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Tracy Sklenar
KeymasterThat is a good prognosis!! Fingers crossed for the ‘all clear’ after that!!!!
T
Tracy Sklenar
KeymasterHi!
>> I left his ball in my training bag for the runs today and got it out after each run ended. He knew where it was.
Try to be more gradual in introducing him back to running with no obvious reinforcement. I leave the reinforce in a place that is highly visible (like a Manners Minder on a chair or his ball on a chair) and start off by sending him to it for just holding the stay. Then build up very gradually the number of obstacles he does before you send him to it – start with very few then gradually build up to eventually get full courses. That will help maintain the speed while fading the toy in your hand. And on anything that is massive (like these courses :)) if you are going to run them start to finish, have the ball with you for now. You can fade the ball-in-hand on these courses by doing, maybe 1-2-3 then sending to the reward. Then 4-5 then reward. and so on.
>> Iβm still not sure how I can reward him with a ball at an AKC show.
By the time he gets back to the show, he should be able to do the whole run with the ball sitting on a chair outside the ring, including the leashing up element at the end required by AKC, and be able to run really fast π And there are training in the ring options in AKC, you can work out using the ball there too (you will probably need to leave it at the start line then send him to it in those runs).
On the walk throughs here:
>>This course seems to be a lot more difficult than I am currently used to. For the ending part, I got really confused about how I wanted to do it.
Yes, these are really big technical courses with handling everywhere (no real spots to relax and run :)) Lots of planning and execution will keep you on your toes and then AKC and UKI will feel MUCH easier π
I think your planning went really well overall. Your connection and pace on the walk throughs were really good overall! A couple of things to remember that I noticed in the walk through (first one and second one):– on the 1-2-3 opening, planning it as a threadle was a good handling plan! He is still learning to understand those independently, so for now on the courses you would need to plan to get closer to 3 to help him out. The other option is to replace the threadle handling with something like 2 blinds – you execute those really nicely and he reads them well!
– on the 6-7-8 section: planning to slice him to the right over 7 works but it is a lot longer and slower than turning him to the left over 7 because there is so much more yaradage – it is one of the rare times that the collected turn would be better than the extension turn. That does up a threadle 7-8 but you would be in a great position to show it to him – you can either do a rear cross on the flat at 7, or you can blind cross landing of 6 so he goes to 7 already on your right.
– you mentioned getting confused on the ending with trying to figure out what to do – you can pick a plan then figure out if you can show it in time, based on where you would need to be when he exits the previous obstacle. For example, your plan was to serp/blind on the landing side of 14 – so you would need to be heading towards the center of the bar at 14 when he was coming around the exit wing of 13. In the walk, your position was more at the entry wing of 14, which could set you up nicely to handle with a forced front or forced blind on the takeoff side of 14.
On the runs –
The cues on the 1-2-3 threadle required a bit more independent understanding than he is ready for at this stage, so this is a good sequence to work on to solidify the skill for sure! On the second run, when you got closer to 3 and you were right in front of him, he did well, so that is something to remember on these (as well as other options such as double blinds.6-7-8 section – the second run was smoother here because you kept your feet pointing to the slice line a lot better. On the first run, your feet turned and it looked like a rear cross on the flat, which shows us that it would be pretty easy to turn him left over 7 π
You call call him sooner before he goes into the tunnel #9 to get a tighter turn to 10, but it looks like he turned nicely to the weaves on the tunnel exit on the first run! Yay! I couldn’t see what he did on the 2nd run π
The blind 12-13 worked nicely!
The landing side serp at 14 was a little late getting out of his way because you were near the entry wing, so you can strategize to get further across before he exits 13.On the ending line – that one was hard to get it the way you wanted in the walk, so the runs also looked different π You got it in the second run, but it was not what you walked π In a way, that is GREAT because you held onto it and stay connected and got it!! That is an important skill for sure!!!
A different way of looking at a complex ending like this is to tackle it first, in the walk through: start at jump 13 and do 13 to the end for the first few minutes, to solidfy your plan. There are 2 reasons for this –
it gives you more time to work out the hardest sections and get the plan
and
you will remember it better, because we often remember best what it is that we walked first πGood work tackling this beast of a course π Let me know what you think!
TracyTracy Sklenar
KeymasterHi!
>>Thank you! I am going to work these exercises and do this sequence one more time for you. Then I want to move on to the walk through stuff because I definitely need help on decision making. I have had some awesome runs lately but have had a few small things nqβing us because I didβt realize the line until I was running it. (subtle turns etc).>>
Perfect! The walk through planning takes practice but really helps get rid of those little NQ things π
>>>Yes, that is Hamilton in the background. I am addicted and driving the hubby crazy because I play it a lot! π>>
Ha! Sorry not sorry, hubby π My hubby is addicted to it too now π
Tracy Sklenar
KeymasterGood morning!
>>Looking forward to your detailed obsessive analysis.
bwhahahahaha! Who, me?? LOL!!
After watching all 3 videos – she is sorting out but needs a bit of help with the plyometric aspect of it.
video 1, 5 jumps: she does well here for the first couple of intervals (jumps 1-2-3), then she loses a bit of control over the last 2 jumps and you can see the form goes to more of a ‘bucking’ style (trying to go fast on these pushes the weight into the shoulders so she had to think about sitting back into her rear :)) The last rep was good, it was the most balanced over all 5 jumps. That is more of what we are going for π
Video 2: she is deep in thought on these right-to-left-of-screen reps! π She was 100% trying to sort out how to use her moving parts – focusing almost entirely on her front end (you can see her switching leads, splitting front feet). She was better on the left-to-right reps as you noted – a little ‘hoppy’ side to side which means she is not 100% comfortable with it but definitely this is more of the pushing from the rear we want! (I am guessing that the leading leg is stronger from the get-go when she is moving left-to-right which is why we are seeing the difference?)
Video 3 – she is working out a rhythm when she is moving right-to-left of the screen: bounce-patter (jump 2)-bounce-patter (jump 4). She played with this in video 2 but is solidifying it here. We don’t want her to settle into that being comfortable, we are going to try to help her get her weight back into the rear so she doesn’t have to split her front feet. She was still better going left-to-right but it appears she was starting to split her feet at 1:33: something in the rhythm changed but it was hard to see exactly because she was behind a wing.
So, a couple of ideas for you!
One way to help convince her to work this more from the rear is to start her closer to the first bar, so she does not put her front feet down on the takeoff side of it after you release her to start. After the release, she lifts from the rear and the first hit of the front feet is between 1 and 2. That engages the rear right away – it is slightly more difficult but it adds the plyometrics needed for this type of slice.
The other thing I suggest is to start that on 3 jumps to make sure she is really comfy with the plyometrics and not splitting her front feet at all. Do one or two reps as a warm up, then if she can produce correct form right off the bat go to 5 jumps (in the same session). If not, stay on 3 jumps – form trumps length of grid.
When you do go to 5 jumps, minimize the difficulty a little by keeping them slightly open to get her very comfy with the form. They can be closed enough that she has to find the correct form, but open enough that is it not that difficult to find that form π Maybe a couple of inches wide, approximately where they were in the first video until the form of the last rep is the first thing she produces , then tighten them a little.
And, you can minimize the distraction of motion by leading out pretty far so all you need to do is release and walk.These zig zags generally take a session where the dog goes “WTH!!!” which she did a couple of times LOL! then a bit of brain re-wiring, followed by a session where the dog has immediate improvements. When we see 2 sessions in a row (doesn’t need to be every day, should be spread out) where the form looks good and effortless – then we tighten it up.
>>In your response above, you mention that she might need the jumps raised a little to help her organize herself. Maybe thatβs what I should do?>>
Because she is trying to sort out her front feet, I don’t think raising the bar will help because she would probably hit the bar on the way up or the wing in that case. When she sorts out her front feet and is powering from the rear – then we can raise it up to add challenge for the plyometric element of pushing from the rear.
One thing I find interesting in this grid is that we can sometimes hear it when it is correct form versus incorrect form: you can hear the power of the hind end pushing off! Incorrect form has more noise to it. It is harder to hear on grass but easy to hear indoors.
Let me know what you think!
TracyTracy Sklenar
KeymasterHi!
>>When I mess up and turn away, I am not in angry mode, I am in thinking mode.
Yes – planning how to do it right the next time. Sometimes I get frustrated with myself!
>>But he doesnβt know that!!
Exactly! The dogs perceive it as negative punishment (withdrawal of the good stuff like treats/toys/running/attention from da momma) so I also acknowledge the dog’s effort, reward… then plot for the next run π
T
Tracy Sklenar
KeymasterHi!
Yay! Glad your knee is feeling better, that was fast!!!The BS serps are looking good π When you have her approaching from an angle (which is when there was a FC after the wing), you have to be pretty insistent with one big step and eye contact to get commitment (there was only one rep on the backside slice and on rep on the backside wrap where you were not insistent and she didn’t push away and ended up on the front. If you want to play with this to add more countermotion on the backside slices, you can move the wing over and send her around it like a post turn – so she exits the wing on a straight line to the backside (no turn or step needed) and you can give the verbal & connection and move forward to get past the exit wing. That will add more challenge because it puts you both on the takeoff side at the same time π She did really well with the default taking the jump, so I think she is ready for more countermotion!
On the walk versus run:
A few things I noticed in the walk through that can affect the run:
You had good lines and good planning at each step – click/treat! You can definitely add 2 things into the planning and rehearsal process: more connection to your invisible dog, and thinking more about starting the next cue when she exits the previous jump or tunnel. You were looking ahead at the lines on the rehearsals, so in the run you were really working the connection for the first time – that will change your timing of your handling plan.The other thing I noticed was that you can lead out more – you had a relatively short lead out in the walk through, which will potentially cause trouble 2-3 because that line has a bit of a push element to it.
On the first run, I think your pace overall matched the pace you used in the walk through, and that is great!! And the connection was in place (yay!) but working the connection caused oopsies in other places – you were a little late on 5 which pulled the bar, and late on the FC 7-8 so she was a little wide. You were not disconnected – it is more like you were planning the timing and seeing her while running her, rather than in the walk through, which makes it a lot harder to execute in the high speed run π
So when you do the next walk through, install the connection very early in the walk through and try to see where she would be,so you can add in a lot of timing reminders – especially when you are walking at higher speed.
The 2nd run was better because you had already rehearsed it at speed on the first run!The bar at 2 was a product of the shorter lead out, I believe – you were trying to set the line without being far ahead, so she was trying to adjust over it. On the 2nd run, you used a longer lead out and it worked a lot better! Looking at the side-by-side there, your line was very similar between the walk and the 2nd run, but note on the walk you release and start running when you were more like halfway between 1-2 and on the run you released when you were closer to 2. So that goes on the list of things to remember – lead out as far as possible to set the line in the opening (she has great stay!)
I liked that your pace in the walk and the run side-by-side was pretty darned close!! That bodes well – you are getting a sense of how fast you need to move and where you need to be, which is really helpful for getting your little speedy sports car around a course! Nice! I think adding in more connection to your invisible dog will make it much easier on that first run.
Great job! Let me know what you think!
TracyTracy Sklenar
KeymasterHi there!!
These are looking really good!!Sequence 1 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0n9YsVymk-s&feature=youtu.be)
VERY nice run! A couple of small details for you:You can open up your upper body back to him for the serpentine at 4 a little sooner, so he sees you serping before he exits the tunnel. That will help him set up the turns back to 5 sooner. At :18 as he was sorting out how to jump 4, your shoulders were forward so he knew to take 4 but didn’t know to take it turning left to 5 – so he had to make the turn on landing at :19.
Your backside send looked great! You can disconnect and drive in for the BC on the exit of 6 sooner: when you see him looking at the backside line, keep saying around but turn your head forward to run into the gap so you can do the BC sooner. I believe he has the skills to let you do this π
You can add a wrap verbal on the exit of 7 so he can drive back around sooner.
On the serpentine at 10 back to the last tunnel, this is a spot where you can open up for the serp a lot sooner too. At :26, he is driving in but turning to his left becaue your shoulders are forward – but he needs to turn to his right to pick up the line to the tunnel. You opened up as he landed at :27, so he did adjust on landing to get the tunnel but but it creates a wider than desired turn. So, as he exits the wing of 9, yo ucan be running past 10 like you did (nice position!) but with your serp arm back and center of chest facing the center of the bar: that will help him set up the turn to the tunnel before he takes off for the jump.Seq 2 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xj–RLZ7jew&feature=youtu.be) This also went really well!
>>One of the courses from week 3 (where I do a whole bunch of threadles!!) I donβt know why I turned him the way I did on jump 5.>>
I think this is the one you were taking about – yes, that 5 jump requires a decision making moment π It is a doable line but probably a little slower than sending him to the other side of 5 by blind crossing between 4-5 (faster to get to 5 and then faster to get to 6). So, remember to explore both slice options on backsides!
On the 4 jump, this is a serpentine line that you can show sooner as well, same as what I was bugging you about on the first sequence above π He didn’t see you open up for the serp until about :05 when he had already made his takeoff decision, so he had to finish the turn after landing (:06).
Turning him that direction over 5, I suggest a spin on 5 to tighten it (rather than a post turn which presents a slightly wider line).
He threadles really well, and that threadle to the tunnel was especially nice! And you had to hustle to get the backside at 8 and you did, well done! Because the threadle to the tunnel requires yo uto rear cross the tunnel entry, you can get rid of that one extra step into you that he took o nthe exit but yelling GO! or an extension cue so he exits the tunnel in extension and not looking for you. Very nice independent backside on 8 and nice job showing him the correct side of 9!!Seq 3: (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y5-LkH-Gi3Q&feature=youtu.be)
Also lovely! Let me know if you get sick of hearing how nice these are LOL!
And you are connecting beautifully throughout!!!He is reading your deceleration really nicely on the #4 jump here! You can rotate one stride sooner, so then you can do the throw back when he lands.
Speaking of the throwback – a ‘style’ suggestion: at :05, you are using your right arm across your body to ‘swoosh’ him to the wrap jump. That is technically correct, but it is a bit too much of a forward cue for some dogs and sends them a little wider – and that is what happened here with Cavu π So you can try a different style of how to handle the throwback – rather than swoosh back with your arm across your body, transfer the cue into the arm next to the jump (left arm here) and just softly/gently drop that left hand down on the takeoff side of the jump so he gets a slightly stronger collection cue and less swoosh. I call it a ‘brake’ hand. Same thing on the wrap on 9 at :11 – less swoosh and more brake hand to get it nice and tight πHere is a visual: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c44E976avHM
Seq 4: (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q0oE2tIfui4&feature=youtu.be)
Another nice one π
On the 4-5, the backside serp on 4 looked good, but I think the throwback to 5 was too hard to get the rotation in on time and it delayed you getting back for the threadle to the tunnel. You can play with simpler handling options there, such as keeping him on your left over 4 then rear crossing 5 (that should put you waaaay ahead for the tunnel threadle without sacrificing the turn on 5!). You can also do a BC 4-5 – serp on your left til you are in the gap, then BC – on this particular one, you would probably also need to threadle him to 5 – but you would can then send him t o5 and be moving forward the whole time. Moving backwards in the throw back made it harder to explode back to 6-7, which made it harder to then get the BC at the end.Seq 5 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gIQzFrQcycg&feature=youtu.be)
Another nice one teehee!!!
On that #2 jump: any time you see a backside wrap, ask yourself if there is a slice that can be faster – sometimes there will not be, but in this case, there is: entering the #2 backside on the other side and exiting the same side you exited here. That will be faster. He is a nice wrapping dog, but the slice line will be faster because the collection is minimized and distance is likely to be the same.
On the threadle 5-6, you can give him a directional (or even a name call) when he lands from 4 so he is already turning over 5. The threadle cue is really all about 6, so the name call or directional will help him turn tighter on 5 which makes 6 much easier (he had a hard jumping effort there at :14)
The wrap on jump 9 (:18) is also a wrap that can be done with a soft brake arm (left arm in this case) to get it titgher. Also, the 9 jump gives you a slice option as well – and it will be faster here to have him turn right as opposed to the left wrap (fewer turns and shorter distance). It might take an extra handling move (probably a blind cross between 8 and 9) but you can send to the tunnel to get up there nicely πGreat job on these! Let me know what you think!
TracyTracy Sklenar
KeymasterHi Denise! I am glad it makes sense! I like to obsess…. oops, I mean I like to make it systematic haha! And I like to try things a couple of different ways and time them each way. I used to think the shorter distance would make a bigger difference for the smaller dogs (like my Paps and your Schnauzers) and one of my favorite instructors, Jenny Damm, pushed my to run the small dogs the same way I run the big dogs – and time it. Turns out, the small dogs are faster on the extension lines even when there is more distance, same as the big dogs. I also take into account the structure of the dog and the strengths of the dog. For example, my Papillon, Nacho, is big boned and a little straight, so his strengths are on extension lines and NOT on wraps (he has to slow down a lot to do wraps). My big dog is more balanced and angulated, so he can produce nice wraps but he has incredible ground speed so slice lines are almost always faster for him too!
TTracy Sklenar
KeymasterHi there! This is going well – this is a really hard assignment with a baby dog!!
On the walk through:
I loved your emphasis on connection!! It is so important with a baby dog! You had all the elements: connection, handling, verbals, pace, etc. Two things to add in on your walk throughs for him:
– you were working on how fast you have to move – when you work on that, add in a bit of going even faster than you think you have to go on the simpler lines π The actual run required more speed from you – and you did it, but I think that contributed him to missing the 6 jump – you were kind of running for your life there LOL!!!! On technical stuff you won’t have to go faster but on these big lines, definitely more running speed – he gets faster every time I see him π– add in more thinking about timing, in terms of where he is relative to you and when he needs to see the cross start (the BC before the tunnel, for example). On the walk through, you were starting the blind when you were in position, but based on where you were looking at your invisible dog – he was already jumping so you were late π Ideally the blind starts when he is no more than halfway between 6 and 7, so it is finished before he takes off π If you add that to the walk through, you will be able to rehearse how early the cross starts rather than rehearse being late (and you might realize that you won’t be able to get to a cross, so you can change plans!)
On the run – first part was really lovely!! He is going REALLY fast, I love: confident, committing, nice jumping form (looks like 12″ bars?)
Yes, he needs more training to commit to 6 without as much connection – you turned and softened your connection a little too soon so he came off the line. Good job continuing! The BC was late here, partially because he missed 6 and partially because you had rehearsed it a little late π He was an extra good boy for NOT going off course into the tunnel and reading the BC!!! Yay!!!
2nd run – nice job getting 6 so nicely on the 2nd rep!! You very clearly committed him to it, he seemed to have no questions there. That makes it harder to get to the BC (the little bit of extra help at 6 makes it harder to get to the BC) but you can start it a little sooner and trust your motion and verbal to get commitment! He was really good about responding (read the line of motion even if he didn’t make it to the correct side) so it will be easy when it is a littler earlier.Great job here – it is really fun to see his commitment coming together so he can show off his speed as well! Yay!!!
TracyTracy Sklenar
KeymasterHello!! Thanks for letting me know this was here, I can’t believe it didn’t see it! Sorry!!!
Is that Hamilton in the background? I hear Daveed Diggs! LOL!
1st run – really nice! Great job sending him to the backside – you were connected and showing the backside send until he was most definitely heading to the backside, and then you moved away (:09).
To get a better turn to 7, try to run past the exit wing of 7 with your feet pointing to the takeoff spot of 7. At :10, you are running parallel to the 6 jump bar with your feet facing the tunnel. That causes you to take extra steps to show 7, which makes the wrap late and gets the back jump.2nd run:
At :26, he pulled off the backside. This is a spot where his head gives you permission to ‘release’ the cue (or not :)) What I mean by that is – as you are showing the backside cue (feel free to keep saying back back back to really support it)- keep your shoulders pointing that way and your arm back and your connection to him – and when you see him turn his head and start to stride towarsd the backside, that is when you can turn your shoulders and feet to the next thing. On this rep, you cued the back and then ‘released’ the cue by turning, but he had not looked at the backside yet so he came in to the front. The same thing happened at :52 and 1:28 and 1:33 – he was looking at you after you said back so when you moved away, he took the front side. At 1:37 you used more motion to the entry wing to get it, but that caused him to not be able to set up the jumping for the next line.Now, compare it to :33 and :59 – you were MUCH more connected there to be sure he went. Yay! Good timing on the sending and the leaving π 1:10 was GREAT! He had a little trouble with the jumping effort at 1:11, because you were (correctly) converging in towards 7 and he needed a moment to sort out the juming – the zig zag grids will help that (I will post the links below :)) 1:20 was also very nice on the backside send!
So on the backside cues in general – you cam be more insistent when you cue it: repeating the verbals and looking at him more until you see him turning to go to it. That will also allow you to move to the position you wanted to go to, rather than run to the entry wing to use motion to get him there (which makes it harder to get to the next spot). And, maintain the insistent cue until you see him acknowledge it and start to head to the backside – that then gives you ‘permission’ to move to the next spot π When he is more experienced, you will be able to trust him more, give a cue then leave: but for now, try to watch to be sure he is heading for the backside before you leave for the next thing.
On the wrap at 7 on that rep at :35 – you were earlier on the turn cues and he was tighter – it can be even a step earlier to get more collection. I thought you were really good with timing at :51! Also really good with the timing at 1:22!!
However, even if you are late, we don’t want him to back jump (because, sometimes humans are late and we need our pups to help us out LOL!) so two ideas:
a handling idea is that even if you are a little late, make sure you keep moving up the next line. If you stop and wait for him, you are accidentally presenting the back jump because when he turns and tries to see what is next, he sees you there moving forward to the jump. For example, he was pretty tight coming around the wing at 1:00 but you were standing still… and when you started to move again, it presented motion to the back jump so he turned back and took the jump again. At 1:13, you kept moving, even just a little, and he did not consider the back jump. Yay! At 1:23 you were stationary and used kind of a threadle arm dropping back to bring him in – staying in motion will be more helpful to get you to the next spot on course.
a training idea: I have a ‘never back jump’ rule with my dogs, which means that when I am late, they should always come around the wing and never take the jump they just took. (Because, sadly for them, they get to see me be late a lot LOL!!!) I trained it using the wing of a jump – you have already done most of the foundation for this! Since he seems to fully understand wing wrapping, the ‘never back jump’ is taught by embedding the wing wrap into a sequence like this: we replace the 7 jump with just the inside wing that he is wrapping around and run it like you did here.
At first, try to be on time and reward him for wrapping around the wing back to 8.
When that is going well, you can deliberately be late (it comes naturally to be haha) – and SUPER big rewards for him driving around the wing πAnd then you can build it up to adding the bar back, then the other wing, so it looks like a full jump – but same rules apply to never back jump. If he back jumps (or back wraps the wing) I just chuckle, send the dog back around it, and reward when he gets it right π
On the threadle at the very end – nice job bringing him in the with the threadle arm!! To help him go back out (this is a newer skill for him), use the same arm (left arm, in this case) to push him back out – it will feel like you are doing a big check mark with your threadle arm here π
One thing I didn’t mention was that your whole opening (1-5) had movely flow and connection. SO NICE!!!!! YAY!!!!
Here are the link for the jumping grids to help him with that sideways-ish jumping for slices and backside slices:
Nice work here!!! Let me know what you think!! Have fun!
TracyTracy Sklenar
KeymasterHere are the verbals I am planning on using with Hot Sauce, Contraband and Elektra:
GO (well, go :))
My wrap verbals are noises: Left wrap is tststs and right wrap is choochoochoo
Threadle slice is ‘close close’ and threadle wrap is ‘wrap wrap wrap’
Tunnel threadle is ‘kisskisskisskiss’
Backside slice is ‘back’
Backside wrap is digdigdigdig
Jump is… jump π
Get out is get out
Loose turns are left and rightI also plan to teach obstacle names, and I use their names as a general attention cue.
Tracy Sklenar
KeymasterThis is awesome!!! She is way ahead of things at only 15 weeks old π So fun!!! Keep me posted π
TracyTracy Sklenar
KeymasterHowdy!
>>We have done a couple sessions of shaping a retrieve. He has grasped the concept of picking up the toy.
Wow, that was fast. If you hear your doorbell ringing in the next few minutes, answer it – I am sending Elektra over so you can train her LOL!
>>He wants to naturally step back and throw the toy in the air over his head (silly boy).
Freakin’ adorable, I sense a trick there you can train!! Like get him to toss a hat in the air to land on his head!
>>So, now how to figure out how to shape him to come forward and put it in my hand.
In a nutshell: Keep doin’ what you’re doin’, clicking for toy touching hand. This was a really good session!! (but keep sessions shorter, I think he was a little bored by about 2:30. You can also tug on the toy to keep things lively :))
Hand stays closed til he picks up the toy – then you open the hand (which reinforces picking up the toy by presenting the next part of the sequence) then click for toy touching hand. But I do have a couple of ideas for details to help:
– He does want to back up, so you can take that out of the equation by making it harder to back up with the toy – he can be on the couch, or in a corner, or someplace that is comfy but not as easy to back up with the toy.
– make the hand as toy-drop-target a little less of a hand target for his nose by curling your fingers so your palm is more of a ‘bowl’ – that can help take out the nose touch attempts.
– when I was training Voodoo and Nacho to bring the ball for flyball, I took the largest water bowl I could find (a GIANT one, almost a mini swimming pool, the kitten is now using it as a litter box!) and I did a few sessions with that as the target both on the ground and in my hand – giant target for dropping the toy into. Then it was easy to transfer the concept to my hand.
I found a clip of parts of the progression: the clang of the ball to bowl was actually the click, better than a real clicker LOL!!
Let me know what you think!
Also, I like how he gets ‘broken tail syndrome’ when he is deep in thought. LOL!!!
Tracy
Tracy Sklenar
KeymasterHi! So sorry for the delay here, I didn’t see the video!! EEK!!
This is looking really good! You are a little too far from the jump π To help teach her the in-then-out, you can be almost an arm’s length away (if you are short like me :)) or half an arm’s length away if you are tall. Being that close will help teach her to come into the serpentine line already turning before takeoff, rather than coming in straight then turning. The different angles made her think but she still got it right – good girlie! Because she did so well, I am glad you moved to the reward on the ground, she really had no trouble with that (I am guessing you have done some self-control games in the past with that :))
So, since she is doing well with the reward on the ground, 2 ideas for the next session: you can make position 3 slightly harder, by having her on a bit more on an angle out by the wing – she might find it easier to go directly to the reward but she will get paid nicely for coming in πAnd you can also start to fade out the hand touch aspect of it by giving her the ‘get it’ cue for the reward on the ground when she is definitely coming in over the bar but right before she touches your hand. When we have the hand touch faded, we can start to add motion π
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyTracy Sklenar
KeymasterHi!
He did a great job driving in over the bump from all 3 positions on your left! Yay! Including position 3.5 LOL! And he was setting up his turning really nicely.On the right – a lot harder for some reason. You can pay him for coming back around to touch it, and then make it easier. My guess about why he had the error was that on the change of sides, you released and put the target hand in almost simultaneously, and he needed one more heartbeat to assess how to use his body to get in there (it is a hard line/turn). When he was in the rhythm of it, the timing of the release and hand going in didn’t matter – so on each new side or the start of a new session, put the hand target in place for a couple of seconds so he can look at it, then release and see how he does π On the first rep of the first side at the beginning, you didn’t have the target in for a long time but you were in position for a while getting set up, you made eye contact, all before the release – I think that helped.
If you get another high success session doing this same exact set up, you can add the food bowl on the ground and we can start moving into the advanced level.
Great job!
Tracy -
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