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Fantastic question! It will depend on your venue of competition. A lot of organizations use course design that has the ‘get out’ jump and also a jump straight ahead. So saying ‘jump’ can mean either. If that is not a discrimination your dog will see, then totally yes – you can use jump 🙂 Let me know what you think!
Tracy
Hi!
Nice job with the mat here – it was nice and big so he had an easy time finding it 🙂
Since you asked about toys as rewards instead of food: you can have 2 toys for this game. Throw one to replace the food throw, then bring him back to you with the 2nd toy for the next rep.
For the next session – try it just like this but with toys are rewards, and see how it goes. If it feels smooth and successful like this one was, you can fold the mat in half to see if he can find a smaller mat.
He also did well with the PVC box! You can definitely try this with toys too.
My guess is that he will be moving faster when you add the toys 🙂 so be prepared to really watch his feet to be sure he hits the mat and gets into the box 🙂
Great job!
Tracy
Good morning!
The parallel path on the jump went well! He figured out that the correct answer was to find the jump so he was very locked in. Good boy!!
When you have more room (like in a ring rental) you can add wings to this to show him that picture. And you can add in more distance laterally – you might have to use a bigger space because he is getting big too!
The alternate rear crosses are going well – on the first couple of reps on each side, you didn’t quite make it far enough up to the new side so he turned towards you.
What was happening on those was that you were going to the other side but remaining behind him, so he still saw you on the original side. You can see that at 1:50 and 2:46, for example.
When you got to the next side and got past his shoulder – he turned correctly each time. Super! You can see that at 2:32 and 3:43 (my favorite rep!)
So for the rear crosses, a different way to think of the line:
If you are on a map, the cookie tosses going east or west (side walls here). You are starting at the south spot (near the camera here) and your line needs to take you to the north spot (back wall of the room here). When he was not seeing the rear crosses, you were also moving east or west and not south to north. Let me know if that makes sense or if I need more coffee LOLGreat job!
Tracy
Poor buddy, sorry to hear about his tummy!!!
Yes, you can use toys for all of these! He will love that 🙂 You won’t get as many reps because it just takes a little extra time to play, and you can use a 2nd toy to trade for the first. But the reps will be high quality and he won’t get an upset tummy. So definitely try to replace the treats with toys as much as possible.
T
Good morning!
For the running contact mat – he is beginning to understand the mat so now we take your motion out of it. We want independence and also to get you looking at the rear feet so you can reward only that 🙂
With that in mind: you get to sit down for the next session and let him do all the work! Attach the mat securely to something that will elevate it, and have him go back and forth, up and over it. Your job is to stare at the mat and watch his feet: when the 4th foot hits, toss the reward (I literally count 1-2-3-4 in my head LOL). No handler movement will create even more independence because we definitely don’t want any handler dependence for the running contacts.
It will look like this (Elektra’s very first session):
She had to really think about her footwork independently of me, and Ziv will benefit from this too!Backwards sending:
He did really well here! I think the moments when he had a question was more about the send cue: when you gave a big clear step with your leg, he went immediately to the barrel. When you did not step as clearly, that might be when you saw him not sure about going. So remember to use a big step!Time to bring the barrel games onto grass, he was slipping a bit on the wood and we don’t want him to get hurt.
On the jump offering – he was finding the jump really well . Do you have a jump bump or rolled up towel or something that can be a bar? We want him to be looking for a bar so we need something obvious that is not too tall.
And yes, small treats in the grass are hard to find! Do you have a lotus ball or food dispenser toy you can use as a thrown reward? I prefer not to use the Manners Minder with this because it is too big of a lure and harder to fade out.
Another option is to use a real ball or small tug toy as the reward – throw it but then have another similar toy to use for the next rep. That will help get him back to you rather than him having victory laps 🙂
Great job here!!
Tracy
Good morning!
He did a great job reading the distances here and was able to adjust his striding really well! The moving target really helped 🙂
He was also trying to sort out the angle of elevation while reading the distance – which made some of the jumping effort more upwards than forward especially on jumps 1 and 2. Because he is little, I think the bars were actually a little too high for now 🙂 so for bar 1, you can put it as low as it can go on the jump cups. If that was the lowest, you can use a tiny bump. That first jump is more of a stride regulator and not an actual jump, so he doesn’t need to think about elevation on it.
You can also see if the other 2 bars can be one height lower but I think having the first bar as low as possible might help him get more power forward on jumps 2 and 3.
The lateral lead outs went well! Nice job mixing in the stay rewards too! And check it out – you aren’t having to wear giant winter goat and hat!! Spring is coming!
For this game, I think a good next step would be to get him focus forward on the jump before the release. That will help get his success rate up to 100% here as you add more and more distance.
The easiest way to get that is to place his reward on the landing side of the bar, close to and a little past the wing, so it is still a somewhat visible. Then lead out and slowly put your hand into the ‘point at the jump’ position 🙂 Then when he looks at the jump/reward, release him to get it. And you can sometimes throw a reward back without releasing so he doesn’t think the hand movement is the release.
When he is looking at the jump/reward consistently on cue, we can gradually move the reward further and further around the wing so it is hidden and he is looking at the jump even though he can’t see the reward. When he is happy with that, we fade the placed reward out and have it in your hand as a thrown reward.
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
Tracy
Good morning!
>I noticed you using a bar to measure, I thought brilliant, so cut a 3’ bar today.>
Ha! I think I need to do a webinar on all the lazy things I use to get things done in agility LOL!! I have many lazy hacks. Yes – I have 4 foot and 5 foot bars that I use when I am too lazy to actually get a measuring tape out (I am ALWAYS too lazy for that). And my weaves poles are 36 inches long, so I have the 3 foot distance too LOL
Super nice session here!! Her stay looks great. She stepped into the first interval (jump 1 and 2) perfectly each time: powerful and consistent. Consistency is just as important as anything else because it means she doesn’t have to really think about it, she can just do it. Yay!
>Reps 2/4 she just took a big bounce jump.>
Yes! It is an awkward distance and she did great! We want her to be able to extend her stride like that.
I think she will eventually bounce the 3rd distance too (12 feet) when she is all grown up 🙂 She added a collected one-stride which was lovely and balanced.
The next thing to try is the moving target – that will give her ‘permission’ to fold in even more power 🙂 and you will see the difference in rep 2 and 4 in particular. On those reps, she wanted to add power but she also had to prepare to stop at the target. If the target is moving, you will see her use her hind end to power through even more.
You can also add in more distance on jump 3: you can move it to 12 feet on reps 2 and 4, and 15 feet on rep 3! I think she is ready for that.
Great job here!
Tracy
Good morning!
He liked your marching on the lead out LOL ok maybe he didn’t but I found it entertaining LOL
Be sure to NOT look at him (:44) and look at the landing spot instead (1:15). That is a pretty massive difference in how he commits to the bar. I don’t think he will always need you to look at the landing spot but it is super helpful in these early stages. And it will help when you add in the backside games too!
Also – you can drop reward in behind you to really solidify the commitment to the bar (rather than commitment to you). You can use giant treats to drop on the landing spot to get a bunch of fast reps in a row. Or drop the toy which he will love, but it takes a tiny bit longer to get it back (which is perfectly fine of course :))
Tunnel reps looked good too!
You can add more speed to this one now – moving a little faster but maintaining that lovely connection to the landing spot that brought a lot of success.
Great job!
Tracy
Good morning!
It looks like you FINALLY have good weather!!! And great job keeping the session short. One of my current mantras with my 2 year old dog is DON’T BE GREEDY so I can totally relate.
He did really well with looking at the toy!!!! It is coming along nicely. The harder part was getting him to not be looking around in the stay.
I think if you make things happen faster as you get everything setup, he won’t look away for butterflies LOL That was pretty funny at the beginning but he didn’t break his stay and then he immediately looked at the toy when you cued it.
The 2nd rep was harder but he again held his stay and looked at the toy (eventually). And the last rep was the best!
So to make things happen faster: get him wild with tugging, get the sit, jog to put the toy down maybe 10 feet away, then jog to your position, praise, then point and see if he can keep his eyes on the work. The great outdoors is challenging in spring time! But he held that stay, looked at the toy when cued, and didn’t run off with it or anything goofy 🙂
The next step involved fading the toy and getting the jump involved again. Use a wing with a bar attached to it. Put the toy just past the bar on the landing side but close to the wing – still visible for the first couple of reps. Then if he is successful, you can start to ‘hide’ the toy behind the wing, bit by bit, fading it out so he is looking at the bar when cued and is trusting the toy will be there even though he can’t really see it. When he is successful with that, we can take the toy out entirely and use it as a thrown reward. Let me know if that makes sense! Nice work here!!
Tracy
Hi!
>apologize for my friends camera skills, lol. I hope you can see enough.>
It worked well! All of the important stuff is on the video:)
The first rep was interesting! He read the step so well that he pushed to the backside! That is still rewardable 🙂 And good to know that he doesn’t need a massive step. You took smaller steps on the other reps and he didn’t consider the backside.
We can smooth out the release process by adding the next part of the game that I think will be useful for him. If you released and your arm/leg was not fully in place, he sometimes would go past the jump. So we can add in getting him to focus forward on the jump before the release:
Lead out, and very slowly lift your arm to point to the jump but don’t release. Be angled enough that you can be connected to see where he is looking. When he looks at the jump, release him and then throw the reward. Getting him to focus forward on the jump will make your job as a handler much easier :). If he doesn’t look at the jump, you can place a toy on the ground past the jump, to give him the idea that we would like him to look forward.
He might think that the arm movement is part of the release – that is why I suggest moving your arm into the position very slowly for now so he doesn’t think it is a release 🙂 And you can throw rewards to him for NOT releasing when you move your arm into position.
He was flicking his eyes towards the jump a lot here, so I think it will be easy to get him to look at it! Then his rate of success on that first jump will go to 100%
Great job here!
Tracy
Good morning! I hope you are feeling better!!!
Backside challenges are going really well!
Looking at the Countermotion exits first – super nice! He is definitely getting the idea of this! For the next steps on the exit, add in staying in motion while you release the stay.
Basically you will be walking through the line the whole time and when you pass the exit wing, say the release word , and look & point behind you to the landing spot (then throw the toy when he goes to the jump). This will help you be able to be past the exit wing and he will still take the jump.
And because you are going to be releasing while you moving, 2 ideas to maintain his lovely stay:
– don’t change your motion when you release. Slow, steady motion the whole time 🙂
– Sometimes walk through the line but don’t release, and reward the stay instead 🙂Putting it together:
He went to the backside brilliantly! Good boy, I don’t think he took a single accidental front side. Super!
He had questions about taking the jump on the backside when you added more speed/staying in motion to put it together. He was able to get it when you were changing your motion to help him out, so now the next steps are to get him to commit while you stay in motion. A couple of ideas for that:
As you are moving through the backside – you can swing your dog-side arm back like a serp arm and look at the landing spot as you move through so you don’t have to change your motion. And get that reward in for getting to the backside (like you did at 6:05 and a bunch of other lovely reps) rather than waiting for commitment then rewarding.
You can also angle the jump so the bar is more obvious as he comes around the entry wing – that way you can keep moving and begin to reward for commitment to the bar.
I think the combination of keeping you in motion on the countermotion exits with looking at the landing spot on the backside pushes will help him commitment to the jump, then we can add more speed from you 🙂
Circle wraps at the end: this is where you had a gorgeous connection to the landing spot on the last rep, and he nailed it! Super!!! It is this same connection to the landing spot that will help him get the commitment to the bar on the push backsides.
Great job here!
Tracy
Good morning!
She is definitely getting the idea of the ‘get out’ cue!! Your cues were really good – for example, on the 2nd rep and after that, your feet were totally straight on the line and your upper body did all the cueing. Super nice!
She did have a little more trouble as the wing got further away – you can reward those ‘close but not perfect’ reps by throwing the reward anyway 🙂 She didn’t make it all the way to the jump on those but she definitely heading that direction. Moving the wing in closer helped too – adding distance might be a matter of adding it more incrementally in tiny bits. But she is well on her way to getting it!!
Her biggest question in that session was about the send to the start wing. If you looked ahead at it or pointed to it without connection, she didn’t really go to it. But when you connected to her eyes like at 2:15 – she zipped right to it 🙂 So definitely keep the connection on those sends.
Looking at the zig zags:
I think you will have an easier time if you lead out to cue the movement rather than try to run with her. When you led out, like at 1:10, you were showing the cues with big arms and foot movement and she read it well!
When you ran with her, you had to be super quick to get it 🙂 because it becomes a really hard serpentine. Leading out to face her will help show her the line changes a bit sooner (partially because she will expect it, based on the context & setup).
You can also angle the wings slightly so the bars are more visible as she moves up the line.
Nice work here!!!
Tracy
Hi!
> It’s super frustrating that food helps settle her but also can very easily make her sick.>
Super frustrating for sure! But also indicative that there is something going on in her gut biome that can potentially be throwing off her nervous system. The two are definitely linked! I can get some names of folks who can give advice on balancing gut biome, nutrition, etc. The science is really piling up that links gut health with behavior.
I see what you mean about the hypervigilance. Rewarding her to check in with you rather than tossing treats can help shift her focus off the environment plus it can also help her indicate what concerns her (because she will flick her view towards it)
It walking into the ring is hard and ‘expensive’ , you can totally carry her in especially in hard environments.
Have you ever shown her the super bowls pattern game? That one might be more useful too, because it uses visual targets that take out the scanning the environment.
For flyball foundation stuff: the check ins with you are a good one!
Also, recalls past other dogs. When there are 2 people, you can have one person walking the other dog past while you recall her on a parallel line.
She can be in a stay, and to start with you can have her 10 feet away then you can get her closer. Ideally the other dog is a calm helper so maybe Kristin can walk Kaladin? I am sure he will do it for the cookies 😀Hi!
This went well too, especially when you added the motion. He was fast and snappy with his responses!!>I noticed in the video that I had my feet pointed toward the prop some of the time
Your line was good overall! You can place a line on the ground for you to walk along, because that will prevent you from migrating towards the prop 🙂
>I called him to me with my arm pointed towards the prop>
Yes, especially on the first one – the arm totally said to get out. The look on his face was so funny, he was definitely trying to sort it out 😆 so for the straight line reps, the dog side arm is ideal so you can save the opposite arm for the get out.
Great job here!
Tracy
