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Hello and welcome!!! Happy almost-birthday to Barry!
>I get what you mean about using left and right turn cues because that way the dogs only have to worry about themselves, I just worry cos I can’t tell my left from my right, I literally have to check which hand makes the L everytime someone tells me to do a L or R. And that’s a lot of thinking I have to do haha>
If it is easier, you can do the wraps towards and away for the verbals! The left and right verbals will be easier because you will be able to plan them and not have to pull them out in the moment while running.
Looking at the video:
What a gorgeous location! I feel like we all need to take a field trip to visit you LOL!!
The pre-game here went really well: he was a superstar with his stay and resisting the toy until you released him (except for the 2 little break moments where you were really quick to lift the toy LOL! He probably figured it was worth a try haha). And when it was moving, he was great about focusing on it.
And most of all: perfect focus and engagement with all of that open space! Yay!>Also I heard what you said about the toy, I have a bigger toy.. this is what I had to hand while away>
That toy actually worked well! It might have been a bit too flat when it wasn’t moving, but when you were moving the part of the toy that he was focusing on was lifted off the ground, so it worked really well.
Great start here! Onwards to the other games!
Tracy
Hello and welcome! Congrats on all of your adventures and new titles with her – she is a versatile dog and will be adding agility to that list soon!
Great job!
Tracy
Good morning!
>I checked her over and did find a twitchy area in her upper to middle back and it seemed to be more on the left side.
That might explain why she didn’t want to scrunch into the tunnel on a left turn. Poor girlie! These dogs can be hard on their bodies.
> I have a small laser and a pemf bed that I’ll use with her too. >
Perfect! Those are useful modalities.
>Thankfully her feet and toes seem fine. >
YAY! I always worry about toes 😂
>I’ll also move the weaves and there’s a shade cloth on the ground behind the tunnel I’ll move, and make sure the dirt is out of the tunnel. >
Keep me posted, I am curious to know if the visuals were part of it or not.
>I’ve been thinking I should watch the videos on pain you and the others did recently.>
It has been really interesting getting the veterinary perspective on it all – they are seeing the correlation between pain and behavior we are seeing, so we can all catch & fix things a lot earlier rather than blame training or do MORE training.
>I worked on some of the motion override things and took her to some stores in town.>
Perfect! A nice balance to running sequences!!
Keep me posted 🙂
TracyGood morning!
>Should I always start with the strong side? >
For new stuff that is really hard: yes, start on the strong side. That is stuff like threadle wraps, backsidey stuff, etc.
For the simpler things? I don’t think it matters as much which side you start on.>At some point do I start doing more left?>>
Unless there is a big question or struggle, you can be balancing the hard versus easy side within the same session at almost 50-50. If the game requires a reset of the course, you can do one short session to the right, then the next session is to the left for example.
On the video – the speed line to her right was easy peasy, so trying it to the left can happen immediately like you did. The handling should be the same, though. Her questions were not about left turns, they were about motion:
At :38 you stepped and turned away a bit and at :43 you turned away even more. Compare to the first rep at :08 where you had more steps towards the jump so she saw motion to it.
You moved to the jump really well at 1:02 and 1:08 and she got it beautifully. Yay!
There was also a lot of really lovely connection on these runs – SUPER NICE!!!!!
She had a question at 1:33 someone said you were too early (Tina?) and that was correct 🙂 You decelerated a lot on the middle jump (when she was halfway to it) and faced the wall so she did indeed think it was a wrap. Right before takeoff you kept moving, so she scrambled and slipped to adjust (bar down).
You kept moving better at 2:34 but you don’t need to decelerate as much for the middle jump – that was causing you to face forward past it for too long which is why she went wide there. You can keep running to the wrap wing until she is taking off for the middle jump, then decelerate.
Great job here!!!
Tracy
Good morning!
>We are working on it during arousal but its def delayed when he wants to do other things.>
He is such a good boy – on the motion override video from the other day, you can see him processing the motion versus the verbal like a computer 🙂 His sits will get faster and faster, which will transfer really well to things like the teeter or weaves or even tight turns that we will want him to do even when your motion is running in acceleration.
Straight lines video: this went well!!!
The RUN cues (go lines) looked great, especially on the 2nd rep when you were passing the jump as he exited the tunnel.
It looks like the 2nd jump was ever-so-slightly offset and required a lead change to his right to get it. When you were ahead enough (just past the jump after the tunnel) he was able to do find the line.
But when you were not as far ahead (:30 for example where you were on the takeoff side of the jump after the tunnel) he didn’t see the line and had a Big Mad about it. Compare to :43 when you were past the jump after the tunnel and he found the line really well. A little wider there on that wrap, but no worries – you started to decel on time (as he was over the jump after the tunnel) but faced forward a tiny bit longer, probably to be sure he was committing to the jump.
The bar was down on the first wrap rep but he was probably surprised that it was a wrap and was definitely trying to collect. His wrap collection at 1:20 was lovely! Nice timing and connection from you there!
Looking at the rear crosses:
There was a question on the first one. At :54 you swooshed him past you which showed him the line to the left turn side of the jump – the motion didn’t start showing the RC info until he was already gathering for takeoff. He adjusted his line as soon as he saw the info but it was too late to do it before takeoff – you can reward that anyway.
Compare to 1:00 where you did not swoosh him past you and instead you got directly onto the rear cross line – he got it! Yay! I bet you can get on that line to the center of the bar on t he next jump even sooner, as soon as you pass the jump after the tunnel, and he will drive past you into the RC.
Backsides: you were actually early at 1:26. Early is always fun! When he exited the tunnel, you were already pushing to the backside so he correctly did not take the jump (it did look like you were layering it).
At 1:33 you showed him the jump and then the backside info – he was on his way to the backside then peeled off of it at the last second (1:34). I think that was just a young dog inexperience moment: you had started to rotate (your right foot never stepped forward) so he saw that and second guessed himself. He got it brilliantly on the other side (last rep) where the dog-side leg did step forward to the wing. Subtle detail! And he will not need it to be as perfect with footwork when he has more experience.
Small note on that last rep: the bar on the jump after the tunnel came down but it looks like you hit the wing with your hand as you hustled past it (the wing was moving before he got to it).
>I’ve been keeping bars low as he is very losey goosey in the rear right now on both sides. Headed to get his pelvis looked at by rehab vet and investigate farther if needed.>
He did really well with the low bars. Maybe ask the rehab vet to look at his rads to see if there is any transitional veterbrae? And maybe do a dynamic patella exam instead of the normal exam – strong dogs like PoweR don’t show much on normal exams because they are muscular 🙂
He is doing well with his teeter!! Yay! He didn’t shift his weight all that much on the first rep, but he shifted it really well after that (I guess he did not like being that far ‘forward’ because it felt off balance). Yo can move the target an inch or two closer to the end of the board, so he doesn’t reach as far forward to get it: that will really help with the weight shift while maintaining the speed.
I think by the end he was predicting end position based on where you were relative to the target. Because he is so good about hitting position, you can hang back more but load the target with a cookie – that way he goes directly to it without looking for you at all. Randomly having a cookie alread there will help keep him looking forward.
We’ve got the Bang Game coming up soon which will also help with the weight shift right at the end.
Great job here!!
Tracy
Good morning! Lots of nice work here!
Ladder 1 & 2 videos: She is definitely getting the idea of committing to the full circle wrap! Super!
One thing that will help to get her to commit very consistently as you add more and more speed if changing your connection: rather than looking at her as she is rounding the wing, you can shift your connection back to behind the wing to indicate where you want her to go (and the arm close to the wing can point back behind you to the ‘landing’ spot). You can also throw the toy there too (to the other side of the wing from you) to reward her for committing.
Also, as you add more speed, make sure she sees the wing. You were blocking it a bit here so she had to cross in front of you to find it. You can move over so when she is heading to the wing, she can see at least half of it.
Slowing the hand cues down on the tandems worked GREAT! She was 100% on getting the turns! I think the right turns are easier for her (she might be a righty) but you were still able to show her the left turns too. You said something on the video about her figuring it out without you but in that moment, you totally did show her the cues. It might feel ‘sticky’ when she turns left but that will go away as she gets more comfy turning to her left.
Blind crosses: These are also going well. When you have more room outdoors, you can add more distance so you are both moving faster. That will allow you to start the blind sooner (no later than when she is halfway to the wing).
One suggestion about the reward – it was easy for her to go to the big toy here 🙂 Ideally, the new side info is driven my visible connection, so you can hold onto the toy longer until she gets to the new she (then present it to her). That will give you feedback about what she is seeing in terms of connection in the moment: if she does not come to the new side right away, the connection is not clear enough and needs to be more direct back to her eyes. She will get rewarded no matter what 🙂 but the delay will let you know if you are showing clear connection.
Threadle wraps:
The first video was left turns, which appear to be the harder side for her. You can work left turns way from you on the flat, without a wing, so she is very comfy with them before you add the wing.The right turns were much easier for her because it looks like she is a righty 🙂 So the right turns went great! To help build even more independence, have the treat ready in your hand so as soon as she turns away to the wing you can fling it in the direction she is heading. That immediate reward for turning to the wing will help her turn to it without needing as much help from you with the hand cues.
Great job here!
Tracy
Good morning! Hope you had a great weekend!
I think this session went really well! She found the line to the backside consistently and with confidence. Your line of motion as spot on: moving forward then releasing her so motion was helping to cue the line and you didn’t need to step to it or send. Super! You can keep moving further and further away from the barrel to add more distance (while maintaining the parallel path line of motion).
>I was in conflict with myself LOL because I left her in a stay, but was saying Back right away as you suggested & she left – Ok, as I am typing this now I know why she moved, Back IS her release word!! LOL SMH! >
You didn’t look like you were less confident but yes, the backside verbal is the release. Your motion is not the release, so be sure to randomize when you say the backside verbal release. If you are too predictable (saying the word after 2 steps all the time, for example) she will release on the 2nd step because, yes, they actually can count like that 🙂
You were adding a wait verbal at the end to remind her to hold position – that was appropriate because she was starting to anticipate the release a bit.
>Can I use a wing instead of a barrel & can I put a bar on the ground or towel is still fine for her to understand the “picture”?>
The barrel is good for now until you can jog through it which will probably need to happen outdoors. When we add more handler speed, young dogs sometimes hit the barrel in their excitement – and we want her to sort that out (don’t hit the barrel) before we put it on a wing. The wing could actually hurt if she hits it. And the towel is a good jump bar for now – a bar on the ground will roll if she steps on it, which could twist her wrist. Ouch! Yes, I am neurotic hahaha. The towel provides the same visual as the bar but prevents any potential twists or rolls if she steps on it. Outside, you can use a jump bump or a pool noodle. The bar will be very easy to add.
Great job here!!!!
Tracy
Good morning! Or afternoon there 🙂
>I did have beef and cheese treats in the MM! They are really spendy food! >
I can totally relate! I have generally given up on buying dog treats, and just use human food at this point. My dogs are particularly wild about chicken nuggets, rotisserie chicken, meatballs… all of which can be purchased for a fraction of the price of dog treats. It is kind of human junk food which is easily available because here in the USA we exist on easily available junk food 🙂
Congrats on your success at the scent trial!!
>that one was 1.2m high and he couldn’t be bothered pinpointing it haha)>
Ha! That is really high up for a little dog 😂
>So here we are at Awapuni Racecourse – I decided to do something the was familiar with in the unfamiliar place. >
Wow, that place is gorgeous! And it was smart to do something familiar in the new location.
The barrel sends were an excellent choice! On that first rep, you did indeed send him directly to his leash LOL! He is an honest little guy 🙂 Then you rotated more and sent him to the barrel: lovely!
He showed some impressive commitment skills on the barrel when you were sending from further away, backwards, etc, and running the other direction to add handling. He did great!
He had a little question on the backwards sending to the right turn but he stayed engaged. You helped him out by getting closer to the barrel which got success. Yay! There were a couple of bloopers right at the end when I think you were moving away earlier and reaching for the toy, but you smoothed that out and ended on a high note.
Great job here – being able to commit to the barrel like that in a new environment will help him be able to do agility in new environments. Agility is basically just a series of tricks on barrels (wings :)) so it was cool to see him be super successful here.
Tracy
Good morning! I hope you had a lovely weekend!
This is looking terrific! He is following your mechanics really well and also he is starting to offer it without needing as much help from the hand cue. Super!
And even better – he is able to do it pretty equally in both directions. That is important for sure.
He was getting really excited about it all at the end of the section on the wingless upright and was starting to rush a little: moving faster and hitting the upright. I am glad he was enjoying it 🙂 If you see him starting to rush or run to the wing, you can ask for a stay at the beginning of the next rep just to give him a moment to settle in and take a break 🙂
Adding the big barrel to it was perfect. He had a to think about it a little bit more, slowing himself down. And we do need the dogs to slow down a bit to make a nice tight turn! Just be sure you are turning his head away with a hand cue, rather Han throwing the treat to turn his head away. The hand cue will give him the change to make the choice about the head turn, rather than just following the cookie 🙂
I think he is ready for the advanced level where he does the full 360 turn (backside circle) with you moving.
Great job here!
Tracy
Good morning!
He is a well-traveled little dude! Was the trip for the UKI event in Utah? Hope it was fun! The judges are top notch! Hooray for the toy play and for grabbing little bits of training when you can!
The pivoting is going well! Just as I was wondering if maybe the pink bowl was too tall and shifting his weight too far back, you switched to the green bowl – I think I like that better for him because I seems like his hind end movement was more fluid and easier. It is just a shade shorter but it distributes his weight more evenly (and still has plenty of room for both paws)
And of course I love adding arousal to any proprioception games 🙂 Having to get his paws up precisely (without tipping the bowl over) in a higher arousal state is actually pretty hard. Super fun! And you kept it a shade easier (just front feet) and that was great.
The next steps would be to ask him to step over something low with his hind end as he is pivoting (like a small bump) – you can try it with the shaping back to center that you did at the beginning and you can try placing the reward in heel position (or close to it) to see if he will continue pivoting all the way around the bowl.
Start that without the arousal – and then with the arousal, get more pivoting without anything to step over. Then combine the two! Fun!
Great job here!
Tracy
Hi!
>I LOVE classical music. We live very closed to Eisenach, the birth-town of JS Bach.>
Wow, that is an amazing place to live!
>I am not even sure whether I would do a blind with Sammy in trials. >
We will work to get you confident to do blinds in trials! Part of what you will see in future games is how to be sure you will be far enough ahead.
The wing exercises are probably the hardest games we play in this class! You did a great job here. Adding a 2nd wing so you could have the visual of the jump worked really well.
All of your blinds with both dogs were lovely! Your mechanics were correct, connection was very visible, and your timing was excellent! I think your timing on their right turns (when they started on your left side) was really perfect: you were really trusting their commitment and made the blind cross finish before they got to the jump wing. And because the info was so clear, both dogs were fast and had tight turns. Perfect!
>Another challenge is to get far enough ahead of the dog.>
It is definitely harder on a small exercise like this. We add new game tomorrow (Monday) and part of the emphasis is sending the dogs away so you can make the blind easily.
>I read in the instruction – that you want to see the whole session. But I cut out switching the dogs. I hope, that is okay.>
Absolutely! What you did here looked great.
Well done!
Tracy
Hi!
Maybe the cat just wanted to show off the fancy collar? LOL!!
The flatwork looked lovely here – excellent emphasis on mechanics (arms tight to you and get connection) and you were QUICK doing those blinds! Wow! The double blinds went really well, thanks to your quickness. Well done!
You can totally add running to this – he will be fine with it, running and maintaining mechanics is hard for us humans LOL!!!
And you & Dice are ready for the wing games too. Yay!
Great job!
Tracy
Hello!
Thank you for the video! This is why we do all of this videoing: to find the pattern and try to see what she is communicating. Like with the previous video, she was mentally engaged and stuck with you. And she was tugging and chasing the thrown toys. She was tugging like a wild woman towards the end, was that the pink piggy? So why was she not doing the sequences??
I think her struggle has to do with the tunnel! Every single refusal (except one question, more below) was either when you cued the tunnel or in the previous video when she was in a stay at the jump facing the tunnel (so clearly the tunnel was next).
It is entirely possible that the tunnel is associated with pain or something. Hard to know why she doesn’t like it, but it could be she tweaked herself in it and is a bit concerned about a curved tunnel.
Her other question had to do with how early you rotated at the wing – probably too early for her youth and inexperience 🙂 She was definitely figuring it out by the end and not avoiding it. You can decelerate facing forward for longer, and rotate after she is past you and almost at the wing.
So I would say she *is* interested in doing agility – you did get some tunnel reps, and she got more and more sure of the wing commitment as the session went along. That along with the toy play tells me she is interested in agility – but the tunnel gives her the ‘ick’.
OK, cool! You can do jump stuff without the tunnel. Put that thing away for a while :)You can replace it with a wing that she can race track around. A few days of rest while you are in Seattle will be great and then when you are back to training, we will adjust the games to be wings/jumps an also concentrate on things like the backing up onto a wobble board.
>Not sure how to train the rear paw lift that you showed in the video.>
That is my favorite conditioning game! I basically lured it LOL! The dog is in a stand with her front feet on one side of the little bar, nd back feet on the other. With a treat or something (I think my dog was licking from a tub of peanut butter) so the nose would follow, I moved her nose to one side then withdrew the food without really moving my hand – and when she stepped forward with one back foot, the treats went back in. Having the dog on an angle really helps, so when I went to the other side, I switched hands to get the dog to rotate and face the other angle.
Let me know what you think of the Jazz Currently Hates Tunnels theory. I am not worried about it – we can easily get the tunnel love going when we know she is feeling perfect again. And in the meantime, we can get her learning a gazillion things without the tunnel 🙂
Tracy
Hello! She is doing really well with everything!!!
Video 1 – you were definitely early on the first rep but also you were not really moving so she was a bit confused. Good job rewarding her! And when you added a bit of motion and decel into it, she did great! The FC and the spin were both spot on!
One small detail: add more connection to her eyes as she exits the tunnel – you were looking forward so she did a little zig zag out of the tunnel, looking at you to figure out where to be. You had a little more connection on the first few reps on the other side, and she had no questions about where to be. Yay! When you had less connection at 2:29, she looked at you and had that little zig zag and had to be pushed back u to the jump.
Video 2: Tandems went really well! And so did the balance reps.
I am SO GLAD that I am not the only one who confidently calls the WRONG NAME of the dog hahahahaha I do that all the time. My dogs just roll their eyes at me and Torch was happy to answer to Wish hahaha
She is responding really well to the hand cues – the left turns were a little harder but she still did really well. I don’t think you need to pull as far rom the jump as you did on the first side.
On the 2nd side, you stayed closer and she was still lovely! But that was when you called her – on the reps where you called her late, she was already locked onto the wing. So call her while she is still in the tunnel (you can call her right before she goes in and call her a couple more times) so she exits looking for you and not at the wing. When you called her after exiting, it was just a shad too late.
3rd video – the circle wraps looked strong! You did a great job of opening up your arm and looking behind you to support the circle wraps as you moved forward. Yay! And that allowed you to get the BC on the spin exit really well too.
The left turns were harder for her but you slowed down a little bit and that TOTALLY helped. That allowed her to really sort out the mechanics and get it right.
And gold star to her for taking the wing on the way back towards the tunnel instead of just blasting past it to the tunnel LOL! Good girlie!!!
Great job on these!
Tracy
Hello!
This all went really well!
On the circle wraps: Opening up your shoulder and looking behind you really helped her commit independently on the circle wraps on the right turns. You can even point behind you with the arm/hand closer to the wing to support the line as you continue to move forward.
She did a GREAT job doing the circle wrap on the wing heading towards the tunnel instead of just skipping it and running to the tunnel 🙂
Getting the commitment and the blind cross was a little harder – looking behind you to support the wing commitment then making the quick reconnection after the blind really helps.
One thing you can add on the harder side (left turns) is a cookie reward – you can drop a cookie in on the ‘landing’ side of the wing rather than rewarding on the same side as you. That will help her make the turn around the wing because it helps her see the reward behind you and cookies in your hand are easier to ignore than the toy 🙂
Looking at the straight line game:
The go looked great! Woohoo!!!!The decel was a stride late at 6:32 so she was a little wide. You can start the decel as she lifts off for the jump after the tunnel (you started it one stride after landing here).
Nice job pushing the line on the backside – the connection was AWESOME! It looks like you were blocking the wing though at 7:12 so she 100% knew it was not the front side but was not sure of where to go.
I think you wanted the backside at 7:47 too but all the physical cues said front side of the jump until after she was past you. The goal is to split the difference between the rep at 7:12 and 7:47 – use the same big connection to her like at 7:12 but also push across to where the wing and bar meet on the backside wing of the jump. Connection plus that line of motion should get you the backside.
Nice job with the Rear cross at the end! One small detail: when you decelerated at the wing after the tunnel, you don’t need to turn forward at all or pull your shoulder to the straight line. You can face the center of the bar on the RC jump and then immediately move up the line to that center of the bar. That will allow you to give her the info even earlier AND you won’t end up as far behind her 🙂
Great job here!
Tracy
