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Hi!
Her stays are coming along nicely! The Pizza moments make me smile every single time LOL! I just love that word for it LOL!!!!
One thing to do as you build up getting past the jump – be extra sure that you release from a different spot each time. Dogs are brilliant at figuring out our patterns and I think she is anticipating that you will release her when you get about 2 feet past he jump LOL!! So sometimes release before you get to the jump, sometimes at the jump, sometimes 2 feet after it, sometimes 6 feet after it… mix it up so she can’t guess LOL!>> She like lifts her foot, but then she knows she has to stay and puts it back down. I was wondering if I could put this on Facebook? I want to show her breeder.>>
OMG that was funny! “Oops, I didn’t mean to move my foot, let me put it back” Ha!
You can totally put any of this on Facebook! She is doing awesome and you can show her off to the world 🙂Great job here!
TracyGood morning!
I think the rotated sends are looking fabulous! You had some decent distance from the barrel, which made it harder but she got it. Nice! She is really good turning to her right but it was much harder turning to her left at first. I think the difficulty was more the reason she was jumping up and not the toy (she didn’t jump up for it on any of the reps where she had to turn to her right, and she didn’t jump up for it when she figured out the left turns).
But she did figure them out really nicely, so you can start to add a bit of the countermotion: when she is arriving at the barrel, you start to move away the other direction. Slowly at first so she maintains her commitment. Then move away earlier and earlier, so she is committing while you are already going the next direction 🙂
Great job! Have fun!
TracyGood morning!
>> It’s fun. lol. >>
Exactly! It is fun and totally worth doing a few times. The thing that agility dogs need to do on course is find the line in front of them, so this is GREAT to build value for!
On the video:
this looks really good! I think on the one error at :25, you didn’t hold connection long enough before you started to move away so she didn’t quite have the time to connect with you before you turned your shoulder. You can move but the connection must be crystal clear with baby dogs – you were moving and turning forward which broke connection. Adult dogs are likely to not have a problem, but baby dogs are every literal and will end up on the jump 🙂Otherwise it looked great. The only thing I would add now is more motion from you! You can jog as much as possible at home, or try it at Bonnie’s where you have more room. The goal of adding more motion from you is two things:
– can you stay connected AND move faster? Sounds easier than it is haha
– can she keep her lovely thoughtful behavior while you move faster? What I mean by that is, will she find the jump? Or, will she get too excited by your movement and just chase you (and this is where some pups jump up or bite the handler). If she does get too excited, you can slow down a little to wherever she can handle it. If it is easy… then go faster 🙂 Wheee!
Great job!
TracySounds good! I personally try to make things as much the same as possible for all my dogs, because I think later this year I will be running 4 maybe 5 dogs at trials… and I don’t have the brain power to remember all those different things. LOL! So it has to be the same for me or I will screw it up 🙂
T
Hi! We talk about it here and there in this class – but you will find a lot of info and demos in this free facebook class:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/1074089192764113/
>>On another note for the upcoming classes do you have a working spot + audit combo.>>
On the teeter class and the weaves class, we don’t have live working sessions same as we did here – but everyone is welcome to join the live Q&A sessions where we will give in the moment feedback, either live if possible or on video. More info on that soon!
And great news about the teeter progress! Yay!!!!
T
Hi there! Lots of good work here!
He did well on the decel game! The first rep is exactly why we are doing this. Wheee! He is getting better and better on each rep here but he totally thought the lack of connection and help was silly LOL! Adding the FC exit so he chases you will also help by giving him an incentive to hurry back after the decel cue:) On the one jump games, turning left looked better than turning right but might just be the learning process as turning left was second.
When you added speed from the tunnel –
at 1:21 you had wrong verbal but he turned correctly, so definitely reward!
His turns after the tunnel looked really good, in both directions! He was giving really nice collection without you having to rotate – really great! And it is a nice progression of understanding all in one session, very cool to see.
Keep mixing this silly decel game into the training, throw it into sequences sometimes, so he keeps the deceleration understanding nice and sharp 🙂Tunnel threadles:
Good job warming up with the Double Whammys – he did well here! You can give him a directional before he enters the first tunnel, so he can exit the tunnel with more of a turn. Then also meet him more at the end of the tunnel so you don’t get too far ahead on the threadle – that way you can keep moving forward til he makes a choice.on the double whammy and on the jump-tunnel, you were using the threadle arm to both pull and send him back – if you do that, the send away has to be precisely timed or he might go back to the other tunnel entry like he did at :41. I suggest just leaving the arm there in threadle position as you move to the correct tunnel entry, and don’t use it to flick him back – you just keep moving that way until he turns himself to the tunnel entry, then you can release the arm and move to the next line. It is hard not to help but the payoff is worth it!
When he was coming to the tunnel threadle over the jump – be sure that you are rotating your feet to face the correct tunnel entry before he lands (you can also use a direction like a left or right to help him land turned). At 1:01 and 1:06, your feet were facing the straight end of the tunnel, as compared to 1:13 and 1:20 where your feet were facing he threadle end of it. The line of motion will really help clarify it for him as the verbal gets more and more independent.
Obstacle discrimination:
:31 was very cool, he was looking at the mat, you said tunnel, he looked right at the tunnel. That is definite progress!!! It is a really hard game!! But I agree – definite progress happening!
The MM makes it hard because it has probably never been associated with the place cue – so you can click the MM when he does arrive on the mat. That way the MM doesn’t tip him off to one or the other.
Another way you can raise the rate of success is to use a physical cue such as one leg step or one arm point… provided you can be completely stationary while you say the verbal, then a full second later, do the movement. That will be the new cue – old cue routine where the verbal predicts the physical cue so it strengthens the verbal. But the trick is to have the cues completely independent – we humans are notoriously bad at standing still LOL!!!! I literally have to count to one in my head before allowing myself to move 🙂A-frame box – this was an interesting session to figure out why some were good and some were leapy. I think he was trying to watch the toy 🙂 Have you done toy distractions on the box, where he is offering the box behavior while you are swinging the toy around? It doesn’t have to be in this grid set up, just the box on its own – toy is swinging or slapping on the ground 🙂 When he could see the toy and you were ahead, it was easy for him! But when the toy was moving or not far enough ahead, he was having some trouble. I am about to go do this with my dogs, I will post video when I get it in case my explanation makes no sense LOL!
Separately. I suggest the MM out there past the end so he is looking forward and not back a you for the toy throw. That can also help him to ignore you and the toy 🙂Great job! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
>>What am I doing incorrectly for her not going to the opposite side of the tunnel? Am I way to late with verbal? And position? My body is not showing her the threadles?>>
I don’t think it is one thing in particular that you are doing incorrectly, I think that you might just be moving with too much speed for her current level of understanding (not even 11 months old :))
Even when you are on time and saying the verbal and showing the hand: if you were moving fast, she read it as stay on the line to the tunnel in front of her.
When you slowed it down and showed her the cues more deliberately (like at :41) she totally got it. You mentioned there that it was faster and you started moving – it was not that you were moving fast, you were just moving to the correct end of the tunnel sooner.She isn’t saying ‘screw you’ LOL! She was just reading motion 🙂
So two ideas for you for the next session:
Put the wing more in the center facing the curve of the tunnel and not the entry. That way it will be less tempting to go straight.
And also walk the whole time for now – and when you cue the threadles. show the big upper body rotation and arm towards her as she is exiting the wing, and walk towards the correct end of the tunnel. Then as she gets more and more successful, you can add more and more speed. At first, add her speed only (you will be walking) – tunnel, wing, tunnel (straight ahead end), wing, threadle to the other end. Then when she can do that, we start to add more and more of your speed 🙂
Let me know what you think!
TracyHi! Lots of good stuff here! Working through the video:
He really likes the teeter – tables game! Lots of good reps here. He was pretty wild after the sequence in particular, which is good! We want more wild and less thinking when the teeter is involved. My only suggestion is that I don’t think I would have him jump on the end that is raised because it is hard to balance and we don’t want him to fall and then start thinking about it.
You can also have the MM on the table for him to run to, so he doesn’t use it like a trampoline hahaWobble disc: Personal crating room? Jealous! He is not a major fan of the wobble board but he is a major fan of food and toys, so he was doing it nicely!! Yay! Definite progress. I like that set up with the holder. I think the only thing he needs in that room is more traction for getting on and off. There were moments when it looked like he wanted to use his hind end more, but the floor is very slippery – so he wasn’t trusting the set up to confidently leap on the board (slippery getting off it too). A big yoga mat or carpet will help that so he is very confident on all of it.
Going up the teeter is going well. I think for him, though, he is looking for the tip because the height is a bit daunting. So, 2 things – don’t push him by running more (that is why he fell off the side, trying to run) – and if he does fall off, reward big time anyway (the video edit made it hard to see what happened).
Also, I think you can use the lower teeter set up from the teeter tables game and add more height that way for now – he is still running back and forth across the teeter with some tip and lots of wildness, but the teeter is full height – you would just need taller things like a full height table to support each side. We will revisit the mountain climber set up in a different way later on.One thought here and also later in the video – it might be time to have the other dogs not around while he is training. Spree almost got smushed on the teeter and Sizzle almost collided with him at 3:44, plus got on the teeter with him later in the video. I stopped having the other dogs loose during training the day that I was training Crusher to do the teeter and Export got on it before she did, which resulted in flipping her about 10 feet through the air. It was scary! And we don’t want anything to weird to happen with Stark, especially with the teeter involved. I don’t mind my other dogs nearby or in a stay or even barking their heads off – and if you want to have Sizzle help with tugging, you can release her to come in and join – I just am careful that they don’t run into each other.
The yes tunnel no tunnel games looked really good!!! The yes tunnel – no tunnel from the wing to the tunnel or bypassing the tunnel look fabulous, zero questions from Stark. Great connection from you! That backside tunnel send is HARD but he figured it out – you being a little rotated and not moving really helped to get the ball rolling, then he figured out how to use his body to get into it while you continued moving. Great job putting it together, he had no real questions on any of it and that is exciting!! You can replace the wings with jumps if you like, or even through in an element of “other tunnel” by having him wrap the wing and threadle to the other end of the tunnel.
Going back to the teeter: he had an absolutely brilliant rep on the teeter at 5:31 and you had a big party…. and yes, you should have only done one rep LOL!!!! Don’t be greedy 🙂 I know how hard it is to stop when it looks great – but save the greedy for stuff like weaves or the RDW which will be easy and I am sure they will look great.
Having Sizzle bang the teeter while he eats is good! You can use the MM with that so you don’t need 3 arms and also so you don’t risk him trying to jump on and possibly getting flipped off it by Sizzle.
On the handling: The RC looked really good! Nice job setting up the line and driving it to the center of the bar! RCs are hard so if you get it, you know you’ve done a good job!!! For the BC – you can use his independent skills to stay out on the line so you an get there sooner. You were not terribly late with the timing, only a little late – but I think the line/momentum was not directly to the jump, so he had trouble reading it. Good connection to help him get it the line!!!
Great job on these! Let me know what you think!
TracyHoly bananas -35???? EEK!
This is a good game for indoors LOL!! The hardest part is standing still 🙂 She was perfect, lovely collections! And your fast & fun exits for the reward looked great. Since adding a tunnel is not possible 🙂 we can get creative. Do you have a manners minder or pet tutor? You can set it out ahead maybe 6 feet past the jump. If you are standing still or doing the send, she should collect and turn and NOT go to it (and get rewarded from you). If you are moving, she should go to it (and you can reward her from it). You can use anything she has value for – a dog bed, crate, empty food bowl, etc 🙂 They will all help her read the collection cue of the deceleration. Great job here – let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
>> I’ll be honest, she is so amazing (to me anyway), that our training sessions are too long (because I want to be amazed more), I need to play more and keep it fun. >>
I know that feeling! Set a timer so you can stop yourself after 2 or 3 minutes. The other think I like to do is play music – I start the session when a song starts, then end it when the song ends. That means about 2 minutes and 30 seconds of training and then we take a break 🙂
>>But from a contradictory perspective, I feel I need to start being more deliberate. She seems to be developing a bit of a mind of her own. She runs around and offers a bunch of stuff to get rewarded.>>
Ah yes – try to clear the training environment of other things that might entice her. You don’t want her leaving you to offer other things… but you also don’t want to be telling her that she is wrong when the behavior she offers is correct. So, the easiest thing to do is to not have other stuff around for her to interact with.
>> I have started being more deliberate with her path, not letting her cross behind me and making her stick to the task at hand and not letting her decide what she wants to work on (sounds so silly, but yes, she is doing that).>>
When the pups leave to offer other things, it might also be a reflection on the rate of success in the current session, so try having higher success rates (breaking things down more) and then I bet she won’t want to change her mind and do other things 🙂
>>We “deliberately” worked on the “Get Out” work today. She did very well and I was amazed.
Awesome!!!
>>>I wanted to talk about the “verbals” discussion. I have actually been thinking about this long before she even showed up. The two areas where I am undecided are: Backsides. I only use one verbal with my older dog, push. Do you have suggestions for the wrap and slice? >>
I use “back” to mean backside slice and ‘digdigdig’ to mean backside circle wrap. Some folks use ‘push’ or ‘around’ so it depends on what feels comfy for you. Since ‘push’ is already something you use, I suggest keeping it for the backside slices and adding a different one for the backside wraps.
>>Also, for the jump threadle, I have never had a cue. Current dog is pretty velcro and I would do a tandem turn with a left or right verbal. Previous dogs with more distance would be a name call, a directional and a Hail Mary! So, I would appreciate some suggestions there as well. I have a plan for all the other items discussed!>>
I like having a threadle verbal, so there are no hail mary moments LOL!! I use ‘close’ and lots of folks use ‘in in’ for those.
>>Pretty sure I will sign up for online for foundation class in March, so you will have a chance to see her in action and correct all my bad habits!>>
Yay! I am excited for that class to begin!!
Tracy
Hi!
Yes, Elektra understands the release cue of my hands relaxing next to the tug, so she gives it back. It is a little hard to see happening. I also do TONS of rewarding of that – either giving the toy back immediately or giving her a treat for releasing it 🙂
Tracy
Hi!
The lefts and rights at the beginning with your motion and then when you stopped moving all looked really good! Getting it while you are moving is easy – getting them so nicely when you were not moving and pretty neutral was GREAT!
The turn away into the left turn was harder to get started but then at 1:49 she had a bit of a break through! 2:51 and 2:56 were impressive and so was 315 on those left turns, even with the ‘easier’ option of going to the right being pretty close by.
She had trouble turning away on the right turns -she did well when there was a forward step but on the turn aways she needs a little help for the right turn. So to help get it started, two ideas:
– you can soften the angle where she start, so she is facing the first jump on almost astraight approach with you in a neutral position (maybe a little behind her) and then with ner starting on your right.
– you can also add a hand cue, with your right hand, turning her away before the first jump. A cookie lure might get her convinced to follow your hand at first (she won’t want to slow down to turn away to her right LOL!) but then that will be easy to fade out.Circle wraps:
>>Do you have a separate que for a left circle wrap vs a right circle wrap? >>
I personally do not have 2 separate cues for this – I have never found the need for it, at least not yet 🙂 Other people do have that, but they are mainly in Europe where they might encounter that skill a whole lot more than we will. I have limited brain space for all these verbals, so I will only add separate cues for the backside circle wraps if there comes a day that I totally need them.
On the first part of the video:
Her commitment on these looks awesome! She was beautiful in both directions and did not seem to even look at the tunnel. before or after the circle wraps Good girl!She had a couple of questions on some of the reps, and I think these were the same questions later on too – if you were blocking the wing a little too much, she might not be able to commit as well. You can use your really big cone or squished up ring gates to make a bigger ‘wing’ so you can show the full wing more.
Then the other thing she needed, especially on the right turn wraps, was for you to wait til she turned her head AND took a step towards the bar. When you did that: she was perfection. When you left before she turned her head or just after she turned her head but had not turned her feet yet – she had a refusal. More on that below.When you added the balance of front versus back from the tunnel – nice!! She was super, especially on the right turn wraps. Mix it up more frequently between the different wraps, so she doesn’t get into the groove of it only being one direction (that is probably why some of the left turn cues were incorrect as she was in wrap right mode)
The physical cue on the dig dig backside wrap really helped her too.Looking at some of her questions when you were using countermotion on the backside wrap to her right at 6:00, 651 and 7:00 for example, she hadn’t turned her head yet to look and take that one step to the bar. So this is a spot to give her that one extra heart beat of patience on the right turn circle wraps for now. When she is more experienced, you won’t need to but for now, watch her and don’t move forward until she looks at AND steps towards the bar 🙂 You were doing that more from 7:14 7:25, 7:35 and from then on til the end – both showing her a clearer line and waiting til you saw her turn more.
Through the box – this went well!!!
The FCs at the beginning were perfect. And then when you added the send through the box – also perfect, especially because she had just been rewarded for the other jump. Nice!!!>>The first one I see I did a front cross instead of a simple post turn. I guess the front cross takes the other jump out of play.>>
The FC is a different challenge, but yes the post turn does challenge her to not look through the box – I am sure she will be fine with those.
On the backside – the extra step totally helped her – you can go one step deeper to it and also use a little less send arm (you did add more connection with less arm at 1:27 and she almost went… but then changed her mind at the last minute – that is just a young dog moment. So for now, keeping that extra step in and then as she gets more experienced you will find it easier to not have to step in as much. At 2:17 you can see she is already getting better at it! Yay!
She had no questions about going back to the FC or straight line after the backsides, that is good!
I am also excited about how well she read the throw backs – nice and tight, and your connection was super so she knew where to be and came through the box when asked. And also no questions on the lap turns – wow!!!
And on the backside inside the box -very nice too! When you had your arm back like at 5:47, she was perfect. If you brought your arm too far forward, she either went wide or had a little question, so that arm back connection was most helpful for her.
The hardest thing for her were the serpentines! I think it was a combination of you moving really fast and a little bit of shoulder closed forward. When you slowed down a little and also opened your shoulder and added connection, it really helped and she nailed it. Then you were nicely able to add back speed.
Balancing it with go was harder – she went straight but didn’t necessarily know to take the jump til you got the MM involved, then she had that big a-ha moment 🙂 When you went back to the serpentines, she was reading it as different, so you can add in her name on these to help her know to come on (versus the very clear gogogo cue). I think the physical cue was clear but serpentines with you moving fast are challenging (for all of our dogs, not just her :))
At around 12:00, you were starting a little too close to the cone so had to really pull away to get to the layering, so it was a really hard visual for the verbal to override that verbal. When you sent to he cone more, she got it really nicely!
Layering is a really hard skill, so you can also move the go jump in a little closer to her line past the serp jump so she stays out and has an easier time finding it.Great job here!!!
Let me know what you think!
TracyHi! Ha! It is TOTALLY a Dr. Seuss name: it is from a more grown up game called Yes Tunnel No Tunnel Back Tunnel Go Tunnel, which is fully Seussed up. Dean is spot on LOL!
Kaladin did a GREAT job on these! He committed to the correct side of you based on your connection and also found the backside of the tunnel really nicely. Thank you for not stepping across the tunnel exit on those LOL!
>>I don’t think my connection was that great on the 2nd No tunnel (0:45)>
I agree, it was a tiny bit soft there – but that is what I really liked about him committing to your side based on the initial connection and staying committed til told otherwise. GOOD BOY! You can challenge that by doing the beginning of a ‘no tunnel’ rep and then doing a blind cross on the flat to get him back to your original side and cue the tunnel. So on the rep at :45: he exits the wing wrap on your right and you start running like it is a no-tunnel rep: but then do the BC to get him on your left and into the tunnel, while you continue to the wing behind the tunnel (he should exit the tunnel turned facing the wing behind it). And mix that in sometimes with NOT doing the BC and keeping him on your no-tunnel side, to bypass the tunnel and go directly to the wing.
That is a harder challenge but based on this video, he is totally ready for it. Let me know if it makes sense, the coffee level here is a little low 🙂When you added the turn aways:
First rep – good challenges on this one! The lap turn looked good, the no tunnel looked good and I think bypassing the tunnel send was a young dog mistake and not necessarily anything in particular you did. The tunnel entry there requires a lot of collection from the pups and the humans are accelerating away – difficult!!!Yes, the 360 threadle was a little late at :58 but you stayed connected til he got it. Nice! I lLove how he is driving into the lap turn on the next turn, and the race tracks look good!
The 360 on the last rep looked good, I think we can name it – do you have a threadle/360 wrap verbal chosen? You can give him his dig then his name then the new verbal in those moments.
And the no tunnel and backside tunnel entry looked great at the end on the last rep! I am looking forward to spring weather when all of these crazy moves can go onto jumps and into bigger courses 🙂
Great job!!
TracyHi! This is going really well too! During the home sessions – I think he was able to offer snappy responses even with the distractions of the meatballs nearby 🙂 He was very communicative: “Do you not know there are good snacks up there??” Ha! So funny – but he seemed to respond to every cue with speed! The spins and the paw tricks are great for this type of thing. When you do have the treats on you, you can also have him jump up a little or put his front feet on you to get the rewards – that is a great pumper-upper when distractions are higher. And when you don’t have the treats, you can still have him pop up onto you – it gets his heart rate up and is fun & interactive.
The ball versus meatball section was harder as you mentioned – but his responses were really strong! His ball play was not as strong until you started really getting the ball moving, then he was engaged with it. And great job engaging while the high value PT and RDW target were visible! That simulates trial conditions in many ways because he will see really high value things (like the obstacles, or dogs running the course) while he is in the queue so being able to engage with silly tricks will be really helpful! I think he was great here too.
One thing you can add in is his leash! It will feel weird LOL but the leash on then off is part of the transition to the start line that we can start teaching now. Kaladin is a REALLY good boy, so you really never need to leash him during your training sessions – so he is really inexperienced engaging while on leash! You can add the leash into these games now, so he doesn’t feel like it is a weird new thing when he goes into a trial environment 🙂Great job!
TracyGood morning!
I love those pants! It is a great color and if they are warm? Even better!I like how he offered nose and chin hits LOL! You were strong about sticking to a nose touch criteria and so he was really giving you good presses to your hand by the 2nd session. It was a little harder for him with the plastic target but then by the end it looks like he figured it out really well! And if the afternoon session went even better: perfect! Onwards to doing it from a plank or a balance disc or something where he can simulate his teeter end position (no need to add it to the teeter yet).
Nice work!!
Tracy
