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Hi!
>>3 blinds in a row ???
So fun! Life on the edge! Tokaji would love it!
>>Something to aspire to. I imagine the timing would have to be spot on and you would have to keep moving thru it>>
I bet you can do it. Yes, 1000% you would have to trust and keep moving. But the timing is not that hard, it is all about the reconnections (so no hands needed):
first blind happens when she is at pole 10-ish, so it is done before she exits. 2nd blind is done as she is approaching the backside wing. 3rd blind is done as she gets to the backside and turns her head to look at the jump. If she has seen a couple of blinds in a row in the past, she will find it easy to read these.
TYay, this was very fun to watch! The value of the prop was very high so you were able to add a lot of opposing motion – and having played with the concept to a pre-placed reward is likely to have helped as well. As he was picking up speed, his mechanics changed – note the lower head. That is good, because it is a sign of subtle weight shift, preparation to turn (because he was understanding that it was a hit then drive back). I like when the dogs set themselves up to turn and shift their weight!!
You were able to leave really early, which is great. Now we can also focus on a higher level detail of the countermotion: pressure on the line. This will support commitment on the SUPER tight turns on course, especially the ones with rotation. As you leave on the countermotion, we want to the dogs to stay really tight to their lines. He was moving out a tiny bit away from the pressure, so we can teach him to stick tight to it: Using the same set up, send him to the prop but time your moving forward so you don’t move til he is right at your leg, passing very close to it. Move slowly at first so he is happy to be very close to the pressure, then we can add more and more speed like you had here. Let me know if that makes sense, I am not sure that I am explaining it properly hahahaha
Great job!!!
TracyHi! He is so cute with his smacks! Good job really working to lock into the foot smack only and not just when he trotted near/over it. It was NOT easy to see but it definitely helped clarify that it was a touch behavior, not a ‘near it’ behavior 🙂 I think this session directly contributed to the success of the session below!! It is all about teaching a commitment concept and he did really well!!
T
Hi! The lead outs worked nicely here! The game went really well – my only little suggestions are little tweaks to handle: lead out a little further (gives you more time to do the blind LOL!) so you can get a little more eye contact at the reconnection after the blind (it will get him to switch sides sooner) and also you can throw the toy ahead sooner – as you are doing the collection/turn, you can also be throwing the toy so it is in motion and out ahead as he finishes the turn. He was looking at you after the turn for one step, so we can get him driving ahead sooner by getting the toy out there sooner (and yes, you might need 35 arms :))
Speaking of throwing the toy – I think he definitely drives ahead better when the toy is landing On the drive ahead after the turn) as opposed to when it has already landed (when you were doing the straight line driving ahead) It is maybe one step of difference – but it is a big difference in his acceleration! So keep letting him go before the toy has landed to really maximize the acceleration. And we will be able to gradually release him to drive ahead later to help build value for the ‘dead’ toy. Let me know if that makes sense. Great job!
TracyHi!
Wheee! This was a fun session to watch. I think he enjoys the toy catch! Nice tugging on that toy! He made me laugh with his leaps for it 🙂 The stay looks really strong – he already had a really nice stay, but this will allow us to layer in more arousal and excitement for it too! Don’t forget to do some ‘catch’ with cookies too, he won’t be sad LOL! And, check out the advanced game – I think he is ready for the added arousal that it brings to the stay as well. Keep up the nice job with the connection as you lead out and with keeping the success rate high.>> noticed that when I say catch he gets up but stays back vs when starting forward when I say break.
So cool!!! It appears he is beginning to really understand the difference between the words – excellent!
He did well on the driving ahead to the toy – but as much as he seemed to enjoy tugging on this toy and catching it, he didn’t seem to love driving to it as much when it was dead. He loved driving to it on the release forward at 1:04 but was not nearly as excited about it on the driving ahead reps after it. I don’t think he was tired or distracted – so you can make the toy a little more alive by throwing it further, maybe a little higher and then releasing him just before it lands. That should keep it more alive like it was at 1:04 and get even more excitement driving to it.
Great job 🙂
TracyHi! Lovely session!
>>. It does help to watch the cap although in one of them his neck ruff got in the way of me seeing it!
Hmmmm maybe that is why there are so many shaved shelties in Europe? LOL!!!
Great job here – yes, it is hard to leave earlier when you are that close but you were leaving perfectly for this early session: you were basically leaving as he was passing your leg. And he was highly successful, which is really the most important part. The last rep was ideal (and there were a couple more that looked like this one) – he was passing your leg and you moved forward, nice and calmly. Yay!
>>It’s a bit hard to try to leave any sooner when you’re that close. Should I move a bit further away for the send and then add in leaving sooner once I establish that the send from further away is holding up
My personal rule of thumb for this game (ok, for all games haha) is 2@80; 2 sessions at 80% success or better in a row before I change anything. So, this totally counts as session 1 – do one more session just like this (in terms of when you move forward) and when that goes well… you can move further away. And yes, it is a good idea to establish that the send from further away is holding up – you can ‘warm up’ eash session with a couple of sends and then when he is in the groove, you can slide in some countermotion.
Nice job!
THi there!
>>Are you saying to add in the motion slowly with the whippet because it will be TOO exciting if it’s added too quickly?
Yes – motion is stimulating and with certain individuals and certain breeds, motion can either stimulate the dog into the right state of arousal for work, or can stimulate the dog into the *wrong* state of arousal LOL!! The wrong state is when things go wrong, like the pup can’t ‘remember’ the skill, or can’t handle frustration, or chases the momma, or grabs for treats/toys, or tooth hugs… so we add motion slowly with all of our sports pups 🙂
Wing wraps
>>So then when we restarted, I think I had it too far out and well….as you can see it was a trainwreck
Totally NOT a trainwreck!!!! True, the second part of the video didn’t exactly have a lot of successful wing wraps… but you handled his errors well (but trying to reset and get things rolling again) and HE handled his errors well! He offered plenty of stuff, and he seemed to be able to handle frustration really well. So, in that respect, it was *great*!!
I think getting the game rolling at the start of each session will help – you can start with engagement on both sessions, a couple of tricks for treats, just to get him ready for the offering. Eventually we can do this with toys but I think cookies for now. And, at the start of each session, start a couple of steps back from where you left off – think of it as a warm up to get back into the groove if the break was more than a minute or two. You’ll quickly be able to work your way back to where you were.
Also, and there is no scientific data to support this LOL 🙂 I have found that doing one session with a whippet and NOT coming back to it the same day is actually helpful – something about whippets and how they learn and process… their latent learning is amazing! I have seen it in all 3 of my whippet mixes and I have heard this over and over from whippet owners (particularly owners of whippets related to our pointy dogs :)) So one session then revisit a couple of days later and you will be amazed at the progress. Sounds so weird but it is pretty true!
Stays – fabulous session!!!!
>> I only tried working on stay one time weeks and weeks ago and he wasn’t getting it so I immediately jumped ship and haven’t worked on it since lol.
That was a good call! I mean, he is so young – if he wasn’t getting it, it is fine to come back to it later on. There are only about a zillion other things to train LOL! Better to jump ship than to build in frustration. A bit of maturity now that he is a little older, plus a different approach – he did a great job here!
>>He was offering a couple downs, and I just rolled with it.
Yes, that was 100% the right call. You hadn’t asked for anything other than giving him the international sign for “offer me something” so he did! He was excellent in his choices. A couple of ideas for you:
He was amazing in his ability to catch the treat LOL! So you can throw the treat behind him or off to the side so he gets up and you can reset the game. He is so smart – “I will just stay right here, keep those treats coming” LOL! Made me chuckle 🙂 If he doesn’t get up, you can release forward, reward him and reset for the next sit.
As we build this game, we are also going to build in arousal and work on teaching him to self-modulate his internal arousal: start the next session with a tiny bit of tug, then put the toy in your pocket or on a shelf (tossing cookies away during the transition) – then do the session with the treats. This should create a higher arousal. I love how you had a bit of cookie play happening and he was stimulated by offering and holding the stay – YAY! I want to see how it goes, adding a toy before, and then we can move to the advanced game which is really all about modulating arousal 🙂 He is really young still, so we have time 🙂 There is no rush at all, he will let us know.Opposing motion session – also looked great! You had a lot of energy and that created more stimulation – but he still got the behavior AND no chomp chomp moments 🙂 You did a nice job moving away just enough to begin showing counter motion… but not tooooo much because he was successful 🙂 Love it! You can add in gradually more and more countermotion over the course of the next few sessions.
So overall these were looking really lovely. Let me know if the ideas make sense. Great job!
TracyHi! She did a great job here!! Yes, it is GREAT that she offered the stay so nicely – even when stimulated, we want the pups to think it is fun to sit and stay in front of something they want (the toy for now, the start jump or tunnel later on…). You can always use a verbal or hand signal for the sit or stay but she will likely not need one 🙂 I am pretty sure my adult dogs understand the start line routine and just roll their eyes at me when I say “stay” LOL
You can start to add more duration now – first longer praise…. then add in moving away. Bearing in mind that she is going to be more ramped up, keep the duration and motion away short so she can be successful. It will be easy to build it all up into a great stay even when she is wild 🙂
Question – what release word do you want to use on your start lines? You were using a “yay” here – some folks do use that as the release, some use it for praise. At this stage, use your start line release word when you want her to come out of the sit so it is even easier to transfer to trials.Nice job! Let me know what you think!
TracyThis was very cool to see! The FC rep was good – but the BC reps were *spot on* in terms of the anticipation: you were in progress as his nose exited the tunnel at :21 and :50, so he had 3 hours (in dog years :)) to read the blind. VERY nice!
And nice job getting a better line to the last backside #8 – and also leaving sooner (not cuing the bar). He was able to power into that jumping effort better (at :39 especially). I am liking what he is doing on the backside slice jumping, I think your work on the zig zag grid is paying off!
Great job trying crazy things!!!!
THello!
Monday mornings are the perfect time for Agility QB-ing 🙂>>On sequence 3, let’s talk about the tunnel exit. My thought was I can’t start the blind until I see him see the jump (#4). Then, when I see him see it, I can blind. I agree the second time through was better. So, at :21 I see him exit the tunnel and see the jump and at :22 I start the BC. I suppose in theory I could whip my head around faster on the blind but I don’t think that’s a good plan (balance and repeatability). So I reconnected at :23 as he lands. If I do the blind before he exits the tunnel, then he can run around #4: taking a straight line from the tunnel exit to the backside #5. In fact, I think I would want that (blind would put #4 behind me; at least in theory, if the exit from the tunnel was very sharp).>>
This very discussion inspired a small skills set that I posted yesterday: if your motion and verbal on the exit of the cross easily support the jump without having to run a wonky line, then you can do it while he is in the tunnel. If your motion and verbal do NOT support the jump, or you would have to run a line that is not a perfect path… wait til he exits then start it. That also means there is an anticipatory element: you would need to anticipate his exit so you can be ready: as soon as his nose pokes out of the tunnel – commit and cross.
The decision is made based on the specifics of how the sequence is set up. Your set up was right on the edge of being black & white – so it falls into the ‘anticipate the nose exiting the tunnel’ category. I would also be saying “jump jump jump” or a commitment cue while the dog is in the tunnel on this one, so the exact timing is less important and you can be slightly early, and he will still commit. If we wait too long, the dogs can’t adjust to the new side earlier enough – so they need to see the blind cross starting as soon after the tunnel exit as possible – which means the head turn almost completely finished before takeoff.>>On #8, I might be able to leave sooner, except for him aiming at the front side as he exits the tunnel and needing to be kicked out to the backside. I was stuck there until I could see him take the backside cue.
Yes – kicking him out to the backside is critical – at :13 and :29 I can see his head turn to look for the backside, that is the exact moment you can leave – and you did start to leave! But then you deceled and gave him an arm cue over the bar – I don’t think he needed that, you can just head directly for the blind there.
>>Then I disconnected at 31 for a stride or two and then reconnected. I’m looking at it in slo-mo and I don’t see that as too sharp a turn…(?) I complete the BC in time for him to be on the correct side. ?>>
Yes, you cleared the line and he didn’t have to wait too much on the exit – the slowing down was happening on takeoff for the 8 jump, he had to wait there. Plus, you can also get further ahead after that line on a bigger if you aren’t helping at the backside 🙂
>>I have always figured that shouting at a dog in a tunnel was futile (noise echoes around in there) and after one or two tries, it would be patterned. But I’m up for giving it a try…
I agree that it is unlikely that the dog will clearly hear or process my yells in a tunnel – maybe? maybe not? But I repeat the cues because it is like throwing a blanket over the line – at some point, I will hit the spot with the correct timing 🙂 If I only throw a hand towel on the spot, I am less likely to cover all my bases 🙂
>>I can leave earlier in training because I’m braver in training. Of course, I haven’t trialed since March, so who knows how brave I’ll be when I get to show again. And Enzo hasn’t ever been shown except the UKI home trials. Tomorrow is his second birthday.>>
Happy birthday Enzo!!!!!!! I hope he gets a day of whatever he loves most! And I understand about the bravery in training – especially with a young dog, it is easier in training. But I believe it creeps over into our trialing when we are comfortable with it in training 🙂
T
Hi!
>>If the cone was the weaves (too hot to take the weaves out) is this what you mean by handling from the landing side of 11?
Handling from takeoff side of 11, yes, this would be it! She read it pretty well!!! You would want to be there when she exits the weaves, right at the entry wing of 11. The other option would be blind crosses, 3 in a row 🙂
T
Hi again!
Seq 1:
The opening line on the first rep looked good! On the first rep, You can move in a couple more steps towards the tunnel, so you don’t have to decelerate to get to the right spot for the push on 6.
It looks like you moved in deeper on the 2nd and 3rd reps and you definitely had more acceleration – so he was faster on the line 1-2-3-4-5. Yay!
On the 3rd rep you had a little less connection 2-3, so he looked at you (you were quiet) – then you said TUNNEL and he took off like a rocket LOL! So, be loud! He likes it!He had a REALLY nice independent backside push at :11 and at :30!!!
On that first rep when he turned left and you wanted right on 7: as he was taking 6, you turned parallel to the jump and ran like a regular serp, then as he landed, you pushed into the gap for 7. At :14 that caused your feet to look like a rear cross cue so that is where he went. That little bit of pressure read like a rear cross.
On the 2nd rep at :33 it looks like that is what you wanted him to do (turn left)? but you crossed his line before he was committed to the jump, so he turned on the flat.
The 3rd rep was great – you ran a very direct line to the wrap wing of 7 at :49 and he had no questions.On the 8-9 threadley section – one thing I notice about Wilder on this threadle and on the threadle in the Novice sequence: when you used a come verbal and turned your shoulders, he looked at you but was not actually coming to you – he hung out by the jump until you sent him back. It works in this context, but I think it might bite you elsewhere, when you turn your shoulders and say come, meaning to follow your line – but he might stay out on an off course line. Am I remembering correctly that sometimes he does not want to come into you? If so, we can clarify when we *do* want him to come in versus when we want him to stay out (like on this threadle). If I am remembering incorrectly, just ignore this LOL! Let me know 🙂
Oh wait! It mght have happened right at 1:10 on the next sequence! You turned your shoulders and wanted him to come in to you but he pinged away. (The verbal was not come, it was push, but the shoulder turn was similar). Part of the reason it happened here was that you were a little late getting across the line on the blind (driving the 1-2-3 line more laterally away will help you get there sooner) so you ended up blocking the wing of the backside jump. Your position was spot on on the next rep (1:22) but then you over-compensated a little on the push by pulling your shoulder and he ended up on the front side. The next rep at 1:31 was perfect (it is like Goldilocks and the 3 Bears: that one was just right :))
But I do think that when you pull your shoulder like on the first rep, he wants it to be a pull-and-send moment where he goes back out… so he very efficiently wants to stay out. Smart! So you can use that for the cues where you do want him to stay out (like the threadle) and we can change it for the moments where it might bite you.
On the ending line: he did a gret job pushing to the backside! That skill has really improved, great job building it up!! Now we can focus in on getting him to take the bar independently so you can just leave. It boils down to dropping the toy in on the landing side as soon as he commits to coming to the backside (to get it started) as you move through without helping him commit. When you helped him at 1:42, he back jumped it. On the very last rep you helped with a front cross on the landing side which worked! Keeping your eye on him definitely helps get the commitment there! I want you to be able to get even further up the line, so we can help him with the default behavior of ‘take the jump while the momma leaves’.Lovely work on all of these! Let me know what you think. How is Lit’l Bit?
Stay cool 🙂
TracyHi! Great job on these!
Seq 1: very nice!! On your first run, you did a BC after the tunnel and finished on your right. On the second rep, you kept him on the left all the way through – both were really nice! On the 2nd rep, you can keep moving through the #4 jump – you hesitated there and it caused him to turn into you a little more than needed. That caused the handling on that side to be a little slower because there was extra collection (yes, I timed it LOL!!)
Based on what we saw on the skills sets – you can also be a bit louder on the lines into and out of the tunnel, I think that will get even more speed!Seq 2:
He read the threadles here pretty well – I think he is waiting a bit for you to release him back to the threadle jump (#3) so you can cue him to take it as soon as he has landed from 2 and you see that he is coming to the correct side of 3.Seq 3: You can run this opening from a more lateral position, which will allow you to get the same nice speed on the 1-2-3 line and also get across to the BC 3-4 even sooner – the first rep at :59 you were a little late on the BC.
For the wrap at 5 at 1:01 – I think a spin would be helpful there for 2 reasons: first, it will tighten up his turn there. Second, you can leave sooner to be able to get across the serp jump (#6) by one more step to be able to then step in to get the line a little smoother to the last tunnel.On the 2nd rep, I LOVE the idea of setting a RC on the flat to get the turn at 5 and then get you to a perfect spot at 6 to show a great line to 7!! Love it! You can strategize that handling to also get more speed from 3-4 by going deeper into the tunnel: this will keep you in motion more so he will accelerate more. You were a little too far ahead so you stopped at 4, which got a lot more collection than you need there.
The layering at the end was a good balance!
Onwards to the Masters Sequences 🙂Hi! The heat has been so bad lately!! I am glad you are able to play in the mornings!!!
First video:
Jump-to-tunnel disconnection line: this one was hard for him!
on the first rep, your motion was good but you got too quiet – keep saying the GO and the tunnel cues to help him stay on the line. You did more of it that on the 2nd rep and it helped! But then you got quiet so he came into you. He definitely finds the softer connection to be distracting, he dropped a bar here too! So use more verbals: maybe the best combo is go go go on the jumps then switch to tunnel tunnel tunnel as he gets the 2nd jump.
On the 3rd rep you had more motion to the tunnel which totally helped!
The line after the tunnel was easier for him – you can keep the verbals going on this too, don’t get too quiet too soon.On the backside lines – you handled it just right on the first rep and he said he didn’t totally get the default behavior of taking the jump while you leave. He did a great job of getting too the backside, he just needed help taking the jump – he did better coming in on the backside jump with the name call and a jump cue and a little boit of the serp arm. Helping get the commitment there made it harder for you to be able to leave for the blind, so check out the skills sets I posted yesterday, to work on getting the automatic commitment to the jump when he gets to the backside. That will make it so much easier to drive into the blind cross there.
On the last 2 reps here – he did well finding the line with your motion and not needing a lot of connection! You had more verbals going on the rep where you threadled the wing so he was more confident. On the very last rep where you wrapped the wing, you got really quiet, so he slowed down and looked at you, and started coming in towards you. He definitely prefers it when you are loud 🙂
2nd video: yes, this is a hard threadle and the dogs are telling us if they have any threadle questions! He did really well when you handled it with the forced crosses. And when you set up the threadle and did the blind when you saw his head turn at :41 and :51 and 1:08 – VERY nice!! Even with needing to help him on the threadle, getting the BC started that early still made for a nice tight turn with you way ahead! And it looked really good coming in off the forced blind as well. He understands that commitment very nicely!
So, back to the threadle – you can revisit the threadle foundations so he has the same understanding that you have been working on with Lit’l Bit. I posted a training thread for it (I will bump it up to the top) – he is probably of the generation where we didn’t put on as good of a threadle foundation 🙂 but it is never too late to revisit it!Onwards to the sequences 🙂
Tracy
