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Hi there!
Your head was a little cut off on the first video, but it looks like your should ers were closed forward, so she was looking up at you. Try opening up the connection back to her, left arm back and make eye contact (as you run and yell go :)) to support the line. You got it by running faster (always a good thing!) but we can also get it with more connection there. Even when she did get it, she was looking up at you.Now compare the shoulders in video 2 to video 1 – you’re definitely more connected, right shoulder dipped and a little back ,so she is picking up the line beautifully! And I am sure that you got lots of rewards in on the jump too, which totally helps 🙂 Yay!! Try adding more connection to her when she is on your left and see if she can pick up the line as nicely as she did on your right.
Nice job!
TracyHi there! I think he did a great job here! I agree that teaching distance is an EXCELLENT skills for all venues!
Question: you did Go for one jump then switched to Go On for the 2 jumps – was that because they are 2 different verbals (one jump versus a line) or just an evolution of verbals?
He did really well with you lateral and fake running – and that is great because you can really emphasize the verbal while resting your Achilles! He appeared to have no questions. You can add in 2 things:
some balance on the tunnel exit: right before he enters, call him (or use a left or right cue) and do a FC so he turns on the exit and does not take the jump after the tunnel (driving to you instead),
You can start yourself less ahead of him, so he drives ahead of you. For example, when he exits the tunnel, you are relatively close to the line and near jump one, so he drives ahead. Then you can get closer and closer to the exit of the tunnel on other reps, so he learns to drive further and further ahead of you, first on one jump then on 2 jumps.Nice work here!
Hi again! Very nice on the threadles and also a very nice serp balance at the end! Your upper body was perfect (it is so hard to NOT move, right? LOL!)So now, you can start to change her angle, so she is coming in from progressively harder and harder angles around the clock (still balancing with serps sometimes). And, on the easy angles, you can add in some motion: say the cue and very slowly start to move towards the reward, with your upper body still frozen and feet moving forward (it will feel bizarro haha!)
Nice work, let me know how it goes!
TracyYay! The backchaining is looking good! Each time you add another jump, you might have to go back to the back chaining to remind her to stay chill haha! She was considering NOT using her hind end on the last interval on the last rep – but she did use it and she was a good girl! Yay! Nice work. You can move up to the 5 jumps if you have enough room, but definitely back chain that.
T
Hi there!
>> It’s easy to forget to train the “easy” stuff and focus on the “hard” stuff.
So true! Training fast lines and acceleration on the space between jumps and being able to send the dog away – that is the SUPER important stuff, but so totally NOT the sexy stuff haha!!! So all the sexy stuff gets the airplay online and in seminars (guilty as charged here) but I have found that it is easy to teach turns to a dog that loves to go fast. We have new technology on that! It is hard to teach speed to a dog that is always waiting for a turn cue (I learned that one the hard way…).
>> I have had to work pretty hard on Robie’s toy play during training. He used to either lose interest completely fairly quickly or become so stalky that he couldn’t even do a nose touch.
Yes, I remember that! Well done to you, building it up and working through the stalkersons!
>> We can now do entire training sessions for just a toy, or easily switch between food and the toy.
Ah, congrats, the Holy Grail of Agility Training is in your hands!
>> I am having the most trouble when the toy is in my hand for longer periods of time and I am moving (like with the rocking horses.) I know you have said to use a lower value toy, but I am worried that I will ruin what I have worked so hard for, lol!
I understand the concern!!! When the toy is in your hand for longer periods, does he lose focus on the work and just focus on the toy? If so, it might not be a toy issue, it might be more that your sessions are simply too long (how old is he? 11 months? Male? hmmmmm 🙂 When Voodoo was that age, 60 seconds was a marathon session LOL!!) It also might be that you need to reward more often in the session – if the rate of reinforcement has dropped (because you are doing a lot of reps and not enough rewarding) then he will get frustrated/aroused and potentially try to grab the toy.
So – shorter sessions, more rewards. He is a baby dog still so we have time on our hands.
You can try a few other things – have a toy in your hand and one in your pocket – the toy in your hand just lives in your hand, and you reward from your pocket toy. Value can be similar. The toy in hand can be low value and the pocket toy can be high value! Or keep switching.
On other thing that I see *all the time* with baby dogs is that when our connection breaks (meaning, we look forward or we assume they understand a cue so we are too ‘soft’ in connection) – the toy-driven ones come in to try to grab the toy. And people think the toy is distracting or the dog is naughty (never!) but in reality, our connection was poopy so the dog didn’t know what to do. So it is possible that you need to connect a LOT more, really exaggerate it, assume nothing 🙂
As far as low value toys… you can make any toy high value by moving it around and throwing it. You don’t have to always use the insanity-inducing toys haha! And you can also raise the value of low value toys by getting play on them then rewarding with the high value toy.
Feel free to pop some videos in of this happening so I can see what might be going on. I love to look at toy play.
>>I’m sure that is just stupid, but there you have it!
Not stupid at all! A valid concern. Puppy training is rife with worry and insecurities LOL!!! I have 2 youngsters right now, so I feel your pain.
>>Also, one question on the Threadle. Can you clarify what you mean by a Threadle/RC cue? Thanks! We are having so much fun in this class.
So, think of a normal threadle, your “in in” – that is a threadle slice. The dog comes in and then slices over the next jump. A threadle/RC aka threadle wrap is when the dog comes in and wraps the other side of the jump – not the slice side – so the dog ends up doing almost a full 360. I think OneMind dogs calls a similar move a “flick” but that is more of a handling description.
Onwards to the video!
I am happy with his speed! And great job balancing with some turns out of tunnels – You can use directionals for that, not just his name (your loose turn words)
When you say go, especially as you add more jumps… keep saying go 🙂 With verbals, feel free to slather them all over the line like cream cheese on a bagel – Go Go Go Go! Don’t be quiet 🙂On the tunnel-one-jump reps: you are throwing too early now 🙂 Connect more to his eyes on the tunnel exit, say go, keep saying go…. when he exits and looks at the jump – then throw the ball. It will mark the choice rather than be a bit of a lure (and also he will not run around the jump anymore if he has to look at it and move towards it to get the reward.
When you add more jumps, spread them out more so he has room to do a one-stride. These were a little close, so he sacrificed the jumping in favor of speed (dropped a bar at :46 and did something flingy on the last rep). So, have the 2 jumps 15 feet apart, really low bar, and see if that sets up the one stride. And, be connected as you drive up the line – keep saying go, but say it to him with your head turned to his eyes. This is likely to make it hard to throw the toy, so ask Shane to do it or leave it out there and balance with turns on the tunnel and a reward in your hand.Nice work here!!!!
TracyHi there!
On the 2 ladder grid videos – I think he is not sure of how to set his hind end and stay balanced at top speed, so he is getting off balance in the last interval (regardless of distance) – it doesn’t feel good, he doesn’t know how to fix it, so he says “screw it!” and flies over them LOL!!! So, we can help him out – backchain the grid over the course of several sessions. Leaving the 5 jumps up in a line (4.5 feet or 4 feet, I am not if it matters yet) – start him in the gap between jumps 4 and 5. Release, reward. Do that maybe twice. Then on rep 3, set him up between jumps 3 and 4, close to jump 4 just like it is jump 1. Do a couple of reps there – do he use his hind end properly and stay balanced? Yes? Cool! End of session. 4 or 5 reps, tops.Then, give a day off…. revisit in 2 days and start with a review: set him up between 3 and 4 just like you ended on previously. Do 2 reps- if he says, “yes, no problem!” we go back another interval: set him up between 2 and 3, close to 3 just like it is jump 1. Do a couple of reps. If he struggles… go back to setting up between 3 and 4.
And every other day or every 3 days, back up to the next interval, until you are sitting him in front of 1. Remember to resist the temptation to do too many reps or to jump him every day – nothing is gained from fatigue. Always start each session with a reminder rep or two of where you left off.
If he really struggles, we can give him more room between the last 2 jumps – it might help him put himself between 4 and 5, but it won’t necessarily help the balance on the other jumps in the line, so it is not my first choice.The pinny is looking good! I think it is wide enough that he can’t bounce it any more, and that is perfectly fine. We will be expanding on it – the goal here is to work the left and right verbals and that looked good 🙂
Nice work!!Tracy
Good morning!
The grid here is looking a lot cleaner, in terms of rhythmic jumping and I think he only ticked bars on the very last rep (and no bars down). Yay! The last rep had you out the furthest, so he might have been fatigued (it is a hard drill) and/or he might have been rushing to get to you.
But – I like the clean, smooth effort on these! Do a few more like this, building to the 5th jump, and maybe being 12 feet past the last jump so he doesn’t rush up the line. Jump grids should be a little boring LOL! but I like that he is sorting himself out 🙂The first 2 tunnel-jump-jump sequences looked really nice (he was on your right) – he didn’t seem to want to look at you and your toy throw was on time without being “lurely” haha! Good connection too.
I think the connection was not quite as strong on the first rep on your left but you fixed it on the next reps – the toy throw was perfect on the next rep – maybe a little early on the next 2 reps, but I bet he was going to take the 2nd jump anyway. It cracked me up that he wouldn’t let you cheat on the tunnel sends 🙂 You needed to take one more step and he insisted on it LOL! Good boy!
Bending grid – I think perhaps he was distracted by his sister (I think) barking, so he was not really fully focused on the bending or jumping for the first several reps. The last one was the best one, but this might need to be re-visisted when Flurry isn’t barking – we can always add her back in as a distraction later on, but he might need a really quiet set up to be able to focus on his body on this one 🙂
Nice work here!!
Tracy
Ha! The neighbor’s dog was providing trial-like distractions 🙂 Good girl Lanna! You are doing a great job mastering be stationary 🙂 You don’t need to lean back as much or dip downwards, I think she can do it with you more upright – that will simulate your upright-ness when you are moving.
She did really well with the end goal of coming in then back out without hesitating or looking at you.
You can add challenge by continuing to change her position around the clock, as well as slowly adding motion: be stationary until she starts to move towards the wing – then slowly move forward towards the reward but keep your upper body in the same position you had it to start with. It will feel very much like the “Walk Like An Egyptian” dance 🙂
What verbal were you using? You can say it a couple of times, because we would be repeating it on course.Nice work here!!
TracyGood morning!
I like the set up here – how far apart were the bars center to center? She might need them to be more like 6 feet center to center. Also, I think the bars are too high for now – because the bars were high, I counted 10 errors in this session (4 bars down, 5 leaps over 2 jumps, 1 wrong way turn) which creates a rate of success that is too low. So, she doesn’t understand the little grid well enough yet to add the challenge of jumping. Work it like this with jump bumps on the ground or bars on the ground – and when she can which through it with good bending, then you can add in a 4 inch bar. It is a pretty challenging set up, so jumping is the last element added in.
She did a GREAT job ignoring the chicken that was strutting around! LOL! And her tugging looked fabulous; it looks like she is feeling really great which is wonderful to see <3
Let me know how it goes without the bars up!T
Hi! He did really well on these – a little question from him when he started very close to the toy, but success! Good boy! The toy or PT out there is an excellent “proof” for when you add motion (see below) I don’t use a cookie for coming in more than once or twice, because the threadle behavior is more about the in-then-out wthout looking at me or watching my motion, and less about coming in towards me. If the pup asks a question about coming in, then a cookie thrown back on the line can help.
So ideas on what to do next:
on the threadle element, leaving the same set up – add a tiny bit of motion on your in in cue. Stay still until he is starting to move, then you slowly move towards the toy. Based on his response, you can add more motion provided that the motion is all forward with the threadle body cue and no foot rotation. We want you to be able to run run run through these, eventually.Also, add balance within each threadle session with front sides and serpentines. There are 2 reasons for this:
first, I have found that as soon as the dog realizes we are threadling, they go on threadle auto-pilot and will just keep threadling LOL! So showing different cues will help him understand when to threadle and went not to threadle. “To threadle or not to threadle, that is the question…” So you can use the same set up to show threadle, then switch your position and verbal to show serpentine, then (still on landing side of the jump) switch your position to do a plain ol’ “jump”. Mix it up! First without motion and if he is super successful differentiating… then add slow walking.When you are adding balance on this set up – have 2 toys or the PT & a toy, one on each potential landing side… that way he cannot use the location of the reward to process the correct response to the cue 🙂 He will need to look at your position and hear the associated verbal. It will be quite the brain game/potential head-exploder LOL! but sets us up nicely for when we add, say, a tunnel as a distraction 🙂
second – in the grand scheme of things, the threadle is low on the list in terms of things that need value for, say, the next year with an 11 month old pup. It is in the same category as ‘running dog walk’ and ‘backside push’ – it is fine to start teaching it, but it needs to be prioritized in terms of value. First priority: take what is in front of you in extension, run as fast as you can. Second priority: turn on the obstacle in front of you when asked (physical and verbal cues). Third priority: don’t take what is in front of you (this includes backsides and threadles). Too many folks prioritize it backwards without enough balance (do lots of backside and threadle stuff with puppies as well as too much tight turn wraps/multi wraps and not enough run fast) and then when the puppies are 18 months old, we see 2 elements of fall out:
* dogs are slow on course, running in moderate extension
* dogs are not strong in finding what is in front of them, so handlers have a hard time driving lines and getting into positionSo using Anastasia’s set up of wing-threadle-wing, for example…. Use the same set up to do wing-front side-wing or wing-serp-wing – wing *in the same session*. Kind of like what we do with the rocking horses – you can do the rocking horses and throw in a threadle or threadle/RC cue. Minimal motion will help Robie read the difference with the eventual goal being that you can use any cue on this set up and he can read it while you are at a full run (eventual LOL!). When I do these games, I use a ratio of approx 3:1 to maintain the balance I want in a young dog: 3 front side cues/rewards for every non-front-side (threadle, backside push). I am confident that is how the Russians train (and Germans too LOL!) but they may not be able to show all of that in one seminar. They balance a lot and teach the dogs how to discriminate the verbals (of which they have maybe 10 zillion) while also putting a ton of emphasis on run-as-fast-as-you-can for the dogs. And that is why the Germans and Russians dominate and their dogs are so incredibly fast AND accurate on course. Inspirational!
The pup then gets a really lovely understanding of ALL the things, and you can see the understanding develop nicely in terms of discriminating cues 🙂Let me know what you think! He is ready for more of this advanced stuff 🙂
T
Hi!
The Go video on one jump is looking good! He was correct to take the jump as you were trying to turn him around, there was definite motion torwards it 🙂 He found the line to the jump really nicely! Yay! On the very last one, he looked at you (you were pretty far) but he found the line and your reward placement was spot on. Well done!2 jumps: this was harder on the first rep!!! But he was great on the 2nd rep. All part of the learning process, right? The first rep – he added some strides, having to think about it. 2nd rep – nailed it! Nice connection and motion from you, strong verbal, spot on reward throw. Nice!
Ladder at 5 feet – ooh this was hard for him! He steps in really well but gets off balance by the end (you can see his ass higher than his shoulders on jump 5 on all of them and on jump 3 on the last one. So 5 feet might be a bit too wide for now (my fault for not seeing the earlier message!!!) Try it at 4 feet and then we can see if 4.5 feet is useful.
Rocking horses:
these are wicked hard for us humans (and for the dogs too LOL!) A toy in each hand can work. I think you are doing really well on these. The step backs are looking good – they are really challenging because of the big distance and the goal is to get great commitment – I think he is doing great! And you connection looks really good, which is definitely helping. On the moving ones where you were doing the FC/BCs – great job staying in more of a smooth motion, moving in and out. And yes, sometimes you were in a zone and then were like “oh crap, I need to do a blind” LOL! But he got rewarded so it is all good. You had several moments of really strong countermotion and his commitment never waivered.>> I think I might do better on a course where I only have to do one in context of the course and not one after another after another.
YES! Course running will be 100% easier because you have a turn then you get to run a simple line, then a turn, then a tunnel, etc. The rocking horses are so hard because we can’t think – turn turn turn turn turn LOL!!!
Nice work on these 🙂
Tracy
