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Hi! Nice work on these!!
I think the rear crosses are going well!! I am happy with how he did – he hit the prop with focus forward to it each time! I think the rear crosses that were most successful (turning to his right) were a combination of slightly earlier cues and also it is possible that he is a righty and not a lefty 🙂 It is very normal and common to see a side preference at this age, so no worries at all. He was very ‘on task’ to hit the prop, so even at the end when you were earlier on the turn-left cue, he was focused in on hitting it and not as much focused on your motion behind him. As you keep playing this, he will drive forward more so then you will be able to do the rear cross to the left sooner, which means he will be able to process turning left a bit better. We have some games later this week that will help too – but for now, keep playing just like this and rewarding in the correct direction even if he doesn’t turn that way as the first order of business 🙂Adding the ready treat to the tunnel was 100% the right thing – he still offered behavior but you had a very nice obvious target/reinforcement. I think this session went great!! So keep using the ready treat for another few sessions, keeping it pretty close to the tunnel exit like it was here – then you can start moving it a bit more out of the picture. If you get one more session that looks like this (happy pup with high rate of success), you can start to add the verbals and angles in the advanced game and then we will have him on the ‘inside’ (between you and the tunnel) to begin the threadle foundations too.
At some point after that, we will lengthen the tunnel a bit (no rush!) and I think after a couple more sessions, you will find that the value of the tunnel is high and you can mix in toys and treats from your hand for going back and forth.The concept transfer for the parallel path was terrific! He was all like, “this is the easiest thing ever.” LOL! Great job with the click coming for his choice to commit to the line (before getting to the upright) and quick thrown reward – that helped him keep his head nice and straight which is exactly what we want. Adding distance was easy peasy – I loved how he was finding his line towards the end!!!!
At this stage, the next step is to add a toy to this – at first, just the toy present and visible in your hand but everything else is the same (cookies as rewards). Then you can add tugging before (cookies as rewards, still) then you can start to use the toy as a reward sometimes, click then throw a toy then tug 🙂 After that – there is not more more to do with this game (it will get back-burnered for a bit, maybe pull it out every couple of weeks) – he is too young for us to do much more than this with the jumping. But, the concept is what we want and being able to ‘find’ the line even with a toy and arousal in the picture is awesome!!!Great job! Let me know what you think!
TracyWelcome back, I hope you had a great time at your cabin!!!!
Video 1 – sending – looks great! He was giving very intentional paw smacks in all 3 locations. I think he did a little better when you had a bit longer of a moment of ‘ready’ before the sends. He got so mad at you at 1:30 when you clicked but didn’t treat LOL! (I think you didn’t treat and he was totally being judgey, it made me laugh so hard) but he got right back into it 🙂
When you added countermotion, some of the clicks were early or for “almost” hits – no worries when you see that, just be sure you wait a little longer on the next rep 🙂 One thing that was GREAT to see him do was that he was setting himself up to turn after your sends and especially when there was countermotion – Yay!!! That led to some hits that were NOT as good but you can emphasize the prop by shifting the reinforcement placement – click then toss the treat back to the pillow to help maintain the value. Your motion away was distracting AND valuable (because the cookies were moving too!) so tossing reward back to the prop as you leave will help maintain commitment value when you see him not-quite-hitting the prop.Video 2: Wing wrapping:
I have the exact same laundry basket thingie at the first location! LOL! He did well here too – something distracting at the first location slowed the responses down but then you were cracking me up in the home session (laundry basekd, couch cushion, LOL!!!) he was unperturbed LOL!! When you put the cookie bowl INTO the basket at :56ish, he also looked at you like you had lost your mind – this pup cracks me up with his expressions LOL!!
Since he is doing so well – using the laundry basket thing from the first location, you can have your two targets out but we are going to fade them by sometimes rewarding him from your hands (if he gets too interested in your hands, you can also mix in dropping cookies onto the targets). The games coming up involve rewards from hands on this, so you can get a head start by rewarding from your hands on your next session.Serp/threadle 1 – very nice! Is that a post it note stuck to your hand? LOL This looked great – nice strong hits to the target. Try to stand a little bit more stationary until he reaches the reward – your position and verbal and hand movement will cue him to go to it while your shoulders don’t move, to develop the in-then-out chain. You were moving a heartbeat too soon, as you were delivering the reward.
Your body position looks good! Excellent pose 🙂 At :52, he came in towards the toy rather than the target – you can help more by turning your head to look at the target sooner. It looks like you were looking at him (well, he is cute!) and then when you looked at the target (after removing the toy) he went right to the target. You won’t always have to look at the target but it certainly helps at this stage. And omg I almost spit water out of my nose when the target got stuck to his nose at 1:01! And gold star for ignoring the human distraction in the room after that LOL!Tunnels – this also went really well! He found the tunnel entry from all sorts of distances back from the entry and lined himself up really well to make the turn into it. The reps where he was on the outside of you looked great and I didn’t see any real difference when you did the inside reps.
>> but he is not really liking me holding him. I started using the collar, but switched to holding him at the chest.>>
This is good to know and hash out at this stage! The restraint might be a lot of pressure right now, and we want it to be all fun and no pressure – so you can modify it to where he gets a cookie for lining up next to you, then you can crouch then cue the tunnel with your hands near him but not (yet) touching him. You can gradually add in a light touch the immediate send, and a finger on the collar then immediate send – that way you can build to restraining more by teaching him that the small bit of pressure or touch mean that party is starting 🙂 So, if he isn’t loving the restraining part, feel free to play this without restraining 🙂 He is happy and we want to keep it that way 🙂
You can start to add more angles and distance away from the entry on the inside reps too!Great job here!!!
TracyHello and welcome!!! It is great to see you here again 🙂 Mackee is SO CUTE!!!!! It is so fun to watch her!!! She is so cute that I actually had to watch it several times because I kept getting distracted LOL!! I love her! She did a great job on the hat prop – very nice intentional paw smacks 🙂 Yay!
On the sending – she did really well hitting the prop. At only 3 months old, it is very advanced work! Time to add a bit more challenge on the sending: we can now move you a step or two further away because when you were sending, your hand was close to the prop (she could hit the prop AND look at your hand LOL!) So during the next session, do a warm up where you click and treat for a couple of paw smacks, then start the sending a step or two away from the hat: add challenge by having her have to go past your hand (just by a little bit) to hit the prop. If that goes well, you can add in the sideways and backwards sends (starting close and then starting a bit further away too). Keep the success rate super high like you did here on this video.
Great job! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi there! Lots of good skills work here!!
1st video: (jump to tunnel) looks great! Feel free to throw in some pointing ahead, because she (like most young dogs) comes off lines when we point ahead. And yes, we all point ahead haha! So might as well teach the youngsters to stay on the lines 🙂
Video 2 – yes, she chases a bit after the wing wrap but then totally got herself back on the line for a jump then the tunnel – I am SUPER happy that she did that!
Video 3 – you had a tiny bit of connection on the wing wrap exit (plus a slightly different angle) plus a verbal – and she got it (all 3 of which were on my list of suggestions about how to convince her to take the jump after the wing :)) You can also move the wing closer to you and send her around the other way, so she is facing the jump when she exits it (not pushing back to it after a FC) – then you can use even less connection. But definitely keep your GO verbals in place – that really helped her!!
When you come in from an angle on the wing wrap (like on the first video) you can use a ‘jump’ verbal or general commitment verbal to see if she will find it without connection – you can dial back your running speed at first, so she is less tempting to chase you.Video 4 is the same as video 3, let me know if there is a different one that was supposed to go there.
Backside jump default – yes, you caught yourself being a little late on the first rep. The 2nd rep was much earlier (same with 3rd rep) and on the 3rd rep you were not moving as fast so she wasn’t as interested in chasing the line. The last rep at 1:01 (when you changed sides) was a bad news – good news situation… bad news was that you were a little late throwing it (you are probably used to waiting for her to take the jump before rewarding). The good news is that she was definitely coming in to take the jump (woohoo!!!) so the toy throw reinforced that decision. SUPER!!!! I am not sure if she was coming in to take the jump because it is a stronger side for her, or if she is figuring out that the default is a good thing, or both! But either way, it looked really good there.
The last video also looks really good – and she got it perfectly in both directions so it is not a strong side- weak side issue. Happy dance! She was quite tight coming in to the bar too, but also was not so tight that she was hitting the wing like a lot of dogs do on those. The only hard part for her was when she needed to bypass the tunnel to get to the backside at the end – that was hard but she nailed it on the last rep. Yay! Great job training the backside default! At this stage, you can start raising the bar to add some challenge.
Great job! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi! Off courses are good, it means that he is driving lines!!
Some thoughts for you:Course 1:
The opening line looked good (except 3 is a backside, that complicates things LOL!)
For more speed, start further back from 1,as far back as you have room to get him blasting into it. And the “go go go” on rep 2 seemed to get more speed – he likes that!!Will he execute the a-frame the same way if you are more laterally away from it? That can get you to a the next line sooner, so you can do the BC 6-7 closer to 7 (tunnel) and not as much between the uprights of 6 (there were a couple of spots on these courses where you would get between the uprights of the jump which was a couple of steps past the perfect path, causing a wider line for him). The timing was good but line was too parallel to 6 and not towards 7 enough, so he had to slow down and adjust at :08 and :46, Staying outside the outer edge of the wing to start the cross will set a nice line – and I confident that he has the commitment skills to do it.
It was hard to see what happened in the weaves – I am not sure if he missed the entry or popped out? If he will let you be more laterally away from the weaves when he exits, you can send to 9 from further away and get across 10 more easily – you got it but it was a little late at :57. I do think it is a great choice of handling!!
**LOVED the blind cross at 11 at :58 – you saw his head turn to look at the jump and you did the blind. PERFECT. It set up a nice 12-13-14 line!! ** That was a display of trust and great timing!!
On the blind cross 15-16: You can finish the re-connection sooner on the BC 15-16 at 1:05 – you started on time there but didn’t finish all that quickly so it ended up being late. Try to get your eyes back to him on the new side as quickly as possible after starting the bind. Also, try not to get between the uprights there to indicate 15 – stay on the perfect path which is from the outer edge of the wing to the exit wing of 16. Rounding the line there caused him to go wide.
He had a little head check on the exit of the tunnel at the end – a little more connection to his eyes as he exits will smooth that out.
Course 2: On the wrap at 2, it is basically a backside wrap at a slightly weirder angle 🙂 So, you don’t need to rotate to face the bar of 2 as much, you can decel and rotate your feet towards 3 more, think of it as passing him across your feet. Facing the jump bar caused him to jump the center of the bar and he had to really make the turn on landing on the 1st rep and at 2:47 on the 3rd rep. On the 2dn rep at 2:12, you rotated sooner so he turned a lot better there.
3-4-5-6 looked really good, nice send to 7 to set up the blind at 1:33. He almost didn’t send at 2:21 because you decelerated a lot and disconnected a bit, so he was curling into you but did a nice job of responding to the send cue. You were connected and moving at 2:56 and the send was great again.
Being 2 or 3 feet more laterally away from the a-frame will make it even easier to send and get up the line for the next blind (I am loving all these blinds, yay!). Reconnect more quickly 7-8 (1:34) so you can cue 9 and start that BC sooner too – mainly to finish it sooner to get the tight turn. Remember to use a wrap or collection cue, not a forward cue like ‘jump’. A 1:35 the blind was late so he was almost in the off course tunnel. At 2:24 and 3:01 you did a FC there – the rotation of the FC definitely tightened up the turn!
(Also note that 10 is a backside here, which might actually be easier than how you ran it LOL!)You can use more verbals on the threadle 11-12 – so he knows it is coming at 1:40. You did not use rotation there, just a little decel on the threadle, yay for no rotation! As you keep working those, you can fade out the decel and keep running.
On the 2nd rep at 2:28, you did use a verbal as he was approaching 11 and he totally responded! Try this without any decel – just verbals and a threadle arm – and see what he does! At 3:06, you did it when he landed from 11 – he responded but he wasn’t as tight as the previous rep when it was before takeoff.The line on the 14-15 section is ugly, bad course design, sorry!!! Totally my fault. You can decel and cue sooner on the first rep there to help him turn tighter. On the second rep at 2:35 and 3rd rep 3:12, you did decelerate sooner and his turn was really lovely! When you handled 14-15 with a rotation towards him to pull him in, he was able to ignore the weaves the best there to get to the tunnel. Yay! It is an appropriate spot to rotate like that.
Ending line is looking good too! When you send to the backside at :18 – when he is heading to the backside you don’t help with a jump cue or arm, just run run run 🙂 I think the habit of helping him is pretty strong, so you will need to keep reminding yourself to trust him and run 🙂
Course 3:
The wrap at 2 at 3:36 is similar to the wrap at 2 on course 2, in that you can rotate your feet towards 3 before he passes you (almost turning yourself sideways to the wing so your feet are pointing to 3). That will cue a tighter collection and also get you up the line sooner. It will also help you not step back out of it like at 4:17, but instead move forward at all times through itOn this line, a slice at 2 is almost definitely going to be faster for him – the slice keeps him in extension and then sets up a create line 3-4. I always try to find slices and then find reasons why they *won’t* be faster… and we will almost never find that reason LOL!
Nice BC 3-4 at 3:39 and 4:20!
Nice send to the backside of 7 – then trust his skills at 3:45 and leave for 8 (doing the blind) – don’t stay there and help – you rotated and pulled him in to help him over the bar, and he doesn’t need that 🙂 . The extra help delayed the next info and he almost ended up on the wrong side of you. You moved through it without rotation at 4:27 and it was much better! He commits beautifully to these. This is a spot where, when you see him heading towards the backside, you can disconnect and run run run to the next line, reconnect when you are past the exit wing of 7.
Middle section looked good but he wasn’t powering, he might have been fatigued? But it is a good reminder that we should look for places to break things down and surprise him with more ball throws.
On the cross 9-10, try not to get in between the uprights (it sets up a wider turn) – execute it staying outside of the uprights of 9 so that you stay on the perfect path, to keep the turn nice and tight.The verbals for the right turn for jump 13 before the weaves were really good! It looks like he needs more of a “set” on the RC for the 13 jump before weaves – almost like a rear cross on the flat or tandem turn, where you get his attention then turn him away on the flat before takeoff.
On the 15-16 line – if you can get ahead and a littler more laterally away from the weaves, you can aim to be on the far wing of 15 (closer to 16) so before he approaches 15, you are already showing the threadle info. You were powering into it, so he was convinced it was a front cross after 16 – which he did at 4:07 and almost did at 4:49. As he exits the weaves to approach 15, remember to give him his threadle cue and arm so he realizes he needs to turn pretty tightly on 15.
Good job running through 17 at 4:53 and not helping 🙂 That is what he can see on jump 7 here too!
One last thought – remember to decel and rotate into 18 at 4:55, to set up a nice tight turn and get up the ending line ahead of him – you drove into it and said ‘go’ so he was a little wide.
Very nice ending line!!!
Really nice work! Let me know if it all makes sense 🙂
TracyHi!
These look really good!!
Parallel path – when you didn’t click on rep 2: game changing moment for our young friend Lazlo LOL!! Did you see him lift his head and be all like “what the…” LOL!!! And then there was another miss off your left – he processed it without getting frustrated and then was perfect. GOOD BOY!!! The lack of reinforcement actually built his interest in solving the puzzle an you were really good about just carrying on, reset, as if nothing happened.Opposing motion also looking really good- you are adding engagement and arousal and he is letting you leave nice and early. Some of the hits were not quite as perfect as some of the others, but I think you noted that and on the next reps made sure to wait a little longer.
What I am happiest about on both of these videos is that there was no frustration or chomp chomp 🙂 Yay! So – maybe do one rep of each game with a toy! Make the rep a little easier than the food reps (toy = arousal which might cause a temporary deterioration in the response, and we want him to be successful). Then – tug or throw the reward, celebrate and end on a ‘party’ cookie toss 🙂
>>We brought him with us to a friend’s house yesterday and he did some great toy play in their house and yard. And we worked on the blind crosses and the start line stay game. No video, but he was nailing it!>>
Happy dance! Success in a new place – VERY awesome!!!!
>>For the Week 2 game, that incorporates the blind cross and the turn and then the race to the thrown toy, do you think we should try that even though our toy skills have some issues?
You can start the game with all treats, get it to where you both are comfy – then do one rep in a different session with the toy involved. Make it an easier rep, and then when he drive to the toy – play and then end on a party cookie toss. Then, based on how it goes, we can make a plan for more toy stuff 🙂
Great job here!
TracyHi!
>>And another thing, as I just shared that story I realized that it has been YEARS since I heard someone come out of the ring blaming their dog. We have a pretty strong culture in Michigan of apologizing to the dog as we leave the ring (when things go bad).
Wow, that is beyond amazing and I am a little jealous…. the dog blame culture is strong in many parts of the country and I find it heartbreaking.
>>Interesting that Nicola Giraudi and I invented the same thing. (snicker)
I am going to just assume that he stole your move. 🙂
>> He designed the UKI courses back in late May. They were very nice, as I recall.
Yes, a great course designer and all around super nice human being. I have worked with him several times over the years and he is a favorite, due to his interest in evolving his teaching and also pinpointing the needs of the individual dog and handler. I think you will enjoy his seminar when he is able to come back and teach.
T
Yay! There is always room for more coffee in my world.
>>Continue with the 10,14,14 pattern looking for (what?) Since he needs to get around the jump, he can’t go directly out of the sit, so looking for smoothness? Minimal strides into it?
Yes – we are looking for smoothness, like a dolphin gliding through the waves – and minimal foot tapping before takeoff. You will actually hear the power to it, even on grass. Working on the front end will sound busier because you can hear the foot taps like a bit of shuffle and you might hear him grunt when he lands. When he is on the rear, the hind end hits will be louder but his breathing will be silent and the space between hind end hits will be silent too.
T
Hi!
>>Question: Would you prefer I put all the videos pertaining to one exercise together if they are ready to post at the same time, or do you prefer to just have one video in each post?I think either way is fine, it depends on how you want to read the replies 🙂 Having one video per post makes it easy to discuss the video directly under it as a reply.
>>Here is our work from both sides of the tunnel and from various points along the sides. I was talking to her quietly and as I felt her push or pull get stronger, I raised my voice. I think the only “tunnel” you hear is the last, louder one for each send.
This looked good! She is effectively learning backside tunnel entries from these angles and she seemed to have no questions 🙂 Doing the verbals as you describe above worked really nicely, it built the excitement! Feel free to continue saying tunnel until she is in the tunnel: when we add in you moving away and countermotion, I do recommend that people keep giving the verbal to support the youngsters so they don’t lose confidence at the last moment when the momma is miles away 🙂
The other thing you can do from these dog-on-outside sends is now delay the click of the MM – wait til she is all the way in an then you can wait til she is almost all the way through! You can move the MM a little further away from the exit – that, plus waiting to click it, will add a bit more challenge and also build even more speed and commitment.
>> I decided not to do the last part where the dog is on the inside between handler and tunnel because I felt she had had enough for a warm morning. We’ll give the other part a try later – or another day.>>
That makes sense! You can do a quick warm up rep or two on this game, then switch to the dog-on-the-inside game. I am sure she will do a great job with it too 🙂
Great job. Have fun, stay cool!!
TracyThis looks excellent, she clearly likes the tunnel 🙂 You can do a parallel path approach to the short straight tunnel as well, back and forth just like you did on the jump (above). Rather than the MM, you would throw her treats. I think she would like it a lot 🙂 LOL!!!
Hi! This is looking really good and yes, she was happy to pick up the pace. I love that! No worries about the moments when she would look up at you after the click – there was nothing else to look at LOL! You can get the treats thrown a little sooner, but again – no worries. The click does tend to produce that as the pups are learning this game, but she will learn very quickly to associate your parallel motion with looking ahead for reinforcement – and looking at you will go away (we also fade the clicker and add more motion, which helps too!).
Great session here! This game really gets brilliant commitment without you having to over-help or outrun her 🙂
TracyHi!
>>I love how this dog and I work together. It’s so cool to come across a dog who gets me.
I was just going to say how I loved your laugh when he drove to the toy! Clearly you and Fizz are enjoying each other, it shows in your teamwork already! That is pretty darn amazing with such a young dog 🙂
>> And I love these games, they are perfect for where we are at right now!!
Yay! Glad to hear it! I have found that they transfer REALLY easily to actual course running! Too bad the pandemic shut things down for a while… my just-turned-2-year-old pup had just started trialing and was transferring these skills brilliantly AND happily (which matters to me more than the brilliance, to be honest :))
On the video he did super well on his sandwich games here 🙂 The hardest part was him reading the decel on the drive to handler elements – he was decelerating a little late so the turns were not as tight and I think it was just about timing of the deceleration. I think he just needs to see it earlier – he is driving in FAST and very directly to you (PERFECT, so many BCs drift out, so I am loving his directness!) that you barely have a moment after the blind to slow down and stand up a little into the collection cue. Easy fix though – I couldn’t see what he was driving to away from you at the start of each sandwich, but you will need more of a head start/ lead out LOL! If you are sending him away to a treat, you can try putting the treat in a bowl or on a target so it is highly visible – and send from further away, maybe 20 feet away. And, if he will eat the cookie, you can move away just before he gets to the cookie – when he turns to head back to you, you will be 6 miles ahead and starting the blind basically as soon as he turns towards you. So that way when you finish the blind, you can slow down/stand up a little while he is still a good 10 feet or so away from you. On these reps, he was just about on your cookie hand as you finished the blind (speedy!!) 🙂
He had no trouble driving back to the toy, thanks in part to the verbal cue you already have on it. Yay! Interestingly, when you do the slight restraint before the toy send, he doesn’t want to look at the toy, he keeps his head turned towards you – but then drives perfectly to the toy. It might be a bit of an insight as to how he reacts to a bit of physical pressure? Nothing to worry about at all, I just thought it was interesting to see 🙂
Great job! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
>>I am mentally challenged with fitting the size of the course for this week into my space…well I’m basically challenged with course building in general! Hope that makes sense.
Yes, sounds good! And we can look at it based on what is set up, not the course map.
>>Jessica told me that I give my verbals too late or at least I was saying “tight” and “back” too late so I guess I need to work on that. This is why I never used verbals….I was NEVER timely so I felt like it was better to shut up and just handle.
The verbals for the next thing should start at the exit of the previous obstacle, in general. The exception might be on forward verbals such as GO or obstacle cues like TUNNEL – you don’t want to give those until he is looking at the correct line. I will keep bugging you and verbal timing, you will totally get comfy with it 🙂
>>Question on training specialty jumps…I don’t have a triple…can I just line 3 single bar jumps together to practice it and would I do it like the oxer jump as in the set point exercise or should I just let him approach it as a jump without the sit/stay/jump bump set up.
Yes to making your own triple – and definitely show it to him in a familiar set up: low heights and in a set point and at the end of a jump grid.
>>I haven’t competed in agility in so long…do you know if AKC still has a regular double with the bars set the same or is it now ascending?
I have no idea, but I can ask around!
>>I thought maybe in August I might start introducing a jump here and there at 12″ as well as training the set point prior to that.
Yes, definitely! Especially if he is going to run 12″ courses this fall.
Course 1: this went pretty well, a couple of ideas for you for tightening up some spots!
Speaking of verbals… what does the ‘jump’ cue mean, specifically? If it is a general commitment cue like #3, that is fine but you also used it at 4 on both runs – so he was wide and barked. on the first run. At 4, calling his name as he was approaching it or a left cue would be more helpful to get the tight turn into it.On 5, you did the wrap – but the slice line will be easier/faster for him here. Based on the deciding factors (where he is coming from, where he is heading, and shortest path) – the slice to 6 is very fast! The handling is a little harder, but there are a lot of options: BC or RC are probably the best ones there.
Keep moving through the FC 6-7-8. You sent a bit and ended up off that perfect path line, so he was a little wide. This is where you can sue your right and left cues earlier – when he is finished with the turn at 5 and around the wing, you can be starting the right cue (and saying it more than once). And on the way to 8, you can use the left cue a lot earlier too – as soon as you finish the FC and he lands and has turned – say left. At :47, you said it just before he took off, which is indeed a little late.
On the 8 jump, your said left – that might be a wrap cue moment because you want him to come very tight around the wing.
8-9 at :14 is a definite eye contact moment. Speaking of don’t say a forward cue like an obstacle name unless he is looking at the one you want: you said jump while he was looking at the one behind you, so that is where he went. I would reward that.
You had better connection there at :28 and definitely at :49!! to help him take the correct :9At :32 as he exited the tunnel – try not to throw the toy quite as early – it was more of a lure for the last jump and we need to make sure the handling will get him there. He was curling into you when you threw it, so remember to make a strong connection to him on the tunnel exit to get the last jump. Throw the toy when he is looking at the last jump, not before that. You handled the ending a lot more clearly on the 2nd rep (:52) to be sure he got the jump before the toy throw.
Course 2:
The connection on this run was lovely!! And really good handling choices.
Based on how this is set, a front crossy option is the best choice 2-3 – either the lead out push you did on the first run, or running into a FC. You had a nice line 2-3!!
2 little areas of ideas for you:
At 6 – don’t move your shoulders quite as much – just open them into serp position and leave them open, so he has more of a tight line to 7 – moving the shoulders back and forth creates a bit of a loopy line.On the serp-blind 10-11-12 on the 11 jump: positionally, you were a little early on the blind (not passed the exit wing yet) – this german type of backside exit needs us to be further up the line. To get there – try not to go as close to the 10 jump so you can cue the 11 backside from closer to the exit wig – that way you can move directly forward to 12 and do the blind after you you have passed the exit wing.
Then start your decel for the 12 wrap sooner: as he is finishing exiting the wing at 11, you should be slowing down and starting the verbal. I couldn’t hear the verbal all that well but it seemed to happen as he was jumping.
Course 3: one thing to note: 2 is a backside 🙂 Having a straight opening line is a different challenge but the backside exit of 2 sets up the 3-4 line more easily.
On the blind cross 3-4: I like the BC there! It is a relatively tight turn blind, which means it should be more decelerated than accelerated. Ideally, you would release while running then decelerate into the blind cross. You did the opposite at :04 and :11 and :19: you were decelerated on the lead out then when he landed from 2 and was heading to 3, you accelerated then blinded – that made the new connection late and he thought you wanted extension from the acceleration. He did come back and find the correct side on the first rep- be sure to reward all that immediately, rather than stopping or walking away. You used really strong connection at :11 and :19 to catch his eyes earlier.
At :35 and 2:38 you did it as a long lead out FC which had much better timing so you immediately had a better turn – but makes it harder to get out of the way so he had to jockey around you a little bit on landing.OK, let’s get into some nitty gritty of setting up success on course, keeping him fast and problem solving in the moment.
>>I don’t know if I had the jumps 6-7 too close or what but getting him to the backside for 11 was an extreme challenge.
Yes, the proximity of the off course was creating an extra bypass challenge, but provides some good dog training moments!
>> He was getting a bit jump happy there for a couple of minutes just going off on a tangent taking jumps even after I stopped.
Yep – he was working at a super low rate of success and also you were showing frustration – so he was avoiding and guessing. When he fails to get a turn or jump you want… you can either reward in the moment if he saved you but was wide, or instantly fix on that one jump (by sending to the backside if he took a front side) and reward. Then, and this is important: assume it was the cue and fix that clearly before you ask for another rep. Assume it is something that needs to be earlier or more connected or maybe a different cue! Don’t withhold reinforcement and ask again, reward happily and if you can’t figure it out – just don’t ask again until after you have looked at the video. When you don’t reward, you are dropping the rate of success each time it happens – and in agility handling, 2 things to remember: rate of success for the dog needs to be 80 or higher, and the dog’s response on course is always based on what they see and when they see it 🙂 And if you withhold reinforcement AND looked frustrated… you are adding punishment to the mix even if it is unintentional – which produces stress behaviors.
I step away from courses all the time when I can’t figure out how to get the dog through it – might try a couple of times, rewarding happily, and then stop when I can’t figure it out.
>> I was trying to conserve his energy but no, he had his own agenda.
I would say it was him trying to guess, being a good boy!
>>so then I tried saying “Left” but he still went very wide towards the tunnel before curving back to me do then I tried the BC and saying his name…still very loopy but I knew he was not going for the tunnel at least. I feel like he does not know that when I send and hang back he’s supposed to return in my direction. Do you think I need to practice a skill set on that?>>
I think it is definitely worth working that section in isolation – that way your timing can be a lot sooner (he was already committed to jumping long when you decelerated) and also you can build the drive back to you with reward reward reward, even if the turn is not perfect at first – the cue predicts where the reward will be, so you don’t have to wait til it is where you want it to reward (especially if there is a possibility that the cue was late)
On the 6 jump a quick recap to look at rate of success:
at :40 a big go jump cue and then a really late name call. He did not get rewarded for saving you there – which likely contributed to the off course tunnel on the re-send at :47 (“if coming to you was not correct there, then it must have been the tunnel, right?”) He came to you at :52 but did not get rewarded (but your position didn’t really indicate anything other than the jump he took) but then at :56 he took that jump (for the 3rd time) and *did* get rewarded. I am confused LOL!! But then took it again at 1:05 and did *not* get rewarded. Took it at 1:12 with you running backwards and got rewarded… took it at 1:27 but did not get rewarded (but did continue!) So looking at the rate of success – 7 reps there, 3 rewards (I don’t count continuing as a reward when we are working on a behavior). That is a little under 50% rate of success in that moment so he was confused.Later on – The blind cross at 2:31 and 2:44 definitely worked there! Good reward too at 2:31.
On the tunnel to the backside 10-11 section:
1:29 – tunnel cue but no turn cue, motion at 1:32 kept him on his line to the off course (no reward)
at 1:37 you did a right cue – he turned and looked at you, you stepped towards the off course, he went off course, you got deflated (1:41), no reward
reward at 1:46 for turning right – he is now running slowly though, being careful.
1:52, he looked at you, your motion supports the off course , probably no reward (video cuts off)
1:56 – he turned right but didn’t get the backside (unclear cue) – no reward, you stop, hand on head.2:02 – good to break it down! But you line him up with a physical cue, he looks away (dogs generally do NOT like being put into a stay position) and then he gets it – no reward other than continuing, reward at end.
So in this section, you had 6 reps – looks like 1 toy reward in the spot you were working and 1 reward after continuing on. Plus definite moments of letting frustration show, which I count as punishing to the dog. So if we count the reward at the end, it is a little under 35% success rate, added to the previous section’s success rate of 50% – resulting in a session with a success rate that was entirely too low, so he slowed down and you got some extra jumps and loopy turns.
At 2:50, a bit late on the right cue on the tunnel exit then at 2:51 you you were pointing to the backside and turning your shoulders away, so he took the front side. (no reward) notice how he slows down and then on the tunnel exit at 2:56 gets ‘hoppy’.
He finished strong and gets the reward at the end.
So – try to have more of a success meter in your head. The number 1 priority is to have a high rate of success on course, even if it means ending a session or breaking it down so you can protect that. If you get more than 2 errors, then the meter in your head should be flashing red lights (I have a meter in my head that is constantly ticking off successes or failures during training sessions). And any time you withhold reinforcement, you will need to double down on how to get reinforcement to him on the next rep – protect your high rate of success like it is gold! The smoothness of the course running is secondary to the success rate during course running – and by success rate, I mean how much reinforcement he gets. The toy and the treats are a primary reinforcement, and continuing/praise are secondary reinforcement. The instant either of those stop or go away, the meter in your head should start reminding you to get reinforcement in. And, some courses just go sideways for whatever reason, kind of like Course 3 did – so if the reinforcement meter in your head is flashing red lights, you can abort mission on the piece that is causing the difficulty, do a couple of easy things to get the rate of success high again, then at some point revisit the hard section with a different plan for reinforcement.Let me know if that makes sense!
TracyGood morning!
On the sequences:
I didn’t see any noticeable difference in his speed or attitude with the higher bars here. And being a second faster on each is terrific!!! You can start further from 1 so he can power into it especially as you raise the bars – he should have at least one full extension stride before the first jump, so start him at least 12 feet back or more 🙂
Nice timing on the blinds at :05 and :19! Nice job with the connection afterwards too 🙂 Remember to stay noisy – he likes the noise when you call him and use verbals. You were quiet here, so keep reminding yourself to use the verbals.On the threadle drills – Good job with the verbals!! And the 180 lines look really strong. He is reading the threadles when you rotate your feet towards him (:28, :40, and 1:19 on the little drills, and 1:45, 1:59, 2:15 on the sequences). When you turn less (:50) or back up (1:01, 1:10), he does not read them as well. One of the things we ideally want to teach him and use is that you will not need to turn your feet at all during threadles – your feet and lower body will look identical to the feet & lower body on the 180s but your upper body and verbal make the difference.
So, starting with the 2 jumps further apart (so he has more time to process what your upper body and verbal are doing) – send him over jump 1 and then threadle but don’t turn your feet towards him, keep walking towards the second jump. Start by moving very slowly – if you try to go too fast, he will probably just cue off your motion and take the 180. When he can get it with you moving slowly but steadily, then you can work up to gradually adding more and more speed – eventually you will be able to run hard through them 🙂Nice work here! Let me know what you think!
Tracy
