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Hi!
I agree, this looked good! I also agree, the foot movement on the kitchen session was definitely the flooring, so try to keep him on carpet or grass so he can keep his feet from moving 🙂 Now, he already has a strong stay behavior so we can play with this to help him learn to still have that great stay even when arousal rears up. He seemed perfectly happy to hold the stay and let you throw treats back to him LOL!!!! So – you can build on this by doing it outside and with a toy (Nemo ball!). Start off with short reps to keep him successful. You can also do it in front of exciting things: what does he find exciting that he might want to move towards? And, if you can get him barking and jumping around, you can get him revved up before you play and after each reward, so he learns the joys of stays even when he wants to jump around and bark 🙂
You can also cue the sit or down with a verbal, so it is less about offering a position and more about responding to the cue. He looks definitely ready for that.
Nice work!!
TracyHi!
I don’t think there was too much pressure here in that he was avoiding the game, I think it was more that the Nemo ball is played with in a certain way and he was trying to elicit that: it looked like he prefers to have it thrown or kicked for him to chase, so he would toss it at or near you then step back, fingers and paws crossed that you would toss it it again. Then when he went into the down, it didn’t seem to be a shut down sad-making down, it was more of a ‘herding the ball’ type of down (because this toy elicits that response in this situation). So, an idea: after the initial thrown and drive to it, move away from him rather than towards him (he definitely was moving way from you when you moved towards him after he got the ball on these reps). Let him have a trot about, then go get the toy (or have him bring it, whichever is easier), then throw it a few more times so the reward is very much about the play with the ball and not as much about getting the ball. And each start of the game will come to predict the play with the ball the way he likes it 🙂
I like your plan of pingponging the tossing versus placing of the ball – you can toss it and vary the timing of your release to it: sometimes before it lands, sometimes right when it lands, sometimes a second or two after it lands. You can mix up your toy rewards but probably not in a way that he has to ignore Nemo to play with another toy – he might not find a different tug to reinforcing if the ball is in the picture, so you might want to build it separately first and then meld it together.
Nice work! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning!
I think he quite liked the Nemo ball here!This session looked really good. Will he go back and forth from cookies to Nemo? I ask because on the tight turn element, he can stick a little closer there with a food reward on the turn: the turn and the excitement is keeping him tight for the first part of the turn but then he is a little wider on the exit (I don’t think it was anticipation, I think it was centrifugal force :)) So turning with less speed for now and a food reward will keep him nice and tight on your leg. So he can get a treat for staying on your turn, then you can throw the ball out for the GO GO GO at the end. And yes, you can decelerate sooner 🙂 He needs to see it sooner for now, partially because he is bigger as you mentioned and partially because he doesn’t have Min’s years of experience. But he is doing really well and turning nicely! Be sure to have extended play sessions of Nemo-tossing before you go back to the game. You can also incorporate a food toss instead of a stay (or sending him to a treat in the bowl if he can’t find a tossed treat in the grass) to work on the food-to-toy element as well as the impulse control of ignoring the cookies smells 🙂
Great job!
TracyGood morning!
>>I use “search” to mean I am tossing a reward on the ground and you are free to get it. I’m thinking of using the same word for this game…or would you recommend a specific release to reward cue for tossing back at them?>>
I guess it depends on exactly what search means 🙂 I want the pups to understand very specifically that the reward is coming back to them, so they don’t need to move forward (you can see my bigger pup literally waits there to catch the reward LOL!) So if search means to move forward at all, then there might be a question and we won’t build value as quickly with the stays. My ‘catch’ cue means the reward is coming as close to your mouth as I can get it, from way out ahead.
Interesting video, we learn the most from these where the pups have questions! The parallel path looked great. And he clearly has value on the prop AND he had good hits… so *something* was worrying him. It could have been one of 3 things, from what I could hear: there was something jangling near the clicker (or the click itself), or pressure from the ready game, or the computer noise (it took me a minute to figure out what the sound was LOLOL!!!!)
The body language looked more like a noise sensitivity thing but the only way to find out is to ask him again: do a 30 second session without a clicker, just treats – but still do the ready game. Do it in a different room, to cleanse the palate. Then, separately, do a 30 second session with the clicker but without the ready game – and he might give us more insight into what he didn’t like. I don’t think it was the computer noise because I think most pups are used to our devices making noises like that LOL!!Let me know how those sessions go and we can figure it out. You didn’t break the prop game, he simply has a question. And that is one of the reasons we do this on a prop – because we can sort all of this out away from agility obstacles, so we totally know what he likes when we move over to the obstacles 🙂
T
Hi! Ah, yes, I thought Fizz was a boy and then I thought I heard brava and got myself all confused that the bravA meant he was a she. LOL!! Too much caffeine for me 🙂 We talked about various markers in class today! I suggested people started with just 2 reward markers and a release word (from a stay) but more is always good!!! What other markers do you have? It is fun to obsess on this stuff.
And I agree – Fizz is turning out to be SUPER nice, I love watching him!
TracyThank you for the update! I am doing a happy dance here!!!! Rate of success/rate of reinforcement is working some magic here! And we will also build in some games to help him learn how to management the moments when perhaps his is very stimulated or even a little frustrated 🙂
THi!
I love to obsess on verbals!
I personally have gone to 2 cues for wraps (one for left wrap, one for right wrap) and also a soft left and a soft right. I used to have one for turn towards me… but then I got Voodoo who told me that one cue was NOT enough. I believe that one cue was not enough because of the ‘towards’ element: in order to be correct, he first had to process where the heck I was! Then he had to turn. He was frustrated! I am not such a fast runner so he was not getting info info on just turn towards me or away from me. When I switched him to turn to HIS left or HIS right a couple of years ago: boom, happy dog! I believe that was because he could just do his thing and it didn’t matter where my slow self was LOL! He never ever got in trouble when I was using the “towards me” version, I never told him he was wrong, but clearly he felt frustrated with late or lacking info. It was an interesting process!
Are Sly and Jadzia related?? E is SUCH a great person and her little Jadzia is a very fun agility dog!!!!! E is doing a great job with her.
THi! The look on his face when he couldn’t find the treat on one of the throws was SO funny! Your treat throws weren’t too bad but you can always use an empty food bowl as a toss target to help. The blinds looked great! My only suggestion is to get the reward visible one step sooner: you were doing blind THEN reward visible, which makes the reconnection (with the new dog side arm back and the bit of eye contact) not visible as quickly as if you could do the blind AND reward visible at the same time. The reward being visible that quick is not so much because he needs tp see the reward (he doesn’t) but it is more about getting that new dog side arm back so he can see the new connection.
He is doing so well on ALL the things!! I love it!!!
TracyHi! He definitely loves his wing wraps!!!He is doing something that I have learned to look for and that I really like: he is leading with his head. What I mean by that, is that he is turning his head to slither around the wing, and the rest of the body is following. That is going to be a factor in really nice turns in the future! Yay! So that is something to mark: be quiet until he gets to the wing and as soon as you see him turn his head, big praise and present the reward. Yay!
You can at this point at the wrap words to this: start back a 2 or 3 feet from the wing (no distance needed for this): hold his collar, start saying the wrap word, then let go (I do the new cue of the wrap word before the old cue of the permission to go – and the permission to go at this stage is the freedom near the wing :)). Keeping the distance nice and close for now will keep the speed way up – when we move you back to 10 feet away, we will be adding in sends to help cue the drive to the wing.Great job!!
TracyHi!
Natural trumpet? VERY cool!!! I had t watch a few times, some for the dog training, some for the trumpeting 🙂 Is natural trumpet all embouchure and no valves?
I think you were just fine with the food for here. Yes, you can add praise to the food drops but you don’t need to be wild in this particular game (food can be used more like a toy in other games, but in this game we do get to just sit on our butts and let the dogs do the work :)) He did well picking up the back and forth again, so if he loses he rhythm with the food quickly then you can mix the toys in sooner: 3 or 4 cookie rewards then go to toys as rewards. He did seem to like having the 2 toys in play!! He is ready to go to a bigger “thing” to go around, and for you to begin standing up (not both at the same time to start, but both separately then you can put them together 🙂
Nice work!!!
TracyHi!
These videos are marked private too. Let me know when you list them as as unlisted, can’t wait to see them! She is so cute!
TracyHi!
The first video is marked unavailable, it might be listed as private. Can you relist to unlisted?
On the send video, she is doing really well!!! She has a nice balance of focusing on you and happily driving to the prop. Now, as you mentioned, she didn’t always touch the prop. She always went to it (Yay!) but the foot smacks were not always on it. It looked to be due to distance more than excitement. I think you were just a little too far away for perfect accuracy of the foot touches – she was just about perfect from about 2 or 3 feet away, (forward and sideways) but when you got past that, she went to the prop but didn’t touch as nicely. It was mainly because you were giving her the treat a bit further away and the next send was from where she got the cookie. So, continue giving her the reward like you did (moving away, tons of fun!) and then use your ready ready moment to get back to the 2 -3 foot range for the next send. After a couple of sessions. you can move yourself back out again, bit by bit. You were right to wait til she touched it to reward, that helps keep it clear for her.
Nice work here!
TracyHi Mary!
I think she liked the speed lines here! ha! Wheeeee! On the first couple of reps, she was on the line nicely when you disconnected and ran, but she had to work her jumping – she was a little off balance with her hind end up high on the jump before the tunnel on reps 1 and 2
And on rep 3 going the other way, she was beginning to control the hind end (both directions) and then pretty much had it sorted out by rep 4. Nice!On the backside: good commitment!!! See if you can strip out a bit of the big send step – it delays you from getting to the takeoff side when she is on the takeoff side, so being able to push with less step towards the backside will get you there sooner.
On the threadle reps- she did well on the threadles, they are pretty wicked ones!! She isn’t quite ready for you to be fully forward yet but they are strong so far for such a young dog. Remember to give her a strong collection cue on the exit of the threadle jump so she drives in hard for the next jump – she turned nicely but stayed on the line she was on, so a stronger turn cue will get her even tighter and looking at the takeoff side of the next jump.
Pinwheel video – pinwheels are pretty hard! She is doing better on these – on the early reps, you were rounding the line more than needed, sp she was rounding her line to match it. What I mean by the that is you were turning and facing a parallel line to the wide turn (especially to her left) so she rounded the line too. The best rep to me was the one at :46 where you sent and did a split step away, no rounded line, and she was so tight and you were way up the line . Compare it to the 2 reps after it, where you didn’t split step away as well so you were running parallel for longer – so her turns were not quite as good. Let me know if that makes sense.
Great job here!
TracyHi! Good to know about the back legs!! RDWs are fun 🙂
On the first run:
1-2-3-4 all looked good, nice line and connection there! On 5, he needed an earlier turn cue: when he lands from 4, send and leave is probably all that is needed (you were driving forward til he took off for 5 then turned so he was wide). You were clearer on the 2nd rep with a turn cue and it was a nicer line 5-6.Then it looks like the bar on 6 was late info on that first rep: as he was preparing for takeoff, you were in the landing spot (:10) so he lifted his head and his shoulder whacked the wing. Keep moving through there and to get off the line and it will be easy for him. O n the 2nd rep, you were also there too long so he didn’t hit the bar but he did toss his butt into the air at :25. The goal on the push through backside serps is that you are on the takeoff side when he is on the takeoff side, so you can leave him sooner to step through the gap – send to the backside and when you see him heading that direction, step into the gap long before he arrives at the backside.
The blind cross on the last line is great, it worked nicely and is a great way to handle that line. The threadle would be useful there for when you have to head back to the tunnel dog on right. But, a double blind would work great too 🙂 Great threadles can be super fast, so they are worth training! But when I time a great threadle versus a great double blind, the double blinds tend to be faster (I have timed these a lot with any handler who will allow me to do it 🙂
Nice job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi Karen!
I think it is great that you add a critique! It helps train you eye on what she needs in the moment, which will be helpful at trials! You will be able to make quick adjustments and problem solve more easily.On the opening line – yes, a blind is possible at :07 but I think the wider turn was more about timing than about choice of cross (I think the FC is a good option because it turns your feet to 5 sooner than a blind) but with both crosses: when she lands from 3, you need to be up there and starting it. You were still moving into position as she took off for 4 on the first rep.
On rep 2 at :30, you were definitely starting the FC sooner! yay! But you were still moving into position (moving a bit backwards as you rotated, but backwards motion is forward motion to the dogs :))After the weaves at :20 and :40 – yes to the earlier blind 🙂 And yes and yes: she would have added a stride and it would have been faster. On the late blind, she had to land, balance and then turn, so it cost time indeed. A way to tighten it is to show less acceleration into it: you were not moving that fast while she was weaving and then when she exited, you exploded into the cross. Try to reverse that: go fast while she is weave then when she exits, decelerate into the cross (and then run like mad 🙂 )
Ending line: The GO GO GO to get to the last tunnel was really nice!!! Turn off the cue before she enters, so you can switch to the collection for the jump after it. At :53 you were still using the loud GO GO GO (or something that sounded like a go?) so it caused a bit too much extension there.
Course 2: You had a soft brake at :59, I think that will be effective there! You can start it earlier, when she has landed from the previous jump: the outside arm/soft brake cue is part of the commitment cue there and will tighten up the turn.
It was hard to see what is happening at jump 7 (far from the camera) but it looks like you might find it more effective to do a spin there! At 1:01, you were rotated and then opened back up so she went wide. You can finish the rotation which will both keep the turn tight and get you up the next line sooner.Good job on the tunnel-jump-weaves line!
Question: how much will she let you turn while she is weaving! At 1:12, you started the FC to 11 after she exited, which created a domino effective of the cues being late. The send to the backside was late so then you couldn’t quite get past the line at 1:11, so she landed and had to stop to let you get past at 1:13. You did get the right turn after it but it will be easier if you can start the turn cues while she is weaving not after. A different handling option here could be a threadle or double blinds with you staying lateral during the weaves and handling from takeoff side of 11.
Course 3: the slicing rear before the weaves is effective! To get to it more smoothly, try to run forward to it more and not pull in on the jump before then push back out (1:23), that makes it hard to set the slice. You were much clearer about driving directly to it at 1:31 and it looked really good! 1:55 and 2:02 were good too but not as smooth as 1:31, because you pulled in a little at 1:55 and 2:02. There is a good close up at 2:33! You can see how at 4 you are looking forward and dropping your arm so she draws in. – that #4 is a serp jump, so you will have a sweeter line if you turn your upper body to face the jump and keep your arm back, so she pings away from you on the serp.
Off the teeter, when you are ahead, remember to push to the backside while being opened up back to her. You turned forward to point at the wing and she came to the front at 1:42. You might find it beneficial to hang back more there (on the teeter) so you can drive her forward to the backside then blind. By being far ahead, you had to wait and that set up a FC – which works in that spot but the rotation delays the next set up – at 2:15 you got behind and didn’t quite get turned to the tunnel, so she read the cue as a RC on the flat. It is more of a ‘traditional’ rear there (on the tunnel entry) so you can just turn and face the tunnel then drive to it on a RC line.
You did the more traditional RC on the very last rep and it worked great! The entire ending line was smoother (yay!). My only nitpick there on the last rep is that you can start the blind after the at 2:52 before she goes into the last tunnel, so she exits already turned. Yes, you can run faster there LOL but I think doing the blind earlier will make all the difference.
Great job here! Let me know what you think! Stay cool!
Tracy
