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Good morning!
>But I have a very exciting, though also slightly sad, announcement! Pick is going to a new home on my way to Jacksonville! >
It is happy/sad! And yes, you mentioned it and I am happy Pick will have this opportunity. He is a REALLY cool dog!
>I unfortunately didn’t have his favorite toy and you can see what he thought about the stand in.>
Ha! Yes, he was like “I WORKED REALLY HARD AND *THAT* WAS THE PAYCHECK? HARUMPH!!” LOL!
The first run was great. He ignored the oh-so-close leash runner! He was surprised by the blind in the opening and went a little ass-over-teakettle but then he was great with the rest! At the very end – I don’t think he was visiting the person standing there. I think he was going fast and you pulled a little too much on the RC, so the turn was too tight: landing him facing the person as if the person was the obstacle (:43)
The 2nd run was also great!!
> If it hadn’t been his last run ever I would have ended the second run not near the out gate so he wouldn’t have the chance to run out, but I kinda went, “who cares, it’s the second to last run of the day, and there’s no one here” and he got to end being the naughty little thief I have always loved. >
He was legit convinced that the run was over and he was heading to his prize LOL!!
>I’ve done some with it, I swear, but it doesn’t stop him from going for it NOT on cue sometimes!) but as it stands, he kinda gets “old dog rules” and can do what he wants for the next week or so. >
Right! The context totally looked like he was done and the gate was open, so… cookie time!
But really he was a super good boy here and I wish him all the great things in his new life!!!
Tracy
Good morning!
Looking at the 2 SSC videos:
Great job with the leaves as small piece of distraction- you can see how hard it is! Plus, it is definitely novel to have a bunch of leaves in the training area LOL! When introducing a really hard challenge, you can keep him on leash to jumpstart the game and get the impulse control going. Hi first impulse here when you took off the leash was to go investigate the distraction, and we don’t want him to build in taking off when the leash comes off. So start a few reps with the leash on, then when the game is underway, take the leash off and do a few more reps.
Looking at the hubby distraction video: big thanks to him for helping!!!
>not sure Brioche knew he was there (husband was advised to be very still>
I am sure Brioche knew he was there (sight and smell!) so it was an excellent small ‘slice’ of the really hard challenge.
Brioche did GREAT – it helped that your husband as stationary and a little further away than the leaves, and not moving. But we will take the big training win because we know that Brioche has trouble ignoring him 🙂
>So, what do you suggest for progressing the self control game. Have my husband standing or…? Should I try the leaves again? Maybe once was enough on that. That was the first thing in all these weeks that got him!>
For the leaves or any outdoor distraction like that (twigs, leaves, etc) – try them again and start with the leash on until he is engaged then take the leash off. And you can add in different challenges: different objects for example. And if you are feeling really creative: get a fan and put leaves near the fan, so they blow around a little 🙂
For the husband distraction: the next steps can be determined by what you think the triggers are for Brioche to go nutty over him, then taking a small piece of that to train with. It could be something like he stands up and walks around. Or talks to you. Or, what if Brioche was already in the room and your husband walks through it? It should all be small challenges like that because I think it is really hard for him 🙂 And you can move it to different rooms of the house, because the context of being in the training room will naturally bring more impulse control… but being in the kitchen or living room might have different contexts and history where it is harder for him to ignore distractions.
Looking at the tandem turn video: he did really well!
I think on the first couple of reps you were a shade too close to the cone – be a couple of feet away so it is very clear that he should scoot into the gap and turn away. Same with the 2 cones – you can be a little further away from the tandem turn cone so he has plenty of room to get to the correct side and set up the turn.
>I think it was better when I just kept the food in the one hand and not reward from the outside arm to toss it. >
He was responding to both here. When you do the tandems/RCs on the flat with Benni, which arm(s) do you use? When you had 2 cones, you were turning him away with outside arm on some of them then the inside arm. The outside arm might be more visible on a full course but we want to standardize it with what you do with Benni (because trying to remember different cues with 2 dogs will not be easy!)
Great job!!!
Tracy
Good morning!
She did so well here!!! Yay! She was sending really well to the cone and driving around it even as you were doing the FC earlier and earlier.
And nice job having the line on the ground for yourself – very helpful for us humans about when to do the FC and run 🙂She really loves that toy and also had fantastic attention in the transition moments from the tugging to the lineup with treats., while you were getting the toy squared away, moving the line, etc. You were not rushing or grabbing her, and she stuck with you. That is a big training win!!
She had one small question at 1:57 on the send to the cone – it was a small disconnection on the send (looking forward/pointing forward) but you caught it really quickly and reconnected to get the wrap. Super!
>She left once to eat hackberries, but came back. I know…I asked for too many reps. But, it was much better than before.>
It was definitely much better, both in terms of engagement and the wrap skill! You can still set a timer to 90 seconds or 2 minutes – that is. The general time frame where puppy brains get tired.
Also, watch for signs that she is getting tired like at 2:19 when she was not really tugging as much and not letting go very easily, then trying to switch sides. That would have been a good last rep because her engagement was starting to shift.
On the video you said “one more, last one” which always means you should have stopped on the previous rep 😂 – she checked out, but came back really fast. Another sign that she is tired is when there is a loss of control of mechanics, like when she smacked into your leg. Typical brain tired puppy moment!!
Overall, though, super session!!!!
Tracy
Good morning!
> Winter has arrived early and Aelfraed is totally in love with the snow!>
He is so funny! He seems totally happy to hang out in the snow. And hopefully it is fake winter and it melts for a bit!
>We got a treat ball. I showed it to him at home first and he was quite into it. Brought it to the arena yesterday and although he didn’t fully chase it every time, he was quite keen and his energy/excitement was up. >
Excellent!!! And tossing it in the dirt introduces the element of eating stuff with dirt and playing with stuff with dirt 🙂 The backside skill is going really well so it was a good framework for adding a different reward strategy. He was driving away to the backside really well! You can move the start cookie bowl further back so you have more room to move up the line – that way you are setting it from a little further ahead and sooner, so that also means you can start moving your parallel line of motion a little further over towards the center of the bar.
And I think you were saying ‘push’ so you can add in saying it a couple of times – that will help support the one as you get further and further away from the entry barrel 🙂
Threadle wraps are also going well (and also a great way to incorporate the treat ball 🙂 )
He was coming to the correct side of the barrel beautifully. It seems like he was waiting for your hand cue to turn away, so we can start asking for more independence. While you are moving up the line, give the cues but move very slowly so you don’t get too far ahead: and see if he will turn himself away. You can totally hang out near the barrel and mark/reward that very first instant of turning his head away (you can throw the reward back behind you to reward him for turning himself away).
>He has such a funny little personality and a lot of opinions! I was going to do some tunnels and have him chase the treat ball on the exit but he saw that auntie was watching and went over and stared at her, asking her to come help him. So, he chased auntie with the treat ball instead and he thought that was very fun.>
That is hilarious! He has always been an excellent communicator LOL!! And he did great with the tunnels and double whammy game with the auntie 🙂
>Apparently we’ll need to work on some tunnels with no auntie present as it seems she is now built into the tunnel game, lol!>
You can include her in the stealth self-control games! She would be a ‘slice’ meaning a piece of a hard challenge 🙂 She can be in a chair scrolling on her phone, because it sounds like simply being in the vicinity is challenging!
>It did occur to me that Lennan could show him so I took them in together yesterday. Lennan had a very dirty tug toy and Aelfraed was grabbing on it and tugging hard with Lennan for a minute or so.>
Brilliant! Social learning for the win! Social learning is an incredibly powerful tool, and since Lennan is a super good boy you can totally incorporate him. If they are both OK with being held by the collar, you can hold Aelfraed by the collar and sen Lennan through a short straight tunnel, then tug. Then either hold Lennan or ask him for a down, and send the pup through the tunnel and play tug. I bit the excitement of sharing a session will overcome the ick of the dirt and he plays tug 🙂 I recommend collar-holding for the pup because we don’t want him to potentially run through a tunnel with Lennan and have a collision.
The craft market adventure sounds SO FUN!!!! It seems like both pupils were really confident. What a great experience!
>He was very clear when he was done and had no more interest in people. He pointedly looked away from people who tried to talk to him and refused to acknowledge their existence.>
I mean, he is an expert communicator… LOL 😂😝
>The ice cream revived him and he decided to greet a few more people who came up but once we were done sitting, he said this is the way to the exit!>
Ice cream revives me too LOL!!! And maybe he needed a little glucose boost to hang out more. But it really is funny (and great!) how he confidently communicates his needs in those moments!!
Great job here :)
TracyGood morning!
Lots of great work here!
Backside slices: this went really well! When you moved up the line with more connection and less arm pointing – those were the really successful reps. On the two misses (one on each side) where she took the front of the jump, you started to point forward be the backside while she was still behind you. That turns your shoulders to the front of the jump, so that is where she went.
You can start to move yourself further and further over while supporting the parallel path with the connection, eventually moving up to the center of the bar! Also, I don’t think you had your backside slice verbal here, so you can add it – it is a great way to keep connection too because you will want to say it to her cute face 🙂Threadle wraps: piece of cake! I like how you had a little bit of help with the physical cue at the beginning, but you quickly faded it out and by the end on each side, you were mainly using just the hand and the verbal. Super!!!! She was doing a fabulous job of turning herself away. It seemed like the left turns were easier for her than the right turns?
So with that in mind, go to the next step where you are walking forward – and have her on your left so you she turns away to her left for the first couple.
Threadle slices: She had some questions here (taking the front side of the jump a lot and not the threadle) but it is an easy fix to answer her question:
Be sure she can see you outside the barrel – on the misses where she took the front (especially when she was coming in from a harder angle), I think she was seeing most of you between the uprights and couldn’t see your hand cue, so she was going to the strongest physical presence which looked like a serp cue.
There is a good angle to see what I mean at 1:30 and 2:20 and 2:35 – the only thing visible past the barrel is your hand which is not enough info and it looks more like a serp cue.
The ideal handler position for the threadle has at least half of you visible outside the wing or barrel – so if your right arm is the threadle arm, your left hip should be at the outer edge of the barrel or wing. And if your left arm is the threadle arm, your right hip is at the outer edge of the barrel. That will make you very visible in threadle position and not at all in serp position.
She did really well with the MM as the reward target here!!! And because you are using the MM, you don’t need to turn your shoulders to it – as she is threadling, you can keep your shoulders in threadle position so she turns herself to the bar (that will make the skill more independent when we add this to courses).
Great job!!
TracyGood morning!
Good to know about the treats and the ‘ick’ of dirt and grass! It is super important to be able to have good reinforcement so we can brainstorm a few approaches:
A couple of ideas:
– yes, the up and down game on your shoes will be very helpful because he will probably not be concerned about the treats being mucked up with dirt or grass.
– you can also use a pattern game called super bowls. It uses targets to set up the pattern (a flat target or a food bowl) and so for now, treats don’t touch dirt 🙂
You set out 3 or 4 targets or so, a few feet apart. You start the game by putting a cookie in or on the target. He eats the treat and when he looks up at you: then you go to the next target and put the next treat in it. And so on. It looks like this:
– > Sometimes he’ll go for freeze dried treats that don’t pick up dirt but it’s not a reliable solution.>.
I think freeze dried treats are variable for a lot of dogs – most freeze dried treats are just not attractive enough in terms of value when there are big distractions in the environment. Maybe really stinky salmon ones, but even then – the dry treats are often not interesting enough. Wet treats are more enticing!
So this might sound a little nuts: he needs to learn to pick up amazing treats in the grass or dirt. Yes, the lotus ball is useful but you are correct – it is nearly impossible to use in pattern games unless you have 3 or 4 lotus balls ready to use.
I do teach all of my dogs to pick treats up from the dirt/grass 🙂 I would start with grass first because it is less icky.
Drop a big chunk of easily visible and highly delicious food when he is hungry (this can be done just before a meal!). It can be a chunk of string cheese or chicken. When he eats it, reward the eating it with another delicious treat like a meatball. Take no prisoners: use absolutely amazing food (and I don’t think there are any commercial dog treats that are better than cheese or rotisserie chicken or tuna brownies ewwwww LOL!) Because the food will be rich and higher in fat and we want to use big visible pieces – very short sessions so he doesn’t eat a lot and get an upset GI. Resist temptation to use meh food to get more reps – it is not about reps, it is about quality 🙂
When he eats from grass, you can repeat the process in the dirt.
Basically we are developing a reward strategy by finding the right value of food, and getting him to eat anywhere. If we have those two things? Everything gets MUCH easier in terms of focus and engagement in the face of big distractions.
Separately – being able to engage using the volume dial game is critical:
The food can come from your hand on this game, or from a lotus ball on a line so he chases it. But the key element is getting him to be able to do tricks and silly fun behaviors. What tricks does he know and enjoy? Usually the fun ones are things like high fives, spins, leg weaves, dancing on his back legs, backing up on cue, barking on cue, etc etc. The volume dial game raises arousal and directs it towards the handler, while helping distractions fade into the background.
Let me know what you think!
Tracy
Hi!
He did really well here with a dog working in the other ring! That is hard but an important skill! Good job using the moment to train!
When he had the small check out – it was pretty minor, and it was in a transition moment. I think using a toy there is actually going to be helpful for the transition. As you move from the food game to the next part of the game, get some toy play going and I bet he doesn’t check out.
He did well finding the tunnel versus the jump here, good boy! I think finding the obstacle where he has to pass the closer obstacle is hard – he had no trouble finding the tunnel past the jump from any of the start position. Many dogs have trouble finding the jump past the tunnel – and he did not! SUPER!!!!
It was definitely harder when your arm got really high and that turned your shoulders sooner (like at 5:12 and 5:31, where the motion really said tunnel but he caught the verbal and converging motion so found the jump) but he was using verbal discriminations there and still got it right. YAY! But it really does tell us that even with a distance, the super high arm can do more harm than good.
>Then it just takes a good long while to get through the variations on this lesson.>
This type of thing can be done in 2 or 3 sessions spread out over a few days. That allows for video review to see what is happening (like where your arms are :)) and also allows him to sleep on it (latent learning is magic!)
> This will show lots of examples of those flinging arms. It seems like this habit is escalating. Partly I think I feel off balance as I fall behind Jackpot on my handling and do some desperation flinging. >
Yes – when we are handling at a distance, we humans want to really use big arms LOL but he was actually reading the cues based on verbals and lines up motion. He did great!
>But I also suspect I’m losing mechanics discipline and have gotten sloppy generally.>
It is a processing thing – I think it is because there is a lot of multi-tasking here and some newer skills: the brain had to prioritize motion, connection, and all the verbals (so many words LOL!) And, the science tells us that our brains are NOT good at multi-tasking LOL 😂 😝 so the mechanics slipped a bit. It is totally normal! And you can add in focusing on mechanics with the drink in hand game 🙂
And it also gives us good insight into the dogs’ brains: when they are learning new skills or having to process new environments, their mechanics might also slip! Totally normal 🙂 and emphasizing mechanics with less speed really helps.
Great job here!
Tracy
Good morning!
>In many of these videos (especially in the Week 2 ones that I’ve started working on), I see arm movements that I really don’t like and I need to clean up what I’m doing.>
Yes – I think as the lines got further away, your arm got higher but that doesn’t always help.
> I just don’t know what I should fix them to.>
We definitely want to shift the emphasis to connection and motion rather than pointing. My favorite way to do it is with this game:
And I also think of keeping my hands pointing to the dog’s nose:
And delivering all verbals to the dog: my mantra is to talk to the dog, not to the obstacles 🙂
> So in this instance, when my right arm sort of rotates with me as I begin to cross, thus pointing at the front of the jump, what should be happening with it instead? >
Your eyes should be on his eyes delivering the verbal, hand pointing to his nose and following it as he moves – and to start the FC, use deceleration and rotation rather than a hand cue (the dogs don’t read the hand cues on that).
>When I watch your demo video, it looks like you don’t use much of an arm to indicate the backside unless it’s back as you describe mine is at first. >
Correct! There are 2 options for arm cues on sends:
– low arm, eyes on the dog, hand moving with the dog’s nose (this is what I do)
– arm so high it is above the handler’s head and the handler is connected under the arm and through the armpit. This only works if the handler is tall (not me) and a really fast runner (also not me) so the dog can see connection somewhat and a ton of motion. This is commonly used in Europe!In North America, somehow handlers think that keeping the arm at shoulder level or pointing ahead of the dog is helpful but it actually blocks connection and turns the handler’s shoulders away from the desired line.
>Typically, I use the inside arm as I begin to initiate a front cross (which might not be apparent here due to my sloppiness or simply doing something wrong). >
Try using deceleration to being the FC – handlers have to decelerate on FCs in order to make the rotation without getting all tangled up. And when doing the decel/rotation, low arms or pulling them in to your sides helps us be faster in the rotation and keeps the connection nice and clear!
And doing it with a drink in your hand will help your arms stay low and you will be aware of where they are as you move 🙂
Let me know what you think!
Tracy
Good morning!
>Running in 4 inches of dry sand isn’t fun but it’s the only flat surface I have here.>
It is a good workout! LOL! And he did really well.
> >I still had disconnection issues and I left them in the videos.>
I think some of the disconnection might be because you are wanting to show the line with your arm, but that ends up breaking connection. You can see that at :40, when you were cueing the tunnel with the verbal but also pointing to it and that has turned you away from him (so he stops to sniff for a moment, probably a response to not know what the cue means). Also at 1:52 pointing to the wing, he doesn’t quite see connection and things are a little unclear, so he sniffs a bit.
You can also see it as he exits the tunnel towards the wing coming towards the camera – you are pointing forward so he looks at you for more info.
No worries, it was harder but he was game to do it! And your connection was good so he was able to find the line. Super!!
Good job rewarding the off course into the tunnel and other moments when the connections not as clear – note how his little tail started wagging (SO CUTE) and he actually got faster and MORE engaged after he got the rewards there. That is HUGE!!! Because the rewards were flowing and he was not worrying about whether he was right or not – you got a LOT more speed and excitement from him even in the moments when maybe the connection was unclear. He was getting a lot more confident to keep trying to solve the puzzle with you. I love it!!!
So a quick comparison:
Early in the session, when you were not connected and pointing ahead to the far end of the tunnel, at :40, he had a big question and was sniffing for a moment because he might get stressed when things are unclear.But the session really shifted things, especially after 2:00 when you rewarded the tunnel even though you didn’t wa nt the tunnel. Your physical cue did show the line to the tunnel, he got rewarded… and that really shifted things.
So compare to the moment at 4:19 which was basically the same moment as :40 – heading the same direction to the tunnel. You were a little more connected but still pointing ahead to the tunnel so I am not sure if he saw the connection. But he kept powering through the line and found the tunnel – he was feeling empowering to make decisions because he was being rewarded for doing so. YES!!!!
So keep rewarding his effort and his choices (even if they were not what you wanted LOL!).
And we can also give you some fun ways to get your arms down because they are not needed for showing the line, especially with small dogs – motion and connection are the main cues. This is my favorite way to do this:
Great job here!!
TracyGood morning!
The threadle-serp session went great! She was so funny, figuring out the advanced angles even before you were ready for the next rep LOL! Good girl Bella! Just be sure your arm is in position before you even throw the start cookie – what was happening when you changed sides (dog on left) was that your arm cue was a bit late – she was already n the way back to you and didn’t always see the arm cue in time.
>So I have no idea why I wasn’t using my word on the threadle, sigh.>
Let’s blame the snow. LOL!!
>Sit stays are going well but didn’t ask for many as she’s not a fan in pants.>
She did well with the stays, and it was good to not do a ton of them. You can work stays in panties separately – they are a part of life for a while so it is good to get her happy to work in them
Also remember to break up these sessions and get toys involved – it is good to have toy play throughout to keep things exciting and give her mental breaks for the cookie reps. She played beautifully at the end with the tie long toy that was moving! Yay! So you can add toy play after every 3 or 4 reps.
>If I was and put her in a sit I would release on that word?>
Yes, the release to the threadle would be your threadle verbal.
>For serps I thought it was correct to use my actual release word.>Yes, because in the context the ‘normal’ release word means ‘move forward towards me which fits the serp nicely.
>I totally understand why we end up releasing on what we want them to do next but how do they know ? I know this helps Josie a lot, but I did not end up with successful stays with her. How do they not just release every time we open our mouths?>Great question! Part of it is that they learn the different words: threadle verbal versus regular release versus praise (which means ‘doing great, don’t move’) and the reward markers. For example, if I get into threadle position but say “catch”, my dogs actually look behind him for the reward (it is actually really funny).
So we get that level of verbal discrimination a few ways:
– mixing in the different verbals with being consistent with what happens after them, especially the praise and the reward markers. Adding in praise before a release really helps them understand to *not* move just because I am saying something and to listen for the words instead.– making sure the verbals are *not* associated with movement. So I am not going to move my hand or start running while also saying ‘break’ at the same time.
– working it in high arousal so the dogs are still processing verbals even when they are experiencing fireworks in their brains 🙂
– tons and tons of rewards for the stay as the games get more exciting 🙂
Great job here!
Tracy
Hi!
>I did not do the threadle wrap because I don’t think I’m going to need it and have no idea what I would call it for now.>
I think you would only need a true threadle wrap if you wanted to do the AKC ISC classes at some point – they are really fun courses (probably more fun than premier 🙂 ) But also, you can tweak the threadle wrap game to make it a 180/u-turn which is more of a tandem turn or rear cross on the flat. Totally useful for any course!
I think he really liked the reverse retrieve! The hardest part for him at the beginning was when he was trying to run to you AND pick up the toy LOL!! He sorted it out really well and was retrieving beautifully!
The other interesting thing was that any time you moved towards him, it was totally the cue for him to move away with the toy. So if he doesn’t quite bring it to you, don’t run towards him: you can run the other way *past* him so that he still gets to chat and bring it to you.The volume dial game also went really well! He totally loves that high five! I agree, he probably needed a slow hand cue for the spins (and maybe even a cookie in it to follow). And you can add in other tricks too – when backing up has a verbal cue, you can use that. I like to get dogs ‘dancing’ on their hind legs because it is also a nice stretch 🙂
He was perfectly engaged here! You can also play this game with food-only, and a mix of food and toys. We won’t know exactly what works best for arousal regulation until he is in different environments. Usually for a dog like Brioche, we end up with a nice balance of food and toys!Looking at the stay video:
>he didn’t stay seated when I put him between my legs and went to move away.>
That is something to play with separately so he gets comfy with the ‘dismount’ in case you want to use the between-the-feet-lineup at the start line. Changing to sit at your side was totally the right thing to do for now.
He did great with the stay here with the toy – remember how he used to have trouble being stationary? You got this beautiful stay going really well, and I think you really hit the goal of making it FUN for him to stay! Yay!
>I realize what I haven’t done is release him forward. So what is the best mechanics for that so as not to mess up the stay work we’ve done.>
One of the things you are doing really well in this session (and previous sessions) is that you are *not* pairing motion with the marker & toy. You are adding in standing still, looking at him…. Then a few seconds later marking and tossing the toy.
So it will be the same idea for releasing him forward: lead out, connect, praise him, then choose how you want to reward him:
– release forward with your break verbal, at which point he should drive to you to play (you can throw the reward past you, but I like having the dog come play with me on the ‘break’ verbal). Just be sure you don’t say ‘break’ and move at the same time. You can either be stationary, then say break, then move. Or you can be moving the whole time, say break while you are moving, and keep moving.>Should I do a ratio of sit/catch vs sit/release? More catch than release or what?>
It will depend on what else is going on in training. If you are using the stay in other games where he gets a lot of releases forward, this game on the flat can be used to give him a lot of ‘catch’ rewards.
Also, I really love to mix in ‘catch’ rewards in all the other games where I use a stay (we are adding more of that in tonight) to show the stay in context: for example, in the threadle foundation game: lead out, get into position… then say ‘catch’ and throw a treat or toy to him for holding his stay. I do that throughout the dog’s agility career (throwing rewards back when they are in a stay position) because they LOVE agility but I love stays so I pay it A LOT. The main thing is to do your best to OT have the release forward paired with reconnecting, or arm movement – so video all your stay sessions.
If he starts breaking the stay, you might have accidentally shown him a physical cue as the release can we can catch it early if it is on video.
The tunnel game went really well and it was a good brain challenge! I love how he was pulling towards the end of the tunnel before you let him go, as if acknowledging that he knew where to go. Good boy! And he did well on both sides, which is super nice too.
> He was doing really well but then at the end, he disengaged…just too much for one night.>
Yes, you can see him starting to get a bit distracted and brain tired as early as 1;45 in this session. And then by the end he was totally brain-fried (probably physically tired too – the tugging games take a lot of physical energy, and the nose work session plus the agility stuff takes a lot of mental energy).
But yes, I agree that he has the idea and had ton of great reps. On the double whammy part of it, you can mix in sometimes doing just one tunnel and telling him to go go go then throw the reward, so he exits straight instead of expecting a turn.
Great job on these!!!
Tracy
Hi!
Holy wow, that first video looks FABULOUS!!! Little Grace handled that like a super experienced dog. You really drove the line and had great connection!!! Super nice rear cross to the tunnel!
2nd half also looked great! She almost missed the last jump because you were a little disconnected, but then you got connected so she found the jump. Yay!!
Full course – it is also notable that there was a dog nearby and she ignored the dog and person at first. Superstar! But then it got hard: maybe that is part of why she came back out – her brain was processing the visual and you called her, so she came to you? Then it looks like she was barking a bit? My guess is that she has never really experienced that and it was weird! You can help her recover with a pattern game or tricks for treats to get used to having other people nearby. She just needs more experience with other dogs/people.
>Would love your advice on why she doesn’t run the line to the finish without curling in to me.>
It was connection: when she exited the tunnel she didn’t see your connection, so she turned into you. So be sure to really lock onto the exit of each tunnel and let her see you really looking at her as you run up the line. That will help set the line directly to the last jump.
>She has never done more then short sequences before this.>
She was brilliant!!! So fun!!!
Great job!
Tracy
WOW!! You and Maisy look fantastic here!!!!! Well done! And I love the enthusiasm of the presenter or whoever was yelling in the background about how brilliant you were 🙂
T
Hi!
>Yes, the barrel games are coming along. Much more fun than rear end awareness and backing up – don’t worry, we revisit them every few days as well.>
Totally agree LOL!! Backing up/body awareness is fine but I like the games where we get to run around a bit 🙂
She did great with the volume dial game here! Yes, you can add a few more tricks: she had hand touches, sits, spins here but when backing up is on cue that can be a good trick to add! Or a high five, or dancing on her back feet. Or even leg weaves! All of those are fun and silly to train.
She was best with the hand touch when you looked at the target hand instead of at her. When you were looking at her, she looks back at you and doesn’t really see the target hand, So when you put your hand out, let her see you shift your eyes to it, and she will go directly to it.
>You’ll notice the last hand touch turned into more of “bite the hand”.>
Yes, it is a good indicator of arousal level: a little bit of a tooth hug on the hand target, or less accuracy (you were getting some feet on the hand target too). But is it a good thing or a bad thing? Time will tell, based on what happens next: Does the tooth hug indicate overarousal? Or does it indicate optimal arousal? You can play this right before training, the you can see how she does when you train in terms of accuracy, speed, and focus.
One thought on a small details or mechanics: She did well with releasing the toy overall! You can get it back even more easily if you keep it lower so her jaw is parallel to he ground – pulling it up causes her to hold it a bit longer because she can still pull on it.
Great job here! Definitely try this game with food, as well as a mix of food and toys, and see how it goes!
Tracy
