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Hi!
Wow, congrats! He totally cleaned up!!!!! And I bet you are excited for the haircut too LOL! Do you have any win photos with his big fancy hairdo?
Backing up – he totally remembered this and was offering really well!
Yes – the board was too wobbly to start then a bit too slippery when you turned it over- he was offering walking backwards but his back feet were slipping. Can you cover it with a yoga mat or something grippy? To get it to wobble less, you can stuff a towel or two under it to control the movement.One of the things we are finding with this group of puppies this year is that they are locking onto the reward hand and then the backing up gets angled away from that hand (rather than being straight). You were rewarding from your right hand only, so he was angling off that hand. Your hand position was spot on, so to encourage him to be straighter you can have treats in both hands and alternate which hand delivers the reward (rather than it always coming from one hand)
Threadle wraps –
At the beginning – coming towards you for the 360 was what was making it feel weird, probably. The threadle wrap would have him coming from behind you and that is what you switched to. Yay! Then it went very smoothly – the u-turns (rewards thrown behind you) were easy peasy!For the next session, do the 360s where you are moving (ike you were here) and cue a full 360 circle at your side (rewards thrown forward so you both keep moving forward).
Great job!
TracyGood morning!
The handling combo with the toy behind you went really well! Great job with the verbals. Add a FC and also add in cookie rewards for lining up with you having to move her by the collar or by the body.
Also, play with her when she gets the toy and when you are ending the session – check out the confused look on her face when you walked away at the end. Be sure to leave the session together and playing 🙂
Wow, look at that stay for the start of the turn aways! Very nice!! You did a lap turn and a tandem turn here, and they both looked super strong. So the next step is to add the prop to draw her past then turn away to so she drives to it on the new line.
The parallel path game is also going well – you can add more lateral distance by moving a little further away when she is getting her cookie, then moving up the line on the parallel path As you add more distance, you can replace the click with the ‘get it’ marker, to keep her looking ahead for the reward and not at you. The timing can be earlier too – say ‘get it’ and throw the reward when she is moving towards the jump setup, to reward commitment rather than waiting for her to arrive at the jump (so she doesn’t look at you when she gets there).
The tunnel games are going well! The first video was easy when she was on the outside turning towards the tunnel. The skill of turning away to get into the tunnel (2nd video) is definitely more challenging – but she also did really well!
For the tunnel sends when she is on the inside (between you and the tunnel, and turning away to get into it) you can now add your tunnel-threadle verbal.
I think the stay while you put the toy down was too challenging, but we also don’t want you to pull her to the start spot by her collar. Split the difference by putting the toy down and then walking her back hands-free and giving her cookies for moving with you.
Great job here!
Tracy
Good morning!
I agree – the lap turn went great! Your mechanics were super clear and he was able to sort it out really easily. You can add the prop to this!
For the threadle wraps – your hands were moving a shade too quickly so he was suyrprised by the turn away. You can decelerate as he is arriving near you, then do a slower turn away with your hand and I think he will find it very easy 🙂
The parallel path game is also going really well! As he is eating the start cookie, you can be moving up the line and also getting more lateral (rather than waiting for him). That will make it easy to add distance and to get him to find the jump from behind you too! I think the hardest part here was him finding the cookies in the grass 🙂 so you might need to use big chunks of cheese – anything visible that he doesn’t need to chew much.
He did a great job with the cone wrap! I think he was not sure what the reward was sometimes: toy or cookie in your hand. So use one or the other, as having both in your hands can be confusing and he stopped going for the tug.
I think he is ready for the rocking horse game with 2 cones!I am glad to hear the mat work is going well!
>. Should I work with him more with the box and walk with him and get lateral distance? >
You can if you like! Or, you might find that you want to use the mat for both the dog walk and the a-frame, which is very effective and saves you a bit of training 🙂
Great job!
Tracy
Good morning!
It sounds like Sprite did well at her first trial back! It makes sense that you would both be a little rusty but I am glad it went well overall! And Dot did well too 🙂
>We played her pattern game on the grass with our friend the hackberries during a walk through. They must be everywhere beside our backyard! >
For real! It is like the hackberries are following you around!
>BTW, no UTI. She’s just drinks a lot and pees a lot. Unfortunately, she also doesn’t just run out and potty. Dot gets distracted and takes a long time to get her to go. She won’t typically go on a walk and will wait until home. < I am glad thre is no UTI! And puppies are known for their substrate preference when pottying and it sounds like she has a substrate preference for her specific area at home. I take my pup on leash to a different place near the house every morning to potty, just so he doesn't develop a single substrate that her prefers. Grass in different places, gravel, dirt, etc - he gets to practice pottying everywhere LOL! And if he doesn't potty? I will stay out there as long as needed, using his potty cue. And part of the reward for pottying is we then go do what he wants to do (within reason of course LOL!) She did well with the threadle wrap foundation :) The u-turns and the circles with you stationary both went well. When you did a circle and throw the reward forward, you can turn and move the other direction so she can drive back to you for the next rep rather than you toss another start cookie. When you added movement, the everything was still really strong on your right. > I’ve no idea why I’m sideways when she’s on my left. >
I think what was happening was that you were stationary for too long, then started moving forward with your right leg when she got near you, then stopped to turn her… but the right leg was out ahead which is why you ended up a little sideways 🙂 On the reps where you were moving before she got to you and slowing down as she arrived at your side, things were very smooth and you were facing forward 🙂
The prop game is going really well! She is able to drive to it with you sending forward, sideways, and backwards. Super!!! My only suggestion here would be more toy play getting mixed in 🙂
At this stage, you can move away from the sending on the prop and work the harder games, like the rear crosses and ‘get out’. The sending stuff can be shifted to a cone or barrel 🙂
Great job!
TracyHi!
He did really well here with his forward focus and impulse control!On the 1st rep, you were too quick to pull the toy around so he didn’t do the cone but you fixed the timing, then you were great with the rest 🙂
You can challenge him even more by moving the toy around the cone more and more – the goal is to eventually get it so that he has to go right past it to go around the cone 🙂 So if he has an easy time for a rep or two… make it it a little harder 🙂 Getting a failure or two is actually helpful for this gane!Great job!
TracyGood morning! He was a good boy at the trial!
He did well tugging while dogs were running, and doing the toy version of the pattern game. You can probably do a version of it with 1 really long toy, so he can move more and chase it more after each engagement. He also seemed to love the disc at the end and was great about bringing it back 🙂I am happy he did get into the food – that really helps the patterns. You can build value for food in these environments by making it part of a sequence of behaviors: play with a great toy – let him assess the environment – re-engage-eat a treat – back to great toy 🙂
The treat in that sequence is not really a reward, it is more of a behavior that is getting rewarded. But that is great and will let you pump up the treat value in harder environments too!Great job!
TracyHi!
Casper did great here! It looks like he was pretty great with the verbals only – one moment of the backside of a jump but otherwise really good!! Yay! For that one backside, you can reward with a reset cookie.And he also did great with the handling – that’s the goal: to get the verbals and understanding solidified so when he gets a little handling added back, it is easy!! He was really working to find the front of the jump (sometimes you were on his line) and did well overall.
And I am glad that Enzo did great too! Yay!!!
I think you can move to handling challenge 2 (and revisit the purely verbal stuff here and there to keep sharpening that skill :))
Great job!!
TracyHi! He’s just pumped up, which is great!!
For now, you can ignore the barking, or give him a snuffle mat or a chewie 🙂 A Bully stick will work wonders in those moments.We will be teaching a game where he learns to be chuck ringside 🙂 but that is in a few weeks 🙂
Let me know how he does!
TracyHi! This went great!
>>I’ve been trying to get him out more fequently when there’s people still in the building. I have been coming inside with pattern games regardless of if we are alone or not bc he’s been beelining to and into the building since it’s now the best place on earth. So this was after all that. Came in on leash tugged but then Heather was cleaning the crate and life got hard>
It was really good to keep hun tugging and playing. Was the hard moment when he was scratching? You can do some chase games, tricks, etc. But he was a good boy and he definitely needs to have more people and dogs in the environment.
The rocking horses also looked strong. The single barrel wraps were spot on. When you did 2 barrels, the first barrel was strong but the clarity of the cue to the 2nd barrel can be better. At 1:40, he didn’t really see a strong step forward and send with connection and hand cue, and he saw the toy switch hands so he was not sure where to look.
The better reps had a clearer step forward to the 2nd barrel – so definitely keep a step forward (don’t rotate early yet) and use big connection and a little hand swoosh. And also, don’t switch the toy from hand to hand – that draws his focus to your hands. Keep it squished up in one hand or even in your pocket and pull it out. The give the marker and deliver to him 🙂Great job here!!
TracyHi! These went great!
>I usually warm up with tugging and then decided to ask for a reverse retrieve so I know it isn’t entirely correct.>>
That was actually a lot of fun! He did great! Just be sure he sees the toy when you throw it 🙂 but overall it was great fun and he got to practice his retrieve! Yay!
> I will see if I can work on “Prop Game 1: Building Sends And Commitment”>
Perfect!!
>2) Vito / Two-Bowl Game – Here was my progression:>
This also went really well! You made big progress!!
>I noticed that Tribute looks up at me each time before moving to the other bowl.>
Nothing to worry about! I think it was mainly when he was turning to his left (going from your right to your left side). This will even out when we get into turn and burn, and the rocking horses!
I think he is ready to start turn and burn, and start with him on your left so he can begin with his stronger side.
>3) Strike a Pose (intro to serps) – This was harder than it looked! I need to clean up my mechanics!>
Ha! Yes, you need 6 arms haha! I thought you did well though! If you look at your target hand and shake it a little, he will drive in more directly to it.
Great job here!!
TracyHi! These went really well!!
>Space was a LEETLE tight since I built it off of where my tunnel already was for a course I ran with Roots.>
I think it was fine! She seemed happy with it and it introduced the send to the tunnel under the DW really well.
> I was super proud of her tight turn on #3 of that first sequence both times through! >
Yes! You can totally trust her more on that – when you see her lock onto the jump after she exits the tunnel, start the FC (or try it with a BC! Fun!)
>Then the second half of that sequence I basically had to stand still or she overshot the line to that last jump. >
What was happening there was that you sent really well to 5 (so nice!!!!!) but then stopped…. Then accelerated again. It was the acceleration that cued more extension and your shoulders were facing that way, so she went past the jump. If you send and take off and turn your shoulders sooner, you should not have to stop your motion. If this is still set up, try it so we can see what she needs with your motion!
>The rep where she skipped #1 was totally my fault, she never once acknowledged the jump and I should have waited for that.>
Yes, and you turned when you released so she was all in for the tunnel 🙂
Since we were talking about jump heights – you can try jump 1 at 14” because you are clearly showing it to her before the release and she takes it in relative extension.

>The second sequence was much more comfortable for me with the lead out push. She had that one bar because I didn’t get out of her way early enough, and then after that I watched and waited to see if the bar was going to come down and never really cued #3. >
Yes to both of these 🙂 One thing you can also do is get your arm fully in the serp position (because it really is just a lead out serp) before the releae, so she has the info sooner.
>Trying it with the blind, it felt really hard to be off her line and connected and moving the right way to cue #3. >
Two things to get the blind to be more comfy:
Lead out more 🙂 She came off the line HOT HOT HOT (I loved it!)Keep your arms in tight like chicken wings to your ribs – that will make the re-connection much quicker which tightens the blind. Your arms were out and high, so the connection was not super clear for her.
The rest looked great!
> but no matter how early and how connected I tried to be, her line looked the same.>
It might have been timing of the reconnection the arms too high – feel free to post the video if you still have it so we can see why the blinds were not as smooth as you’d like.
Great job!!!
Tracy
Yes, jump-weaves-reward is tempting… except if he misses the weaves or pops out, then the plan goes sideways 🙂
Bear in mind (and perhaps I have not made this clear enough) that MOST of what is happening in the ring is absolutely brilliant. Truly!!! That is why we are going to take our time to build up the pieces that need a little polishing to make it all brilliant! He is not even 2 yet, right? So we have plenty of time to make it ALL brilliant. The potential is stunningly amazing so I want to protect the brilliant stuff (but not depleting him) and take his ‘feedback’ from trials to develop training plans to answer his questions.
Rest and playing games outside the ring (tugging the pattern games for arousal regulation, for example) will be great. And since you probably have several leashes, you can keep him on leash (near the ring) and send him to another leash on the ground to begin practicing for the end of run routine.
Keep me posted!
T
Hi!
>We don’t have flyball, we have flygility, with insane turns, weaves, and low contacts.>
What are the insane turns?
> but the boxes aren’t like your boxes. There’s a pedal, that releases an arm that flings the ball up in the air.>
Very prehistoric boxes LOL!! The boxes here and in Europe are like high tech sports cars LOL
>I just worry flygility is not great for dogs’ bodies.>
That is a bummer! Flyball is actually safer for their bodies than agility is here. Very few injuries and dogs tend to have much longer careers in flyball.
> Just in the last year we’ve started hoopers as a code in NZ. But it’s still more “agility with barrels and hoops” than the hoopers I see overseas. It’s distance work that i’m keen on achieving with Barry, cos I’m not built for speed haha.>
Hoopers is catching on here too and it looks like FUN!!! The tunnelers game looks like the MOST fun but the organization that sponsors it doesn’t like to use a lot of tunnel bags so alas, I can’t let my dogs play because they will splat themselves with minimal tunnel bags.
T
Wow, that is good to know! The ear buds are very effective. I thought you were wearing a microphone!
And BIG hooray for Edith!! I know how hard it is when a dog has a painful thing happening.
And maybe you’ll get a stretch of good weather too! Keep me posted!
Tracy
Good morning! How was the trial? Did Sprite get to run? How cold was it that you had to wear winter clothes? LOL!
>When we got home she was zooming in the backyard which is fine. But, now she’s starting to dig. Sigh!>
Zooming is great! It is actually a decompression for a lot of dogs. So is digging in many ways – yo can direct the digging by doing something like teaching her to dig at a scratch pad so she can dig AND file her nails down 🙂 Or get her a kiddy pool with dirt or a bunch of balls in it to dig in 🙂 Digging in a great outlet and great for shoulders.
The pattern game was fantastic! Super fast responses and there was a LOT going on in the environment. Really great! You can add in your motion by walking back and forth, and if that going well, you can move her around the site with this game too (starting at the perimeter so she can be successful). I also play this near the ring (as close as possible/as far as needed) during a walk through and even when dogs are running so the foundation near the ring is all about engagement before she knows what the excitement is all about 🙂
Great job here!! Keep me posted on today!
Tracy
