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Hi!
I don’t think the patterns were too close to the ring – that was perfect for where you would use them at trials!
When he was outside the ring doing patterns at the beginning, he was looking at something to his right – the tight leash prevented him from getting to it and it was the leash pressure that seemed to be getting him to turn back to you. But he was definitely still thinking about it and not yet engaged as you moved into the ring. If you see him looking at something, you can do more of the back and forth pattern and loosen the leash, so he chooses to engage (rather than get stopped by the leash)Then you can try to pattern game him past the other dog (rather than cookie-on-the-nose magnet) to see if he can ignore the other dog too. So much to ignore in dog sports! LOL!!!
And then as you enter and get ot the line, do more volume dial tricks: you had 3 before the stay, maybe he needs more to get into a better state with the dog walk as the 2nd obstacle? His DW was stop-ish LOL – not a total leap but definitely not fully correct like the 2nd rep was and the other contacts were.
>I missed 3 obstacles after working the threadles with him just kept going, never knew a thing.>
That was connection – in each of those moments, you were running with your dog-side shoulder closed forward and not fully connected to him, so as you turned he was not sure if he should take the jump or not. Having your dog side arm pointing to his nose and your eyes on his eyes will totally help that – it was correct to carry on, to maintain the engagement because everything else looked great!!!!
Nice work here!
TracyUgh below zero, EWWWWW!! Fingers crossed for a short winter.
>I edited out those bad reps originally, but have dropped them into the video below.>
This is great, because it tells us why he was not getting to the new side… connection! He was not locked onto the toy or overly aroused by it at all – he just needed a clearer BC cue.
You were doing the blind and had the arm of your new side extended parallel to your body… which, when he was behind you, does not reveal connection so he did not see a side change cue and stayed on his line. On the first rep, you did open up your connection more when you peripherally saw him not changing sides – that was when he saw the side change cue and tried to change sides, but it was too late because he was already next to you.
I got screenshots! Here they are:
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/16Grn8pT5Zk78SGhNYockJwlJAX65HTIQol-y8w-I9rY/edit?usp=sharingDogs really don’t read our hands as side change cues – it is all about the connection change. So as you do the blind, point the new dog-side arm all the way back to his nose as you look for his eyes, so he can fully see the connection and your upper body. I sue the other arm across my body (hand resting on opposite hip) to create that exit line connection by pushing the dog-side shoulder all the way back to the dog.
And do it with the high value toy in your hand – I bet he nails the blinds with the good connection 🙂
It gets easier as they grow up, because they associate the shoulder movement with the rest of the BC cues so they change sides more easily without as much reliance on the complete connection cue. But for now, make the connection big and obvious, and he will nail it 🙂
Tracy
Hi!
Collection sandwich looked great! She was reading all the handling info and doing well driving forward when you tossed the reward ahead after the pivot. Super!! When you add the Go verbal, you can run too so she gets used to seeing your acceleration as part of the cue.You can decelerate sooner – no later than when she is halfway to you. If you decelerate when she is arriving to you, her momentum will cause her to jump up a little.
The other thing you can do with the decels and pivots is use a long target (such as a long wooden cooking spoon with a dab of cream cheese on it) so you can reward her very low without you having to almost put your hands on the ground 🙂 That will help her keep all feet on the ground.
Backing up – looking really good! With the mat there as the target – you can use a more narrow space so it is harder to go to the side, then reward when she puts her back feet on it while backing up.
Rear crosses – the key to teaching to turn to the new side is the timing of your appearance on the new side. You need to be very visible as she lifts her head from grabbing the treat. You were PERFECT with that at 1:33 – she is lifting her head and you were in the perfect spot to get the left turn.
Comparing to the other reps, where she turned back to the original direction (1:43, 1:47, 1:53) – you were not as visible on the new side in the moment she lifted her head and had to make a decision, so she turned to where she could see you. I think on those reps, you tossed the treat a little too far away so it was harder to get to your next spot. Try tossing it closer to you only need one step to get to your next position. She is quick, so we need to get you to the new side quicker 🙂 It will get easier as she sorts out the game and realizes that yes, she can turn the new direction (away from the old direction).
I grabbed photos of what she was seeing, so you can see where you need to be to get the turn versus where you were when she turned the other way:
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1wqtTGFlg2jAiXpfy-j8CEJmqigDZ4tYQI7Ugb6attmI/edit?usp=sharing
Great job here!!
Tracy
Good morning!
>Speaking of reward placement, struggling with the sit stay. Honestly I hadn’t taught her a sit yet as I usually like puppies to have some core strength before asking for that. I had thought that she was just about ready to start it, but maybe not?>
I think she is ready for this 🙂 and there were 4 factors here working together that were getting you the down. In no particular order:
– The footing was slippery footing so she was sliding a bit (front feet forward, back feet to the sides), making it easier and probably more comfy to do the down.
– she is half BC so the down might definitely something she wants to do 🙂
– The initial reward placement to her mouth was getting foot movement as you delivered the treat… which led to sliding forward when the feet went back down, which led to the down being easier. Plus we don’t want to build in foot movement – and also we don’t want to start to reward then pull it away if she moves her feet as that can be frustrating. So It might be good to not reward directly to her mouth til the sit is more stable. It is also entirely possible that she doesn’t fully realize she is moving her front feet to reach up to get the treat (it is a ‘cheap’ behavior that can be built in accidentally and easily.
– You were waiting a bit too long to mark/reward, which for a dog who is very, very good at offering behavior will get you more offered behavior. Starting with smaller pieces of the behavior then building up to add more duration very slowly will help her hold the sit and not offer more. As we add duration, the initial ‘keep going’ cue here is the handler moving away with the marker (or click) releasing the behavior. More on that below.
A couple of ideas:
>> I usually reward initial attempts with nose nice and high to encourage good posture.>
Because you were getting foot movement followed by the foot sliding when she put her foot down, can you get her a smaller, square foam surface with lots of grip to sit on? It makes the sit easier versus the down.
> I was trying in the first session or two to reward the sit with a cookie toss or some sort of release, but I was still getting lots of downs>
Were you getting the down offered without the sit? If so, using the smaller sit area will help (I am guessing you have one because it is how my PT vet gets me to to teach my dogs the tight sits :))
Or was it the sit then down like in this video? You might have been waiting too long to mark the sit in that case, so she was offering/sliding into the down. You can get the sit and mark immediately a bunch of times, then mark a heartbeat later, and start the ping pong of immediate marker versus gradually extending the time before the marker.
>> So in this session I decided she needed some reinforcement of the correct position/posture and used her duration/stillness marker “good”, and even still, if I didn’t give the marker as soon as her butt touched down, she was going into a down.>
Part of it was that she might not have been ready for any duration with you moving past a heartbeat of a stay for now. So giving the marker as her butt hits the ground is a great way to get that sit behavior. And tossing the treat behind her is also going to help eliminate the down, because it is inefficient for her to do a down, when that treat is coming fast and she will have to get up and turn around to get it. The sit can be created through a response cost, because the sit is just much more efficient than the down in terms of getting that reward 🙂
And the other part is that when you were hand-delivering the treat high, she was moving her front feet to reach up to get it. So foot movement was being built in, then when she put her foot back down, it would slide… then she would go with the slide and move into the down. So you can move away but click or mark immediately, as you are moving. And mark without moving your hand – she might be locking onto the hand as that is the indicator that the food is coming, and moving her feet. In my head, I add the word “and” between the marker and hand movement: catch and toss, for example. That way the word builds value quickly (my puppies start to look behind them when I say catch LOL!)
>> I don’t think she’s so very whippety that she can’t sit, to me it just looks like she doesn’t have enough core strength to maintain it.>
I think she can totally sit, and if anything it might be the BC side saying “hey, downs are AWESOME” LOL!!! I also think part of it is doing what is comfortable: she has enough core strength but needs the support of a very grippy surface so her front feet were not sliding and also so her back feet don’t splay out in the sit like at :31. She is in the growth stage where her back feet don’t automatically fit underneath her 🙂 so giving her more grip and something to sit on (big enough to sit easily but small enough that the down is not easy) can help too.
>My thinking is put this exercise away and work to improve the posture in the sit so she can hold it more comfortably before revisiting, or just work this exercise with a down? The concept of holding the position should transfer to the sit..>
You can work this in a down, with you in a lower position too so she starts to get context cues… and that way it doesn’t become all about a down and we can use context cues to differentiate down versus sit before adding the verbal cues.
And don’t put this away yet – try it with a more grippy surface and faster rewards to really slide the behavior and release her from the position before you get any movement (which is great because then she doesn’t have to hold position as long).
And let latent learning help you too, see how she does over the weekend 🙂
Let me know what you think! Nice work here!
Tracy
This is an entirely different vibe LOL!!!! Still good though, especially since I have had a lot of caffeine 🙂 How was the concert? I, too, and mourning the end of it and having big regrets that I didn’t go to one of the concerts.
He did well with his trail of ‘stuff’ to walk over 🙂 The 2 dogs watching add a processing challenge (not in a bad way, but still processing for his brain). That challenge draws bandwidth away from proprioception, so as you keep working this skill: put easier obstacles in front of the other dogs. In this setup, the harder ones were closer to them, so he struggled with proprioception and balance (the blue disc in particular – falling off and pitching forward on his front end).
Now, bearing in mind that we DO want to train his brain to be able to process good mechanics while exciting things are in the environment (the holy grail of agility and flyball!) some ideas for you:
Switching the order of the setup so the blue disc is further from the other dogs can make a world of difference at this point (more mental bandwidth can be devoted to balance etc). And you can put the easier stuff like the Cato board in front of Nix & Pattern – the Cato requires less bandwidth.If he still struggles with balance – take out some of the inflation of the disc, so it is underinflated and not overinflated like it is here. We want good mechanics before asking for high levels of inflation.
Stay tuned for more processing challenges to go with the proprioception challenges!!
The backing up started off SUPER nice! He started to angle to the side a little bit towards the end – might have been fatigue (this does tire them out fast at this age) or might have bleed over from the previous reward that went a bit to the side, or both. No worries! You got a straight rep after that. We will be building up more distance by adding a destination, so feel free to use a mat or a very low foam board – start him with all 4 feet on it. Then lure his front feet forward (only front feet) like you did here, by placing the cookie between your feet. Then reward him when he steps his front feet onto the mat/board.
When he can do that two or three times, you can lure all 4 feet off the mat or board, then reward for him stepping a back foot or two back onto it. That can jump start getting him to back up straight to a destination, then we can add more and more distance.
Great job here!
Tracy
Good morning!
>>Yes I had treats with me at both stores and he refused them at the front of both stores.>>
Wow, that is VALUABLE info! He seemed to be in freeze mode, which is a stress response. Do you think he would have tried to leave if he wasn’t on leash?
>Note: When I went to Lowes, it was on Monday morning with hardly anyone in the store.>
And you got the same response of him acting concerned and not eating?
Also, what type of treats? You might need to go up in value, to rotisserie chicken or even an Egg McMuffin or something 🙂
But it is great info about what concerns him – congested areas with weird new people/things. And adding other dogs might make it even harder.
So ideally your classmates can help by being ring crew at the front of the ring (outside and inside it). And same when you go to new places – enlist some help to make it like the entry of Home Depot 🙂
But definitely use a SUPER motivating food reward, something mind-blowing 🙂
>>Below is a video of Knight at a foundation class in a building he has not been in since late spring and the dogs in this class was the first time he saw>>
This was really good!!!! I felt that he looked a little concerned at first, but then as he got moving, the adrenaline and maybe endorphins kicked in and he was happier.
After he got the first cookie, he seemed back to his normal spicy self.
So the next steps would be to do the same general thing, but without the food in your hand – in your pocket, then eventually outside the ring. You can also mix in other people in the ring surprising him by tossing awesome cookies as rewards.
He didn’t seem super into the toy, but I think that was because you had treats in your hand.
You can also gently hold his collar while you take the leash off. That way you can keep him with you to do a ready-set-go start to get him moving. He loves to run run run so I think getting him moving will really help him at the beginning of the course.
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyHere ya go! The beginning of the freeze dance game 🙂
I decided to do it with the puppy (10 months old) because he’s never done it before and you can see the first steps:
Hi!
>OMG, I’m in the race to be your trouble student! lol>Ha! Not at all!!! It was like a cliffhanger, waiting to see the video with potential bloopers LOL!!!
> Except he likes it so much that he had eyes only for it at first and didn’t even acknowledge the magical cookie hand. I worked through my mechanics a bit and ultimately ended up with this.>
You totally ended up on the right track with this! So he might have been going to the prop instead of you hand for a couple of reasons:
– you might have been stepping to the side (towards the prop) instead of straight back – the only blooper here was at :28 where you stepped to the side, which does cue him to go to the prop
– you might have been too close to the prop at the beginning for him to see the hand? Or maybe you were looking at him instead of the hand? Looking at the hand TOTALLY helps! Hard to see where you were looking in this clip.
– and since he has so much value for the prop, it is also possible that your hand cue was late and not obvious enough. After he grabbed the start cookie, if he turned back towards you and your magic cookie hand was not low and fully extended, he might be all eyes for the prop.
He was great in this video, so if you revisit it and run into the same struggles with him going to the prop and not your hand, you can use these to troubleshoot!
Great job 🙂
TracyHi! This is looking good!
>We still haven’t figured out a ready game that we’re both comfortable with….>
I think she likes when you talk to her and make a silly face 🙂 But she doesn’t seem to like it as much when you touch her, she moves back a bit. And if you are too quiet, she starts offering behavior on the prop. So a little light conversation might be the best answer 🙂
The warm up session looked good – she loves her prop! She also did really well with the sideways sends/ You are stepping with your opposite leg crossing your body on those and that will end up being a bit too much rotation when you add more countermotion and movement. It will be easier to send her with the leg closer to the prop, so you can leave more smoothly (less rotation).
Parallel path is looking good too!
At this point, no more clicker is needed. You can switch to the get it marker and toss the treat so she is not looking at you or waiting for you after hitting it. That will get her driving ahead even more, which will be useful for more lateral distance and adding rear crosses.
Because the hat is small and she is going faster (this is an extension game), the hits might not be as perfect – no worries, you can mark & reward for striding over it. Think of the hat as a jump bar in this game and we want her to go over it.
You can get the toy involved with both of these games – it can be the reward for the sends and you can break off the parallel path game with some tugging 🙂
Since the parallel path went so well, you can start to work on the rear crosses – get her going back and forth with really far cookie toss rewards. And you will go with her to the cookie, so when she turns back to the prop, you will have room to cut behind her before she gets to the prop.
Great job here!!
Tracy
Hi!
First off, the title of the video is HILARIOUS!! I know you might not have been chuckling in the moment, but kudos for a funny title 🙂
Beginning – he was excited! Good job with the pattern games. Hold the leash looped on your wrist, so you are comfdy that he can’t go anywhere (stepping on it is he moves away can cause a correction on his neck , ouch!)
He gave you his paw when you started playing with him, but I am not sire if he liked the hand play in that section (:40 – :53) – he didn’t really engage and actually started looking away, then had a big shake-off as you walked away at :54. The volume dial might be more engaging with treats. He did like the toy though!!
>our course run that I did (I had two cameras going so you’re not seeing a gap between outside and inside the ring>
That is impressive. You are my hero!!
You had more hand play on the start line and he liked that better because you were moving away from him, not towards him. He was excited!
Nice speed off the start! I am very impressed with the run on that gigantic course! Baby dog is growing up!!! The opening sequence looked good!
COOL! I haven’t seen his running DW yet! NICE! No worries about the weaves, it was smart to keep going – he was trying hard!
You might need a stride regulator on the frame to get him to leap the apex bit, to stride deeper into the yellow.
The rest of the run looked great! Baby Reacher is growing up! WOW!!> but the problem was with Reacher’s reaction to the toy in class. He didn’t seem very excited about it! I had the same rabbit fur toy as before but I have only taken it out 1 time since that first NFC trial so it’s not been overused by any means.>
OK so I was waiting to see the big bummer moment… there was no bummer moment LOL!
Watch from 3:02 – 3:15. He was excited and engaged, but you let the toy go dead by talking to the instructor rather than engaging and running like a crazy person 🙂 So he played a little bit, got part of it off, then just chilled while you were talking. Then he didn’t want to play with it when you wiggled it in front of him in the ring or outside at the end.
Remember that Schnauzers, like Whippets, are murderers at heart LOL! So if the toy is dead? No need to engage, onwards to a snack. Now think back to your other NFC experiences where you whipped it out and brought it to life… so he could kill it. I am sure if you had done that (and ignore the instructor haha) then he would be a murderous madman on the toy.
So keep the toy dragging away from him like wild for him to chase and murder 🙂 Bring the long toy and let him drive to it 🙂
>I’m now not sure of what my strategy should be for running and rewarding at the trial. They will have a food box, but it’s not at Fusion and not Julie’s trial, so no idea what to expect in terms of location and size. It’s at On the Run where you’ve been often and it’s not a new site for him, but certainly new for a trial.>
Your strategy is DON’T PANIC!
I think he will be perfectly fine with the long living toy to chase and kill, with short fast fun runs. Trying to incorporate the food box might be clunky and more distracting than anything.
And keep me posted! Great job here!
Tracy
Hi!
First off, the title of the video is HILARIOUS!! I know you might not have been chuckling in the moment, but kudos for a funny title 🙂
Beginning – he was excited! Good job with the pattern games. Hold the leash looped on your wrist, so you are comfdy that he can’t go anywhere (stepping on it is he moves away can cause a correction on his neck , ouch!)
He gave you his paw when you started playing with him, but I am not sire if he liked the hand play in that section (:40 – :53) – he didn’t really engage and actually started looking away, then had a big shake-off as you walked away at :54. The volume dial might be more engaging with treats. He did like the toy though!!
>our course run that I did (I had two cameras going so you’re not seeing a gap between outside and inside the ring>
That is impressive. You are my hero!!
You had more hand play on the start line and he liked that better because you were moving away from him, not towards him. He was excited!
Nice speed off the start! I am very impressed with the run on that gigantic course! Baby dog is growing up!!! The opening sequence looked good!
COOL! I haven’t seen his running DW yet! NICE! No worries about the weaves, it was smart to keep going – he was trying hard!
You might need a stride regulator on the frame to get him to leap the apex bit, to stride deeper into the yellow.
The rest of the run looked great! Baby Reacher is growing up! WOW!!> but the problem was with Reacher’s reaction to the toy in class. He didn’t seem very excited about it! I had the same rabbit fur toy as before but I have only taken it out 1 time since that first NFC trial so it’s not been overused by any means.>
OK so I was waiting to see the big bummer moment… there was no bummer moment LOL!
Watch from 3:02 – 3:15. He was excited and engaged, but you let the toy go dead by talking to the instructor rather than engaging and running like a crazy person 🙂 So he played a little bit, got part of it off, then just chilled while you were talking. Then he didn’t want to play with it when you wiggled it in front of him in the ring or outside at the end.
Remember that Schnauzers, like Whippets, are murderers at heart LOL! So if the toy is dead? No need to engage, onwards to a snack. Now think back to your other NFC experiences where you whipped it out and brought it to life… so he could kill it. I am sure if you had done that (and ignore the instructor haha) then he would be a murderous madman on the toy.
So keep the toy dragging away from him like wild for him to chase and murder 🙂 Bring the long toy and let him drive to it 🙂
>I’m now not sure of what my strategy should be for running and rewarding at the trial. They will have a food box, but it’s not at Fusion and not Julie’s trial, so no idea what to expect in terms of location and size. It’s at On the Run where you’ve been often and it’s not a new site for him, but certainly new for a trial.>
Your strategy is DON’T PANIC!
I think he will be perfectly fine with the long living toy to chase and kill, with short fast fun runs. Trying to incorporate the food box might be clunky and more distracting than anything.
And keep me posted! Great job here!
Tracy
Hi!
>I think Blast should get extra points for his resiliency walk at the tree farm and the first thing he encounters walking in the gate is a 7 foot tall tree walking right towards him! That certainly made him jump, but he shook that off quickly and enjoyed all the smells and finding all the popcorn little kids dropped around the farm. He met some goats and sheep and thought they were weird, but warmed up to them after a few minutes.>
OMG! Yes, that is a true resilience walk. Activate his system then let it bounce back to normal (and eat popcorn too 🙂 ) Sounds like it was fun!! And he is correct, goats and sheep are indeed weird LOL!
Lap turns went well – your mechanics are really clear for him so he was able to turn easily. Only 2 suggestions:
Do fewer in a row before breaking it off to play a bit of tug. He did 12 in a row then you were a little early on your hand cue so there was a blooper. 12 in a row is a lot so both of you probably needed a moment to reset LOL!
The reps were smoother when you already had the cookie in your hand (and didn’t need to reach into your pocket, which slowed things down a little) . So have 2 or 3 in your hand, do 2 or 3 in a row, then break off to play while you reload.
The 2nd and 3rd videos here is the tandem turn without the prop – he read them in both directions nicely!
>My mechanics need…a lot of work. >
Not a lot of work is needed, just a little bit of slowing down 🙂
He read them all perfectly on both sides as long as your hands were moving slowly (this is a slow motion move, doesn’t ever need to be fast) so remember to keep your hands low and slow 🙂 And like with the lap turns, you can break it off to play more. There were 20 in a row here and I think he was dizzy but the end LOL! Breaking it off will allow both of you to sort your mechanics and reset, like when you change sides.
>A few hours later, I tried it with the prop. Blast is a big fan of the prop games. He quite enjoys smacking that hat with his paws now. Except he likes it so much that he had eyes only for it at first and didn’t even acknowledge the magical cookie hand. I worked through my mechanics a bit and ultimately ended up with this.>
This video didn’t load, let me know if you have it as a different link? I am definitely interested to see it!
Strike a pose went great! Your mechanics looked good and that is why it felt easy: the target was very visible and you were looking at it. Super!
So now you can go to the next step: instead of rewarding with the tossed ‘get it’ cookie, you can keep that cookie in your hand. When he hits the target, have him come across your front to get the cookie from the hand, creating the in-and-out line for him. When he has that, you can try it with a toy… then we go to the advanced level of an empty bowl or toy on the ground. I think that will come together pretty quickly for him!Great job with the stay session!
> He’s never done a cue with a cookie tossed at him, so I think that was a bit of a surprise for him.>
Totally was LOL! But happy surprises are great (they are linked to dopamine spikes which is great learning and motivation). And we definitely want him to be motivated to stay!
And the ‘catch’ marker will allow you to toss rewards back to him when you are miles away 🙂 My only suggestion about the catch marker is to separate it from reconnecting or facing him – you can be stopped, praise, be perfectly stationary… then say ‘catch’ then throw it. Or moving forward the whole time and say ‘catch’ then throw it. That way he doesn’t associate any particular body movement with it so he is less likely to break the stay when he sees a certain physical movement.> Some obvious pressure from his brother lurking in the background, but that didn’t seem to push him away at all.>
He did great with his brotherly audience on all the games! It is a nice little pressure to add without adding stress. Yay!
Great job here! Let me know about the prop video.
Tracy
Hi!
Sounds like he had a great day! And it is totally smart to get him into your bodyworker people early on – such a useful life skill for sport dogs!
>First up we revisited the parallel path prop game, where I threw a get it cookie. Super fun!>
this looked great! He was hitting it really well – the get it cookies will get him looking forward even more. When you revisit it, add more lateral distance – throwing the treat further will give you a heartbeat to change your position before the next rep.
>Then we played strike a pose with some more space. He was perfect, my brain was fizzling. Not sure why this is so hard for me to remember all the pieces!>
Strike a pose has a lot of mechanics for the human end of the leash. You did great! The only thing that went sideways were the markers 🙂 But you got the rewards in really well to create that in-and-out chain that we are building, and he had a super high rate of success. So it is a win! For the next session – add an empty food bowl on the ground on the cookie hand side, so he can hit the target then you can drop the treat into the bowl. That begins to build us up to the advanced level with rewards on the ground, with the concept transfer eventually too!
Great job getting the shaping going on the yoga mat here. He is so terrific about offering behavior! And it is fine that it is similar to the prop – that brings value and makes it easy to jump start things 🙂
And a big yes to introducing the PVC box soon too! Before you decide which running contact method to use, you can play these games because they are kind of generic 🙂 What you can do is attach a big chunk of the yoga mat (maybe 24″ x 16″) to a low board or elevated foam thing – then shape him to move all four of his little feet across it as you toss treats in each direction. I mark and toss when I see foot #4 hitting the board. It is easy but also a good foundation for almost all of the running contact methods.
Lap turns went well! You can start with a cookie toss away so you can be set up with the cue as he turns back to you. That way you don’t havbe to take multiple steps backwards, just the one step as you are turning him,
You had the cookie toss start to the tandems and it went really well on those reps – it buys you more time to show him your hands 🙂 You were using the opposite arm on those – since he is so little, you might consider using the inside arm or both arms. That will be easier for him to see as you are running because there will be less twisting for you (you can dip your shoulder down a bit which should be easier than twisting).
Since both of these went well and he was happy to follow an empty hand too, you can move to the advanced level of these games – adding the prop! The cookie toss start will really help because you can position yourself as far as needed away from the prop to get him past it 🙂
>We’ll try barrel wraps again tomorrow(Weds), I wanted to give his brain some time to think on it before I tried again 🙂
Perfect! Letting latent learning work its magic is always a good thing 🙂
>Thursday we’ll get a chance to practice some of these games at a new place (my other dog’s agility training place for a field rental), and I’m looking forward to seeing how he does! Hoping we can get some good tugging and engagement and anything else is bonus >
Fantastic! Bring your prop and see if he can do little prop sends!
Great job here!
TracyHi!
> He really was his self in the aisles the back of the store. Did tricks for me, etc. except when it came to the front of the store. At this time of year they had all kinds of displays in the front aisle (Basically making the front aisle into 2 aisles.) and there was a crowd. When he was up front, I could see he was concern. Would not do any tricks, etc. I then took him into the side aisles and he was normal. Happy etc.>
So if I am reading this correctly: in the comfortable aisles that had fewer people and less weird stuff, he was normal. And in the crowded areas with traffic and weird stuff (I am sure Lowes and Home Depot have a lot of Christmas stuff up front), you were seeing a bit of the sensitivity to the environment you see at trials.
>Wondering if this pressure he feels in the store, is the same type of pressure he feels at the start line? or is it 2 different issues?
It is entirely possible that it is rooted in the same concern – crowds and pressure! There is just about always a ‘crowd’ of people and dogs and weird things (tables, timers etc) near the ring entrance at a trial.
Out of curiousity – did you have treats with you?
You can test the theory: go to the front area of same store but very first thing in the morning so it won’t be crowded (weekday morning bright and early are the least crowded) and see how he does! And if you didn’t have treats, test the theory without treats. Then go back to the car and see how he feels about that front area when you do have treats.
Let me know what you think! Keep me posted!
Tracy
Hi!
>I have a question. What is your opinion on a tunnel bypass command? I do have one with Roux, but I am considering changing to just left and right tunnel. I find the bypass sometimes confusing and the left and right tunnel just more plain and easy for both me and her. What is your opinion?
I think that it is important that there are really clear differences – if anything sounds the same, then the dog has to sort it out if the physical cue is not perfect. And that leads to a lower chance of success. So are you thinking of left or right on the flat until she is facing the correct tunnel entry, then saying tunnel? That can be tricky because she is fast and it requires you to be very visible (and not too far behind or lateral) and have spot on timing – because tunnel could mean either end of it. I like to have each end of the tunnel to have its own ‘name’ LOL so the entry on the obvious line is the tunnel verbal and the other entry on the threadle line is the threadle verbal. I do use turn cues on the jump before it to help the dog, the switch to the correct verbal (usually a turn cue means the threadle verbal is coming).
Looking at the video – she did well on these!! One thing I notice is that she learns the sequence really quickly, so do a lot of reps of the same thing doesn’t give you feedback on the handling for turn cues (in terms of getting collection). So try to mix it up more so she is not expecting the same line she just ran a few times.
The first rep was just a blooper 🙂 The FC was a little late but she did seem to be thinking about the tunnel there from previous runs.
The 2nd rep there had better timing of the FC 2-3 (:12) and more verbals which helped a lot!
Looking at the wrap on 3 – onthe first rep, she was a bit wide and looking forward at the tunnel. A wrap verbal plus more decel and either a brake arm or spin will help – letting her see that as she lands from 2 and looks at 3. She knew the line at :36 and :50 so it is that first run which is the important one to use the colleciton cues. At 1:16 you did a decel and turned away sooner plus the verbal wrap cue and that looked good! And you can add the outside arm moving towards her as a brake arm to cue the collection too.
Nice job adding the ‘get out’ to jump 7 after she had a question at :21 – you added that at :41 and it looked much smoother. After that she knew the sequence so you didn’t use it, but we definitely want to be consistent there.
Seq 3B – nice job adding the ‘in in’ for 9 at :58 – layering to get there on the next run was definitely quicker for you and worked well! A blind will be even easier for you, ebcause it is quicker to finish (less hard rotation) so it is something to try!
After 9, she needs a collection cue to get the tight turn to 10. She was a bit wide on most of the reps (turning after landing). It is a good spot for decel, wrap verbal and either a spin or brake arm. Then at 1:50 – you stepped right towards the off course jump she took, good job continuing!
The same thing happened at 2:14. You said come and she looked at you but you had stepped ot the line so she took it. Keep going there too – off courses are handler error 🙂 and very confusing to the dog when you stop because she was reading you correctly. At 2:39 you had more decel and stepped the correct direction to 10 better so she came through the gap. Yay!The 10-11-12 line looked good each time, and she found the correct side of 12 each time too! On the 12 backside at 1:32, she did not take the bar. You were correct to be moving through to the takeoff side on that rep for that cue (German turn).
Since there is a LOT of countermotion on that handling cue, you will need to support commitment and shift your conneciton to the landing spot, don’t look at her 🙂 . But don’t stop if there is any error – either indicate it right there, or keep going. Staying in the flow will be very useful to build up the teamwork as you start to run bigger and bigger courses
On the reps at 1:42 and 1:56 and after that – you stayed on landing side so she took it but we want you on the takeoff side like at 1:32, so keep working that connection shift to landing and I bet she will commit to the bar.
By 3:04 you had both run the sequence too many times LOL! You were wider and later on the 1-2-3 line so she almost hit the pole – then on the next runs, she was slowing down and looking at you more. You can give her more breaks or since this sequence starts the same way every time, you can do fewer reps of the beginning as you add onto the end.
One more suggestion: When you added jump 15 (after the tunnel), you can tell her to GO before she enters the tunnel so she doesn’t look at you on the tunnel exit. The GO (repeated a few times :)) can get her driving straight to the next jump without looking back at all.
Great job here!
Tracy
