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Good morning!
>>It felt like he was so patterned to driving out ahead that he wasn’t really noticing/responding to my rear cross the way I would have anticipated. I ended up throwing in verbals to help turn him and help him find the jump once I had crossed.Yes, I think there was a bit of patterned go go go here, especially because the first rep was a go and he seems to really enjoy it 🙂 Not a problem at all! The first blind cross at :10 was a little late with the physical cue and you were saying go on go on the whole time (til he took off for the 2nd jump), so he was correct to go straight.
The 2rd rep (2nd RC) at :18 was so much earlier in the physical cue (nice!) plus you changed verbals, so he turned. He didn’t quite pick up the jump but he got the turn – my guess is he was just surprised at first because he was so used to going straight.
The next 2 reps at :27 and :36 were also really strong in the physical cue and the verbals. You added a jump cue for the last jump which is great – I think he would have found it anyway but it absolutely helps to put the verbal in anyway. Based on your set up, you can even have him take the tunnel under the dog walk for more speed after it 🙂
You can alternate the RC with the GO – after one or two good RCs, do a Go line to help be sure that he is differentiating and that your cues (physical & verbal) are sharp.>> Not a horrible problem to have with this little guy since historically we’ve had an over-abundance of handler focus and not as much obstacle focus/drive.
1000% agree! He was flying, going fast, driving lines. Yay! And good job rewarding even if it wasn’t perfect on the early reps – with handling, always better to reward in the place you want the dog to go (which is what you did) than to withhold the reward.
You looked like you were running beautifully, so hopefully your Achilles feels a lot better!! Nice work here!
Tracy
Hi there! I hope his belly feels better! And yes, it is funny that he likes toys more than food LOL!!!!
Good boy on that first rep of the threadles – he read it really well! But I think the angles are too hard for now because he has so much good value on the front side of the jump.
Based on the angle he was on, it is too easy to fail right now and he was needing a lot of physical help to be successful. So, line him up so he is facing the edge of the wing – so he still has a choice but the choice to threadle is MUCH easier than the choice to take the front of the wing. And, have the threadle word be the only verbal attached to it (not the release), otherwise it might be a bit confusing as to when you want the front versus the threadle.Decel games- nice choice of reinforcement here! You might have to reward him with a toy for choosing to eat from the MM LOL!! Good job with the nice early reinforcement – this session was at a much higher rate of success so he was more engaged. You can have the cookies already in your hand for whne you are going to reward at your side, so you don’t first have to reach into your bait bag – that way it is a quick presentation of the reward. You can start adding a little bit more motion into this and the shoulder circle, maintaining the same big distances away from the MM to help him be successful.
Nice work!
TracyGood morning! Glad breaking it into little sessions and having more of a buffet approach is helping (I am hungry, thinking about buffets now hahaha)
The decel games look good! It looks like it is hot there, such a long tongue!! He is responding really well. The MM is a bit distracting but not mind-blowing, so he had a lot of success. On the straight lines, decel sooner – he is passing you as you decel and he is responding, but getting ahead of you – he is correct, but you can decel sooner so he sees it sooner. He was a bit wide of you on some of the straight lines, so you can do more of the circling on your shoulder to help him come in tight to you – he looked really good with that on the last rep!
Rear crosses
First rep – go balanced with 2nd rep left – very nice!!!! I think he noticed the distractions of the obstacles to his left but carried on straight on the go cue, very nice. The rear cross was well-executed (good verbal too!) and he read it – rear crosses are NOT intuitive so this was the product of good training and good info 🙂
3rd rep go balanced with 4th rep right – a little late on your pressure for the RC here, so he was a little late responding. If you drive in deeper to the tunnel, you can get on the RC line sooner like you did on the RC to the left.
Overall, though – MUCH to be please with here: he is driving ahead, he is moving over the bars nicely, he is reading the difference between GO and the RCs, and he was very engaged (he loves the running!)…. Happy dancing!!
Well done!!
TracyI can’t believe he is coming up on a year!! Time flies! He is such a cool boy, I am so glad he is yours 🙂
Good morning!
I think your outfit is fabulous here (says the person sitting in her pajamas and a hoodie haha!!)The grids were cool to see – the main thing is that he is developing into a powerful but also balanced jumper. YAY!
On all of them, start him close enough to jump one that he doesn’t take a stride then start the grid – we want him to elevate from his hind end and so the first time his front feet come down is between 1 and 2 – that emphasizes hind end even more.
On the 5 foot grids –
rep 1 – this is going well – he might have been a little excited to get the toy at the end by was overall pretty smooth!
rep 2 – when I watched it, I thought he was rushing for the toy because it was moving 0 but then I see he broke his stay… which would explain why he was rushing LOL!!! No worries then, this one was an outlier.
rep 3 – progressive – I think he was fine with your movement but seemed to leap/lift his head when toy was thrown/dropped? I couldn’t tell if the toy was already out there or not, but you can also use an empty food bowl as a target then plop a treat in – it might be less exciting LOL!
rep 4 – On this one, I think he was excited by the toy too – either it dropped right around when he was at jump 4 or that is when he got excited by it 🙂 So either have it pre-placed or use a more boring target.
But overall, he is doing well – those are big distances for a little dog and he is handling them really well!!!Threadle – Good job angling the bar to make the jumping effort a little easier. And yes, the toy was a bit too exciting so you can also use the empty food bowl here (then chuck the treat into it) but I gotta say – your throws were really good and consistent!!! Note how he is NOT looking at you and doing the in-then-out behavior that you want. You are tossing the treat before he looks back. You can do it with a toy or ball as well (then reward him for bringing it back, if that is an issue LOL!!) The only error was when you released him before you were fully set at :18, you said the Here cue as you started showing the threadle. On the others, you were settled then released and it went really well.
This is going well, so you can add some motion: Get settled in your threadle, say your Here cue, then start to just walk – your feet towards the far wing, and upper body frozen in threadle position (yes it will feel SO WEIRD lol) – see if he can do it with you sloooowwwwlly walking! And keep going with those great reward throws.Nice work!
TracyGreat – distances are good and good job praising as you went back to reward.
I would resist doing more this afternoon… he has probably been doing jumping work pretty regularly (every other day?) and already 20 jumps under his belt today, so there is no need for more (he is not quite a year old, right? It is hard to resist temptation, but less is more! You can work on some plank/contact work or flatwork/decel games but I would skip doing more jumping 🙂T
Hi there!
It was a hard angle but from what I can see, it looks great! I didn’t see anything other than nice balanced jumping with a lot of confidence. Yay! Did you use the 6-7-8-9 distances? If so… yay! Do another session just like it with you on both sides, then we can add a bit (a small bit) of movement. If not, go to the 6-7-8-9 distances 🙂 My only suggestion is that when you go back to reward the stay (I think that is what you did!), tell him why you are going back – you got very quiet and walked back with a lot of intent, so for a moment I couldn’t tell if he had moved or was breaking – tell him he is a good good boy. Or if he did break and you were going back to fix, a happy oopsie marker will tell him why you’re coming back.Nice work! Remember to give him a couple of days off between jumping games, so he isn’t jumping every day or more than a few times a week.
T
Good morning!
Wow, she did a great job on the decel, yay!!! I didn’t even realize there was a toy out ahead for a while because she was so great at it. You can decel a little sooner (just after she exits the wing but she also nailed it when you were a little late. And she did a great job with the GO when you asked her to.
2 other things that were lovely about ths session – seems like terrific focus in your yard, with all of the good distractions. YAY!
And also, you had the wing really close to the tunnel, and she read you correctly every time! At 1:37, you pointed to the wing with a bit of an arm fling, which turned your chest to the tunnel so that is why she ended up in it. But on the other reps, you were more connected and did less pointing so she easily found the wing. Yay!The mini pinny also looks really good. She was hoppy on the first rep probably expecting jump bars but then started to slither into tighter turns. She did really well responding to the verbals – she seemed to need a verbal get it affirmation after the left at first but then she seemed to understand that the get it was implied in the left cue towards it. Also terrific job balancing the right and the left with ignoring the toy (also in the other direction). I think it went GREAT – the toy has a lot of value ot her, but well done on the listening to verbals and ignoring the toy til cued (and also being so focused outside!!!). So many good layers coming together here 🙂 AND the snow melted, good times ahead!!!!! You can start to fade ut your motion a bit and see what she can do with the verbals alone 🙂
Well done on these – you nailed it!
TracyHi!
>> 1. Do we do one run thru on the regular grid prior to introducing the progressive grid in the same session or just go right to the progressive grid?
I would go right to the progressive grid. I don’t want to start a session by getting him into the rhythm of the other grid then change it. Also, you can begin the progressive grid by back chaining it – start in the last interval then work your way back to the beginning – to help him scope it if needed.
>>Benni was working at a 4.5′ ladder grid distance but if I use that as the starting point for the progressive grid, that means the last grid spacing would be 6′ assuming I increment by 6″ in the progression. 6′ sounds like a lot for him to bounce or not? As you remember he got ahead of himself at the 5’spacing I had tried before. I was thinking maybe to try 4′ – 4.5′ – 5′ – 5.5′ at first. What do you think?
Yes, I would start with increasing the intervals by 6 inches for now and see how it goes. At some point in the future, I think a 6 foot interval will be fine but definitely work up to it in the 6 inch intervals.
T
Hi! I would not show the other grid first, as he will come into it expecting the same distances. Hie might expect it anyway, but if there is a couple of days between sessions then he is more likely to think about it rather than go on what he did a few seconds before.
T
Hi again! She did really well on these jumping games!
On the grids:
She seems to really be liking the power she is feeling on these! Wheeee! Happy girl 🙂3 jumps –
You can be calmer on the grids LOL! We want the grids to be relatively sedate. On these, start her closer she to the first jump (so she takes off immediately for it and doesn’t take a stride coming into it) – she is so far back and is coming in with a lot of speed, so she is getting off balance – you can see it in the slow motion when her butt gets higher than her shoulders on the last jump. Your placement at the end is good but have the toy on the ground – you can drop it as you release so you don’t have to lean over, as the leaning over might encourage too much speed on the grid.4 jumps – you were calmer so she was more balanced 🙂 As with the 3 jump grid, start her really close to the 1st jump and try to have the toy on the ground. She is doing well on these!
On the tunnel- go game – try stretching the tunnel out and running in deeper to it, so she drives ahead even more – you were getting ahead with no place to go, so you were a decelerated a bit. Even if you are ahead, keep moving so she knows she is allowed to accelerate.
Overall, she is a really nice job on these!!! At the end when you were more ahead, she struggled a bit with finding the line. To help her, try more connection (dog side arm back, looking at her eyes a bit more and holding the toy toy in opposite arm so it is less visible. When we aren’t connected enough, the dogs will often come off the line and lock onto the toy, which I think is what was happening here. You connection was a lot stronger on last rep and she picked up the jump! Having the toy in the other hand will allow you to throw it while maintaining connection.Nice work here!
TracySo, in a bizarre testament to the times we are living in, I totally watched this video and responded yesterday… but clearly only in my head. Oopsie! Sorry! Poor Wilson wanted the chance to try it too!
Demi was really driven for this game, and it was hard to tell what she was going to do until you released her LOL!! Keeps you on your toes.
The first couple of reps were really good then she got too caught in the moment and went directly to the toy. No biggie LOL! She was perfect on the next rep (but grabbed the toy on the next one LOL!). The toy is now really high value (yay!) so you can use a lower value toy (or an empty food bowl then toss a treat into it. In a away, I think it is super fun that she is loving her toy play so much!!! Your last couple of reps were really good, you really emphasized your serp hand. Good job moving her around the angles – keep playing with this – it iss building the serps, yes, but also helping to proof the stay, build more impulse control AND get her pumped up for agility 🙂
Nice job!
TracyHi!
Your minny pinny is going well – yes, remembering the darned words is the hardest part !!! You can start to fade out your body cues and move less an less, making up little ‘sequences’ on the pinny to do on verbals alone!Nice job on the rear crosses, what a good girl to go to the tunnel when asked, and turn towards the jump on the rear crosses! Yay! On a couple of the rear crpss reps, you were a little late showing pressure on the line between the jumps, so she ended up a little wide. You can get on the diagonal right as you pass the wing of the first jump (drive in deeper to the tunnel if you need to so you don’t get too far ahead). That will turn her a bit tighter, putting the last jump more squarely on her line. By being a little late, she jumps more on the center of the bar of the RC jump and landed wide, and it too green to save you by picking up the next jump 🙂 The GO reps looked totally different, which is good!
The decel rep went well (there was only 1) but you were connected and she didn’t duck behind you 🙂
Nice work here!
TracyUgh, I saw that winter was causing problems!!!! No worries, we will be here when you get free time and sunshine 🙂 Thanks for the update!
Hi!
The video definitely gives us insight into what he needs! I would for sure run a timer on each session so you don’t go for too long – otherwise it becomes like drilling and he loses interest. Set a timer for 2 minutes, tops! And finish when the timer goes off, or before it.Also, a couple of other ideas – it looks like the Manners Minder is not that stimulating, so use it in places where you are moving more and want him to be more interested in your position, like on the decel games. And a toy is a good reward for the threadle games.
And, count failures. One failure? ok, not big deal… but when you get a second failure in the same session (doesn’t have to be in a row, just the 2nd one) then you need to break it down and reward smaller pieces so you don’t lose him. There were a few times where the failure rate got high so he lost focus. And, after a failure, you can keep the rate of reinforcement high by finding other things to reward – such as a hand touch or a sit in front of the jump when you line up again.
On the wing wraps, you can show the physical wrap cue sooner and run more, I think he would like that! The go was hard because that 2nd jump was pretty far away and you were behind (or caught behind a wing on some of them) so you can move that 2nd jump in closer to help him out with the go. He did well with his go when you were slightly ahead! Ideally, the 2 jumps will be about 6 feet apart so you can get the go without having to move much. He also really liked the toy reward.
One other thing – try to never disconnect or turn your back on him after an error. You were probably thinking about resetting him, but the the dogs all read that as negative punishment and they lose motivation (2:15 is a good example). So if something goes wrong, stay engaged an make it fun to reset.
On the threadle – try standing completely still and using fewer words – there was a lot going on here in terms of movement and also verbals. You can use the cross arm, but show it and use your threadle verbal to release then be still – you had a lot of words going like OK his name, Right Here, go get it while you were also steering with physical cues so it was harder for him to focus in on one thing. You can be loud and move a lot after he gets to the reward. This was where he wasn’t all that excited by the Manners Minder, but he definitely liked the toy better! And after an error, you can reward him for sitting in his line up spot or do a couple of tricks as you move back to it (for treats) so he stays engaged and not stressed.
The decel game is hard, so it is a good place to use the Manners Minder as a less exciting distraction. He definitely did not like be chased or grabbed when he was wrong (based on his behaviors after it, he found it pretty icky!), so the MM as the distraction will be great because you can just call him back and not have to touch him. Starting him furhter from the distraction was definitely helpful – and I think you can lure this a few times as well – have the treat already in your hand when you are standing still – then show it to him right after you release him. This game is a really good one for remember the 2 failure rule to break it down and keep him engaged.
Let me know what you think!
Tracy
