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Good morning! I am glad you got to go to the cabin and have fun, sounds like a lovely weekend!!!
>> on Friday morning I did the tunnel with a jump and worked on the left side. I think I only did turn out of the tunnel with Sole. Otherwise I was working the go straight and then turn on the jump. Once I got the timing right (definitely needed to hear the jump verbal just as they were emerging from the tunnel) it was lovely!>>
Yes, all 3 dogs did really well here! Timing the jump verbal to be happening as they were exiting the tunnel definitely helped. The only other timing suggestion os for Nikko – throw the go reward sooner to keep convincing her to look straight, she wants to tilt her head towards you – so you can throw as soon as you see her begin to step forward for now, and then after a few more sessions you can begin to delay it again.
The next step on these is to take your running out – your goal in the next session is that the dogs do not see you ahead of them at the exit of the tunnel. Picture this tunnel being under a dog walk, so you would have to remain on the other side of the dog walk while they propel away to the jump. You can still move into it, but start at a wing wrap pretty far from the tunnel and be moving – but not getting ahead and try not to go past the middle of the tunnel. That way the dogs will need to get pretty independent on the jump. I think they are all ready for that.
On the 2nd game here, the MM out ahead on the short tunnel definitely helps the girls to run straight! Nikko is the dog that needs to the most convincing to go straight but she was doing really well here!!! And the soft turns with all 3 were really strong, easy peasy especially for the girls. The lack of motion you had here will fit nicely into the previous game where we want to now begin taking your motion out of the picture – you don’t need to be stationary, you just need to be behind them and lateral, so you don’t run into the invisible dog walk LOL!
>> I realized that my set up here might make that a little more challenging since I was not using the tunnel cue since we were too close to the entrance. I might modify THIS training by starting further back so I can be sure to use the “tunnel” cue before adding the directional.>>
I think you will be fine with the discrimination game – adding the tunnel verbal versus a jump verbal (or directional) should be easy for them to pick up 🙂
Great job here! Have fun!
TracyHi! I think that will work, and you can test it by adding more speed into the drill (add a tunnel before the existing tunnel – wheeee!). And you can also repeat the verbals: left left left for example, as well as go on go on go on.
Have fun!
TracyGood morning!
Yes, it is really neat to see him working to process the verbals! And it was great to be able to practice this setup – tunnel-under-dog-walk has become very fashionable lately!
He did well with the go go go lines, both with the placed toy and the thrown toy. For this, the next step would be to start further away on the other side of the dog walk, so he learns to carry on to the jump with bigger distance and with you having to be decelerated, due to the dog walk in the way 🙂For the left turns, the earlier verbals will help but also letting him see you turn your shoulders/feet before he enters. I think part of the questions he had were because you were facing straight – he looked at you and then continued on. So if you turn a little before he enters, I think the verbal and the physical cue will work together and the left turns will be easier. And as with the Go, you can start him further backside you can run towards the tunnel and cue the left and also let him see you turn a bit.
And yes, you can totally do this with 10 and 6 foot tunnels! He might not need it, he is doing really well with the 15 foot tunnels – but with the shorter tunnels, he will be able to see the handling support better when the turns get more complicated.
Great job here!!!!
TracyGood morning!
I agree that the backchaining was not as successful – probably because there was not enough motion to support the line with the 3rd jump there. That additional jump creates a discrimination so motion helps (and we can always support with some type of motion on these, it does not have to be done purely on verbals).
Adding the tunnel worked really well! You can add more motion here too – pretending the dog walk is there over the tunnel, you can run forward for the go go go (he seemed to have no trouble with that) and for the right, you can turn and run towards where the teeter is placed here. That way you will be turning and showing motion, but you can do it from 30 feet away as if the dog walk was blocking your running path. That can help for example on the rep where he went straight and you had cued the right. That can be the finial piece of the puzzle here, and then you can keep spreading out the distances 🙂Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning! She did really well with these, the session seemed pretty perfect. No trouble with the turns, and she did a great job staying out on the lines for the go on over the 2 jumps. I like how you gradually delayed the reward throw for the go on reps, so that she was looking at the jumps and running the line by the end,rather than looking for the ball. Super!!!!!
My only suggestion is to keep timing all of the verbals involving the tunnel exit to come sooner – on some reps you were getting the verbals starting just before entry, and some were starting as she was already in the tunnel. Keep trying for her to see/hear the cues while she is still a solid 3 feet or more from the entry so that she gets all the info. She is really responsive so you might not need the cues t o come 6 feet before the entry, 3 feet should be fine (until she gets onto the big courses at a trial here she is moving faster, then it might turn out that she needs the info even sooner).>> She seemed to have no trouble turning out of the tunnel to come back to me or go over the jump on the side when I said her name as a sort of tunnel break and used “here” or “riri” for the turn. What do you think is a better cue for me to use? Or perhaps both depending on whether there is a jump or she is to return to me at the mouth of the tunnel?
She totally seemed to have no trouble with knowing the difference between the turn and the go cues here! The jury is still out on which cues work best – I think the final decision on that will come when you put this skill into the bigger courses where she is coming into the tunnel at full speed. My guess right now is that her name and “here” will be so moderate looping turn lines and the ririririri can be saved for the tighter right turns – it will depend on the position of the line after the tunnel, and how much speed she has going into it. You can play with this by setting up 2 tunnels and sending her through the first one to get the full speed going, then turn her on the exit of the 2nd one 🙂
>>Another thing you may notice – I used the tennis ball almost exclusively as a reward to chase. Then I treated her at the treat table afterwards. Too bad we can’t use tennis balls in a trial…>>
Yes, she loved the tenny! You can bring the ball into the ring for NFC runs at UKI trials. I suggest training with 2 balls, and start leaving one behind you at the table – so sometimes you throw a ball right there on course, sometimes you do a short little sequence then run to the table and throw the ball kind of like how we would want to reward in a trial setting. That can help her start to learn that the ball is still there as a reward, but after the run like would happen at a trial.
Nice work here!
TracyHi!
Timing is slightly different for each dog on the tunnel cues…>>Before entering the tunnel:
Left / Right means turn at the exit of the tunnel
Jump left / Jump Right means take the jump and then turn
This is HARD for Enzo. Is this Right???!!??
If I cue it 6 feet before the tunnel, it is a long time to remember whether or not to take the jump…>>The cue that is 6 feet before the tunnel should cue the tunnel exit, not the jump. So for the jump, you can tell him to go before he enters the tunnel, or jump – whichever one propels him to the jump better after the tunnel rxit is the winner 🙂 the left or right for the jump can come after he exits so it relates directly to the jump. Let me know if that makes better sense.
Tracy
Good morning!
He did really well here! One thing to play with is having the placed toy for the Go reward out there the whole time so he can work through turning versus going, with the distraction out ahead. He had a bit of trouble there when you did that and then he was wrapping but offering the ‘wrong’ direction – but it was a wrap, so that is good 🙂 When that happens, you can give him reset cookies for coming back and lining up at your side – that can maintain a really high ‘umbrella’ rate of success while you work through the harder skills. And then the big rewards can come for the correct directionals. Dogs are brilliant at knowing the difference 🙂
As an added challenge – you can have placed toys in 3 positions: in the Go reward spot, in the left wrap reward spot and in the right wrap rewards spot – so he gets immediate reward for being correct. Or, you can use empty food bowls for that instead of toys, then toss a treat to it. He is really good at ignoring toys on the ground til cued, so that might be a great way to help clarify the verbals!
He did really well carrying out to the wrap jumps while you decelerated, which will be really useful when there is a dog walk in your way in the middle of the course LOL!Yes, I think he is ready for you to start hanging back more and more in the next session! He does better when you are pretty early with the verbals, so keep giving them early and often 🙂
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi again! I’m going to have to check out the Teddy The Dog clearance, I need some warm pants!
Kaladin did really well here, he remembered from puppy class!! 🙂 No real questions from him other than at 53 when he turned wrong way – I think there he was reading your body cue – your feet turned towards the tunnel so there was a bit of rear cross pressure. You were more forward on the next rep at 1:00 so he turned the correct direction. He is ready for the next step: Angle the jump so it is a backside more and less of a front side. It is a harder visual but again, I think he will have no problem at all.
Min did indeed have trouble going all the way to the PT, which is interesting because it was hard to take her off it in the previous session LOL!! Moving it closer was great. You can put it smack dab in the middle, halfway between the tunnel and the jump – it will create a turn on the tunnel exit, but that is fine for this game.
This is not something that Min learned in puppyhood (sorry, Min, we didn’t know we needed to teach it!) so it is a little harder for her. Starting closer to the wing or tunnel will help, especially when you change sides. That can really help jump start the behavior and you will be able to move back quickly and add motion quickly too.
I think the backside slice was the foot step when you stepped to indicate the jump and the leaning over might have had a little bit of backside pressure too (she is all about the independent backsides right now 🙂
She probably needs to see this for one or two more sessions before you angle the jump, just to smooth it out and raise the success rate – you’ll see her lightbulb go on and then it will be a quick progression to angle the jump. It is good prep for the Open, I am really sure we will see jump-tunnel discrims!Great job here! Have fun and stay warm!
TracyGood morning! I hope the 11 year old recovers quickly, that must be scary for all involved!!!
Kaladin did really well here! I think squishing it up actually was a flood thing for him – Squishing it was good for confidence building for him for the go because he was definitely asking questions about if he really should go with you all the way back there and not moving. I suggest leaving the distance there and not expanding it, until he stops asking questions and is a deranged maniac driving out of the tunnel haha! It will probably only take a session or two to get that. The Left turn was great, so overbalance into the go for now, so he drives out more. The turn will deteriorate a little bit but it will be easy to recover when you need it and ask for it.
Min – ah yes, she was all about that PT, poor underfed critter haha! Ok then, for the next sessions, no more PT because Nemo doesn’t stand a chance against the PT. Instead, maybe go to empty bowls: Maybe try 3 empty bowls – One in the go reward spot, one in left reward spot, one in right reward spot. They will be targets/focal points but not as much of a lure as the PT (and not as much of a distraction haha) so you will be able to get the behavior then toss a reward to the bowl. That should help!
Nice work 🙂
TracyGood morning!
>> Technically they are supposed to be universal but I typically send her from my left side to wrap right and from my right side to wrap left.>>
Agree! And getting the turns away from us – soooo much harder! But you did a great job with a little bit of handling help and that was when she was most successful. So you can proceed with this with the verbal cue first then the little bit of handling help for the turn away when you are cuing it. My motto is “help as much as needed and as little as possible” 🙂
She did well here on these – I think her main questions were when you were not moving at all. So 2 ways to work this, bearing in mind that the goal is not that you are stationary, but that she can do it even when you are not visually ‘in the picture’:
On the bigger distances, you can support with a bit of handling by walking or using hand movement to show the line or turn you want. You can also modify the tone of the verbal: the go go go can be loud and long, the turn cues and be softer and shorter.To take yourself out of the picture more, you can bring the wing or jump closer to the tunnel exit so it is easier to get to the wing – and you can be relatively stationary back by the tunnel entry and rely on verbals and tiny movements.
Those two things can then merge together – the wing or jump can move further away while you fade out your motion more and more.
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
I totally understand the whole “too lazy to retrain the 8 year old dog” hahaha! My 8 year old just puts up with hearing the new verbals by accident and somehow figures it all out anyway LOL!Kippy was great here – almost all of the reps were on your left side and he is REALLY strong on your left (that is something to keep track of – are we seeing a side preference, and does that need to come into play when making handling decisions on course). His commitments were largely spot on in both the go and the turn reps, plus he did well turning on the tunnel exit to when asked – so I think we can look at timing! He is good at listening, so for the go go go you can just say it early and often like you did here.
For the turn on the jump though, if you were too early (if he heard it just before entering the tunnel or right at the entry) he had questions: so you can experiment with cuing the tunnel and starting the turn verbal for the jump when he is fully in it so he hears it when he exits. You can also give a quite “go” before he enters the tunnel then switch to the turn verbal – the go will cue the straight exit on the tunnel and that will get him looking for the jump more.And there was one rep where he went around the jump – he was not fully on your right there, but you were more on that side of the tunnel. That is an interesting pattern and we will try to sort out why he does it – I don’t recall that being an issue at all during the CAMP class, but maybe we never asked for these skills! Or he might need an adjustment or a massage for a trigger point, maybe something is tight that he needs released. We will see if we can sort it out.
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi! This went really well!
She wants to look at you a little on the go go go lines, so keep up those nice early verbals and also early throws, they really help her. I think having the jump out ahead for the next session will also give her a good focal point to drive ahead even more 🙂
She was quite brilliant with her soft turns, especially considering this was her first exposure to it! The first rep was PRICELESS and so cute, thank you for leaving it in the video with her bunny hops!!! Her turn was pretty good on that one, she just didn’t know where to look for the toy. Then the next reps were all fabulous – really nice turns!!She is definitely ready for the wing and jumps after the tunnel to get added in.
Great job!
TracyGood morning!
This was a really interesting session! I agree, it is worth building the value on his GO skill. He is really good when he is on your left, and I like how you broke it down to help him then built it back to include the tunnel then faded your motion.
He really had a lot of trouble when he was on your right! Did I see it correctly that he ran around the jump a lot? So he has some ‘organization’ questions on the go when you are not there, and that is affecting his commitment. Interesting! So, for the right side, you can break it down even more and have the jump even lower, and closer to the tunnel exit – and support with some motion. You won’t need a lot of motion, maybe just walking, but you can then fade it out.For when he is on your right, continue having the placed reward. When he is on your left, you can progress to throwing the reward and not having it placed – supporting with walking up the line will help too when the reward is not out ahead.
Nice work! Onwards to Emmie’s video!
Tracy
Good morning! These sessions looked really good! Honoring that 2 failure rule really makes a difference, I believe: the dogs end up being more successful overall and they learn more quickly, without frustration. Yay!
To help solidify the verbals even more, you can separate the verbal from the motion: say it, then move, separated by a heartbeat or two. For example, when you were working the left on the 2 jumps at the beginning, say the verbal without moving, then give that little bit of motion that got the turn (rather than doing it simultaneously). That will allow him to hear the left verbal and predict the motion that follows it (dogs are brilliant predictors LOL!) so he will start to really solidify the verbal alone.
He did really well with the tunnel!!!! I think he is ready for even more independence now: you were about halfway up the tunnel as he exited on these, so the next session can include you starting closer to the wing, so you are maybe only a quarter of the way up the tunnel… then even closer to the wing so you are only at the entry of the tunnel when he exits it. That will add tons of independence on the jump line (you can use handling while you are way back there but the verbals will be doing most of the work). This will eventually build to where you will be able to have him working well away from you, such as when there is a dog walk in the middle of the course and he has to take the tunnel under it and do a sequence on the other side of it.Great job here! Let me know what you think!
Tracy
