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Good morning!
>I can definitely add more poles. But, they’d be at the same height. I think I can get 4 in that pivot item.>
No worries about height of the pole – you can add a 2nd one for now. And if that goes well, we can add a 3rd one.
>First, Ginger cannot walk a straight line. Ever. I’ll put a line down next time. It’s definitely not a parallel path!>
Ha! I can relate. A line on the ground is helpful for us humans 🙂 Your line was good here though, the main goal is to NOT overhelp or block the barrel . That went great!
The only time you kind of overhelped was when she didn’t release at 1:34 – that might have been because there was a LOT going on (she had done a bunch of reps ignoring Molly and ignoring hackberries which are like free bon bons and I think she was still chewing AND in that rep the noise in the background was even louder… there was a lot happening LOL) She still engaged but didn’t quite process the release. But she was quite strong on all the others including the last rep (notice how much quieter the environment was), so no worries about the one rep where she had a processing delay.
Starting from the stay was really effective: no sniffing around for treats, and you were easily able to control the timing of the release and connection. You can also throw a reward back to her for holding the stay as you move forward. It can be a lotus ball or treat hugger so the food reward is high value and is very obvious and easily found.
>She found the hackberries more exciting than this toy.>
Where is that furry toy she was grabbing during the strike a pose game? She really liked that and the fur might be more powerful than the bon bons oops I mean hackberries LOL
I do have a question if the dog runs parallel to the jump bump. What’s the fix? Asking for Ms. Sprite as that was her choice during her turn. It’s become a thing for her on backsides to go to the back but not turn and take the jump.>
2 fixes for that – a handling fix, and a reward placement fix.
For the handling fix: as she is at the wing of the backside jump, shift your connection to look at the landing spot (and point at it with the dog-side arm). A clear connection shift really helps!
The reward placement fix is where we really get the independent understanding: the reward goes to the landing side of the jump when the dog is committing to go to the backside (arriving at the wing). I start by approaching this as a classically conditioned response: arriving at the wing is paired with the toy appearing on the landing spot. The dog does not need to make a decision on taking the jump or not, we just need to be quick to get the toy in before the dog runs past the bar.
The goal of that is to get the automatic conditioned response of looking at the bar and heading to the bar. When she is doing that, we delay the timing and throw the toy after she makes the decision to go to the bar.
Here is an explanation and visual:
Let me know what you think! Great job here!
Tracy
Good morning!
>I’ve thought in the past that I need to reward with a Get It immediately after the dog lets go>
Yes, starting it pretty immediately helps!
>But you had some delay in there between the give and the get it so I guess a little delay is okay?>
The delay you were seeing was partially to make sure that my mechanics were clean and the dogs had truly let it go… but mainly to help teach the dogs (especially the all-black dog, Jitterbug) to NOT launch themselves at the toy and grab my flesh in the process. So there is a bit of a self-control moment where I can move the toy out of the picture without a giant set of jaws leaping for it LOL
Looking at the backing up video:
This is great! And it is on part of the games listed for backing up, but you might not have had a chance to look at it yet 🙂 He was backing up really well: very intentional, clear foot steps without flinging himself back.>Should I tilt it even more?>
No need to tilt it – we don’t want him to do this on an incline at this age and we want to protect his developing shoulders.
The next steps on this would be to back up to something that moves a little (as teeter training prep). But we want very, very minimal movement so he doesn’t get worried – you can take a wobble board and prop up a bunch of towels under it so it only moves a tiny bit.
Now, this assumes that he is happy jumping around on a wobble board – so be sure to revisit rewarding him for getting on the wobble board before you try backing up.
His tugging has come a long way! He was tugging brilliantly here from your hand, it didn’t even really need to be on the flirt pole. He was releasing beautifully and had good self-control about not grabbing it again. Yay! The last one took a tiny bit longer for him to let go of, but he was more stimulated so that is normal. And he still did let go of it! Super! So now just before your hands get passive, you can add your out cue so begin attaching the verbal cue to it.
His stay is coming along really well too! Yay! He is VERY excited to play the game but also held the stay really well at the beginning. It got harder to stay as he got more excited and he moved more, so you can do very very short stay sessions and then go do something else that is fast & fun 🙂
Two little details to add into the stay training:
– walking forward rather than backing up (he was moving more when you tried to turn around)
– You can add in throwing the reward back with the catch cue after you have your hand in position. That way he won’t think the hand movement is the release. In this session, you were releasing when the hand went into strike a pose position and you can see on the 2nd to last rep, he released on the hand movement.>I need to look at the new games!>
Yes, he is ready for the next steps on all of these and also the new ones are fun 🙂
Nice work here!
Tracy
Good morning!
>including 3 dogs on barrels!>
Please try this again, I wanna see 😂🤣 The barrel moment in the video looks great!
The decel into the turning away for threadle wrap foundations also went really well. The decel at :16 and after that was great! As you do the decel, drop your hands down to get her locked onto the hand cue which will make it easier as we add the barrel to it soon 🙂
>hit the dirt once and none of it was recorded.>
Oh dear, that does sound like too much decel! Eek!
She did great with the out versus Frankie cues! It was hard to find treats in the grass
For the remote reinforcement game: having the toy on the ground was really hard, so you can put the toy up high on the table or chair that were behind you here (rather than on the ground). She was a little unsure and needed help moving away, so having the toy up on the table should make that a lot easier. And you can also try it with a bucket of treats 🙂 but definitely up on a table or chair for that too.
Great job!
Tracy
Good morning!
The plank setup here was great – the noises it made were very much like what he will hear on the dog walk and teeter, so exposing him to it at this stage was great. He seemed to have no concerns about the noise or slight movement of the board – it was very easy for him 🙂
He was REALLY thoughtful about using his body on the turns! He seemed to have an easier time turning to his right at first but then by the end, he was turning to his left beautifully as well without stepping off the plank.
The next skill to add here is having him jump onto the middle of the board then from a standstill, jump off from the middle. Doing it with the board only a few inches off the ground is perfect. The floor is a little slippery here, so you might want to take the plank outside so the grass provides good grip for takeoff and landing. Or, you can use yoga mats or anything that won’t slide at the takeoff and landing spot, to provide good grip.
> I think this is a very useful skill.>
I agree – with all of the speed these big dogs have going across the dog walk, the first thing I want them to know is how to balance and jump off if needed!
Great job here!
Tracy
Good morning!
He was ON FIRE here and you had to hustle! I love it! At the start of these reps, you will want to see if he will send to the tunnel entry from further away, so you can get to the tunnel exit sooner to cue the sends.
So when starting from the wing wrap, you can be further from both the wing and tunnel entry, and support that line with parallel path motion. Being 5 or 6 feet away for now should get you to the tunnel exit sooner. He was mostly patient when you were late on the send because the send was clear. You can see him look at you then respond to the send and go to the wing.
At :32, the send was not as clear – you were sending to the wing and not to the line. He barked at you (I love it when he delivers feedback) then went back into the tunnel when you stepped backwards at :34 🙂
The difference there is that when you send to the wing, your shoulders and feet actually turn away from the wing. Compare to the previous rep at :23, for example, where you were definitely stepping/sending to the line to the wing wrap and not to the wing itself. The reps after that were also clear sends to the line – great connection at :43 and on the other side at :47! And the last rep was lovely too. SUPER!!!!
Great job here! You can add the next level of this game with the middle wing too!
Tracy
Good morning! And welcome to you and Chip! He is adorable. And I love terriers!!!
>We’re probably going to do most of the exercises indoors, since the weather here is questionable. >
We can totally adjust everything to make it work indoors! When training indoors, I often use weave poles as jump bar for my small dogs – it gives me more room to spread things out and the dogs are totally fine with the shorter bars. Fingers crossed for some good outdoor weather too.
>When we’re outdoors I reward from my hand because if I throw treats he’ll just sniff the ground for several minutes looking for more (he’s not real toy-motivated yet).>
Since he is a foodie, you can also see how he feels about the food carrier toys like lotus balls and treat huggers. That way you can throw treats as the reward and he can get them out of the carrier toy, without the sniffing that might come from looking for more treats or not being able to find a treat that was thrown.
For the food carrier toys, they do need to be re-loaded for the next throw. So I often train with 2 of them, one in each hand, for this game: get one reward from the first one, then get the next jump & throw the 2nd one. Then reload them both. Another option is a Kong or Toppl with a little bit of cream cheese shmeared in it – those are easy to throw and easy to lick, then you can pick it up and throw again on the next rep.
He did really well with the first lazy game here! He was actually very engaged after finding the treats (the circling the wing was clever and hilarious!) but I totally see what you mean about a little extra sniffing after he gets the treat.
Separately from this game, you can work on getting him to return engagement faster without sniffing: throw a low value treat for him to get. Then when he looks up at you after eating it: give him BIG praise and hand-deliver a higher value treat. So it can be something like tossing a cheerio or Charlee bear for him to get off the ground… then rewarding with cheese or steak from your hand when he looks up at you rather than continues sniffing.
I can already tell he is quite brilliant so I am sure he will figure that game out really fast 🙂
Rewarding from your hand on the 2nd video worked really well to get more behavior on the jumps and less sniffing, so he was very successful finding the jumps. After rewarding him, keep moving so he doesn’t think you want the wing circling 🙂
You can now start adding 2 or 3 jumps in a row! In the early stages of that: keep rewarding from your hand like you did here.
And because we will be wanting to add more and more distance, you can work on getting him to engage with you quickly after eating a treat off the ground (Cheerio versus steak :)) and check out the food carrier toys. That will make it really easy to reward on the line as we add more distance.
Great job here! I am excited to see more!
Tracy
Good morning!
>Oh my, she’s going to give me a heart attack. To be fair, I was lazy. The aerobic step under the plank is too slippery, but she sent the board flying a few times. I fixed it, and these are our reps. My dish command is incredibly late.>
The good news is that she is incredibly confident and happy on the board! And she seemed very much in control of her body – I think she was deliberately using it as a spring board LOL!!
She was not using the bowls as a target at all, she seemed to be looking at you. That contributed to her fancy dance moves across the plank 🙂 so you can help her focus forward more by using a better target. You can use a Treat n Train (I think she likes that?) and you can also use a cone. For the cone, she would go across the ramp then around the cone then get the reward. You can cue the cone at first so she can put the chain together.
Her confidence really shone through on the wobble board! Noise, movement… no worries. Good girl! The water bottle worked great! You can maybe put a small metal bowl under it to add more metal noises. You can also station yourself near the reward bowl and send her to the board – can she drive away to hit it with all 4 feet? That would be a fun challenge!
Great job here!
Tracy
Good morning!
>thought I was lazy for sure. Too funny not lazy enough. >
Ha! Yes, you have full permission to be completely lazy on some of these games LOL!!
>I thought my husband was going to mow and was lazy about moving it around >
This is understandable, I hate moving that darned tunnel and even worse, all the tunnel bags! Maybe when he mows, he can move the tunnel & bags, and bring your wobble board outside? LOL!! I am signing him up for course building for you hahaha
>I questioned getting my DW plank out. I might be able to prop it up better without sag or movement. I know if legs are attached it is like 12” which is probably too high.>
For what we are going to ask him to do, I think 12” is fine!
>Question on jump height. Right now I have been working him at 8”. Dana had asked me about moving him to 12” for some things. I was thinking I should maybe do some set point or other grid in more controlled fashion at that height 1st. How do you usually proceed?>
Good question! I would work things at 10” before going to 12” – it might not seem like a lot to us, but it might be a lot for him!
Yes, I like to show that height in a set point or in the accordion grid (where jump 3 moves out further and further) first before putting it into sequences.
The reasoning behind that is in grids, the dogs can focus on the jump and not have to worry about my handling. If we show it for the first time in sequences, they have think about the height AND my handling… and my handling is not always good hahaha so I want the pup to already have some understanding of the new height.And if he is happy in the grid, you can add the slightly taller bar on easier handling & jumping challenges. So example, a straight line out of a tunnel where you are a bit ahead and he is jumping in extension is a good place to try new height!
He is also at the time of life where we start looking at conditioning for jumping, and warmup/cool down. More on that coming on Monday!
Keep me posted!
Tracy
Good morning!
>He’s hasn’t been super confident on the wobble board.
This is good to know! Operation Love The Board Movement is underway!
>I was able to borrow a wobble board and a rocker board to work with at home, so will start that work today or tomorrow. Baby steps, though, I think.>
Baby steps for sure! It is pretty normal for dogs to be suspicious about the movement & noise 🙂 My most accomplished agility dog and my most accomplished flyball dog were both suspicious and afraid of the noise and movement at this age. One was actually terrified at first, poor dude! They both ended up being national champions in those sports (and one was a flyball national champ and an agility national finalist, too bad my handling screwed her up there LOL!) Keeper has the same level of talent, so we will work through his questions progressively.
So here is what worked to help create the fast, confident performance:
– a special reward that is *only* used for working on the wobble board. It can be a tennis ball or a frisbee or a swimming pool or a steak or whatever he LOVES.
– Take almost all of the movement and noise out of the picture. Prop a zillion towels under the wobble board so it moves very little and is almost silent. That is your starting point
– Your sessions should be very very short. One rep, throw the ball around… then done. Resist temptation to do more 🙂 At least it doesn’t require a ton of setup LOL!
By doing repeated pairings in this high value, one rep format, you will see his conditioned response change and he will begin to actually like it! And we will oh-so-gradually add more movement and noise. Time is on your side, so there is no need to rush!
Looking at the handling videos:
Video 1 –
He likes the lazy game! The advanced level went really well. He was happy to gallop around the line as you strolled around 🙂 He watched you a bit when you moved your arm (probably asking if you were throwing a reward).Video 2 – the sends also went well! You actually can be MORE lazy and don’t lead out as far – hang out closer to the start jump and send him to the middle jump from the landing spot of jump 1.
He was also lovely when the tunnel got added in – fast and focused on the line without needing a lot of help from you. And adding your speed was easy peasy – looked great!
We build on this concept with new stuff coming on Monday! If you train this weekend, try the Wingin’ It game with the sending to add more and more distance.
Plank video – looked great! He was happy to run across that plank. What was the giant ball you were holding? Does he obsess on that ball? He sure seemed to love it when you threw it at the end – so maybe it is the great toy that only comes out when you work on the wobble board?
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
Tracy
Good morning!
>I feel like his baseline is pretty high arousal, so not a big ask to be thoughtful about incorporating more. >
I think of it as more about changing states to match the state he will be in at a trial environment. Matching states makes more sense to me (and most people) rather than saying ‘higher’.
So wherever his normal baseline is at home (I think he is pretty perfect especially considering he is an adolescent!), we will want to bring it up a bit because that spike will be what he experiences at a trial. That will accomplish the dual goal of him learning/executing behavior in that matched arousal state, and ‘training’ his physiology to bounce back to baseline easily without getting depleted.
>I’ve been going light on tugging due to a bit of rotator cuff stuff after lots of tugging at seminars and trial last week (both Vibe and Ripley are really strong tuggers) but will ease back into it and we did do a bit in this morning’s session.>
Yikes, ouch! We do want to protect your shoulders so you can get him wild in different ways without tugging 🙂 I am sure you have little games you play with him that might have a toy in his mouth and he get move and shake it, but you don’t have to tug. Or, you can let him watch Ripley take a turn doing something fun, then Vibe gets to take his turn. That will help match arousal states!
And while I am thinking of it, I had some teeter thoughts pop into my brain overnight LOL.
>Also, I feel like he (and many other Koolies) have a bit of increased lower lumbar flexibility and I don’t want the teeter bounce back to put extra stress on that area.>
Interesting! In my never-ending question to learn more about how pain can change behavior, spines are on my current list of things I obsess on. (I don’t think Vibe has any pain issues and we want to keep it that way!)
Do any Koolie people post spinal rads? I am curious to know if there are higher incidents of LTV. I have learned that there is a TON of it in Rat Terriers and related breeds (my Hot Sauce is a RT mix and she has a transitional vertebrae higher up, at T13 I believe). It doesn’t seem to have created any issues for her, she is running as fast as ever at 8 year old and totally sound (thankfully). It is also in a LOT in whippets (Larry Whippet is LTV3 which means I have to be insanely careful with him, and Ramen *might* be LTV 1 which I am told is really not a big deal). So I am interested in learning more about Koolies – each breed brings their own new learnings!
So thinking about that flexibility – be sure to look at the Rebound Game in the teeter course. This is one that people skip over a lot but I think it is super important. It can be done in the 4on position as you will see on the demo, and gently helps teach the dog how to manage the landing of the board and any whip/rebound. That understanding helps keep the dogs driving to the end so they don’t try to manage the board’s landing from further up:
Looking at his video: he was feeling really good and spicy! Love it!
What was out past the tunnel on that very first run? He saw lots of acceleration into the tunnel and I didn’t hear a turn verbal so he really drove out straight, good boy 🙂
I heard a turn verbal on the 2nd run but it happened as he exited the tunnel so he sill drove out straight. Starting from a cookie toss worked a lot better (especially when he was on your right at :43) because he could see the handling info before he went into the tunnel. I think it will make even more sense to him (and give you more time to cue the tunnel exit) if you start him from the wing before the tunnel. I know the game was supposed to start just on the tunnel but you can skip that step LOL
He was very natural and fluid on the one-step sends when he was on your right/turning to his left. It seemed like he had more questions on your left/turning to his right. That might have been a combo of side preference and him seeing the line better on your right side.
On your left, I think he needs to see the send happening as he exits the tunnel. When he exited and you were already in the send position (like at :33) he pushed out wide to look at you and figure out the line. Compare to 1:17 where you sent slightly later (as he was exiting) and he had a more direct line to the wing.
You can also send more to the line (like you did at 1:37 when he was on your right) and not to the wing as much (like at 1:40, when you were facing forward more and he looked at you to confirm the line). When you sent to the wing, he was wider. When you sent to the line, he was tight and didn’t look at you.
I grabbed some visuals of that so you can see the subtle differences:
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1iEJZGLJ6gTOOIRH4W-aZPioCdpmaMZnsEldJ5BKmsUI/edit?usp=sharing
He was a very happy teeter slammer here! Yay! I love that you were doing all of that right at the very end, really building value for where you will want him to be!
He was backing up with a TON of confidence! My only suggestion is to have less tip on the board so it is not as high off the ground. I suggest that mainly because he is doing it with speed and passion! And I worry that he might accidentally catch a toe or foot under the board with his speed (yes, spoken like a true sighthound owner LOL). So since he has zero concerns about the tip or noise… we can check that off the list and keep the tip safe to prevent any toe issues 🙂 That can allow for more precision and backing up into the 4on behavior.
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
Tracy
Hi! Welcome back!!!
She has found a new gear of speed here in the wing game – very cool!!
Yes, she still favors left turns but also: you can use more connection and less pointing 🙂 in your handling. When you were pointing ahead of her to the wing, that was turning your shoulders off the line so she went exactly where your shoulders were pointing (good girl! Totally rewardable!)
You can see that at :11 where you did did a big lateral point, but it turned your shoulders away from the wing so she came to the inside of it. That is still rewardable!
You had a little more movement to the wing at :28 but she still had a question there.At :31, the big arm point turned your shoulders to the tunnel so that is where she went (also rewardable :))
Compare to 1:07 where you cued her to the wing then back to the tunnel at 1:12 without pointing and with a ton of connection: gorgeous! She is naturally going to gravitate towards the left turns more, but to get the right turns try not to point ahead of her. As she exits the tunnel, look at her eyes and point your hand to her nose – and use the connection and low hand and step to the wing to cue her to go to it.
Looking at the wobble board:
I can see how she is fine to be near it but doesn’t really love getting on it. You are smart to proceed slowly with it. She was offering more behavior by the end, but I would like to get her to really love it.
What is her favorite reward: food (maybe amazing food like steak or ice cream?) or a great toy, or getting to run in the tunnel? We can ramp up her love for the wobble board (and eventually the teeter) by using more of her favorites: like moving the wobble board gets you to throw a frisbee 🙂 Or if she hits it, you cue her to run into a tunnel. I think she might enjoy that and offer more behavior on the wobble board. Let me know what you think!
Nice work here 🙂
TracyHi! Welcome back!!!
>My daughter also did videos. Her name is Brooklyn and her dog is Bandit. How should I do hers? Start a separate Topic category>
Yay! You can definitely start a separate thread for her. Do you want her to have her own log in as well, or use your log in?
Scholar did really well with the lazy game. You were perfectly lazy 🙂 and he found the jumps with no problem. On the 2nd video, he did a GREAT job finding that middle jump even with it further away. There was one miss but then on the next rep, he made a big effort to go get the jump. Super!
Since this went so well, you can keep spreading them out more and more, to challenge him to work further away. He really likes working, so I think he will like the added distance and speed 🙂
Also, he is ready for steps 2 and 3 where you add a tunnel and also add sends 🙂
Great job here!
Tracy
Hi!
The lazy game went great! Nice job building up from the one-jump rewards to being able to get him all the way around the jumps without you needing to run hard. He was moving fast and with distance, but you didn’t have to move fast at all 🙂 Super!
When adding the sends: you have permission to be even more lazy LOL! You were taking a few steps towards the middle jump – you can try and take just one step. So as he lands from the first jump, you are one step past it and send with one step to the middle jump. This will really add distance skills!
The plank work looked great – he is confident and coordinated and fast! Maybe at class, Dana can get a plank out for you to run him across? They probably have something that can raise it up there? He is definitely ready for more challenge on the plank.
He was a little thoughtful approaching the wobble board until the toy came out… then the party started! Yay! Perfect! Have you tried taking the wobble board outside? It might be an easy way to add more tip in a fun way. He might even like it if he slams the wobble board then gets to run through a tunnel!
Great job here 🙂
TracyHi!
The lazy session looked really good! I love how he made a clear effort to go find the jump rather than pass it on that last rep!
>I tried to stay in motion but it takes him so long to get the treat out of the grass. I tried to look like I was still moving once he got the treat.>
You can be stationary while he is eating the treat, then start moving again. That is pretty much what you did here – great minds think alike LOL
And if he looks like he is going to miss the jump, don’t stop to help him. You can also use the treat hugger – you won’t get in as many quick reps, but it will take out the treat-in-grass issue which is delaying the reps anyway.
>I think I’m going to cut his treat much bigger for the next session and do less reps and see if that lets him grab the treat & keep going better.>
I am sure he would like that and it might help! It all gets easier when we are doing a couple in a row.
He did great with the plank! Since he is very confident and has already seen it about a foot off the ground, you can add in having him hop on and off in the middle – it is great for balance and also helps him learn how to jump off in case he ever loses his balance. And you can also get him tugging more before a plank session, so he maintains his balance even when he is a bit wilder 🙂
He definitely loved his wobble board session here! He was really slamming it – Yay! You can add in an empty plastic water bottle or soda can or something similar under it to make more noise. I have also used metal baking sheets under the wobble board to get a bit of the teeter metallic sound 🙂
Nice work here!!
Tracy
Hi!
>I had planned to teach him a 2o/2o for the teeter but was suggested to do a 4 on. >
Yes, that is a big debate in agility lately. People really want to do 4on but the reasons don’t make sense to me: a nicely-trained 2o2o behavior is great with big dogs in soooo many ways. A lot of the reasons people are against 2o2o is mainly because of incomplete training – there are some teeter-specific games to play that eliminate any of those concerns.
>However, in my experience I just see dogs stopping higher and higher up as it seems unclear to them. >
Agree! My small dogs have a 4on so to keep it clear and prevent the early stopping, I taught them to run to the end and scratch at it. That was fun and kept the ‘run to the end’ part nice and clear.
>I had planned on using a front foot target to keep that part of the mission clear at the beginning. I was then suggested to move the front target back farther, which is why you see the scrunching.>
Aha! To de-scrunch him, I think the foot target just needs to be a couple of inches further away from the plank. That will still have a lovely weight shift and will be much more comfortable for him.
>I’m debating teaching him a rdw but I haven’t done one before and haven’t decided if it is worth it or not. So open to opinions.>
The thing with the RDW… it is a LOT of work. And even then? It doesn’t always turn out well. So it depends on how hard you want to work on that one obstacle 🙂 It is a lot of fun once they get it, and very fast. But that speed also requires a lot of DW safety work (teaching them how to jump up safely if they lose their balance). I have a RDW on 3 of the dogs, but I did not choose to do it with 2 of them: for one, I just didn’t have enough time to consistently train it (and the 2o2o is a fast, easy train). And the other is a race-bred whippet who is 22” tall and can run 35mph on the flat. I felt it would be unsafe to encourage that much speed on a narrow plank four feet in the air, with a dog who is made of twigs and paper LOL
I think there is a bit of a theme on some of the stay breaks you are seeing in training: when you are walking away without connection, he often breaks. If it because he doesn’t really perceive it as a ‘working’ moment when you are not connected? Or is he breaking on the re-connection? Either way, as you move away, stay connected to help support the stay. That way the stay doesn’t get any conflict or stress built into it due to errors.
The part of the rocking horses that was visible looked great! Only one barrel was visible but I could see that you were connected, and he was committing with speed and tight turns. Super!!
Threadle – he was very successful here with the different positions! Yay!
One thing to tweak is the timing of getting into position relative to the release. You can let the hand cue settle into position for a moment before you add the verbal release, so he can see it before he starts to move. You were releasing at the same time, or just before the hand cue was visible so there were a couple of errors when he could see you in serp position (across the bar on the exit wing at 2:43 and 5:50, for example). And at 5:31 he was anticipating the arm movement being paired with the release so he moved out of the stay before the release.
So you can get into position, let him see it for a few seconds, then release. That will help as you move to the advanced level that has both the serp and the threadle, and for when we add movement 🙂
Great start with the leading with the head game! He turned a little better to his right, but did well in both directions! The mechanics mattered more on the harder turn side (your right hand, turning to his left). You can have the turn hand even lower – nose level 🙂 and right at his nose as he finishes the first wrap. A good example of that was at 7:41 – your hand was right at his nose and moving slowly, so that got a great left turn!
>However we did do two fun runs.>
It sounds like he did super well and you planned it really well for him. YAY! So fun! Your plan to get engagement first then play some games sounds like it went beautifully.
>(did well with other dog running in second ring) >
That is great – fantastic opportunity for him!
>One surprise is he didn’t release the toy under arousal in the environment >
That is pretty normal – you can bring in 2 toys so there is an immediate reward for letting going of toy #1 🙂
> did come back to me (eventually) hey he is a puppy at a trial:)>
Ha! It sounds like he did better than a lot of adult dogs do in that environment.
Great job here!
Tracy
