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Perfect! Yes to keeping the 6 foot distance. And the bars will stay low for a bit longer since she is so young.
Good morning!
I feel that pain of beating tech into submission LOL! Glad you won that battle 🙂The set point is looking good. I look for the pup being able to produce a consistent, smooth form with good organization – and he nailed it, regardless of the distance and the bar height. The entire set up looked good. As he approaches a year, we will keep playing with the set up to find the sweet spot for power because the bar can start to go up. 3’6” was a little too compressed after seeing the 4’. So on the next session, start at 4’ and you can even try 4’6”! At almost 16” I bet he will be able to easily handle that and the sweet spot might even be 5 feet. You can leave the bar at 6” for most reps and throw in a rep or two at 8”. I foresee zero problems with that but a gradual introduction is always better 🙂
Wind in your hard – very nice! His commitment is looking strong on the wrap and the go! The go verbal was very clear – I couldn’t hear if you had a wrap verbal going, so remember to use it if you did not have it here. For this game, you can keep stretching out the distance to add challenge. And, they other way to add challenge is to hang out near the barrel/wing longer on the wrap: let him wrap and catch up to you, he will be almost finished with the wrap and you will be standing there: then drive forward. The goal there is to get him to leave you in the dust and drive ahead of you 🙂
Great job here!!! Let me know what you you think!
TracyGood morning! Yes, choosing verbals is hard on my brain LOL!!! But worth it – once they are trained and we remember to use them all, the verbals make things sooooo much easier 🙂
On the proofing game video: yay! For a baby dog that loves her tunnels… she never even looked at it on the choochoo or check check cue!!! Super!!! Two other things I *really* liked in this session: your tunnel cue sounded different from your wrap cues, in terms of energy level: that is super helpful to the pups as they are learning them. And, you were appropriately super excited when she got the wrap correctly – that is also very affirming for the pups 🙂 Lovely session!!! You can add in the advanced games/sequences where you can play with adding more motion as well as trying it all on just verbals 🙂
Smiley face – your description made me laugh 🙂 The reason we play these games and train the verbals is so that we are free to fling our arms all over the place LOL!!! I thought you were just fine 🙂 Yes, a little less arm flinging is always good, but in general you were connected and you had good motion on the line and you were getting too the verbals out – so she was happy, fast and correct. She got mad at you at :55, when you were looking forward to the wing when she exited the tunnel (not enough connection to her) so she barked at you (but committed anyway). Compare that to 1:05 where you made a very clear connection to her eyes on the tunnel exit and she was quiet and committed even faster. Yay! So keep remembering that connection on the tunnel exits. The race track and the wraps all looked good, You can spread it all out if you are in the mood for more running 🙂
Great job!
TracyHi! Yay, now I can see them!
On the set point – yes, the sit can be the hardest part. I did about 10,000 sit rewards during the point LOL! He is figuring it out and you did a really nice job with the cookie toss rewards! He looked SUPER keen to drive through the grid, crouching a little, so those cookie rewards are critical – he is going to be really fast so you are going to be loving your start line stay LOL!!! The jumping element is going well – it was hard to see the bars (cut off on the bottom of the screen) but it looks like he was a little high over. The bar on the first rep through but then at the end, he was much more organized and that is great. How close to the first bar was he? Because of his size, he might need to be in his sit about 8 inches from that first jump (it takes some experimenting to find that sweet spot. The distance between the 2 jumps looked perfect.Wind in your hair: he did really well with both the wrap (nice verbal!) and the go line! Yay! Nice commitment to both, so now you can take it all to the next level – I would say the next thing for hims will be adding distance. He has really grown up and into his body so nicely that more distance will let him use his power as he drives ahead (he was terrific here) – you can add the big loud GO verbal with more distance too 🙂 My only suggestion here is to try to throw the reward earlier, so he extends more over the jump and doesn’t look up or back. That is harder to do, so feel free to incorporate the advanced level concept where there reward is already out ahead so he can drive right to it when there is a lot of distance.
Ah! You read my mind, here is the wind game with the MM haha! I typed the above before I read the title of the next video 🙂 And it looks like there is more distance too, perfect. And the Go verbal, This is a perfect set up for him now and he is executing beautifully. The MM out ahead adds a distraction element that he had to work through for the wrap, especially when you changed sides, but he figured it out, good boy! And then got faster and faster. My only suggestion is a small handling detail: on the Go part, try to run past the outer Ewing of the jump and not towards the bar at all. Moving in towards the bar might make it look similar to the rear cross cue, and we don’t want him to think the rear cross pressure means go straight. Plus, moving past the outside of the wing adds a bit of challenge and we can also build it into more lateral distance on lines. As you keep playing this, you can also add more and more distance between the wing and the jump so he gets even more experience with driving ahead.
Smiley face: awesome! He is doing such a nice job committing ot his wraps here! Great job with your different wrap verbals. He was interested in the toy but not super engaged with it – so you can change how you present it a little to get more engagement with it: when it is toy time, take off and run with the toy dragging, so he gets to chase the toy and grab it. That will get great engagement and help build even more focus, especially in new environments. For the handling – he is committing brilliantly! So… add more distance LOL!! That way you will run faster but also you will be able to commit him earlier – and therefore you can start to try to rotate away earlier and to see if he will still commit when you do the FC just as he arrives at the wing, rather than as he is rounding it. I think he is ready for the added challenge.
Great job on these, you two are looking terrific!
TracyHi!
>>It wasn’t hot out, but he does pant really easily.
It is possible that he just runs “hot”. I see that in my whippet mixes, they tend to pant hard even with minimal work so I keep sessions short.
>> I did give him a few breaks, and he kept pushing me to go back out into the baseball field. He even stood out there while I loaded up the equipment, like, “I’m not finished out here.” LOLOL.
Ha!! To funny 🙂
>>With the Smiley Face game, I feel like I am kind of always waiting for him and that feels weird.
Enjoy it while it lasts, his speed will kick in pretty soon so then you will be running t top speed 🙂
>>So as far as using a toy with the tunnel and smiley face game, there are still some issues. Sometimes he will jump up and try to snatch the toy. Or sometimes he will out the toy, but then start humping me lol. That tells me he is in a higher arousal state and doesn’t quite know how to regulate his feelings. Also, if we are outside my basement and I let go of the toy, he will start sprinting around in circles with it and it takes forever for him to bring it back. I don’t really want him practicing that. Should I still use a toy?>>
Yes, still use a toy, but incorporate it differently: use the toy on the “easy” things so he can find the correct behavior and not look at the toy. That might mean when you are moving less, or closer to the wing. Then we can build the toy back into the harder games.
You can also do arousal games with the toy: just tugging then get a toy release, then let him off a behavior such as standing still or sitting or NOT humping – then he can have the toy back. I do lots of ‘regulate yourself, dude” games with toy play, just hanging out in the house – not as official training sessions just as part of life.
For the toy parties where he takes off and runs… when using a thrown reward outdoors, you can have it on a really long line to get it back faster. I also have 2 or 3 toys with me as well as treats – so I throw one, then reward for coming back with a cookie or another toy. Also, be sure to allow lots of just running around with toys as party time in your fenced yard, so he can have his fun. And in those fun times, I gradually add in interacting and then switching toys then changing for treats – again, not as official training sessions but just hanging out and playing.
The wind in your hair game is looking good!!! I could hear. the wrap verbals, I think, but it was harder to hear the Go verbal – probably because you were facing away from the camera. So, just be sure to add the Go verbals if you were not already doing so 🙂 The next step here is to start getting him to drive ahead of you. He is finding the jump really nicely so now you should start super close to the wing and cue the wrap but stay right next to it til he is almost done… then as he almost gets to you, start running (staying connected) and let him drive ahead to the jump. Throw the reward really early (or use the RT) so that he doesn’t look back or lose confidence when he gets out ahead.
On the set point – I was busy admiring his set point and forgot how great the stay looked until you rewarded it: NICE STAY!!! He has come a long way in a short time with that! The set point work is of to a great start here. He looks pretty organized and that is especially awesome for a young male whippet 🙂 When you release, be sure to be facing mostly forward like you were on the last rep and not facing him too much. At this stage, you can remain upright and trigger the RT after the release (or leave it open with the treat in it) to help keep his head down so we can fade out you getting low.
In terms of distance – I am 99% sure he is going to be a 6 foot distance dog on these, like my Contraband. In order to do that, you will need more room to put the reward out 10 feet past that 2nd jump (or further) so if you don’t have room in the house, take the set up outside (he might need more stay rewards outside). Introducing the concept at 4 feet was perfect, and he seems to have picked it up immediately. So now we can move it to 6 feet, and you might need to start him between the jumps to work the stay outside before going back to the full game. Or not – he might be perfectly fine with the stay and the long lead out in a new location 🙂 He will tell you 🙂
Great job here!!!
TracyOh yes! This looks good!!! The tunnels add distance to the driving ahead and she was really good about maintaining the drive ahead. Yes, you can start to move the toy further away but to be hinest5, I think your placement worked really well on this session to build up the skill – it allowed her to run straight and basically guaranteed that she wouldn’t look back. You can gradually get that toy further away to add challenge but maintain looking ahead, and also add reps were you use your go cues but throw the toy rather than place it out beforehand. Tomorrow’s game involves add turns to the tunnels, so this is a good warm up for that:) great job!
TracyHi! The links are working – yay! But the videos are marked private so I can’t see them – boo 🙁 can you reset them to unlisted? You should be able to do that by going to the video and clicking Edit. I can walk you through it. Sorry YouTube is being such a pain!
TracyHi! She did really nicely!! The tunnel is still relatively new to her and she was really sending away to it! Yes, you can soften up the angle of entry a little bit – she was having to duck into it and while she did that beautifully for most of the video, she might have been fatigued by that (the big dogs have to squish themselves a bit!) and that might be why she lost a bit of steam for the tunnel towards the end. On the first tunnel miss,but think you did pull away too soon. But on the others, I think she was just fatigued – so you cam do fewer reps and give her breaks in between sessions to keep her pumped up. She did really well on the accidental tunnel rear cross – committed and turned correctly on the exit. That is pretty advanced 🙂
Her win commitment looked lovely! Excellent commitment and it looks like you had really strong connection too. She had a tiny distraction moment but I think it was just that: a tiny distraction and not a handler or understanding error. Her speed is also looking terrific – usually the pups are MUCH slower as they try this the first few times. She is already fast, so that means she will end up being REALLY fast. So fun!
You can add in the racetrack now as well as keep playing with the wraps,adding a bit more distance between the tunnel and the wing.
Great job!
TracyHi! For some reason, the links aren’t working – it looks like YouTube gave you the links to the studio/editing and it the video (they do that sometimes, I hate when that happens!!) please repost when you get a moment, I am looking forward to seeing Paco in action! If the stays were hard (which is often the case with baby dogs), do tons of throw back rewards so he builds the love for staying in front of the jump as you walk away. In the set point game, I probably have a ratio of 5 stay rewards for every 1 release forward LOL!!
TracyHi! For some reason, the links aren’t working – it looks like YouTube gave you the links to the studio/editing and it the video (they do that sometimes, I hate when that happens!!) please repost when you get a moment, I am looking forward to seeing Paco in action! If the stays were hard (which is often the case with baby dogs), do tons of throw back rewards so he builds the love for staying in front of the jump as you walk away. In the set point game, I probably have a ratio of 5 stay rewards for every 1 release forward LOL!!
TracyHi! This went well, the only oopsie was when you threw the ball into the wing LOL!! He looked good in form in general, the slow motion especially at the end looked really balanced and powerful. He doesn’t yet produce that form on ALL the reps, but he produces it frequently enough that we can add challenge. There are about a zillion ways to add challenge to this, so here are my 2 favorites based on his age:
Make the 2nd jump and oxer (ascending double). The first jump of the oxer will be at 5 feet and the 2 oxer jumps will be about 6 inches apart. First oxer bar at 4 inches, 2nd at 6”. This will challenge him to add more power and maintain a rounded form.
The other thing you can do is add motion on the single jump set up you have here. Everything is the same, except you lead out to just past jump 2 and walk forward as you release him. If that is too hard and he rushes, lead out more and move less. If it is easy… lead out less and move more.
Limit sessions to 4 or 5 reps, we don’t want to overdo it 🙂 maybe twice a week, tops. No pressure needed because he has good form developing, so we don’t need to worry – he will have an easy time with the jumping skills getting harder 🙂
Nice work!!
TracySounds good! Maybe start at 3’6″ for a couple of reps, then a couple at 4′ to have a basis of comparison. These medium sized dogs are a bit harder to find the good distances, so you can play around with it. And it will give him good experience ‘reading’ distances while you play with it 🙂
TWelcome to you and baby Maple!!! She’s adorable 🙂 and holy cow, 4 dogs, I owe you a beer!!!!
Her stay was actually pretty good!! No worries about being a bit slow or looking at you, that is totally fine for this game: we want her to be thoughtful about her body, your position, how to use all those brand new legs that keep getting longer, etc 🙂 so I think she did well! The more you play this, the less she will look at you. The only thing I would suggest is not having the other dogs around and watching soooooo intently. They don’t mean any harm, of course, they just want her cookies LOL! But being watched that closely is a lot of pressure on a baby dog, so that might have been causing her to be more tentative. There was less pressure when you switched to holding her – no stay to think about and the audience was much smaller LOL!!!
When you were holding her, you were effectively building drive to the MM and drive ahead of da momma: totally useful and fun!!!! So keep mixing that in 🙂
Nice work! Let me know what you think!
TracyOops! Sorry! I hadn’t seen the videos (got all caught up in Le Bidet Turn haha)
On the Wind-In-Hair video – this is going well! He is responding really well to the wrap verbal AND he was driving ahead beautifully. 10 extra points for hitting the camera at the end LOL! Yes, you can put the toy on the ground to challenge the wrap and to get even more driving ahead (feel free to add more distance by moving the wing further away) but also mix in a bunch where you throw. The reps where he was looking at you were because you were throwing when he reached the jump – and at that point, there was nothing left for him to look at so he looked at you 🙂 Instead, watch his head – and the moment he locks onto the line to the jump, throw the toy. The throw will end up being earlier but then he will have the destination to drive to and he won’t look back or touch the bar.
Proofing game – yes, he looked really good on the first part, turning to his left! And so far, I think most of the pups have more value on the wing than the tunnel and that is fine – it is easy to build a ton of value to the tunnel 🙂 When you switched sides: he ‘fixed’ the error by doing the wrap when he got back to you – good boy, you can totally acknowledge that! It can be a bit of praise and a cookie, rather than a ‘no reward’ moment. That can help him understand that yes, it was the wrap that you wanted there, but the big parties are reserved for doing it right away. When he struggled again… got to a physical cue to help him (a front cross works really well for this particular set up). You got the toy out sooner on the next rep, so move up the ‘help’ to be one rep sooner, to maintain an overall high rate of success. Then since you were just working the wrap, a physical cue to the tunnel will help him get it right away (along with the verbals – those were really nice and distinct!). I think the physical cue help that will work best will involve your feet – one step to the tunnel, or a turn on the wrap. You used your upper body but I think that was not quite strong enough – the dog-side leg is going to be your most useful helper. For example, he was having a bit of trouble going into the tunnel when you were pointing or turning your upper body – because your left leg hadn’t moved. But then at 1:32 (and 1:48) when you moved your left leg: boom, right into the tunnel. Now, paying attention to rate of success: he had lots of errors on the tunnel section so make sure that when you get to 2 errors (total) that you help more so he gets it right for a whole bunch of reps in a row (5 or 6 reps). Otherwise, the pups get frustrated – and that is when he tends to get leapy at the toy even if the cue is correct (1:58). So that was more of a moment of lower-than-needed rate of success and not so much a cue moment. When you revisit this, flip the order of festivities: begin by helping him with the physical cues to match the verbals, then fade out the physical cues bit by bit while keeping the success rate really high. He will totally learn to drive away to the tunnel, but for now needs you to step towards it.
Speaking of driving to the tunnels 🙂 When you drove to them in the Smiley Face games, he totally drove ahead of you! When you tried to peel away a tiny bit too soon, he came off the tunnel (:10 and :51, for example). He looks to be committed to the tunnel for sure when he is about 6 feet from it, which is great! We’ll take it, he is only 6 months old 🙂 If he is 10 feet from the tunnel and you try to peel away, the value for chasing you is higher at the moment and that is why he comes off the tunnel. So to commit him, keep facing the tunnel (and moving towards it, even if you are not moving fast towards it) til he reaches that approximate 6 foot mark, then stay connected but you can move to the next line.
His wrap commitment is looking good! As you get ahead of him at the wings, try to keep your fingers magnetically back towards his collar – when your arm is at your side or indicating the wing, he is not always sure of which side to be on and he jockeys in and out behind you a bit (like at :29 and :42). You can also add in running in deeper to the tunnels so that you are not as far ahead on the wraps – then you can work on him driving ahead, which will also let you start to turn and do the FC even earlier. The race tracks around the outside look good, he did really well *not* wrapping in those moments!! Yay!
And great job with all the verbals 🙂Nice work here! Let me know what you think!
Tracy
