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Hi! All of the MN is reporting that their outdoor time is just about finished… but I was excited to see outdoor training videos from MN today! Maybe it will be a short winter 🙂
This video looks really good:
>>Did you just say I had too much connection on the Go? (SCORE!) >>
I know right? Happy dance! Just wait til we get to the part where I ask people to stop connecting entirely LOL! Best.Day.Ever. (There are rules of course, but it is very useful to disconnect sometimes haha)
On the video –
The Go line looked really good! You had a good timely reward, not a lure because it did not create the behavior, just affirmed it 🙂
The RC looked good too! You can add some decel at the end of it as he is passing you to tighten up the collection a little. The backside was also very nice, plus he really likes the thrown toy on the last jump there. Wheeee!
When he turned the wrong way on the first wrap (:50) – I think he read the timing and position of the decel for the wrap as the setting of the RC line? It was similar to :21 when you did the RC, with the decel and set up for the rear cross happening with you near the wing and before he took the jump after the tunnel here. The decel timing and position was a little different on the successful FC wraps – when he landed from the jump after the tunnel, and you were ahead of the inside wing and not near it. You can drive further into the tunnel so you can accelerate more the whole time, rather than get caught a little ahead and waiting.
Yes, some of your rotations were late on the FCs but I think you were being sure he turned to his right and not his let. You were better at 1:26, I think you were trusting him by then 🙂
rotation was late, you were turning to a post turn then rotating
And the motion override at the end looked good! He is doing really well on that too.Great job on these!!!
TracyHi! Bummer about the extreme zoom on the videos!! But at least Mother Nature gave you more time with green grass!! These went really well. An overall theme that emerged is that the lower your arms, the better things went. When your arms got high, things didn’t go as well. Because she is small and quick, we can figure out ways to work the most comfortable low arms so she can see things clearly and quickly – either squirrel arms (or T.Rex arms haha) where your elbows are bent, arms touching your ribs, and hand right on your stomach, or penguin arms where you elbows are locked straight, upper arm touching your ribs, and hands low and slightly behind you. These should both show great connection while allowing you to be quick, so it is a matter of which feels more comfy.
Here are more specifics:
One step sends – these are going really nicely when you keep your send arm low, kind of like if you were tossing something to the takeoff spot. That maintains connection and shows the line. When your arm got high and you pointed to the jump – it broke connection and turned you body, so she came off the line. Your timing was good! So I think the arm position will make all the difference.
>>d I didn’t rotate my hips and feet too quickly causing her to cut in before committing to the jump>>
I don’t think it was caused so much by your feet & hips – watch your dog side arm go above your head, which pulled your shoulders off the line and broke connection. A nice low arm (think of sending a bowling ball to the takeoff spot) will help.
BC to tunnel video:
VERY NICE!! I can bug you about arms here too – she is SO quick that your blinds need to be quicker – not in terms of starting them, but in terms of finishing so she can see the reconnection. The way to do that is to keep them tighter to your body and not extended out away because it takes too long with such a speedy dog to get them pulled in for the new connection. See above about squirrel/T.Rex or penguin arms – this is a good spot for that!Looking at arms – on the 2nd run – the high arm going over your shoulder is what pulled her off.
>>Bindi is a tunnel freak so I actually was pretty happy that she followed my cross and went into the opposite end of the tunnel.>>
You were very clear in timing, connection and line on these! She read them brilliantly and did not appear to even look at the other end of the tunnel. Yay!
Wraps and Fluffy BCs – nice low arms in the pinwheel! That worked nicely to help with the sends. On the wraps on both sides, try to decel sooner as she lands from the middle jump, so you can rotate sooner too. I don’t think you need to give her the step forward to the jump as she is passing you, I think you can start to rotate at that point which will get you outta there sooner.
Good job getting to the position for the fluffy blinds! At :24 and 1:13 as you exit the BCs, this is also a good spot to be a squirrel or a penguin (or a T.Rex lol!) to show really clear extit line connection. Your dog-side arm was out away form your body, so she had trouble seeing which side to be one (and also was not sure which side after the wrap at :25. And exit line connection (showing the reward across your body with the opposite arm) will also help!
Good stay rewards mixed in! Yay!!!!
Double blinds: The Doubles are going well! On the exit of the singles we can clarify the connection – try not to let your hand come up so high as you send into the first blind, because it delays the connection on the new side after the BC. This is another good place for a squirrel or penguin – and you’ll find you can also run faster with your arms in tight, plus it is easier to get the exit line connection. You were starting to get really comfy with these – check out the amazing timing of the first blind at 1:08!!! Wow!!!! I think you will find these fun and effective 🙂
Great job on these! Let me know if the penguin/T.Rex/squirrel idea makes sense 🙂
Tracy
Hi! Bummer about all the white stuff, but I think you made good use of it!!! Your rotated FCs and spins all looked good on the single wing after the tunnel. Your tight blinds crosses looked especially fabulous – timing was perfect and your line was perfect! And connection was clear 🙂 YAY!!!!
You can take those into the double blinds, using the 3 wing set up you had at the end – you were doing FCs and spins on those, but you can send her into the tunnel so she exits facing a wing and then do a BC on the wing, followed by a BC on the flat to skip the middle wing and get to the other outer wing.I think the hardest part was the circle wraps – those were hardest for everyone! At :38, :53 and 1:14, you were doing it a little fancier 🙂 by sending her around the wing then doing a RC wrap on the wing. so she wrapped it twice. You can make this more into a reverse wrap by sending her to the wing on your right side like you did, but then moving right behind her butt so you end up on the outer line to get her to do the full 360. You were moving along the line behind her butt on the circle wrap heading back to the tunnel! She was a little hesitant on these (all the pups are, so far!) so you can work the skill by walking through them and tossing the reward behind you when she turns her head (and as you keep moving).
If you have time to re-visit this before more snows come, that is my suggestion – you can do it at a snow-safe pace 🙂 You can totally revisit the double blinds too, mainly because they are fun 🙂 But they do require more running, so they can wait until the ground is less slippery.Great job here! Stay warm!!!!
Tracy
Hi!
OMG the husky song, that was hysterical! I love how he shrugged it off and got back into the game 🙂 Good boy!Wing commitment video:
Facing backwards to the wings and standing still was perfect! When you added in moving away, he had some questions – it might have been that you were too far from the wing, so two options there: stay in the middle-of-the-box position and start moving away just as he arrives at the wing. Or, start closer to the wing and start moving away just as he leaves you. You can work both then meld them together.
When you added the tunnel, the decel in the transition became important. At 1:24, you slammed on the brakes without a clear decel, so he did not commit. 1:36 had good decel and lovely commitment – when you did that nice clear transition, he committed every time and that allowed you to leave earlier and earlier. Your spin at 1:54 and 2:00 were really good, nice flowing!
He was not as sure of commitment at 2:08 because there was not quite enough connection to his eye as he exited the tunnel, so he looked up at you. But you had clearer connection on the next rep, so it was much smoother.Circle wraps: these were hard for everyone because there is soooo much countermotion! You can do lots of throwing the reward behind you to help him finish the circle.
Try to keep moving forward with no steps to the side, even if you have to decel and wait for him to pass you – I tell myself to keep my feet together and lean forward a little. That way you won’t show any sideways steps or have to scramble out of it – that is what was happening at :09 and :34 and 1:08 and 1:45 on the other side, where he looked like he was committing (turned his head!) but did not commit. Part of that was him trying to sort out the countermotion, part of it was your sudden burst of acceleration. So you can walk through, doing less of a sideways step (more like what you did at :41 and 1:02 and 1:12 and 1:24) and drop rewards in behind you as you move forward to help convince him to finish the circle. As soon as you see his head turn, fling the reward in behind you as you keep moving forward rather then deliver from you hands, so he doesn’t lock onto where your hands are going 🙂Tight blinds – NICE! You were turning nice and early and his turns looked great on the blind which set you up for nice countermotion on the middle wing – after the circles in the previous video, this was easy for him 🙂 When you do the spin (to the blind) in the middle wing, you can move away sooner on the FC then finish the BC while moving away – this will result in better position – I think you were taking a step back towards the BC wing before moving forward to the tunnel which delayed the BC element of the spin (1:01)
The only suggestion on this one is to run a very direct line from wing to wing, so he can run a direct line – you had a little zig zag going, stepping back towards tune tunnel after the BC on the outer wing, which made it harder for him to see the wrap wing
Doubles – these went well too! He is really quick around the wings, so you can be even quicker with the 2nd blind: Keep your arms in tighter, try the bent elbows and squirrel position to get that 2nd blind in sooner in terms of connection. I love double blinds as threadle replacers, partially because they are easy and fun! Your running lines when he was starting on your left were great (2nd half of the video), so keep doing those – you were a little more zig zag when he started on our right in the first half. And oh yeah: don’t break yourself falling down! Eek!!!
These look terrific! I hope mother nature continues to give you green grass!!!
Great job 🙂
TracyHi! This one also looks really good, her commitment looks lovely!
You can do the earlier rotation on these – rotating as she is passing you – to stretch her commitment even more. You were tending to be earlier on the rotations on the FCs when she was on your left (like at :15, and also when you did the FC after the 2nd wing) – and you waited longer when she was on your right. All of her sends looked awesome, so you can see if she maintains the commitment on the send if you rotate as soon as she passes your leg (I bet she will, she was awesome at :15!)You can also add challenge by moving the wings further away… but you stay nice and close to the tunnel. This can let you play with sending her further and further away: 15 feet? 20 feet? Have fun stretching the boundaries!
Great job!
TracyHi! She is looking great here!!
On this game, you can add challenge: Start backwards to the first wing so you are already facing away and she gets the feeling of leaving you to commit, even when you are rotating and moving away. You were facing this first wing and moving towards it to start, but I think she is ready for the backwards sends 🙂 It will really help solidify commitment especially if you ever are early or slam on the brakes too quickly. When you were in motion on the wraps, your rotations were good! So now, try to do them sooner 🙂 Decelerate as she is exiting the previous wing and then rotate right before she passes you – this is harder but I think she can do it (and it will also help for when this all goes onto jumps 🙂 The race tracks were terrific, she seemed to have no questions!! Good jobs with the verbals there too! And the wraps thrown in there on the race tracks were lovely – they had that earlier rotation and she committed AND turned super tight. You were turned before she passed you on those. So, because this went so well, definitely try rotating before she passes you and see how it goes 🙂
Great job!
TracyGood morning! Sorry about the soggy yard, but your indoor work here looks great!!!
On the motion override sits – she was doing really well with responding to the cue, and you are adding more motion which is terrific 🙂 One thing I noticed is that as the session progressed and the rewards were tossed forward, she was moving forward before the release a bit. So, you can counteract that by releasing and tossing the rewards all the way behind her, so she does not have a reason to move forward (and she is not likely to break a stay to turn back LOL!). She is a little sideways on the stay which is not a problem. You can add challenge – when you toss the reward back behind her, keep walking forward. Then after she gets the treat and starts moving towards you, cue the sit while she is still behind you and you are moving – that might be harder! If not… add more motion and build up to jogging (when the yard isn’t so soggy :))Her 2o2o on the wobble board looks great! And since she is comfy with it in different places and different noises, you can combine the 2o2o with motion override: start walking past the wobble board and cue the spot behavior… and keep moving (slowly) until she hits and holds the position, no matter where you are. You were stopping relatively close to her here, so you can use motion override to help her understand that da momma will be *anywhere* and she can still get into position. My rule for myself when training my 2o2o contacts is that I build up different positions so I can stop with my feet anywhere except parallel to her feet. That way, my feet and position and stopping don’t become part of what she relies on to stop. I think she is ready for it on the wobble board!
Let me know how it goes 🙂 Great job here!
TracyHi Kathy!
>> I have been only practicing “catch” under the impression that we shouldn’t worry about break for now and that is something that you will cover in the future. I want to confirm that my understanding is correct.>>
Great question! We will be adding some ‘break’ in this week – it is really easy to add in and takes on value really quickly. You’ll see it in one of the games tonight! And it is the kind of thing we use to start games to bring the dog to us, and balance with a ton of “catch” reinforcements to maintain the stays 🙂
Let me know if that makes sense 🙂
TracyHi Joni! This was a great session – you were super quick with your transitions between playing and shaping. You were even quicker than she was, which is impressive because she is so darn fast LOL!!! Yes, she was very interested in the toy at the very beginning an you made a really good decision to move it further away (but still have it within reach to play with on toy breaks). That helped her understand to offer behavior on the box – then she learned how to go back and forth from the toy to the offering, and she stopped thinking about where the toy was. YAY! And using ‘yes’ instead of a clicker was fine 🙂 Good job breaking down the session and getting her to be able to offer front feet and then later on, some back feet. Yay! This helps her to have better body awareness, plus it helps her understand how to thoughtfully offer behavior while being really excited – that will transfer long term into the ring, where she is going to be VERY excited but will still be able to focus and do ‘thoughtful’ things like hold her stay, hit weave entries, etc. Try to do a session like this once a day, on different objects – it is a great thing for her to play goat games on as many different things as possible 🙂
Great job!!
TracyHi! The length on these is great, good sessions of about 2 minutes!
Backing up – I think she is beginning to get the idea!! You can stay bent over rather than standing up (sorry about your back lol), and have the cookie ready to toss back as soon as she backs out from under you – this is so she doesn’t look up at you when she steps back, and that way you wont deliver to her mouth. That will help get her offering more and more steps. She was getting creative about stepping out behind you after getting the cookie, so maybe stand closer to the couch behind you, giving her enough room to get the treat you are dropping between your feet but then she has to back up for the next one and can’t continue through LOL! I think by the end of the session, she was definitely starting to offer more and more backing up! Adding these little tweaks will help get even more.
Plankrobatics – this is also going well, she is figuring out where all of her feet are 🙂 You alternated between helping her and waiting for her to offer something – the waiting always went better! So be super patient – it is a couple of seconds even though it feels like an eternity LOL! She offers better when your cookie hands are not moving, so after you give her a cookie on the plank or after you reward her for getting off, stand perfectly still and see what she does. She had a bit of a breakthrough at 2:16 where you were standing still and she was thinking about her back feet – and then til the end of the session, she was doing a great job with the body awareness! Yay!!
Great job on these! Keep me posted on how she does!
TracyHi! It is pretty normal for BCs to be more toy motivated than food motivated! In the last puppy class, we had to teach a BC puppy to eat, and then rewarded him for eating LOL!!!
You can build food value as a reinforcement (I highly recommend it, because food is so easy to use as a reward!): get her to eat a treat – when she swallows it (you can see her swallow to see when she opens her mouth – throw a ball or give her a tug toy. Yes, we are reinforcing her for swallowing the treat 🙂 But then the treat takes on the value of the ball… and the treat becomes highly reinforcing in arousing scenarios. Start it at home, where it will be easy 🙂 Then take it to other places and use high value food. Maybe in a distracting place like the park, you’ll need cheese and at home you can use kibble.
Take your time getting the ball to her, though, be sure she truly swallowed the treat – Border Collies are brilliant at sticking treats into their lips and then spitting them out LOL!!! And if she cannot take the treat in a scenario, you can try moving her further away and see if she will take it. Let me know how it goes! Have fun!
TracyHi!
Good morning!
>>Do you think it would help to add a verbal when I capture really good reps? This is mostly about hind end awareness, right? Any other ideas? I just don’t think this has clicked for him yet.
Don’t add the verbal yet, I don’t think we want to name it yet – it is about hind end awareness in some ways, but it is also about shaping and mechanical skills – and I think that is what will help it click for him! Lots of ideas 🙂
Yes, the mat and especially Cato board have some clear value now! You can see how nicely he got onto the Cato board 🙂
The backing up straight will come, and I have ideas for you (see below) for that… but first, I think we can tweak training mechanics to get the behavior. He is not offering as much and I believe it is mechanics (as Bob Bailey says, training is a mechanical skill!)
Ideally, the order of festivities when shaping this would be:
– your cookie hand places the cookie between your feet
– he comes forward, eats the cookie
– he moves back
– you click
– your cookie hand moves to place the cookie back to the mat or board
This should help build the understanding that is it his movement back that produces the click which then produces the cookie on the mat or board.What is happening here is slightly a different order of festivities:
– your cookie hand places the cookie between your feet
– he comes forward, eats the cookie
– your cookie hand moves to place the cookie back to the mat or board and you click
– he moves backSo I think the backing up or moving back on the mat was incidental, because the reinforcement was being paired with following your hand movement. That would also explain why it was harder to get the backing up on the Cato board and you were helping him onto it more, if that makes sense – harder to follow the hand straight and step up onto something. He is focusing on following the hand, because that is what is preceding the reinforcement.
On your next session, keep your cookie hand completely still – I leave my forearm on my leg when I am bending over for this. Drop a cookie in between your feet then don’t move your hand – when he offers a bit of backing up – click and then move the cookie hand to flick a reward to him. That can help him realize that it is his movement that is causing the click/treat to happen, not following your hand. Speaking from experience, it is really hard to keep the cookie hand completely motionless LOL! That is why I glue it to my leg 🙂 I do move my hand to get the reward in, but after the dog moves and after the click – not before the dog moves. Admittedly, it is REALLY hard to be motionless 🙂
Now, it will change the picture so I suggest helping him get it right early on by having him start with all 4 feet on the Cato board – the cookie drop can be close to the board so he gets one or two front feet off only… then wait and see – and reward getting those front feet back on the board, even if he turns around to do it because he offered without needing your hand to move. You will be able to build that to backing up when he realizes that he needs to move in order to make the cookies move 🙂
As for other ways to work on this and get straight backing up:
– do you have a plastic or mesh crate? You can start the pup with all four feet in the crate, cookie drop gets one or 2 front feet out – then toss the cookie in when he steps back into the crate (I don’t use wire for this because I worry that little toes would get caught in wire)
You can totally start this as you change the picture with the motionless cookie hand, if he likes his crate 🙂 Eventually he can be all the way out of the crate and back up into it, nice and straight.– you can create a channel – a couch on one side and a gate or crate or something on the other side, and he is facing you at the end – with the mat or target in the channel, just behind him – he can sort out stepping back to the mat or target, which eventually gets further and further away 🙂 But don’t start the channel until he has already seen the motionless cookie hand or he might think it is really weird LOL!
Let me know what you think! It is these little puzzles that can break things open with lots of behaviors 🙂
TracyHi!
Good boy on the plank!!!! Great session. After the first click, he totally said “hey do you want back feet too?” Yes, please and thanks LOL! That shows an unusually good hind end awareness for a youngster. And he had no trouble turning around that first time! A little distracted by a cookie the second time perhaps but then at 1:27 perfectly balanced again. And in happy-making news, when you switched sides to get him to turn to his right at 1:42, he was very balanced – no difference between turning to his left or turning to his right. That is unusual and also fabulous 🙂
On the next plank adventure, you can ask him if he can be this balanced and self-aware when he is a little more stimulated, setting the foundation for speed across the planks. You can do that by doing some tug before he gets on, then a cookie for the being on and turning around: then release to a tug toy and get wild for a bit – then ask him to get back on. In that moment, he will really have to think about his body! Releasing to a cookie search is calmer – so if he struggles when things are wilder, you can do a cookie search release to settle the excitement, and then we can add more arousal more gradually. Based on what he did here, though, I don’t think he will struggle 🙂Great job!!
TracyGood morning!
He is getting so big! Wow, even though he is a baby dog, you can totally see the power in his body!
He was AWESOME here, I agree that this went really well! Your set up was perfect: lots of movement but not soooo much thta it might have freaked him out. Also, no real noise – allowing you to isolate just one element. Storm was perfectly ti play with his tuggie on the wobble board! And I love that he offered it again with no questions. He was beginnign to pull back on the toy – so you can see if he can stay on the wobble board and pull back, shifting his weight into his rear like he will do on the teeter. You can get lower to help him do this – either sitting on the ground of a chair – so he can pull straight back on the toy.
Great job here, he is off to a terrific start!
