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Hi!
Yes! Your mechanics on the turn away games were great!
First rep was too early in terms of moving before she got to your hand, but the 2nd rep was great because she got very close to your hand – about 2 inches away – before you started the turn cues. After that you were locked in and the lap turns were perfect!The tandem turns also went well. To help make it even smoother, show her that outside arm more obviously. When you did that on the last 2 reps: very smooth! When you didn’t quite how the outside arm on the first couple, she was not as sure about it until she did see that opposite arm.
Tunel threadles: These ended up going really well!
She did not see your motion on the first couple of reps as a turn cue on the first couple, which is why she went straight to the tunnel ahead of her. When you got more of a turn on the wrap wing like you did at 1:09 and 1:23, things got more obvious for her and she did great! Any questions after that (like at 3:50) were because you didn’t get the turn on the wrap wing.
After you get that turn on the wing, moving towards the tunnel entry – try not to pull too far away and rely on your hand to flip her away to the tunnel.By moving away to the tunnel entry, she will flip herself away 🙂 which will help make the skill more independent.
Good work on the backsides – you amped up the connection on rep 2 and beyond, which set the line nicely!
To get her to come in and take the bar, you added in dropping the toy as she got to the backside: perfect! As you do that, you can keep moving on a serpentine line so she learns to drive into the jump even though you are right thereThe countermotion exits also went well! Nice job with the release and dropping the toy on the landing spot. You can add in releasing after you pass the wing, so she still takes the jump even though you are on the takeoff side instead of the landing side.
Great job here!
Tracy
Hi!
He’s doing great with his backing up! Yay!!!
Since he is offering backing up really nicely here, we can go go the next steps to get more backing up 🙂– at this next stage, you can use a mat but not the clicker mat. I suggest this because the mat was not consistently clicking when he got a back foot on it, but it was clicking for front feet and stepping off it. So, you can mark for back feet and he will have a clearer picture of it.
– when he lifted his head, he stopped moving backwards. So you can keep his head lower (chin parallel to the ground, or pointed slightly downwards, by keeping your cookies hands in front of you and down by your knees. That will give him a nice visual target to back away from and you’ll get more steps backwards.
Let me know how it goes! Great job here!
Tracy
Hi!
These went well! I guess he likes the blue tunnel because he kept going to it 🙂
Getting ahead on the tunnel exit allowed you to show GREAT connection and line of motion on that 2nd run, so he found the next wing really well.
Excellent timing of the verbal and physical cue for the right turn at 1:08!!! He turned really well! So why didn’t he take the wing? Lack of connection. You had both hands up (which generally draws the dogs to us, like in threadles or tandem turns) and you were looking at the wing and not at him, so he came to you. If that happens, assume lack of connection and keep going. Stopping can be punishing to him when it was handler error not poodle error 🙂
Your connection at 1:18 was better and he had the line til you swung your arm forward – keep that connection really clear for now. It gets a lot easier and moving the arms won’t matter as much as he gets more experienced.
The last rep here really gave us a glimpse of the future! You had lovely connection (especially on the exit of the FC between wings and at the tunnel exit to go straight) so he found the lines AND he found a new gear of speed. SUPER!!!!
He also looked really engaged and not distracted by leaves, etc. Did you feel he was more focused?
Great job here!
Tracy
Good morning!
> For my brain, it is hard for me to remember to say the left wrap cue in the moment. >
The most important thing with the verbal cues is that we use them correctly and consistently, so it has to make sense to your brain 🙂 Keep playing around with what makes sense, keep practicing – all of the verbals are learned through repetition for human and dogs, so you can practice the ones you want to use then it will be easy to spit them out on course 🙂
> I remember you said your RC wrap is the same as the regular wrap verbal for the right vs left wraps no matter RC or regular….did I understand that correctly?>
Correct! A single turn away verbal doesn’t actually tell the dog how much to turn, so there are questions from the dog if my physical cue is unable to support it clearly (like when I am too far away). There are plenty of handlers who are consistently and reliably able to show physical cues to support them (like Jess :)) but I am not that fast so I need the verbals. So I use a wrap or a left/right soft turn. And I use a ‘switch’ cue which means turn away and accelerate onto the line for layering (soooooo useful!)
>I only do AKC so don’t need as many verbals as maybe UKI would require. Still processing it in my mind…>
Keep playing with the ideas and it will all come together. You don’t need quite as many verbals in AKC for now… but those AKC judges are a clever bunch and they are bringing those international design elements in to regular classes, so you will see more of that in the next couple of years.
On the video:
Baby dogs do keep us on our toes! It makes sense that he didn’t quite recognize the long dark tunnel at first but you broke it down and he figured it out really fast. Super!
Then the smiley face went really well after he was comfy with the new tunnel. As you are handling, don’t try to indicate the obstacles. Instead, indicate the line you want him to take by being super connected and not pointing ahead to the wings.
When you were pointing ahead, he was doing little zig zags on the line because he couldn’t see the connection (he could see your back, mostly). You can see it when he was coming out of the tunnels – it was very clear at 3:23 and the lack of connection pulled him off the wing. You can also see it at 2:44 for example (between the wings) and on the exit of the blind at the end – he doesn’t know where to be because your arm is showing the line ahead and what he needs is to see your eyeballs 🙂
At 3:32 you had great connection from the tunnel exit to the wing and he had no trouble finding it. Compare to 2:50 and 3:17 between the wings where you made connection and your arm was basically out of the picture, pointing back to him: no questions from Brioche! Yay!
You also handled with great connection to the tunnel entry each time and he had no questions.
And handling with more connection will reduce the need for you to run fast, which helps protect your hamstring for now 🙂
Nice work here!
TracyGood morning!
>I think she may have slowed down in the last two runs yesterday as I switched to food which clearly is not as exciting as the ball.>
Aha! That is why I want to keep the ball and frisbee in the picture – for the joy! And to not see the freezing up.
>Her lack of retrieve is really frustrating. >
>Can you hear the desperation in my text?>I hear ya! And also there is some PTSD from Duffy never learning a retrieve. But we can approach it differently to get both the passion for the agility AND the retrieve.
One of the keys to the retrieve is to not worry about it that much, because putting pressure on bringing the ball back does not get her to bring the ball back as you see.
Side note: I have been down this road. My highest achieving agility dog had ZERO retrieve until he was about 2 year old. When he was about 10 months old, he was doing demos at a seminar I was teaching and I threw the toy as a reward. He then spent 15 minutes running around the outside of the barn with the toy – the seminar carried on, no problem at all. We just had a laugh and let him run. The folks in that area STILL talk about it because it was so funny and also because they learned how to not freak out LOL! This happened in 2006 (20 year ago, EEK) and they still talk about it. 😂 😆 That fiercely independent little dog went on to compete and win at the highest levels here in North American and in Europe – that taught me a lot about retrieves 🙂 which is why I am not freaking out about little Jazz running around with the toy 🙂
So I know that we will get BOTH the passion for agility AND the retrieve if we don’t freak out and think outside the box.
The key to getting the retrieve? Not wanting the retrieve. Let the dog run! And let the dog opt in when they want to do more agility. Here are some ideas for you:
>The only way that I can get it back is by tossing high value food and praying that she goes for it and leaves the ball for me. This is working less and less, resulting in more time racing around with the ball. >
This is happening because the behavior of going to get the food gets punished, because you take the dog away. The food is not a reward, it is a behavior for her in this instance, so she is not going to the food in favor of keeping the ball.
So rather than try to switch for food and grab the ball, be prepared to maybe only do one fast, joyful rep of whatever you are doing. And have a bag of balls – throw one ball as a reward, then cheer her on when she run run runs with it. Then you have 2 options:
– you can keep praising her and cheering for her as you go sit on the ground by a jump, with a couple of balls. You can be rolling them or just holding them – they can be visible – but you can’t try to get her back with them. At some point she will re-engage and then you can throw the next ball.
– you can praise and cheer for a minute or two, then start running the little sequence with an invisible dog. This includes verbals and dropping a ball then playing as a reward. It might take a couple of reps of this but the dogs do join in! And when she joins in, throw the ball and repeat the process.
– you can praise and cheer while she is running around, then run a sequence on the wings only with Jack. No tunnels when they are both out, so there are no collisions. Then Jack gets his reward. Then you can run a sequences with invisible Jazz 🙂
This keeps it fun and enticing and she can opt in on her own without any pressure and without any conflict about the toy. It might take a bit of practice to get it going, but it is worth it. Don’t abandon it if you don’t see it work immediately. There are steps after this but these are the first steps.
Looking at the video:
There was a lot of joy and speed here, even in the moments when she had a question! This is why I want to keep the ball in play even though the lack of retrieve probably makes you want to stick a needle in your eye 😂. She was paying fantastic attention and got all of the moves until the end. You threw in a threadle and she didn’t quite know what that meant in that context. Good reward though!The 2nd rep started off even faster!!!! Yeah!! The threadle is what she had the big question here too, so she stopped. In that moment, you can keep handling invisible Jazz. Yes, there was a bit of a lack of clarity on what you wanted but pretend it was perfect and keep going, run a few more wraps on the wings, then throw the reward. She may or may not rejoin you, but it also keeps the ball in play and then you can reward the invisible dog that wrapped the wing rather than trying to get her moving by throwing the toy.
So your job is to keep going, no matter what! Then reward at the end, doesn’t matter where Jazz is. The goal of this is to show her that the reward is available in handling even if she doesn’t understand the cues.
And for now, take the complex cues like threadles out. They are complex in terms of reading the handling, and they are complex in terms of physical movement. So, we will revisit threadles eventually but for now, keep it a little simpler as we work on other stuff too 🙂
>She seems to be reading the handling cues pretty well. My handling is still pretty jerky.>
She is indeed reading you well!! And I don’t think you were jerky – I think you were running hard and staying connected while she was going REAL FAST. Love it! So keep the sequences nice and short, fast and fun, and it will continue to come together like the reps here.
Nice work!!
Tracy
Good morning!
The decel video was good to see and she is actually paying close attention to the handling. It is hard to ‘feel’ that in the moment but the video shows us really good stuff!
>One of the hardest parts is getting her to go ahead to take the jump and also not turning in to me between jumps for the toy. >
The tricky part was separating the ecel from the rotation. When you decelerated for several steps then rotated when she was getting ready to take off, she turned really well!
You can see this on the first rep: you decelerated and remained facing forward so she committed – then you rotated. She turned really well!
You can also see it on the 3rd rep – she was a little careful there because the 2nd rep had gone sideways, but then she kicked back into high speed after the FC.
Compare those to the 2nd rep and last rep:
On the 2nd rep, you lost a bit of connection and turned away from the jump, so she turned with you (didn’t take the jump).
On the last rep, you were decelerating and rotating almost simultaneously so she didn’t take the wing at 2:30 and didn’t take the jump at 2:44. She was following the rotation on both of those moments.
So the rotation will actually feel a little late, because she will be relatively close to the jump when you rotate. Facing forward longer as you decelerate (until she is just about taking off) will help get the commitment.
On the smiley face videos – getting her playing got her past whatever the distraction was in the very beginning, and helped her stay engaged as you figured out the handling. Super!
Try running the handling games without your hands 😂 except for the threadle moments. What I mean by that is you can keep your arms low so you can watch her eyes as you run – that will turn your shoulders to the line and show lot of connection. When you did that (like after the front crosses from the wing to the tunnel) she knew exactly where to go, and was fast and accurate. When we point ahead to the line, it makes it harder to see connection and that is when young dogs in particular ask questions.
>Getting into the tunnel was also tough.
I think there was confusion about when you wanted her to take the toy versus take the tunnel. On a lot of reps, the toy was right in front of her on the way to the tunnel so. I wasn’t sure if you wanted the tunnel or not there. And if connection breaks, she will turn towards you hands (like on the very last rep of the 2nd video). Putting the toy away in the 2nd video for some of the reps helps! You can do all of these with the toy in your pocket, so she knows when it is available for tugging versus when you want her to look at the obstacles.
>The first video she seemed distracted in part by the others being in the house. So, I brought them out and took turns with all of them which seemed to help. >
Yes, she was more focused the 2nd video which is when I think they were out there. You can also practice the handling with one of the experienced dogs first to sort it out, then you can try it with her. I do that all the time
>I think I need to make her turns shorter, like you said.>
You can give her one or two reps then switch to one of the other dogs. That keeps things short and leaves her wanting more 🙂
>To end the evening I practiced some stays and releases, did some of the chase games, throwing a cookie and then running with the toy. Also some throwing a ball, letting her run a little, and calling her back. She liked all of that.>
That sounds so fun! And those games are a nice balance to the handling games, which take a lot more focus and have a ton of turns.
Nice work here!
Tracy
Good morning! These sessions looked really strong.
The soft brake worked GREAT for Ringo. I am guessing it will end up being a really useful move for him on AKC courses: with his speed AND jumping 24”, the soft turns are challenging so this brake arm should be helpful as you navigate those courses. He responded perfectly!
The soft brake arm might have been too much collection for Artie Ross. She added a LOT more collection, more than I think she needs on those lines. You can try being more subtle with it, or save it for when you do need a relatively tight turn.
One technical suggestion:
Remember to show the soft brake arm/hand pointing towards them pups not away or at the obstacle. With Ringo on the first couple of reps, the hand was towards him and he was great. At :43 with Artie, the hand/arm was pointing to the next jump and not at her so she looked at you as if asking if you wanted her to come off the jump. So you can show it to them and when they collect, you can release the arm and go back to running normally 🙂
The ‘out’ arm does point to the next jump and it certainly helped get the jump after the frame so you can layer! That looked lovely!!!!
Great job on these!
Tracy
Good morning!
The footwork on there tandem turns was great! Yay! The hand mechanics on the first side were perfect! On the 2nd side, your opposite arm was not as clear so she was not as sure.
Compare how she is locking onto your right hand at :07 for example, and can’t see your left hand engaging at :52. So you can make the outside arm more visible before she gets to you on both sides then it will be super smooth.
The next step is to not reward immediately when she turns away. Keep moving but lift your hands so she looks for the prop. When she hits the prop – that is your cue to mark and throw the treat 🙂
>Look! No snow! Now the yard is a whole new world & I don’t have a recall on this kiddo! >
That is the trend in all 3 MaxPup classes this week: getting the pups used to the distractions of the great outdoors now that the snow has gone away, at least temporarily 🙂 Using the long line was a good safety net to start with for sure.
You can also add in tugging – that will increase arousal, which helps tune out distractions. You can use a food reward then tug, then a food reward, then tug. Or tug after every 2 or 3 treats.
The pattern game went really well! Charlee bears are visible but also might not be that interesting compared to blowing leaves 🙂 Can she have pieces of string cheese mixed in? Visible and super high value!
She did well with the parallel path game. It is relatively easy for her on your right and seems harder on your left – probably because there is more value for being at your side on your left. You can help her by giving her something that is bar-like, as a visual to go over between the uprights. A jump bump or even a big rolled up towel will work nicely 🙂 I think the visual target to go over is an easier concept than going through/past the uprights in this scenario, so she will likely have an easier time finding the line on both sides of you.
Great job!
Tracy
Good morning!
>kneeling and getting up isn’t easy for me 😂. I have been wondering about stating peekaboo with him. I do that with Brighton or at least try to remember to do it. That way I have him between my legs and give cookie to keep focus. Would that also be an option?>
Yes! Great idea with the peekaboo!!!! I bet he will love that. You can also have a short leash stuffed into your pocket and put him back on leash for a moment.
>For the running contacts with the toy. I was getting mentally confused on how to do it with two toys? I am probably overthinking it. So do I toss toy when he gets in box and then use 2nd toy if he doesn’t bring back to me to play?>
What I do with 2 toys is I sit on a couch (I love to sit when training haha) with a toy in each hand. The box is in front of me, 3 or 4 feet away. And he goes back and forth through the box, tugging as the reward in the hand he is heading towards. He will make a slightly curved line to go back and forth from your hand to the box, but that is a great challenge. I don’t throw the toy at this stage because it gets the pups looking at us too much. Let me know if that makes sense or if I need more coffee to explain it LOL!
>For the parallel path do I try more lateral next time?>
Yes – He was racing to the jump here, so I think he is ready for more lateral distance for sure.
Tracy
Good morning!
>I had some steak cut into half inch pieces…you would think they were 2 inches by the amount of time he took to chew them. >
Ha! He definitely liked it! I could see him almost shocked about how good it was and then he was whipping his head back to you in the pattern games. It didn’t take that long to eat it at all – you probably saw that he actually chewed it rather than gulped it down. How is his belly feel this morning from the steak yesterday?
>Worked a bit of pattern game into the mix. Still distracted.>
He had a great first 2 minutes or so, which means the sessions for games like this should be short and mixed in with games that move.
To teach him to ignore distractions in the environment, this is probably not the right game because nothing moves in this game – but everything moves in the environment. Better games for distracting environments are games where you are moving like little handling games or even tunnel-wing games.
>Broke his stay on rep 2 and the last rep I said the wrong release word. Oye. I carried him back to the line after he broke. I know you are going to say don’t do that! My bad.>
Yes, all dogs at some point in the training anticipate that looking at the toy is the release, so we do get a broken stay or a release that happens right as we open our mouth to release (which is what happened here).
And you can totally carry him back to the start line like that when he makes a mistake, as long as he is allowed to bite you when you make a mistake 😂 😆 😝. We humans mess up more than the dogs do, and my dogs are all really good about not biting me when I screw up so I give them the same grace LOL
Since he is not allowed to bite you – it is fine to not reward him if he breaks a stay, but better to just jog back to the start without picking him up. Picking him up like that was a definite punisher and can create avoidance in an environment where you are trying to build engagement.
>I tried RC again. I think I am moving towards the middle of the bar and then I watch and I am not. Clearly this is a habit of mine. I tried hard to do it better than the last time. I think there was one good rep. I will try again later.>
It gets easier when the dogs are more experienced, because they read parts of the cue while young dogs need the entire cue.
>I contacted the vet and she recommended the nutriscan food allergy test >
I did nutriscan years ago when one of my dogs was suffering horribly and ripping his skin apart. It basically said he was allergic to everything.
>and also something called VDI GI panel. >
I think we did that one too, which confirmed he was allergic to everything. He ended up taking apoquel which worked like a miracle. I don’t think it is the same issue as Brioche’s but the testing is useful.
I have put out messages to the science people I know to get more info on improving gut biome. There is a lot of good info out there, I just need to find it!
Keep me posted here! I want him to feel better!
Tracy
Good morning!
This does sound like a rough week!!! Thank for filling me in.I think there are a couple of things going on:
Yes, these adolescents are really experiencing their first ‘spring’ so a lot are also struggling with environmental distractions. And you being home all day has probably thrown off her sleep cycle so she is sleeping less (which could be part of the lower energy overall).
>To make it worse, on Monday I went to my friends house to do a little practice and her puppy, same age as Carmen, went after Carmen and bit her. No blood, but pulled fur out and of course she was scared.>
Whoa! Poor Carmen 🙁 That can also contribute: I a, sure there is a bruise in that spot which can be contributing to her wanting to move less. And I am also sure it was really stressful! And it take 72 hours for an adult dog’s body to bounce back to feeling normal after something like that in terms of stress hormones… and in a teenager, it can take 2 to 3 times as long as that! So that is likely contributing to her low energy, distracted week. It is frustrating that it coincides with your week at home!
>I’m feeling like I need to reinforce our recalls and distraction and focus skills.>
Yes, short blasts of fun games will bring her right back 🙂 And for the harder training games, do a quick rep or two then let another dog take a turn.
> It was totally unprovoked, my friend said so too, and he did this to her one other time on a hike. So, I don’t feel comfortable training with the pup unless he’s going to be crated. >
I totally agree – they can’t be off leash together or even on-leash and close to each other if he might attack her again.
>I want her to learn to work around other dogs, but his behavior issue seems random so I’m really not sure I should have her off leash around him. >
I agree with your gut instinct here, which is telling you not to do it. She can work around stable dogs with no risk of attack.
>Carmen is well adjusted, but she can get a little timid and very distracted in new situations, and just I don’t want to create any fears.>
Totally agree! You are 1000% correct in your thinking. Make working around other dogs a safe, happy thing.
>When I’ve practiced with her this week she’ll have a few good reps but then has seemed to get distracted and lose interest. >
Try for a rep or two then give her a break. It might be all the factors working together to limit her ability to engage this week.
>Having greyhounds, focus is almost always an issue at some point, and I do usually notice it get worse in adolescence, but it’s still hard to deal with.>
This is so true! All breeds have focus issues in adolescence, they just manifest differently. So we dial back the number of reps and increase the reinforcement value. Lots of great rewards along with lots of breaks (I let my teenagers watch the other dogs do stuff haha) helps us survive adolescence.
Keep me posted on how she does this weekend!
Tracy
Hi!
>The tunnel refusals continue to be a mystery. Last night as I was getting set to replace the tunnel with a jump she was willingly racing through the tunnel before and after wrapping jumps. Decided to replace it with a jump anyway to see if we still had stickiness with our handling.>
She generally does it a couple of times before stopping, so you probably stopped (or she stopped herself) before she opted out. I think it was a good idea to take it out.
>I still am alternating Jack then Jazz. >
Great! Does Jack get a run in between each of her sequences? She gets only one run, reward, then Jack plays?
>Started with ball rewards – we haven’t had any success with a retrieve, in fact I think she finds the game of keep away pretty self rewarding so I think I need to stop with the balls until we have a retrieve.>
I think the joy the balls bring to the training override the annoyance of not having a retrieve 🙂 so I recommend sticking with the ball/frisbee/etc. Yes, running with the balls probably has a self-reinforcement element, and it also likely provides her a needed break. She comes back eventually 😂 Yes, it is not efficient and I am sure it is annoying 🙂 but the passion for training and running with you is the top priority and the balls help that.
>I’m going to try attaching the toy to a rope so that I can bring it (and her) back to me and tug/play before tossing again. >
Try it! But remember the priority is fun, not retrieve 🙂 The retrieve will come naturally when the game with you is insanely fun.
>She did well here – minimal stickiness and this I think was due to my confusing handling cues.>
First two runs were super fast! (Not sure how many runs she had before these) That might be where you force yourself to end the session. She was crazy fast and dealt well with cues that were not entirely clear on the turn aways. She was slower by the start of the 3rd run, from the very first step, then froze. I think she was already sticky/slower before we can decide if the cues were clear or not. The 4th and 5th sequences had no freezing but were definitely slower.
So to keep the speed, joy, and excitement of the first 2 runs in everything – limit sessions to one or two reps, total, period. Leave her wanting more! It will be hard to stop but the handling will be the easy part when she is always running fast and happy 🙂
Nice work here!
Tracy
Hi!
>I’m going to the NAC (3 days driving to CA; 4 days there; 3 days driving home). >
Wow! That will be an epic adventure! So fun!!!! Please post updates and of course I will be cheering for you and Enzo at the event!
These out and soft brake games are GREAT for Casper because he wants to get on a line and go go go but that is not always what the course calls for. There was a TON of lovely work on the video!
It was interesting to watch the first few runs where he was correct… but he was drifting out towards the jump that was not on the line. Perhaps it was because it was visible? But he did a great job of NOT grabbing it until you gave the ‘out’ cue. Then he executed the ‘out’ brilliantly. Yay! The drifting went away really quickly and his lines were more efficient.
That set up the harder sequences really well – especially the out then the threadle in to the tight slice. He paid attention and had lovely jumping in there too.
You can start telling him about the ‘out’ before he even gets into the tunnel. That will make the out cue earlier, which will give you time to get the next cues in earlier too. For example – waiting for the tunnel exit to start the out cue at 1:24 got him to go out, but then the ‘in’ cue was late at 1:25 (he was landing) which made the wrap cue late at 1:26.
I don’t think he was having trouble turning to his right on the switch sequences – the timing of the cue get out then in cue made it hard for him to get the switch cue at 1:39, 2:10, 2:38, 3:00. He was already taking off for the jump when you gave the cue there so he couldn’t adjust til landing. At 1:56 he stopped his takeoff to try to figure out the cue.
2:18 was the best timing, so he could adjust before takeoff. And moving up the timing of the get out will help all of that, so he can then see the ‘come in’ before he takes off for the jump, followed by the switch cue as he is coming through the gap and before takeoff.
He was very responsive to the soft brake cues! I think you will find this SUPER useful if you run into tight boxes/smaller distances on AKC courses. He can see it even if you are behind him and it will keep him on the line you want.
When he is in trial-mode, the timing can be a bit sooner 🙂 He read the line at 3:33 really well but you will likely need to start it when he is in the air over the previous jump (the pinwheel jump here) when he is running full out.
The timing at 3:46 was better because the cues started just after he exited the tunnel. He really reads the soft brake NICELY!!!! Good boy! And well done with the tunnel threadle at the end.
Great job!!
Tracy
Hi!
>Oh now you have me thinking. I did this before with another dog and started just by having my husband eat the apple alone. We will give that a try.>
Yes! Get creative 🙂 It will be fun!
She did really well with her plank work! Tons of confidence with getting her hind end on and balancing. She was stepping a back leg off a bit, but I think that was mainly because she was turning to you to get the treat. You can asl her to hop off before throwing the treat so she is a little more balanced getting off the board.
On the head turn video:
The mechanics do require 3 hands 🙂 but you did really well! The rep at :28 was spot on – you sent and turned her away with the same hand, which gets the head turn and keeps her head low. Remember that the turn away with the hand is a slow motion move – when you were doing it fast (like at :44) she didn’t quite know what you wanted. So the slower the movement, the easier it will be for her to turn away – which makes it easier for you to mark.
Great job here!
Tracy
