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Hi!
This is going really well! The bowl is a good target for him – exciting but not mind-blowing. I love how he is setting himself up for the turn here!!
You can play and do tricks on the way back to the set up, and give set up cookies too.
We can move to the next step, where we fade out the actual touch of the hand – as he is coming in towards the hand to touch it, cue him to get the cookie in the bowl – don’t feed the hand touch anymore 🙂 The easiest thing to do is have a cookie already in the bowl, so you can keep your upper body completely stationary and just use a verbal get it. This is the gateway step to adding motion!
Great job 🙂
THi!
>>Wing Wraps
I’m not sure if he doesn’t like the toy as much as food or if i’m asking for too much too soon and break the sessions up.>>Overall, he is doing really nicely! Bear in mind that he is only 5 months old 🙂 You might be pushing things too quickly sometimes, and sometimes the toy just needs to squiggle around a little more 🙂 But, mainly, any struggles had to do with connection:
On the first session: nice job using a noise and not saying go!
Add more connection on your send and after the FC. On the reps where he went beautifully, you were looking at his eyes. On the sends or exits of the wraps where he had a question, you were looking ahead too much or too soon. For example, at 1:40 and 2:19 it is a great angle – as you exit the wrap, we can’t see your eyes so he reads it as a blind and goes on the other side. Then the send after it wasn’t as clear (high arm blocking the eyes) – he gets a little grabby at your hands or toys when he is frustrated, so take that as a sign that he can’t see your connection 🙂
So keep arms nice and low, your hand should hang our near your knee, and make lots of eye contact for now 🙂2nd session – good start with your rewards!! On the ‘wrong way’ where he curled in to the inside of the barrel, that was because the connection moved forward rather than to his eyes. So if that happens, reward a trick and connect more on the next rep. I suggest rewarding a trick or something when the barrel wrap isn’t perfect because 99.99% of the time, it is something we humans are doing wrong and rewarding a trick keeps the success level high while allowing you to reset and try another rep – if he doesn’t get rewarded, he loses a bit of the excitement especially outside in the heat (relatable, it has been HOT out!) So at 1:33, when he was a little stuck (you were sending with an arm and leg but not a lot of connection), you can call him back, do a spin or something, give a cookie, then reset with more connection.
He definitely likes the connection!! And his wraps are SUPER when you are connected, so keep reminding yourself to look at his eyes.
Threadles are looking really good, he is totally getting the in-then-out chain idea!!!! Only one suggestion on these sessions: join Team Chill and don’t move as he is doing it – stay totally still til he gets to the MM. You were moving your shoulders as he was passing you and walking forward. It is not a problem on this one jump, but it will dilute the independence when we add motion to this 🙂 Otherwise, this looks great and he is really getting good at it!! Actually one more little suggestion: on the outdoor video, you were a little too far from the jump at the beginning, stay about half of an arm’s length away from it.
You can move to the next step if you promise to be on Team Chill: fade the hand target element and let him swoop in then out without touching the hand 🙂Get Out:
>> then we got some “Get Out”. When I went back and reveiwed the video, I used the wrong arm. Ugh, poor dog. We will have a better session next time.Oopsie!!! That is another reason why I recommend rewarding a lot of tricks in between if things are going wrong… I totally feel the pain of looking back at the video and realizing I was doing it wrong LOL!!
On the indoor video: this is looking really good!!! One suggestion to make it a little easier – start him behind you (stay or cookie toss) instead of moving up the line next to you – that way you can set your line and cue without turning your feet towards the prop. Also, makes it easier to do the balance reps when you are ahead (he will anticipate the get out less). One other suggestion is to keep your arm below boob-level, more towards you hip, and less above boob-level (not near your shoulder) – it will be easier for him to see and it will be easier to run fast when you do this cue 🙂>>Getting training done outside is so tricky right now. The grass is so wet and then it gets so hot. I know different environments is important but dang, come on mother nature.
Yeah…. truth!!! No rush though, he is looking terrific so you can squeeze in tiny bits wherever you can.
>>What do you use in your MM? My kibble keeps getting stuck and it really disrupts our training sessions. For your viewing pleasure and for a good laugh an impromptu It’s Your Choice Session.
Ha!!! I hate when the MM jams yet I am too cheap to buy a Pet Tutor. I use kibble and Zukes.
>>>Also, we used a little laytex pig for our toy retrieval session the other day. so cute and funny. I’ll video another session and share.
Awwww yay!!! Can’t wait!
Great job here 🙂Tracy
Hi!
This was actually a good choice of music for turn and burn – dramatic, tension, excitement…. LOL!!
He did really well here, especially considering it is a new item to go around!!! A little less arm motion will help – for example, at :24 amd :29, you had a small arm motion and a LOT of eye contact – he sent really nicely and you left nice and early. (He might have tried to do a hand touch on the way to the barrel LOL!). At :49 you had a big arm cue and it blocked connection, so he had a question (looked up at you). So keep working the smaller & lower arm motion and maintaining the eye contact.Strike A Pose – this tune fits the session too – more relaxed LOL!
He did really well here coming in over the noodle. The toy on the ground was really hard at first but I am excited to see he worked it out! He is doing a great job of bending his body to make the turn, that is an important element of this game. Yay! My only suggestion is to remain perfectly stationary as you are cuing him to get the toy, try not to turn your shoulders forward to it at all (I am thinking ahead to the upper body cue for serpentines :)) Great job here! Keep adding the harder angles 🙂>>I went back to using the target in my hand, primarily because when I am using the toy, he comes at my target hand with an open mouth and lots of teeth. 👹 We are working on hand targeting with a closed mouth in separate training sessions, but now what I get is him smushing his nose up against my hand and his little front teeth biting my palm.>>
The target for this is fine, because now that the toy is on the ground, we can fade out the tooth hugs – oops, I mean the target hits. The advanced level is to have him come in and go out without actually touching your hand, just seeing it as part of the cue.
>>this after I finished filming, he moved on to music from Hamilton. 😂 The orchestra is playing a pops concert outdoors at the drive-in movie theater later this month.>>
OMG that sounds like a HOOT!!!!
>>When it is sunny, he only gets outside time in the yard on leash to potty so he can’t rehearse the compulsive behavior.
Smart!!
>> I have done a few very short training sessions in sunny conditions with varying degrees of success. In general, he will not work with me and can’t respond to well-known cues when he is fixated on the shadows.
Question: will he eat or tug in that moment? Will he eat or tug if you move him further from the shadows? There are games that can be done if he will eat in the vicinity!!
>> I am concerned enough that I have decided to call my vet.
Smart! Is the vet a behavior vet? There is a LOT of good behavior stuff out there nowadays!
>>Honestly, I am torn about putting him on behavior meds. He isn’t an anxious dog (in fact, he’s a happy-go-luck little guy) and this isn’t really interfering with his quality of life. But it is interfering with my training goals, so I feel as if I’m being selfish. Have you ever dealt with this with any of your dogs?>>
I have not dealt with this specific thing with my dogs, but it is pretty common. The meds would not be for anxiety, they would be for the compulsive behavior and work on the brain receptors differently to help. You are not being selfish – in fact, you are catching something and working on it *before* it really becomes an issue.
I have an agility student who dealt with something similar with her yougn agility dog (an Aussie) and she has a ton of great ideas. I can ask her if you like!
>>My main reason for bringing it up is that I’d love to be in my yard for the Tuesday night class since we need a bit more space, but if it is sunny at 5:30pm MT, he might not work for me. So I’ll play it by ear. I could always move downstairs to my basement. Right now, the forecast is for partly cloudy skies.>>
Play it by ear – we can always tweak the order so you can be outside when it is cloudy 🙂
>>I heard about the earthquake this morning. Did you feel it?
Nope, I miss all the excitement! Didn’t feel a thing LOL!
Tracy
Hi! She did a great job here (and her whippety tail is the CUTEST thing ever!!!)
Yes, she does want to offer her sits and downs at the beginning 🙂 If my memory is correct, she loves her toys and can go back and forth between toys and food – so at this stage you can warm her up with a bit of tugging near the mat, then send to it and click – after the click, you can toss food back towards you or past you (to help line her up again) or you can tug after the click. Adding the tugging will change the state of arousal just enough that she will be less likely to offer the sit or down as you get started. Plus, it raises the excitement level and challenges her to still ‘find’ the mat when she is more excited – I think she is ready for that 🙂
>> I think I screwed up with my signals a couple of times by not making them very clear.>>
It looks like sometimes your arm was a little high and it blocked your eyes, so she was looking up at you a little. You can use a lower arm and less turn-of-shoulder, trying to get a bit more eye contact – and that should feel smoother. Agility handling is weird that way – when we *add* eye contact to the dog, the dog looks at the handler *less*. They read the chest/shoulder direction, and a little more eye contact on the send cue can turn the chest/shoulders towards the prop to help the pup see the cue better. Let me know if that makes sense 🙂
Great job!
TracyHi!
Totally agree: The serps are looking really good! My only tweak is to use your no-target hand to drop the treat in the target without moving your shoulders – easier said than done LOL! That will help keep your shoulders frozen and not turning forward, more like what it will be when you are running.
Now, he seems to be fully figuring out the serpentine chain here, so you can also just go to the next step: let him come in towards you hand then back out to the dish: and *then* you can plop the treat in it. At this point, we are fading the actual touching of the hand so he is going slide in then out like he wanted to do at :29.
Also, do I remember correctly that he likes the ready treat? You can use that here too!
And I just need to point out how nice your ‘get it’ throws were – perfect accuracy to line him up, very impressive!!!!
Let me know if that makes sense – he is doing really well so we can move to the harder stuff 🙂Hi there!
>> Lennan had already had a small brain explosion earlier in the day as we visited an agility trial (where he was overwhelmed at first but then eventually relaxed) and also took a walk in a new urban location (where he behaved excellently).>>
Awww I am so glad you were able to take him to a trial! That is so helpful for young dogs. I am jealous! Yay Lennan for being such a good boy!
Smart to balance that with fast & fun and no heavy duty thinking 🙂
He definitely is finding the joy in the running between the jump uprights and he DEFINITELY loved chasing the frisbee thing! I think your throws were fine 🙂 And the toy choice is great because it is *highly* stimulating and he has to find the jump even when highly stimulated (an incredibly useful skill for young dogs!)Turn and burn looked great – you can tie that frisbee to the long toy so he can chase it without getting your hand (he seemed to like that toy the best 🙂 One thing about the toy – he is getting excited (which is a good thing) so you can tie the frisbee as a focal point. And when you present the toy, presenting it kind of draging on the ground like you did at 2:30 and 3:00 will help bring his eyes to the end of the toy and away from your fingers :))
Good job rewarding on the ready ready! And also really nice job leaving earlier and earlier on these wraps – at arund 4:10 you were starting to leave when he just one step part you – very challenging but he nailed it! Nice!! And it sounds like you have your verbals going too – excellent!
Great job here!!
Tracy
Hi there!
>>I only taped our run – forgot to hit the record button for the walk thru.
I feel that pain – I did the same thing yesterday with a demo video for puppy class. Did the whole demo… never hit play. OOPSIE hahha!
I loved your run! Excellent job going with the turn on 6 – there was a frozen heartbeat where he looked at you and you looked at him, and then you ran and he got back into it. Yay! That kind of stuff happens at trials (at least, it happens to me haha!) and being able to NOT freak out and just keep going is HUGE. You got right back in gear and had a beautiful run for the rest of it. That is also likely due to your preparation: you probably knew the rest of the course well enough that the little frozen moment didn’t distract you, and you let it go and go right to where you needed to be next. YES!!
You did a lovely job gauging your lines on the rest of it – ahead and working the lines, but not so far ahead that he had any struggles or lost focus. On the threadle at 6, if you push back in, be sure to plan pushing in towards the exit wing (towards the house on this view) so you don’t accidentally show a switch.
>>Watching video I felt my FC at #8 was late but I am trying to not rotate too early and end up waiting for him on those long stretches – that is when bars come down or he disengages.>>
It was maybe a stride late? Not terribly late, but he could have powered out faster after landing. I wonder if a blind could be better there because you can finish it sooner? Or, if he relies on your feet a lot on those turns, then the FC is better. That is something we can set up and do both, and compare!!
Great job here 🙂
Tracy
Hi! Thanks for the report! I hope his dew claw is fine! It sounds like overall, it went really well – especially considering he has not been in that situation in months! Yay!!
Hi!
>> I think I was just having one of those “we’re still in a #&*@% pandemic” days when I posted this.
Totally relatable, I have those days at least 5 times a week LOL!
>>I really like the idea of isolating one thing for ME to work on. That makes it so much more manageable.
Manageable is the name of the game with baby dogs – making lists and prioritizing can be helpful. There is a LOT for youngsters to learn and it can be overwhelming. I like to make lists and do one little thing at a time.
>>It’s interesting how the forced front sends him jetting out, but the blind brings him in tight. Why is that?
My guess is that the blinds are finished earlier so you can move away sooner, so he reads the exit line. On the forced fronts, it takes longer to finish the rotation, which adds more motion to the line you don’t want and delays the exit to the next line.
>>I’ve been running Pixey on the sequences before I run Riot. This was a good wake up call that I really need to think and handle differently for him. I need to remember the spins and brakes, especially. It’s been a long time since I have had two dogs doing agility at the same time.>>
Back in the time before the pandemic, I taught a few seminars where each working person brought all of their active agility dogs… and had to run the same sequences with each dog, making the dog-specific adjustments. Wicked!! Lots of laughs – but wicked hard!
>>As for jump training, we have done some set point work and some straight grids, but not for a while. I have about five or six jumps at home. Looking forward to your suggestions.>>
Since it has been a while, let’s pull out the set point and the 5 jump ladder grid (5 jumps, 6 inch height, probably 5 feet apart for him – he should bounce each interval). What distance/height did you use on the set point?
>>Thanks again for the positive spin (ha ha) on the video.
Ha! When I read your comments, I was prepared for the worst LOL!! But it was a good video!!!!! Easy to find the positives 🙂
T
Hi there! Really nice job here!!!! I have a couple of ideas for you to help build this up to get rid of those little oopsies at trials you were mentioning 🙂
The walk through, overall, was really strong. You were definitely paying attention to detail and that made a big difference in both runs!!
A thought on the planning – you can check out the wrap versus slice decisions on jumps 5 and jump 9 – you naturally went to the inside with wraps, but those were the more difficult lines (for him LOL) You can look at turning him the other way to set up better lines for him (also faster ones). The Custom Skills set from last monday and the sequences that I posted today will give you more ideas on that 🙂
Good job on the rehearsals of the handling and it looks like the pace you had in the walk through was similar to the pace of the actual run. YAY! You might need to run faster on bigger courses, so keep that in mind for trials.
A detail about the timing: the wrap on 5 and the wrap on 9 are the hardest parts of the sequence in terms of timing, so in your walk through, practice more connection try to “see” Desmo when he is landing from 4 and landing from 8. That will help you set up the timing so you can time your wrap cues while also staying connected. On those spots in the walk through, you were looking ahead which could cause you to be late or get another ‘oopsie’ on the run 🙂
On the runs:
VERY nice opening lines on both runs. You looked relaxed and connected and he know exactly where to go. Yay! On the first run, the wrap on 5 was a little late but the bar on 8 was because of the connection: when he exited the tunnel, you were looking forward to the wrap on 9, which broke connection – he asked a question and dropped the bar. Now, in a perfect happy world, he would keep the bar up LOL! but when you walk your courses, remind yourself to make a strong connection on the exit of the tunnel and landing to 8, to both support the line and time the wrap. The 2nd run was MUCH nicer there – and you had more connection. Yay!!!
This is going really well – because you are wanting to build this up for trials, you can do them as double whammy runs – basically, walk it so you run it in flow twice in a row, no stopping 🙂 I posted a couple of double whammy options for sequences in the Custom Skills Sets last monday if you want some ideas – it will allow you to build up to 20 obstacles!Great job – let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
>>“ … convergence on the exit of slice lines when we have to push the dogs into a gap. That was a big thing for everyone this week, so it is in the Week 5 package that is coming tomorrow”
I’m looking forward to more work on slices this week.>>They are posted in the Course Syllabus section 🙂
>>George videos all my runs at trials, so this class is like a trial substitute for him. He is usually back at the RV or on his way from the RV when I am walking at a trial though.
Someday I hope to see you both at a trial again!!
>>I tried the transitions again, but this time doing some with the manners minder. I think it confirmed my suspicion that he would prefer his ball. In the second clip, where he looked away from the mm, he was looking to Where his ball was in my bag.>>
Ivan has the BEST expressions!! On the first transition past the Manners minder – he totally looked towards after the weaves, ignored it (yay!), followed the handling – and then when you sent him to it, he was like “seriously? THIS is the prize? Lame. ” LOL!!! So funny. And yes – he much prefers the ball LOL!
On the threadle section at around :45ish – I think for now, you will need to stand still on the threadles to get him in the gap, rather than run backwards. He is reading the backwards motion as forwad motion, and staying on the line. But I also posted several links on how to train the threadles from scratch so you can start there and then you will be able to move through them.
At 1:37 you cued him to get the ball, right? But not at 2:10 – cheating!
So a new rule for this game – he needs to be looking at you in order to get the cue to go to the ball, he cannot be locked onto the ball (because I don’t know if he is going to go without you to the ball LOL!) He has to be moving and paying attention and then you can surprise him with the cue to get it.
Now, I know that in UKI in your area they don’t care at all where you leave the toy or how you exit the ring (in fact, a UKI rule allows you to bring your toy to the start line and leave it with your leash – this is for a real run, not for a training run!!! So cool!!!!!!). But AKC has so many rules – one thing to consider, since George is often ringside – if he is willing, maybe he can be the ball holder/dispenser? He stands ringside with the ball so Ivan knows where it is. I was loving how driven Ivan was here: fast, pushy, excited! So if he knows how to predict the reinforcement you’ll see that transfer to trials.
>>On the other hand, both Kramer and Foxy did great with the manners minder. Neither George nor I remember when Kramer ever ran a sequence that fast, except when he was zooming around the ring. His weave poles were fabulous and fast.>>
I can’t speak for Foxy, but if Kramer is anything like his brother, then life is ALL about the food food food. Nacho appears to have tremendous ball drive… but in fact it is all about bringing the ball back as fast as possible to get the FOOD lol!!! And the Manners Minder has helped me make it clear how to earn it in agility (flyball is a lot more predictable in terms of how and where the reinforcement gets earned).
>>Do you bring the mm remote with you when you go in the ring?
In the NFC runs, yes – and I clicked it in the middle, sent him to his treat from the MM in the magic food box, then called him back in for more, then also used it at the end. (Because UKI has no rules and I just told people what I was doing so they were not in the way). I figure I can bring it into the ring for a real run and leave it with the leash, per UKI rules – that is what I was beginning to do, mixed in with training runs, when the pandemic shuttered all the trials. I was preparing Nacho for the US Open, but I am not going to go, so now I have more time to train.
Let me know what you think!
TracyHi Kathy!
Sandy already jumped in – Novice Sequence or Novice Course 1?
For the Novice Sequence opening – 1-2-3-4 is dog on right, so I think that is not the one you mean LOL!
On Pack 4 Course 1: the simplest thing is dog on left, send to 1 – start as far back as needed so that you can handle it all dog on left: send to 1, support 2, run like your pants are on fire, and push to 4 (it is a get out cue, almost serping on landing side of 4). That 3-4 line is HARD if you are behind or don’t push him away.
>>Most frustrating is that my verbals seem to be of little use unless we start after #2. (Perhaps a quieter voice would be better than rape screaming.)>>
I have found that quieter, low energy verbals are very helpful to bring the high energy dogs in close! So I am pretty quiet when I run Voodoo (he is high energy) versus VERY noisy when I run Nacho (who is lower energy in agility). So plan the calmer softer verbals 🙂
>> Are there any good example videos here in forum?
Definitely keep an eye on Sandy & Benni – she is doing lovely work! Also, Elizabethanne and Riot (although I don’t think they’ve done that course yet either). Let me take a look and see who else has run it so far!
T
Hi Linda!
>>I worked on the default training for serps and backside slices more this week and it is me learning to get out of the way sooner and the uneven terrain of my backyard that has been causing the knocked bars. There has been less bar knocking the faster I react as Mookie reads cues quickly. He insists on going 200 mph even with backyard training. 🙂>>
Perfect! 2 words for you: “Leave Sooner” 🙂 What I mean by that is: as soon as you see him approaching the backside entry wing, trust his training and get outta there! That will allow him to set up the jumping a lot better.
>>He trains the way he trials so this work will benefit both of us.
That is awesome, I am JEALOUS!!! All of my dogs train with a lot less speed than they have at trials. Voodoo, for example, is a solid 25% faster at trials. Lordy! It makes trialing difficult because I am not used to the extra speed.
>>Buddy gets ramped at trials but trains slower, but I know how to change gears because of Mookie.
Same as my dogs, but Mookie has trained you well LOL!!
>>I really needed to work on the default exercises more for my handling.
Yay! You’ll find that the more you trust the default behaviors, the more you will find it easy to handle especially with Mookie!
Keep me posted!
Tracy
