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Hi!
>>Well that debunks that myth of her being sided and turning better to the left! lol. Always something novel with this Rusey haha. Those tunnel exits will not beat us lol.>>
Ha! Well, I think she does have a stronger side indeed but the tunnel adds different element.
>>So do you mean the wing that was out of the shot of the camera that she was running to at the beginning of the session I should leave in place as a trap to make her think? Crikey, cuing the turn 2m before she enters will be a challenge for me. What is Gott?>>
Yep! She is very similar to my dog, Voodoo. He goes as fast as he can at all times, which means decisions are made VERY early – which means cues must be given even earlier. He is great for learning about timing! Now that he is 8, he is much more forgiving but when he was younger it was much harder to sort the timing.
>>When she was a puppy I sort of taught her to turn her head by saying the direction and then tapping her on the shoulder of the direction and feeding. But I had for gotten about that game so yes, I would like some games to help teach that.>>
I approach it differently now. This is from the most recent MaxPup 1 class:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bNUvCv0zWVk>>It’s so cool going right back to basics and figuring out all the places where there are holes. I really want her to be competitive as she has the speed, but it’s just her understanding of what I want and being able to do it even when I mess up (which is a lot lol).>>
Yes – many of these games were built off of me trying to fix holes with my older dogs LOL!
>> She took the tunnel instead of the aframe like she was supposed to and I was so excited.
Good girl!!
>>I got told off for saying my left turn after the tunnel cue more than once. I said left left left left, until I saw Ruse’s head appear and turn left. Is it not correct to say the command more than once? >>
Agility is a game of repeating cues so the dogs can process them with all of the other things they need to process. I have a couple of mantras:
“Say it early, say it often”
“This ain’t obedience, y’all” (haha)Basically, I look at it like putting butter on toast. To make it delicious, you are not going to put a little dab of butter on one corner and hope for the best, right? NOPE! Because you will not end up with what you want. You are going to try to smear butter all over it and then that guarantees a tasty bite (can you tell it is lunchtime here? LOL!) So, smear the verbal all over the line so you are guaranteed she can process it (she has a LOT to process on course!
>>Apparently then she wouldn’t know my wrap cue, but my wrap cue sounds completely different was my argument.>>
Well, if ‘left’ was your left turn cue and ‘leftleftleftleftleft’ was your wrap cue then yes, it would be a problem. But my left turn cue is left and my left wrap cue is tststststststs, so there is no problem.
So, say it as a few times -and urgently – on turns that are harder for her. And plan when to be quiet on course as well, for two reasons:
first, you have to breath 🙂 You can’t run and yell the whole time, you need to breath LOL!
Second, if you have quiet spots, the important verbals will be more salient for the important parts 🙂Let me know what you think!
TracyHoly cow! Was this video in fast forward? He looks great!!!! FUN!!!!
Was that him making monkey noises on the way to the tunnel? Little grunty noises LOL! If so, it was because he needed to see more of your connection coming around the cone: keep your left arm back and look at his eyes as you run and give the tunnel cue, that will be lovely connection (try not to look at the tunnel, just trust you are running in the correct general direction and he will do the rest 🙂
Two other tiny suggestions:
Right before he enters the tunnel, start giving him his GO GO GO cue to name the behavior of finding the jump (which is he doing beautifully 🙂
And, throw the toy sooner: when he is perhaps halfway between the tunnel and the jump and looking at the jump, throw it so it lands before he looks back at you. You were waiting til he was over the bump, but he had nothing else to look at at that point… so was looking at you. Think of it as rewarding the choice to drive to the jump rather than rewarding actually arriving at the jump 🙂He looks great here, so you can add one more element: since he had zero trouble with you being ahead, you being lateral, and you being FAST, now run very close to the tunnel and kinda of run the curve of the tunnel so he exits with you either parallel to him or behind him: that will get him driving ahead of you to the jump! And that will then set you up very nicely to add on the rear crosses.
Great job with your connection on all of these! And this is a good game for Fizzy P also, to help her understand this commitment too!!
Great job 🙂 Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
I am very glad to hear that 70s are in your forecast and not snow!!!The elevator game looks fabulous! My only suggestion is to remember the hop on cookies. They give you a moment and prevent him from trying to start with you, and also maintain the high value at the end of the board. Plus you will need them on the next levels (posted today :))
He is definitely going faster on the downhills here – and that is a hard game to go fast on! Yay! And the send seemed just as fast as the rep where you ran with him. YAY! Wow!
Now that the teeter is going to head outdoors:
>>How much space do I need to run with the teeter for the next set of games?>>
Where is your tunnel living nowadays? You will want room for a curved tunnel and then at least 15 feet to the teeter. You don’t start there, all you need is the wing and a teeter (about 10 feet apart) for now but you will get there pretty quickly and you can plan to NOT have to lug the teeter around more than needed 🙂
Nice work here! Fingers crossed for continued good weather!
TracyOoh a seminar, sounds like a blast! I bet she rocked it!
She had no trouble reading these bounce grids, straight or angled. Yay!! And nice stay, too!
What are the distances here? They might be a shade too short for her at this point – she is not centered in each gap – she is landing with her front feet just past the bar rather than in the middle. So two ideas to see if we can get her to do a centered arc:
try starting her just a shade closer to the first jump, so she is maybe3 inches or less from it? She might be starting a touch too far here and ‘reaching’ to get in over the first jump, which changes the arc on the other 2 jumps too.
And, move the jumps in 6 inches closer to see if that helps. Because she is still young, we can look for the ‘sweet spot’ distance for now and as she develops and matures, we can change it. For example, my 17 month old dog is just now physically mature enough to be in his “adult” distance – and the 13 month old dog is nowhere near ready for that LOL!!
Nice work here!!! Let me know what you think about the distances 🙂
TracyHi!
Yes, this was good to have the down target in position now.
One thing I notice with Yowza is a pattern: with new skills or new variations, she watches you and the reward a LOT. So then we move it off of you, she stops watching you, the skill solidifies, then we can have it on you again and she is fine 🙂 That is what was happening here: she was watching the cookies a whole lot and that was making the down slower and then she was slipping a little at the end (because she was craning her head up to watch the cookies LOL!) The confidence on the board looked good and the downs looked good… so let’s move the reward off you for a while and see what she does. It is like a ping pong match 🙂 I think the next session should be with the MM out in front, maybe 4 or 5 feet away. No cookies in your hands to start: doing the bang game, have her leap onto the board and assume the down position: then give her a verbal release, then click the MM. That should help her understand to NOT watch your hands. Add in your motion there too! And I bet you can do the same with the downhills. A couple of sessions like this should get her looking at her target position more and less at you, at which point we can go to a toy either out ahead or in your hands or both 🙂it is a familiar progression for her, we have played with this with the teeter and the weaves LOL! So that is why I am fine with putting the MM out to remind her where to look, then it will be very easy to fade out again.
Great job! Let me know if this makes sense 🙂
TracyHi!
Yes, these blinds are HARD at first but so useful when they are comfy for you 🙂>>I think in the video it seems like you do it farther down from the wing. Closer to the tunnel. Is that right?
I was on the line between the wings for the blinds. I was moving in and out of the tunnel to stay in motion and stay connection, I think that will help Ruby too.
>Will that help her not go so wide? Yea. Gotta really stay connected.>>
Yes – the connection is the critical element of the tight blinds, and the mechanics of how to connect will get her tighter: to get the connection on the blinds, you should have the toy in the same side she starts on then show it across your body to open up connection on the new side.
On these reps, you had the toy in the dog side hand and were trying to connect like that – but that dog side hand delays the connection because it blocks your eyes and ‘closes’ your upper body away from her – so she didn’t come in until you kind of stopped and looked all the way back at her to show a LOT of connection. But showing the toy across your body you will get the connection opened up much quicker and you can keep moving – which will tighten the turns right up. And then you can start them sooner too!When she was having trouble committing to the wing – I think that was a just a little connection issue too. Try to move in closer to the tunnel so you are moving when she exits, and connect more on the exit so she sees the line. Then make sure you don’t swing your shoulders forward until after you see her looking at and heading towards the wing. Baby dogs require a LOT of connection 🙂 And then they figure it out and the verbals help too 🙂
You are off to a good start on these! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
>>Go to 4 ft. and yea, use the MM. But then do you mean to use the toy later after she has learned the striding? Or just play with it? It says ,Layer in the speed. Does that mean to use the toy?>>
Yes – after she sorts out the striding with the MM, you can first just play with the toy to see how she does when she is more excited. Then you can replace the MM with the toy, to get her even more excited and see if she can maintain the striding.
T
Good morning!
Super nice work on both of these sessions!On the first part: she seemed to have a higher rate of success on these on both sides! On the left side sends, was she going wide towards the middle wing on some of those reps? It was hard to see from the camera angle but that I what I think it was. You can do a spin on the wing so that she doesn’t think you want a ‘soft’ turn there. On those left side sends, start walking the you send to the weaves, even if she goes wide – don’t stand still until she enters. If she can do them with you moving up the line immediately, you can move to jogging then running immediately too 🙂
The right side sending liked great and she seemed to have no trouble with the challenges! She did look at you a little sideways on the first countermotion/extreme rear cross at :46 but I think that was because you started to push into her line too soon. You helped her with a verbal and she was fine. And then on the next rep your timing was better and she was perfect.
Interestingly – the looking at you from the previous session did not appear to be here on this one. We will keep watching for it but just proceed normally for now 🙂So…. let’s focus on tightening the poles another notch! She is definitely striding here and I think you can get them even tighter. Check out the video that talks about getting the channels straight (by just tightening the middle poles one by one for a bit :))
Her Find’Em looked GREAT! I think there was only one miss, no big deal (and you had one verbal mess up when the mouth said tunnel but the body said weaves LOL!) and some of the handling challenges were HARD! So if you wanted to revisit them, move the tunnel in closer and the wings further so she is coming in with more speed and the tunnel is even more tempting 🙂
Great job here!
TracyGood morning!
Nice work on these!
The higher bang game looked good and so did the downhills to the ground. He is starting to shift his weight very obviously (yay!) and he seems super happy to be doing it. And, it looks like you faded the target out too. Nice!
So one thing we can think about adding to these games is a bit of pressure. What stuff at home will add a little tiny bit of distraction and pressure, to help prepare him for new places? Can you get one of your dogs to bark? Or stare? Or both LOL! Or maybe just something new and weird in the environment? We don’t want a LOT of pressure, just a little, to be able to start to transfer these games to different environments more easily.He also looked really good on the elevator game! One suggestion: make each element more distinct. So have him hop on, get the cookie delivered right at the end of the board (to keep encouraging him to hop on there), then you raise the board – and when the board is at the spot you want it to be: start the countdown then drop the board. On these reps, you were raising then dropping without any prep moment between that so he was asking questions about the weight shift (the balance as you raise the board is different from the weight shift needed to ride it down) so you can see he was more upright as you dropped it, and stopping further up the board. Since we don’t want him to ask any questions or over-think it, that moment of “I am bout to drop it” will really help him drive into position. He might still need the target visible on this one, so he keep coming to the end (we will fade it out in the next week or so).
After making the steps of the elevator game more distinct and continue adding the motion you had at the end – move to the Elevator Game Part 3 that I posted this morning. He looks ready!
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi! Sorry about the cold weather, ick!!!
This is a handling video 🙂 Can you repost the teeter clip? Thanks!!
TracyHi! Both sessions are looking really good. He definitely has a harder time on your left side (for whatever reason, perhaps having to look away form you in the 2nd base?) You can put the pet tutor out ahead and see if a focal point helps him?
The right send entries are looking strong!>>I feel like he’s a pretty happy bouncer, but that I should do another session with the easy entries and more motion. I need to dig a tunnel out of my basement too so maybe I’ll play around with that instead of of the jumps. (it will be easier to fit in the yard if nothing else!)>>
Yes – because he is actually weaving at this point, we don’t need to tigten the poles more right just yet – I agree with your ‘more motion’ idea on the easier entries. On the left side entries, you can start him without the jump before it just to get back the accuracy before adding back the speed from the jump.
Then, you can add in harder angles – some dogs solidify the ‘easier’ entries when we show them the harder ones on that side, so try some harder left-side angles and see what he does!And yes, on the easier ones – add more motion 🙂 That will also help embed the striding, and then later this week (depending on weather) we can finish closing up the poles. Yay!!!
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi! The link was missing the “h” before the ttps so I added it and got it to work:
On this challenge with the board facing tunnel, I think he is relying on your being close to the end and deceling/turning your feet towards him to get him to stop. When you kept moving past it, he was doing the 2o2o. So, with this challenge, keep moving slowly forward for 2 or 3 more steps after he has stopped, but be slow-moving the whole time so there is no deceleration. Just walk through it for now until he is very accurate… then we will build back your motion. That way he ca nget the end position in front of the tunnel without needing any help from physical cues 🙂
The next games have been posted! The announcement email is coming soon 🙂 But this is the week that we put it all together 🙂 Play the games in the other they are posted and I think you will find them pretty easy 🙂
Have fun!! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning! I am glad he did well at Kim’s place!!! It is important to take the show on the road and it is so nice that he was fine with it all 🙂
On this video from home: he is doing really well here too! I think he was trying to start without you so that made the first couple of reps a little messy – feel free to bribe him with a cookie until you are ready for now 🙂
He seemed to have absolutely no problem with a jump out ahead of the board and with the cookie target placed past the jump. Terrific!!!! Also, is the target faded here? I don’t see it and he did well on the downhills and bang too! Excellent!Take a look at the games I posted this morning – he is ready for the elevator game part 3 (feel free to put the target back in if he needs it :))
Tracy
Good morning! You have accomplished a lot this week!!!
First, some thoughts on the videos and then at the end, ideas for the next steps 🙂
Downhills: I love his excitement to start he game! He just needs you to control the hopping on better like you did on the 3rd rep on the first video and on the 2nd video so he doesn’t splat himself. He is driving nicely to the end!!! And also, he was too funny helping himself to the charcuterie after the big runabout LOL! My terriers approve of that move.
Because he is driving so nicely, only one suggestion on this game: You can go back and reward more in position or use peanut butter or something sticky so he just stays there a bit longer – he seems happy with it all now so we don’t have to quick release it as much – he was starting to overrun the end position then started to overthink it, so more rewards there will help get him into the groove of get there and stay there 🙂Uphills
Pretty please at the end of class will you do a compilation of all the Cooking With Lennan intros! “A cheese string scarf” and also “Cheese bow” are truly something out of Top Chef LOL!!!! Someday when he is running at some big event we can look back at this and have a big laugh LOL!I was too busy laughing about the ice cream cones to write many notes on the uphills but they all looked great. He is the poster child for the transfer of value using high octane reinforcement 🙂 Hopefully we don’t make him fat but that would also make the teeter drop faster, hmmmmm LOL!!!
Bang game:
1st video – he is figuring out the balance on this game really nicely, it is NOT easy especially when you move! Have your toes right at the end of the board more like what you did at 1:04 (not a the top of the yellow) so he puts his back feet right at the very end of it rather than take a couple of steps down to target position.Wow – at 1:31 he was starting to do a sliding seesaw! Fun! And also great weight shift when they do that! Love that!
The cone on the 2nd video was not hard for him at all, he did a great job with his targeting. The toy out in front or to the side on any of these was also not a problem, so we need to get more ‘other dog’ distractions going 🙂 You can see sometimes he doesn’t push up with his hind end, it is still hard enough either because of the plyometric element or because of the toy on the ground to the side – my guess is that it is just really hard because the board is so high.
He is showing some really strong hind end understanding after the ‘catch’ cookies when he steps off then steps back on. While I like the hind end awareness, I don’t want to encourage him to do that because it will be called an off course (or training in the ring) at trials. An example would be if he is going really fast (will totally happen) and the teeter is lighter than he thought and he slides past the end of it by accident by stops – that little crime of passion is something that I would take a moment in the ring to mark and also make sure the dog was balanced before I kept going (one off balance moment with a fast dog makes for a bunch of off balance moments in a row) – I don’t want the dog to step back on because then we get whistled off 🙂
So if you define your ‘catch’ cue more specifically, he will either stay in position even if the cookie is out of reach (at which point you release him to it or go give it to him), or he is allowed to step off to get the cookie (and then you can call him to you to play). I am happy to have the dog release to it because otherwise the poor dog relies on the quality of my throwing ability… eek! So I don’t want to set him up for a delay of reinforcement or a mistake if my throw is crappy, so the catch does allow for movement. And, because I am pretty consistent, they don’t make any self-release errors and only move on the release or the catch marker.
Plank work:
His plank work looks good! He was very successful on all of the challenges even with motion and the toy out ahead. You can add in barking dogs to this is possible, either the neighbor’s dog will volunteer or maybe River? He is faster when you are moving, but that is normal. He was also doing a great job with moving into position ahead of you and focusing forward on the release.One little detail of mechanics on both videos is to have the treats already in your hand so you don’t reach into the pocket as he is moving into position or in conjunction with any markers – it is one less movement to be sure he doesn’t pair into any other things and I have learned the hard way that the dogs definitely watch hands reach into pockets LOL!
2nd video also looked good! I loved the accidental proofing moment with your pounce cue instead of the target cue at 1:30 – good boy to get the toy on that rep and also good boy to get the target position on the next rep!!!!!! I don’t know what he was concerned about at 2:01? but he was fine and happy before it and after it, so overall he is doing really well on all challenges here.
Elevator game – this is going great! There is a patience element to this game that takes them a minute to learn but then he got it nicely – good job working the mechanics an getting the ‘hop on’ cookie in fast. They will have to be patient as they get to the top of the board as it drops, so patience is good!
By about 1:30 your mechanics got really good and he was understanding the game, everything was looking really good! I think my only mechanics suggestion here is to try to hold the board on the side rather than on the front edge – it will make it easier to handle in the upcoming games. You can play with what feels comfy: dog side hand holds the board and opposite hand delivers treats? As long as your mechanics are consistent, you can use whatever you like 🙂The Rebound game – also really strong, I am not surprised based on how comfortable he is on all the other games and how he was stepping back into position on the bang game 🙂 Yay!!!
Since all of these games are going so well, here are thoughts on the next steps for each:
Downhills: you can get the board meeting the ground now, using your target cue, with the target still very visible be no smorgasboard on the target: reinforcement will be delivered same as you do with the plank/bang/elevator game when he gets to end position.
If that is very easy, you can do the uphill-downhill merge where the board goes slightly up before going down.Uphills – just revisit here and there, we don’t need to add more height or tip right now – just keep them ‘fresh’ for when we get to the last pieces of the elevator game 🙂
Plank and bang game: target fading time! First on the plank, start to fade the target. You can make it progressively smaller or cover it with grass, whichever seems easier is fine 🙂 When he is successful on the plank with the target faded, you can repeat the fading process on the bang game setup.
Elevator Game: onwards to Level 2! At the same amount of tip, add a little of you moving forward after you drop the board, like you do on the bang game. And, separately, add more height to it by raising it and having him hop on. And when you add a LOT of height, have him hop on and then raise it 🙂
Rebound game – this one can jut get revisited here and there, no real emphasis needed 🙂
Great job on all of this! Let me know what you think!
Tracy
