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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!
TracyOops, sorry, I didn’t see this for some reason! Sorry!
>>I am still in the process of learning to move my body correctly to cue my dogs. I need these handling skills as I continue to need to react quickly to give Mookie the cues he needs. When he gets the proper cues he flows on course but I have to be on time.
For the backside blinds, I started Mookie on a sit stay from a huge distance in order for me to think and move.
>>After a week I can now send him around a wing from a distance to add more speed which he is happy about.That is great! Good boy, Mookie!! It is a hard skill and he is doing well. It takes a while to practices the mechanics of the cues, so it sounds like they are starting to feel comfortable!
>>Buddy is learning along with me and is slower. Buddy is affected by the heat more than Mookie who would do agility in 100 degrees or a snow storm.
The heat is hard! Keep those sessions VERY short with Buddy and use super amazing rewards 🙂
>>I am also working on exaggerating my arm back instead of using dog side arm for exit line work. Mookie reads this naturally. Buddy needs more guidance but he is still young and loses focus in the heat.>>
You can have a cookie or toy in the exit line hand and have Buddy chase you for it, he might think that is fun 🙂
>>Please give any other advise on my learning these handling techniques. I am so glad you had them planned for this week
Practice them slowly at first, without the dogs, videotape yourself. Then gradually add speed – walking, jogging, running… it is like learning a dance step, takes some practice. I am going to learn to tap dance in coming weeks – I am sure that I will be COMPLETELY terrible for a while but I intend to practice slowly then get faster 🙂
>>I wish I could try them out in a course but this won’t happen for me for a long while.
I figure that the silver lining in this is that we have plenty of time to practice and build skills 🙂
T
Hi!
>>I gotta day I’m really bummed with this training session. I don’t really see where I did much right for her at all. I kept trying but if one thing fixed another one broke. We switched to a novice course for the second run because we struggled so much on masters but I think she was kinda over it by then. Let me know what ya think!>>
After watching the videos, I have some overall ideas that might help! I think it comes down to how you are walking the courses – when you were running them, you had the order and crosses in your mind… but the connections, running lines, and timing (of crosses and verbals) were not as solidified so you were tentative on those – and that is where things went wrong. So, spend more timing walking the courses – not just to figure out where to go, but to be able to drive her on each line with great connection and timing. (We do this in Package 4 but you can start it now!)
You will find yourself walking courses more thoroughly and for a lot longer in practice, at first, because you have to pay attention to more elements: the first time through is about figuring out the course and how you want to handle it – and that is when most people think they are ready to run the dog 🙂 But you need to work through each part of it, with attention to the connection and timing and verbals and lines, so you can be very comfy when you add the dog into it.Specifics on the runs, with this in mind:
Masters course:
First video:
Looking at the runs from the perspective of the details of the walk through:
On the 3-4 blind, you ended up too far across the bar at 3 so you were moving away from 4 – you had to push back to get it but then you broke connection at 5, so she missed 5. So in a walk through, you can look for the ‘perfect path’ 3-4 and walk it a bunch of times to be sure you are comfy with it, also focusing on the connection needed for the send to 5.
You drove it better on the 2nd rep but ideally you have it comfortably at your fingertips for the first rep.
A similar thing happened on jump 7 at :16 and :29 – you were looking ahead and didn’t really tell her about 7, then called her so she came off the line – it was a broken connection moment.2nd video – MUCH better opening with connection! You can still get on a better line 3-4 but you had much better connection on 5 and 7. Yay! Good blind 8-9! You had rehearsed the opening a couple of times so it looks like it felt more comfortable. The backside send to 11 was good, she knew to jump it, so you can trust her more and move forward and blind sooner to get to the tunnel.
On that straight tunnel – remember that she needs to see and hear the exit into when she is 6 feet before the tunnel entry – when she went into the tunnel, all of your physical cue was forward and you didn’t call her til she was almost exited at :40. So that is something to focus on in the walk through – the tunnel exit is important there so planning the info becomes critical.Novice course – the opening on the first rep was nice, you just needed a bit more turn cue on 5 to get her to see 6. You drove the opening a lot more and had a clear turn cue on 5 on the 2nd rep – nice!!
On the FC 6-7,that is a spot to find the ‘perfect’ path’ so you are moving towards 7 and not as far past 6 to help her pick up the line there.
I think your send and go with the FC on 7 was really nice on both runs!
On that pesky tunnel… remember the 6 foot info line and plan your turn cues (verbal and physical) to happen when she is still 6 feet before entering, so she can exit knowing where to go.
On the first rep you did a pull at 11 to RC 12 and on the 2nd rep you did a FC at 11 – the FC worked much better! It is also a place to find that perfect path and practice running on it in the walk through. And then it set you up to have a better backside line (on the first pass through there, you didn’t connect on the backside cue at :25 and only used and arm so she didn’t see it.
And then on the line to the very last tunnel, remember to look at her and not at the tunnel – that darned connection 🙂So I don’t think of these are errors of execution, I think they are errors in the planning process, and then you are trying to hash them out at speed while running her (the connection, timing, lines, verbals). You might feel silly, but I totally recommend walking the courses as if you are running an invisible dog at full speed – walk the courses that way til you feel very comfortable and very connected… and then try it with Winnie 🙂
Let me know if that makes sense! We will be focusing a lot on this in coming weeks 🙂
T
Hi!
>>I have another question about the eye contact in the drive forward. A lot of times when we make eye contact with a dog they look back at us.
I am looking at the dog’s eyes, but that doesn’t mean they should look back at my eyes directly. They really shouldn’t look back at us, unless either the eye contact is too direct (meaning the handler has stopped moving or is rotating her upper/lower body towards the dog too much) or the dog has a commitment question. When I make eye contact, I am looking at the dog’s eyes but I don’t want him to look back at my eyes. It might be a softer/less direct eye contact then what you have seen that causes the dog to look back? Or it might have to do with arm position/shoulders – I would have to see a photo or video to see why the dog looked back when the handler was looking at the dog.
>So we are trying to change that auto eye contact with this training?
There is an element of conditioning the dog to NOT look up at me when I look at him. I am trying to think of a place on course where I would want my dog to look up at my eyes, and I can’t think of one (perhaps it is lack of caffeine haha!). In my perfect happy world, the dog never has to takes his eyes off his work and never has to ask a question by looking directly at my face.
>> What would happen if you really needed a hard decel and you looked at your dog? Would they ignore it?
If I decelerated and looked right at one of my dog’s eyes, he would collect and turn really tight. But if I did that with one of the others, he would stop and look up at me (too much directness, he doesn’t need it) I would not want either of them to look up at my eyes. How much you would want to look at the dog would totally depend on the individual dog – some dogs need almost nothing in terms of direct eye contact in a decel/turn moment, some dogs practically need to be glared at LOL! I have dogs that are all across that spectrum.
Let me know if that makes sense.Reps 1, 3, and 4 were really lovely on your driving forward video! It is not easy in a mask but that is what these youngsters are going to be seeing, so it was smart to train in the mask. When he was facing forward, it was easy for him to drive ahead with you looking at him (chest & shoulders indicating the line). On rep 2, he was facing you, a bit sideways, so it was a different picture – he wasn’t going forward (based on where his front feet were facing), he was shifting away so he was not quite as sure. Great job with your timing to nail the instant he looked at the toy (the transition into it was cut out so I couldn’t see what he did when the toy was placed on the ground.
You can definitely start adding motion in now, throwing the toy further and moving forward after you let him go.The drive to handler looked really good! You had the deceleration and hand in position nice and early on these reps, so it was easy for him to stop in position without shooting past you at all. Yay! One little tweak is to have your hand lower and feed him lower, so he comes in with his head looking a bit more downwards – that will begin to encourage him to shift his weight into his rear like a quarter horse to begin working the turns.
You can definitely add the turns in starting just before he gets to your hand – he was swinging his butt out a little when he was arriving on the straight decels, so adding in the pivots (you did a nice one right at the very end) will help him engage his hind even more through the turns.Nice work!! The 100 degree weather does make it hard for sure!!! Stay cool 🙂 Let me know if the ideas make sense 🙂
TracyHi! She did a great job on the sideways and backwards sends here! She seemed perfectly comfortable with the sideways sending – she cracked me up when she sent herself as you switched sides LOL! Good girl! She thought the backwards sending was much weirder (understandably haha!!) and slowed down on those. One thing that will help with the backwards sending is if you turn your head to look back at the prop, at the same time you move your arm & leg back to it. So you will be looking at her with your arm and leg next to you (like you were doing) and then on the send, let your eyes follow your hand back to the prop (along with your leg) so she sees you shift your connection back to where you want her to go. That can give her a little more support to go on the backwards stepping so we will get more speed.
Question – when your run full courses, what does ‘go’ mean’? For some folks, it means run in full on extension. For others, it means ‘take the obstacle’. If you are going to use it to mean full on extension, you will probably not want to use it here (because this is collection). You can just use an interim cue like “touch” or “hit” or something that doesn’t have a meaning anywhere else. If it is a general “take the obstacle” cue, then you can keep using it here. Let me know what you think!
Great job!
TracyHi! Great job with the review! She remembered it nicely. Good job moving to the larger wing, she seemed to have zero trouble with it. Nice! You moved back from the wing a little bit and she seemed fine with it, so you can add one more step away from the wing (you don’t need more than one, because once we get past about 6 feet away, we don’t really want her offering it, we will be adding cues soon). One little tweak – with your hands up with the cookies, she was looking up at you and ideally she keeps her head down low (thinking ahead for jumping form). So, you can have cookies in each hand like you did, but keep your hands lower or even behind your back – and you can toss the cookies in sooner before she has a chance to look up at you. If she is looking up before you can even get the cookies in (she is pretty quick!) then you can have 2 food bowls (one on each side of you) and drop the treats into those – that will give her a focal point for now, until we add more.
Great job!!
TracyHi!
I think, as a youngster, we are still cracking the code on the best training approaches for him while he is still sorting out how to moderate his own internal states of arousal. It is all totally normal 🙂 Sometimes arousal goes one way and he gets mouthy (sends video above), sometimes it is perfect (decel video here) and sometimes it goes the other way and he checks out (wing wrap video here). So we are going to play with cracking the code of what he needs while he learns to moderate his internal states of arousal and handle frustration. He is really young, so it is normal that baby dogs don’t know how to do this naturally.In general, super high rates of success and rates of reinforcement move things in the right direction (and very short sessions are the key to that as well). And, more about the transitions below.
First, the videos:
The decel game looks really good. Great job with your decel timing and reward delivery, plus your rotations are at just the right speed for him to work his body around. Yay! And the food keeps him in a lower state of arousal, so he had no bag language or velociraptor moments here. Perfect! The treats and your movement creating a really nice balance of arousal.Wing wraps – the chewing was making me laugh… whippets are chewers LOL! The session started off really well – he was offering this really nicely. He was thoughtful and ‘leading’ from his head through the turns. But I think the arousal level dropped at about :50 because the ratio of reinforcement to length of session was skewed (stopping to chew contributes to that). If you can keep the session length to 45 seconds or less, and have the rate of reinforcement come faster, you will see a different level of engagement. So, using this game as an example – because there is no movement from you, we can get the cookies moving faster to get the arousal into the right zone for keeping him with you: with the upright nice and close, be quicker on getting the cookies in: as soon as he lifts his head from one target, plop the cookie in the other target (you can even move them further apart so it is more of a toss, he will like that!). I bet you can get twice the amount of reinforcement in during the 45 seconds. And don’t up the ante in the middle of the session yet by moving the pole further out, he lost his train of thought. And at the end of the 45 seconds, you can transition out of the session.
So speaking of transition out of the session, I think he needs a ‘wind down’ when he is working in higher arousal (toys!). There are several ways to do it:
– do some low key tricks for treats while you fade the toy out of the picture
– toss a small handful cookies around the floor or in the grass so he has to sniff them out to find them
– give him a stuffed kong or a chew toy
(all of the food stuff will lower his heart rate which helps!)
– shape him to go on a mat, where he can end his session with a chew bone or with cheese in a kong toy
– you just sit and chill with him in those moments, so the session doesn’t end with the toy and the momma going away (that could be increasing arousal).
You can also do this in the middle of a session (like between 45 second mini-sessions) to help him balance his arousal.Let me know what you think! We will crack the code then it will be smooth sailing 🙂
TThanks for the sends/driving ahead! He is doing a great job with the sending/driving ahead skill, it is pretty easy for him. Yay!
Question: is he happy to go back and forth between food and toys? I scrolled around above and don’t see you mentioning any problem with it, but I will need to look again so I figured I would ask. The reason I mention it that, as a young dude with a lot arousal, there are some things we can do to help him stay more centered and work to get rid of the moments where he uses bad language LOL or tries to chomp your flesh a little.
I think the key is going to be transitions: he is getting aroused in the transitions from releasing the toy to the collar grab (or at the end of a session as you mention below). I saw some of that here in this video: some foul language/open mouth when you took his collar on one of the reps, plus the arm grabbing in some other games. So let’s work clean/smooth transitions that will help him center his arousal, as he learns to self-modulate.You will feel like you need 3 arms, apologies in advance 🙂
So on this game, for example, have food with you as well as the toy (we might have to play with different values to get the right balance):
start with tugging
get the toy back, give him a treat.
gently take his collar, give him a treat while holding the collar.
toss the toy – send him to it – tug
repeat 🙂And for now, try not to do any hand play or smack the baby or touching his flanks during play – that seems to get him aroused, and then he doesn’t always know what to do with himself when he is in that zone, so you are getting some of the noise/chomping.
We can use this game to get the transitions going and figure out what he needs to help modulate the arousal. Let me know if it makes sense! See below for ideas on how to end a session too.
T
Hi!
>>.I think it’s because the treats are so slow (in his view) to dispense
Ha! That made me laugh out loud. He is a man of many opinions LOL!!!!
>>And I really like the second exercise and your suggestions are GREAT! I think driving in “tight” is going to be a skill that doesn’t come naturally for him and we’re going to need to “cultivate” it
With each new generation of dogs, I realize what I could have done better with the previous generation… with the current ‘in their prime’ generation (like my Voodoo and Nacho), I personally did not spend NEARLY enough time on drive to handler so convincing them to turn is like trying to stop a speeding freight train. Too much emphasis on fancy stuff, not enough on the “dude, decel means drive to me and turn”. The younger generation (2 and under) has had more emphasis on the meaning of decel and their turning ability is terrific 🙂 Live and learn, right? Sly will love driving in tight because he loves da momma and da cookies 🙂
Have fun!
TracyHi!
She is doing really well here! Super sessions!
On the decel session: when you are doing the cookie throws outside, you can use a food bowl as a target to either toss the treat into or plant the treat in it and send her – that will cut down the time she spends after getting the treat, looking to see if there are any more out there LOL! Otherwise, she was really lovely driving directly into your hand there. Keep feeding her nice and close to your body, that really helped her. The only tweak I have for you is to turn slowly when you add the turns in – she is a youngster with a long body, so she needed to keep her butt in tighter and turning more slowly (for now) will help that 🙂
I think she is ready for you to add a bit of motion – let her see you moving away as she turns to you after her cookie, then as she takes her first step towards you, you decelerate and get your hand cue in. That will help her drive in with even more power and also decelerate into the turn.The cone work looks fabulous – great timing on your cookie drops, she was perfect on the cone! You can move it a little further away now and also start standing up! She is totally on board with this game – dd you see her keep playing it, heading to the target, even when you stood up and took the cone at the very end? LOL! Cracked me up, she is so clever 🙂
Great job!
TracyHi there!
Great sessions here! She was a superstar, doing new & hard things while there was exciting stuff going on nearby: very mature for a 7 month old puppy!!!The sideways and backwards commitments are looking terrific – she was very happy to go smack the thing on both of the cues!! Your backwards sending was backwards enough 🙂 you couldn’t be fully backwards because you needed to connect so you were as backwards as possible LOL!!
Small details to consider for the next session:
You can have your cookie reward ready before the send, so you can deliver it low and fast when she returns. She was being very helpful and popping her feet up off the ground in the short time between the her return to you and the delivery. Since you don’t want her feet off the ground (and I agree with and support that!) faster cookies are good. You can also tweak the placement/delivery by tossing it low and past you, so she keeps moving and doesn’t consider hopping up to get the treat 🙂
For now, hold your send cue position until she is about a step away from the prop when you are at that distance away from it. You released it a tiny bit early at :30 and :47 (for the distance).
And, starting closer to the prop: release it a little earlier when you are very close to the prop (which will make for a nice seque into what we will be adding to the behavior on Saturday).
Good job rewarding for the no-go moments so she was happy to wait for the cue 🙂 You did a great job with the shift of connection, which she was then able to match in terms of shifting her connection from ‘handler focus’/opt in to the ‘obstacle’/line focus. That is terrific!Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyFound them! Sorry I missed them!
This is looking really good! For the cookie throws: outdoors you can use a food bowl as a target to toss the cookie into, or leave it in there and send him back to it – that can reduce the cookie hunting in the grass 🙂
He did well on all of the drive to handler!! He might be a little stronger turning right but he did well on both, I really couldn’t see much difference, especially on the 2nd video. I think it was more about timing than a side preference. On the 2nd video, you can start to decelerate sooner (and you can get the hand cue in nice and low as you start the decel). Move forward until he has finished his cookie and has started heading towards you – then decelerate pretty immediately (he will still be plenty far form you) – that will give him more time to set up his collection.
You were waiting a little later so he was not quite as tight as he could be. I think he likes the pivoting, he was turning his head nicely and staying close to you!!As you add more distance (like you did on the 2nd video), you can add in a little more eye contact as you move away – that way he knows which side of you to be on. On the shorter distances on the first video, he had no questions but when you got way ahead on the 2nd video, he was was drifting behind you a bit to figure out which side to be on.
Great job here!!
Tracy
