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Good morning!
I feel the pain about the barking! I call it ‘voted off the island’ when one of the other dogs is barking 🙂 Right now the only dogs allowed to remain on the training island while barking are Export and Crusher LOL!!!! Working barkers can remain on the island 🙂 A common phrase in my house is “Nacho, you’ve been voted off the island” 🙂On the Differ video:
The wing wrap on the go after the tunnel is a super difficult element because either the pups need to have great verbal understanding (difficult and requires experience, as you mentioned) or we need to be up there to get great connection (difficult trying to outrun the little speedsters!) So looking at the go strugglies at :06 and :34, she was exiting straight on the go cue, but needed more connection and physical support for commitment.Compare it to :39 when she was self-fixing the tunnel line (that was the funniest moment EVER! of back and forth through the tunnel) and you were at the wing and connected – easy peasy to get the wing!
The slight curve of the tunnel made is a little harder, as the curve plus your position tends to produce the pups wanting to turn left on the tunnel exit (which was also part of the reason the left turn exits were really really nice :))
At :47 and :53 and 1:19 and 2:04 you had a lot of physical support and more connection and she got the wing each time on those – nice! When you see her heading to the wing, you can also switch to a wrap verbal as that might help with commitment. And, the experience of seeing it and the reinforcement was absolutely helping to build the skill.
Towards the end, at 2:14, you were not as far ahead and not giving quite enough connection – so she didn’t get the wing. You can ramp up the connection when you get behind to help her commit (or move the wing closer to the tunnel exit so it is more obvious).
The go reps at the end looked good!
On your softer turns – the left turns in general were really nice, in terms of turns and your cue timing particularly in the first half of the video. As the video progressed, you started using more “Go tunnel go tunnel” before the directional, and I think it might have been a little toooooo sitmulating plus delayed the directional. For example, at 1:05 after the wing wrap you gave a big Go tunnel Go tunnel then a quieter right at 1:06 (after she was in the tunnel) – which produced a very straight exit, likely because she was processing the high energy Go Tunnel verbals. I think the Go tunnel for commitment is too exciting for now – she really drives the lines, so you can give a more casual tunnel cue (quieter, said once maybe) and then switch to the lower energy, quieter left/right verbal. Even with a timely ‘right’ verbal at 1:30 you were very high energy, you so she was wide on the exit of the tunnel (1:31) but gotta admire her “I nailed it, 10/10!” there when she came in and grabbed her toy LOL! She is so fun to watch!!
The right was a different energy at 2:06 but late – so she did turn but it was late. That same energy plus a little earlier before she enters should be perfect 🙂 At this early state of training verbals, I believe the pups are processing tone/energy/context more than the actual words – picking out the actual words comes later. For example, Elektra at 6 months old perks her ears up if I looks at her and in a quiet, clear tone, say “cookie?”. With my older dogs, I can put the word ‘cookie’ in the middle of a rambling paragraph and they will pick it out and perk up LOL!! So your high energy GO is perfect for Differ and you can change the energy for different turns to help her pick them out when things get exciting 🙂
Great job!
TracyHi!
Your zig zags are looking so terrific! She was holding her stays and that made it all so much easier – she looks so serious in her stays LOL!!! Great job helping her with the handling – I can already see her changing leads and offering the zig zag, which is going to make for a ton of gorgeous slice line jumping in the future. YES!! She was also anticipating the game already and offering to do it independently (which is perfectly fine for this game :))
I think she is ready for you to build to 4 then 5 wings here, and you can also start to spread out the distances (on 3 wings first, because she will move faster which means you have to handle faster LOL!!)On the 2nd video:
She was awesome on her jump finding!! She had no trouble finding the line to the jump as you added more and more lateral distance.>>Looking at video I realized the last couple reps where I started getting more distance I should have been running more of converging parallel line to support her more but she seemed to find the jump anyways>>
I think your running line was great – you were pretty parallel to her and she seemed to have no questions at all. You can add a tiny bit more connection (looking back at her) but you don’t need to converge towards her, as that might cue a rear cross by accident. So keep adding distance like you were! She also did really well with you parallel to her and close to the jump. Because she did so well, you can add two other challenges in your next session:
send her to the tunnel from further away and get way ahead, so you are passing the jump when she exits the tunnel – this will challenge your tunnel send as well as finding the jump 🙂 Start relatively close to the line of the jump but if it is easy, add in lateral distance.
And, do the opposite: drive all the way down to the tunnel entry, so close that you can touch it… then drive forward for she learns to drive ahead of you to the jump.
Great job throwing the reward, she is finding the line brilliantly!
TracyHi!
OMG thankfully you didn’t hit the wall too hard!I see why he asked a question on the first rep when you started him on your right at :27 (he almost came in and took the other side of the jump) – it was because on the reps at the beginning where you started him on your other side, you were doing a front cross on the post (right arm to left arm) so he had to go to the other side of the jump to get the serp. When you switched sides, he was still in the ‘pop around to the other side’ mode on that first rep. So on the first part of the video, start him on your left and send him around the outside of the post so he doesn’t have to find the other side of the jump – this is what you weer doing perfectly on the 2nd half of the video, and he was nailing it. Yay!! Very nice!!
Minny Pinny:
Well, he is indeed related to my Contraband, correct? That move at :19 when you said ‘left’ and he went behind you to turn right: that is EXACTLY what Contraband will offer – creatively going to the easier side. LOL!!!!
He figured it out really quickly though and ended up doing REALLY nice on the motion-less lefts and rights.
Your ‘turn away’ left and right session also looked very similar to my session with Contraband – genetics are a real thing!!!! It was samrt training to work it more on the right turns, where he is clearly more comfortable on these. The left turns were super hard then he pulled the fancy move of going behind you to turn right (I swear, they are truly related LOL!!!!) So keep doing what you are doing on the right, that was working pretty well with the gentle angles and such. To get the left rolling, make it easier and the gradually change your position: start him on a few reps of easy left turns, with motion and handling to help. He will be starting in a position that pretty much faces the first bar. Then, leave him in the same starting position (so it is obvious that the left turn is the one we want) then gradually change your position: be a little behind him, then work to the other side so he is turning away. And the instant he turns away to the first jump – throw a reward and have a party. That should get the ball rolling. I have found that with Contraband, I need to treat left turns and right turns as two separate behaviors: the left turns are easy for him, so I can do the harder challenges (like you can do with Lazlo’s right turns). And the right turns are REALLY hard (like Lazlo’s left turns) so I break those way down and proceed slowly. It will all even out 🙂Nice job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
>>Stuffed the equipment in the car and setup in a field about 5min from my house just after sunrise when there weren’t many walkers out yet.>>You are a heroic dog momma!! Love it!!!
I think the going around the tunnel at the every beginning was just baby dog stuff (like baby dogs running around things at a trial) – new location, he hadn’t quite generalized yet. But then he settled in really quickly and was spot on! The first run looked good – at these distances, remember to stay connected and drive his lines til you are pretty convinced he is committing: at :47, you cued the tunnel with a verbal and then you left, so he came with you. He found the tunnel next to you, good boy!
When you added the go lines… now it is looking like REAL agilities 🙂 You are both hustling more! That brought more speed and also he was still able to turn really nicely on the wings. Yes!!
He missed the tunnel on the first go rep, I also think that was a baby dog moment – motion, new environment, they sometimes miss things. That will go away with more experience.
The turns on the tunnel exits are starting to look really good! Your timing was good on the tunnel turns and that was reflected in how well he turned!
When you were connected, his wing commitment looked lovely on both the wraps and race tracks and also the circle at the end. And you were connected on just about all of them, which is quite an accomplishment with a baby dog on these big distances. Yay! There was really only one big moment of disconnect at 2:37 when you were hustling to get to the wing and quiet, with both arms kind of up – so he was not sure which side to be on 🙂 But that rep was more of an anomaly, connection was solid throughout! Nice work here 🙂
THi!
This went really nicely, he found the jump with you ahead and also with you lateral. I don’t think the lateral distance was a big deal for him, the jump has serious value 🙂 When you switched sides, he got a little stickier and you were trying to leave the tunnel sooner – nice adjustment to drive him in! The added distance on both sides also did not seem to be a problem at all, he kept finding the jump. Super nice!!!!>>Did start getting some lateral distance. Should I increase the lateral, move the jump further out or move the jump to a spot where it is less on his tunnel exit path next?>>
Yes! Yes. And also – yes 🙂 Do several short sessions of 2 or 3 reps with you more lateral. Then take a little break, and be closer to the line but the jump is further away. Then take a little break and move the jump to where it is a little less obvious (but not a total lead change away, because you would have to cue that). Also, add in getting him to drive ahead to it. To get that, you will need to run all the way to the tunnel with him, touch the tunnel for a heartbeat (to prevent you from getting too far ahead) then run 🙂 That way he can leave you in the dust 🙂
T
Hi!
>>Plus I am debating the “run or stop” question for his dogwalk and will definitely want one if I decide on running. Well his a-frame will be a running so it will be handy for that even if I decide on a 2o2o for the dogwalk.>>I hear great things about the Pet Tutor – it appears to be superior to the MM. And I agree that it will be useful for the aframe, plus I use it for weaves too and various distraction/commitment games as well 🙂
On the video – you might want to turn the beep on for the MM (I think it was off) and that can help mark his decision to take the serp and help him drive to it.
>> he was having some issues of not coming in over the bar on the serps or not going back out over the bar on the threadles. >>
Hmmmm! I was watching the video with this comment in mind – I think he might be waiting for you to swing your arm back on the serp to cue coming in? You were generally using a bit of motion in your upper body to get him to come in. At 1:09, when you did not swing your arm back or anything – he did not come in. At 1:17 and 1:48, 2:29, 2:43, for example, you had a distinct arm motion and then he came in. So you can experiment and see if that is the case: move through the serp and don’t move your dog-side arm at all – and see what he does 🙂 Same with the threadles, it is possible he was waiting for arm movement to indicate going back out? If that proves to be the case you can either leave the arm movement in as part of the cue (this is less desirable, because it means the handling has to be spot on all the time at top speed) or we can help him understand that it is a default behavior by having you move slowly and clicking the MM when he chooses the jump without hand motion. Let me know if that makes sense.
Good job balancing with the front crosses! The power of connection was clear – when you looked forward for a heartbeat, he almost cut behind you but when you stayed connected, he was perfectt (like at 2:15). Yay!!
T
Hi!
>> he broke his sit to chase a squirrel that ran by on the top of the fence.>>If it is not on video, then it didn’t happen LOL!!!
The first session of zig zags went really well – he look on his face on the 2 jump reps was cracking me up! It is a pretty easy game for the pups, so he was all like “that is all there is to this?” LOL! The 3 jump reps showed us some great zig zagging!! As he was reading the handling, he was starting that back and forth bounce especially as he got closer to you and the toy. This bodes well for his future slice jumping!! His stay also looks really solid, which is SOOOOO useful for these games – great job rewarding it! He did start to get a little distracted at the end, stuff blowing or noises or squirrels? But the last rep looked good too.
2nd video, 4 wings, new location (oooh, morning fog!!) Yes, you will need to do the handling faster on 4 wings until he recognizes the game more 🙂 Condensing the distances makes it harder because you have to be faster, so leaving them at this distance will be easier or you can even spread them out. But yes – eventually you will want to condense them down to 4 foot distances (think of it as simulating a 4 foot bar). Start that on 3 jumps then work back to 4… then up to 5 jumps.A break for a few days is great – let latent learning work its magic 🙂
Double gold star for him being totally focused and being able to produce his good zig zagging in a new environment! It is NOT easy for pups to do tat and he nailed it!!
TracyHi! I hope the Chamber Orchestra broadcast was fun!
He did really nicely on these, and the positions changes did not seem to bother him! He didn’t drive hard with you standing still on the first couple of reps, but then he picked up steam and was bending really nicely without you needing to move – yes!!! And also note how nicely he was leading with his head 🙂 That makes for such nice turns!!
He did need a little bit of help on the first right turn when he had to turn away from you… but as soon as you showed him, I think he transferred the understanding really nicely!!! I agree with your assessment that we are not really seeing a favorite side at the moment – balanced dude!!!>> I tend to see the bitey behavior instead of good tugging when he’s mentally tired. So I got him to do a sort of tug when I tossed it and then switched to food. He hasn’t shown issues in a long time with switching back and forth between food and toys so I figured this was the smart thing to do.>>
100% yes, it was smart training! You focused on the skill and reinforcement he would actually find reinforcing 🙂 If he was a little fatigued and the tugging was going to be a battle, it was a great decision to switch out to food so it was happy-making for you both 🙂
Great job! I think another session or two like this will set you up nicely to do the neutral position reps here.
Tracy
Good morning!
>>He is getting better about leaving the toy on the ground and heading back to the barrel with me.>>
Yay! That will be super helpful for eventual start line routines!
He did well on these! He was a superstar ignoring the toy on the ground til cued and also not leaving the barrel wrap til cued… but he drove ahead more when you threw the reward. It might be that he finds that more exciting plus you had to move faster – or that particular toy was not as exciting ‘dead’ so yo ucan try with the ball or a remote feeder and see (or a cookie in a bowl, that would challenge the ignoring of the reward target LOL!) He is driving ahead really really nicely, so it is mainly a matter of tinkering with the reinforcement to see which he prefers the most.
>> I can’t figure out a good way to get the 2nd wrap around the barrel but he doesn’t seem to take off to the jump until I start to move away. (See at 1:15) >>
It might not be needed because he had zero trouble with ignoring the toy and he was not trying to anticipate! That might change with a different toy out there or food 🙂 You got it to work icely at 1:30. You can also send him around the outside of the barrel on your left, then as he comes around face him, get him connected to your left hand, then turn him away around the barrel like a lap turn – then run (and vice versa on the other side :))
Great job!
TracyGood morning!
Excellent start on your zig zags! Part of the 2 jump session was sorting out the handling to help him zig and zag, but then you had it really nicely on the 3 jump session!! He was doing his lead changes really well, this bodes well for his future slice jumping. He was starting to pick up speed, which means you need to handle the turns sooner especially that first turn after the release – he likes dramatic cues for the first one, then is fine for the other 🙂 At this stage, you can build on this 3 ways:
using 3 wings, spread them out so there is more distance and therefore more speeeeeed 🙂 Speed makes it harder but I think he is fine. Add 2 or 3 feet to each distance and see how it goes!
Also on 3 wings, you can add challenge by squishing it, havig the wings just 3 or 4 feet apart (picture using 4 foot jump bars) – you will have to handle with quickness, but it will challenge him to make very quick zig zag lead changes.
and, using the distance you had here – you can buld up to 5 wings 🙂 No need to do this all in one session, you can spread it out and mix it up.The tunnel-jump game does really look and feel like real agility – so fun! He did a great job! So did you! There were mostly successful reps where he found the jump pretty easily. On the first half of the video, he was on your right – that went super nicely, my only suggestion is to throw the toy sooner so he doesn’t look at you – that probably will mean to throw it as soon as you see the blur exit the tunnel towards the jump 🙂 I was a bit late on the demo video too.
When you switched sides and he was on your left, there were a couple of oopsies and he seemed to have more questions (looking at you). Now, that could be caused by any of these 3 things: he might be stronger on your right than on your left, or your connection was better when he was on your right, or he was a little fatigued. Or any ocmbo of those 🙂 so on the left session, start with him on your left and see how it goes! When the wing went down, I think that was more about the toy throw than him hitting the wing 🙂 At 1:11, he did not take the jump – you were pretty far ahead and not all that connected, so he went into ‘go to the momma’ mode. And similarly at 1:04 when he didn’t take the tunnel – you turned and left sooner, so he was following the momma (pups get sticky when fatigued, so maybe that was it?) So a bit more connection later in the session will help support his lines.>>but when he was a little tired there was clearly no room for error!>>
This statement basically summarizes all handling with young dogs 🙂 I agree 100% – fatigue is real, even when you gave him a break 🙂
For the driving ahead – to add challenge to that, drive all the way to the tunnel entry, touch the tunnel entry… then run to the jump 🙂 He is likely to be ahead of you as he exits the tunnel there and that will help create the driving ahead very nicely 🙂 He did well on all the other challenges and positions, so you can up the ante on that one 🙂
Minny Pinny – wow, look how zippy he is on these! Bending nicely and bouncing! He did well as you changed positions – having him turn away was hard but waiting til he looked to the right (and later on, to the left) was brilliant! It reminded him of what to do and set up success – with lots of balance on the ‘easy’ turns towards you. I did a little happy dance on that last rep, where he turned right on a harder angle when he was turning left there on earlier reps. YAY!!!
Keep playing with that one and we will be able to get into the neutral position work within a couple of sessions. Great job on these!
TracyGood morning!
>>“This is weird mom” is totally an accurate Lennan comment, lol! >>HAHA! I feel like I am getting better at reading his thought bubbles LOL!
GOOD BOY on the right turn away from you on the minny pinny!!!! You set up the session really nicely – TONS of reinforcement for the ‘easy’ lefts and rights then just slid into the first right where he turned away. Smart to start on the easier side too! And he did AWESOME on the left turns too – a small question to get started and and you gave a tiny bit of help… then he did really well! I think at the end you were beginning to introduce the neutral position and he turned right instead of left (perhaps defaulting to the easier side when he wasn’t sure?) So when you introduce the neutral position – start it where the correct side is obvious, which will likely mean that you are in front of the bar that you want him to take. Then you can progressively slide over to be in the center where it is truly hardest. I am very impressed with how well he did here with his directionals!!!
Wing/tunnel games:
>>He loves going straight.>>
This is what I call a “champagne problem” meaning that I know we would eventually like him to turn better on the tunnel exits, but for now it is GREAT that he likes running hard and going straight, because it generally translates to mean he is having fun and going fast – both of which will make for a fun agility career 🙂 And, going straight out of tunnels will help you get him out of starters faster 🙂 Dogs that turn really well don’t do well in starters where we need very few turns – so my personal goal is to always get more “yeeeeehaw!” and straight line running out of tunnels and then gradaully dial it back *after* we have survived starters LOL!!!!On the video – did you try any left turns where you flipped it to do the mirror image? I wonder if he was looking at the other blue tunnel out yonder? He also looked like he was scoping something out when he turned right, I htink there was a wing out there – big visuals drawing his eye? 2 ideas for you on the tunnel exits to the left and right:
– try a ‘heads up’ attention verbal: as he exits the wrap and is going to the tunnel, the verbals would be “tunnnel tunnel LEN left left left”. Some dogs find this very helpful, because the tunnel verbal is stimulating and the tunnel itself is stimulating, so the left or right gets lost in the excitement because it does not yet have a ton of value. But his name does have value, and we often say the dog’s name right before another cue – so that can help him ‘hear’ the left/right better.
– you can do a few reps with the toy pre-placed on the exit line you want – so he exits and turns to it, in accordance with the verbal. For the few few, you can make it visible while he is in the tunnel – then if that goes well, you can get it further and further away so it is less visible but he will still anticipate it being there. Being able to predict exactly how/where to earn the reinforcement is one of the easiest ways to convince dogs to turns with verbals 🙂 And it will get him scoping the line you want, rather than scoping the obstacles. Start it where the are no other obstacles to scope (those are bigger visual that are harder to ignore) then it can go back into places where the visuals are more distracting.
And keep balancing with the go lines like you did at the end – those looked great and we don’t want to lose that skill 🙂
Great job!
TracyGood morning! Sorry to hear about the fires again 🙁 I hope this is the last time you have to deal with them!!
Minny pinny – good session here! ! She was totally figuring out to go around the 3 wings and over the bars when you added them. Yes, try to put the left/right verbals on – it took my brain a while to adjust the first cou;le of times I did it LOL!!! You can start sending her in on harder angles too, to get more bending 🙂
On the send’n’serp:
>>It was a struggle for her to determine what to wrap. I realized I never did proofing wraps and wonder if that’s part of our problem?>>I think it was more of a connection thing than a proofing thing – more eye contact on the sending and less motion will totally help! Here is what I mean:
when she was on your left, turning to her right: on the send, it will help her to commit if you make a stronger connection to her eyes as you step to the wing rather than look forward at the wing and point. The pointing tends to turn our shoulders to the serp jump in the moment, which is what happened at :26. At :30 you had a VERY clear connection and send and she was going – til you said “yes” and stepped away – and she looked at you like “does ‘yes’ mean cookie?” LOL!!
The next rep at :36 was rally nice – great connection and you moved away smoothly so she did the send and the serp really nicely! When you switched sides at :40, she did well!!! It looks like hte wing might have been closer to the jump, which totally helps. My only suggestion there is to keep moving parallel to the serp jump like you did on the last rep on the other side (:36). You pulled away from it a bit here, so staying close and parallel to it is more challenging 🙂The rewards for the individual wing turns looked good – it looks like all the rewards were coming from you hands on those, so she might be watching your hands a lot (value is shifted to coming to you). You can shift it back by tossing rewards out to the other side of the wing (opposite of you) to help her go to them even more independently.
When you revisited the sends’n’serps at 1:07 – the best reps were when you were very connected and not moving that fast, so she could process all the elements. On the send to the wing, you can have her sit at your side, you lead out one step – then connect and release. That can give her the picture of what you want as soon as she starts moving. Then, hold relatively still until she gets to the wing – then slide away slowly to the serp 🙂 Motion is distracting to the pups, so we can move slowly for now and then add back speed in a couple of sessions. It was clever to put the wings together on the last couple of reps! It allowed you to send and slide away – as you move the wing back out, dial back your motion so you are walking – that will show her the line and connection without her feeling the need to chase the momma 🙂
Let me know if that makes sense! You are doing a great job of keeping her rate of success high as you sort out the new stuff – the tricks and also the breaks to get rewards for just the wing were great training moments. She seemed happy to let you work through the harder stuff, thanks to the rewards 🙂
Tracy
A yard ornament LOL!!! Brilliant!!!! Hope you have a chance to pop in tomorrow but I am glad to see you here and also looking forward to seeing you live on Nov 8!!!
Tracy
