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Hi!
Lap turns – this one is all about our human mechanics indeed! Your lap turn mechanics are really good – they might feel weird but they are correct LOL! You are taking your time to be accurate and precise – perfect!
Now, two things were happening here:
first, she was being a Border Collie so she was driving in ever-so-slightly wide if your leg at first. You made an excellent adjustment to get your cookie hand very close to your knee and that totally helped. Yay!
second- she was not too excited about driving into you when you were facing her – note how she was doing it but was not exactly passionate about it LOL!!! That is partially because it was food rewards, and partially because BCs don’t love to drive into us. I ran into the exact same thing with my Voodoo (the all-black BCish dog in the demo video of the lap turn that I played in the live class). So, to get him excited about coming to me, I used a small tug tog – and I mixed up rewarding him right when he got to me, with throwing it straight back behind me as he was coming to me. I think Ria will like this much better than the food reward (and since she loves balls, you can use a ball!) And keep building the food value: you can have her come to your hand, eat the cookie – then get rewarded for eating with the tug toy 🙂tandem turn mechanics: also looking good! Like the lap turns, your mechanics might have felt weird but they were good! You can use both hands on this if you like, it might feel more comfy! She was definitely Border Collie-ing and started out wanting to be further from you, good job getting the rewards in tight to your leg! And she likes this one a little better because there is more motion (yay!) but feel free to use a tug toy on this one too. I bet she will also like this one if you move faster – so you can be walking fat or jogging, as long as you maintain the precision or your hand use like you did here. Awesome work!!
Great job on all of these! Stay warm!
TracyHi!
Wing wraps – this is also going well, I have a suggestion to make the start of it smoother (she was a little confused at first) – start by engaging her with her right in front of you, talking to her, making eye contact: then sending to let her to the wing with your arm/legs doing that clear send you had, and letting her see you turn your head to the upright. She will see your connection shift and that should help her get started. You did this at 2:21 and she seemed much clearer about when to start the game 🙂
You can face the upright for now, so it is easier for her to go to it – your hips will be facing the object and you will be pointing forward.
Great job leaving earlier and earlier, her commitment looked AWESOME, she seemed to always finish the job of wrapping!!!! And excellent reward mechanics with your toy showing from the other hand across the body – she was super clear on where to be when she finished the wrap. Super!!!!
Since she prefers to chase you as you exit the wrap and doesn’t want to leave you, you can mix in dropping a reward back behind the object as she leaves you for the jump – tossing a toy to the other side of it as she heads to it will help her love going to it almost as much as she loves chasing you 🙂
If you don’t have access to a wing or something solid, you can put a towel or sheet over this object (looks like a stool) so it simulates the solid things that she will encounter – this will help her continue to wrap even when something blocks her view of you.Great job!
TracyHi! Happy holidays!
>>What’s the best way to spend Christmas Eve in isolation other than to train your dog in agility?!
>Ha! Totally agree!!!
This is going well. She has good value for her target!! And good job with your hand/feet position! Now you can add challenge: You can be facing her entirely (your stomach is pointing to her nose) so she comes towards you at first on a 90 degree angle – this increases the amount of turning she can do, it will be an “L” shaped turn. It looks like she is hitting her target in your hand really well, and ignoring the toy until after the target hit: excellent!! She was not too impressed with the send to a cookie to get started LOL!! Cookies are not her favorite thing yet – you can build hat up and separate it out: work on reinforcing eating! You can send to cookie and when she eats it – play tug to increase the value of the treat. No other behaviors needed: eat the cookie, get the tug or ball. Be sure to watch carefully to see that she swallows it. 2 of my dog had to work on the ‘love cookies’ game and it is totally worth it 🙂
For the purposes of this Strike A Pose game, you can use a stay to start it and that way you can keep working it too.
Great job!
TracyHi!
Yes, 9 months is an awkward age for big dogs 🙂 You can do lots of tight sits and stands for now, I think that is perfect! I have a game coming soon that will also be great for hind end awareness (just gotta finish editing the video LOL!)Tracy
Hi!
>>I left out all the reps where my ball throwing on the Go was embarrassing
Bwahahahahaha I feel that!
The Go reps at the beginning were really good! And the toy throws were great 🙂 It looks like the value is currently more on turning, so you can throw sooner: as soon as he looks at the first jump, throw and keep running 🙂
On the wrap – you pushed in a little towards his line at :10 so he curved away before setting up the turn. I think the push in was a product of indicating the takeoff spot with your dog-side arm and leg at :11… so you can tighten his line by continuing to face the wrap jump and decelerating facing it and rotating as he passes you (not need to step to takeoff) – that will get a tight line and also getting you outta there sooner 🙂
The other thing that will happen without pressuring into his line as you step to takeoff on a wrap is that he will move away more easily when when you do want him to – at :15 and :20 when you wanted the backside cue – he was unconvinced for a few steps, because the pressure is similar enough, so you had to hold position and be really convincing LOL! So the change of line on the wrap (moving to the wing and not stepping in) should help him see the difference when you do pressure in to the backside 🙂>>Anyway, Mags is in full standing heat, Sly has barely eaten in 3 days and won’t take a treat, not even last night’s pork chop and there hasn’t been much sleep in the house for a couple of nights. Wish us luck and we’ll see you in a few days.>>
Ah, I feel this too! I have 2 intact males and 2 intact females… and both females are due to come into season at some point soon. Eeek! As annoying as it was when Voodoo was young (he is 7 now), it has helped his ability to focus at trials now that USDAA and UKI allow bitches in season! I imagine Contraband will have the same reaction as Sly when Hot Sauce and Elektra are in season. So, I am sending you thoughts of EXTRA peace during this holiday season! If I lived closer, Sly could come hang out with the boys here so he could have a break and so you can sleep 🙂
Tracy
Hi!
Thanks for posting these! I definitely see him driving up that teeter without seeming to hesitate at the tip! YESSSSSS 🙂 And on the bang game – he is doing well too but I don’t think he is a fan of it when you drag him over into position LOL!!!! So for that – prop up the board on the other side of it so it is an inch off the ground and that way you don’t have to hold it – so you can get him into position by tugging or hand touching.
The other thing I noticed is that he is wanting to leave you to start the game – and since we don’t want to tell him he is wrong to drive to the teeter and I agree that you don’t want him to scare himself… as you go out to get ready, bring a crate so you can start him in the crate, or have him sit on the table that is nearby – so you can get sorted out, then you an release him from the crate or table to the teeter when you are ready 🙂 And maybe block off access with wings so he can’t get on it without you LOL!
And if he gets slippery and gets on it before you are ready, go with it and whip out the big rewards, especially if it was more tip or movement than expected 🙂
Great job here!
TracyHi! I hope the blizzard is over and you are headed into a SHORT winter!!!
The countermotion is going well! When you get a chance to do this again, a couple of ideas for you –
He seemed fast and happy on all elements where he could chase your line and drive to you. And he seemed to think that the sends behind you and countermotion was stuuuupid LOL! And he was not as speedy on those because he prefers to chase you and not leave you. So, mix in rewards thrown back past the wing as you are leaving, so he loves to leave you as much as he loves to chase you. I also tuck in a manners minder behind a wing sometimes to have a high value reward for leaving me 🙂On the race tracks, you can also run super close to the wings, so you have more room to make the decel and transitions to the wraps in and out of them. He did a great job with all of his commitments, particularly on the racetracks into the wraps! Running closer to the wings can also give him opportunity to drive ahead of you on those!
His motion override game is looking great, he was lovely with the snappy sit while you were jogging!!! Yay!!!!
Great job here! Have a great holiday!
TracyHi!
>>For the next live seminar everyone can run with a 16oz bottle of water and the person with the most left at the end Wins lol!
Because I am a weirdo, we have done this at seminars – most recently at the live Crazy Commitment seminars on Zoom, it was SOOO funny!
>>Although if it was a glass of wine I would be way more careful not to arm fling 🤣
YESSSSS but we need to hone the skill first on a low value beverage like water so when we go to the high value one like wine, there is less chance of spilling it LOL!!!
>>Well once we get plowed out since we are in the middle of a blizzard.
Fingers crossed for a short winter!!! Stay safe!
TracyHi! The blinds here looked really good! Your blind at :04 and :18 were both really timely and she had great turns on that wing.
I think her questions about the wing at :06 and :21 were more about you position – by not being able to run, you ended up blocking the line a little so it looked like the tunnel was next (she didn’t really see the wing). So, you can position yourself very close to the middle wing so she sees the far wing after the blind. The other option here is to position yourself very close to the middle wing and then do a 2nd bind to get her into the gap between wings 2 and 3 – so she will go to wing 1 on your right arm, for example, then you do a blind to get her past 2 and then another blind to get her back on your right arm – so she goes around the far side of the wing and exits facing the tunnel. Let me know if that makes sense 🙂
Great job! Have a great holiday!Tracy
Hi!
These were great! Your running line was spot on – she did give you a look or two of “what the heck??” LOL! So as she turns back to the wing and you move up the line, you can toss the reward behind you, to help her maintain her speed as she does the countermotion – then you can add even more speed!
And the reward behind you when you do the blinds will be even more important, because the connection break when you look forwrad to start the blind is hard for the pups to ignore.Nice work!
TracyHi! This also looked really good!
>>e. I really wish the ground was clear – this would be so much fun for both of us with the ability to do more running. I would also place the jumps farther apart on good footing>>
You can do this with the bars on the ground or locked into the 4″ cup, so she can work concepts without jumping – in the snow, she is changed her mechanics and slipping a bit, so it is better to just let her run through and not have to jump. That can allow you to add more distance between the jumps and tunnels too! You probably can’t go faster because of the snow, but you can keep working earlier! However, I think your timing was really nice on these and you were leaving early! She was driving forward nicely on the go! The timing of your rotation on the FC wrap was great, you were rotated and gone up the next line before she got tot he wrap jump, while staying connected. Same on the blind – rotated and gone but also connected, before she got all the way around the entry wing. And the RC looked good too! So, since you can’t sprint right now, you can keep pushing the boundaries of how early you can turn and leave 🙂
Great job!
TracyHi!
>> I think it’s good for her to have to pay attention to what I’m cuing, and not just take anything she wants.
This is totally true!! The presence of a tunnel does not always mean to go take the tunnel LOL!
I think I see the moment you were talking about, at :28 – it might have been a tunnel-looking moment, but also you were blocking the path to the wing a bit so she couldn’t see it and was probably trying to find a line. So, be sure she can see the wing more clearly as you move away.
A friend of mine posted something on Facebook that rang true for those folks who are playing in the snow: since we can’t go faster, we can go *sooner*! Ha! So since you can’t run full out in the snow… you can do the deceleration and then rotation sooner, so that you can move away from the wing sooner on these! When the grass is green, you can run faster and be sooner LOL! But for now, just walk and see how earlier you can send, rotate and leave! Her commitment looks really good here, so if the snow stays soft, you can try it!
Great job 🙂
THi!
>>We are working on moving around. She also has a raised plank. With the round wobble board there isn’t a clear “on and off” and she comes off sideways. I have some landscape fencing to give her a correct on and off.>>
Perfect on all of these – the landscape fence can help keep her straight while you move all around 🙂 I also will use a manners minder on 2o2o training, so no matter what I do, the dog uses that to help her to stay straight and focus forward (rather than curl in 🙂 )
On the wing video:
>> I did it as a lap turn send because she didn’t seem to be getting it. Also thinking my Chest and feet might not have been clear to her.
She did really well! It might just have been figuring out which side you wanted her to be on – this game is the very end of a FC, so the pup goes around the outside of the wing (putting the wing between you and her, as if going over a jump bar). So when you stepped back and she did that, it was all good (on the reps at :10, :20, :23, and 1:38 for example) – and that will allow you to leave earlier and earlier. You had her come between you and the wing (lap turn) and that is also a useful skill, it just requires a slightly different & earlier transition as you rotate to bring her in between you and the wing.
>> I really happy she worked it out and stayed with me!
Yes! She was totally engaged! And even on the reps you were changing where you sent her, you stayed super connected so she was perfectly happy to keep trying.
Great job!!
TracyHi! She did a great job here!! Yay! Right up on the box, totally confident. Happy dance! So… what else do you have to do more with? A couple of discs are good, or if you have a box with a low edge that she can get in. If you have a tall engouh chair, you can also work on getting her to go under the legs! I like to teach goat games to include getting on something, getting in something, and going under something. Perfect for a blizzard! Hope you didn’t get too much snow 🙂
>> And then we just did the back and forth with the toy a little and showed off a little with a “High Five”. Fun!
Yay! Fun stuff!!!! She is doing really well with all of this.
>> And yea, I threw the treat while I switched and that worked better too. I noticed that in one of your next video’s.
Yes – you can use a treat toss to help her get off the thing, then a little toy play, then back to the shaping. This will both keep her in a high state of arousal and continue the easy going back and forth from toys to food.
>>Hmm…I think I need to be a little quieter when she is offering the behaviors? Why do I always do that? Get too loud when she is thinking. >>
Yes – when she needs to think bout something and offer a precision behavior, be quiet 🙂 Chew gum! LOL!! Then you can be loud and talkative when you are playing with the toy.
Great job!
Tracy
