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Hi!
I agree, this went great!
>We did work a little on just the tunnel (not in this video) using the verbals with mostly success and a few not so great reps.>
This is actually the way you want your sessions to go: a few failures mixed in, because failures are just as key to success when the pups are learning. I try not to go past 2 failures total in the session, but we also don’t want 100% success.
>I think when it comes to the tunnel I need to be very careful of the setups with my positioning and making sure there is success and a good loop of “do the thing, get reinforced, then come back to me” in order to avoid all the self reinforcing tunnel behavior.>
Yes, you were really strong with that here. You can also reward her for coming back and setting up:
She seemed a little ‘slippery’, meaning she did not want to be held. You can put a collar on her so as you line her up at your side, you can put a hand onf her collar and give her a treat.
The dig dig from your left side (first rep on that side and last rep on the video) was the best ones because you did not give her any physical help at all, only the verbal – you didn’t move at all or twitch your cookie hand LOL! A little physical help is fine, but we can fade it out as she gets better and better with these discriminations.
>Is my placement of reward ok?
Yes. And you can incorporate a toy as well: throw it for the tunnel exit and tug from your hand for the wrap. Yes, it will increase arousal but that is a good next step for her.
The other thing to add is to curve the tunnel a tiny bit so the tunnel entry is a little more visible as she comes around the wing. And if she is fine with that – move the wing a little closer. She is doing great!
Nice work here 🙂
TracyGood morning!
> We practiced this the other night and I was surprised how “bad” I was. I definitely thought she stayed but once I looked back at the video, she broke just before release many times… so this was take two from tonight and I tried to slow down my timing of release.>
Well, you sorted out all of the issues from that session because this video looked GREAT! You are getting really fabulous at analyzing your own mechanics and sorting them out to set up success. WOW!!
The first rep and last rep were perfection in terms of connection (watching her as you moved to your start position), putting the toy on the ground, marking, then throwing the reward back to her.
2nd and 3rd reps had releases to take the jumps: I also really liked these. Your mechanics were clear and she was using her body with power! Maintaining good jumping mechanics even with the excitement of the moving target looked great. Fantastic! Since she is only 8 months, we don’t need to raise the bars yet but getting her to hold the stay and work her mechanics with the excitement of the toy and handler movement is incredibly valuable! This game can be re-visited maybe once a week, and you can raise the height of bar 2 by 2 inches maybe once a month for now? We have other jumping ‘puzzles’ coming that will continue to challenge her 🙂
Great job!
TracyHi! Nice sessions here!
Leash off games are off to a good start. She found it exciting 🙂 These 2 videos were the same, let me know if there was another one. The next step here is to be standing, then moving: take the leash off and reward after she sticks with you. Then if that goes well, take the leash off and reward after you move a few steps and she sticks with you. Then add a jump to the picture: for her to ignore and not to run to, when the leash comes off.
Weaves: having certain parts more open for success and certain parts more closed is great! You can also add a cone wrap or wing wrap before the weaves so you have more control over her approach – she needs to sort the entry when she is coming at them from more speed, so the wrap before it will help a lot.
> I havent done alot of me changing the angle of the send since went to more poles>
Time to add that, because it will change her striding and you want her to sort that out now, before the poles get straighter.
For the contacts: at this point, try to be more systematic about moving across them: you can back chain like you did on the last rep here, but that also means not letting her start without you 🙂 If the contacts can’t be lowered, then definitely back chain. You can bring her over to it on leash then pick her up (thankfully she is small :)) Also – you will want to add criteria for the end. Does she have a target you can use? On the video here, she went down the plank but jump off the side (did not touch yellow) and turned back to you. So definitely time to add a target to help her complete criteria.
Nice work on these! Let me know what you think!
Tracy
Hi!
Hoping that you get NO MORE SNOW! We have spring here, so I will send some good weather to you 🙂He is finding the jump really well on the wind in your hair game. You were saying ‘jump’ but you can also say “GO!” depending on what your dictionary of verbals is. GO can be more in line with the extension here and toy placement.
> I’m trying to throw the toy earlier. >
Yes, it can still be earlier but I think that had to do with him not loking at the front of the jump right away due to how he was exiting the start wing. Here is a subtle change in mechaincs to help that:
Use a FC around the start wing to set him on a straight line to the jump bar. When you were sending around to the outside of the start wing, he was correctly exiting on the line to the backside of the jump. We will want him to stay on that line as we add backsides, so for now we won’t open that can of worms and have him exit the wing wrap facing the front of the bar.Also, throw the reward further for most of these: it was landing on his landing spot when he was on your left so he was ticking the bar.
When you are able to get outside again, open up the distance even more for more running – and then you can stay closer to the start wing as he exits it, so he can feel the full excitement of driving way ahead of you 🙂 If the distance gets HUGE and it is hard to throw the toy semi-accurately, feel free to place it out ahead on those reps.
>Then we went inside and tried the wrap verbal/discrimination with the short training tunnel and wing. A total disaster. Could not keep him out of the tunnel. >
The wing/tunnel game was hard! But definitely NOT a disaster. You made excellent adjustments to help him understand the game – failures are helpful as long as there are not too many of them (I think you had 3 total on this video). You got the 2 failures right at the start, so you made an adjustment:
great job turning him the other way on the wing on rep 3, then using the toy to bring him through on the other reps. I also loved how you used earlier rotation on your send to help cue the wrap (last rep) and he didn’t need the toy to help him as much there. YAY!!Overall, a really strong session. He gave you info, you adjusted, he was able to be VERY successful.
My only suggestion is that for the next session, hold onto him longer so he hears you say the verbal 4 or 5 or 6 times before you let him move. On this session, you were saying it and letting him move almost simultaneously, so I am not sure how much he was processing the verbal.
>I need A LOT more space than I have inside.>
Disagree for this game! Keeping it to a tiny space is perfect 🙂 You both did great sorting it out!!
Nice work here!
TracyGood morning!
Moving target with the mini jump went well. The toy is a good size and I think it will work well for adding it to the set point shortly. He was driving to it nicely and was looking at it for the most part (sometimes glancing up at you when you didn’t release right away LOL!!)
Skipping ahead to the set point:
His line up position was good, he was able to step in nicely. Yay! I think we can tweak the sweet spot of distance between the jumps and reward placement: What was the distance between the 2 jumps?
> I started the bar at 16″ for a couple and then raised it to 20″ (which was his first time doing 20″). He will ultimately be a 24″ pony jumper but he is now 14 months and I just wanted to see if he had any issue (besides not realizing the bar was raised on the first one!) When do you think about raising it?>
When we have found the sweet spot of distance and reward placement for him and worked the moving target: raising the height will be easy 🙂 For now, keep it low because we have not quite found his sweet spot on this setup.
> I sort of feel like for set point, he could handle 20″ for a while….and maybe in a couple months take it to 24″….but for short sequencing I would like to keep it at 16″. Does this make sense?>
Yes it makes total sense to gradually fold it all in but also he is only 14 months old – so even though he is tall, there is a lot of physical maturing and mechanics-sorting-out to be done. For the big dogs, no need to get to full height of 24 until they are 2 or so.
I think the distance might be a little too close – this was causing him to have to compress more than we want him too, making the jumping over bar 2 not as fluid or powerful. The reward target was a little close to bar 2 also, so he was having to land on his shoulders and not power through with his feet. For now, keep bar 2 lower til we figure out the sweet spot of distance: Add a foot to whatever the distance was here, and the reward target will be 12 feet or more from jump 2. His stay looks fabulous, which allows us a lot of flexibility to find the sweet spot! Then when we find it, we will add the moving target to this (info on that was posted on Tuesday :))
The wing versus tunnel proofing went well at the beginning, then he got mad because things were confusing and he was not sure what was correct. His jumping up intensified in direct correlation to being told he was wrong, so a couple of ideas to help him out:
– to emphasize the verbals even more and clarify the info: start him at your side, holding his collar, saying the verbal 3 or 4 or 5 times… then let go and do not move 🙂 That can challenge him to find the correct obstacle but also having heard the verbal a few times should increase success. This includes the tunnel verbal, because hearing it only once when it was paired with a physical cue that looked like the wrap cue was confusing.
– stick to single wraps (or tunnel cues) rather than doing multi-wraps here (cueing him to wrap 2 or 3 times in a row). He seemed to perceive being sent again as an error marker, then he was guessing. So if he gets it right? Reward rather than send again.
– if he does choose a ‘wrong’ answer, don’t say ‘try again’ because he jumps up at you when you say it. You can just line him up at your side with a cookie to reset, then hold his collar and cue it again. And remember to live by the 2 failure rule: if you get 2 total failures in the session, make it easier to get success! A couple of failures are good for learning – but more than that ends up in frustration and he gives you direct feedback on that 🙂
Nice work here!
TracyHi!
>That’s what happens when you don’t want to make another trip inside to retrieve the tape measure!>
Because she is little, I bet you can measure it once relative to your feet – and then just use your feet. 28” would be 4 footfalls for me, with my heel touching my toes on each step (if that makes sense :))
>I increased the distance to the jump for the wind in hair and threw the toy sooner – she tended to run around the jump to grab the toy so we will keep working on this.>
Dogs keep us on our toes! So if your throws were on time and then she ran around… delay the throw 🤣 Small dogs have to take a lot of strides so they also have a lot of time to go around the jump. So maybe wait til she is halfway between the wing and jump before throwing?
>my question is: when you do reverse spin, what is the cue? is it a “left/right” or a wrap cue?>
This is an excellent question!! It depends on the context and the specific line you want, based on how much collection you want and how you want her to exit the wing.
In this scenario:
On both the FC and the reverse spin, we want her to come back around the wing very immediately so I think the wrap verbals fit best here. The left/right soft turn verbals are for the race track when she doesn’t come back around the wing, and also if she was going to go wide around the wing and not come back across the plane of it immediately.Her commitment and speed look great here! Any errors were connection errors:
You had really good connection on the tunnel exit at :03 (and at :37 when you want to send her to the start wing) but then you softened it and looked forward at :04 so she curled in to you.
Compare to :15 and :26 and the other reps where you maintained the connection brilliantly so she committed really well!Race track went great! She did really well staying on the line, even after all of those wraps!
She ended up on the other side of you when you did the spin at :59. The FC was a little late (after she arrived at the wing) so as she was exiting the wing, she saw your face looking over your right shoulder. And then when you looked over your left shoulder to finish the spin, she was already at your side on the right side. She is FAST!!
Excellent adjustment in the timing on the spin on the last rep – the FC started significantly earlier (before she got to the wing) which allowed you to get to the left side sooner too. As you finish the blind cross element of the spin, point your arm back to her more so she can see your eyes more, which will help her find the new side easily.
Great job here!!!!
Tracy
Good morning!
Great to see him back in action, he is so fun!
>We had a busy busy week/weekend- 5 hour drive, hotel, dog show, working on a lot of happy emotional management for the young man to try to keep him confident and happy and not too much barking in the hotel room despite definitely not getting enough sleep (all of us).>
I can relate about the lack of sleep! These trips and exposures are fabulous for him and are setting him up for a fun future!
>Also, he is 8 months old today (3/31)!! Big man is growing up! I think if I’m lucky I have a solid 12″ dog in every organization (hoping he didn’t creep over 14″ but I think he is done growing at least)>
Fingers crossed for 12”!! I have some measuring ‘ideas’ to help if he is on the border of the cutoff 🙂 I have always found my boys to be taller at 8 months than they are when they get measured when they are closer to 2. Their chests fill out and shoulders settle in and get muscled so they end up a little shorter than their adolescent selves.
Looking at wind in your hair:
>This video is long because we tugged so much and “toy management” took a lot of time, he was super into the tuggy today!>
That is great! I always prefer that the dogs have more time playing in between reps rather than just doing a zillion reps without the play parties. Plus you were able to keep the party going while also expanding the distance between the wing and jump or changing sides.
The transition from the tugging back to the game was a little harder for him because he wanted the tug so much, but I am fine with that for now 🙂 You were smooth about getting a treat in – you can toss it a couple of feet away if you want to buy some time to get the toy sorted into a smaller ball in your hand before he grabbed it again.
He was super here! He had a really easy time finding the jump after the wrap – excellent connection from you, and excellent line of motion! His excitement for the toy bubbled over into excitement for the game, and he was SPEEDY. LOVE IT!
He only had one question, at the very end (2nd to last rep) – you changed sides and added running, and he didn’t quite pick up the new side. Your connection was good and I think an experienced dog would have found the new side easily. As a youngster, the additional motion overrode the connection so he went to your other side. You made a terrific adjustment on the very last rep at 4:13 and really amplified the connection – and he nailed it. Click/treat for you both! Having the one error is actually good for overall learning, in terms of him seeing what gets the reward and what does not.
So definitely keep expanding the distance and adding more running like you did here. Amplify the connection a lot like you did here at the end as you add more and more running to get even more driving ahead. As you expand the distance, you can throw the toy sooner: as soon as he looks at the jump after exiting the wrap, yo can throw it.
Smiley face is going well!! His commitment looked great!
Now that there is more running in all of these games, you can play with relaxing your arms a bit, bending your elbows into almost a sprinter position because it will be easier to run these lines as they expand. The challenge with small dogs is maintaining the brilliant connection you had here while using arms even less. It will take a little experimenting to see what is comfy for you both 🙂
>This video is basically a few reps and a LOT of me having no idea which turn is left or right. >
For these games, it might seem silly but I give myself a walk through before running it so I can remember the verbals 🙂 And each time I change sides, I do another little walk through to spot check the verbals. I find it challenging to run my young dog AND remember the verbals, even if it is easy to remember the verbals with the adult dogs. And I video the walk through to make sure I am doing it right, after having too many sessions of the verbals being wrong LOL!! That 20 second walk through makes a big difference 🙂
> I can see on the wing closer to the camera I’m not giving him much room to complete the wrap which is possibly why he runs into me on one rep lol, sorry buddy.>
Yes that was at about 1:30. You handled it brilliantly by making it a game! Fun!
What was happening there and in a couple of other spots was that you were going a bit past the wing as you did the FC and waited for him, and also changing the toy from hand to hand. That drew his attention up to you, so he was not sure if he should go for the toy or change sides or stay on the original side.
So you can decel and send into the FC more, staying on the ‘takeoff’ side more and doing the FC sooner and moving away, so he sees the exit before he gets all the way around the wing.
And since you don’t need a precision reward here, you can also run these games without the toy in your hand so there is no accidental switching. That will make the cues sooner because there is no switching, and it is great practice for his future trial career, where he will be running courses and you won’t have the toy in your hand. I shove the toy in a pocket or down my shirt – it is not a good look LOL but it helps with mechanics.
>In the last rep he got distracted by a very good smell in the grass, and he wasn’t able to quickly reengage so we ended the session.>
Yeah, that was interesting! Nothing strange happened and he was working at a high rate of success, and the session was not that long. It might have indeed been a great smell, or his big weekend caught up to him and he was brain tired? It was smart to end the session. He did great!
Great job here – I am excited to keep building this up to sequence work!
Tracy
That’s understandable. One of the ways I got the dogs happy to be wrapped was to put one small piece higher up on their leg then immediately throw frisbees 🙂 That fast-tracked things really well, and I know she likes her frizzers!
T
Good morning!
She did well here and was very successful finding the jump! Super!!!
>so I resorted to throwing treats and that seemed to get more drive from her.>
Yes, she seemed to like thrown treats the best here. You can also try putting treats in a lotus ball or treat hugger so it is even easier to throw them.
A suggestion to make the line smoother for her as we start to expand the distance between the barrel & jump:
You and MissL start between the barrel and the jump, with you facing the barrel (with your back to the jump). Start her at your side then send her around the outside of the barrel so as she exits the barrel, you have done the FC and are facing the jump.When you started on the far side of the barrel and facing the jump, she was not always sure if you wanted the barrel or the jump (because you were facing the jump) and the verbal could apply for both! But when you started facing the barrel more (like at :58, 1:43, and especially 2:05) he had no questions about going to the barrel, found the jump easily, and also picked up speed! Yay!
>I hope I am not the only handler that gets directionally challenged at times, I have to think and double think sometimes in the drills to make sure I am going or directing her the correct direction!>
I can totally relate! And with all the verbals getting added…. I often do a walk through without the dog and video it, to se if I am doing it right or not 🙂
Great job here!
TracyHi!
>Still struggling on straight weaves, he tends to skip one in the middle and will pop out on #5. >
If you are using t2x2s or channels, you can open up the middle ones a tiny bit so it is easier for him to stay in them for now. Then gradually straighten them back out.
>Here is a run from practice today. As you can see he chose tunnels over contacts (the first run we made a couple of attempts at the DW at first he took a couple steps up and turned around and came back down, second and third attempts he bailed off and then discovered the exit end of the tunnel so we improvised!)>
The run was really good! He was committing really well to his lines!
About the contacts: if the tunnels were not under them or next to them, would he get on the contacts? He might need you to make the tunnel less obvious so he can practice getting onto the contact with just a little bit of tunnel visible. Then gradually extend the tunnel more and more.
On the 2nd run – he was committed well here too!
>Again you can see his collection issues (or maybe it’s a handler issue?) doing a 360 around the barrel and coming out of the 2nd tunnel and running wide of the the next 2 hoops.>
Handler issue 🙂
On the barrel at :17, you were running fast and ran past it, so he didn’t know you wanted a tight turn. To get that tighter, decelerate into it and don’t go past it and I bet he collects really well 🙂After the tunnel at :21 – the hoops are on a slight left turn. You were telling him to “go” which is a straight line cue, so he went straight (good boy!) Using a name call jump before he goes into the tunnel then call again or use a ‘take the hoop’ cue if you have one should get him turned and looking at the line of hoops.
>I have him entered in some Regular courses, which I know will have contacts, so I plan on using these as training runs and starting past the contact obstacles.>
Perfect! Keep the connection you had here and the low arms, it really supports his line! And keep me posted, I love hearing how he is doing!
Tracy
Hi!
>I think our last two replies showed up out of order in the thread for some reason,>
That is weird!
Some thoughts on the run:
Run 1. Very fast! Nice teeter and weaves! Yes, more connection needed after the blind but great job continuing. He found the lines well – and he was into the toy! He is almost ready to run standard for real! Fabulous run!
>What do you think caused him to skip the jump after the A-frame? Going into the crowd? Did I not seem clear? But from there I thought we ended strong.>
You were little unclear – pointing to the jump ahed with a soft connection, then turned your shoulders away so he came with you. I think that the jump might have required a lead change to get to it, so a bugger connection was needed there.
Run 2 – You can try for more engagement as you take the less off and maybe cue a sit and line up (more on that below).
The run looked great and he only had a hard time running towards the crowd.>Thoughts about what caused the pause and sniff after the purple jump before the tunnel? Looking for a reward? Too much like the end? Turning into the crowd? Got too far ahead off his line?>
Yes to all of the above – that is a high pressure spot on course! More experience will help him and rewarding on the line right after it helps too. You can be louder them calling obstacle names more to help add verbal support to the line too.
Nice weaves! Nice ending!Run 3 (day 2) – he had trouble with the previous dog (very exciting!) but he was able to line up and tarted really well! Super fast! And he had no trouble going towards the crowd here until the tunnel – but still nice job rewarding there.
>so I can see why he missed that jump but no worries, just kept going. I’m just thrilled he was fast enough that I was late!>
Yes! He was FLYING on this run!
Run 4 (day 2):
>I have started a few runs like this and regret it every time. I wished I’d set him up with a start line stay on this one or if I was going to do a running start I should’ve started out farther back. But we got on track and I thought it was pretty strong. I had NO TOY on this one!!>Yes, it was a bit of a zig zag start so you can be on more of an angle or ask for a lineup for a lead out. But the run was GREAT!!! Fast, focused, lovely! Was it a ‘real’ run – no toy, using the actual course from the judge? I think it went great.
Run 5 (day 2) – also really good. Yes, he might have been a little tired but he did great! You can give him a nice long cool down and maybe light massage after each run so he doesn’t get stiff – it looks like his brain was fully engaged but his body was a little tired maybe sore? He did a ton of extension running!! But even with being a little tired, he ran beautifully 🙂
>Of course I wish he was more excited about agility without the treats and toys, >
I think he ran the empty hands/no toy runs REALLY well!
>The main thing is that it was a positive experience and he showed some nice skills. We’re getting there – let me know what you think and any improvements to try!>
Absolutely! Only 2 things come to mind to try:
When he sees an interesting dog outside the ring (an old puppy friend, or a dog that barks at him) – go right into a pattern game so he can learn to process it. That will help the transition into the start line because he won’t be thinking about the other dog at all.
And I think that the runs went great when your transition into the run had the lineup and a short lead out after the leash came off. He was very engaged & fast, and also knew the line you wanted. So as he is moving to the line you can stay engaged and then take the extra moment to line him up before you take off to run. That will smooth out the starts and also give you the chance to add longer and longer lead outs.
You can definitely do more of the empty hands runs and runs with no toys at all, building into the real runs.
Great job!
TracyGood morning!
>struggled with where to actually set her. She seems to do better when she can load in. She isn’t new to set point just been awhile.>
Actually, she is better when she is closer in terms of the form we want 🙂 When she was way back on the first rep, she was pulling into it from her front end and not pushing from the rear as much – so there was less core involved and her butt was actually higher than her shoulders.
On the reps where she was closer, she was using her rear more and had better core stabilization as well. She might have been a tight bit too far away still, because she is doing a double lift of her front feet when you release her – she lifts them up then lifts them higher before going over the first bar. So move her an inch or two closer so she is using her hind even more. Also, don’t add your motion yet – that is a factor that distracts from the form. We want to find the sweet spot and then we will add motion (that motion will be with a moving target though, not with the stationary target).
Wind In Your Hair is going well!
>If I throw the toy there’s still some kamakazie ball diving. >
Throw it lower and longer so it is rolling by the time she reaches it. The holee roller is a good choice and you can use an even bigger one! You can do that as soon as she looks at the jump after exiting the wing, rather than when she is at the jump . That can help her decel to scoop it up and run with it. Turf is unforgiving in terms of sliding or directions changes, so wrapping her feet can help her a lot when using toys.
>If I place it we still have too many errors of her going behind me to get it.>
You can place it sometimes but you don’t want to rely on placing it (because then the toy becomes a context cue). And when placing it, remember to use MASSIVE connection at the wing (and you can sometimes reward the FC with a 2nd toy from your hand) and a marker which gives permission for the toy on the ground. This is a good thing to work through because she will encounter the concept on course, such as when doing a FC on a jump with a tunnel nearby and we don’t want the tunnel 🙂
She is ready for you to add more distance here between the jump and the wing, and also for you to start running. Have fun!
Nice work here!!
Tracy
Hi! This went really well!!
His commitment is looking really good and he is responding beautifully to the cues here. It sounds like you used your wrap verbals for the FCs and the around verbal for the race track, which all works out nicely.
A small detail that I think will make a difference in his turns on the wrap FCs:
In this session, you were getting your opposite arm just at or past the plane of the wing, which sends him a little wide around it. You can actually see him kicking up some dirt on the ‘landing’ side of the wing nearer to the exit, where ideally we would see that before he arrives at the wing as he decels.
So you can get that by decelerating sooner and on the approach side of the wing, then rotating and be heading back to the tunnel just before he gets to the wing. I think that will challenge him commitment a little more, but also he will be able to do it 🙂
>The first time I tried to keep him on the outside of the wing he cut in. >
That was a handler blooper, he was actually correct if you watch it in slow motion 🙂 It looked like a blind cross cue. In that racetrack moment at :21, you pointed forward and looked forward when he was behind you… and that totally looked like a blind cross because it is the beginning of the shoulder turn of a blind. So he executed a lovely blind to your other side. You can totally reward him in those moments – young dogs are very honest about what they see so if he switches sides you can assume handler error of disconnection/looking forward creating an accidental blind cross cue.
Keeping your arm pointed back to his nose and eyes on his eyes so he has side information will cue that line pretty easily.
Your connection was stronger at :32 and :45 and you also put yourself further out on the line – I think the connection is all you will need there (rather than the added pressure on the line) so he knows which side to be on.
Nice work here! Let me know what you think!
Tracy
Good morning!
>It turned out to be really hard to get Ellie to take the tunnel. The tunnel has lots of value and she definitely knows the verbal. I think it was just really hard to move away from the toy when she could simply wrap back to it.>
That is the challenge for sure – moving away from the toy AND the wing, with the verbal as the primary cue and a little motion. Hard!!
But the reps in this video looked great, so you definitely worked through it in the session that isn’t on video. Super!!! Nice job with your mechanics and she ‘read’ the cues really well.
>My tunnel was too short for her to send back into it after the wrap. The entry was too hard for her and she kept running around the back side of the tunnel, so I just skipped that one.>
This setup should work, the tunnel length was good! She might need more tunnel bags to feel really secure with it when she is moving really fast. Also, running around the backside of the tunnel is usually an ‘organization’ question from a young dog: they are going really fast and don’t quite organize the collection to get into the tunnel. So definitely revisit it and see if you walking through it helps her organize.
>so you can help with my session mechanics, from leash off to leash on. I really want to clean this up since it is the source of a lot of Mason’s frustration. Ellie’s leash off/on went better than usual with the addition of the cookie toss. I didn’t get jumped on or bit. Yay!>
I think it went really well! The only thing I suggest adding is that when the leash comes off, you can engage immediately. We want the leash off to basically cue that engagement starts, so playing tug before it comes off then playing more tug after it comes off (or tricks for treats) will build that up. Treats being tossed are fine but we really also want to add the excitement of play as that will get great engagement. When you took the leash off at the beginning, you both went your separate directions for a moment and we want to shift that into being the two of you more engaged.
And the lineups looked great!
And you can also play when the leash goes back on, then if it is the end of the session you can wind things down with a pattern game. She loves to play, so we can definitely incorporate that.
>Also, she wasn’t running around taking tunnels or wraps on her own, which is nice.>
She was engaged when you were engaged, which is super nice! One suggestion: When you are moving things around (like changing the placement of the wing), you can cue her to hop up onto a station if you have a cot or something, or you can let her run around with the toy for a moment if she is good about bringing it back when called. I cue that with a ‘here ya go, go for a run’ cue 🙂
> When she’s excited she tends to race around wildly — like taking 3 laps around the kitchen table and running back and forth between me and the door 5 times as we try to go outside to train. >
I think this is a normal expression of excitement as long as she is not slamming herself into anything or anyone (on purpose or by accident).
>I’m ok with her wandering around a bit in the training area while I’m getting organized at the beginning of a session or when I’m changing the setup. I just want to keep her from mindlessly grabbing obstacles or being out of control and jumping on people.>
I think wandering around is a thing of the future… I let my adult dogs scamper around but I don’t let my young dogs do that, because they tend to run around to grab obstacles or tire themselves out or develop habits I don’t love. So the youngsters wait in the house (or in a crate if they see my setting up and get excited) and then after everything is set, I bring them out, warm them up, and train. I find that I have better engagement and fewer bad habits by doing that 🙂
Great job here!
Tracy
