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Hi!
>Question regarding the parallel path with the jump. How much distance laterally should I be working towards? Specifically wondering how will he know the difference between when I walk forward past the prop with distance and don’t indicate that he should move with me and not go to it, but when I move forward past the jump when I am a distance away, he should still take it? I expect he will figure out the difference easily right now with each of the different props, so I guess it’s really me that needs to understand the difference, >
Eventually we will want 6 meters! But for now, 2 meters will be good 🙂
My belief on it (especially in this age of BIG distance and the dog needing to stay on the parallel line: If it is on the dog’s line and there is value – he should take it, even if we are pretty far away. Not on the line? Don’t leave the handler to take it. You will see that in the get out versus don’t get out game 🙂
And I am pretty sure he already knows the difference between the props LOL!! It is like the difference between a jump, a tire, and a tunnel, etc- easy for the dogs to sort out.
Tracy
Good morning!
OMG sorry for the delay – I saw your post and answered in my mind… but clearly never posted it. SORRY!!!!
The get out game went really well – she has a ton of value for the prop so it was the easiest thing even. And you also had nice clear cues to get her to your side who you asked, so that was super easy too.
Since this went so well, time to add motion (and the verbal if she is happy with the motion element)! A line on the ground (like a leash) will help you move straight so your feet don’t accidentally turn to the prop. And you can experiment with exactly how high your arm needs to be – towards the end it was pretty high, above your shoulder-level, so she had a question on those. You can try having your arm at shoulder level or just below it and see what she says 🙂
Threadle wrap foundations: She did great with the u-turns on both sides. Super easy! Yay!
Since these went brilliantly, you can fast- track this: for the next session, so the circles and if she is happy with those: add the motion of you moving and cueing u-turns and circles.Rocking horses: she also did great here! When you were really connected and not pointing forward til she was past you, she as pretty perfect. When you were not as connected, looking a bit ahead/pointing ahead, your shoulders turned away from the barrel a bit so she had questions (like at :37 and :54 where she offered a spin on the flat). You won’t always have to be perfectly connected but it helps for now 🙂 The last set of wraps was perfectly connected and she nailed it!
You can add more toy breaks – she was losing a bit of engagement here and there and that might have been a product of too much cookie and too much of the same thing 🙂 So you can do a wrap or two, then a tug break, then a couple more, then a tug break.
Great job here!
Tracy
Hi!
He is also doing well here – it is possible that he is a lefty for this game (as he offered right at the beginning) so it will be interesting to see if that side is easier for him.>At 1.30 ish baby checks out, I think i didn’t pay him enough when he did some problem solving, so I did a couple of easy hand targets when he came back.>
A couple of reasons for why he might have left for a moment –
If it was the 3rd of 3 sessions, he might have been a bit tired and needed a longer break. Also, all 3 sessions were food rewards, so he might have been a bit full of treats in the belly and not really wanting to run 🙂 Plus, the treats were kind of calm – the is a good game for a toy! You can use a treat to line him up or reset him at your side, but then reward with a toy when you do the front cross and run. I think that all be very exciting!Let me know how he does in the other direction!
>Curse his getting confident getting on planks, he jumped up on my see saw which he hasn’t done before (thankfully the bottom half so it didn’t move!) – that’s why i say break at the start of this video>
Ha! Yes, wedge it and block it off so he doesn’t start teaching himself the contacts LOL!
Great job!
Tracy
Hi!
He did really well here and has a ton of value for the prop! That will transfer really well to jumps and other obstacles when he is older!!>i see my feet were in the wrong position>
Yes your mechanics were good and also yes – the hardest part of this game is getting our feet to go straight LOL!! I use a line on the ground (like a leash) so my feet can be pointing the right direction, especially as we start moving.
And you can totally start moving now – he was able to do it from a standstill so now you can be moving up a line parallel to the prop. Sometimes cue the out, sometimes don’t cue it so he moves with you and doesn’t go to the prop.
Nice work!
Tracy
Hi!
The hardest part of the running contact box session was finding the darned cheese. When he found it, everything else was easy! In this session, you throwing it before he offered behavior on the box which got things moving. So for the next session, you can wait til you see his back feet in the box, then mark and throw the treat.
Nice work!
T
Good morning!
Serps:
I think the hardest part was him finding the start cookie LOL!! You might need big white pieces of cheese or something. He was good about coming into the target hand (he can sideswipe it at this point, doesn’t need to directly touch it) but I think he will come in even faster if you look at the target or even shake it.
What is your marker for the toy in your hand? I hear yes, get it, and bite among others LOL! So try to be super consistent for when that toy is available.
You can move to the next step where the toy or a bowl is on the ground!
Lap turns! The prop has a ton of value now (yay!) so I think making the hand cue more obvious was the most helpful: shaking it and looking at it can drive him right to it, past the prop.
Once he got to your hand, your mechanics of turning him away were lovely and he hit the prop really well! Yay! Onwards to the tandem turns!
Barrel wraps: He did well going to the barrel with you rotated.! Be sure to let him see you shift the connection from his eyes (during the ready moment) to the barrel (on the send) especially when you are backwards. You can make it super obvious so he doesn’t think it is a line up 🙂
Bear in mind that he is beginning to have value for other things so there was a lot of visual ‘clutter’ here that caused him to be a bit wide on his wraps especially at the beginning of the session. You can clear the environment more so he can pick out the barrel more and drive around it.
>I do not know why or what I was trying to accomplish mid way when I like touched him or held his chin?>
That was right before he did the leg weave – it might have interrupted his chain of thought or it might be that he needed more of a connection shift back to the barrel? But yes, he ws like why are you holding my chin LOL 😂😝
You can definitely move to the rocking horse games now!
Nice work!
TracyGood morning!
Fingers crossed for a dry weekend so Sprite gets to run!
The game outside here is looking good! Getting her to chase and play all went really well. It is a fun way to hang out in the yard – she was even on her way to you a few times before you called her. Yay! My only suggestion is to play for longer each time she gets to the toy – it seemed like you were getting her on the toy then moving to your next start spot right away. You can take 10 or 20 seconds in that spot where she got to the toy to really play and swing the toy around and make things super exciting for getting to you.
Great job!
TracyHi!
>We are at Pendleton and there is a lot of activity especially by the start jump…as there always seems to be a ring crew person there plus the leash runner. The next ring’s start line is right there also….tough for young novice dogs!!!!>
He seemed to do pretty well! You can see if he can line up quicker so you can get outta there quicker 🙂 Stays looks good!
>We had a little issue at the practice jump. There isn’t any fencing around the practice jump and another handler & dog came up….which Ringo felt compelled to go say hi. No dog-dog issues but I think I will skip the practice jump or at a minimum be more watchful for who is in the area!>
You can probably skip it and just warm him up on the flat. No need to navigate through random traffic if there might be greetings 🙂
The runs overall look good and yes, his stride is big! So info needs to be earlier and sooner but you were connected and doing a really lovely job!
On the standard course:
I don’t look at the maps until after the runs because I like to see if the handler can show me the course 🙂
So at the beginning, both Ringo and I thought the far side of the tunnel was correct. It was not a big stride issue… it was exactly what you cued. Here is a screen shot:
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1tk6-nzEfMYpQqQrQkStawKJQkpD4AJ5cRp2oOwjgGDA/edit?usp=sharing
You did get your left arm pointed to the entry you wanted but it was late and did not override all of the other cues (position, shoulders, feet, motion, etc)
He jumped at you when you stopped – and he jumped at you when you stopped after the off course after the a-frame. To get a tighter turn off the frame, he will need to see turn cues before he gets to the top of the frame (the cues were subtle and late here, so I can see why he stayed on his line). Earlier shoulder turn, using 2 hands, and a ‘right’ verbal can help get the turn.
But more importantly… if there is an error: do not stop! Assume it was handler error (because it was) and keep going no matter what – or he is going to rehearse jumping at you in the ring. So after the off course tunnel of 3, you can do a FC and put him back into the tunnel then carry on. On the line after the frame, just keep moving to the next obstacle. That will help solidify teamwork and he won’t get frustrated/jump up.
Also – you can use FEO/NFC to work on teeter criteria 🙂 He doesn’t seem sure of where to be. In UKI, you can put a target on the ground during NFC runs!
I thought the JWW run went really well!! You were super connected and that really helps!
I think perhaps a little convergence towards him at 2:29 caused the left turn? But you were connected and got him right back on track – he didn’t jump up there because you kept going 🙂Great job! Let me know what you think!
Tracy
Hi!
This setup was nice and tight between the jump and tunnel, which is perfect for his level of experience. He was basically perfect when you were connected. The 2 bloopers (:24 and :32) were when you disconnected. Aha!!
The failures can really guide us in the training here:
He might be relying on your connection to get these right on courses, which is GREAT! Except that none of us can be perfectly connected all the time LOL! So this is a perfect starting point: since he did great with the connections and had trouble when you were disconnected but giving the verbals, you can slow your motion down a lot and be pretty disconnected – let’s see if he can process the verbal without as much motion distraction. And when he can do that, we will add back more and more motion!
Great job! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
Off to a great start here!! Really nice session!
>Am I correct with front cross to tunnel and just post to jump? >
Yes to the FC on the wing before the tunnel. But you can do a spin on the wing to the jump, for 2 reasons:
– if it is angled enough, the post turn alone should put him on the line to the backside
– when we get into the harder reps where you are ahead and not connected, I want the handling to be relatively the same so he processes the verbal and not just the physical cues.He did really well here! You had a lot of sends after the wing wrap here and he seemed to have no trouble. You can add more of your motion, so he processes the jump or tunnel verbals even with you running up the line between the 2 obstacles (motion can totally change processing!)
And once you have the motion added and he is fine with it, you can add the disconnection 🙂
>I’m a bit worried about maintaining his drive to the obstacles if I’m not connected. Plan to bring out string cheese as a reward for that session.>
You will be running, so either way he will have fun chasing you 🙂 Yes to the cheese! And also, only disconnect a little bit or only run a little fast, to maintain a high rate of success.
>Any benefit to switching which side the obstacles are on or which side he starts from each session?>
You can set up a mirror image to flip things, as long as the start wing is in the middle and the discrimination is still intact.
Great job!
TracyWelcome! This will be fun and useful, especially the parts where you are running hard and not really connected and she has to process verbals as the main cue 🙂
Have fun!
Tracy
Hi! Great to see you here! This is perfect for Casper and will be a nice review for Enzo, especially the harder stuff 🙂
>Question: Why are you spinning in the first set when you send to the jump instead of doing the (dread) post-turn?>
2 reasons!
The first is that if I do a post turn, the dog should be on the line to the backside of the jump and I want the front. The spin tightens the turn.Also, when we get the handler way ahead AND add the disconnection, you are correct in that the spin makes the physical cue look the same so the dog really has to lock into verbals.
>Granted, I mostly spin instead of a forward send or post turn but I tend to consider that a flaw in my handling, not a feature.
> Ha! It is a total feature!!!
Have fun!
Tracy
Hello and welcome back!! That speedway course looks so fun – I am pretty sure we had a game that looked just like it but more squished together LOL! The Speedway Nationals will be a hoot!
This first training session went great 🙂 Most of it was super easy because your connection was pretty perfect. Yay! But that is still a nice skill review for him.
I think the only challenges he had were towards the end of the session where you were less connected and going really fast/ahead of him – at 1:34 you were saying the tunnel verbal and he really had to think about it: he was really looking at the jump for a moment! So having you ahead and in between the obstacles and minimally connected was a great way to get him to process verbals. That means for the first time ever, you should connect LESS hahahaha 🙂And you can also try it starting right at the start wing and also connect less: how much can he read based on your verbal?
Great job!
TracyHello and welcome!! And thanks for letting me know about the Verbals Only lesson… for some reason the website decided not to publish it. I fixed it so you can see it now 🙂
Have fun!
Tracy
