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Hi!
>(Enzo’s AKC debut this weekend – very excited.+)>
I am excited too!! I will be stalking Facebook for updates 🙂 Have a blast!
This session went really well! I was chuckling during the first part of the video – you had a very musical rhythm of the left and right verbals coinciding with his front feet landing! As you send him into it, you can say left/right more than once on the way to the first jump so he can be sure – when you get quiet, he questions if quiet means ‘wrong’ or quiet means ‘ keep going, you’ve got it’. Which means one way to affirm he is correct is to keep saying the verbal, and if he is incorrect, turn it off and call him back immediately so he doesn’t get too far along.
>>even turning away from me.
Yes – that was a great part of the session, getting him comfortable with turning away. Most dogs are NOT happy to turn away from us, and you really set him up for success on that!! Nice!
>> He started out looking very sharp in the neutral position but I think that was luck.
I don’t think it was luck, I think he was actively trying to solve the puzzle. It was really cool to see him work through it, even more exciting when he would get it right! True, it was clearly an ‘early’ sessions in the perfection in that he was not perfect but he was getting it! Yes, there was some moments where you could see his thought bubble “Oh, the OTHER right” but plenty of moments from the neutral position where it looks liked he was actively thinking it through!
>> Next time I’ll creep up on it more slowly. I also think this training session was too long (too many mistakes) and he needed more help. >>
I would say next session can be a more gradually shift to the most neutral position. You can help him by being a tiny bit over on each side or lining him up in a very slightly less neutral position. Another way to help from the most centered neutral position is the very tiniest of tiny hand cues or finger flicks after you say the verbal to help. These little bits of help are fine for now, because they are really easy to fade.
>>I am a bit surprised since he is spot-on with spinning left and right.>>>>
The visual distraction of the 3 jumps makes it harder, but I am confident he will figure it out.
Great job here!
TracyHi! Lots of great stuff here!!
Minny Pinny video 1:
This is going well! I totally see what you mean about cutting in between the cone and the jump! LOL!! To help her out, you can vary the reward placement by tossing the cookie out to the landing spot of the middle jump on these (or just resetting and starting again like you did when she didn’t get it). Because she is so small, you can put more emphasis on driving out to that middle jump of the pinwheel by throwing the reward out there, rather than rewarding her for driving back to you.Oh yes, you did have left and right backwards on the section towards the end, so remember to take a moment and pick the word – I totally have done that too and it always happens when I am not actively thinking about it. Oops! The dogs are very forgiving 🙂 You fixed it for the last couple of reps and she was perfect 🙂
You can move to the proofing version now 🙂Serp – threadle – tunnel – nice work here too! The serps look good! I think the key for her on the serps is when you drop your shoulder back a little, she was perfect on all of those (more below on that). On the threadle reps – your position was great on these! Try not to rotate your feet at all on the threadles, it is the upper body that does all the work while your feet move forward to the tunnel (plus the verbal – you were using OK on these, so you can add in a threadle verbal like “close” or “in in”). You had some reps where you had very little rotation and she did well – so keep going with that, fading out the foot rotation and using just upper body and verbal to bring her in to the threadle side. At 2:47, there was too much rotation, it looked like a FC and she missed the jump (she is very quick!) so the less rotation, the easier it will be 🙂
Back to the serps for a moment (versus the tunnel): When you are moving, the arm dropping back totally helps the serps – when she went to the tunnel by accident at 1:31 and 2:17 3:33, your shoulder was forward, as it was when you cued the tunnel. Compare it to 2:34 and 3:37 when you had the little drop back of the shoulder and she was perfect. So even though she is little and you are tall, she totally sees and reads that shoulder movement – good girl! And the tunnel sends were great.
Jump – tunnel: this was a mentally challenging session for her (which is good, a little steam coming out of her ears is a good thing, she got lots of rewards!). The jump in this context worked nicely! The bigger lines from the jump to the tunnel needed a little more physical support – on the jump sends to start, you got that basically on verbals and she did really well!!!
On the first couple of tunnel sends – your feet were rotated so she was not sure until you leaned in – that little bit of physical support made a big difference for her. She doesn’t always need your feet to be straight, but the little bit of leaning really helps her see the line! That will be useful for gamble classes!When you switched sides, the tunnel entry became a rear cross – so she questioned it and had the same question at 3:15. That little bit of leaning in and the Manners Minder really helped her sort it out though! That is a good way to convince her to leave you for the rear crosses!
Then yes – it was really interesting how she lost a little interest in the MM – I wonder if she was put off by the beeping? Even when reinforcement was clearly available, she said ‘no thanks’ to it. I am curious to know how she felt about it on the next session, if you used it again?
On the big line from the jump to the other end of the tunnel: When you added the lean/step to the tunnel after the jump, she got it! Yay! The Go verbal also seemed effective there – but I think it mainly was a question the physical cue and not so much the verbal for now (but you can fade the physical cue soon too). That little bit of leaning (versus being stationary or upright) really make s a big difference for her, so you can add that to the verbals for the next few sessions – then fade it out to get it going with verbals only. But on course at a trial, you can plan to use the leaning to support her in any place where you don’t want to run in to the line.
Backside slices – I looked at it from the perspective of 4 different skills: getting her to the backside, getting her to take the jump when she arrived at the backside, the countermotion on the exits, and the FC and BC on the landing side back to the tunnel. Here are some ideas, sorry if I am skipping around a little 🙂
Getting her to go to the backside – overall she did well! The first couple on the flat before the cone got added were good! It was harder with the cone and that is where we can see what she is comfy with and what she needs help with. When you were closer to the jump it was easier for her, and when you leaned in a little too 🙂 so think of it more as a game for staying in motion and not sending. Moving up the line so she feels the support of the motion really helps. One other thing that will help – as she comes around the cone and you give her the backside cue, look at her more and at the jump wing less. When you looked forward, she sees your shoulders rotate to the front of the bar and she tends to come in and not stay out to the backside. You had this going really nicely in the 2nd half of the video. Then towards the end, there was just a little too much looking ahead (at 5:39 for example), so added more connection will smooth it out.Taking the jump when she arrives at the backside. This was the hardest part for her! Ideally, you would move through with your feet facing the tunnel, but she didn’t know to take the jump when you did that. At 2:32 and 252 and 5:24, for example, your footwork and line were PERFECT but she did not take the jump on those. When you rotated your feet she came in perfectly every time. That is effective when you have an easier line, but it will cause trouble when you are trying to get ahead (like at 5:24). So… we will train her 🙂 As soon as her little nose arrives at the backside wing, drop the reward in behind you on the landing side (but don’t rotate your feet) so she gets use to coming around the wing and looking towards the bar to find the cookies. You can use a treat hugger or lotus ball if you think a more obvious reinforcement will help her too. The other thing you can do is to angle the jump wing on the side closer to the tunnel out (towards the camera, in this case) to give her more of a visual for the bar as she comes around the entry wing – the bar will be more ‘right there’. When she gets more understanding of taking the bar, you can flatten it out to the original position.
Countermotion – this one is also good for developing the default to taking the jump! She had a couple of questions mainly because she was set up a little too much on the other side of the jump, you can have her sitting on the takeoff side for these reps. When she did come to the backside, you did get lots of nice commitment rewards in! Yay! far away so had trouble knowing which side of the bar you wanted – she can be set up on the front side
The FCs and BCs on the landing side: these looked awesome! You got her nicely to the backside and your rotations (you mainly did FCs) were spot on, and she easily found the line to the tunnel.
Great job! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
I heard that noise, I thought he was barking but maybe your yard is haunted!! EEEK!!!!The session went well here; I think this is a really good set up for him. He took the first bunch of reps to sort out where to put all his feet and how to navigate it! You can also use this as a bending grid for jump work the 2 outer wings tweaked in closer to the center, so he bounces while bending. It has nothing to do with verbals, but it is a good game LOL!! He got better and better with his footwork but still is sorting it out – he was changing it a bit and bonus points for going through the wing LOL!
The verbal part went really well – you did exactly what this was designed to do: slap on the left and right verbals 🙂 You can keep saying it as he is heading towards jump 3, so he turns left/right on the 3rd jump too – but then reward him on that 90 degree angle of exit rather than straight.
And you are going to laugh – don’t get too exciting when you praise and offer the reward if he is still in the little grid – he gets so happy that he stops jumping and runs over the bars. LOL! So I think you can solve that by adding the last left/right and rewarding after he finishes the turn on jump 3 (then you can be totally exciting :))
Great job! Onwards to the proofing!
TracyHi!
Still trying to picture it, do you mean something like this:nn
u e
T LI-I
I-I
I-ISo, 3 jumps facing more of the center of the tunnel and you want either the T entry or the L entry? If so, then yes, I think left or right verbals (plus whatever physical cues you can do) would help and then when the dog is turned, you can indicate the tunnel. I also use a ‘get out’ cue for when the dog has to move away from me in this situation. Let me know if I am picturing it right?
Hi~ My brain might be tired, but I am having trouble picturing this 🙂 Are the jumps parallel to the entry or perpendicular?
In general, if it is a somewhat collected left/right turn even if it is not a full 90 degree, then left or right is fine. If it is a gradual turn and not really collected, a name call is good. Depends on the dog! And if it is a tunnel discrimination where the dog’s line is towards the ‘wrong’ end of the tunnel, then I use a separate verbal to get the correct tunnel entry.Tracy
Hi! I agree – great job, Ruby! She definitely liked this game LOL!! I watched both of the clips back-to-back and she was great in both. You added nice distance too on the 2nd one – did you put a marker on the floor for yourself? Clever!!!! Since she as perfect both with you close and you further away, we can now add more challenge:
– move the wing a little further from the wall, so she can go around the outside if she feels the need to make a mistake. I don’t think it will happen, but sometimes herding dogs like to go around the other side so I want to make sure she has the option to learn that going around the jump on the outside will not get rewards 🙂– I don’t think you need to click this anymore. When you see her looking at the jump and moving towards it (like she was here) then you can just “yes” her and throw the cookie. That gets the cookie out there before she looks at you.
– and definitely she is ready for more motion now. Starting close like you were in the first video, be walking back and forth the whole time. That means she has to ignore your motion and find the jump when you are moving or when you are ahead of her or behind her. I think she will have no trouble when you are close to the jump – so start nice and close, but then add distance if she finds it easy 🙂 Can she still find it when you are a few feet away AND moving up and back on the line? (Probably, I am guessing she will be great LOL!)
Let me know if that makes sense. Great job here!
TracyHi!
The perching is going well! He is methodical in a good way: moving each foot one at a time without being frantic or wild about it. That is perfect for this type of stuff! He seemed a little better going counterclockwise in terms of being smoother and with an ease of motion. He was able to go clockwise but it seemed like he was not as coordinated. So keep working the clockwise in small chunks, so he can get his feet under him that direction too 🙂
For the cavalettis – yes, we want him to trot with his head straight so there are a couple of ways to do it:
* Shameless luring 🙂 You can use a long spoon with peanut butter on it and just lure him through LOL! This is good for conditioning because it gets the behavior going.
* rewarding the gaps – click and drop a treat in each gap so he trots through each gap and doesn’t look at you. And have a bowl at each end, far enough away that he can get his whole body out – and the last treat comes in the bowl. Eventually you won’t need to treat in the gaps and he will trot back and forth between the bowls.Also, the distances can be shorter – maybe try 16 – 18″ for now? Usually cavalettis will be no wider than the dog’s height at the shoulder but it might be worth it to try a little tighter for now as you convince him to trot and look ahead and not at you 🙂
Nice work! Glad you are staying warm!
TracyHi! This looked really good! He had no trouble finding the lines to the front side towels or the backside slices 🙂 Yay! Easy peasy! You can even use the rolled up yoga mat you have up against the wall as a ‘jump bar’ for a bot more challenge. Two next steps to consider:
On the backsides, move away from the wing a little more, bit by bit – so he stays on his parallel path to the backside as you are gradually further across the ‘bar’. Right now you are where the towel meets the wing. So you can be moving towards one or two inches further from that junction (more towards the center of the towel and less to the wing).You can also do some 360s on this set up! They are here with the head turns:
https://agility-u.com/lesson/tight-turns-leading-with-the-head/
Great job!
TracyGood morning! This was really cool to see – the evolution of plankrobatics confidence 🙂 I agree that as soon as he figured out how to turn around, he got happy with the game very quickly. Nice! And he was not concerned at all about adding more tip. If he remains happy like this, you can add a little more tip the next time too! Does the training space you rent have a teeter? It would be good to play teeter games in a new place – I always start back several steps on new teeters so it is really easy, but it looks like he is really ready for meet and greet different teeters 🙂
Great job!
TracyHi!
yes, he is a different timing than what you are used to – not just because he is speedy, but because he has a BIG stride! With the littles, you had a little more time because they had to take more strides. With Chapter, you have less time because his stride fills the distance. But, it will be easier to get commitment!I think you did a great job with the wing game here! Having him commit behind you is great because he prefers to chase you and go fast, so he had to be PATIENT and work his commitment while you ran away. Good boy! He made the one error on the first rep – he was at the wing and you moved away and he didn’t finish the wrap. But you worked through it and he was fabulous on the rest of the reps. Yay! It might be that he was looking at the toy, or chasing your motion. But either way, he was really good on the rest!
I noticed that on the purpley wing on the left side of the screen, he turned a little wider (on a left turn) then on the other wings. The right turns looked a little tighter. On the left turn there, you can help him out by making more connection on the exit, in the form of more direct eye contact. It is possible that he was a little wider there because he didn’t see the connection as well – he was not wide on the left turns on other wings.
The race tracks looks great! There was one rep (last rep) where you said right and here and I was not sure if you wanted him to skip the outer wing and come through the box? But he was finding his lines beautifully.
One other thing that I loved on this session was that the reinforcement was delayed a little bit. You had it stuffed in your jacket, maybe so your arms were free to handle, which means he had to wait a heartbeat or two while you praised him and took it out. That is great – he needs to learn about those delays in reinforcement for when he trials! And he was focused, relaxed and happy – no running off or getting discouraged because the toy was not right in his face. You may have done it on purpose, or not…. but either way, do more of these delayed rewards on handling stuff because it is a great prep for trialing 🙂
Have fun!!! Great job here!
TracyHi!
>> also wondering about the instructions to stand still instead of stepping forward after dog does the nose touch? is it for shaping the behavior/independence?>>
I think you are referring to the threadle and serp games not the backsides here.
The stand still instructions are for 2 reasons:
First, to help the dogs be correct with the driving in to the handler, particularly when a jump is added. The threadle and serp understanding is precise and subtle, and it gets muddled my motion when the handler moves (most handlers move out of them incorrectly especially in the training stages, stay tuned for more of that). What happens is when the handler moves after the touch, the dog ends up on the wrong line (doesn’t make the second turn that is required for both of these skills) and either ends up on the wrong side of the jump or bypasses the jump.
Second, related to that second turn: both the serp and threadle cues are two-part behaviors for the dogs: come-in then turn-away. These behaviors are similar but placed differently relative to the jump. The initial cue is designed to cue BOTH of these elements and not just the first part (come in). When I say my threadle verbal and show the cue, for example, the entire behavior I am asking for is “come in between me and the jump then turn away taking the jump“. I do not give an additional cue to help the dog take the jump (with a trained dog, I just leave when I see acknowledgement).
So by standing still, we are able to show the dog both elements of the desired response without accidentally building in an additional cue (placement of reinforcement is hugely helpful for that!). If we move after the hand touch (like stepping to the jump on a threadle or pointing to the reward on the serps) then we are possibly creating a reliance on the additional cue, as well as rehearsing undesired handler mechanics.Let me know if that makes sense!
TracyHi! I will get one for you when I get home tomorrow – currently holed up 5 hours from home with one of my dogs getting surgery today (in a snowstorm of course). I also use the PVC frame from my table for early training.
TI didn’t notice the bow the first time, I was too busy cracking up over the chewing. LOL!!! It was like he was chewing boulders LOL!!! But I went back to look for the bow: SO CUTE!!!!!!!!
T
LOL! That is awesome!
I thought of a variation of your backside slice game – you can roll up some towels as jump bars and lay them on the line you want over, so he gets the visual of a ‘bar’ and still works the backside of the wing. Then you can switch sides, and he can do parallel path over the towel bar and you can be on the outside of the wings. I figure the weather is going to be poopy for a bit, so creativity for indoor agility is needed 🙂T
