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Hi!
Looking at the skills separately:
The “GO” after the tunnel looks good, just reemmber to say the GO before he goes into it.
On the right and left out of the tunnel: the timing of your verbals and rotation was good! But it was a new skill for him, so he didn’t always turn tight and on the lefts, he took an extra jump 🙂 So let’s isolate the skill for now: rather than having a jump straight out ahead (it is too much of a distraction for now), just have a jump after the turn exit. And, rotate your feet and do the verbal before he goes in, but don’t run too far away yet: let him get his nose out of the exit, then you can turn and run, showing the toy.
The left was much harder for him (not sure why, but it was 🙂 ) and at :53 you stayed there and to get his focus at the exit and help with the turn. Yes! Taking away the distraction jump will help for now, but staying there also helps – but then use the running rewards rather than a dropped toy. You’ll get a better turn and more speed it the reward is moving and not stopping him. He will ‘hurry’ more to the chase than he will to the dropped toy. You did this more at 1:00 and it was great! He will be happy to see lots of reps of this to help him get the turning skills on the tunnel exit.
Because this skill is pretty new to him, I suggest you do a couple of sessions on just the tunnel before adding the turn jump back in – then do a session or two of that before adding the stright/distraction jump back in.
On the big BC up the line: at :29, you can be moving more laterally to the jump after the blind (rather than completely straight) because your lateral motion will help give him a really early turn cue. Timing and conneciton on that one looked good!!! Add in the running rewards though – you stopped, tried to throw the toy and ended up knocking over the wing haha! Keep running through that last jump and reward with him chasing you for it. The next rep (also the rep at 1:24) had a better reward but you can still add in the running rewards. He is reading the blinds REALLY nicely and powering up the line!
On the FC wraps – try not to get too far ahead. Go deeper into the tunnel before running up the line, because you were so far ahead you had a reversed transition: slow then fast then turn (because you were so far ahead, you had to wait for him). Try to show him a more distinct fast-slow-turn transition for two reasons:
first, he will get an even better collection (he did really well here but I think it can be even prettier!)
second – it will produce better footwork for you. By moving then turning without the clear deceleration element of the transition, your momentum pulled you out away from the exit line (back to the next jump). At 1:30, 1:36, 1:42 and 1:49 you can see it – and he looks up a little and comes out of the wrap a little wide (based on your motion). If you decelerate before you turn, you will be able to turn very literally on his mouse line (the path you want, back to the next jump) and get a really gorgeous turn. And then do the running rewards to make it perfect 🙂
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi! The internet ate my first reply, so I will try again 🙂
>>It very similar to our plan here. a) Start off with him tugging/playing with me from car to start, b) start off with a step and then tug c) keep increasing amount of time from car to tugging…. all before he starts grabbing stuff.>>
Yes but also add in talking to him (having verbal cues that can get focus instantly are VERY helpful – I use “ready” for my dogs, for example) and tricks (both with and without primary reinforcement). That way it is not an all or nothing (tug or no tug) but more of a toolbox of things. Also, ping pong the duration because the toy comes out – sometimes short, sometimes longer, so it isn’t always getting more difficult. And yes, all before he grabs stuff – SUPER short sessions. Also, you can leave him in a stay and do a recall to where you want to start, to help build in the fast & fun element (recalls are naturally exciting!)
>>Do you think there is something I could condition him to grab instead of just stuff.
Yes – training alternate, incompatible behaviors are tried & true behavior modification exercises. Ideally the alternate behavior is “cheap” meaning easy and fun to train and execute, and also ideally it is incompatible with the undesired behavior – meaning, it is not similar and the dog cannot do both. For example, a classic incompatible behavior is teaching a dog to sit on a dog bed when someone enters a room, to eliminate jumping on people.
>>Could I train Skye to come grab a cord on my bait bag instead of dirt and rocks? Of course, this wouldn’t work for in the agility ring . .. He needs a mouth occupier, maybe having a cord/fire hose thing from his harness or end of his leash to grab. Or, maybe a leash that he can tug on. He could just turn and grab the leash instead of stuff off the ground.>>
I am all for tugging on a leash as it is a great way to bring reinforcement into the agility ring… it is “cheap” but it is not incompatible because grabbing is grabbing… it is similar. Anything you teach him to grab “instead” becomes a discrimination exercise and you will have to tell him he is correct or not based on what to grab. That can be stressful. And what if he grabs the leash AND mulch? So the leash can be used as a toy, but I don’t think it is a good incompatible behavior. I prefer things like barking (cheap and incompatible) or getting on a raised dog cot or platform – both of which are useful for agility and are not a discrimination, if that makes sense.
On the tunnel exits:
He ran by the jump on the first rep – it was a disconnection moment. Don’t point at the jump, make a very direct eye contact to him as he exits the tunnel. You were looking forward and pulling out the toy, so he came into you. You were much more connected on the 2nd go rep here and he took the jump! Yay! He wasn’t entirely convinced but your connection really helped.
The first turn looked really good! You had your feet turned long before he went in and he was able to read that turn really nicely! he wasn’t as speedy driving out on the 2nd turn but I think it was more because you changed your handling in the middle of it so he hesitated a little bit.
Nice connection to get him to take the jump at 1:35! The bar was high and the toy throw happened while he was jumping, so the bar came down. None of that is a big deal… but then watch what happens when he landed. He slid trying to grab the toy, turned, looked at you, slowed down. picked up the toy… dropped it and started eating mulch. There was a 7 second time span between his landing and your engagement, during which you had turned your back to reset the bar – my guess is that he perceived this as a negative punishment and that caused stress and that caused mulch eating. So – a common handler error is to throw the toy but not engage and instead turn away to the jump. Even though there was a toy presentation, the engagement was withdrawn so it become a bit of textbook negative punishment which increases stress.
Simple fix – always stay engaged, never turn your back on him, always play play play be happy. Then you can put him in a crate to go fix a bar, or on a platform, or in a sit stay for more rewards.When you did re-engage him with food after that, get the food moving – tricks for moving treats, like the treat was a tug toy (he likes that!) That will bring him back to focus faster. He did do the last rep, but then I think he left? The video was over 3 minutes by that point, which is pretty long – plus he was not fully “back” yet from the stress. You can also make the toy throws more engaging by throwing then continuing to run and have a big party, or even having him chase you for the running rewards! I really love to have the dogs keep running after the jump, it is such a fun way to continue to pump up the excitement.
So on the next session, try a super short one-hit wonder session, then a break, and all rewards are super high engagement. You can do several sessions spread out over 10 minutes but you won’t want to do 3 minutes in a row yet.
Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning!
The backchaining on the 5 jump grid is going well! He was fine on 3 jumps, not as certain on 4 (he wasn’t sure about the release) and definitely not as sure on all 5 (changed his style on 4 and 5). No worries, it is just a matter of experience – so I suggest doing this exact same session in about a week. Start with the backchaining and then work your way back to jump 1 as you did here. He is doing really well so the minor adjustments he is making are perfectly fine 🙂 We don’t need to do the grid til it is perfect – he is more balanced now so it can go into the maintenance rotation to help keep him balanced as he does more sequencing.Bending looks good!!! He seemed slightly better turning to his right but it might have been the camera angle or the angle of entry to the grid. But no really big noticeable difference and definitely no struggles. I suggest revisiting this in 2 ways:
same session as here, but with a 4 foot distance to see if he can bounce it now (I bet he can!)
And, at the 3.5 distance, add in the wing before it for a bit more speed coming inTunnel exits – he did well when you turned your feet and dragged the toy! I played the clips in slow motion and he was most definitely turning on the tunnel exit when he saw your feet turn (:26 & :37, for example on the first video and :34 and :43 and :50 for example on the 2nd video). His turns were fast and accurate on those. No need for the turns to be tighter on that particular line. In the moment, they might have flet wider maybe because he was banking the outside of the tunnel 🙂 But that is fine, it is a fast way to do it 🙂
You won’t need to stay there and plant the toy, because it doesn’t get your feet turned before he enters and that is a critical piece. On the first video at :45 and :52 , you got the toy planted but didn’t get your feet turned as erly so he didn’t turn as well. On the 2nd video at 1:16, your foot rotation and vebal didn’t start until after he was in the tunnel, so he was wider on exit and you didn’t reward… I recommend rewarding that because he wasn’t ignoring you 🙂 Any time a dog turns wide, I just assume it was late information and I reward them – then I look at the video to figure out how I was late 🙂 On the next 2 reps you for the toy in his face but it is really more about letting him see the rotation and hear the verbal before he goes in.
Nice work here! Hope your wrist continues to feel better!!
Tracy
Hi!
Yes, you can use the cue combo FC/BC (spin/ketchsker/Jaakko/ass pass :)) there – the FC would give you a side change and the cue combo would get the tight turn and allow you to continue on the same side you started on (right side on this case, or left side in the mirror image).T
Good morning Jill and Watson!
I hope your rains aren’t too bad, we just finished up 4 days of rain and it was horrible!!!
The straight line grids are going well! His stay looks really good, that is SO important!!!
He is powering in, getting a tiny bit off balance (not too much) then regaining his balance by shifting back on the last 2 intervals. He got better on each rep, so I don’t have any changes to suggestion in terms of your motion, he just needs to see it again maybe once a week. The only suggestion is to make sure he is close enough to the first bar that he has to push off out of his sit over the first jump, rather than have room to tap his front feet down on the takeoff side of the first jump. That will help him figure out how to be more organized as he comes into the grid. He dropped the first bar at :07 because he couldn’t quite get organized AND go fast LOL! He will sort it out with practice – nothing to worry about at all.The bending looks really solid!! My only tweak now is to keep him bending on jump 3, so keep turning back to jump 1 to reward (rather than rewarding straight). He is ready to see the more difficult angle of entry and also the wing wrap before it. Great job!!!!
Tracy
I do a lot of ‘freeze frame’ on the moment when the dog’s nose enters the tunnel, to see the very last thing he saw before entering. As we are working to strengthen the verbal cues, we can use a lot of physical cues that they read easily 🙂
Good morning!
>>. I can’t get much done very quickly this way, but it’s making me learn to get it right on the first rep which is a bonus
You’ll actually get more accomplished – more efficient training, higher rates of success – fewer reps needed. YAY! You don’t need to do a million reps of these – you can do a couple then move on.
The first rep here looked really good. He was on fire 🙂 Nice send for jump 3 so you easily got the blind in the right spot at the right time. I think you were surprised at how well he read it!
When you sent him back through that middle section, he just needed more connection at :32 for the blind. Your dog-side arm was at your side and low, but it needs to be back and out of the way so he can see the connection to make the side change. Keep emphasizing the arm-across-the-body to help with that connection.3rd rep – also very nice! I was going to suggest that you do the blind sooner based on your position, he can see you already being done with it when he exits the tunnel (because your position was very clear). But I don’t need to suggest it because that is exactly what you did on the 4th rep! Yay! On both of these – he did a great job driving his line on the jumps and tunnel, and you were super connected! My only tweak is to keep getting your dog-side arm back on the re-connection after the blinds, so you can make that immediate strong eye contact.
It looks like his tugging and engagement were spot on (no pun intended :)) throughout the session! Your handling doesn’t have to be perfect the first time, your handling was really strong here and you created a successful, high value, speedy session. Perfect! You’ll find that these types of sessions build skills better than more frequent sessions. Great job!
Now… spread out the distances for the next session to see what happens when there is more distance and more speed 🙂 Have fun!
Tracy
Hi!
He is reading the 1 and 2 jump exercises really nicely! He is responding to the turn cues of both the FCs and BCs the very instant he sees them, and that is great! 2 things on the 1 and 2 jumps:
– try not to go between the uprights of the turn jump, stay parallel to it or laterally away. Staying away form between the uprights will help get the turn and show him the next line.
– turn sooner 🙂 On the 1 and 2 jumps, the easiest thing to do is have him hold his stay about 15 feet from the first jump, so you can lead out and then release – and then turn almost immediately. On most of these reps, he was very close to the jump so you were going to be late no matter what you did LOL!!On the 3 jump games – setting him up firther back will help too but also being more laterally away will really help!
For timing – try to send him to the middle jump then he lands from jump 1 and do the turn immediately afer that ( a longer lead out will help too 🙂 On the FC at :51 and the BC after it, you started it as he took off, so he landed wide. After the FC, he couldn’t quite find which side of you to be on – that is where the toy across the body will really help because you can connect and run forward. You made a much clearer connection after the BC, so he found the correct side. YAY!! Starting the FC or BC sooner will also give you more time to get that connection on the eixt – it is gonna feel weird at first but eventually it will feel really smooth 🙂15 foot grids- very nice! He appeared to have no trouble here, in fact I think that the 15 foot distance required him to collect a little! And I don’t think the motion bothered him at all. My only suggestion is to set upm up closer to the first jump so he has to take off from his sit (so he will be less than a foot from it) . That will challenge him to balance off his hind end even more!
What height was the last bar on these? You can do the same session with a slightly higher bar. And, you can also leave the bar low and extend the distance from 15 to 18 to 21 feet on successive reps and see what he does 🙂Great job!
TracyHi there! He did really well here and thank you for the special guest appearances by the hummingbirds LOL!! They are my favorites 🙂
He was perfect focus on his lines, commitment, and speed, plus you were really connected so all we need to do is look at this in terms of what his timing needs are! Yay!
One thing first – feel free to skip ahead to the Week 3 Running Rewards – this will help to build even more confidence, speed and drive on course as we keep adding turns. I didn’t think of it because of his session on this video – he was fabulous! I thought of it because you had mentioned back at the start of MaxPup 3 that he was not as confident in a trial setting, and it would be so awesome to get this gorgeous behavior at home transferred to trials! Running rewards can help that because it is so fuuuuun!
Onwards to timing:
The blinds on one jump at the very look great, both reps! Great timing, you were done & reconnected before he took off for the BC jump. You can show the reward across the body but you can soften the presentation (less rotation) so you don’t end up turning your feet also.The FCs on one jump: FCs are harder to get finished on time, so try to start them even earlier. The FC at :29 and :51 were late, you were beginning the rotation as he was beginning his jumping. The 2nd FC had better timing at :40, you started and were finished with it much earlier! You will likely find that BCs are faster and easier in these situations for him – he is speedy with no hang time so you have to be quick!
He read them all perfectly, which means your connection was strong.3 jump BC work: rep 1 blind: perfect! (:59) You started it when he landed from the 1st jump, he had strong commitment, so you finished it before he took off and he nailed it. This is a spot where you can be a little less exaggerated on the exit line connection (toy across the body) because you ended up turning your feet back to him more than needed.
The next 2 reps you were not quite as early starting/finishing the BC: you were a little late on the 2nd at rep 1:06 and he was a little wide. On the 3rd rep you were later, starting it as he took off for jump 2 (ideally it would be finished by then) so he landed pretty wide – your great connection showed him the line though, which is great!!! We will just blame the hummingbirds for the timing on that one haha!
So definitely keep working to get the timing from the 1st one on every rep!On the last 2 FCs – they can also come sooner so you are done before he takes off for the FC jump. You were a little late on the 2nd to last one and then on the last one, the FC started as he was taking off. He reads your lower body rotation beautifully and you had strong connection, so he drove right back to the line. You can try starting him further back so you can move, release, and start the FCs as he is moving towards the jump but still 12 to 15 feet away.
Great job! I love that all we need to do is think about timing because everything else went so well 🙂 Feel free to move to the sequences now!
Tracy
Hi!
>> I will go with the “irritation/motivation” theory:
Ha! I subscribe to that theory as well and also I call it ‘prioritizing’ in certain company LOL! But yes – we don’t need to work on ALL the things! And I like to minimize training energy because the list is just so long sometimes. However…
>> until I am irritated enough by having to use a tunnel brake instead of a verbal, I will hold off on more teaching of left and right in this space.
You will quickly find that irritation 🙂 but also I don’t think you need much effort to teach it – you can get it pretty easily. A couple of ideas for you (and it is easy to add the left and right, see below, it won’t take up too much training energy). On the brakes: you drove in, a but further ahead, and on the tunnel brakes: you turned your feet before he got into the tunnel and that made a significant different for him. Those were at :54 and 1:23. And the tunnel brake is an effective (plus, already existing!) cue for when you are moving into that position. I recommend the left/right (or you can use your brake noise) for when you cannot get ahead to show the brake or when you wanted to be on the other side of the next jump like you were on the left/right cues. One simple change will get you the same tight turn (or similarly tight, because your position and line also dictates where he drive to on the next jump).
With the goal being that he turns his head at the ext to find the new line (as opposed to looking straight for the go) – turn your feet before he enters. Let him see the rotation when he is still about 3 feet from the tunnel entry (even if you are behind him). That was an important part of your brake cue. On the left/right reps at :08, :17, :23, :37, and :40 – your verbals cues were well-timed but your physical cue looked the same as physical cue before the go, so the last thing he saw before entering the tunnel was you facing forward (which produces a more extended exit). But at :46, you started an earlier foot rotation and his turn was better already!>> Even with 3 “rights” in a row, Enzo remained honest about not knowing where he was going until he exited
Yes, he is reading the physical cues on all of them, which is totally normal with a young dog. You could probably accelerate towards or face forward and give your brake verbal and he would probably exit straight. So adding in a stronger physical cue for the left/right (or using the brake verbal) when you are further away will get the better turn.
So I believe you will be able to have “all of the above”: the brake and the left/right cues on the tunnel with minimal training energy by just being sure he sees the rotation. And eventually, the verbal left-right cues will take on a lot more meaning without the need for the physical cues, which will be super handy when you can’t be ahead or can’t do a decel (or don’t want to based on whatever challenge the course is presenting).
Let me know if that makes sense!
Tracy
Hi! I define my “soft turns” as 90 degree L-shaped turns, which is what would be happening on the tunnel exits. I define “sharp turns” as wraps, which is not what they are doing on the tunnel exits. There are softer turns that can happen, but what we say to the dog to get those will depend on the individual dog. Let me know if that makes sense 🙂
TracyHi! I am glad you wrist isn’t broken!!!! I hope rest and meds and PT lead to a fast recovery. And yes, Benni is really easy and he is happy to work for food, so you can do lots of one-handed stuff without tugging. The bending doesn’t require you to move much.
>>The previous efforts in the progressive striding grid, he has been balanced in the ladder grid. Not sure why this time was different.
It could be that with the sequencing, he is trying to work in more extension. Or, could be higher arousal with the motion, could be the grid is challenging, could be mentally tired, could be he is muscling up, could be the wind blowing west-to-east LOL! But that is the thing with youngsters – they are always changing so it is fine to tweak. You can do a couple of the plain ol’ balance grids at 4 feet without motion to see what he does. Either way – it is not concerning or bad, just noted.
Fingers crossed for clear weather and less pain in the wrist!
Tracy
Hi! Good job on the tunnel exits! The run run run exits all look good, and I believe that those are the MOST important ones for small dogs. We want the littles to drive out – and on the turns, even if they drive out, they will still pick up a good line. On your left and rights – timing of your verbals was great! She easily heard them before entered and stayed committed. Super! The one thing to add is showing her the foot rotation of you leaving for the cross before she goes in. On these reps, you said the verbal nice and early but faced forward until after she was in. Keep saying the verbal nice and early, and when she is about 3 feet or less from the tunnel, let her see your feet turn to the next line (FC in this case). That will tighten the exits up just a notch to make them perfect. We don’t need them too tight for her, we just want them one stride tighter where she comes out of the tunnel with her head already turned, rather than exiting straight then turning. The earlier rotation should accomplish that.
Great job!!!
TracyHi! Let me just say how jealous that the rain has held off for you, because it has been monsooning here since Monday!!
Yes, you did indeed get some leaping on the wing-to-ladder!! And she didn’t seem to leap in the same spot twice. I take it to mean she was trying to read the grid and the answer she came up with was “WTF??” haha!!!!! She had some VERY good reps and also some reps where she didn’t quite know what to do with all of her speed. No worries! For the next session on this, try spreading the jumps out an extra foot between each one and don’t move as fast, and see what she does. I bet she will sort it out – it is the most challenging grid she has seen so far, and I like that she got some good reps – first rep and rep at :19. I think that she did better when you were quiet and there was more leaping when you were saying run run run, so for now keep giving your wrap cue on the wing but then be quiet on the ladder grid. Keep me posted!!
Tracy
Oh no! Your poor hand!!! fingers crossed for no fracture and I hope it heals very quickly. OUCH!!!!!
On the grids –
Super interesting on the grids! He did indeed do a pretty balanced 2 stride there! Very cool to see, he didn’t appear to lose his balance or fling himself – nice! He is a little short on the ladder grid coming in, meaning he lands in the center of interval 1-2 but then lands just past the bar on 2 and 3. Are those the 3.5 distance? You might want to try it at 3 to see if he can push from his rear more and not pull as much.But this can also go into maintenance mode, revisit every couple of weeks. Mix in the bending grid that I posted yesterday too with the other grids 🙂
On the tunnels:
>>So you prefer directional cues over using his name on the tunnel exits? I use “dig” for tight turns towards me out of tunnels but other than that haven’t used verbals before for tunnel exits. Trying to get a good handle on when to use what verbals.>>It really depends on what the dog does naturally, some dogs just need a quiet name call to get a great turn out of the tunnel… but those are generally the dogs that need more encouragement to power out straight. He is great at powering out of the tunnel (which I prefer, personally) so I think a verbal directional instead of a name would be optimal. For example: dig can be a wrap exit, left/right can be the softer exits like you did here. He definitely wants to power out, because I thought your physical cue and verbal cue all happened early enough for him to see before he entered – but he still went straight for a stride or two on the exit before turning. So to help him out – do the nice timely physical and verbal cues that you used here, but don’t run away as fast. Stay closer to the exit, dropping the end of a toy on the ground (holding the other end), and start to move (dragging the toy so when he exits, he sees it). That can help him predict the joys of turning tight! And probably easy to do without having to sprint, as your arm heals up.
Great job here, let me know what you think!
Tracy
