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Hi!
Nice work here – it is very cool to see your movement getting better and better with each video!!! You will be back to running full blast soon!She had a couple of moments of giving you feedback on the handling but overall this went really well.
On the cue to take jump 1: on the first run and the lat few runs, you had your arm back and eyes on her eyes as you released her, and stepped to the jump. This combined to turn your shoulders and feet to the jump so she committed perfectly even with you miles away from her. Super!
At :53 – you had your shoulders and feet turned away, and you released with just an arm point… that cued her to not take the jump.
I put some screenshots here so you can see the difference:
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1tfL6fY2RtTq0Z812kZxaUp1KQiFX-Stzn8pu1WMmF_o/edit?usp=sharingSo definitely keep doing that lovely connection on th release!
You had good timing on the FC at :19! The BC worked well too at 1:43 and 2:23 (1:43 was the best timing though). And the good timing of those crosses allowed you to set up the line and get the turn to the tunnel. When you were late at 1:15, that set a very different line as you moved forward, so you ended up with the off course jump. You asked her if it was you that caused it and he said yes and thank you for the toy LOL!! I put screenshots of what she saw there too.
Her only other question was on the last line where she was looking at you as you were wrestling with the toy a bit 🙂 You can run with a small toy in your hand so she doesn’t look at you as it moves around, and then you can throw it to keep her looking ahead at the line.
Great job here!!
TracyHi!
>I’m thinking it was a bit of both, I have to be perfect when the environmental pressure is on – going to be a while until we enter any multi ring trials>>
Yes, it could be both – the distraction of the other ring affects processing, plus perhaps the cue was not perfect 🙂 I don’t think you need to be perfect as long as you keep going and he thinks he nailed it 🙂
I agree that he did well in the seminar!! That was complicated course work!!
>>I did get a why are you rewarding your dog for making errors lecture with a warning that it would give me problems with maintaining criteria. My response was it’s not him making the mistakes>>
EXCELLENT response LOL!! And you are correct – if it is human error, the dog is reading the cue correctly (or as best as he can). I mean, he doesn’t have a crystal ball or a course map LOL!!! Rewarding him or continuing after a handler error most definitely will NOT create problems in the future 🙂 That is old school thinking from when we used to blame the dogs for all the things LOL!! Sure, some dogs put up with that thinking and lack of reinforcement (cough cough Border Collies cough cough) and maybe only slow down a little or get a bit frantic. But most dogs are not going to put up with being blamed for my bad handling LOL!!! So, I pay them well and they are happy, fast, engaged teammates.
(All of this is well-supported by the science of learning and arousal, so you can add “I can show you the studies” to your answer next time 🤣😁)
For example, at :57, he went straight and you wanted the backside. You were moving directly forward as he exited the tunnel (and Lee was moving that direction too, so there were 2 visual sources of motion). He definitely got a “take that jump cue”. You said the backside cue as he was preparing to take off, about 10 feet from the jump. So by the time he heard and processed it, he applied it to the next jump. Good dog! And good for you for rewarding, because Coal was correct.
The other option there was to keep going as if there was no extra jump 🙂
>>2nd rep, there was a barking shit show going on right next to us while we were getting ready to enter – he handled that well. >
He did great!!!
He got up fro the stay at 1:25 because there was a cookie on the floor behind him and he was starving.
But he got right back to the game!1:52 as he was trying to figure out if it was the jump or tunnel – you had a moment of looking ahead which looked like the beginning of a blind… and that is the moment he locked onto the jump (the physical cue overrode. the verbal cue)
>>hird rep, he was a bit flat – I don’t train enough send away starts and he’s done a lot the last couple of days – time for a bit of R&R>>
Yes, it could have been a combination of being tired out and also that the send to the first jump was weird and hard: jumping towards the fence/people and towards his leash was hard.
You can use more energetic crazy tricks and the highest value food at the end of the day (CHEETOS! LOL!) and also you can run him at 16” so it is easier on his brain and body – and he will go faster more easily.
Great job here!!
Tracy
Hi!
>>They did so good!!! You stayed so calm! >>
Thanks! It helps the dogs if I appear calm. In the words of the one and only Taylor Swift, “you gotta fake it til ya make it and I did.” Hahahaha
>>I’ll work on showing her the toy as I’m running so she can grab & tug and I don’t let go. >>
Super long toys help that with the smaller dogs. UKI and USDAA don’t care if you let go of the toy 🙂
>>I think we’ll get to go to a league practice next week.>>
Perfect! Treat it as FEO practice, bringing the toy but not treats into the ring, and see what she says!
>>I’msure it is me, I’m just not sure what I am doing wrong. I’m not going fast and I feel like I am staying connected. I am guessing that my position is pushing her off the jump?>>
What is happening here is that you are making connection on the exit of the blind (yay!!!) but then before she is committing, you are disconnecting and turning to face forward/point forward to the jump. When you look forward and point forward ahead of her, that changes the cue by changing the line your shoulders and feet are presenting… cuing her to *not* take the jump (so she didn’t LOL!)
I was in a picture mood today (LOTS of coffee on board wheeee!) so you can see the screenshots of those moments here:
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1tIG0KnzrbnMvEv5gbdQIIaC6PNu8AZrydyaDDdUMw64/edit?usp=sharing
It can open as a slide show for really big photos! Or I can send it as a PDF if it doesn’t open.
Since she is young and inexperienced, she won’t save you LOL and she will do exactly what you show. So to get her to take it, look at the connection and arm position you have as you exit the blind at :20 and 1:40 – arm back, eyes on her eyes, which gets your feet and shoulders pointing to 3. Maintain that position of arm and eyes as you move to 3 (saying the verbals to her very directly) until you see her feet lifting off at the jump… then you can relax the cue and move to 4.
>>I think I’m going to just move on to the other sequences & see how they go so I don’t keep drilling this one move.
Try it one more time! As long as you keep it fun and reward reward reward, I think she will be happy to do it again. And it will be good to lock in the handling!
Nice work here! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi and welcome! Great to see you here!!!! Congrats on Cosmo’s CH!!!
>>Our agility journey started off absolutely fantastic (on the flats easy puppy stuff @ 8 months, breezed though AKC novice & open). We had a lead out, speed, & distance. He’d be fast and borderline reckless in class. It crashed & burned last Dec after a tough day in a lesson and then a trial later that week on “home turf” (melt down)>>
First thing to ask is if he has had a full medical workup? Normally when things are going really well then suddenly go very sideways, we look for pain or illness as the underlying issue. After 25 years of dog sports, I have seen it happen over and over. Most recently, one of my own dogs had a meltdown and got really slow… bloodwork showed low folic acid that was affecting other things like thyroid. Fixed that and now she is back to normal. Crazy! So I definitely recommend bloodwork (looking for tick disease or any inflammation markers) as well as an orthopedic exam/xrays to check out his joints as well as with a soft tissue expert to make sure there is no pain that he is hiding (they can’t hide it from the experts LOL!). He is young and probably healthy-looking… but trust me when I say that when we look closely, we find stuff that the vets are surprised by.
And tell me more about the tough day in the lesson and the trial meltdown. What happened exactly? That can give me an idea of how to help. Give me the play by play!!
>>Hard lessons for me, but I guess I needed it. >>
You didn’t need it 😁 no one needs to have things go wrong!
>>It has gotten better since (not 100%) with steps backwards here & there. Often at trials his first run he may start slow at first & then he picks it up quite nice. His subsequent runs are not so hot to slow stuck puppy. >>
This is definitely where looking for underlying illness or pain will help. Adrenaline and endorphins can cover that in the first run, but can’t keep covering it.
And the games we play where will help too! Fill me in on what you have been doing in training too.
>>When I try FEO (its been a little bit) – he kinda seems annoyed, that I’m breaking things (flow?) up or it doesn’t “help” at all (distracted & stuck). >>
Yes – sometimes it is annoying when they are in flow LOL! So having a toy that he can chase while he runs will be great! The distracted/stuck moments are usually due to arousal struggles, which we can help with games.
>>I’m thinking that I need to figure out decompression strategies for him and keep working engagement in new places.>>
Definitely check out the pattern games and volume dial game! Those are the bedrock of engagement.
>>In an attempt to solve the issue, we worked on remote reinforcement over the late summer. >>
That is all a critical piece! Tell me what you’ve done, and how it is going 🙂
>>The food games & action games helped nicely yesterday for the first class run, but then the downhill slide happened.>>
What type of food rewards are you using? We can look at reward value too. And is he getting rewarded in the ring a LOT, like a WHOLE LOT 🙂 And in class and trials, set him up to have easy fast lines with no errors (and if you mess up because you are a normal human 🤣😂 just keep going).
But also… that good first run then progressively worse and worse runs could indicate pain or illness. And yes, you might only see it in agility because it is in the very early stages.
>>Videos would be helpful, but it is one of my worst training/trialing qualities. I have all sorts of excuses. Who will video, I’ve never posted to YouTube or edited, blah blah blah. Mostly I don’t like seeing myself (my butt, my lack of grace & flow, the not so great moments). Oddly when I do buck up to video and watch, it’s not usually that bad. I don’t think we are a hot mess, but then I am a fist time agility trial secretary next week, soooo;D>>
Oh, I can totally relate to this!!!! But like you said, it is totally worth it and very insightful. So now I force myself to video by leaving a tripod in my car at all times (so I can’t magically ‘forget’ it at home) and leaving an iPad it in at the trial or training site. Then I ask one of my friends to make sure I have turned it on (and turn it on if it is not recording my run).
As for YouTube and editing? No real need to edit – keep sessions short and put the whole thing online as unlisted. And at this stage , all of our devices will have a one-click upload to YouTube 🙂 That way you can watch the videos for the dog training elements and get a lot out of them.
I am looking forward to learning more!
TracyGood morning!
She does love the tug toy! Ask her if she will tug with it in a trial environment too, because it is perfect for FEO/NFC runs (as long as you don’t tell anyone it squeaks LOL!)
The tricks look good to me! Fast and fun and they get her a little cray cray which we want. She seemed very aroused but could also respond VERY quickly. Super! And her wait at the end was solid: completely engaged but also she did not move a muscle til the release. Love it!!
>>She is still a slower eater so food works well for some things.>>
Ideally we sort out being able to use food for this too – food might be more valuable in harder environments and also might be best for optimizing arousal… but also tugging might not be as interesting with food right there. It is something to experiment with for sure! I have found that my young dogs will prefer food right outside the ring, then go in and happily play with toys in NFC/FEO runs. Will she eat pieces of cheese or chicken? She theoretically should slurp those down without chewing them, plus they are high in value which can help in harder environments.
Great job here!!
TracyOMG Mary Ann, he looks great! And I know that location – I am scheduled to teach a seminar there in July!!
Your handling in general looks lovely: really clear connection, low hands, excellent driving of lines. And he did great!!!
A suggestion to maintain his drive and engagement while reducing stress: get the reward in by either continuing after a handling blooper, or reward immediately and enthusiastically (don’t stop him and don’t ignore him).
For example, if you mess up the handling… continue like it didn’t happen (because those are all human error moments LOL!) At :44 you had a small blooper which he fixed after landing from the jump, then you stopped, disconnected, did not reward and nothing happened til 1:02. That is a LONG time in Sheltie years LOL!!! Plus, it was handler error not his error (I think your instructor was saying the same thing :)) And while he was very resilient there, I don’t want him to have to be resilient 🙂 You can continue and fix it on the next run. Plus continuing is great to get us humans to think on our feet, which is great prep for trials!
On the re-start, he came out of the weaves when you changed your pace from walking to running. You didn’t change your pace on the next rep til he was done with the weaves, so that is definitely something to train on (changes of pace while he is weaving).
You gave clearer handling info after that then he got a reward. Yay!
2nd run looked great too! When you stop, make it your first order of business to reward him enthusiastically. Tell him how brilliant he was (this is the actual dopamine-release reward moment) then deliver the reinforcement. That will also strengthen the praise, which we can bring into the ring even when we cannot bring the cookies in, He did a great job but the at 2:04 you disconnected from him to talk to the instructor (hi Deb!) and took a long while to give him the treats, which were delivered without engagement. We want the big immediate praise followed by the big immediate treats to make the most impact 🙂 on his engagement in the ring.
Great job here!
TracyHi! There is a lot of good reps here to compare and contrast what the clear cues are versus what is unclear.
I made notes on screen shots so we have visuals to match the discussion. Here they are:
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1iGkzNxM4ZzKfQaS8FjxnYPOZNzMnoXCnpS1-Fd2AdFM/edit?usp=sharing
You can play them as a slideshow. I was feeling fancy and caffeinated this morning LOL!!
The 2 spots where she had questions were:
The opening 1-2.
Ideally, you handle this opening like you did at 1:05. You had a lead out, did a clear forward focus cue with clear connection. That turned your feet & shoulders to the correct line. Plus it separated your motion from the verbal release, and you can see where she was looking before the release. She nailed it!! It was great info (see screenshot).And you can move your position lateral too so you are closer to the tunnel or wherever you want to be. But do it the same way: connect to her eyes, point to the jump, making sure feet and shoulders are facing it and when she looks at it… release.
The other reps where she went to the tunnel all had clear handling to the tunnel (see screenshots). You were leading out facing it, which is fine… but then without a forward focus indication, you were releasing on the pointing hand without connection – but your shoulders/feet were facing the tunnel so she came to the tunnel.
>>need that extra step with the left foot>>
I don’t think you need that if you work the forward focus and have the cues facing the jump.
And you don’t need the forward focus cue if you release by stepping to the jump *without pointing ahead to it*. It is the pointing ahead that turns your shoulders/feet to the tunnel and pulls her off the jump.
>>Am I still pairing with motion?>>
Yes, on all the reps except 1:05. You either released with motion or didn’t cue a stay and sent with motion (but that also turned your shoulders to the tunnel on some of the reps.
And if it goes wrong? Keep going! Freezing with a quiet demeanor reads as “you are wrong” even though she got the toy. The toy is not really the reward… the reward is continuing plus your excited happy response. So she was beginning to get and get frustrated, making it harder to line up at the start line and hold the stay (because what was going to happen was unpredictable and stressful).
The other hard part was the commitment cue to 3, where you were early on the first couple of reps so she correctly did not take 3. You told her she was wrong there but that is exactly what the cue would look like if you did want the turn on the tunnel exit… so she was not wrong. Definitely keep going, reward for real, then go watch the video if you are convinced she was wrong (see screenshot 🤣🤣). You were already rotated as she as exiting the tunnel.
You worked out the timing though, and made sure you were presenting the jump as you decelerated into the FC and she committed really well! She did not collect a lot on those but it was likely more due to having been told she was wrong a few times there so she was not really trusting the info (waiting to see more before she committed to a turn). That is another argument for continuing after she read a turn cue really well – we want her to turn really well, so when she does we are going to reward it magnificently and don’t let her doubt it was correct (because it generally was the correct answer :))
Nice work here! Let me know what you think!
Tracy
Good morning!
>>Earlier we went out for a tool around the yard with some cheese and did some just walk and, “get it”, focus walking. She was into that, and had no incentive to even run.>>
Awesome!!! It would be great to be able to have the whippets run off steam before competing, but lately it is pretty impossible with all of the indoor trials and definitely impossible in flyball. Plus I want to keep all the explosive running for the ring 🙂 So the pattern games and other engagement games have been very helpful.
>>Paul said, “she laminated overnight”

HA!!! That is so true! I love it!Seq 4 – the opening looked very smooth!!!! Nice! You can tell her about the tunnel sooner after 4, as you turn her away. You can start the verbal tunnel cue even if you get behind, so she can start to sort out turning herself away 🙂 The ending line looked great! The more you can use her tunnel commitment and send her on big lines, the easier it will be to get to the various handling spots on course 🙂
Sequence 5: Wow, look at that lead out! Fantastic! This is the most complex sequence of the week and it went really well!
A few suggestions: You can line her up on more of a slice at 1 so she is facing 2 more directly and not straight to 1. That will set a better line and will be easier to handle the opening because you won’t have to cue a turn 1-2.For the turn on 6, you can try for a blind between the tunnel exit and the jump there (you had time to do it because her tunnel commitment is good!) Or you can keep moving up the line towards 7 to rear cross her on the flat, which is I think what your plan was. You stopped by 6, so she thought it was a right turn toward you based on position and deceleration. The blind between the tunnel and jump will be the easiest – and I bet you can layer the 6 jump on the way to it, making it much easier!
You added a front cross 8-9 then a rear cross on 9, so she had a spin on landing of 9. You can keep her on your right 8-9-10 for a simple line there!
Great job here!!
Tracy
Hi!
The Waits are definitely improving!!!! You can add in turning to face the jump separately from the cue to take the jump (right now you are turning to face the jump and releasing at the same time, so she is likely to think that turning towards the jump is the release).When you were getting close to the jump at about 2:23, she kept moving towards the jump because the release was not totally clear.
So the next steps in the wait training would be to ask for the wait without obstacles and then turn to face forward to where a jump would be. Then stand perfectly still… and release her before you move. You can slowly raise a hand, as long as you do not raise the hand AND release at the same time.
When she can do that on the flat, then you can add in a jump 🙂
With the handling, keep moving forward to show the line rather than indicate each jump (and especially resist temptation to stop moving or point ahead to a jump). That tends to change the info and pull her off lines, but she does great on the lines when you keep moving with lower arms.
And if something happens? Don’t fix it, just keep going. When you tried to fix a handling error, she would get frustrated and jump at you, or she would not be sure of the line and something would go wrong again. When you kept going and did not fix, you then were able to cue a really smooth line with great results!!
So staying in motion and running forward to the next line, especially after a cross, is very helpful for her.
If you don’t move, you end up facing the wrong direction (even if you are facing it backwards like at 1:33) and she will stay on a line. That happens partially because that is what you are showing, and partially because there is no other motion to show what you want so she is guessing. If she does follow the line after you stand still, maintain connection after it so that she can see the next line. Pointing forward (like at 1:45) does not show the jump which is why she would go to the tunnel when you did that.
Compare to the moments at 1:02 – 1:07 and 1:47 – 1:51 and 2:57 – 3:02 which had you moving forward with connection and she was very smooth on the lines. eally lovely!!!
Try the silent running – the verbals are all Go or here but that is not helpful for info to her and keeping you moving. Without the verbals, the only cues are motion and connection which are the most powerful ones for her.Question: Why did you give her a sit cue before the tugging reward on the last few reps? If she might grab your hand, use a longer toy so you can drag it for her to grab. Or throw it, then trade for another one to get her to bring it back. The sit doesn’t reward the great line she just ran and cues her to curl in front of you which we don’t want – we want her to keep going on the line 🙂
Great job here!
Tracy
Good morning! Sounds like the Toller specialty was a blast!
>>When he is barking at me on the dock he is ready to go.>
Most dogs are really engaged while barking 🙂 I highly recommend putting it on cue as a trick and then we can use it in agility too!
>>A real win as I was worried about this being a completely new environment.
It is indeed a huge win!!!!
>>We have used pattern games to decompress and engage and it really helps.
Looking at the videos:
He is engaging really fast with the pattern games and that is great!
Only one suggestion: For the up and down game, place/drop the treat on the ground rather than deliver it by hand, so we can get the benefits of him breathing more as he picks it up off the ground (olfaction is great for arousal regulation!)His action tricks look good! I think the hand touches and spins will be the most useful (and barking on cue 😁). The sits and downs were good too, but I think touches/spins will be more exciting.
To help these tricks get him really pumped up to work, two ideas about the reward:
– reward after each trick so it is a 1:1 ratio of trick to reward.
– since he is food-driven, you can keep the food moving as the reward. This can happen by you running away from him (chase da momma!) for a few steps before delivering it, or having him spin again to get it, or chase it with a short toss.At the very end you said something to him about a toy: if he will play tug, this is a GREAT game for a tug toy! You can use tugging in combination with food to help really optimize arousal and engagement.
>> When he goes into the agility ring and I cannot take in food he then disengages and wants to run.>>
No worries – we have a plan for that! We will be teaching him how to stay engaged even with the reward outside the ring. That will begin in the set of games coming on Monday.
Great job here!
TracyHi!
>Did a bit of chill after coming out of the crate -then some pattern games – into the ring and then turned up the volume a bit. Got good focus from him,
I agree – he had great focus and speed! This order of events might be the one you do at trials too – you can amp up the volume dial even more (unless you were doing it outside the ring and it is not on the video). He did well with the high hand touches and then held his stay really well. I am not sure how chill he is on his cot (he is working a bit, offering behavior) but that is not a bad thing 🙂 The pattern game helped get him ready to work before entering the ring.
>>but it was a challenging opening sequence for us, a couple of redo’s and yes he got rewarded well.
Yes, those were huge lines! When he didn’t take the #4 jump, was he just running past it (handling) or was he thinking about the other ring? It was hard to tell but I think it was handling perhaps, and you got it really well on the 2nd rep. And the rest looked great!!!
>>And yes, distance work may be next on our agenda LOL>>
He was finding his lines really well here and the weaves looked great – similar entry (kind of the mirror image) to what you were working on in the seminar!
Great job! Let me know how the seminar goes today.
Tracy
Hi!
>>I’d love to see Larry’s new fave toy! I bet Bazinga would be loco for the fur! Did Ramen do FEO too!? I’d love to see videos!!!>>
I will get a photo and message it – the toy is currently buried in the car somewhere LOL!!
I am going to play the videos in the Monday zoom chat to discuss what I did and why, in the hopes to give folks ideas, but here is a sneak peak:
>>Thanks for the ideas on how to “fade the trade” We did a little session in the house with just a blanket (she is a laundry stealer) and when I said out & moved to where we keep the treats, sh let go & followed me. As soon as I gave her the treat, I went back & played again. We repeated it a few times. I’ll keep it up & switch to a toy & then 2 toys. This will be a helpful tool to have, so I’m motivated to teach it!>>
This is awesome! She learned the game really quickly!
>>Ok, this gave me a huge lightbulb moment because I am trying to keep up with her. If I can stay connected, she can get the information & take the obstacles independently without me having to be right there.>>
Exactly. Yes, keep moving, but running connected is more important than running fast. And in the panic/excitement of running our young dogs, we humans cannot seem to run fast AND connected. So choose connected over fast 😁
>>I took her to agility league last night. We did the up & down game on leash and then we did 3 small sequences with a bungee toy & the volume dial game! I got video!!! It was so fun! I did use treats to get the toy back but she was really good about letting go.>>
All 3 video clips here looked awesome! She was very engaged and SUPER fast on the sequences! She seemed even faster than she is at home, and she is already super fast at home. And you were super connected so she found the lines really well. Yay!!! The RC was a little late, but no worries, just keep moving and she will find the line.
In preparation for AKC FEO, keep running as you show her the toy, so she can get excited about it without you needing to throw it (which is not legal in AKC). If you have another league night coming up, you can treat it like an official AKC FEO run and go in on leash with an amazing toy but no food, and do a short fun sequence to see how she does 🙂
Great job!!!
Tracy
Hi!
>>I also entered her FEO/NFC at a small outdoor AKC trial in a jumpers class. My plan to do some start lines, ring entry and rewards!>>
Rather than start lines (which are really hard and there are plenty of opportunities for errors), make her first experience in the ring as a fun & fun party time. Bring her in playing, reward her again for staying with you when the leash comes off, then start on a jump or tunnel with a simple send and so some really easy sequences of 2 oe 3 obstacles. Trust me when I say that will be *plenty* and you don’t want to start with the control of a stay in an environment where arousal is high and so are stress levels. The stay can go in very easily when she is very happy in the ring 🙂
>>I am going to bring a holee roller on a fluffy rope. If she seems unsure when we walk in I will ask for some spins. If she is not comfortable we will just play in the ring. >>
Bring her in chasing the toy! And doing some silly tricks for the toy. And don’t wait til she seems uncomfortable to make it about play… go in with the approach of “let’s get you very comfy as the top priority”. If she is comfortable in the ring? Everything else is SUPER easy. So spend her first FEO just having a grand time with play and some easy obstacles. If she gets uncomfortable, then things are going the wrong direction and we don’t want that to happen.
The most important thing is to look to the future of what you want long term in her career: happy and fast! Ask her for stuff that is at least 50% easier than what she does at home, because the environment is so hard. So only do happy fast things like playing and tunnels and easy lines. All of the complex hard things like stays or tight turns or longer sequences can get added in later 🙂
>>The good news is that I can’t cheat since she does not have any idea what weave poles are. My competitive juices will have to stay dormant.>>
Perfect! I also keep myself from getting competitive by entering at a lower jump height. In UKI, you can ask the trial secretary to put you in any height you want, because you are running NFC. Keeps us from doing too much, too soon!
I was going to show these on Monday to give people ideas about NFC/FEO runs, but here are the very-first NFCs run with Larry The Rental Whippet. The goal was to have a fun time and do one sequences and play with the toy. You can’t really see the beginning of the first run, but on the 2nd run you can see how I played then just sent him over a jump to start, no stays, just lots of fun stuff and rewarding. This was UKI so I could throw the toy and could go in without the leash. You can’t do that in AKC, but a long toy will fix that problem 🙂
On the video: this went well! Great job rewarding her even when things were not perfect 🙂
The first run went well and yes, directionals will help! Be sure you walk the sequence thoroughly and include the directionals, so you have practiced them before you run her.
Line her up on more of a slice to 1. She was facing a straight line to 1 which added a turn on the landing of the jump.
The RC went well. Yay!!!
For the BC to feel smoother, you can send to 3 from the landing spot of 2 so you are in a much better position to get the BC.
You got it on the 2nd run but it was late (bar down) because you got too close to 3 – hanging back and sending her ahead after she land from 2 will make a big difference.
The rep at 4:09 was better in terms of the sending but she didn’t take 4. That was because you ran directly to 4 and did the blind on her line, so had no place to land and read it as a backside cue. Ideally, you send to 3 and run towards 5, clearing the line for her to take 4 based on your line of motion. Compare your line at 4:09 to your running line at 2:33, where you were heading to jump 5 and she took 4 nicely (bar down because she was adjusting in the air based on the cue timing).
2nd video:
>>I did a late front (my specialty in stead of a blind) Double Oops! I was a line dancer growing up and I just default to matching the timing- I need to lead!>>
I think the FC is a good option on this sequence, because it gets your feet turned to the new line quickly. But yes…. Do it sooner 🙂 You started it as she took off for 3. After she lands from 2 you can be indicating 3 and starting the FC so she sees it finished before she takes off for 3. Being more lateral on the lead out will help too, because then you can get past 3 even sooner. Everything else looks great!!!
Nice work here 🙂
TracyHi! This was a good session – her up and down had movement is what we want, because of how that movement creates arousal regulation. Cool!
>>She first thought she shouldn’t touch the food and later offered a down.>>
I think both of those might have been related to “this is really easy, surely it is more complex than this” LOL!!! So you can use a marker for her to get the treat so she doesn’t think it is an impulse control game. And you can do shorter bursts of the game (30 seconds or so) so she doesn’t go into the down. It is possible that the back and forth game will end up being more useful for her because she can keep moving, but a short burst of this is great too because you can do it in a small space.
Nice work here!
Tracy
