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Hi! He is doing well! I totally understand wanting to ‘fix right now’ so one way to do it is to switch sides and fix it on the other side as a mirror image then go back to the harder side. Taking a break and coming back later is great too, because sometimes we need a moment to figure out how to help or sometimes the dog needs a moment LOL!
As you saw, he did have a little more trouble with the right side sends when you started to move down the line right away or when it was a threadle where you sent off your left.
I like the he was trying to fix it! You can tug with him between successful reps so then you will have a higher rate of success overall (because the come to the momma and tug counts in it too) and it will keep him really engaged.The break helped him and he came back strong on that side! On your next session, I would start there and get him going on that side successfully, with no changes to the poles. And then after a few successes, you can change to easier angles and also the other side… warm that up then tighten the poles a tiny bit when doing that. He is just about giving us striding and that is great!!!! So the next session would be this same angle on the right side sending for a couple of reps, then maybe 1 straight rep and one or two from your left (you would be at about 6 reps by then) so then you can tighten the poles for another 4 or 5 reps on slightly tighter poles on the left side and straight entries (don’t forget the straight entries LOL!)
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning! VERY nice session here – the different location and the clunky loud teeter seemed to present zero problems or maybe the opposite with him being more pumped up. Yay!!!
Bang game looks super strong: the scratch target got his feet involved and the lid got his nose lowered – and it was cool to see the foot scratching start to happen on it too. I really like the body position that smaller lid target brings, and I am guessing it will be much easier to fade. You can try the fading again and see how it goes (but leave it in for training in new locations or adding different/new variables. He seemed super confident here so as you add motion, be sure to keep walking until 2 or 3 steps after he has stopped in position (it is easy to get into a rhythm of stopping with him). And add more speed to your motion… and when that is looking good, add a little more height (he doesn’t need a lot more height on this game so the main focus can be on adding challenges and then fading the target).Rebound game: no problem. He is happy to let you move the board while you feed him LOL!!! Good boy.
Elevator game: SUPER! If you think the noise might be a concern, you can put tunnel backs on the base/chain of the teeter. I didn’t see him look concerned but if you felt a change in how hard his mouth was on the food, you can dampen the noise. But overall, he seemed super here too! Your mechanics were very clear and his was nailing it, no problem, stable in his balance and directly into end position (even moving his front feet off the board a little before it hit the ground). So you can go to Elevator 2, which separately adds in raising the board a little more and also adds in your motion, similar to what you were doing with the bang game but you do the countdown then target cue, and start to walk forward as soon as you let go of the board. Do that on a lower height so he can process it separately from higher height.
Great job here, all the games look great and that is particularly exciting because it is on a different teeter!!!!
TracyGood morning! He looks fabulous!!!
He is particularly loving the bang game and the downhills – holy cow! The downhill game is not supposed to get a ton of speed, but yet Sly has figured out how to go really fast. Wow!!! The bang game is looking super confident and that has translated to the downhills – very nice! This is exciting! And the moment when he self-released then went back and fixed it: BRILLIANT BOY! Loved that!
Only 2 little suggestions here: gradually add a little more tip so the high end is just below parallel to the ground, so he ends up running a little bit uphill then does the rest of it downhill. It is the beginning of merging the downhills with the mountain climbers 🙂 His end position is looking really strong here too!
And since there is so much tip on the bang game, try to convince him to not jump on the elevated end of the board – it slams down enough that there is concussion on his body and I don’t want him to wrench him =self getting on, I suggest a hand lure or cookie lure to get him to jump on in the middle, just above the tip, so the board doesn’t move when he jumps on and walks up.And when you have a moment, keep working the target fading on the bang game 🙂
Elevator game is also looking really good! I heard lots of good countdowns LOL! I think he is in “I know what to do, get on with it” mode so you can do a faster countdown. It can be 1.2.3 instead of 1……2…….3…… LOL! And raise it to where the board will start before the countdown starts, so he doesn’t wonder why the elevator is going up while you are getting ready to drop it.
The only tweak here is that the end position is really easy for him at this point, so he is looking up at you a lot (nothing else to do, it is easy for him :)) So you can move your reward target in closer and release him forward to it rather than cookie from your hand, to get him looking down and forward not up at you. So it would be something like hop on, cookie, raise the board, 3.2.1.target.release.cookie.When he starts looking ahead and not at you, that will be your signal to add your motion, walking forward after you cue the target and let go of the board.
Great job here! I am excited about his progress!
TracyGood morning! A vacation sounds wonderful 🙂 No worries about multiple posts, I look forward to it!
Are was great here! You didn’t post the shaping of it but whatever you did totally go the point of the game to her 🙂 She was driving in really nicely and you were using just the right about of motion: slow enough to help her get it, but also you kept moving so she was seeing the cue in motion which is exactly what it will be on course. Super!
2 little details for the next session:
On the send to the wing, remember to emphasize connection more and arm pointing less. She had a question at about :40 when you looked forward and pointed forward at the wing, which caused your shoulders to pull away from the line so she thought you wanted her to go to the wing of the jump (not the single wing). Compare it to :53, where your arm cue was softer and lower, showing more connection and she zipped right to the wing. Yay!The other thing is also about shoulders: Your position relative to the jump was really good in terms of running line and feet 🙂 The only other thing to add is an upper body rotation towards the jump, so the center of your chest points to the center of the bar or even a little back towards her (and your dog-side arm goes back so it ends up parallel to the bar). Then hold that position with the upper body while your feet do the same running line – feels weird, yes LOL! But the open upper body position helps the her see the come in and go out cue while you are adding more speed 🙂
And speaking of speed – she did really well, so in your upcoming sessions, you can start moving faster and faster 🙂
Great job here!!! Let me know what you think!
TracyI agree – holy cow, look at her speed!!! Is she going to be in my height class? Now I am scared! Eek!!!
She did great here too, even with you lateral. Yay!!! So a couple of things you can add:
Run really fast like you do with Sport and Jedi, no more walking. Wheeee! Fun!
Add more driving ahead by sending around the wing, running straight to the tunnel so you can touch it, then run right before she exits – see if she will drive ahead to find the jump.
And – add some balance: on some reps, about 3 feet before she gets into the tunnel, do a front cross and give a left or right cue to remind her that sometimes she needs to listen for a turn cue on the tunnel exit.Great job here!!! She is a rocket!!
Tracy
Hi!
>> And…when I use 4 wings. Do I have to start up by the 4th wing? Or start at 3?
Start at 3! That will get you running!
Speaking of running, holy cow she liked this game haha!! She did a great job finding the jump no matter where you were. Yay! My only suggestion is you can start your Go verbal sooner, before she gets into the tunnel, so she for sure knows to go straight.
As for the get it versus the yea for the toy: yes, ideally you would use ‘get it’ but the Go verbal implies that the reward is going to be thrown out ahead on the line, so that is why the yea works too. I mean, we are not going to yell GO GO GO then reward back by the house LOL! So try to say get it but don’t torture yourself about it if you are using the Go cue 🙂I think you can add more motion here and also add more distance between the jump and the tunnel.
Onwards to the next video 🙂
TracyHi!
>> And…when I use 4 wings. Do I have to start up by the 4th wing? Or start at 3?
Start at 3! That will get you running!
Speaking of running, holy cow she liked this game haha!! She did a great job finding the jump no matter where you were. Yay! My only suggestion is you can start your Go verbal sooner, before she gets into the tunnel, so she for sure knows to go straight.
As for the get it versus the yea for the toy: yes, ideally you would use ‘get it’ but the Go verbal implies that the reward is going to be thrown out ahead on the line, so that is why the yea works too. I mean, we are not going to yell GO GO GO then reward back by the house LOL! So try to say get it but don’t torture yourself about it if you are using the Go cue 🙂I think you can add more motion here and also add more distance between the jump and the tunnel.
Onwards to the next video 🙂
TracyHi! Just ot be sure I am seeing the same thing you are seeing: you are referring to him not being able to bend into the entry on your left side (and a little on the right too)? If so – yes, I see it too! He seems basically fine on the straighter entries and then he got better on the right side angles but the left was definitely harder.
The first thing I suggest is, if it is possible: get him checked by a chiro vet if there is one in your area. He is moving a bit differently in this video than in the others, so he might be ‘out’ or tight somewhere – either in his mid-back to lower down. Usually an adjustment and a day of rest and the dog is back to perfect weaving 🙂 If there is no chiro, let me know where you are located and I can try to find a good one near you, or a trigger point therapist. (Now that my young dogs are beginning to weave, they are all getting seen by the folks who take care of my adult competition dogs: a PT vet, a chiro vet, and a massage trigger point person. Totally worth it!)
Separately from exploring a chiro vet, you can open up the entry so poles 1-2 are a little wider than the rest of the poles. I would give him a day of rest (nothing other than laying around the house) because he might have gotten himself sore doing normal young dog things 🙂 so a day or two of rest might resolve it, followed by revisiting with poles 1-2 a little wider open than the rest of the channel.
Let me know if that makes sense! Keep me posted!
TracyHi! Good question about the tab! Any gentle restraint that he is happy with is perfect: a tab, a harness, or even a soft hand on his shoulders as long as he likes it. If he doesn’t like his collar being held or dug out from under his mane 🙂 then yes, use something that he is happier with 🙂 We want it to be a fun and exciting part of the process.
T
Hi! I feel the pain of trying to get things done without over-doing it! At one point when the 3 pups were 6 months, 11 months and 2 years old (yes, I have 3 puppies, I am insane haha) I had a calendar in my office where I literally mapped out what would get trained on each day – and it was just a little bit. And if it didn’t happen because life got in the way of the weather was crappy, I just shifted the task to a different day. I got through it and now it is much easier (plus I set a timer on my phone, or play a song and I finish the session when the song is over :))
And yay for a job offer!!! You will still be able to get great training in – but yes, it will suck to not be with her all day 🙁
>> Can you tell Indy to stop acting like an adult that knows stuff already?>>
For real! She is so smart and amazingly mature, it feels like she is a small adult… until her brain & body gets tired then I remember she is still so young LOL!!!!
You are doing a great job with her!!! Have a great weekend 🙂
TracyHi! I think this is already greatly improved! I think this particular challenge is simply not intuitive for the pups – lead changes on the flat are not something most of them do naturally (I added it to the puppy curriculum because my adult dogs struggled with it so I decided to teach it very early on :))
The other thing that is hard is that there is a lot of strength involved – it is built off of a fitness exercise from a sports vet 🙂 So it builds both the understanding and the strength that gets used for the semi-sideways jumping on serps, backside slices, etc. – that is all the stuff that adult large dogs in particular struggle with.So if he feels a little less responsive, especially when you are trying to get him to shift away: yep, I would agree LOL! And it isn’t just him – he is trying to go fast and figure out how to use all of his feets to feet the line that you are cueing. But he is really coming along nicely here! He is already getting the pattern much better than just a few days ago.
On the first rep, you were a little late with the push away cue and pointed a little too far forward so he was late shifting away and didn’t get into the gap. Compare it to the push away cues at :18 and :27 and also on the last 2 reps – you were earlier and more connected, so he got it really well! I think he is also beginning to recognize the pattern, which really helps so your handling won’t need to be as precise.>> Am I correct in thinking that we are trying to teach/establish the come in/ go out behavior as somewhat situationally habitual as we move forward with his agility training?>>
Yes – we are building the understanding and strength to use his body in that context, and getting him used to the sideways approach to the wing and bar that he will see in a variety of situations that involve slices (backsides, serp, threadles, etc). It gets simpler for the handler pretty soon 🙂
Great job!!! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning! yes, he is doing really well targeting now!!! Good boy 🙂 Nice work! And no worries about the foot pawing, that is normal and fine LOL!
I love his confidence on the teeter – so cool to see!!!So now that he is happy to offer the position and seems to have a good grasp on what to do with all the feets and his head 😁: Now we formalize the bang game to be able to build on it. The goal is that he leaps right on the very end of the board, all 4 feet, and into position with no added steps down the plank. So this is 2 part process that will move very quickly, totally focused on mechanics:
First, starting on the plank to familiarize him with the mechanics and concept:
start him next to you, right at the very edge near the target end of the board, with him between you and the board (the target is in position too). Gently hold his collar is you need to, so he does not start without you LOL! Give the target cue, let him jump into position – the plop the reward in right on the target. For now – there are 2 “Don’ts”: don’t move and don’t click 🙂 Those will get him looking at you and we want him to look at the target.
If he can easily do that for a session or two, you can start to add challenges like walking past, etc: but the starting position is always the same.The second part is easy: you reproduce the mechanic you used on the plank, but on the teeter 🙂 Starting with him jus was you did on the plank, with him right at the edge: gently hold him, give the target cue, and let him leap into position. This should be an easy transition after he learns the mechanics on the plank.
Now when you get to the teeter, start it with a lot less tip then he had here – he was losing his back feet often enough that we want to reduce the tip so he never steps off the board and so he can learn the weight shift.
So as with the plank, this gets formalized and very specific: which means don’t let him offer without you and also don’t send him from any position other than you being lined up at the side, at the very end – that is so he gets into the habit of the weight shift. When he was approaching more from the front, he was getting on with his front end then putting his back end on, so the line up at the side really emphasizes his back end and the weight shift.
Because of his confidence and speed, we will definitely be emphasizing the weight shift 🙂Great job here! He is moving through these really quickly, it is so fun to see!
TracyAh! He totally wears his heart on his sleeve 🙂 That is good info: for the elevator games, change how you do the sessions:
one hit wonders with super high double whammy rewards: one massive reward on the target, then a thrown toy to get him away from the board. Then no more reps until the next day. For example, my BorderWhippet HATED the elevator game until I did one hit wonders: meatball on the target then I threw his frisbee 🙂And if you do it in class, just do it once then release to the rest of the course 🙂
T
