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Hi!
>>>> Question: is he happy to go back and forth between food and toys?
It can sometimes be an issue for him. I find that often once the food has been introduced, he has a hard time going back to the toy and would rather just get more food. It’s not every time, but it’s often enough that I notice it as a pattern. Or sometimes he will find a treat in the carpet while we are playing with toys and then he loses interest in the toy and looks at me like, “I’ll take more of whatever that was.”That is pretty normal stuff at his age – I have learned to look at the pup to make sure he swallows the treat before I offer the toy 🙂 And changing locations helps too: cookie in one spot, then move away to a different part of the room for the toy. It takes some experimenting and training at this age but it is smooth sailing once we get it figured out.
>>When you say get the toy back, what exactly do you mean? He has a pretty good “out”, but it’s not 100%. Sometimes he will chomp a couple more times before outing it. I’ve tried doing the thing where you hold the toy still close to their muzzle, but he is very persistent lol. He will just pull back and growl and tug and seems to think it’s fun. Eventually he does let go, but it seems like a game to him. Should I use the “out” cue? I’d say it’s about 80% reliable.>>
Being 80% solid with an out on cue at this age is great! And a couple more chomps before an out is fine for now too. But you can also just trade for a cookie, especially on the higher value toys or if you think he is stimulated and might not be able to release in the moment. I don’t suggest a verbal out cue yet, not until we can predict the behavior closer to 100% of the time with the physical cues or the trading..
>>Is the idea of adding in treats at each step of the forward send game to lower his arousal in the presence of the toy?>>
Yes 🙂
>>EDIT: We gave it a go, but he still got very bitey, including some butt bites while I walked to pick up the toy. Very sharky lol! Here is the video.>>
On the video: The first part of it was really nice: great transition to the collar and the toy drop with the cookies involved. But he didn’t understand the get it with the toy that far away and you not moving, so he got frustrated and bit. So, making that same great transition, start back with the toy right in front of you so he can pick it up without having to move too far away from you or the food. Then a moment of toy play, then cookies, etc. Now, if something happens and you want to get the toy and hie might bite your butt… before you go get it, toss a treat or two so he has something to do to settle himself then go get it, mainly so he doesn’t rehearse the butt bite. Also, I personally stop the game and do a brief time out if the pup tries to chomp me (time out by gently taking the collar and taking a breath or 6 and everything stops – I don’t get made, I just stop the pup until we have both taken a few breaths and it also gives me a moment to plan what is next, so the pup is not frustrated). Now, a time out like that should happen once in a blue moon, almost never – and usually it happens when I have frustrated the pup by accident, so we will do our best to never frustrate them. But I do stop the action in those moments because the frustration biting is something we can give feedback about, if that makes sense?
> I will confess I like to play with him without toys too, but he can get bitey with that, so I’ll stop that too. He doesn’t really seem to know how to play too well without teeth. Even his snuggles sometimes come with teeth lol! He gave me a bloody nose and an almost nose piercing this week while cuddling me – he’s so sneaky about it too!>>
Eventually you will be able to play with him like that, but for now I think it is important to help him learn that your flesh is a tooth-free zone 🙂
>> At first I was thinking I should keep a treat jar down there, but then I pictured the space between ending the toy play and walking to the treat jar, and I can just see him lunging at me and biting me
LOL. So I think I will need the food on my body so there is no lag time between the toy play and the treat scatter. I think I’ll experiment with your list of suggestions and see how it goes.>>Correct! Speed and smoothness of transitions is important with pups, and never turning your back on them 🙂
>> My Ridgeback has never liked toys, so all her training has been with food. I’m way more comfortable with treats than toys, so I have a lot to learn myself.
Training with toys is a whole different set of mechanics and arousal levels, plus it is different for every pup. IT takes some time to sort out but it is well worth it 🙂
Keep me posted!
TracyHi! His wing wrapping is looking really good! At this stage, get closer to the wing again and stand up (closer is needed to re-establish the behavior with the ‘different picture’ of you standing at a high success rate. If it is easy for him, then you can add the distance again very easily. Question: have you thought about what verbal cues you would like to use on course? Because he seems really solid on this, we can start to add verbal directionals for the wraps: I have 2 different verbals (one to wrap-left, the other is to wrap-right). Some folks prefer to use a general wrap cue. Let me know your thoughts on it and we will start to apply it!
Great job!
TracyHi! Very nice work here on the deceleration – your timing is good on the deceleration and starting the turns, he is able to adjust his striding to get to you and not go past you. Yay! My only tweak is to get your cookie hand lower, so he can drive to position with his head slightly pointed downwards (not looking up) – this will encourage him to shift his weight into his hind end in the way we will want for jump turns. You will probably have to bend over a little to do it (or bend your knees) – I feel that pain of getting lower for the smaller dogs!
Starting with the wing wrap is totally fine, but do a few reps of the cookie throw starts too – those add a layer of stealthy self-control that really contributes to the pups understanding how to ignore stuff on the ground or ignore delicious food smells 🙂
Great job, he is looking awesome!
TracyHi!
Yes, he is beating you to the toy very nicely 🙂 I love it when the small dogs outrun us! He doesn’t seem to be bothered by the pressure of your motion either, and that is great. And he was bringing the toy back when you ran the other way as part of the game. He didn’t seem to love the toy you offered him there, so you can let him have the original toy back, or reward with a cookie and then give him the original toy back (lots of rewards for retrieving :)) You can add in your GO cue now because he is driving ahead (whichever verbal you will want to use on course to indicate straight line driving ahead). You were using OK here but we can switch to the verbal.
Great job!Tracy
Hi! Hi!
Toy play is different for every dog and takes some figuring out… does he like balls? You can use balls for these games – dropping them in, in place of the cookies and the toys he might like to chew (he is a the chewing age). You can also present the toys a little higher so his head is up and he might be less inclined to chew.
The softer fuzzy toys are easy to put in his molars and chew. So with the soft fuzzy toys, away from the wing wrapping, you can play with a back and forth to help him engage back and forth on each toy: one gets “live” when the other goes “dead”, which can happen basically as soon as he grabs it, without him having to think about the wing.
You were doing a bit of that with the harder toys later in the video – you can do the back and forth more quickly, so he has less time to get into the “ahhhhh” zone in when he has the toy in his mouth and is chewing it. When you were quick on the back and forth, it went much better with the toy!
The wing was incidental there, it was all about the toy play – so for now, keep the wing out of it while you are working the toy play because we want the wing to be salient enough to trigger a wrap response (not a chew response LOL!!)
And you can totally work the wing wrapping with food! Nom nom! Or with 2 balls, depending on if he likes them and will bring them back efficiently 🙂It is totally normal at his age that we have to figure out toy mechanics and exchanges and what the preferences are for these precision games. The wild and crazy games (like the driving ahead) don’t require the same precision on the training mechanics, and also there is really no self-control required (because he doesn’t have to release the toy or move to the next one). So, for now, keep the back and forth on the toys separate from the wing wrapping (do that with food) and then we can put it back together when we have figured out the toy mechanics fully 🙂
Let me know what you think! He is totally on the right path 🙂Tracy
Good morning!
>>Excellent idea about moving my focus to follow the hand and leg on the backwards send. That should make a big difference. She does look for cues – and then acts on her interpretation. That means I really need to be clear.
Yes, with the pups, the connection is a big support for these crazy things like backwards sends 🙂 We do strip it out of the cue eventually (when they are adult dogs) but they like it a lot as pups 🙂
>>Regarding verbals – We use “go” to mean go forward to something (obstacle). Our term for full-on extension is “go-on” – which ends up sounding like “gwan.” “Hit it” is for contacts, and “get it” is usually a toy, or to chase something (such as a ball) or something to play with. If at some point you think I’m confusing her, please let me know.>
Great! I am obsessing on how to make verbals sound very distinct to the dogs, so it is very easy to process them while they are running. GO puts emphasis on the “O” and gWAN puts emphasis on the “WAN” so it should be fine and worked well here! And neither cue sounds like her name, thankfully 🙂 Eventually we will put wrap cues on these wings but a GO as a “take the thing” cue is perfect for now.
T
Hi!
>> I think I understand what you mean but I’m not entirely sure how to fix it. Do you mean like my timing is off because I’m behind in what I’m doing? I’m not sure how to fix that when I walk 😢 I know I have to pretend she is with me. >>
Yes… and then run the course without her at full speed 🙂 Most folks, in walk throughs, trot through the courses or walk through them (I guess that is why it is called a walk through hahaha) but we want to be able to sprint the course perfectly before we add the dog (yes, I know this is harder at trials, but I have tricks for you that you will get in the next training package teehee)
>>I guess I’m glad at least I’m starting to figure out the right handling choices for her most of the time.
Yes!!! Now I am going to bug you about the perfect path lines and where you really need to connect…. and then being able to do it at speed, without thinking, before you run her. That is a walk through skill for sure!
>> I feel like this goes back to our mental management class we took during lock down. Like the visualization parts? Would that help you think?
Yes, visualization totally helps. After all, how many of us stop to visualize a run before we run it in practice ? Ummmm…. definitely not me, not enough LOL!! So the visualization gets rusty. But also, in the actual walk through, you can be running your invisible dog as fast as you think she will go, or faster – that will help you find the places where you might disconnect or get off the line or even where you are not sure of the course, so you can sort it out before the run.
Let me know if that makes sense 🙂
TracyHi!
>>What do you mean above when you say to play with the exit line connection and reward? (At the 1:00 mark.)
The exit line connection is when we run away from a cross with the outside arm across our body and the reward in that arm (nice and close to the body). So if you are doing a blind cross from your right side to your left side, the toy will be in your right arm as you exit the cross. And the right arm will be low and across your body, near your hip, showing him the reward. This pushes your dog side arm (left arm in this example) back and down, so the dog can really see the connection on the new side. Then as you run away – he chases you through the side change and gets the reward 🙂
And you were doing it on this video really nicely on these reps! You can really see it on the reps where you were moving away from the camera: dog side arm back, clear connection, arm across the body in a subtle way. And note how tightly he drove around the wing and how he totally knew which side to be on. On 2 reps around :21, you were moving sideways to the wing and not forward, so he didn’t commit as well – but the rest were terrific! And your connection on the last 2 reps (wing to jump) looked really good too.
Let me know if the exit line connection makes sense, you are doing it really nicely!I will post a bit of threadle training video in a separate thread – lots of oflks have asked 🙂 And, on the sequences where you might consider a threadle, you can also run the sequence with 2 crosses: front cross – blind cross or blind cross – blind cross. Those will be challenging too 🙂
Great job!
TracyHi!
This is an excellent list:
>>I have a list of skills that I’m building and adding to:
1) Weaves counter motion
2) Get Out
3) Convergence on the line
4) Bars on the way to tunnels (had an opportunity to work that today)
5) Threadles
6) Backsides vs. Frontside>>Seems like it is juicy to work through without being overwhelming. For threadles, I would think tunnel threadles/contact discriminations will be more useful in the short term than jump threadles – how is she doing with those?
And on the sequences here that require threadles… you can play with them using double crosses instead (FC-BC or BC-BC). That will challenge her to watching you “upstairs” and not just motion on the double blinds in particular, and it will challenge you to see her head turning as the ‘permission’ to do the 2nd cross.
Sequence 1 went really well – it was more of a jumping exercise for her than handling, because you really hit the gas pedal – so she had to handle the jumping lines with a lot of high energy and motion from you. She had the one oopsie on jump 1 then, no problems. Nice! The 4-5 serp is a hard jumping line because she has to do the lead changes with pressure/convergence from you (and lots of speed!) and she did it nicely 🙂 It falls into #3 on your skills list 🙂
>> But preparing for trials has had me working less on the back sides.
Smart – after all, the first part of her trial career is going to be mainly front sides, so we don’t need a ton of value on backsides at the moment!
>> For some reason, she finds patters and if I do some back sides, then she won’t do the front side. Even with balancing both. (Lever used to do that, too). So is it genetic or is it me?
Both? LOL! Also… Border Collie or herding breeds in general? I see this in the herding breeds a lot – I also see it in threadle training, where they just want to threadle no matter what we are cuing. It is the harder skill (just like the backside is the harder skill) so there must be some inherent reinforcement value for the harder thing that we have built and that their brains are firing on. Voodoo is only half BC and I get the behavior because he is 100% herding breeds. I do not see this in the BC/terrier mixes at all. It is interesting!
Anyway – my answer to it is to do shorter sessions and balance the skills on an almost 1:1 ratio, so the dogs pattern less. The only time Voodoo patterns now is if I am videotaping a demo and he does the same thing several times in a row. LOL! It doesn’t really happen on course, it really only seems to happen in training sessions.
On Pose’s video: You can move more on the parallel path (shoulders open to her) to the backside, so it isn’t verbal only and then you can show her the slight shoudler turn to the front side – start the verbal then do the handling/motion, so the verbal starts to predict the handling that will follow it. That will help on the early reps as she was moving past you and wasn’t quite sure of what to do.
The other thing that I have found helps the dog go back and forth between front side and back side on a line (like the last couple of reps) is a bit of an attention cue before the front side cue:
a backside push cue is a very forward cue, similar to a GO or GET OUT. It is higher energy and the dogs get to accelerate, which is stimulating 🙂 When there is a choice between front and back (even if it isn’t a threadle, maybe in a situation where she has done a backside or two in a row) – I add a name call before the front side cue to basically say to the dog: “hey there, this is your early alert that different info is coming” So as she comes around the previous jump, you can go directly to the push cue when you want the push to the backside. When you want the front side, you can add a name call (or anything that you might use as an early attention cue):
“Pose Pose jump” (or directional or anything that would indicate the front of the jump)
And it is a watch-her-head moment – hold the front cue until you see her head basically saying “What?” then give a front cue (or sometimes just reward the acknowledgement of your alert cue. I guess in some ways it is like an opt-in on the run LOL!Threadle skills –
yes, good to review them! She was a good girl, that 180 jump is tempting! And she was happy to go back to it when you balanced the reps here (yay!). Don’t be surprised if, when she is really loving the jump threadles, she starts to self-threadle during training sessions (it doesn’t really happen on course, mainly in training). As you work the threadles, keep your feet moving forward towards the next jump rather than rotating in towards her. That way you can keep moving forward through those threadles to get to the next spot on course. You were rotating your feet and it helped her hear but eventually we will want to fade that.Sequence 3:
Rep 1 – the opening looked great (Pose was NOT sad about the big line to the tunnel LOL!) and nice blind on 4 to show 5! For a heartbeat on 6 at :11 it looked like you were going to do a blind, then you tried to get the connection back – but your running line was strong and she knew which end of the tunnel to get 🙂Rep 2: I REALLY liked the timing of your turn cue for 5 at :21 here! She was landing from 4 at a zillion miles per hour and you were already delivering the info – so she set up a lovely wrap 🙂
On the 6 serp – your running line was even better here and so she picked up the correct tunnel entry. This convergence connection is really hard and is asking her to shift off of you: so try using the exit line connection here, left arm across your body (toy can be visible) to convince her to make the lead changes away to stay on your right side – it is a pretty direct connection to her eyes, but as soon as she realizes what it is, I am sure she will be happy to do it. She is reading the lower body perfectly so we just have to exaggerate the upper body for a few reps so she can see that there is something important happening up there 🙂
On the next full rep you had a pretty good serp cue going at :59 but then when you got your left arm in play at 1:04, she nailed it 🙂 Yay! Freeze the video as she is over the bar at 1:04 and you will see really lovely handling: lower body is spot on the line and upper body showing her the turn away required to get to your right side. She needs to see more of this as she gets more comfy with the vonergence lines, then I think it will be fine to handle it the way you did at :59 and :23.
Nice job getting the excitement on the first bar then, after she got it right and kept it up, acknowledging it 🙂
Great job! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi there! Great job on these!
rep 1/course 1: after the tunnel send for 3, you can keep moving 3-4 – she doesn’t need a physical send/push on that 4 jump because it should be right on her line so she will take it. And staying in motion will allow you to get on the perfect path for the push to the backside at 5 – that will allow you to push away sooner and get up the next line sooner too to decel to set the RC on 7. Then stay connected, even if she goes wide, don’t let it break your concentration or connection (it is good practice to keep going, in case that happens at a trial). You noted that she was wide and then the wheels came off a bit 🙂
You deceled to set the RC on 7 better on the next rep and then stayed connected up the next line, nice! Before the verbal – Call her before the first jump for the threadle 8-9 so she knows something is coming.3rd rep – MUCH better staying in motion up the line from the tunnel, it put you closer to the perfect path and you were able to get away from 5 even sooner! Yes, the BC 6-7 was a little late because tight turn blinds really rely on the new connection and a strong verbal turn cue, but even the late blind set you up for a nice turn at 7 and to get back up the line nicely to get the threadle.
4th rep – I think you left out 6 on this one! You dida wrap on 5 then went to 7 – it was good to work the wrap on 5, that is not easy – nice early turn cue go it.
I liked the progression of verbals on the threadle on this one at :50:
you did a turn verbal on the way to the jump before the threadle then you switched to your threadle verbal – it was smoother than going directly to the threadle verbal on the other reps because she knew it was coming.Next rep – you stood still in the serp line at jump 4 to set up the RC for 5 at 1:04 and 1:15 – that caused you to run towards the inside wing, so she took the RC on the center of the bar rather than turning away on the far side of the bar. I think staying in motion will set a nicer turn because you can run more along the rear cross pressure line, so you can run deeper into the tunnel to set up the RC… or since you have a lot of time on the tunnel send, do a blind cross between 4-5.
On the last rep, you did a FC on the takeoff side of 4 because you had a ton of time and a great tunnel send. Nice! You did end up standing still at 5… she had a great turn and you got back down the line, but it is definitely something to experiment with: it is better to go in closer to the tunnel so you are in motion the whole time, making it easier to stay in motion to back down the line (and probably leave 5 sooner)? Or is it better to get way ahead and meet her at 5, can you still get out of there nice and early and stay ahead of her.
Small nitpick on the line back to the tunnel at 1:08 and 1:17 and 1:29 (6-7) – you moved away from the ‘perfect path’ line too early and you were looking away, so she had a zig zag there (and ticked the bar at 1:17, looked at you at 1:29). On this sequence, you have the time to stay closer to the 6 jump to set the turn back to the 7 tunnel and still get the next line. If, on a more complex sequence, you don’t have time- you can move away early but really open up your upper body back to her, serpy-style, so that she sees the turn back to the tunnel before she sets a takeoff decision for 6.Great job! You can also add in that 6 backside on course 2 (and 5 as front side on course 1) and the last 2 jumps on course 3 – all of those moments will give you opportunities to play with the disconnect & run skills 🙂
Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning! Nice job with both of the dogs- a lot of really brilliant things happening on these courses!
First up, Josie:
Baby dog did really well on this course!!!! The ideas are mainly handling tweaks, she seemed to be able to read everything really well!I think the training group misnumbered 4, it should be a front side. But with either side, be sure to e on the perfect path. At :09 on the first video, you were heading to the wing of 4 which sets a slightly wider line to the 4 backside. The perfect path there is very close to the feet of jump 3. You were closer to it on the second video and it definitely got a better turn (:07) – you also rotated sooner and used a verbal there (this is a good spot for a left verbal).
On the straight tunnel #5, give her a directional before she enters – she got the obstacle cue on landing of 4, then you were quiet, then you said tunnel again but she had to look at you to know which line you wanted. On the 2nd video, you showed more motion before she entered the tunnel so she exited straighter but she was not fully convinced – note how her head was up and she wasn’t going full speed. Starting your GO GO GO cue before she enters 5 will get her head and and she will dig in on the exit to go straight.
On the FC 7-8, try to get right on the exit line and rotate sooner at :15 (on both videos, this turn was at :15 LOL!) – you were facing forward (towards the straight tunnel) as she took off, so you had to get the turn on landing and push her back to 8, which delays getting up the next line.
Loved your hustle to go for the blind 9-10 on the first run!! Whee! You were in a good position but too early on the blind: freeze the video when her head comes out of the tunnel at :18 and you will see that you have already started the blind and you didn’t use a jump verbal, so she was correct to NOT take 9 and find 10 instead. Reward all of that, those oopsies are almost always handler error 🙂 When you stop and don’t reward, it frustrates her which will bubble over into errors elsewhere.
When you sent her back through it, you help the connection and cue longer but then the blind was late at :36 (partially because the head turn was late, partially because you were running straight for too long past the 9 jump and not heading on the perfect path to 10. It is a fine balance to find the timing with a young dog, so being a little late is normal and fine – I think focusing on the perfect path will help her turns more, at this stage. And, use your verbals – you are getting very quiet while you run 🙂 Don’t let her be the only vocal one. LOL!On the 2nd video, you better timing of both supporting 9 at :17 and starting the blind, yay! Your running path was directly to 12, though – so even though your timing was early she couldn’t predict the exact turn, so plot your running lines to be more on the line you want her to take. You had to push her back to 10 which delays the 10-11-12 and then made it harder to get the blind cross at the end, more significant hustle was needed 🙂
Very nice blind cross at the end on both runs in terms of timing and line! Try to keep the new dog-side arm down and back (remember to connect across your body for the exit line) and she will read it perfectly! On the first video, your dog-side arm (right arm) was high and she jockeyed in behind you at landing and had to come back to the correct side. Your right arm was lower on the 2nd video there, so she was already tighter and you had better connection. Yay! Keeping that arm low, tight and back will keep the connection very clear.
On Ti’s runs: yes, it is a very clear view from on top of the fridge LOL!! You mentioned commitment – an overlay would be fun! He is quite skilled, so I look at this from the perspective of what was different in your handling and why he had questions in certain spots:
First run – the opening line 1-2-3 was great – smooth and connected so he could really blast up the line! You can power him more through 4-5-6-7: you decelerated a lot so he slowed down more than needed there to make the turns. I bet he would also do really well if you did a blind cross on 6-7. which would set you up to send and leave earlier on the FC 7-8!
You called him right as he was entering the tunnel 8, which he did pick up and turn. Good boy! It can be a stride earlier but he is experienced and able to still process it. Plus, your running line was clear as to where the entry was, so he saw that before he entered 8 as well.
He took 9 nicely, then you turned completely forward and broke connection, so he gave you feedbakc in the form of jumping on you LOL! As a serp, 9 needs your shoulders to stay open – but it is possible that you were also thinking: “what the heck is the next line?” 🙂
When you re-started, you were a little more open in terms of shoulders on the 9-10 line – it was more like open (to indicate 9 then close the shoulders then open again (and an outside arm to send him back) – you can leave your shoulders open the whole time and he will send himself.
I like the FC at 11! It looks like the line was good too – try to indicate it, turn and leave – you are waiting on him for longer than I think he needs, so he caught up to you at 12 (:44) which puts you behind at 13. You can send to 11, do the FC and then stay ahead of him on that whole line back to the tunnel, which will help you show the line very smoothly.
On course 1:
He reads lines and understands collections really nicely… so you can power him through those even more: On the FC 3-4, you got a lot of collection because you decelerated a lot – you can just give him a little tap on the brakes and then power away again, which will get a great turn and he will be able to power up the next line. You remained decelerated 3-4, so he remained decelerated too. Handling turns closer to the wings of the jumps will also allow you to power out of them, so he doesn’t think you want him to stay in collection.As with Josie, give him a big loud GO GO GO before he enters the 5 tunnel, so he can explode away to 6 – he didn’t look at you but I think he can go faster if you are louder and earlier with the verbal 🙂
At 7, he had a little refusal at 1:06 – you were pretty far from the wingless there and pointed forward a little – which turned your upper body back to the exit of the straight tunnel. Keep stepping in towards the perfect path as you decelerate and that should help him stay on the line. When you repeated that section at 1:27, you were VERY connected (NICE!) so he had no commitment questions. But you were still far from the jump, which means you have to stay there longer to send back to 8. In this case, he has a great tunnel send so you did get up the line nicely, but you can play with getting closer to the exit line so you can stay in motion the whole time – it should result in your moving away sooner so you are even further ahead.
You can see how hard it is to send to the tunnel there at 1:42: you were probably 6 feet away from 7 and that draws the line away from the tunnel and towards the 9 jump, so you had to work the send more (which results in no real advantage on the next line, making the blind late at 1:48).On the BC 9-10 at 1:11 – you can have your dog-side arm down already – it was up high, shoulder-height, so that makes it harder to do the BC (because we have to get it down THEN turn then connect – if the arm is low to begin with, you can be quicker through the blind). The blind here started at 1:12 (he was in the air) so he had already committed to a line (towards jump 12). 2 things will help: when you see him exit the tunnel, cue the jump and start the BC so it is finished before he takes off, and also run on the perfect path more towards 10 – so even if you are a little late, the motion will show him where the next line is. I think line of motion is more important that perfect timing, so that is good to focus on for both dogs.
Compare it to the BC on the repeat at 1:31… very nice timing (yay!) and it looks like your line as you were finishing the blind was more towards 10 so he turned really nicely and found the line. Super!
Then you got all pointy at 1:34 and pointed ahead at 11 rather than stay connected. You stopped your motion and pointed forward while he was still behind you, so he read it as a turn cue and didn’t commit. You were much clearer on the last rep, both with staying connected, staying in motion and giving the verbal, so he got it nicely and you still got up the last line for the blind.
So I don’t think Ti has weaker commitment at all… it looks like you were not driving into the lines as much with him, which was pulling him off the lines or requiring you to have to send him back, which makes the next line harder. With Josie, you are running for your life LOL so you are driving into each line more, so she is seeing the commitment cues better. Try driving into the lines more with Ti – he is responsive and turns really well, so the extra power will get more speed on the bigger lines and also you will easily still be able to get the turns.
Great job! Let me know what you think!
Tracy
Hi there!
>>You comment: “… send to the backside slice from no closer to the entry wing than the center of the bar.” And we can do that. In this case, there is really no need, since I run out of room so quickly. But in a different setup, I’m pretty sure that I could.>>
That is true, indoors on mats or even turf means we gauge our running lines differently because we can often outrun the dogs – dirt of grass outdoors would be different. I really liked how he was able to land and drive out around the wing, low and fast like a sports car 🙂
>>I think it’s funny that you love the threadle/blind.
Ha! I am a weirdo so it makes sense LOL!!!
>>One of my goals on course is to handle so as to never need that kind of “straight line threadle”.
I totally feel that!! I prefer other handling choices for my others dogs because I can deliver the info more reliably in many spots.
>>In 15 weeks of UKI courses, I think I’ve needed it twice (certainly less than 5 times).
Agreed – it is definitely a UKI skill at the moment, not (yet) cropping up in Premier or USDAA – there are places I think you will start to see it in the next year or two because it is cropping up all over Europe, which means it is going to find its way here soon enough.
>>So, if I ever need a straight-line threadle to a blind, it will be a real surprise. BUT, it was fun to train!!
I agree, it was fun to see you do it so well and it is a fabulous test of commitment understanding for the dog, as well as a handler test: did you see the moment when his head turned away? It is high speed precision handling, plus it ends with the dogs chasing the handler up the next line, which is generally a nice reward for such tight turns.
>>The last few sequences went really, really well! I was shocked at how the disconnect/reconnect created such nice lines and wraps. I’m looking forward to incorporating that into some sequences and courses to see if it holds up.
I figured now that I have been bugging everyone about verbals for so long, we can officially enter the phase of “let’s put the verbals to work” 🙂 Putting it into courses will unveil any remaining commitment/training questions from the dogs – and with the younger dogs (like Enzo and his cohort) we keep training training training. With an adult dog, say 7 years old or above), we note it and remember how to help with the handling.
Keep me posted!!
TracyHi there!!
Backside serp work:
the first and 3rd reps here had terrific running lines from you, both on the send to the backside and the exit of the backside: did it feel like you could know where you were going next while staying fully connected?
On the 1st rep, he showed us that he needs more understanding on the ‘default’ behavior of coming in to take the jump after a backside so you can move away and not have to cue it. You helped on the 3rd rep, but we can keep training the default. You can do that by lowering the bar and then as you move past the backside and he is coming around the wing to get to the backside, just drop the reward in behind you before he even makes a decision to take the jump or not. Basically, we are using placement of reinforcement on the landing side of the jump as you move away to help him predict where to look and where to go after he goes to the backside of the jump. You keep moving the whole time.
On the 2nd rep. I don’t think you would have had a problem with it except that the other jump was soooo close, so the backside send needed to be a little less pushed – you took one extra step towards it, which pointed your feet to the off course, and he read it. It is a finesse moment there, so you can move more towrds the center of the backside bar and also call his name then give the backside cue, so he orients his line more towards you.The front cross lines are going well – it looks like you hit your anchor line on each rep very precisely! A blind cross would be on the exact same line there if you chose a blind instead (blinds are often easier for us humans on the high speed lines and we can get great turns from them as well :)) On the FCs, keep your arms in a little tighter to your body – as you were finishing the FC, your arms were coming up which made it harder to keep your balance (and he thought you were throwing the toy, so he dropped the bar on the 2nd rep 🙂
On the sequences:
>>I didn’t watch your ideas you posted…I wanted to see if I could figure it out on my own.
I love that you did that! I really want folks to look at a course and know which tools work best for their dogs – and experimenting like this at home is the way to figure it out. Then we obsess on it, keep track of the feedback from Desmo, and it will make deciding what to do at trials much easier.
I agree that you did really well 1-7!
I loved your balance of smooth/patient connection AND driving the lines on the first rep. Nice job on the backside circles at 6, those are difficult and he looked good!
He dropped the bar at 7 at :22 because you slammed on the brakes while he was taking off, so he tried to adjust. You were smoother there at 7 with the deceleration into the turn at :32 and that helped you get 8 nicely too!
You handled 8-9 on your left, so to get 9 you would need to hyper-connect and push him away from you into the gap. At :34 you turned forward to point at him, which turned your shoulders away from the line. WHen you played with it on your right at :49, you would need to get past that 8 jump by one more step – being very close to 7 made it harder. He got it at the end but he still had a question, so here are a couple of ideas for you:
When you look at the sequences after you set them up, look for places where he can stay on his line to find the next jump, where you have to oull him in off the wrong side (threadle) or where you have to push him out to get the line, based on where you will be running. On the 7-8-9 line, you ended up with ‘get out’ lines on both sides, based on your position and based on the course itself, so he needed to be pushed a little more with connection and you moving towards his line. That will work very easily when he is on your left. When he is on your right, you can play with sending more to 7 and getting further ahead – but then it might not be a get out line anymore, he might need a threadle there!
One other option to consider on this sequence: the circle wrap is a slower option as compared to the slice on the backside at 6. So one thing to play with is to send to the 6 backside, serp on the landing side (similar to what you were going on the first video here) and then send him away to 7 on your left side – then FC 7 (but don’t get too close to it) to get him on your right for 8-9, which should put you further ahead to control the 8-9 line (which si a really hard line for sure :))Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
>>As for Buddy he does run faster when I cheer lead and seems happier. I also say “yes” after he does something difficult for him as we continue through a sequence. I can actually feel him smile getting praise as he goes over a jump correctly and then continues on.>>Yes, some dogs do prefer this – I think maybe they like the higher energy and stronger connection? Or maybe they like the frequent feedback? Either way, I am glad he likes it!
>> These dogs live for speed. It is like driving a race car and when done right it is exhilarating. I watch you in awe with your timing 🙂 I hope to be as fast in timing as you one day.
Yes, they do live for speed/ Voodoo is not any smaller, he just runs so low to the ground that he could fit in the 12″ division LOL!! I don’t think my timing is particularly great, but I do think I deliver the cues early and often so at some point, I will hit the timing correctly 🙂 And I do a lot of dog training in the hopes that Voodoo as a deep understanding of the cues, which makes my timing less important.
>>Thanks again for this great course. I can still work on these skills into the fall when hopefully it will be cooler.
Fingers crossed that the heat breaks! This mornings brings us cloudy skies and cool temperatures for the first time in weeks!
As always, thank you for keeping me posted 🙂
TracyHi!
>>Lastly, Mookie is injured and must rest from agility for 2 weeks. At least it is only a skin injury.
Poor Mookie! I am glad to hear it sounds like a minor injury.
>>I did the skills sets for this week with Buddy only and he loses focus if I disconnect. He is young but I see this is another thing I have to work on. He is a low drive dog who is more food driven than toy driven. I have gotten him to tug. Is there anything else to increase his focus? Is there a place for cheerleading ?>>
Disconnection can be stressful for the dogs – so disconnect only a little bit at first, and reward instantly! If he is food motivated, use food as the reward. And since it is wicked hot, use delicious high value food and time your sessions so they are very very short. You can cheer and whoop it up – but that only works if he likes the reinforcement a lot and the rate of success is high: otherwise cheerleading can make him droopy! So super short sessions with great rewards, and his focus will build.
>>At a trial with Mookie running a straight line at the end of a run, I looked straight and ran and one bar came down. People came up to me afterward and said I disconnected when I looked straight which caused the bar to come down. Others said I was running too fast which caused Mookie to rush and knock the bar. >>
Probably true on both accounts LOL! Dogs need to learn how to maintain jumping form while disconnect and run fast. My Voodoo used to take off 5 miles too early and land on the jump when I would disconnect and run fast.
>>I have been trying to watch him jump over every jump.
Nice!!!
>>Should I now start training some disconnection when appropriate on a course so he doesn’t relie on me watching him.
1000% yes to this! You can’t always be perfect, and sometimes you will need to disconnect and/or run super fast! So we can train him how to maintain his form while you do that. This week’s skills focus on that 🙂
>>It is diffcult for me to watch him anyway as he is speeding around the course but is still thoughtful to follow the cues that I give him.
I believe it – you are not joking when you say he is extremely fast and responsive – it is hard to be perfect, so we train the dogs to let us be not so perfect LOL!
>>Also Can you run too fast for a high drive dog?
Nope… unless the dog doesn’t know how to handle it. My Voodoo is a great example. When he was younger (3 years old, for example), if I tried to run as fast as I could – he would lose his form and do crazy things. So I have to train him how to handle himself when I was needing to run as fast as my stubby legs could carry me. Now he is much better – he is a mature adult and he understands (through training) how to tolerate the moments when I disconnect and run, without losing his mind 🙂
Let me know what you think!
Tracy
