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Hi!
Pop out 3 – this went really well and was a good rehearsal for trials!
Really nice opening line – you can set him up on a slice to 1 so he doesn’t have to turn much at all to find 2.
Nice timing of the FC on the 4 tunnel 🙂 He saw it all before he went in!
You did a spin on 6 which got a lot of collection and he looked at you over the bar… I don’t think he needs a super strong turn cue there. I bet a brake arm (opposite arm cueing alongside dog-side arm) as you turn your shoulders to the tunnel is all he needs there.
Super nice backside push at 8 and lovely ending line!!!
Pop out 2:
He ran the opening line well but you can give him more connection 2-3 (:48, 1:06, 1:34 and 2:45 so he doesn’t look at you. You were looking forward at the line more than at him, which turned your shoulders away from the line – so he checked in. Really nice decel into jump 3 there got a great turn there!You ran 5 as a front side on the first run, it looked good 🙂 On the other runs, you handled 5 as a threadle wrap – he needed one more step forward and less arm flip on the first one (1:11) but the other reps were really lovely at at 1:21 and 1:41 and 2:51!!!
The spin on 6 and 8 were getting some questions from him – I think in the small space, it is more collection than you need and also it doesn’t move you to the next line. By staying too close to the line on 6, the moment of the spin carried you a bit towards the tunnel so he looked at it at :56, and actually went to it at 1:44! And the spin on 8 at 1:00 and 1:29, for example, got him looking at you rather than at the line. So those are good spots to use brake arms and shoulder turns, starting as he is landing from the previous jump.
Great job here!
Tracy
Hi!
Good timing of leaving the wrap position to get to your next line! His commitment also looked really good – you didn’t have to do much at all to convince him to take the bar as you were moving forward.
You will find these are even easier if you are not as far ahead – that way you can keep moving, plus you won’t have to step to the side to get around the wing. That is what happened at :12 and 1:16 where he dropped the bar: you had to step the side to get around the wing then stepped forward, so he had to change his line over the bar. Going in closer to the tunnel entry means you won’t be as far ahead, so you can actually keep driving forward more (he will pass you before you get locked into the position at the wing).Nice work!
Tracy
Hi!
These are going well too! He is finding the line really well, so it was all about exactly when to begin your decel.As you begin the decel, be sure to maintain connection to his eyes. At :09, for example, you looked ahead at the jump when you started the decel and wrap cues, so he looked up at you.
On that rep, you can be one stride sooner with the decel so he can collect before takeoff: when you see him land from the middle jump, start decelerating while still facing forward.
On the other dog-on-left reps:
I liked your timing at :58 the best! It started earliest! You broke connection there by looking forward so he pulled off the jump, but I bet the turn would be perfect if you decelerated at that same time (just after he landed from the middle jump) and kept looking at him as you said the wrap verbal.The timing at 1:22 was also good, plus you were connected so he collected before takeoff. This was his best turn on the video!
Looking at the dog on right reps at :34 and 1:38 – these can have the decel start sooner, like you did when he was on your left. He was seeing the cues when he was almost at takeoff of the wrap jump, so he did the turn after he landed and was a little wide. So with this side, you can start the decel when he lands from the middle jump too.
Nice work!
TracyHi!
>She’s very impressed with his foundation training so she signed up for Max Pup1!>
That is so fun! Max is looking fabulous indeed 🙂 Thanks for the referral!!! I am excited to ‘meet’ her here 🙂
The timing and connection video looks strong!
On the first side (dog on left) your cues were very timely!
On the 2nd side (dog on right) you started off with timely cues and then the last cue for the last jump ended up being a bit late (he was already at the jump :)) And you can use your ‘get it’ marker and throw the reward sooner so he doesn’t look back at you – you can throw it as soon as he looks at the last jump! Your connection was spot on so I am sure you will see him looking at the last line.Great job!
TracyHello and welcome!
The one step sending to the middle jump went well!
Video 1: On the first 2 reps where she was on your right side, I think you were too pointy 🙂 meaning you were pointing ahead of her at the jump with a high arm. She took the jump but the pointing ahead can break connection and cause questions on harder sequences.
When she was on your left, though, you kept your dog side arm out of the way and used connection and a big step: those 2 reps were super!!!!
On the 2nd video – is starts with a question due to a pointy arm cue 🙂 You ran forward after releasing with your arm up, so it was not a send and she went past the jump. You lowered the bar right away – but it might not be the bar height, it might be the cue so look at the video and see if the cue is clear before lowering the bar 🙂
When she did take it at :58, you can see how much wider the pointy arm cue plus motion sends her over the jump (as compared to :58 on video 1, for example, where it was a really nice send cue and she was turning really well too!)
Nice work here! You can move forward to the next set of games posted yesterday!
Tracy
Good morning!
Millie is like the Lazy Game Spokesmodel. She loves it so much and that is hilarious! She is pretty explosive here on the sends to the wings, but also accurate in terms of finding the wing and turning really tight – she must find the stay as a fun anticipation for the sending. Perfect! And you can add your wrap verbals here to begin using them with her too.
She only had one question here:
The send at 1:17 didn’t have much connection so she was careful but went anyway – she saved your bacon there! LOL!Note the difference in speed at 1:30 and on the next reps with great connection. Fast and confident, but still really tight around the wing!
Adding the tunnel was easy peasy and just as much fun for her. I love it!
> Her first tell is that she just can’t hold her sit. It’s like the amount of effort that she has to put in just completely wears her out.>
The hard stuff does deplete glucose and oxygen in their brains, so they can be fidgety and not as focused. This is clearly NOT that hard for her, just very motivating which is why she was so fast and engaged the whole time.
Her success here leads right into the games posted yesterday, where we get to do some real handling and timing of cues! Great job here and have fun with the handling games!!
Tracy
Hi!
She did REALLY well here, especially on the 2nd part of the session! This is hard and she had a lot of success!During the first part of the session:
She had trouble finding the jump in the face of the tunnel – good job rewarding the jump even when it was the backside then using the wrap cue to help her out too. The wrap cue seems like a more powerful cue than the ‘jump’ cue.The 2nd part of the session had even more success. Yay!
You can add in the 2nd wing to start from, and also does she have a go-around-behind-your-back start? For some reason I remember that she does – you can use it here to get her moving before the wing wrap, so you can start the verbals even sooner.
Try to mix things up each session so you can also swap positions – tunnel is closer and jump is further. And then add the weaves 🙂 You can revisit the game as a mental warm up a couple of times a week, using short sessions and different obstacle positions.
Great job!
TracyGood morning! These runs went really well! I liked your course strategy and you set up really clear, fast lines. My feedback is only on some subtle stuff:
The opening looked really good both times! You can set her up on more of a slice a 1, so there is more extension and less turn. That will make the line even speedier!
The blind after the a-frame looked really good! You can do the blind sooner on the landing side of 6 (:20 and 1:25) – she was over the bar and had to wait for you to clear the line, which slowed her down. So when you exit 5 and see her looking towards the backside of 6, you can start the blind so it is finished and out of the way before she takes off.
Another option there is to keep her on your right 5-6 and handling 7 as a rear cross. You can flip her away and even play with layering the 6/18 jump while she is on the dog walk!
She had a really nice weave entry both times after the dog walk! On the first run, lovely blind to 10-11. The FC there at 1:38 worked too but blind will be earlier and quicker info for her if you are waiting to do it til she exits the weaves.
The 11-12-13 line looked good too – you can play with layering the 10 jump while she is going from the tunnel to the 12 jump. Another really nice blind after that, this time to the teeter. It set up the backside at 14 really well!
You handled the 14-15-16 line two ways, which was fun to see. The first way was as a threadle wrap on 15 – on the first rep through there, you can turn to face her line more (and away the front of the jump) at :41. You sounded urgent there, so maybe she was looking at the wrong side of the jump? You turned away from the jump and set up a better parallel line to the threadle side more at :55 and she had a smoother line.
> The first run I forgot what side of the jump before the tunnel.>
Yes, 16 should be the front side/threadle side – when you handled the line before it as a backside send to the other side of 15, that set it up really well and *might* be the faster option (is probably the faster option). I couldn’t do a direct comparion with a timer because it looks like she went to the backside of 16 on the first time through there.
She had a small question exiting the 17 tunnel, so you can tell her what you want there before she enters – the backside verbal can start before she goes in, so she extends more on the exit and doesn’t slow down waiting for more info.
The rest looked great! The only thing to note there is that 20 is a backside not a straight line. Working it as a front side, though, set up really nice layering and a super fast & smooth ending line!
>Taq did ok on the parts I ran but was sticky and not wanting to take obstacles. I will try it again with her this morning.>
It is hard stuff for a youngster – you might have to ramp up the connection to help clarify the cues. There are so many obstacles everywhere that she might need more support. And you can tweak the sequences to have fewer backsides (for now) because she might think they are weird 🙂
Great job here!
Tracy
Good morning!
He did really well with the lazy game! You can definitely move on to parts 2 and 3 where you do more sending and a tunnel gets added in 🙂 And you can add more distance, he is ready for that too.
He is doing the teeter but he is a little concerned about it. Most dogs are a little concerned early in the training, so a less-is-more approach will help 🙂 Do only one or two reps for incredibly high value food… then be done with the session and go do something else. When we do too many reps, the dogs start to over-think it and get more concerned.
The high value food can be his entire meal or a giant meatball 🙂 Then after he gets off the teeter, he can have his toy.
He will quickly associate the teeter with amazing things happening and begin to really drive up the board – but still only do one or two reps and then be finished. Leave him wanting more 🙂 It takes some time to build up the teeter love but then it turns out really well!
Nice work here!
Tracy
Hi! She did great here! I agree, she likes the lazy games and is happy to work hard while you can be a nice lazy handler LOL! Gotta love the working breeds!!
>The whole session was about 4 minutes long, everything on the video and break (that I cut out) to reload treats. This was a long session for her. I kinda lost track of time and reps because she was so into it and she is very clear when she’s running out of gas/brain/energy/motivation/focus….and she never showed any of that. I might have to start setting a timer for her! Never needed one before this today. >
Yes – she never showed any signs of physical or mental fatigue here. She was a perfect combination of fast and accurate with a lot of stamina. Was it because of the super high rate of reinforcement? The clarity of info you were delivering? It was very clear in terms of your sends and connection and verbals! Was it because it was the right balance of short bursts of speed on fun lines and little moments between where she could catch her breath? Was it because there were no really hard turns where she had to slow down and bend? Was it because she is maturing and has more physical/mental stamina?
All of the above? LOL!! It was a really terrific session and clearly it was not too long.
But also yes, for harder skills you will want to have a shorter session. Setting a timer helps! Or, if you need to stop to reload cookies – take that opportunity to take a break of several minutes or more. I also turn on music – most songs are about 3 minutes long, so I use the end of the song as my cue to stop 🙂
Great job here!
Tracy
Hi!
>One step sends, that some aren’t sends…>
Yes, the hardest part here is slowing ourselves down so we are stopped at the tunnel exit and then just take one step to send. You were sending sooner and sooner without moving to the wing as much, and he was committing really well!
:35 was GREAT in terms of how you stopped yourself at the tunnel exit and just took one step. Super! You took just one step at 1:11 too – not quite as close to the tunnel exit but it was only one step and he sent really nicely.
1:24 was good in terms of being at the tunnel exit and taking just one step to send, but you were looking ahead and not connected, so he was looking at you and didn’t go to the wing. So definitely remember to look at him as you send (and don’t look ahead to the obstacle).
You can also apply that ida of hanging out at the exit of the previous obstacle to set up a one step send when you added the middle wing: as he is in the tunnel, go to the first wing (you can go right to it, no need to send to it). Then as he is going around it, take one step to send to the middle wing then do the FC. I bet he can do it!
And you can add even more challenge by adding more distance – have all the wings further from the tunnel by a few more feet, and further from each other too 🙂
Great job!
TracyHi!
He is looking super strong on the dog walk here! He wants to look at you as he exits the down ramp, which could cause him to pop over the contact. So to keep him looking straight, tell him where you want him to go next before he leaves the ramp (or throw a reward). The ideal timing is to give the next cue no later than when he is at the top of the down ramp. And it might end up being even sooner 🙂 But that will help keep him looking straight and hitting his contact.
Nice job!
TracyGood morning!
Kaladin’s video:
Yes, there was a little tipoff in where you were facing at the beginning, but only a little (he had to curl in front of you to get the jump, after which you were turning too). That was fine because it was happening afterwards. He had a couple of questions early in the session but then he did really well! He has some good experience with jump-tunnel discriminations, so while he had to think a little he was able to be very successful. It was cool to see him get all the way through to the last one where he did jump and tunnel in the same rep! Yay!
Lift’s video:
>I think starting her stationed on the cot did help.>
The cot station then release into the session takes out her bopping around on the way to the start of the session.
Because this was new and hard, it was great to start in a calmer mode, and also introduce the concept that it could be either a jump or a tunnel (and not just whichever was closer to you). That went great!
>She also has different treats in the fur lotus tug (I need to get some different tossable treat toys since she thinks the pull apart wallet-style ones I have are pretty hard to get into – she seems to like the lotus style opening better) >
How does she feel about a treat hugger or clam toy?
>She is still not a fan with me starting her while holding her collar so I ditched that after the 2nd rep and moved to the wing wrap (not too much better in her book so I wasn’t picky about which way she decided to wrap and just went with what she offered).>
That was smart!
As the session on the first side continued, she had more arousal going (you were not restarting from the cot) so she was doing her bopping around more and at 1:49 when she was not entirely sure, she jumps up (and might have vocalized a bit, hard to tell). Then she processes the tunnel verbal and goes to it! Yay! Yes, it happened to be the tunnel she saw over the jump but who cares – she overrode the arousal and processed the verbal. You rewarded it happily which was exactly the right thing, and the next rep went even better.
>Probably should have stopped while we were ahead. >
Yes, stopping the session there would have been good, or after the first rep or two on the next side where she was successful. This kind of work uses up a lot of brain juice (<—— scientific term) and by about 2:43 she was not able to maintain an optimized arousal state when the info was not clear.
Remember that she is not as experienced as her big brother 🙂 so is likely to not get as far in the skills stuff. And that is fine of course 🙂 So try to just work one side, maybe 2 minutes, and if it goes well? That is your signal to stop and revisit the other side on a different day 🙂
Nice work here!
Tracy
Hi!
She is doing really well and I am excited about how well she is finding her jumps!
Sequence 4:
When she is on the start line, she is definitely planning her first line 🙂 So be sure to line her up at 1 so she is not facing the tunnel at all. If you are both sorta facing it at the start, she will release to it. Asking her to start on more of a slice (facing the video camera here) will help and you can also be facing the next line before the release.
The advice to have your hips firmly turned to the right was great – hips don’t lie! Let her see that before the release so she takes off the correct direction. That is what you did at :18 and afterwards, and she was great!
Looking at the line and turn to 3 – on the first rep, you were a little late turning and also you were moving towards the center of the bar there at :31 which looks like a backside push cue. Good girl! The line you turned to was much better at :45! It was actually really good to see that she can read both of the cues there, based on the handling!
You added a spin on jump 2 and it worked, but I think that is more handling than you will want or need there (especially at 1:06 when you were really decelerated). A brake arm can help but also turning and running to the right turn wing was a strong cue for her.
After 3 at :46, getting into the layering:
– on the send past the tunnel, resist temptation to put your arm higher than your head because that turns your feet and shoulders to the tunnel. That is what happened when she took the tunnel.
Instead, keep your arm, make a BIG connection to her eyes (say the cues to her directly) and accelerate parallel to the line you want her to take – that will propel her into the layering.
On the reps at :57 and 1:09 – you had a lower arm (that let her see the connection a lot better and kept you parallel to her line) and more parallel line motion – so the layering looked great! 1:09 was especially good because you accelerated sooner so you didn’t have to go past the tunnel at all.When she is on the layering line, it is good to see she is still reading the cues! You can accelerate more on the line and give a bigger connection cue and verbal to get the 6 jump – you were decelerated and fully turned at 1:12 so she correctly did not take the 6 jump. Good girl! She read it correctly as a turn cue on 5. Super!!
Nice work here!
TracyHi!
>It was slightly improved but I still struggled with it. >More than slightly improved! So much good stuff here!!
>We also tried a standing startline for the first time. Might have to play around with this a little more.>
She likes the stand-and-stare there at the first jump! Just be sure that the release is not paired with your arm coming up.
Very very nice opening on all of the runs here! She found the 1-2-3-4 lines brilliantly. The questions on 5-6 were more about timing.
You dropped your arm and moved into the cross at 5-6 too early (:10) and she fell on her head a little 🙂 MUCH better timing at :39 and :59!! Nice! You were a little too early at 1:20 so she didn’t take 5. The other thing that really helped at :39 an :59 was that you were accelerating into the turn. At 1:20, you were a bit too decelerated and started the cross too soon, so she was driving in to you. Good girl!
Stay closer to the 6 jump as you do the cross – stepping back towards it at 1:00 is why she went to the tunnel. She was already on the way to the tunnel when you turned your shoulders to 7. You can also add a spin on the 5-6 line, which you can do from wherever you are after the cross and will not present motion towards the tunnel.
Great job!!
Tracy
