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Good morning!
>We did the serp work with jump uprights but all you could see in the video was my back.>
Did it go well, in terms of her finding the serp?
The parallel path through the uprights looks really strong! She was happy to run back and forth – her increase in speed in this session makes me think she totally understood it and enjoyed it 🙂
For next time: add the bump so she can look for a bar 🙂 and also add in your motion.
You can do 2 things with the motion: add more and more lateral distance, and also start right next to her so she drives ahead of you (thinking ahead to rear crosses).
Great job here!
Tracy
Good morning!
These games are looking super strong! The feedback is mainly about moving to the next steps since everything is going so well.I agree, the rocking horses looked great! Your connection as lovely and her commitment was really strong!
As you build this up, you can add more distance between the 2 barrels. And you can add in being more upright – I think as long as you make the same lovely connection and use your Hallmark moments like you did here, you can be more upright and that will allow you to run more when you have more distance between the 2 barrels.
When she was starting on your left side, you did the full front cross and that looked fabulous!
You can also add in using the toy for this game – it will be a super fun reward and also it will help her learn to ignore a toy scrunched up in your hand as you send to an obstacle.
She was so funny running around with the prop LOL! Great job with your attention to the detail of where your feet were pointing on the get out cue!! These reps looked great (even with big noises in the background). Yo can add in moving along the line and delivering the get out cue – she seems ready for that!
Super job with the backing up – she appeared to be targeting to the mat (good job resetting her on it when she lost her train of thought for a moment :)) You can inch your way away from the mat during the session – that will very gradually add more distance while keeping her going straight back to the mat.
Great job here!
TracyGood morning!
>she DID watch the tutorial video and seemed a bit stunned and in need of emotional support (hopefully this link works):>
OMG that is so cute! I feel like she needed a note pad and a bowl of popcorn LOL!!
>This little one blows my mind sometimes – the very first time I dropped the hamper on the ground, she offered to go around it both ways before I realized what was happening.>
She is a brilliant girl! So fun!
Parallel path: this went super well!
She did a great job finding it and you were able to add more and more distance. She had an easier time going to it on your right side and when your arms were relaxed at your sides on your left side. When your arms were bent at the elbow on your left side, she seemed to read it as an informal ‘heel’ cue, which makes sense if you have rewarded her at all for walking with you.For her next session, keep adding lateral distance like you did here. And you can also start right next to her and move forward with her, to get her driving ahead of you to get to the prop. That will set us up nicely for when we add rear crosses!
The blind cross Into the pivots went really well! She is reading the side change really nicely, and you are decelerating rally well so she can be nice and tight when you pivot. On the last rep you started adding a few steps of running through the blind which made the deceleration even clearer. Lovely! So keep adding in more distance so you can run more and decel more too!
Well done with the turn and burn game. Too! She turned really well in both directions – maybe slightly stronger to her right, but also really good to her left. And she maintained her commitment even when you were moving earlier – love it! Super!!!
She had a question at 1:50 and was not as clear about going to the barrel in that spot. I believe that was because you were pointing ahead of her and not looking at her as much as you were on the other reps, which turned your shoulders away from the barrel a bit. That is why she also turned. Good girl!
You can start adding wrap verbals as you send her – do you have a wrap verbal with your other dog? If not, we can sort it out for Macklynn 🙂
>I know there isn’t set criteria or a black & white answer here, but generally speaking what is a good starting point for determining when to lure vs let them process/shape the action? A lot of what we are going over here is fairly new territory for me, so please forgive the very basic question!!>
This is a fantastic question – not basic AT ALL!! It really depends on the dog and how they learn, and if we can ‘split’ the behavior into tiny pieces so it is easy to offer.
I almost always start with seeing if they will offer a tiny piece of the behavior when shaping with an object or something that is easy to offer behavior on. An example would be like shaping the pup to get on something. If it is a behavior that is more of a concept but doesn’t have anything specific to offer behavior with, I will start with a lure. An example of that is in the toy races game: we are shaping her to drive ahead, and the toy thrown ahead is a total lure, but it gets the behavior very quickly!
>The backing up is getting better, but she’s still preferring to go sideways sometimes – so I will revert back to lure in the warmup sets just as a reminder.>
You can start with a lure for sure. There are two other ways to get them to go straight during backing up:
– they need a destination like a mat to back up onto, starting close so all they need to do is step back onto it
– they go sideways when we use the same hand to toss the rewards, so they lock onto that hand and back up from it which makes things sideways 🙂 If you have treats in both hands and alternate which hand tosses the treat, the pups will go much straighter 🙂
Great job here!
Tracy
Good morning!
Nice work getting her to the left turns here! She found it hard at first then got into the groove really well!
She was a bit in food mode for sure – she makes it clear when she is not interested in the toy or she needs a moment to think 🙂 It is perfectly fine to train the harder side with treats but also we can also try to get her playing more. Question – with this a the morning session, had she had breakfast yet? If she was hungry, she might not have been able to think about tugging. You can save toy games to times where she won’t be hungry, if hunger might be part of the challenge.
You can also separate the food to toys to food to toys process from the turn and burn game:
– using a favorite toy, just work right turns on the barrel (the easy side) for a few reps with the toy. No food anywhere 🙂 That will take out the challenge of ignoring food. That will also begin to help her associate the barrel wraps with the toy 🙂 Have you ever tried a fur toy with her? She might love that enough that it overcomes the challenge of ignoring treats.
And when you are using treats, use low value treats (if there is such a thing) and then run to the other room to get her chasing the toy: throw it, swing it around, etc so it is exciting and away from food smells 🙂
>I don’t “officially” have a wrap cue yet so I just started to say tight.
What is your wrap cue?>I have 2 wrap cues: one to wrap to the right, one to wrap the left. They are noises (so I can’t shout them in a moment of excitement haha). “Choochoochooo” is the wrap right cue and “tstststs” is the wrap left cue.
The pattern game is going well! This was an excellent place to start it. Your timing was really good. I didn’t know why she was sniffing so much at one point when she was on your right side but it looks like a treat rolled under the door? LOL!
She seems to think you wanted her to stay on the mat on your left side – she lined herself up in a stay there ca couple of times 🙂 so you can remove that mat so she doesn’t get confused at all.
You can add a leash to this game, because when you take it on the road she will be wearing a leash. Adding it at home will help you figure out how to hold it and throw treats, and get her used to wearing it while also engaging and moving a bit.
>Sure would love to do this in the GRASS! LOL!! I’m going to take this one on the road & use charlie bears, >
Yes – Charlie Bears or pieces of string cheese are very visible. I use this as a way to help pups understand how to find one treat in the grass then resume engaging with me.
>not her kibble like I did in this session, which caused alot of searching rather than grab & go – right?>
It is possible that she as having trouble finding the kibble and/or thought there was more kibble 🙂 And it is also possible that the searching was her way of thinking through the puzzle, and she will search a lot less after she sleeps on it 🙂
Backing up is going really well, I think she likes it!
You can call her back in to you after each treat , reward her for coming in – then say the beep cue and let her back up. That will help name the behavior. On some of the reps you were a little early with treat throw after the beep cue so she stopped to get the treat. You can say it then let her move backwards before throwing the treat. I think you will get the most backing up if she starts closer to you then you throw the treat pretty far back after a couple of steps 🙂
Great job here!!
Tracy
Hi!
This also went really well!
>my send hand is too high. >
I think it might have felt like your send arm was too high because he was looking at it a little, but that might have been more about him having to go past the magic cookie hand to wrap the barrel 🙂 And he did! Yay! Super!
>I did add a verbal.>
Yes! He was surprised on the first one but then he did great.
> I think lengthening the run out also helped to promote some speed.>
Yes to this too – he loved chasing you for the reward. The other thing I really liked here was that you were moving away to the reward line earlier and earlier, and he maintained his commitment to wrapping the barrel. EXCELLENT!!!
You can keep working on moving away earlier and earlier. We will be working up to you moving away as soon as he arrives at the barrel.
Great job on these!
Tracy
Good morning! This session went great!
I think he really liked the extra runway!! Good job getting lots of ‘GO’ reps mixed in, so he was focused on driving ahead. That definitely made the rear crosses easier and he did really well. Super!!!
>I do realize that I am still often throwing too late >
I think he really wants to watch you because he loves treats 🙂 so the timing was harder to get him to not watch you as much. A couple of ideas to get him looking forward even more, which will come in handy as he learns more grown-up skills:
– You can add a ‘get it’ marker when throwing the treat, so he is learning to look ahead even more.
– Another option is to throw the lotus ball – I think he will LOVE that. You won’t get as many reps in because it takes longer to re-load it, but the value of the thrown lotus ball will make the reps even stronger because he will want to drive ahead more!
Great job here!
Tracy
Hi!
>For my set up he had to walk past in going in for me to start >
What a sweet good boy to bring it to you!! Resetting with better treats, getting the game started, then tossing the toy so it was leaning against the wall worked a lot better. Yay! Having the toy in a less obvious spot will make it even easier.
The backing up is going well! You might notice that he was starting to back up on an angle after a couple of treats. That was because the treats were all coming from your right hand, so he locked onto the hand and backed away from it. Clever pup! So you can keep him straighter by having treats in both hands and alternating which hand tosses it so he doesn’t lock onto one or the other.
>Wondering when or if I should add cue?>
You can add the cue when he backs up several steps onto the folded towel without you needing to move your hands at all. I figure you will have this in another session or two!
Great job!
Tracy
Good morning!
>So do you think toy or more interesting treats in a bag next?
At this stage, it doesn’t have to be harder – just different. Different object or different location or both.
>We took break from agility type training the last two days. Wednesday he got to go to the pool for the 1st time. He did great retrieving toy in the pool. If you want fun video to watch I can share.>
FUN!! I love this! And yes, I would love to watch his super cuteness in the video 🙂
>Yesterday we went to a large forest preserve. Did a walk and got to try retrieval of a quail. 1st retrieval was great. 2nd and 3rd was tough 🤣. I thought it was hard to get him to release a tug toy. Glad we practiced that a bit before trying this 😂>
Ha! It was what he was born to do… and his young age probably means his brain couldn’t do the ‘good decision’ of letting go of the quail 🙂
No video but Tuesday night at our in person class I sat on the bench and did his back up. That worked way better with me sitting. I will try it again at home.
>I plan to do a rental this weekend and will try RC. Do you have suggestions for 2nd game? I don’t think I will have friends with for distraction since they are trialing.>
Because the RCs are hard, you can add in an easy game. Cone/barrel wraps are fun, and any of the handling on the flat is good too because you both get to run around and be crazy 🙂 And of course, doing pattern games is always great 🙂
Keep me posted!
Tracy
Good morning!
>I ask because a tunnel for me with nothing else should mean exit in extension so I just want to make sure if the timing.>
I think he doesn’t know this yet 🙂 because he exits looking at you for more info. This might be why he doesn’t look for the jump – he is waiting for info. Do you have different tunnel verbals to indicate turns, or do you say tunnel then a turn cue on those? If you say tunnel then a directional, I think you should also say GO when you want a straight exit because he will be waiting for more info. If ‘tunnel’ only ever means ‘go straight’ and you have an entirely different word for turns on tunnel exits and don’t say tunnel for those… then he just needs more reinforcement to know that tunnel means to exit straight.
The timing would be starting 6 feet before he enters the tunnel and keep saying it til he exits and is looking straight. Then if you want him to go straight over the jump – say it a few more times 😂
>For the SERPs yeah he almost clipped me but I’m noticing patterns and I’ll post my next video to figure out how to address his cray cray moments as he’s getting older he’s hitting harder so to speak.>
Post it up! I didn’t see any cray cray moments – I saw you in the way 😂 and he did a great job NOT hitting you. You needed to be faster or further ahead or both 🙂 So if he is hitting you – post it up so we can see why he is doing that.
>When you say be a step ahead you want him in a sit stay or still hand in collar
Type send?>Both! If he is looking at you and there is not a strong indication of the line, he is going towards where he looks. Good boy! You can have him a little behind you in a stay or in a collar hold, and use a big step and really big eye contact for the sends. And if he is in a stay, you can also revisit having him focus forward before the release because that will totally help too!
Keep me posted!
Tracy
Good morning! I am glad the rain is done!!! It is all at my house now LOL 😂
The layering session went GREAT so we can add on it!
You were correctly using the ‘go’ verbal here (because we didn’t know if she would take the jump or not :)) so now you can add an obstacle name like ‘jump’. And you can move the other wing in to see if she will stay on the line as you move parallel to it, doing wing – jump – wing. And she is ready for the advanced levels, adding the tunnel after the layered jump. And if you really want to add some spicy to it – you can throw in a tight wrap on the start wing and cue the tunnel (no layering).Looking at the rear crosses:
>Overall this went all crummy. Definitely the kind of session I would normally just delete the video and avoid trying again until I had forgotten about it.>
Definitely NOT crummy!!! I’m glad you posted it. The blooper reals are the BEST! We got good info about timing and also she got info that when the human does that pressure thing, the reward will come after turning away on the new line.
What was happening was that on the reps where she turned the original direction, the cues were late in terms of driving to the center of the bar. When she spun in front of the jump, that was because you were driving in at the last moment and that sudden pressure pulled her off.
By ‘late’ what I mean is that you were running straight for a few steps then after she passed you, you were moving onto the RC line. When that happened, though, she had already made a takeoff decision and could only change direction after landing. You tried to get across her line to the other side sooner which is when she spun in front of the jump.
There were two reps where you had backside pressure which pushed her around the jump and then she say the bowl 🙂 at rep 1 and also at 1:30. I bet if the bowl was not there, she would have taken the backside of the jump based on your running line. Good girlie!
And you had a great rep where she nailed it (:38) because you got the info to her on time. Yay!!!
So ideally you set the line to the center of the bar from your very first step after the wing wrap (this is what you did at :37).
I think it will be easier if you send her to the other side of the start wing and do a FC so she exits on the side next to you. Then as she is exiting, you can accelerate up the line to the center of the bar and trust that she will pass you based on your acceleration cue. If you accelerate straight, she should pass you and continue straight. But if you accelerate to the center of the bar, she should pass you and turn to the RC direction.
Because visuals are super useful, I made a slideshow! It really was a good, informational session!
Here is the link. Let me know what you think!
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1rYwnTGl3hC009_oeI9h12DRioc7TfItvEg_Rd0YT1b4/edit?usp=sharingNice work here!
Tracy
Good morning!
>I toss rubber toys and let her run around while I’m setting up; >
Does she bring those back for the next one to be thrown… like an informal retrieve? We can build on that!
>adding some easy stretches would probably be a good idea.>
Yes, and even fascia rolling if she will let you do that. But you can wait til after Monday when we know more.
The proofing game went really well! She had NO questions on the ‘go straight part. Good girl! The ‘out’ was harder of course and I think your motion in towards the jump was helpful here! In another session or two you can put a line down (like a leash or something you won’t trip over) right at the wing exit to give you a visual guide to not get too close to the jump.
And good job rewarding the ‘almost’ out moments. She was not perfect in finding the jump on those but she was moving away and trying to sort it out.
She was so cute and funny at :29 when she jumped *next to* the jump but not over the bump LOL You rewarded her and I agree with that 🙂 It was a strong effort fro a baby dog!!
At :47 when you added the FC – you were a shade early with the rotation which pulled her off the jump; Excellent adjustment on the next rep of that challenge when you did it again at :54!
One thing I noticed here was that you rewarded all of the strong efforts – even if there was a delay which I think was you processing “should I reward that?” 😂 you still got a reward in. No telling her she was wrong. And no frozen moments, I believe! So let’s keep going with that trend: reward all the things. You can save the hugest parties for when she is 100% correct but still reward the good effort.
>I’d like more help with her retrieve (really need to get this soon) and also her rear end awareness (perch work). I’ve been holding off on perch work till we have a better idea of what’s going on with her.>
We can totally work on those! That is why I asked if she brings the rubber toys back during your setup time. Getting retrieves informally is the best way to get the formally 🙂
Great job here!
Tracy
Good morning!
>Today still eating the boiled chicken and pumpkin. Tomorrow I will try a small amount of his raw and see if he will eat it.>
How is he feeling? Did the vet say anything? Maybe he just hates winter like I do hahahaha
Nice job with the zigzags here! He is sorting out his feet really well, good boy! We can keep challenging him with this setup: you can move the wings closer together so they are touching the bar – no gaps between them. That will ask him to go faster (you will have to go faster too haha). Eventually we will switch to weave poles instead of jump bars so he has to do this even faster 🙂
The get out proofing game also went super well! The timing of the FC is a little tricky because it has to happen so quickly – you were nailing it! 1:57 was my favorite rep: you gave him the ‘out’ cue and really trusted him while staying connected, so the FC there was the earliest. That timing set up a fantastic turn with plenty of time to connect to him on the new side. Excellent! You can add a little more distance between the wing and the jump to see if he will ‘out’ further away and have even more commitment while you do the FC. Having more distance makes staying on the line and passing the jump easier, but he has had no questions about that at all.
?I attempted to do the tandem turn but for the life of me I couldn’t get the mechanics on one side so I’ll save it for another day. He was getting pretty good on the side I got correct.
>I attempted to do the tandem turn but for the life of me I couldn’t get the mechanics on one side so I’ll save it for another day. He was getting pretty good on the side I got correct.>
Feel free to post a video. It is probably either a side preference (turning to his harder side) or your cues were too early.
Great job! Hope your hamstring is feeling better!!
Tracy
Hi!
The zig zags are going really well! She seemed to have no questions, so you can move the wings a little closer together so you both have to go faster 🙂
She understands the concept of the ladder grid and that is great! We can now adjust her line up spot and the reward placement to get even more powerful form.
You can set her up closer to the first jump, maybe one hand-width away from it. That way she will jump immediately from her rear and not tap her feet down before the first jump.
Since her stay looks great, you can lead out 10 feet past jump 3, and put the reward on the ground. Having the reward come from your hand pulled her head up, so the reward on the ground will promote a lower head. The reward can start off as stationary then we will begin to drag a long toy as a moving target.
SUPER nice job on the rear cross!!!! You did a great job showing the RC line here – your very first step was to the center of the bar and then you drove that line and cut in behind her. She read it briliantly! You can add more distance between the wing and the jump so you both have to run more 🙂
Great job!
TracyHi!
The serp session went really well! He was finding the serps really well. There was only one blooper and it was on the send to the wing – you can be more forceful on the send there with a big leg step at :51. But that was pretty funny that he serped himself rather than just ran to the toy there LOL!!
The other reps had clearer sends so he had no questions. You need to start moving faster so you are not in his way when he serps – start jogging! You can angle the jump to help him find it as you add speed, or your an empty food bowl instead of a toy to dial down the level of distraction as you add motion.
Find the jump: Yes, it went better when it was closer but you can add more info – more movement and a directional like GO or something or a jump verbal. Silence is not golden here LOL Walking without verbals is causing him to look at you so you can connect more, move more, and give verbals 🙂
He had a question on the send to the tunnel at 3:22, similar to his question on the wing send in the serp video. You can be a step ahead of him and take a big step forward when you cue the tunnel. When he is looking up at you and you say tunnel, he is not necessarily wrong to go where he was looking (the other end of the tunnel). Being a step ahead and using a big leg step will set the line to the tunnel entry you want.
Great job here!
Tracy
Good morning!
>I think my steering wheel is broken ! Is he really committed that soon? More space needed? I didn’t dare do more gos! lol>
Nothing broken here and you can do more Go reps… You were just late getting the info to him 🙂
What was happening on the first reps where he did not turn was that you were facing straight til he was at the takeoff decision point, then tried to cut behind to the new side and throw the toy… but that was late so he turned after landing.
The RC cue is actually more about the pressure on his line than changing sides, so as he exits the wing you should be moving up the line to the center of the bar – even if he is behind you. It was facing straight, letting him pass, then trying to change sides which was making you late. He will see you accelerating up the line to the center of the bar, then he will pass you and turn the correct direction.
You were earlier with that on the last couple of reps (the last one was the BEST!) so he turned better – but also he had just had a bunch of toy throws that direction. So you definitely need to do GO reps because we need to know if he is reading the cue, or if he is remembering where the toy throw was 🙂
I made a slideshow so you can see the timing:
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1k9pmVxfgHHI4q3cp6PRen4my04waxYdi3afzddWidq4/edit?usp=sharingNice work here! Let me know what you think!
Tracy
