walking 3 or 4 steps then releasing while you keep walking. And sometimes don’t move at all and release her – that will emphasize the word as the release and not the motion.I see what you mean about liking the food a lot – she does have a hard time going back to the toy after a treat. You can try a much longer toy to get it swishing around for her to chase after a cookie. And you can also play this with 2 toys: throwing one as the reward, then playing with the other when she brings the first one back to you.
For this game, you can throw sooner before she looks back at you, even if it is just before she gets to the prop – that will help her hit it better too, because she won’t be tracking your cookie hand 🙂
>>What do you do when they miss?>>
Good question! For this game, because the prop gets replaced with a jump, I don’t really care if they don’t hit it as long as they are looking straight and going towards & over it. However, when you move to the running contact mat or box, you will want to maintain a 4 foot hit criteria – I start that a little differently and don’t do the back and forth stuff til the dogs are really good at hitting with all 4. And then, on the RDW box or mat, I call them back if they miss and reset and try again. If they miss twice, I make it easier by moving closer or reducing my motion.
Let me know if that makes sense! Nice work here!
Tracy
Good morning!
>>Winter showed up and life got in the way and progress has slowed.
I feel that same pain! At least winter waited til February to arrive, rather than November 🙂
>>We have been working some basics in the house. She is sending nicely to the minder manor target (red ball thingy) while I go in a different direction. We have been doing some strike a pose basic stuff. I have an L shaped hallway and both ends come into the same room. I can send her on a BIG out! We spent one day at a dog trial and she was awesome with impulse control on her cot (I only had to catch her once). Most importantly, we were near the ring and she wasn’t a crazy BC. It was also her first time in a soft crate and that was successful!>>
This is a great update! Especially the part about being able to get to a trial with her… that is really important with the youngsters and I am very excited to hear she was relaxed! YAY!!!
>>Appears the snow is melting and we’ll be back on track soon! See you soon and I’ll be dusting off my video camera for the March class!>>
Awesome! I am excited for that class, it is a really great group of people and dogs 🙂
Tracy
Hi! The get out cue looked great – she loves her prop and she had no questions about leaving you to go get it. Very nice!!
>>I added the motion too soon I think. This is hard. LOL. Probably need to go back to No motion.>>
You mentioned this with the first video, but I think she did great with the motion; you do not need to go back to no motion 🙂 The hardest part was the transition into the next rep because she LOVES hitting that prop plus she figured out the game so was leaving without you LOL!!! Here is what I suggest for that:
You can reward the get out with a cookie toss like you did. Then, whip out a tug toy, get her tugging, get the sit, set yourself up where you want to be, then do the next rep. She actually had a hard time sitting in front of the prop because the prop has soooooo much value – so getting her to sit and stay in front of the prop is totally worth it. Not just for this game, but for the future when she is all pumped up, on the start line, and the first obstacle is a tunnel. Wheeeee!!She is much better with her stay in front of a jump because we deliberately ‘installed’ the stay before we did a lot of work on how much fun the jump is (a couple of years ago, I decided that puppies should all understand how great stays are before we really let them know how great jumps are LOL!) But we did NOT do that with the prop, so it is a great sit stay challenge for you to play with, perfect for winter training when it is too cold to go anywhere 🙂
Doing the balance reps from a stay will be a lot easier, so add them in after getting the stay going.
Nice work! Let me know what you think!
Tracy
