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Hi! He did great here!!! He found the backside really well and you were able to get across the bar to add more lateral distance.
My only suggestion is to use less ark as part of the cue – that might block connection as you add more speed. You can have your dog-side arm pointing back to him and lower, so he can see your face and shoulders.
You can also add more speed by starting from a cookie toss- you’ll still be moving at the same pace, but he will come blasting up the line. That will add a good challenge for processing the cue.
Great job here!
TracyHi!
OK I will now use the phrase ‘shittery wait’ lol Waits are hard for her, so you can remind yourself to be calm, don’t get flustered 🙂
Keep me posted about the trial on Sunday! Definitely see if you can use the mat – if not, try it outside the ring.
>>were you going to do zoom discussions where will they be posted>
Yes, dates will be posted this coming week! Stay tuned!
TracyWelcome back!! I’m sorry to hear about Montana 😞 9 is definitely too young 😢
Sounds like Knight is doing great!!! For the Sunday drop in, ask the people to be loud like a trial and see how he does! Keep me posted and we can plan for the UKI trial!
Tracy
Try one more session on the skinny upright with the empty cue hand to lower her head, then onwards to the barrel 🙂
Hi!
>Yes! I think the cheering & noise jazz her up. That’s the most speed I’ve seen from her in a group setting.>Yes! Totally agree!
>3rd line-up – We’ve done the freeze dance at home when she offers a stand, but usually she offers a sit. I thought I’d see if she wanted to freeze in the stand but clearly not!
NFC times – yup I was looking at the timing of that first session from when she crossed the first jump and 3 reps with that many obstacles is probably too long for a 50-60sec NFC run. >The one thing I remind myself of in the NFC runs is to move more slowly and stay calm, and not try to rush the handling and rewards. That way I *might* get two reps of something in? Or not – but that is fine as long as my mechanics are clear and clean, and the dog can regroup for the next rep.
> However like you said – she kept doing agility and there wasn’t any leaping lizard moments.>
Right! That was a big win!
>She’s going to tag along for this weekend’s UKI trial up at OTR, but she’s not entered. I’ve got 605 runs to get through as show manager this weekend plus the excitement of a hotel stay on Sat night so that I can go out to dinner with Merritt and not worry about driving home (slight potential for a bit of snow) after that. The Casey Keller seminar is in 2 weeks on the 14th with the trial on the 15th & 16th. Right now she’s entered in 2 classes/day, but guessing we wont’ run all of them, esp with the seminar on Friday morning.>
It is a busy month! She has a lot on her calendar, so easing her in to trial runs will be perfect.
Keep me posted!
Tracy
Hi!
Yes, the leash runner was a big distraction walking in right behind him (I am not sure that her stomping towards him helped at all because it is a weird thing to do, which attracts his attention more as he tries to learn to ignore someone that close). So ask people to just stand there and do absolutely nothing 🙂
I think giving him more info in that situation can help – talking to him and telling him what to do more. You said ‘stay’ on rep 2 and I think that helped him!
Yes, resetting with the leash on and coming back int the ring was perfect. I think he left his stay early but that is probably because there was a lot of pressure with the leash runner right behind him – definitely rewardable but don’t do long lead outs and also, the ring crew can be further away:>My thoughts on slicing it down for him – Work with just leash runner – Work with just seated ring crew – Work with leash runner and ring crew – Work with leash runner and moving ring crew:
One definite slice is having them a bit further away for now. He has a high rate of failure (visiting) when the leash runner is right behind him or the crew person is right near the line. So to get more success, they can be another 10 or 15 feet away. When he doesn’t find that challenging anymore, you can totally start bringing them closer.
And do lots of rewards that are specific for ignoring them – like reward after jump 1 and not visiting the leash runner. Or, in the 2nd video, he was great about ignoring the stuff on the chair, but didn’t get rewarded because later on he flew off the dog walk. And then the fit bone stuff on the ground was weird so he had to investigate – in that moment, rather than stop and tell him he was wrong… keep running the invisible dog to keep him a chance to recover from the weird thing in the ring.
>I’ll have more opportunity to work with some people tomorrow and Friday>
Perfect! Have them be further away and aim for as close to 100% success as you can get it. And if you get an error, move them further away. That is a great slice to help him out!
Nice work here! Keep me posted!
Tracy
Hi!
Thanks for the update!!
>We’ve had two classes and I would say that the excitement level has definitely been increasing and manifesting in startline behavior
One thing to look at is how is her stay behavior when she is really excited, and not near agility? That is the starting point 🙂 The best game is tug-sit-tug to get fast sits and stays in higher excitement. Here are first steps:
>During training, she has a great sit but adding sequencing/class time it completely falls apart. >
That means that in training, she needs to be brought into higher arousal in easier scenarios, so the sit can happen when she is more stimulated.
>1) Practice outside of the ring on a cato board at the beginning of class.>
Yes – but first step is at home with very high arousal so the skill is in place before bringing it into the class environment.
>2) At max, only use a startline 1-2 times during the whole class and with the assist of the cato board. Otherwise, figure out a way to use a wrap start or send somehow.>Yes – but also add in some sort of offered control behavior before each sequence. Some sort of short fun line up or mini stay or something, so the behavior gets brought into the ring and there is very little run run run arousal without the stays getting practiced. This is where the tug-sit-tug is very useful!
>3) If a lead out is needed, only 1-2 jump lead out (max) so she can be successful holding it.>Yes – perfect! You want her to be very successful. You can do a shorter lead out, or start her at jump 2 or 3 if a sequence requires a longer lead out.
>One question I do have, what would you require from her on the Cato board? Typically, my criteria has been that I don’t care what she does on the cato board (sit, stand, etc) as long as she stays on the board. Would you require a sit just to be very clear with her? >
Yes, I think a cued position will help clarify things for her, to help with the concept of “don’t move”. It doesn’t have to be a sit (can be a stand or down) but a specific position can help.
>I think this all comes down to probably staying connected and keeping my criteria very clear but these are some of the things I’ve been thinking about.>
Yes to connection and criteria but also – she needs to be able to learn it and work it in high arousal which means bringing her into that arousal state to work short fun stays (with rewards thrown back sometimes too, rather than always releasing forward).
>On another topic, this weekend I have her entered in two Speedstakes runs at 16s for NFC. The judge is Merrit Speagle. This is our third trial doing NFC and I think that she’s been doing really well in the trial environment.>
Perfect! Merritt is really nice!
>Depending on the courses, I was going to look for places to do rear crosses. I think the other item was working on me continuing on the course if she misses a jump but rewarding after she takes a line instead – not stopping and rewarding for a missed jump. >
Great! Yes, rear crosses are going to be useful since she is so speedy – and if she turns the wrong way, assume it was late info and keep going. And same if she passes a jump – keep going to get her back on a line, then you can reward 🙂
You can also bring the Cato board in for NFC runs! Enlisting a helper to bring it in and out will help, even if you just have her hop up on it an respond to a position cue in the trial environment.
Keep me posted!!
TracyHi!
She seems to have gotten longer this week rather than taller LOL!This session went really well! She is so fun to watch as she is sorting this out – a bit hippity hoppity in her movement at the beginning as she figures out the puzzle of where to be. Doing mental calculus for a couple of reps.
But then when she sorts it out? Fast and bendy and driving around brilliantly. You can see that lock in at 1:11 and 1:44, and she then kept that for the rest of the session even with the wind doing crazy things. Love it! And you were able to get further across the bar too, no issues.
You can be closer to her as she starts moving up the line – ahead but not so far ahead you need to decel or stop because you run out of room. So when you toss the treat, move towards it with her for 3 or 4 more steps, so you have that extra room to keep moving forward as she moves up the line.
>I’m sharing it more for the moment half way through when the wind really picked up and she spooked at the small ornamental tree just off the camera to the right bending halfway over in the wind. Not a total meltdown, but maybe because she realized it wasn’t an intruder and was just a tree?>
She had great resilience here! I would not call it a meltdown at all. A small startle response, yes – but it was definitely startling! I am sure that many adult dogs would also be “what the heck?” for a second or two, kind of like she was. The wind was being crazy! She noted it (hippity hoppity towards it :)) then got right back into the game – she looked at it at 1:50 and was back to you by 1:53. Your choice to do a quick pattern game was perfect. She didn’t seem to feel the need to look at it and the wind was pretty crazy for the rest of the session (you had long tug moments which also helps).
Great job here!!
Tracy
Good morning! Lovely sessions here!
Nice job with the slow hand movement to get her to turn away here! The first rep on each side had hand movement that was too quick then you slowed it down, so she got it really well. Good timing with the clicks!
She is leading with her head really nicely (and giving her toy breaks was good, to avoid things getting too repetitive)
One suggestion: Throw the reward from the other hand rather than the turn hand. She was looking up to follow the turn hand and track the treat throw, which was altering the turn. Throwing from the other hand will keep her head in a more natural position and looking forward, without her looking up as much.Backside slice: This is going well too! She easily found the backside line. You can keep moving across the ‘bar’ to add lateral distance, and work the other side too.
One suggestion, especially as you add more lateral distance across the bar: See if you can start moving before the release so the motion line is set before she starts to move. Or, you can be in motion the whole time (rather than stop then release, which causes her to anticipate a bit). If this might confuse her about the stay release, you can use a cookie toss start to get the motion going before she moves up the line.
>I need to get some sticky stuff for the bumps. First time really using them and I don’t want them to move like they did!>
Carpet tape on the bottom, maybe? Or do you have any PVC jump bumps? Those would work well here too.
Great job!
TracyI am so glad your snow melted!
He did great with the tunnel threadles here. One question – do you want to use your outside arm or inside arm for these? I think you had reps of each, so you will want to clarify for him which one you want to use.
The next step would be to see if he could turn himself away to the tunnel without you needing to do any arm flip movement at all. And you can also meet him more at the exit of the first tunnel to see if he can drive himself ahead of you to find the entry of the threadle side.Nice work!
TracyGood morning!
He is doing great with these! Most of the reps were really perfect. Sometimes he doesn’t finish the wrap as you are moving forward – you can mix in tossing the reward behind you to the other side of the barrel instead of rewarding for completing the full wrap – that can get his eyes off of you and more on the line around the barrel as you are moving. You did toss them back on some of the reps, so you can toss them even sooner sometimes. Mix it up, so it is a bit variable and he keeps looking at the line.
He had very few errors – one blooper at :12 when you stepped forward so I can see his point about going to the next barrel. He also had a couple of questions about which side of the 2nd barrel to be on when you did 2 barrels in a row – you exaggerated your hand cues and that really helped! You can also add more connection to his eyes while showing him your hands, to really solidify which side to be on.
Great job here! When the weather gets better, you can take this outside. You can also mix in all sorts of other rocking horses: FCs, spins, race tracks, and then add in some threadle wraps too 🙂
Tracy
Good morning! Sounds like a busy time for you, but I agree – training breaks are great for puppies. He certainly looks great on these videos.
On the pivot session:
He is doing GREAT pivoting back to center!!! This looks great!!! He is slightly better when he is coming in on your left side than on your right, but both sides are dramatically improved 🙂 Yay! Latent learning is glorious LOL!!!
>Have a little pitter-patter with the front feet that I will try not to reward.>
He might not even realize he is doing that 🙂 It is probably a bit of excitement and motivation to play the game (being highly motivated can sometimes get more movement in the form of little behaviors like front feet pattering). No worries at all – there are other behaviors (like stays) that we can isolate the front feet and ask him not to move them.
Find My Face also went well – he was really fast with the pattern game and then he patiently allowed you to reconnect after you “error” of disconnection LOL!!! I did see a little bit of a Skizzle thought bubble (lift of the front paw which can sometimes be a canine question mark) as he worked through what the disconnection was all about.
You can also reward him for patiently hanging out even if he doesn’t come all the way in front of you – the main goal of the game is to help the dogs regulate any potential frustration or stress or arousal shifts when we humans screw up handling (because we will haha!!). We don’t want to see any barking or biting or zoomies or stress sniffing, so he can get rewarded even if he does not make eye contact.
He left to pursue something else towards the end – possibly just because there were enough disconnects here that he might have thought that you were not really training LOL! So you can keep the sessions of this game nice and short for now.
He had no trouble figuring out the concept of the minny pinny. He was a little smoother to his left (maybe the lineups were cleaner on your right side, or there might have been a visual he was heading towards on your other side?) but he did it well in both directions! For the next session you can hold him while you say the verbal a few times then let him go, so he can propel himself around it in response to the verbal.
>I think I’m going to use “lolololo” for left (though maybe I shouldn’t because it sounds like “go” and “razrazraz” for right.>
Yes, I can see your point that “lo” and “go” might sound the same. What if you changed the vowel and make it “loo loo loo”? That sounds pretty different (and now my dogs are all thinking I am nuts because I am sitting here yelling GO GO GO and LOO LOO LOOK hahaha
I love the ‘raz’ – a fun, distinctive sound!!
On the rocking here video:
He was actually playing find my face when the info was not as clear! Good boy!
Some of his questions had to do with connection. When you pointed forward/looked forward to the next barrel while he was still behind you, the cue read like a blind cross so he was changing sides (you can see this at :07 and :19). So as you exit the FC or the spin to send to the next barrel, prolong the eye contact as he is catching up to you and as you send him past you, so he knows which side to be on.
The spins are going well, you were getting them by the end! It might feel easier when you have more room, if you think of them as 2 separate moves: a front cross as he is arriving at the barrel, then keep moving and a blind cross as he is maybe halfway around. And when you are happy with the physical cues, add the wrap verbals – that will help him go to the barrel without accidentally using a go cue on the turn.
Great job on these! Safe travels and I am sure he will be wiring these into his brain while you are gone 🙂
Tracy
Good morning!
The Minny Pinny is going really well! My favorite rep was the last one, where you had him smoothly lined up and facing the jump bars. On the others, he was a little sideways and looking at you so the starts were not as clean. Lining him up and holding him til you are ready will also let you start the verbals before you let go… which also means you can start to fade out the shoulder turns that are cuing him to start. That can make the verbals even more independent.
The wing wrap concept transfer went great! I think he was waiting for a cue at the beginning because we have added so many cues – but then when you added the cue, easy peasy! You can start adding wings to the easier rocking horse games, fading out the barrels.
On the rocking horses with the spins: he was happy to let you sort it out because you were rewarding him a lot 🙂
For the timing: because it is a cue combo, it is probably easiest to pick out a timing spot (where he will be) for when to start the FC and when to start the blind. Starting him a little further away to send to the barrel can make this easier: that way you can start the FC as he is approaching the barrel, then do the BC when he is beginning the wrap (on the first side of the barrel). That is what you did on the last rep on video 1, and on the first rep of video 3 – those were my favorites! And it seemed like you didn’t have to work hard or go fast at all to get the BC done.
Compare to the 2nd video where the FC started closer to when he was exiting the barrel and then you got the blind in. It might have felt like you had to move really fast, and it can also delay connection for the next send. This happened at :37 on video 2 where you were not quite connected and he didn’t know to go to the next barrel. So even if the BC is a little late, show a big connection as you send to the next barrel and try not to point forward to it.
One other suggestion is to line him up at your side for cleaner starts – when he was facing you or sideways to the barrel, the send was not always as clear as it was when he was at your side to start.
>The last video is where I forgot his wrap cue (Dig) and tried to use his sister’s wrap cue (Flick) that actually sounds like his name (Check) hence extreme confusion for all involved>
Ha! Yes, he definitely had questions but then when you went back to Dig… no problem. Smart pup, and proves he is listening!!!!
>ou’ll see me a bit slow to reward quite a bit here- I was trying to keep food out of my hands.>
He did really well with empty hands! Just be sure not to reach for the pocket too early, that can pull his attention off the barrel.
Great job here!!!
Tracy
