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Hi!
Fingers crossed to get in off the wait list! And she is a perfect size for the 16″ class!!!
She looked really good here – I agree that both sides looked really good wih nice bending and bouncing! And she was great without motion too. Yay! I am glad to hear you are doing it outside too, she finds it easy so it is a great setup for the distractions of the great outdoors (neighbors!!!!)
I see you posted the next steps, she is definitely ready for that.
Great job!
TracyHi! Lots of great work here!!
Left/right video – Yes, I can see her watching the distraction at the beginning. You can take that moment to see if she will engage with you with tricks or tugging or both, to help her learn to ignore the distraction – it will set up a higher rate of success! She is doing well with this game! I liked your position for the right turn start at :36, ever so slightly over near the wing you want her to enter the pinny on. That is a great way to get her to process the verbals from the neutral position while avoiding the left turn vortex 🙂 After a couple of sessions like that, you can progressively move back to the center position.
Serps – these are going really well, great job staying closer!!! On the first video, the jump was angled a bit opposite and made the serp jump harder, more of a backside (which is why she missed on the first rep) – the wing closer to the MM can be pulled forward so the bar is more visible as she exits the wing, making it a clear line to the front side.
On the 2nd video – really nice! Great job being nice and close, and she did a great job on the jump. So now… add more speed 🙂 You were walking so now you can move up to a faster walk or slow jog.Zig zags – these are also going well, she was a good girl in the stays and also responded well to the handling cues. And yes, I agree it is also a nice foundation for those lateral lead outs 🙂 She looked good on both the 3 wings and the 4 wings, so two things to add:
– You can line her up more ‘sideways’ to the first wing so she has to shift more immediately (she was facing into the gap between wings 1 and 2 here) Her hip can be right next to the wing, making her stay position parallel to the wing.– You can move the wings in a little closer to challenge her to make the shifts side-to-side more quickly! That will be useful for jumping serps and backside slices when we add bars.
Find the jump 1: She is finding the jumps nicely here and responding to the Go verbal. One little detail – add more connection on the tunnel exit by looking at her more when she exits and not straight ahead. When you looked at her coming around the wing wraps, note how she did not have to look at you – perfect! When you were looking ahead when she exited the tunnel here and on the 2nd video, she looked at you because it was not immediately obvious where you wanted her to be. The connection will help that.
You can see it on the 2nd video too – great connection before and after the wing wraps, note how she doesn’t have to look at you at all but is responding perfectly. So add that little bit of connection on the tunnel exit and she will look forward more.
You can also throw sooner: as soon as you see her lock onto the line to the jump, throw the toy so she sees it sooner and doesn’t look back.
I think she is ready for more motion on this game, you can be running up the line, staying in motion – and also sending her to the tunnel from further away and you get way ahead, to challenge her to find the jump when she is way behind you.Great job here! Have fun at the USDAA trial this weekend!
TracyHi!
He is really doing nicely here! The left turns away from you are the hardest, but that is normal. He is most successful on those when you have the clear transition into the setup.
As with the other sessions, we can clean up the transitions into this and that will raise the rate of success. The markers for the reinforcement can be installed here too, as well as the clean starts and resets – because he finds this setup pretty easy, it is a great way to get the mechanics going!
For example, he comes into the environment with engagement. You line him up at your side right side, send with left verbal and physical cue for the left turns – then reward with toy or cookie with your right hand so he comes across your feet – then turn him away to the next left rep. That can line him up really nicely! I think on a couple of reps he was kind of wandering into it, not really sure when to start and this will help. As with the wing wraps, the running rewards make it harder to reset, but you can run, reward, engage as you come back, reset (line up cookies are useful) then make a clear send into the setup.
If I remember correctly, he did not fully love his collar being held yet, so you can use this reinforcing setup to build it into the line up: as you reset him, you hand can go near the collar or one finger under the collar, cookie, cue to start. It makes the line up/reset easier for you and also he will start to offer up his collar, because it means the game is starting sooner 🙂Eventually, the dogs get really good at reading context and we get really good at resets/line ups that we can revert to adding in some Woohoo! Yay! stuff LOL! But it is fun to obsess and sharpen the mechanics which will make it all much easier.
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
Good work here – he is DEFINITELY showing more value for independently driving around the wing without you needing to help too much. YAY!!!! Since we are currently obsessing on clean sessions, a couple of ideas for you 🙂The start of the session should be as clean as the rest of the session. He needs to know exactly when to start – so you can either bring him into the training environment after the wing is set out, then line up in the start position, or you can bring him in, line up in a start position and then set the wing out. If both are happening (he is milling about and you put the wing out) then he won’t know when to start offering (that is what happened here). The line up and engagement before starting the session can make for a seamless transition into the start (which bubbles over nicely into start lines and such).
This becomes especially important when you want the left turns – he is most definitely a righty 🙂 And without a line up, he is going to offer that right turn loop. And since there was no real cue to suggest a left turn… he isn’t exactly wrong. So it gets confusing when he doesn’t get rewarded. So the engage, line up, then start can allow you to be very clear and clean as to which turn you want. He is perfectly happy to turn to his left when asked… but if left to his own devices, he will choose right turn 🙂
And the other recommendation is to plan your verbals and markers before he comes into the session so you be super precise (there are a lot of words nowadays in agility LOL!) You, like me, tend to be more of a Yay! and Woohooo! type of person. So for precision on verbals, I remind myself a lot about which words go where, and when before I get the dog involved. That way your ‘get the toy’ marker and your ‘get the cookie’ marker will be immediate on the first reps, which will make the whole sessions smoother. You had the markers in there… but later on in the session. And since there are so many words 🙂 you can either click or use a verbal yes/yay, but I don’t think you need both. You can click then do the event marker, or yes then do the event marker – or just use the event marker because it is really powerful as a conditioned reinforcement. You were doing that a bit with your food marker (AiAiAiAi :)) And that is great! Just be sure not to use the event marker as the send cue, which was happening at 1:43 – so he was a little confused. He was on the way to the wing and heard the AiAiAiAi and came back for the cookie, which is correct per the marker.
Soooooo many words LOL!
So now that his value for the independent wing wrapping has gone waaaaay up – you can add more looping in and include the cue (the video edits make it harder to see what was happening in between reps):
Say you are bringing him into the environment after the wing is in place and you want a left turn wrap. Engage – line up on your send side for the left turn (your right side) – cue the left turn with arm, leg, and now the wrap-left verbal (fun!) then be quiet. He goes and wraps to his left and you mark then deliver the reward… and while delivering, you are also moving him into the line up for the next rep – you can deliver the cookie or toy from your left hand and also use it to reset him into facing the wing for a send into a right turn.Now, when we are running, agility gets a little less clean and a little more muddy 🙂 This clean loop thing doesn’t always take into account the running and throwing LOL! We can plan for it though – for example, on the turn-and-burn reps where we run off and the dog chases us for the reward, you can party when he gets there, then move with him back to the wing – reset, line up, send.
Let me know if that makes sense! After the line up/reset is sorted and the various words are second nature, the next step would be to put this onto the rocking horses 🙂
Great job!
TracyGood morning!
She looked great here! The way you added the collar restraint was just right: it added a little bit of ‘yeehaw!’ to the game and she was able to maintain her thoughtful responses while also going really fast (and in the presence of the toy). Perfect!
On the first rep, the tunnel was a distraction which is why she had a question – then she sorted it out really well on the left turns! Her rights were also good and she loved the the collar restraint, it got her totally jazzed up 🙂
When you added the turn away left cue – you had a little physical help but that is fine to get her understanding that turning away is perfectly acceptable! You faded it on the right turn. I LOVED her response on the right turn rep – she was lined up facing the left turn to the tunnel… she had to think hard to turn away from the tunnel without a lot of physical help from you (I think there was some steam coming out of her ears!) but she did! Good girl, Arty!!!
Then it was easy – and great job finishing the session with easy reps 🙂
So using this setup, you can fade your body cues (but still use the collar restraints, she loved that) and then gradually work towards that neutral position. She is doing really well sorting out the verbals!
Great job, let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
>>One of the things I noticed with this is that he’s “better” off my right than off my left. Need to put my “good trainer” hat on and do more of these games off my left, can you tell I’m right handed?>>
Holy cow, I relate to this! I turned my teeter around so all the demo videos had to be done from my right side – you might notice that all of the early demos were done on my left side LOL! Oopsie! So now I have to work my right side or I will end up blocking the camera 🙂
He is doing really well with these games!
On the downhills:
You can move with him on the left side reps for now or be out ahead, that is where he was moving through the tip the best. When you were hanging back, he was thinking more about your position. I think that will balance out when he has more experience on the left, an also as you build to the end position. It looks like the board is just a few inches off the ground now, so you can try taking out the metal bar that is catching the teeter, leaving the little uprights as a visual aid: and let the board go to the ground or land on the PVC base. Have him target in position and let him proceed at his own rate as he moves down the board into target position – exciting times ahead!!!The rebound game is also going well – he has a little bit of a threshold in terms of the number of rebounds before he pops off – it increased as the session went on, but to help build the love you can stick to one or 2 rebounds, then release. As he gets happier with it (and more experienced), you can add a little more height to the rebound: he might experience a rebound as much as several inches, so we can get him happy to shove the board back down by gradually introducing more height to the rebounding.
The bang game is going well, I was laughing – the discussions about whether or not he could have the food out ahead was completely taking his mind off of any challenge presented by the movement of the board LOL! Yes, there were a couple of different variables changing that caused some errors (from our perspective) but he got to eat a LOT of cookies, so he seemed happy LOL! And also, you did make progress in the ‘don’t watch the momma’ department 🙂
You can go to an empty food bowl for him to focus on, and then toss or drop the reward into it – that can split the difference between watching you and self-releasing to eat the treats 🙂
I think he is ready for more height on this game too! Especially if the two of you are hashing out when he can get the cookies out ahead, and he doesn’t have to think about the height of the board at all.Great job here! And onwards to the elevator game – I am guess he will do well with the food bowl out ahead for that game too. Start without it so you can get the rewards in fast, then if he is watching you, you can add the bowl target out ahead 🙂
Have fun!
TracyHi!
This is also going well, she likes her end position job a lot! The added height seemed to go well!>>When I set up right next to the board she steps onto the board often with her front feet to push it down and then adds her back feet.>>
Yes, a little – not too bad, though! It is definitely a bit of front-then-rear but then are very close together. Not quite the full leap on, but heading that direction.
Getting her a little wilder with the cone for jumping on is fine to help convince her to jump on 🙂 My only suggestion is to move it closer right to the edge of the bottom of the board, so she jumps on right into position rather than higher then step down. That will help her leap right on into position and also continue to raise value of the end of the board. But overall – she is doing a great job with the end position work and the bang game!! You can keep folding in more height 🙂
Yes, the rebound spooked her a little but note how she got right back on and was fine in the next rep – I heard cheering and praise when she had her “what the heck?” moment and hopefully she also got a cookie or toy – not so much tp reward the position, but mainly to classical condition the rebound of the board with good things happening. The board rebounded on her because she was going fast (yay!) a little forward, reaching for the target – I think the rebound game will help her a lot so you can show her that the board might move under her, but she can push it back down and get paid heartily for it. That is happening with my 35 lb dog who is a bit forward at the moment too – the board is rebounding a solid 6 inches! You’ll see it in the next set of demos – but because he has had a decent amount of rebound game, he just shoves it back down LOL! Emmie probably weighs about the same? So she will get used to shoving it back down with the rebound game.
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
These look great too! Tunneling before the teeter added a nice layer of excitement to the game! And right as I was making a note that you can start to fade out the help of your instructor… she was gone LOL! Great minds think alike.
I am happy with how she was driving up the board at :27 and :33 – those were the best about basically going all the way to the end and weight shifting almost at the very top. Yay! Those were also when you were a little ahead and staying in motion. When you decelerated, she was weight shifting sooner. So you can fade the instructor out when you are continuing to move, but I would leave her there for a while longer when you are adding in decel or rear crosses – it is a good focal point for Emmie so she is not trying to read you body language 🙂
The end position will soon be the focal point, but for now we will use her favorite instructor on those reps 🙂
Great job!
TracyHi! I think we are now getting your rain and fog LOL! Still better than cold and snow 🙂 I will be heading out to video stuff between rain storms today too 🙂
I am SUPER happy with how she did with her downhills to the ground in this video!! She really seems to like the ‘job’ of the end position so the movement of the board is less relevant. Perfect!
>> I have to find a different set up to be able to increase the drop as she was doing really well with the incremental increases on this game. I have a question on this game. Would you replace the table to table game with this one or continue to do table to table?>>
Yes – this game is the ‘end’ of the downhill table-to-table games, where one table would be faded so the board could touch the ground. So at any ‘home base’ training (literally your home, and also the school where I think she is very comfy) – use this new setup to get the incremental drops that we will be building on.
And in these comfy locations, very gradually add a little more tip, every couple of days, with super high value for the ‘job’ of the end position (mixing in LOTS of bang and elevator games too)In new locations – we can consider using the tables again but honestly, I think she is happier doing end position work, so the end position games will help more in new places 🙂
Great job on this one – keep adding tiny bits of tip!
And you can release and throw a toy around, if she finds that super fun too 🙂
Tracy
Good morning!
He is turning into a wild man for the teeter, in the best way! I cracked up when he tried to run up it as you were trying to reset for the next rep LOL!Excellent session here. He seems totally confident – is that the feeling you are getting in the moment? Sometimes it translates differently to video.
A couple of ideas for you:
You can start to let go of the board sooner, so he is moving into position as it is falling. You were saying paw, he was getting into position, then you were letting go. So you can now move to saying paw then letting go immediately, so both Nuptse and the board are moving at the same time. You did this at 1:14 and he was perfectly fine with it (because, treats. LOL!)I like that you moved to the cookie target out ahead rather than from your hands or loaded on to the target. He was great – it added the challenge of getting into position without the help of food right there. No problem, says Nuptse! Good boy. You were more consistent about using your OK release word on those reps, and that is great (your release on the earlier reps was more along the lines of “yay!” LOL!) The clarity of the release will make a big difference!
So on this game, add more height so the board is a little further off the ground.
Also – how is the target fading going on the plank? We will be merging some of the games together, so make sure you revisit the target fading in advance of the new games 🙂
Great job! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning!
Definitely an interesting session! This is totally normal: one side is progressing faster than the other side 🙂 The left side sends are ready for the straight poles at 1-2 and probably also a bit of angle at poles 3-4. The right side is not ready for the straight poles 1-2 – I think those need to be a tiny bit open for him, til he gets up past the 90% success range with you sending from all angles and adding motion.
At the moment, his rate of success on the left side sends seems high enough (1 miss, maybe 2? I didn’t do the math LOL!) that you can move to the next step by adding more motion and angling poles 3-4.I did do the math on the right side sends: when the poles are slightly angled, he is working at about 90% rate of success with you not doing a lot of motion. With the straight poles, the rate of success dropped to approx 45%, depending on how we count the offers where he was trying to sort it out (I did do the math on this one LOL!). So I suggest another session on the slightly angled poles 1-2, with motion. And if that is hugh success, you can angle them a tiny bit more – not quite straight, but almost straight: and start up close and personal so he has an easier time bending.
The other thing you can do to help him on that right side is to drop the reward right in between poles 2 and 3. I think poles 3-4 are a no-brainer for him at the moment, easy peasy – but enough of a visual distraction that you can add value to bending between poles 1-2 and dropping the treat on the line between poles 2 and 3 (that would require you being pretty close for accuracy, unless you have great aim LOL!!)
>>So, not quite sure if I should work this a little more – or start adding a little angle to poles 3 & 4 while still working the right side entries?>>
Yes – think of it as 2 distinct behaviors (I am doing this with Elektra at the moment too):
On the right side sends, work towards 2 sessions in a row at 90% success with the poles being angled *almost* straight with you being able to also add motion… then we can straighten them out 🙂
But the left side sends can progress with more angling of poles 3-4! You can separate the sessions: do a minute or two of the left side work, give him a break – then later on and only do right side work. This is all totally normal with young dogs – they always have a stronger side 🙂
>>But he was looking at me a fair bit – but it didn’t stop him from going through 3 & 4.>>
Yes, he was looking back – I think it was the clicker 🙂 Clicks are very compelling so he was looking forward til you clicked, then he looked back at you. The easiest thing to do is not to click LOL! I mean, we can work on getting him to not look at you when you click but that would be done away from the weaves – so with the weaves, you can mark with either a quiet “yes” and then throw, or use a location-specific marker such as “get it” which means a thrown reward out ahead for my dogs.
Great job! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi! She did really well here! Finding the entries with the challenge of more speed from the wings? No problem 🙂 Nice! I think the next session should be with the 2 outer wings moved down a bit – if they were at 10 and 2 on the clock, you can move them to 9 and 3 and then to 8 and 4.
>> No limping, though she did do a lead change or something like that coming around the wing for the first run.>>
Yes, I see what you mean and then also a little something something on the 10 o’clock wing too – but it might be nothing because the more I stare at ANY dog moving, the more I can find “something” wrong LOL!!!! If there a way to et her to a massage or PT person, just to be sure she isn’t sore? That way you will know if it is ok to close the poles more: at this stage, she is doing more brain work than physical work. But as the poles get tighter, it gets more physical. Her brain is ready for that challenge but I want to be sure her body is too. Covid has made it really hard to get the dogs into the hands of the folks who can tell us how they are feeling, though. Keep me posted and let me know what you think!
Tracy
Good morning! He did really well here – there is actual real weaving happening!!! The side wings for the ‘harder’ entries were not harder at all LOL! Those were easier because he was already bending. So for those 2 side wings, you can move them further away so he has more speed between the wing and the entry, to challenge him to go fast then shift his weight.
And his questions on the straight approach… that is exactly why we practice those approaches LOL!!!! Yes, obsessing on the crazy angles is great but we also need the straight approaches 🙂 I think on the misses, there were a couple of variables causing them: you were moving fast and also swinging the toy as you ran (you might not have realized that you were swinging it). The double distraction was too much, so you slowed down and did NOT swing the toy. He got it – so then you added more speed – he got it. Then by the en, you were going fast AND swinging the frizzer – and he got it. Happy dance!
So definitely watch the toy swinging – add it separately from the motion early in your sessions, then build it back together. But that is a big distraction because the straight entries make it MUCH easier to run past the poles when the dog is stimulated! And then bring the ball back into the picture, because it adds a trial-like state of arousal 🙂
You can also add in sending him waaaaay away to the 12 o’clock wing so he has to ‘find’ the entry behind you because you will be passing pole 4. You can start it from a stay and lead out, and at a walk, if you think it will be a head-exploder 🙂
>>I have to say, I am so impressed with his head position, footwork, and exits/forward drive with returning to the 2×2. I did all the clock games in his initial training about a year ago and it looks SO MUCH better this go round. I’m very impressed with the progress.>>
I agree, the progress is impressive!!! Part of it is of course the training being slow and systematic – but also, he is more physically and mentally mature than he was a year ago and that makes a massive difference! My 2 ‘older’ puppies (17 months and 2.5 years) are flying through the progressions and the one year old dog is mentally and physically immature, so I am going much more slowly.
Great job here! Let me know what you think. And what was he doing at the very end? Rolling in dirt? LOL!
Tracy
Hi!
His tugging looks really good, I am glad he felt comfy enough there to tug 🙂 Was he able to tug when you arrived?I like the race to the TnT as a “this is where the reward is”! You can mix in tricks and reward from your hand, then race to the TnT. For the hand touches – when I am using them to try to get engagement, I reward differently than ‘normal’ hand touches: if he touches me hand, even politely: I run and get silly and have him chase me for the cookie. That gets the dogs more engaged than regular hands touches were we feed them standing still. And you can also do the hand touches then tug, if the tug is fun for him at that moment.
Yes, he definitely was acclimating quickly, I agree that you can do another session in the same area.
Have fun and keep me posted!
TracyHi!
>> Ok you’ve convinced me to work more more with verbals. I certainly don’t want to be stuck in the old generation! Lol. Do you think for wrapping left and right just increasing the repetition of the word left/right could signal a tighter turn for the dog. I.e. for a send soft turn it would be “right——— right” but for a closer tight wrap turn the verbal would be a stronger much faster “rightrightriririright”? And same for left. Easier for me but rather is it advisable to have totally different words as you do have?>>
It is possible to do it like that if you can very consistently make them sound different in the heat of the moment: riiiiiight riiiiiiiight riiiiight in a slower, lower tone for example, versus ririririri in more of a soft choppy tone. I personally didn’t want the dogs to rely on my ability to be quiet delivering verbals (that is NOT a strength for me LOL!) so I have different words.
>>As far as the come in- go out nature of the parallel chest I’m not totally clear. Am I correct in thinking that in the backside send we are emphasizing more the “go out” element of the cue
In that particular context, the line from the tunnel to the jump takes car of the come in element so it is easier to get it. And yes, we are emphasizing the go back out. On the more traditional serps, we need both the come in-go out because the dog is not on a direct line to the come in part of the jump, it is much easier to run past it on a parallel line (where in the Lines class sequences, very few dogs would consider running past the jump after the tunnel and before the backside.
>>while the SERP/threadle situation emphasizes the entire come in then go out elements of the cue.>>
yes – because the context in these puppy games actually presents a harder “come in” while also challenging the go out element.
>>But then againWe also use can use the outside bent arm threadle cue to emphasize “come in”.
Yes! A serpentine is “come in on the jump, go out on the flat” (although ideally our use of shoulders cues the dog that the go out is coming so the dog can adjust before takeoff). The threadle is the opposite: come in on the flat, then go out on the jump. And the use of opposite arm (or the dog-side arm, as many folks do in the ‘open door’ threadles) is different too, which changes the shoulder position. On threadles, the opposite arm (if that is what is being used) it higher (near the dog side shoulder) and goes to the dogs eyes, which rotates the chest to the dog more (not the jump, like in serps, or to the line, like in the ‘get out’. And when we use the opposite arm for the get out (like convincing the dogs to move away for a backside) – it is out ahead of the body, more at waist height, and pointing to the line or wing of the jump we are pushing the dog out to. Plus, different verbals 🙂
Back when the shutdowns started, we did an opposite arm class: all the different ways the outside arm can be used! It is fascinating that it can be used 6 or 7 different ways, and the dog reads them all easily!
Let me know if that makes sense! There is a lot to obsess on here LOL!
Tracy
