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Good morning!
Great update about the mat work! 1 oopsie out of 20 is a really high rate of success, especially if you can identify the variable that might have been hard enough to contribute to the miss. You can approach the lateral position more gradually. But it sounds like a 95% rate of success and that is spectacular for running contact work!!!On the video: this is going really well!!
First rep – good! She see,e to really pick up the line after the tunnel beautifully with the blind on the landing side of #3
The 2nd rep with the FC on the tunnel so you got between the tunnel and #3 went well too! Watch her when she exits the tunnel there- you had moved back away from 3 to pick her up then forward again – and her line matched that line (she exited straight before heading to 3) – which basically means that she is watching the the handling closely (yay!) and also that she can see you earlier in the tunnel than we would expect 🙂 So as soon as you get to the correct side of 3, move forward to 4 so she can whip out of the tunnel towards 3 like she did when you were on the landing side.
RC reps – another good landing side blind at 3! You were really good about being sure you got connection and she was so quick getting to you there. She did read the RC but. I think you can start the RC pressure a little differently to tighten up the line. When she lands from 3 and is sorting out 4 (jump before the RC), decelerate and turn to face the RC line for 5. That decel between 3 and 4 will turn her better over 4, at which point you move up the RC line and get a tighter rear cross. At :46 and 1:06, you drove to 4 with some strong acceleration so she landed wide, and didn’t turn to 5 til she landed which made the RC harder to do. But the RC line was really good so she got it, then you had a GREAT line down to the tunnel for the ending!
Great job here!!
TracyHi! She did great here! The angled entries were no problem at all, and she was easily able to let you do the RC too. YAY!! You can add challenge to the RC by sending her to it more (like standing at the base of the teeter and sending her to the entry, around the boards, without moving to it with her – kind of like a backside send!).
>> At 1.00 I lowered the end.
Yes, she was surprised – if there is a way to change the tip more slowly, I think she will be less surprised. Ideally, she barely notices the change 🙂 So you can change the tip by a half inch each time so she does perceive any big changes, by moving the holder out a tiny bit each time.
Great job here! Let me know what you think.
TracyHi!
The 4on might just be for that individual dog for the bang game 🙂 You can totally encourage the 2o2o by placing the reward where the 2o2o target would be, so that the front feet come off the board and onto the ground 🙂Tracy
Hi!
I really love that you are taking the time to do this systematically – I think the only element you need to add is more connection and maybe a little of the visualization if you are distracted using the walk through (EMMIE! Haha)!The little bobbles you have here and there are connection bobbles, from lack of obsessing during the planning stages. When you obsess on it and plan it? You nail it. So by obsessing on connection, I think you are going to be consistently running clean and fast with both dogs, which is going to result in lots of podium appearances!!!!!!
>> So my normal habit is to 1) walk dog path 2) pick handling choices based off that 3) walk handling 4) run at speed. I need to really focus on adding the verbals in now too. My weak point.
I agree that verbals are a weak point for all of us 🙂 Verbals and connection, both hard! So that is why I have moved them both up to a higher priority in the walk through order – starting to work both as soon as I start the handling after deciding the dog’s path. That way we are rehearsing them the whole time. Add in your connection as soon as you start walking your plan – always be along where your invisible dog is 🙂
You probably don’t need to walk the whole dog path either – just look at the trouble spots and then make decisions – walking the whole path takes a long time! I don’t mind having the dogs walking around during the slower parts of the walk through because it is as distracting as having a crowd of people LOL! But I do put the dogs away when I need to really run in the walk through because they like to join in LOL!
You did add in good speed by the end but not enough connection, so really emphasize that. Did I mention that I think more connection will help smooth out any of the little bobbles? Ha! On that last walk through, your pace was good but you were looking ahead a lot – you did have moments of connection like after 7 and after the tunnel exit at the end, but I think you can really emphasize the connection the whole way through, almost over-emphasize it 🙂 I couldn’t really hear the verbals but it could be that my air conditioning here is REALLY loud LOL!
if you have another person who can run in place of the dogs, have that person run and ask if they can see your eyes the entire time. It is an informative game!
Emmie’s run – I think you ran your plan for the most part, but didn’t really lock into the connection til jump 8 or so. The opening will be smoother with more connection rehearsal.
The forgotten section where you were a little late crossing 6-7: be sure to work in the visualization, even in the 5 minute walk through. I also use it to make myself a little nervous, like I would be at a trial, which is great to remembering the plan too 🙂 I am really happy with what she is doing on course so it is about the connection and verbals now – subtle, but so important 🙂Kippy’s run
Bypassing 3 was a connection moment – 3 is a serpentine, but your shoulders were closed forward from walking it looking forward, and you were slightly looking ahead so he didn’t come in. You can open up the shoulders there like a serp and make dramatic eye contact. It was better on the 2nd rep but I think you changed motion more.
And yes, you can plan to cue the turn for 2 when he lands from 1, rather than driving through the opening. But I am not too worried about that turn, that bit of wideness will go away when you connect for the serp at 3 as you leave laterally.Great job on these – I am going to keep bugging you about the connection because it really is the last piece of the puzzle for you and both dogs. Are you going to the US Open in November? This should help prep for it!
Tracy
Hi there!
>> While I briefly read the exercise description, I confess that I didn’t watch the whole video until after I’d done my walk through, so the walk through you see is “my” style. The 5 minutes went by super fast and I still wasn’t 100% certain of my handling choice for 7-8-9.>>
It is fine to stylize the walk through so it suits you and the dog! As long as the walk through rehearses and produces very successful runs, we go with whatever works best for the dog and handler. I think having set elements of the walk through keeps me on track so I can finish the walk through without feeling uncertain of the choices.
In the walk through here, you didn’t start adding speed til the 3 minute mark and then you slowed down, so it was hard to gauge what the pace of the run would be.
You had some really good moments of rehearsing connection (like after the BC 4-5) but then moments where you looked ahead too quickly while your invisible dog was still behind you. After the 4 minute mark you had more speed, but I think the elements of super connection (which is so important with young dogs) and verbals and speed are something you can keep adding to the walk through.Was the walk through at 4:40 after dinner? Well done running and yelling on a full stomach LOL! That had fabulous speed and also nice loud verbals! You were looking ahead too quickly, it is something everyone is doing: if the invisible dog is behind us, we need to keep looking back. Most folks are doing what you did here: make a heartbeat of connection back to the dog then immediately look ahead. The dogs are fast… but not THAT fast LOL!
The run went early well! The walk through handler was MUCH faster but honestly – that is working out for all of us LOL!! When we walking faster than the run, we have more “time” during the run to work the connections like you did here. So, keep working up to that speeeeed but also add in the big connection, really emphasize and obsess on it during the walk through so you see invisiPresto every step of the way (so important with baby dogs!).
The only other thing I would recommend is to put the toy in your pocket or something – you were switching it from hand to hand, which delays your handling a tiny bit. Everything else looked good – choices, connection, lines, verbals!
Great job here! And congrats on an amazing debut – baby boy is looking great and things will keep getting more amazing from here! So exciting!
TracyHi!
This didn’t feel like a lot of start and stop, because it was “great job on the sequence, here is your reward” rather than “something went wrong, let’s try again” if that makes sense. And he can feel the difference for sure! But I think the session was too long – it was already long when he left for a break, then you did a couple of minutes after it. 2 minutes in the heat, tops, total, that is really all the youngsters can tolerate.
I think he was great here! He had some questions, but they were minor and that is what these sequences are designed for 🙂 He was definitely paying attention!On the video:
Jump – wing sequences at the beginning: really nice on both sides!He had a question about ignoring the tunnel at :51 and 2:21 – you were too far out of the picture, so you can get right there on the wing to help him not go into the tunnel like yo did at 1:27 – and also revisit the proofing games with the wing right near the tunnel entry that we did over the winter.
When you did the wing- jump – wing sequences: looked really good!
He needed a little more connection at 2:02, great job making the adjustment and he was already better at 2:43 🙂
There were 2 minutes of blank time, it was hard to hear what you were saying? Was that when he called an Uber?
As you were passing the tunnel, to establish the skill you can move slowly at 5:23 so he can REALLY see the connection (more like what you did at 5:35 and on the reps after it) so he can see the connection and which side to be on. He just needs to see that such a crazy thing exists, then he is fine with it LOL!
Yes, at the end, you were a little disconnected and late turning so he serped into the other tunnel – he thought he was correct, it was a fast reward 🙂 Definitely better than rolling your ankle!!
Great job here! I think the main thing is to really limit your session length, spread it out over several days when there is a lot to do (you might notice I had 3 demo dogs for this, because it was blazing hot!)Nice work 🙂
TracyGood morning!
>> In addition, I am considering teaching a running A-Frame. I have not taught one before; although, I have started running Cowboy through a PVC square. Because, I have not combined running and stopped contacts before do you believe this will cause confusion (i.e. will Cowboy be more inclined to run through the end of the dog walk and teeter)?>>
Dogs do really well with a stopped contact on one obstacle like the teeter, and a running contact on another like the a-frame. The key is consistency and clarity of cues and reinforcement! I think he will be fine with that!
On the teeter here – I think he has 2 areas of confusion, which are causing the questions. He is not 100% sure if it is a 4on behavior or a 2o2o behavior. He knows it is something about stopping with the MM as the focal point, which is great! But he is not sure exactly where to stop.
And, I think the release is a bit unclear too, you were using different releases (I think you had break, the MM beep, and maybe even a get it as releases?).
So we can clarify both of these and then he will have an easier time 🙂The release is the key to the reinforcement, so you can consider his front feet hitting the ground to be the “doorbell” to open the door to reinforcement. As soon as his feet hit the ground and he is fully stopped (make sure it is not a running teeter haha), use your “break” and click the MM.
Now, to get him to put his front feet there – I would go back to the target at the bottom of the teeter, on the ground. I think every time you add a new layer of speed, you will want to go back to the target – it really helps him with the behavior. Then you can ‘warm up’ the behavior with some bang game on the end of the board into 2o2o to the target, then release to the MM (as you show him the new layer of speed). Then do a couple of sessions with the target, then fade it out. That should help get rid of the confusion about where to put his feet and allow you to clarify the releases. Let me know if that makes sense! He is doing well, so these might just be the final steps 🙂
Have fun!
TracyHA! I feel your pain about head exploding on tandems – they are harder than lap turns, I think! But you were focusing on the mechanics and nailed it again! Yay! She was looking at something in the environment but still got them right. I think one thing that will make the tandems feel less weird is if you are moving more (they are cues. That are used when we move, unlike the lap turn where we stand still more. So on this small setup, you can move in closer to the tunnel so yo can be moving up the line to the wing a bit more – that should make them feel even smoother.
Great job on all of these! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning again!
The main thing with the lap turn is the patience to let her get almost all the way to your hand, then you turn her away – and you nailed that perfectly! Because you were patient and let her get close to the hand before moving, it didn’t matter as much what your legs did – you kept your feet together and allowed her to drive to your hand. The ONLY cue she ever sees like that is the lap turn, so I felt she was prepared and did a great job. So keep remembering to be patient, and then you won’t need to worry about your leg stepping back as much 🙂 Perfect connection on those too,
She definitely liked the race track – remember to keep your arms back and down so she sees connection – yo were looking ahead a little at :29 and :30, so she looked up a little at you.
Great job here!
TracyGood morning, these look really strong!!!!
On the blinds at the beginning!
The timing much better! 2nd BC especially – you are basically getting them started as she is landing from 1 so the BC is finished while she is doing 2. Nice!The timing of the FCs seemed to be started at the same time, but they take longer to finish because of the rotation. So you can try starting them earlier, but also the blind is a better option for this particular type of sequence.
On both the blinds and the FCs, I think you are running too much towards 2 and not enough towards 3 🙂 On the first 3 reps, check out how you zig towards the landing spot of 2 and then zag back out towards 3 (she dropped the bar on the 1st FC rep because she was like, where are you heading? ). On the 4th rep (2nd FC), you stayed outside the wing of 2 and that was definitely better position!!! And you can be even closer to 3, not need to get in towards 2. Your motion supports it, and the positional cue of you being near 3 helps the turn (even if you are late :))
Lead out push reps looked good, lovely arm position and connection was really good! I felt she was really reading them nicely!!!! You can move faster on the first one, but you were working the connection and it looked good.
Broken stay on the 2nd one (she looked very sorry about it NOT hahaha)
On the 2nd one, you started moving sooner – I think you can add the challenge now of moving sooner (like you did there) AND faster 🙂Great job! She looks wonderful!
TracyHi!
>> Take the easy one first. #2, yep, meant really any directional that is meant for a jump in the end (right/left/backside/front). And yes, just the concept of a bar, either the bar on the ground, 4″, or jump bump, just something helps it look like the final jump appearance. I decided with Joe to keep my training very clean and always present it that way or it gets another word. Ie, around a cone vs around a wing.>>
Right – there is a decision point about what to name things, and when. I decided that backsides, serps and threadles would all have something that looked kinda like a bar, because those are important parts off of I define the behavior.
>>>#1. Interesting! It looks like you use the marker word before or in replacement for the “yes”. Is that right?
Correct! I try to use the marker and NOT yes as the marker – I might babble with excitement after the marker but I try to keep the marker clear and NOT just shout YES hahaha easier said than done!
>> Do you load your marker word in the beginning like you do with “yes” or a clicker? I want to read more about this, need to find something that talks about this.>>
I teach the markers as part of reinforcement procedures – just finished a series of videos on them, I can send the procedures video (I think it has some of the ‘why” and some of the “how”). It is pretty easy. I don’t load the “yes” because I somehow yell it all the time, so the dogs figure it out LOL!
T
Sorry, I mis-typed: it is the package 2 game 🙂
>> Am surprised that you suggest getting closer to the distraction.>>
In a comfort zone training environment where he is distracted by not stressed out or worried or anxious – you can get closer to the distraction to basically say to him: Ok, Nuptse, let’s sort this out (by specifically introducing the distraction element into the environment you are training in). So, the trees in the backyard are perfect. If you get too close, you can move further away.
If he is nervous or anxious about something – then don’t get closer, start the game wherever you are. The goal os starting closer in the home session is to embrace the non-worrisome distraction and work through it.T
Good morning!
I agree that connection is the hardest part of agility – both getting it and maintaining it… and teaching the dog to let us disconnect and still doing what we want LOL! Your mantra can be “look back”. – always look back for the dog, really obsess on it – you’ll feel less rushed, have more accuracy and better timing. You still have a tendency to want to look ahead after your crosses. Watch your head at 2:27 after the FC, and at 2:33 after the spin on the backside – looking forward both times. It doesn’t mean that you won’t connect in the run, it just means that you are still thinking about where the course goes, and not as much about where the dog is. The more I bug you about it and the more you practice – the more you’ll be thinking about where the dog is and then it will all get much easier 🙂 There were plenty of spots where you really did get great connection after the cross here on the walk through – but I am going to bug you to be 100% in practice 🙂
Wowza, I think this run looked great! You were really working the connections, which is terrific! Look at the spin exit – you remembered to look back for him! But you can remember sooner, without disconnecting then looking back 🙂 So I will continue to bug you, especially with NZDAC on the horizon! The other thing I see here is that the pace of your walk through is a lot slower than the pace of the actual run. When you attack the next sequence, try to flip that so the pace of your walk through is faster than the real run (and perfectly connected too, I know I am a pain in the bum haha!!!) Ideally, the pace perfectly matches the run but I think if we get you going FASTER than the run, then the run itself will feel quite like a calm stroll rather than playing catch up LOL!!! That way you will finish the walk through in the overlay before you finish it during the run. That will also give you a better sense of timing, in terms of the urgency of getting places with both dogs.
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning! Nice session here!!
She had a little trouble ignoring the tunnel at the beginning, so you can start her facing the wing more in the direction you want (away from the tunnel :)) so she doesn’t think thoughts about the tunnel LOL!
Good job with the target for the teeter, I think it really helped and she had really great 2o2o behavior happening!!!
You can toss the rewards to her so she doesn’t try to curl in towards you after she gets into position or toss them off to the other side of her and release her to get them. She was starting to self-release as you were coming back to reward, so you can leave the toy out ahead on the ground (if she can hold position and not self-release it it) or put a closed/covered bin of treats out on the ground (6 feet from the end of the teeter) so she can focus on it, stop on the teeter, then you can release her to the bi and run over to open it. It is a good way to challenge the behavior and also keep her from watching you too much.>> I did a session before this but missed the button to start the video. I worked to going more lateral and to my great surprise, she jumped off the teeter in the middle on a couple of attempts. >>
I hate when I forget to start the video, I feel your pain LOL! The jumping off the middle probably had to do with her not being entirely sure of how to finish the teeter while you (and the rewards) moved away laterally. So having the reward out on the ground about 6 feet past the teeter will give her a nice focal point: she won’t have to look at you or track the reward as you add the lateral distance. And, it is the next step rather than putting cookies on the target, because she will still get to make a choice about the 2o2o behavior (the cookies on the target make that choice really easy :))
>> . I also lost her focus on the wrap in the middle. She chose the jump and tunnel. Could have been the air conditioning or were my cues off?>>
This starting happening at 4:05 – I think you were facing that way, plus people were there plus maybe the sound of the a/c. If the sound of the a/c has been a struggle for her in the past, then she did a GREAT job here! I would rather she take an off course tunnel in that moment, then get scared of it. Good girl! I don’t think she was wrong or being naughty 🙂 I think she just needed more turn cue and more practice ignoring the tunnel.
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi! The pattern game looks good here! When you take it on the road, do it just like you did here 🙂 When you are at a trial, start it pretty far away from th ring and other dogs and see how she does. Then she will give you feedback: can you take it closer? Is food reinforcement powerful enough? Do you need better food? Or try it with a toy? The goal is to be able to work this up to doing it with other dogs that are staring at her (that is a big trigger) – but it might take a couple of weeks to get it that close to the other dogs.
The instant focus can also go on the road, with the same strategy of starting far from distractions then getting closer. Bear in mind that it is the first moment/reward that is the instant focus element. As soon as she gets a reward or two, it is “just” a shaping game (because rewards are visible at that point) but that is fine too!! Shaping in new environments is a great thing to do.
Have fun, stay cool, and keep me posted 🙂
Tracy
