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Good morning!!
Nice work on this session. I have an overall observation and then ideas on how to make it work 🙂
Overall – I think if you can do one or two or three more go-rounds on the course during the walk through, at full speed or as close as possible – then your first actual run with Ivan will be more like the second run you did here (which was freakin’ awesome!!). What I mean by that is: your first run with Ivan was good, but it had some bobbles that we can work out in the walk through, so those bobbles happen during the walk through and then your real run can be just about perfect like the 2nd actual run here was. Hopefully that makes sense LOL!!!OK, into specifics:
I think it comes down to a couple of planning details and then using the 8 minute walk through a little differently, to emphasize the speed/timing of what the run will be, more than the lines/choices. You have enough experience in agility and running courses that you can spend less time walking the lines on courses (it was about 2.5 minutes here of looking at the lines) – maybe decide most of the lines in advance, and spend less than a minute spot checking certain areas to confirm or change your mind. Then, go right into adding the handling you want – so within a minute of the walk through starting, you are already walking your handling choices.Your choices were really strong, and your planning of your connections was also really strong (as evidenced by how well your choices worked and how well you executed your connections! The only choices that didn’t work as well were the line up spot on the 16″ bar (adjusted for the 2nd run, but something to remember during the walk through) and at 10 – remember to account for how long it takes him (and all of the dogs) get to to a big tunnel and then through it. You got there earlier than planned and changed plans. So you can think about leaving him in the tunnel with would definitely help get to the takeoff side of 10, or if you want to handle from landing side, go in deeper to the tunnels so you are in motion and not too far ahead when he exits.
One other thing to remember is that on threadles, in the heat of the moment, you tend to turn your feet 🙂 On the walk through, you did not turn your feet but on both runs, you did. Now, it totally worked to get the threadle 11-12 but what happened was it changed your timing and position on the next line because you were not as far ahead as planned (because the foot rotation delays getting up the next line). So in the walk through – either plan on the foot rotation so you have an accurate of idea of where you will be on the next line, or walk it a bunch of times at speed without the foot rotation to get it into your muscle memory.
The tunnel-tunnel section and the ending line (16-17) were places that more high speed walk through time will help: you got quiet and looking ahead on the first run there, so he had head checks there on the first run. You were probably consciously focusing on the course there. When you ran it the second time, you were more connected and had more verbals going, so he did not have the same questions – and it was probably because you had already run it once so you were focusing on it subconsciously, if that makes sense 🙂 Same with your timing on the double blind sections (2-3-4 and 14-15-16) – EXCELLENT choices that were a little late on the first run but really lovely on the 2nd run (especially 14-15, WOWZA!)
To get that first run looking more like the second run, going into the high speed walking sooner and doing it more will help you have the course in your subconscious so you can nail it the first time out. Focusing on timing, connection, etc – I think you just need to do it a couple more times, 4 or 5 times total, as if running him and really ‘seeing’ him (and doing less line walking in the first part of the walk through will give you time to do it).
Now, in the summer heat AND wearing a mask AND being first on the line 🙂 there are too options to do this extra emphasis on high speed rehearsals without burning your legs and lungs out before the run:
you can either do the high speed rehearsals then give yourself a 10 minute recovery before the run (just like at a trial)
or
you can do high speed rehearsals in sections, so you aren’t full out running the whole thing several times (this is what I do at trials when I am going to have to be early in the running order).Let me know if this makes sense! Your first run was really good and your second run was AWESOME so you are definitely on the right track!!
Now about getting this speed into the trial setting – I think we need to teach him how to predict the good rewards, where the rewards are located, how to ignore them while running and how to run fast even when there is nothing in your hands or pockets 🙂
I use a couple of games for that, so I figured it might be easier to steal the full length videos from other classes and let you see them, then we can start planning specifically for Ivan 🙂 Here they are! Let me know what you think!Talk to you soon! Great job!
TracyGood morning!
So true about the disconnection – after all this time of learning to connect, adding in a bit of disconnection is really hard!Seq 1:
The opening line looked great on all reps! She also came in beautifully on the serp at 4 each time – I don’t think you need a serp arm across your body, you can just keep your shoulders open to the bar and move up the line, and she will read it. If you feel like you are getting too far ahead, you can run closer to the tunnel so you are able to maintain acceleration 4-5. You went in a little deeper on rep 3 and both of you stayed in extension more there.
On the backside at 6:
She reads those nicely with the left arm back and a bit more connection on the push. At :10, you turned fully forward and your left arm was at your side, so she took the front. At :18 and :32, you were basically in the same spot but had a bit more connection and your arm was a little back – so she got it beautifully 🙂You were actually a tiny bit early on the blind cross 6-7 🙂 at :19 and :33 To get the best exit line, you can keep moving forward and do the blind when you are past the exit wing so you will actually be on takeoff side by then, not on landing side.
This is one of the spots to totally practice the disconnection, so you can get past the exit wing more quickly: as soon as she is just about at the entry wing, disconnect and run in past the exit wing to make the reconnection on the blind to 7.
The ending line looked good! She might not need the spin, you can play with a send and go on 7 – but the spin was well done in terms of the transition to decel being the cue you emphasized and not the rotation. Nice!!!
Sequence 2 begins the same way as Seq 1 🙂
She is so responsive to accel versus decel – on the opening, you had a ton of acceleration 1-2-3 so she was flying! You deceled a little too soon on the tunnel on the first rep, so she responded which produced more deceleration than you needed.
Nice job on the push to 6 (the blind is a little too early here too 🙂 ) and YAY for the threadle 8-9!!!! You can leave sooner for the serp of jump 10 to 11: at :53, when she turned her head to take 9, you can leave and run through the serp to show the line to 11. You had a moment of hesitation which made the serp at :56 a little late. She loved chasing you on the ending line!!!Seq 3:
Another fast and fun opening on all the reps! Yay!
On this 4-5 line, you can do the blind rather than do a serp of 4 then blind – the line is slightly different with 5 being the backside, so you don’t need a serp there.
Very nice spin on 5, each time!!!
The first rep is the rep where she had the slip on 6: it appears to be a combo of her left hind not getting enough grip on the grass (slipping) and your motion up the line, so she was trying to adjust. As you exut 5, take a look at your running line: at 1:11 you are running a serp line towards the entry wing of 6. At 1:12 you do a quick decel and change direction, heading towards the #3 end of the tunnel. She prepares for takeoff. As she is lifting, you push back in towards the 7 end of the tunnel. And since her left hind never was able to get grip/slipped, she couldn’t adjust. Poor girlie!!!! I am glad she is fine and not sore. For the running line, run parallel to the bar for the serp jump rather than pulling in and out – that parallel running line directly towarsd 7 will help her set up for the in-then-out of the serp.You were a little more tentative there on the next rep at 1:24 (understandably!) so she read your decel and slight pull away as a threadle.
On the last rep, you did the pull away from the 6 jump but her hind end did not slip, so she was able to adjust to get 7.The 8 jump is a backside, if you want added challenge on this sequence 🙂
And – your connection overall was *awesome* – it looks like you had strong connection and she was able to drive her lines so nicely!!! Great job! Let me know what you think 🙂
TracyHi again!
I agree: Strike a pose transfer went really well!! A slight tweak to your position – place yourself less in the center of the bar and more on the exit wing (more like where you were at :55 and 1:08 and 1:25) and then extend your hand less towards her and more towards the center of the bar.
She was mostly perfect with her brain-rattling strong touches to the target!! But even when she was not perfectly hitting the target, she was still driving in over the jump and lining herself up to make the turn for the in-then-out behavior: and that is *exactly* what we want. and I am VERY happy to see it in her already! And the angles, and the added excitement of the toy did not diminish the behavior, she still rocked it. Yay! So – the next step is to, on the flat, get her to do this with the reward on the ground. A toy would be ideal, but it might be too hard as a starting point to get her to ignore the toy in favor of her her touching the target 🙂 So you can start with a less exciting target like an empty food bowl. When she can play this with the reward on the ground on the flat, add it to the jump (which should be easy) and then you can move to the Advanced Level.Great job!!
TracyGood morning!
Her commitment looks awesome on this, good girlie! And I hear your collection cue getting added, super!!! She seemed to be just fine starting with the collar hold. Your connection looked great and your timing to leave looked great. She was slipping a little on your jump pole, so you can try a leash next time or something she won’t slip on.
You can start to leave even earlier now, leaving before she even arrives at the barrel 🙂 Her speed to it and to you seemed really balanced: fast both directions 🙂
Only one suggestion for you: change your exit line so it is a tighter path on more of a 90 degree line away from your starting point. On almost all of the reps, you were doing a FC to go back to your starting point. But on the rep that start at 1:07, you started her on your left and ran towards the pink jump: that was more of the correct angle of exit: think of it as sticking very close to the barrel almost touching it on the FC, so the pup is doing almost a full circle and not a U-turn. That allows us to add even more countermotion understanding to the behavior 🙂
Great job here!Tracy
Good morning!!!! Hope it isn’t too wet up by you!
Awesome draw! Add in: teaching Stark to pull the game from the bowl 🙂
The game looked super good! Nice clear early blind crosses, he got right onto your hand to decel and turn and nice drive ahead! Yes, we can build more excitement into the dead toy, see below. I am happy with how this game is going, so now it is a matter of taking it to different places (and building up dead toy drive).
>>On the first rep of this game I forgot to feed him and it didn’t seem to matter and he dove to the toy. So maybe I stop feeding now and maybe that is why he didn’t dive to the toy?>>
It might have something to do with the food, or not, I am not entirely sure – but we can build it separately, no problem 🙂
>>I bought 2 pop up laundry baskets as I guessed where this was headed.
Haha, yeah….. 🙂 Filming a little thing with 2 baskets yesterday almost put me on the injured reserve with big pointy lol
Wing wraps – you can be a little less exciting until he has fully finished coming around – move when you did (which was AWESOME!) but hold the yes yes yes verbal party until he has gotten to the exit line around the basket. We don’t need to install the excitement into any of these games yet LOL!
I think his commitment is looking awesome!! But… don’t drop the toy for now. Let him chase you with it, flyball style. If we need to drop a reward back to the exit to solidify commitment, we can use food for now until the dead toy is more reinforcing for him.
Love how you are able to leave so early on the wraps!!!!! So nice!!!! I will be posting a mini game later today to add to it sometime this week, should be easy peasy for him.Tunnel threadle foundation:
>>Wow, the light bulb came on for this game. He was like check! Got it!! His head was already turning to the tunnel before I said the word.>>
That is what I am seeing with these whippets and whippet crosses: the “got it!” on the next session if there was a question on the first session, or the incredibly retention of a newly learned thing. If you have free time to scroll, check out Lazlo in this class. His is a whippet that is closely related to Stark. And also in the live tuesday class, Teresa’s big BorderWhippet is also related (more closely related to Contraband and almost exactly the same age, but also related to Stark). REALLY fascinating to see them learn and process. This session looked great, you are correct: he was already turning his head, he understood the set up 🙂 Yay! Time to start thinking about a tunnel threadle word.
OK, on to dead toy. 3 things:
first, don’t use it as a reward for now because he doesn’t think it is a reward at the moment (dead toy). You can have him chasing a dragging toy and tugging, or throw it and run to it then tug – but don’t ask him to pick it up or get it because he does not yet see the glory of it 🙂 For anything ‘dead’ we can use food for now.Second – you can shape a retrieve on a dead toy, that will totally help. It is a clicker/cookie game for picking up a toy. It is not a play with the toy game, it is a shaped retrieve as in pick it up and bring it. The play element can get added back when he likes picking it up – shaping it will transfer the value nicely!
Here are a couple of little shaping sessions I did with Nacho, to build the retrieve which also helped his toy drive. Stark has a lot more toy drive than Nacho did at the time, so I think it will be easier.
Third – I build more “grab” of the dead toy with toy races. In toy races, I never ask the pup to pick up the toy… either the pup picks it up and wins, or I pick it up and win. It is a toy *race* after all, someone is the winner (and the other is the weiner haha)
I try to get to the toy first and I grab it and I win and party without giving him the toy – I engage the pup, I tease the pup, I make the pup wild and rude – then immediately do another rep where the pup is likely to win (no cheating LOL!) The pups usually grab the toy at that point – if he needs to have a zoomie with it, let him (don’t insist on a retrieve) and helps the pup learn to go grab the toy. Here are some visuals:
https://youtu.be/QVS3w-WcsgQ?t=226 (the video starts right when I am trying to win and tease him)Also, here, with Crusher as a wee baby:
and HSM as a baby:
All 3 steps work together to get a dead toy to eb very exciting 🙂
Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
>>“…when you are planning a FC or BC, strategizing how to get there so he sees you in position and slowing down, rather than accelerating to get to the position for the cross…”Well, yes – that would be true! And I really should know that. 😊>>
Well, we all totally know that, and our adult dogs see our nostril twitch or something and they pick up the very first inkling of the cue… but our baby dogs see us accelerating and they say, “wheeeeeeee we go faaaaaast” LOL!! So, more planning needed with youngsters for sure 🙂
I think your walk through looked really strong! And the run was great, you have every reason to be delighted 🙂 It was very fun to see your handling choice at 10 percolate and develop into something really clear – wow, he powered through that!!!
I am agree that the slice at 15 would probably be the fastest line. The handling would either require the amazing threadle that you walked, or a BC 14-15 and a push to blind (super early leaving). Or, push then RC 16 would work too provided there was a lot of acceleration to 17.>>– At the #11-#12 threadle, I thought about your advice to collect him before the threadle but couldn’t really think of any appropriate handling to make that happen, so, again, I depended on the verbal cue.>>
It would be a verbal cue and not a physical cue – your tight collection verbal before the threadle cue would help it.
It was SO FUN to see the run turn out so nicely, especially in comparison to the walk through.
On the walk versus run, a couple of details:
You add more speed to your last couple of passes on the walk through – you were moving at a nice pace but he was flying during the run, so there were some moments where I felt it put you a little into scramble mode – for example, he drove through 10 with a lot of speed and also on the 16-17-18 line (the teeter) where you got caught behind a little and scrambled to catch up.On the opening 1-2-3 – I like the handling choice! One small suggestion – you don’t have to be as much between the uprights of 2, as it puts him too straight over 2. You can lead out to 3 (very close to it) and stay there, trust his understanding so ideally he is on the side of the bar closer to 3 and not center of the bar. (You walked it and ran it the same way).
Your rhythm on the opening section (1-9) was pretty darned close (walk versus run) so even though you were not running on the walk through, you had strong sense of where you would be on the line. Very cool!!!Real live Enzo was much faster than walk through Enzo at 10 (particularly in his understanding of commitment to the backside bar, which resulted in a lot of speed), so the threadle 11-12 was a little late and you had to rotate/wait to get him back into the gap. I think the same thing happened on the 15 wrap, you ended up a little behind the pace so didn’t feel comfy about the turn to the teeter. In those spots, you can rehearse his speed (or faster) so it feel really comfortable in the actual run.
One other handling note – on the backside wrap at 15, you cued it nicely in both walk and run with your left arm – and you used your right arm to indicate the bar before you left. I don’t think he needs that at this stage – he will let you just leave 🙂 If you want to use a hand to help tighten up the turn, you can use your right arm, but use it as a brake arm before he gets to the backside (right in front of the entry wing) and then as soon as he passes you – get outta there 🙂
Great job! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi! He is definitely getting the hang of the 12″ bars! That triple looks so long! His first rep on each (the double and the triple) was a bit of him carrying his rear and then he got better on subsequent reps. Have you shown him a 12″ bar on a straight simple line in a sequence? I think he should be ready for that now. Also, on the oxer, you can add some movement (leading out less and walking as he is doing the set point). No need to revisit the triple on the set point until you can show it to him on a striding grid (I believe AKC requires 23′ before the triple on course?). So the next steps would be to add in a 12″ bar to some of the simpler spots on a sequence (straight lines and gentle turns) and putting a 12″ bar into the striding grid – looks like he is ready for that now. Yay! Have fun!
Tracy
Hi!
Great job on these courses! You use a lot of your strengths (I have pointed out some spots where you can trust him even more)! Some ideas for you:Course 1: Nice opening line, he really read your position and threadle 2-3 beautifully It looks like he crept then maybe self-released the a-frame which made your BC 6-7 (tunnel a little late) but you were very quick to get the turn cue on the tunnel entry and got a nice turn on the exit! Yay!
He seems to have very strong independent weaves, so try to get further across by the exit of 9 so when he exits the poles, you can threadle and start the FC the instant he turns his head to 9 (I love the plan!) At :22 you started the threadle from closer to the entry wing of 9 then you had to accelerate into the FC – so it drove him long. Being closer to the exit wing will help you be able to decel into it and then rotate earlier. Another option is a blind cross there – decelerated like the FC and starting as soon as he turns his head towards 9.At :26 on the way to 11, your arm said to take the jump but your lower body never turned towards it, so he had a question. (You can also play with slicing him away over 11, which will set up a faster line and get you further ahead).
The RC on 13 worked nicely!
The ending section also looked really strong! 2 details for you to smooth it out:
When you do the BC 15-16, run it with your arms lower and tighter to your body so you can finish it sooner. You started it beautifully on time – but your arms were high and out fully extended, which delayed finishing it – so as he was over the bar, he had not yet turned. Arm low and tight will make the BC very quick (without having to run faster) plus it was also help you run faster for the ending line.
And on the very end, 17-18 – the exit of the tunnel requires a lead change away from you to get 18 – try to tell him before he goes into the tunnel and make a massive connection to his eyes on the exit of the tunnel – that will open your chest to 18 and he will turn away. At :38 when he exited, you had a softer connection so he came into you for a couple of strides before turning back out.Course 2
I thought he turned really really nicely over jump 2! Your upper body turned almost entirely to face the jump to get the turn – and while it got a great turn, you end up twisting the wrong direction in terms of the next running line. So, strategically, play with seeing if you can get him to commit to 2 with you more rotated towards 3, almost running him across your feet a little and transferring him from your right arm to your left arm to have less upper body rotation – all with an eye towards getting you further up the line, sooner 🙂Very interesting that he turned left on 5 at :14…. I watched it a bunch of times and the only thing I think might have caused it is your shoulders were a little open for a little too long and your right arm was moving a lot, so maybe he thought it was a RC on the flat? You can turn your shoulders to the frame sooner. He might have also been thinking about the poles?
Good job having someone to reward him at the frame 🙂
It made my giggle that you turned him entirely away from the tunnel off course at 9 LOL!! Yes, it worked… but it was so much slower 🙂 I bet you can get him to turn to his right over 9 and not get the tunnel – right verbal or a spin perhaps, or a rear cross on 9?
Great job on the backside at 10! I bet you can disconnect to run in and get the blind cross sooner – you watched him jump the bar on your left side, but your verbal and motion support it so you can stop looking to run forward more as soon as you see him heading to the backside.
He pulled the bar at 13 (:33) and I think it was a product of you slowing down a lot on the threadle cue 11-12. He got the threadle, but the big decel caused him to start looking at you, plus you ended up behind on 13. Try to keep moving at a fast steady pace on the threadle – I bet he can do it (the dogs in your region have BEAUTIFULLY trained threadles) and it will keep you ahead for a nice serp line 13-14. You did a big arm motion over 13, maybe trying to pull him in? But I think you can just serp it and he will read it.
14-15 is ugly, sorry!!! (True confessions: it is actually a typo LOL!) But is a good skill to work. The FC to threadle works really well when you turned your feet forward to the correct tunnel entry – when he was heading to the exit, your feet were moving towards the exit. The other option is to do a spin on 14 to get him on your right, then use your bypass to get to 15.
When he is in 15 – you can show the tight exit but get outta there – staying there for too long put him right back in the tunnel at :56. You can be halfway up the tunnel and moving to the poles to get the turn.
Lovely weave entry!!! And nice ending line! You probably don’t need as much of a serp arm motion on 18 (2nd to last jump) – just stay connected with your arm back and I am confident he will let you blast through it and still commit nicely.
Course 3 – I LOVED your opening! Yay! Perfect job at jump 2 (:09) of leaving as soon as you saw his head turn to the bar and going directly to the blind 3-4 (:11) with spot on timing! You probably don’t have to open up that far back to him as he lands – just look for his eyes and keep your arm back, that is all he needs 🙂
Getting to takeoff side of 7 definitely works there – you might find it even easier to send away laterally 5-6 so you can handle 7 from the landing side (serp/blind): less running for you and no rotation on the takeoff side, you will basically be able to run from the wing of 4 directly to 8.
Nice blind cross 9-10. You can stay more on the perfect path (not going as far across 9 and heading more directly towards 10) so he can finish his turn before takeoff and not need to do one more turn when he lands.
Very nice rear cross on 13 to set up the poles! And check out how you were able to keep running through the threadle 15-16 so nicely there (which is what you can totally do on 11-12 on course 2 :))
Darned off course jump so close to the end LOL! I think the rear cross on takeoff side of 17 is a viable option (not sure it if was your Plan A, but it certainly got the turn on the jump!) you just needed your verbal wrap cue and a little decel there to get it. You can also play with getting more laterally away from the weaves so you can get the 15-16 threadle from way ahead, which gets you to 17 a couple of steps sooner – and sets up a throwback on the takeoff side.
On the ending line – keep your go verbals getting louder and louder so he can drive that line with no questions as he gets further and further ahead. You can also drop your shoulders forward and pump your arms more to help push him up the line (I also stare at the back of the dog’s head when I get behind, because they can generally see how it turns my upper body to the takeoff of the last jump.
Great job! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
This was a very cool progression on this video!
On your first walk through, I thought it was a really good walk through for your planning – good plan! The things you can add to this walk through are the things that he told us in the run 🙂 I see 3 details that can definitely go on the Wilder list:
– You can use more acceleration to get him going faster (to not get too far ahead), for example, running in closer to the tunnel #3 to not get too far ahead for 1-2 or the push to 4, where he might lose speed.
– any time you have a backside push, give him a massive connection and exaggerated cue. If you are soft or normal, he is not as likely to go – you can even use an opposite arm as a ‘get out’ style of cuing it to help him get there (or, choose to do a cross on the takeoff side like you did on round 2 :))
– exaggerate your threadle cue more with your upper body. On the walk through, you had your threadle arm up high but not across enough, so it would be hard for him to see the upper body rotated (and he didn’t see it during the run, ending up straight ahead to the tunnel). I think of it as showing the dog my entire threadle arm, from the shoulder down 🙂On the run – opening looked great, and you peeled off the backside push just a heartbeat too early (so he slipped in to the front side) and then he didn’t see the threadle arm enough to come in. I loved the fast and fun finish! The side by side is really fun to see – the planning on the opening looked great and you would need to plan for more exaggeration on the push to 4.
On the redo – I loved that plan! It had a lot of hustle, which translates to more speed from him too 🙂 So yes, definitely remember that you are really good at those forced blinds (at jump 4) and you can use your distance skills (lateral distance) to easily get there coming in from 1-2-3. And, the forced cross really supports his jumping on 4.
Turning him towards the dog walk worked well – very nicely execution of your send and you had plenty of time for a beautiful blind cross before the tunnel #7.
I think think is a more aggressive plan and perhaps a little riskier – or maybe less comfortable? Or all of the above? LOL! But he LOVED it and it brought out a lot of speed. Plus, you have all of the skills to execute it. So definitely keep those ideas in mind for the next sequence: what is the most aggressive plan with the most motion, where you are driving him but NOT getting so far ahead at the jumping looks too hard.Great job!!!
TracyGood morning!
Lots of nice work on this video 🙂
Strike a pose – that target definitely has value, so you can toss the reinforcement back more frequently for the stay when you present the target (like you did at :34) – maybe 50% release to target, 50% reinforcement for the stay, for now.
Interesting go-behind behavior at 1:02! Does he had a trick or behavior where he is cued to do that wrap behind you (some folks have an obedience/rally behavior, or a set up behavior, and some folks teach that for disc dog stuff too). If so – no worries, we just make the set up look different so he know which behavior you want. Or he might have just been trying out a different behavior to see if it worked to get to the reward faster 🙂 He only did it once, so it falls into the ‘interesting’ category and you don’t have to change anything at the moment.
He did a super job coming in from the cookie toss! His speed and focus to your target hand was great on both the stay releases and the cookie tosses. And great job rewarding him to help create the 2nd turn. So, time to go to the next step – the reinforcement on the ground (can be an empty food bowl or manners minder). You can also put this on the jump, with the reinforcement in your hand (just like you did here) – and then at some point we will add in the reinforcement on the ground to the jump as well.Lap turn – nice job with the cookie hand, he had no trouble with this at all. Easy peasy! You can also try this with a toy – a toy scrunched up in your hand for him to drive to, and you can also toss it behind you (to reinforce driving to your hand) to help keep the value of driving to you when you are facing him super high (that value diminishes as we add more obstacles and running :))
Tandem turn – Nice job here too! On one rep, you did the turn away using the dog-side arm and it was not as crisp as when you used the opposite arm (which is what you did on all the other reps). I think you can start the turn away sooner for him, by one or two steps – he is driving to your hand (then thinking he is getting the cookie, based on his open mouth LOL!) so you can start the turn away cue when he is one full stride (3 feet or so) from the cookie hand.
You can also use a toy instead of a cookie here too – I know he loves his toys, so feel free to substitute them at any point. His food drive is looking really strong, you’ve done a great job building that!!Parallel path – also looking really good!!! The jump set up you used is fine 🙂 He seemed to be able to find it very easily as you moved parallel to it, only one question from him but I think you were a little too far away on the restart in that moment. He LOVED it with a toy – not sure how long it took him to bring the toy back, so you can play it as a two-toy game: toy #1 as the reward, then you turn and walk back towards the jump and toy #2 is the reward for the jump there (he is likely to carry to #1 over it, which is fine – and cute – because he will drop it when you throw toy #2.
When using food, try to have a handful ready so you just pluck one from your other hand to throw. He was tracking your hand going to your pocket which delayed him from going right back to looking for the jump.
The other thing you can do when using food is add in the element of him ‘finding’ the jump with you way ahead: after you toss the reward and he is finding it, turn and start walking past the jump so you are well past it when he lifts his head after eating the cookie – now the challenge becomes can he find the jump with you that far ahead? Don’t be lateral at first, just ahead so he can kind of see you between the uprights – and if he has no trouble with that, you can add in more lateral AND ahead challenges 🙂 That will simulate the course elements where you send him to a tunnel, for example, and leave to get to the next position, so he needs to ‘find’ the jump after the tunnel with you way ahead (and not just chase da momma :))Great job here!! Let me know if this makes sense 🙂
TracyHi! He is finding the tunnel with no problem at all, so we can look at the hanging out in the tunnel:
I think he is telling us that one or two or three reps are enough in the heat 🙂 He seems totally on board with the set up until :42 when he gets the toy and says, “check please!” and tried to leave. Hanging out in the tunnel is a form of leaving, and there were a few other moments when he wanted to leave. So – it might feel cool to us humans, but because he is so young, and running, and black – he might be hot and avoiding getting too hot. I see that in my pups too – the building where I film the demos is not climate controlled, so you might notice that my pups have their tongues hanging out a lot LOL! Especially Contraband who is doing more of the running demos and more tugging (he has chilled out in the tunnel too, sometimes). I think puppies just absorb heat more and don’t quit regulate it as much or as well as adults, so I try to keep my sessions super short. I don’t feel the heat all that much… but I am not the one running LOL!! So try 30 second sessions on the tunnel with the toy and see how it goes. I think you can do longer sessions if you use food, because a cool piece of cheese might help him handle the heat and there is a little less heating up involved with food rewards (tugging gets very heated up :))
Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning!
This is looking good – he is giving you really strong hits even as you move away. You can start to add a little more leaving early, to put even more daylight between you and him 🙂 And, on the timing you used here – you can start to leave faster 🙂 Speed is a distraction! And nice job mixing in reward back on the prop, he was very happy to go hit it 🙂
He is offering before you are ready, so try to give him something else to do until you are ready so he doesn’t offer a fabulous hit and get called back with no reward (which basically says it wasn’t correct) – a stay is fine (reward then release then send) if you need to reload the treats 🙂>>How long should my arm be back and supporting the prop as I’m moving away? Sometimes I feel like I’m dropping it too soon when I start moving.>>
I thought you were fine in terms of arm support – and he seemed to be fine with it too. The main thing I saw was that your connection was really clear, and that supports him more than your arm would. Even when you relaxed your arm position, you kept your arm low and back, and that helped keep your connection very strong. Nice!!!!
Tracy
Good morning!
>>And, yes – she looks like a kangaroo jumping backwards and waving (actually high waving). She’s a character.
Ha! That is a common Papillon behavior and it is outlawed in my house, from any Papillon or half Papillon or any dog that hangs out with Papillons. LOL! It is cute for about 2 seconds the first time then it is a behavior I personally never want to see again LOL!!!
>>I’m so lucky that the Border Collies are teaching her so many good habits.
I bet the BCs just think it is a very uncool behavior LOL
>>I’ve been training a lot, but since I have 3 dogs I have had to prioritize what to work on. Plus I went back to working the BCs on sheep and that didn’t exactly give me extra time LOL.>>
VERY fun to hear about the sheep! And yes, prioritizing is key, very helpful to do things that way!
>>I’m having trouble with the nose touch prop because she is learning a retrieve. I will have to come back to the nose touch later because it’s confusing her right now and I don’t want to build in bitey behaviors to a nose touch.>>
Makes sense! We don’t want a nose touch to be a tooth hug 🙂 Another option is to NOT use a nose touch on this, you can go right to where we fade the nose touch and shape the in-then-out by marking coming towards the hand and then reinforcing from the other hand (basically, going to the advanced level but you don’t need to have the reinforcement on the ground if she is not ready for that yet, the reinforcement can still be in your other hand).
On the lap turn video:
>> I turned the phone vertical to get more height in the video and you can see me here.It was perfect!
>>She’s turning pretty well.
Yes, totally agree, the turns look great! You did a terrific job using a nice low hand to emphasize front feet on the ground, such a critical element on these turns. Excellent mechanics: good timing with the hand, the step back, then turn – and also you were nice and slow because too fast makes things muddy or rushed for the pups.
>>Is it okay to feed her before I toss the food forward?
Yes, totally ok and also encouraged! You can feed her when she arrives at your hand, then after the turn – then again for the drive out of it. But you don’t have to throw the reward on the drive out if she might pretzel herself to chase it (I see what you mean on the first rep, where you toss a cookie and she almost turned inside out to chase it). You can replace a cookie toss with a destination – the prop or an empty bowl or a perch or any stopping point where you can then place the cookie (either by handing it to her or by putting it in the bowl) so there is no rush to chase it. I don’t think speed is going to be a problem with her, we don’t need to make her nuts or encourage her to go faster – so you can modify the cookie toss elements to encourage movement with good form and not throwing herself at the treats 🙂 And, by having a destination out there, we are also layering in value for driving to your hand on cue versus going to the destination on cue – nice foundation for threadles, discriminations, etc.
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyShe is a bit of a Kamikaze food chaser and it’s better for her if I can feed her in position and then get another piece of food to toss. She will be an interesting girl to train because she doesn’t care what she does with her body for the sake of chasing a toy or food.
