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Good morning! Sounds like you had a great vacation! And great weather to come back to makes it even better đ
Looking at Enzoâs session:
It started off so great!!! Then once the jump was in play⌠it became all about the jump and he needed a lot of handler support to the tunnel.
I was really happy with his jump discrimination work with all the different verbals. You were really good about not giving too much help with the handling (you were basically just moving forward, which was great) and he did well! A question here and there about wrap versus slice but without any handling input other than verbal? He was pretty darned successful!!!
>My thinking is to spread it WAY OUT and work on just TUNNEL until he can go straight to the tunnel when the jumps are only 10 feet apart (reminds me of working on obedience go-outs). Unless you have another idea�>
Yes, that is one option for sure!!
2 other options:
Rather than spread the distances out, you can turn the 2 jumps 90 degrees so the jump bars are parallel to the tunnel (they are perpendicular here, if my caffeine is hitting correctly :)) That can make it easier to pass them, and also you can do simple balance reps where he can get a send to the jump in between the tunnel cues.Or, you can spread it out a little and move the tunnel a lot closer, so it is almost in a line with the jumps. It is possible that it was further away, so he was choosing the jump based on the proximity to the line and to you.
I donât want to work on the tunnel only because then we donât know if he is learning to discriminate, or just doing a bunch of tunnels in that session. Throwing in a jump here and there will let us know if he is processing verbals or just doing what he did before.
Casper did well here too – yes, bringing the jumps in closer was a big change so he had an error. But the occasional error is fine as long as there is not something else in the cue creating it.
What I mean by that is if he sees a physical cue that is different than the verbal cue, he is likely to fail at this stage. At 3:06, your physical cues were all saying âbackside wrapâ as you started moving over to the wing/bar area before you released him. The verbal said tunnel but that was not enough to override the motion towards the backside wrap positional cue. He did get the tunnel but keeping the physical cues more neutral by just walking forward on a straight line will get rid of his question here.
>Also, on the backside plank jumping, Casper is removing the âsitâ by himself. Iâm thinking that is not a very good idea.>
Ha! Yes he was đ The good news is that he is well-organized with his jumping and also seems to be using his core really well too!
So if he is not going to sit and you are going to release after saying âsitâ⌠better to not ask for the sit. You can sometimes ask for it but then definitely maintain it so he does sit. And sometimes donât use the sit verbal, just use the directional and he can power through. It is a good mental challenge for him too, to listen for the different verbals!
>I want to eliminate âSWITCHâ over a jump for Casper and use DIG/CHECK the same as RIGHT/LEFT. He is only starting to get that.>
Sounds good to me! And yes, he is only just starting to figure it out but he was definitely sorting it out really well. A few errors are fine because they can be very clarifying for the dog. One thing I do is use 2 toys: One is on the ground ike you had it here, the other is in my hand. The directional that turns him away gets marked with word to get the toy on the ground (I use âget itâ). The directional to turn towards me gets marked with the word to get the toy in my hand (I use âbiteâ). This can help him learn the difference without relying solely on a placed reward.
>Before I forget: what is on the agenda for the fall/winter? I missed getting a working spot one year and donât want to do that again.
> We definitely want to get you into a working spot!!! In mid-october, I will be doing a Tues/Weds/Thursday at Quad cities in Iowa (Dawn Ecker is the contact). Tuesday 10/14 is masters level, Weds afternoon 10/15 is novice/open coursework, Thursday 10/16 is masters/international without contacts.
There might be something in the Chicago area the weekend after that but I havenât planned it yet đ
Nice work here!
Tracy
Good morning!
Really strong session here! Her weave entries look really good on both sides (I think there was only one blooper?) so one option for a future session is that you can keep moving the wing down the line towards the center of the poles so she is seeing progressively harder and harder entry angles.
And separately from the harder entry angles, you can add in the countermotion on weave exit and entry. On these reps, you were mostly paralleling the weaves so now the challenge becomes: can you run past the exit to the other side while she is weaving? And can you do the RC on the entry as she is hitting the entry? Both are useful skills for upcoming adventures đ
>Had to move the jumps back because she kept selecting jumps over the tunnel.>
The tunnel is really recessed on this setup, so I can see why the jump would make more sense to her. So another option for training is: get her past the weave to the tunnel without as much handling help and more emphasis on the verbal only. You might need to tweak the setup a little so the tunnel is less recessed and more visible, but then you canât it back to its original spot here⌠and then add the jump đ As long as the jump is not on her line to the tunnel, it works out to be a great 3-way discrimination.
This is something revisit here and there in the coming months (and indoors in the winter) because it is such a common challenge on international courses lately.
Great job!
TracyGood morning!
The blinds are looking good with the earlier toy throws! Remember that you need to keep moving too đ so he is not ignoring decel in favor of running to a toy, so keep running forward to the toy after you throw it.
>He still had some problems with the bar on the FC â and it was an actual FC this time.>
The bar questions looked to be a question about conflicting indicators: for a wrap, he would need to see decel or no motion forward when he is at the previous jump to cue the collection.
On the 1st FC, as he was approaching jump 2 you had almost no movement forward into the FC – instead, as he was at 2, you began the wrap cues. That went really well!
On the other FC reps, though – when he was at 2 you began moving forward and gave him a bit swoosh into the FC jump. So that movement indicates extension over the jump and not wrap collection, so he was jumping too long and dropping the bar each time as he was trying to figure out where to go next.
So if you are moving into the cue, yo will want to move forward until he takes off for 2 then decel/stop moving to begin the collection cue. The opposite was happening here (you were stationary til he took off then you started moving to 3) so he was not getting the same info as he did on the first rep.
The bar stayed up nicely at :59 and 1:02 on the lead out push when you moved and threw the toy straight because it matched the extension cues you were giving. Yay!
Looking at the grid:
>I think I got the toy placement better. He was good on the the first side. The second was a real struggle for him. We had just come outside â he was not tired.>
The toy placement looked good!! And yes – when he was on your right, he looked really comfortable. When he was on your left⌠that was more challenging for sure! To help him out on your left, you can make the jump angle easier by moving the outer wings in closer – the line will be easier to see. For now, he can have reps on the flatter angle you had here when he is on your right, and then left side reps can be on the easier jump angle. It will even out pretty quickly.
Great job here!
Tracy
Good morning!
>Way back when I first started in agility (25 years ago), I had a little BC mix rescue girl who was âslow.â But she would Q almost every run. Those were the good old days. And perhaps one reason why my handling needs help now.>
That is so relatable! Definitely the good old days đ My first agility dog would Q a lot and come in 1 or 2 seconds under course time. It was so much easier to handle and we didnât need 30 verbals LOL!!! It was a true badge of honor to be able to run silently.
Fast dogs can definitely mean fewer Qs in the early days of their career – but it is still fun and then when the teamwork gets smooth, we end up with the speed *and* the Qs đ
>But back to Ellie â I assume she will be âslowerâ when I raise the bars some. >
You will have more time for handling in some ways – more hang time over high bars for sure! But with higher bars, she will land further from the jump so on most distances in AKC, for example, she is likely to land, take one stride, then take off. So the timing of the next cues would start as she is at the previous obstacle. But it gets easier as you both run more sequences together.
>And I am now wondering when I should start doing some sequence work at a higher jump heights.>
She is around a year old now (or soon), right? And it looks like she was jumping 12â in the last video? You can start working the bar up to elbow height for her, which is probably 14 or 16 inches. That can take a few weeks. Then over the next few months you can work up to 20 inches – I tend to not get bars to full height until the dogs are in the 18 month range. This is because at a year or even 14 months, they are simply not physically developed enough and also they are still adolescent in their brains – so coordination is not in place enough to have good jumping form without risking injury. I know you will see a lot of dogs running full height at a year old or early teen months! But that definitely goes against veterinary advice from the sports vets and rehab professionals, who prefer we let brains and bodies of the dogs grow up before asking for full height jumping. All of my dogs debut in agility at a lower jump height.
> I am a little worried that she is going to have bar issues because she likes to get low and go fast. I know I would not want to work skills at higher jump heights yet. But maybe a jump grid here and there? Curious to know your thoughts on this.>
So far, I donât see anything concerning with her jumping, she is looking good! But yes, doing some jump grids is good too. I have used set points to help introduce the concept of the bar being raised, as well as balance grids. Have you done grids with any of your other pups?
Have fun!
TracyGood morning!
>I tried breaking it down, but I struggle on how to set appropriate criteria for this.>
I donât think we need to worry about criteria until we have hashed out what the cues are (type and timing) and how to best reward him. Then when that is in place and there is a reward history, criteria can come into play more but chances are you wonât need to worry about it then either because the skill will be very strong đ
Going to the jump straight was very easy with the placed toy and then on the reps right after the placed toy. I think what was pulling him off that jump was that at the beginning (:45), your tight verbal happened either just before or just as he was entering the tunnel, so he associated it with the tunnel exit, good boy.
At 1:12 had a quiet go then silence before entering, then the tight as he was exiting, so he turned there too.
Those didnât get rewarded even though we can make a case that we was correct, so then at 1:19 he extended more on the tunnel exit (you did the high energy go on go) but did not take the jump.
This is all good info! Definitely use the big GO cues as he is entering the tunnel and until he exits. Then he might want a âgo where?â cue in the form of a jump verbal before a collection cue. And the collection might even just be his name called quietly for now, because yes – that is a LOT of verbal info đ For now, the commitment can be prioritized over the tightness of the turn.
>Physically itâs hard for him to turn (he takes off early) so I try to base it off of whether he looks back immediately on the turn,>
He was collecting pretty well but to get the tightest wrap around the wing, you can be moving and having him chase you for the reward. You being stationary and the toy being dropped or tossed to him (or Kraft haha) didnât promote as much drive back around the wing.
The best turns were when you were moving out of the wrap towards the end of the session, so let him chase you for the reward rather than standing still or dropping the toy. In a setup like this, he can chase your movement even from a distance and one back to the tunnel to get the reward from you. That is partially super fun for terriers đ and also provides info about where to go next in a way that being relatively stationary does not, so he drifts a little when the âwhere nextâ info is not clear.
Nice work here! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning!
>But I just have a complete mental block. And physically it doesnât feel normal and I feel like I am too old and stiff to do them.>
On the videos, you look smooth in your handling so I think the BCs might be more of a âlearning to run a fast young dogâ mental block. In other words, she is very fast, drives at you with a ton of power⌠but is also a bit unpredictable because she is young and you are just beginning to do sequence work with her. So your brain is probably saying âoh heck no!â to the idea of taking your eyes off of her and turning your back on her while running. And that is totally understandable! You can work the sequences with fronts and rears, and then when things are more comfortable running her, you might find that adding in blind is very easy because handling her will be in your comfort zone at that time. Or you might find that you really prefer fronts and rears over blinds, and that is perfectly fine too đ
The run on the big lines video looked GREAT! Your connection was excellent (you are really locked into watching her as part of the cues). That allowed you to be timely with the cues (especially the left turn rear cross). And you used more distance on the tunnel sends to be able to easily get to the front crosses. Super nice!!!
Looking at the serpentines:
The 2nd run (:14 – :25) had ideal serpentine handling 1-2-3: upper body did all of the work and your feet ran straight đ
The 3rd run was strong too – one little blip of disconnection as she was taking the jump after the tunnel (:41) happened when you looked forward and she had to check in to see what the cue was (bar came down there)
The last run looked great!
The only thing to consider on your serps is if you can get up and down lines faster by using the dog side arm extended back, rather than the opposite arm across your shoulders. The opposite arm causes a bit of a twist that might slow you down – so you can play with extending the dog side arm back and see how she reads it! Both styles of cue will rotate your shoulders to face the bar and that is the main cue. So it is a matter of preference as to which arm you use to help with that.
>I think we did better this time partially because of different spacing and partially because even in just a few weeks she is maturing. Maybe? I tried with each rep to get a little further down the line so that she wouldnât think it was rear.>
I think it was a combination of things! The handling was clear and smooth – getting further down the line really helps! The different spacing gives her more time to adjust the strides. And also taking a break between sessions gives time for latent learning to kick in – the brain basically âlearnsâ it during sleep and can come back and do things that were struggles previously. We see that a LOT with young dogs and I see it in us humans too đ
Great job here!
Tracy
Good morning!
>I was on both sides â should I be kind of âinsideâ the jumps on the one side (him on my right) instead of at the end of the grid?>
Being on both sides of the setup is good, a long as you also alternate having him on your left and on your right. Those reps were all on your right, so you can reverse the direction (coming towards the camera in that setup) so he can work on your left too.
He did well reading the blind crosses! And picked up a lot of speed too đ
>He consistently had trouble with the last bar â at first I though I was stopped, so I kept moving, but that did not seem to be it. Could have been the expectation of the toy (?)>
It looks like on the first couple of reps, it was because of a little decel and the toy hand moving. Then he started looking up at you because there was nothing else to look at đ So you can throw the toy a lot sooner and further, to keep him looking straight, and definitely drive past the last jump as if there is one or two more jumps after it. You can sometimes place the toy as well, but we donât want to make that an all-the-time thing (creates a context cue that is hard to fade) and you can also break it down to the throwing the toy as he is clearing the 2nd to last jump.
For the toy markers – you can be using a GO verbal for the jump and your toy marker that will keep him looking ahead (mine would be ‘get it’). That can definitely help with the bar because it will indicate looking ahead and driving straight.
You can also slightly tweak your acceleration cue on the last jump, because that might be a factor as well.
You are connecting really well but I donât think you need your dog side arm to be that far back as he is catching up to you, it almost looked treadle-like. So connect after the blind with your arm back and then stay connected, but you can soften the shoulder position by running like a football wide receiver (arms bent in sprinter position but head turned back to the dog) and see if that helps.He is collecting nicely on the FC jump!
These were actually spins (you ended up on the left side, same as you started on). You are very much on the center of the bar shaping the turn so you did get collection, but that position will make it really hard to get the next jump. Plus it might not be giving any exit info about what is next by being so tucked into the bar, which is why he dropped the bar a couple of times – not knowing where to go next and looking at the DW.So to get the FC to be able to come back down the next line, stay outside the edge of the wing and decel into it when he is taking off for 2. That can get the collection and also tell him where to go next because it sets up the rotation after the FC jump directly to the next line.
Nice work here!!
Tracy
Good morning! This went great!
>I was curious about which was faster>
I love looking at this! The TW advantage gets more clear on a bigger course because you can often leave a step or two or 3 sooner than the backside push wrap. Picture a straight tunnel with something crazy after it instead of weaves đ and even if the TW is a tick slower at the beginning, the overall line will be faster because of where you can get to later in the course.
But sometimes the faster line is simply a question of how far back you send into the push wrap – very much a âlearn your dogâ moment!
All 3 runs here looked rally good, so the time differences were subtle details:
>The 1st blind was faster than the second rep with the blind by .2 seconds. I think the execution/timing of the first one was just a bit cleaner. >
Yes – the first blind had great timing (starting as he was lifting off for the previous jump). The 2nd blind was later (still in progress as he was jumping the BC jump) – that can cause him to shorten up a bit, adding the .2 to the time.
>Both were faster than the Threadle wrapâŚ.and I thought my execution/timing on it was pretty good.>
Yes, the timing was good but it can be a stride or two gooder đ With a tweak in timing, the Threadle wrap might end up being as fast or faster – when he was taking off for the jump before it at :36, you were calling his name, so he took 2 strides towards you before you flipped him back out (that is easily .3 or more).
To smooth that out, you can call him when he is at the jump after the tunnel to help set the line, then as he approaches the jump before the threadle wrap, start the threadle wrap cues. That might shave off the .3 or more!
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
Tracy
Hi!
>âweaves are generally a forward cueâ
Interesting, hadnât really thought about the weave cue like that.>Thanks to easy access to video, the dogs are telling us that certain cues have more meaning than we realize. Certain cues such as weave cues, tunnel commitment cues, backside pushes and contact commitment cues also involve accelerating forward on the line, making the assumption that the obstacle/skill we are cueing is somewhere ahead on the line they are facing/moving on. That is really helpful! But also⌠we need to make sure they are facing the line we want before using a forward cue.
>When I watched the video later he had locked on to the far end of the poles and Iâm pretty sure thatâs where he was headed, accelerating down towards them as I deceled to get the collection for the desired entry. >
Interesting! Something about that line cued him to lock onto the other end!
>Interestingly, I did move the dogwalk and worked Pick on the âgo straight out of the tunnelâ exercise with the spare tunnel and the tunnel bags standing in for the visual barrier of the dogwalk. He was freaking perfect and required no posting of video to do any trouble shooting!>
He is such a good boy!!! So smart!!!
> I honestly think heâs my most verbal dog out of the 3 >
Some dogs are incredibly verbal!!!
>(4 if you include the almost 14 year old retired dog who was definitely never expected to do any difficult verbal discrimination work back then). >
Right, those were happy times, when the badge of glory was being able to run silent LOL!!
>If only he could keep his brain in his skull in stimulating trial environments and not turn feral!>
Well, since he is still with you, it might be fun to tackle that puzzle this fall! He is a smart, talented dog (and super cute) so cracking his code could be really interesting!!
Tracy
Good morning!
>He still wants to paw the bowl lol but I just went with it and tried to mark the head bob before the paw!>
No worries! He has some happy feet here but that will go away as we begin to fade the bowl as the target, and as we add more of your movement to this game.
You can change your position now: move to the side so he is traveling down the board parallel to you, and not facing you. You can add a target cue at this stage too: line him up at your side with both of you at the end of the teeter (he is between you and the board). Hold his collar so he does not start without you đ Say a target cue then let him go so he can move into position. Get the first rewards for this in nice and fast, so he doesnât curl in towards you or try to face you. Getting this next step in place will allow you to also begin adding movement when he can solidly hit and hold position starting from the side of the board.
Taking the toy on the victory lap was probably a nice release from the pressure of the control of the teeter end position. Yay!
Nice work!
TracyGood morning!
>But she must have done some latent learning because the past two days sheâs been like a pro at finding the tunnel threadle!>
Insane! Latent learning is just mind-blowing!!
>And since a few weeks ago she had struggled with some turns out of a tunnel, I gave those another shot and BINGO! She figured it out literally in her sleep! >
YAY!!!
Looking at the video:
The one step sends are looking great, the added distance was not problem at all! My only suggestion is that as you exit the crosses (such as at :22 and 1:08), you can reach back to her more to make bigger connection with your upper body more visible/opened up back to her. That is how we get the absolute tightest turns exiting crosses. You will see the difference on jumps – wings will elicit a tight turn regardless of connection for the most part, but jumps will not so the connection becomes really important. And rehearsing it now will make it automatic when you add this to jumps.
The tunnel threadles looked great – you used a spin to get her turned on the wing then the threadle. On the first one, you over-helped by pulling a little more than needed – but I am guessing that is because she did not really get it in the last session đ You drove more directly to the tunnel after the (like at 1:19) and she looked great!
She was cracking me up, staring at the wing at 1:03 til released.
I only saw one blooper on this video, on the tunnel exit turn at 1:45 – it could have been a late verbal cue (hard to see where she was exactly) and possibly your motion not moving away in time, accidentally presenting the line she took? You gave her slightly different info at 1:59 (decel, verbal, brake arm) and got a great turn!
>You were right about the sighthound latent learning thing.>
Yeah, sighthound latent learning is both amazing and humbling LOL!!
â¨>To that end, how do you decide whether to just quit an exercise and try again another day vs keep trying to make it easier so they understand? >
Excellent question – I guess in the early days of panic that the hound was not âgetting itâ and when I thought I needed to see behavior output that indicated learning, I would try to make a few adjustments and even put out a target or lure. Then when the icky intrusive thoughts would creep in (stuff like âwow, I really suckâ and âwell, maybe he just canât learnâ LOL!), I would just stop. I generally have some form of timer on every session, so when the timer says to stop, I stop – doesnât matter if it was a good session or not.
Nowadays, I just help as much as I I can then let it go until a few days later.
>Not talking about the whole âalways end on a good repâ thing, I know thatâs not really a thing.>
True! So many people dig themselves into really deep holes by trying to end on a good note! I think for us, it is more about seeing some type of behavior output that indicates that yes, we are on the right track. But we donât always get that with sighthounds. And that is CHALLENGING for our brains in the early days of sighthounding.
> But those other sessions I wound up ending the session feeling like I never really got it broken down enough for her to learn anything. How do you know if they got anything out of it without a magic 8 ball?>
Totally is it the magic 8 ball of âI guess I will found out in 2 or 3 days if we accomplished anythingâ LOL!! And now that I am 5 years into the Sighthound Era, I trust it so much more and freak out less. The BorderWhippets usually provide a little more insight into whether they are learning something or not – the total whippets often provide zero insight into what they are learning, until a few days later.
And if you come back to it in a few days and they still donât have it? That is rare đ but it is also a good way to re-think the approach to training the skill. And I am sure we all obsess on it in the meantime, figuring out other ways to do it that we often donât need đ The real challenge is controlling those intrusive thoughts because some training sessions can be really deflating! So remembering the magical latent learning stuff helps me to control those.
Nice work here! Let me know what you think!
Tracy
Good morning!
Ooh goats! Fun!!!!! I don’t think I’ve ever seen goat herding!
Looking at the video:
The zig zag is going well! He is moving through it nicely!2 small suggestions to keep building this up:
The placement of reward can be slightly different: instead of having it centered off the 2nd bar (which keeps him turning to his right), have it closer to the wing on the side you are standing on. That will get more slice and more lead changes.
And, in each session, work both directions with you on the inside wings (where they are touching). That way he will see both dog-on-right and dog-on-left, which will give him good balance of lead changes and strengthening in the session. I always work both directions in the same session (or two sessions fairly close together if he needs a break) so that both sides get worked evenly.
Great job here!
Tracy
Good morning!
>Tunnel Threadles and tandem turns, not a great start, but a good finish.>
I agree – the beginning took a few tries to sort out the timing and info for the tunnel threadles.
If he goes off course into the âwrongâ end of the tunnel, you can assume it is handler error in timing and info, and give him a reward for his effort when he comes back to line up again.
What was happening here was that on the reps at :02 and :10 on the first side then at :23 and :31 on the other side – you didnât quite get him fully turned on the wing before the tunnel, so as you started moving up the line, you were cueing the line to the tunnel entry directly in front of him (motion overriding verbal cue). Yes, you looked at your feet to see where they were pointing after he got into the tunnel, but that was after he was already committed – it is what he sees as he exits the wing which is the key spot.
So if you look at :15 and :35, for example, and the reps at the end – you were much more turned at the wing and he easily knew where to go. Those looked great!
And the threadle wrap/tandem-ish turn đ you did on the last rep looked great too!
>Is it too much handler focus, or is it because I am slow?>
It is not because you are slow đ I see what you are seeing – I think it could be a combination of factors. From the handling perspective, one part of it might be too many failures (like early in the session where he went to the tunnel based on what he saw but did not get rewarded at all, I think that happened 5 or 6 times which is a lot!). That is why effort rewards are so critical (to keep the dog in the game). And also, I live by the 2 failure rule: if there are 2 errors (total) then I need to look at the video before doing more, to figure out what I need to do differently. If he thinks he is going to be wrong, he is going to slow down and wait for more info. So in handling, it is safe to assume he is never wrong and reward reward reward đ I know there are plenty of instructors out there who will tell you that *he* was wrong⌠but the video will give us the unbiased view that he was not wrong đ So, reward anyway đ and then figure out why he was doing what he did (video is great for that!)
The other thing that might be causing him to slow down was that as the sequences got bigger, you were pointing ahead more, and connecting less. So he was looking up at you a bit and waiting for more info, which will slow him down. You can see it at 1:22-1:24, for example: nice and fast when you were connected, and more careful when you were pointing ahead of him and he couldnât see connection. So remember to watch him more, and point at the obstacles less đ
Other factors include:
He might be a bit tapped out in the heat if you were working in the heat of the day. Or, now that he is doing bigger longer sequences, he might be in need of a massage to make sure nothing is sore. Has he ever been to a body work person? There are lots of good folks around!Nice work here! Let me know what you think!
Tracy
Hi! This is going well!!! Excellent progress on the slant board!
The first part of the session went great and you were really good about saying in motion. After about :47, you were stopping when she was stopping, so I think that was partially responsible for why the behavior was changing. Keep reminding yourself to stay in motion for 3 or 4 more steps after she stops, even if it is slow motion đ
>I sometimes threw forward and most of the time back. >
Mixing it up is good!
>When she came off the board twice I thought I should have rewarded more back. >
And you can also run in and deliver a treat right on the target to help keep the balance of stopping there. Coming off the board looked to be mainly because she was going faster and didnât shift her weight in time to make the stop in position. All a normal part of the learning with the board angled đ
>I canât throw the ball directly to her since it is pretty hard and I amâ¨Not good at aiming AND she is not good at catching.>
Right, she might not want the ball to smack her in the head LOL!!! So a treat tossed to her can work, or the ball behind her, or place the ball out front and release her forward to it. The surprise element of reward can be very motivating!
>I was going to work more and increasing my motion with arms and then fade the target.>
Yes – adding staying in motion is great, especially when you are behind her as she gets on the board. That seemed to be the hardest challenge for her!
>We leave Thursday for beauty pageants in Iowa.>
Where in Iowa is the event? I spend time in Iowa for teaching and training (and to visit the Worldâs Largest Truck Stop haha)
Great job here!!
Tracy
>When I walked the dogs line it was a solid 9-10â longer to do the slice vs the wrap, plus it felt like a lot of lead changes, so I did the wrap.>
Got it! That does seem like a significant distance – did you measure from the exit wing on each side, or from the takeoff spot? It would be fun to time both of them, though, because I am always surprised that the side that looks slower often turns out to be faster. It is very individual to each dog.
>âHe had a question on 4-5 at 1:23 â I think it was a parallel line blooper.â I think I just didnât give him much for turning cues on 4, so he landed already looking past 5, he went and took the end jump, not the weaves.>
Yes – and since weaves are generally a forward cue, he seemed to be looking forward for them. Good boy đ
â¨>Yes I do try to start the verbal/cues for the next thing while he is in the last few poles, so itâs not something heâs never seen, but sometimes if itâs not what he was expecting (or I got further away than he was expecting, or anything that surprises him) he will still pop out. He knew it was coming in subsequent reps so he was able to stay in.>
Yes – I like the timing of starting it while they are weaving. In this case, I think it was not the verbal the pulled him out, I think he was already on his way out as the next line came into view. So you can keep adding the verbal nice and early like you had it here, and reward him on the next line for staying in the poles (a reward somewhere between the pole exit and next obstacle).
â¨>For 11, I was worried doing it as a threadle wrap was still slightly ambiguously cuing the incorrect side of 11. I felt like he needed a tiny bit more to make it super clear he needed to come through the gap. >
You can give him wrap cues as he exits the teeter so he is collecting for 10, then the threadle wrap cues will be easier (and the lap turn cues too). I have found that turning cues on the jump before threadles make the actual threadles much easier đ
>In hindsight, doing it with the BC and a push wrap might have been easier. I kinda needed to be LESS ahead for 13-15 so I could use more motion to power him past the wrong tunnel entrance. >
It is possible that is the easiest option!
>Itâs not still set up, had to break most of it apart to work on some tunnel things with the other two, but maybe Iâll rebuild it the next time I do some course work. What I might do to take one element out is build it so that the correct tunnel is more visible too, increase our chance of success. >
That sounds great!!! Keep me posted!!! And if you set up the tunnel stuff before the DW goes in, try some of it with Beat to introduce her to some of those lines đ
Tracy
