Forum Replies Created
-
Posts
-
Hi!
Yes, definitely better! She likes that long toy 🙂 and was focusing forward really well. And when she is really into the tugging, you can let her win the toy and parade it around a bit too 🙂 Yes, it might have gone on a bit too long so end the session long before she wants to quit. One or two reps with the toy is a great way to leave her wanting more.
One thing to play around with is getting you higher off the ground while tugging: start by sitting on something low, then we will eventually work up to you standing. The further you are from the ground, the longer the toy should be so the end of the toy is still on the ground and you don’t need to bend over her.
> I probably need to work on restraint! I may switch to food to get her used to body or collar. I think she will prefer body and then revisit toys. >
She seemed happy with the collar holds when you were quick about it. When you took a long time (like at :15) and your hand was on top of her neck, she was not as comfy. So be sure to let go within a second or two, and she is likely to be happier with it all when your hand is on the side of her neck. You can work on body restraint too, but collar and harness holding will be very important.
Great job here!
Tracy
Hi!
The threadle is definitely the most challenging part of sequence 1. Based on his current understanding at the start of the session, you were not quiet far enough ahead or close enough to 5 to get it all smoothly at :10 and :28 for example).
When you broke it down and got a little further ahead and closer to 5, he was able to sort it out and put it into context, which made it easier to put into the sequence.
One thing I would add is the balance of cueing the other side of the threadle jump as well – that way you will know if he is truly responding to threadle cues, or if he has learned the sequence from doing it a bunch of times the same way 🙂
>Also, he seemed to be jumping towards me at the start and then redirecting to the tunnel.>
On this sequence and when you started from a stay at the jump before the tunnel on the next sequence, he was definitely jumping towards you a bit. I think it had to do with the lead out & release being relatively stationary (until after the release) and not that far up the line, so he was turning towards you. For these types of openings, you can lead out more and work on releaseing while in motion: as you move along the line to the tunnel, release while you are still moving. This is a useful skill because eventually you will want ot work up to being able to run then release. Just be careful not to be stationary and release & move at the same time, because that can cause the motion to become the release.
> Getting the timing for the blind was a bit tricky.>
Yes, the timing for the blind on sequence 2 was a bit of a Goldilocks moment 🙂 Too cold when you were late on the first run at :05, and too hot at :50 when you started too soon. The blind there started as he was in the air over the jump after the tunnel so you were fully disconnected and moving into the gap when he landed – that pulled him to your new line.
But you were just right at :15 and :36 and 1:05! You can also add that exit line connection where the new opposite arm (left arm here) comes across to your right hip to really open up the connection back to him. That gets supr nice turns even if the timing is not perfect.
He only had one other question, when your shoulder was a bit closed forward so he didn’t see connection on the line after the BC line, then you turned too soon at :39 so he came off the jump.
Super nice adjustment at :53 – your connection was more clear and you moved forward until he saw the line. Yay!
Great job!
Tracy
Hi!
Looking at the German on jump 6:
> I felt very awkward and like I was waiting around.>
You were actually indeed waiting around LOL!
The trick to a German is parallel line motion to support the backside, then keeping moving through – a goal on a German is that you are on the takeoff side of the jump at the same time she is! So it will feel less awkward if you go more towards the end of the tunnel here, and accelerate up the line parallel to her line 4-5. Using lateral distance, you can then easily be passing the exit wing of the German jump as she is driving to the takeoff spot.On rep 1, you were too far ahead at 4 (:11) so sent to 5 with a high arm. That turned you directly to 6, so that is where she went 🙂 Be sure to reward that stuff because it is 99% of the time correct reponses from the dogs.
On rep 2, you faced the line longer and used a GO verbal so she found 4-5. Yay! Your line on rep 3 had more motion 4-5 which worked a lot better.> If I didn’t make it clear with my hand she would bypass. Also, I cued it as an “in” but that didn’t feel right either?>
Yes, we don’t want you to wait there on the landing side because that made the ending line harder for sure. This is a spot to break it down and train: as you slowly keep moving forward, shift your connection to the landing spot and point back behind you… then throw a toy to the landing spot. This helps create the default behavior of jumping the jump rather than bypassing it.
Being able to stay in motion will help the last line – you used a tall outside arm to get 7 at :31 so the bar came down (it cued the out but not the turn to 8). And the bar at 8 was partially because you decelerated to throw the toy, and partially because the weaves were right where she needed to land so she jumped short to avoid them (she ticked the bar for that reason on the last run too).
Sequence 3A – I think she didn’t recognize the lead out psition in the opening as a turn cue for jump 2, so she had a little trouble there. You can show her this lead out again (feel free to angle jump 3 to face her a bit so the turn is less severe) so she can sort out her footwork for the turn,
One thing to consider here is the timing of post turns (and if she needs a brake arm :)) The post turns need to be a lot sooner – if you run straight then turn your shoulders while she is jumping, she ticks or drops a bar trying to adjust. You can also get a natural turn as you move forward by cueing these tight post turn lines with both arms (brake arms, especially on jump 5 and jump 10! That can make it easier to get the timing and keep the bars up.
Nice work here!
TracyHi!
> I can’t have Benni running around in the yard without my full attention on him (coyotes last weekend) so I thought him barking on the cot might be stimulating but didn’t seem to be.>
We definitely don’t want to risk the coyote issue! You didn’t get any big errors, but that doesn’t mean it was not useful! Brioche definitely had to think about it! It was great rehearsal for being able to focus even with other exciting dogs right there.
Leash off engagement on with Benni barking: no problem. And he was able to follow the cookie to do some tricks. Super!!!
The stay and release jump to tunnel – also very good! The only suggestion is to set him up further from the jump so he can take a full stride into it.
> The last one using the see saw bang game with his ultimate fave (flying squirrel) really got the best of him…but then I started thinking maybe I shouldn’t use that toy for this because that is the one toy he runs instead of trots to get during his DW training AND that is a running contact.>
Flying squirrel to the teeter with a lot of tip and no target on it: Way too hard at first, probably for 2 reasons:
-the toy indicates RUN because of the history on the DW
-there was no target on the teeter to indicate stopping. Has he had experience doing the bang game with a toy on the ground, with the target on the teeter? Even when he was correct, he stopped a little short of the end of the board.
I do use toys as the reward for the teeter like this, so you can introduce it a bit more gradually. To be safe, it might also be wise to use a different toy so you don’t muddy the waters on the dog walk training. I liked where his feet were on the last rep (at the very end) so you can have a target on the teeter as you introduce toys past the exit and build up the excitement, then fade the target out.
Looking at the driving ahead video:
He is figuring out the driving ahead concept really well! He is still thinking about it (what to do, how to jump) so on the first full line was really flipping his back feet up high. We want to avoid that, so when teaching something new and adding speed, do the first couple of reps at a lower height (6″ or 8″) then if he is not flipping his hind end up – you can go to 10″.> A bit of trouble finding the far end of the tunnel. Maybe I should not have led out past the near end or maybe just young dog stuff.>
It was a connection question:
Yes, you can lead out further but also, stay connected back to him when he is behind you, keeping your arm back to him and looking at his eyes. At :57, he almost went behind you to the other end of the tunnel because you were connected on the release but then while he was still behind you, you looked forward at :58. That is a blind cross cue so he was actually correct – try not to stop off courses at this stage because we don’t want him to deflate or slow down.
You caught yourself almost doing itagain at 1:22, so you reconnected and got the side you wanted (just needed to keep moving as you did that to make it smooth)>I am chronically late with my RC verbals.>
It is not the verbals as much as the physical cue needs to be a lot sooner. You don’t need to square up to the line then do the RC – you can basically be heading to the rear cross line (to the center of the bar) the whole time, so show it strongly as you pass the jump after the tunnel. Put a leash on the ground if that helps you get right on the line, as a visual aid. At 1:32 and 1:46, the RC info started when he was almost taking off for the RC jump so he thought he was going striaght at 1:32 and the cue ended up pulling him off the last jump at 1:47.
The wrap sequence went well! You can play with decelerating sooner (as he takes off for the middle jump on the line) and see if that gets the collection info to him sooner.
For the blind cross – we can get you further ahead so you can do the blind sooner. You can use parallel line motion on the release to cue him to get into the tunnel. Lead out and release facing the line and run parallel to it. You led out pretty far away and then at 2:17 turned back to face the tunnel – that actually delays you from getting the blind because you are stationary and facing the wrong direction. He saved you on the blind and on the rest of it a bit too, because you were a little behind there with the timing. But you stayed connected and finished strong! Yay!
Nice work here!
Tracy
Yes, initially it is about working the dog we think he is. But that went great so you can add more arousal to it. The environment will add the arousal at trials, so you can be all business but playing the crazier games in training will re-create the internal environment he will feel at a trial.
T
Hi!
Nice work on this course! It went really well overall – lots of speed and very few questions.
Looking at the opening:
>. Tried 1, 2, 3 two different ways. Doing the push on 3 felt smoother.
Do you mean the push the rear cross on 3, in the 2nd full run? I timed the difference (of course 🤣😂) and the threadle at 3 on the first run was much faster – dramatically! He was faster from 2 through 4, and that speed carried all the way through to being a lot faster through the landing of 6 (that is when I stopped timing). This doesn’t surprise me because his #1 favorite thing is to chase you, and there is no chasing through the rear cross.
Overall, the opening went great! And so did the middle section with the threadle at 9.
There were really only 2 questions spots: at 10 (which led to what happens at 12) and 17.
For the jump 10, sending and leaving as he exits 9 is the key to getting up the line to handle the threadle wrap at 12.
At :24 you ran a little deep to 10 so you were not able to get far enough up the line to show the turn at the tunnel exit for 12 – he saw a lot of forward motion and continued straight.
You sent to 10 sooner which allowed you to leave even sooner at 1:17, which got you ahead of the tunnel exit at 1:19. That put you in great position for the cues for 12 when he exited at 1:20. Just remember to decel a little and it will be perfect.
The only thing to add to the send to 10 is to use brake arms – send him with 2 arms and he will naturally add a stride, which will tighten the line while you get way ahead.
The only other hard part was getting the left turn at 17. I think he just needed to see more pressure to the center of the bar to set it up as a rear cross. On the first and 2nd runs, the motion was heading mainly to the right turn wing. On the last rep, you were definitely moving across to the rear cross line more at 1:47. Yay! You were rotating, which might be why he had some questions, so you can face forward more on that. Then he got to chase you through the ending line and he really liked that 🙂
Great job here and throughout the summer!!! It was really fun watching you tackle these challenges, and seeing your connection and teamwork really blossom!!!!!
Tracy
Hi!
Really good info gleaned from this course!
First – check that you’ve got the numbers on the correct – 1 and 6 were on the other side of the jumps 🙂
And 2 other main things: to get threadles setup, a very strong turn cue on the obstacle before it will do the trick. But that leads to the 2nd main thing: any time you are tempted to rotate your feet to get her to change her line for that, it is probably better to use a brake arm (both arms) so you can keep moving. More on that below 🙂
Having the dog walk there makes the weaves extra spicy as a layer! If the DW is there, then consider it as being in play as an off course so adjust the handling and also uncover it 🙂 She was actually correct each time she took it 🙂
The opening looked good and getting the weaves in the layer was great!
On the first run, getting the threadle at 9 was hard. In the walk through, you called her name and went into the threadle slice, but it was not strong enough of a turn cue on 8 for her to have the threadle cues override the motion forward during the run.
You rotated your feet there at 1:43 & 2:06 which brought her in (she probably thought a FC was coming) but then made it really hard to send her back to 9 and also harder to get 10.
This is where the brake arm and strong turn cues can be very effective: as you are running down the line to handle 9, you can be showing her 2 hands to cue 8 as she exits the tunnel and calling her hard or using a right verbal. The brake arms can override the forward motion and take out the foot rotation, and get the turn on 8 needed to then go into the threadle cues.
General rule of thumb: don’t give a threadle cue until you see her facing the correct line (this will help the 12 jump as well).
Foot rotation on the threadle bit you on the 2nd run at 6 – you turned towards her to get the threadle then you were behind for getting down the next line. At :18 you said tunnel but your entire body was turned to the jump, probably feeling the pressure of getting across the ring to the threadle 🙂
And the 10 jump is a great spot for brake arms as well. From the exit of 9, send to 10 with both hands and a right verbal or a hard name call, as you move away up the line to go handle 12. Even without the DW there, I think 10 requires a brake arm and having the dog walk there makes the additional turn cues even more important- a regular send puts the dog walk directly on her line.
Sending to 10 with 2 hands up while moving away will allow you to get up the line to be past the tunnel exit, and show her 12. When you decelerated r rotated your feet or did a spin at 10, you were totally smoked for getting up the line to 12 – and accidentally showed her acceleration before entering the tunnel which set the straight line on the exit.
Using brake arms at 10 so you don’t get stuck down there will allow you to be ahead and show her the turns before she enters the 11 tunnel, then you won’t have to pull away as much to show 12 (and get the off course to 13) – she will exit the 11 tunnel already turned and you can show the threadle wrap cues more easily.
And one other place to use brake arms… the exit of 16 to set the line to 17, so you can keep moving forward without pulled her off the line.
That is the main takeaway here, thanks Muso for the info! Look for places where she needs to be strongly turned to get onto the next line (threadles, mainly) and replace rotation or having to decel with brake arms to set the turns. You can isolate those sections and see how hard you can run while cueing the turn with 2 arms up. This is a perfect time of the season to take those big ‘run across the ring then turn’ moments and break them out of the full course: justt what is needed to get the turn to the correct line without you having to rotate or decelerate. Cracking the code on that will make a MASSIVE difference when you do need to put it in the context of a huge course (spoiler alert: brake arms haha)
>After both attempts, I tried it without the toy in hand and nearly got the whole thing correctly…so that’s interesting. >
You can test that theory for the next course when she doesn’t have any experience on it: do the first run without a toy in your hand and see what happens!
Nice work here!
Tracy
Good morning!
The Drive to handler game is going well – this is a new enough game that slowing down is a bit of a new concept.
>On this one how should I change where I have the treat to get her to straighten up when she stops?>
It is not so much an adjustment to where you put the treat, it is more about when you put the treat hand out. The treat hand is an important part of the cue so you can get your cookie hand in position sooner so she can adjust to the collection sooner too – when the treat hand was getting in place as she arrived, her butt swung a little wide. But when it was earlier and she was still several steps away from you (like at 2:15 approx) you can actually hear the collection and weight shift. Yay!
For the toy play – it was GREAT to have that much toy play! It keeps things exciting and works the game in a higher arousal state (this is really important). I think a longer, flatter/slimmer toy will be a better option so she can grab it and lean back and really tug. This was a thicker toy (hard to really grip, especially when you hold it close to you). She wants the handle because she can’t really grip the big part of this toy and it is too close to you to get a grip and weight shift to tug (note her trying to hold it with her feet LOL!). So use a longer/flatter toy, and let her have the full length of it to tug on 🙂
She turned off the tug toy a bit around :50 because you were saying ‘tug’ but not moving the toy or playing… tug is a two way game 🙂 so be sure you are moving and engaging and playing the whole time (and not immediately getting treats or planning the next rep).
Looking at the blind cross video:
This looked to be a longer flatter toy! Yay! But you can give her a lot more of it to tug – at the beginning, she had about 6 inches LOL so I think she ended up hitting your hand by accident. You gave her the full length of it after the first blind and she worked her way to the end of it nicely. You can use a tug that has something attached to the end for her to grab, rather than being entirely uniform across the length of it.
Having more of the toy that she could grip was a lot more fun for her and you can really see her digging in and weight shifting in the tug. Your mechanics were good (connected across your body) and good job rewarding her even when you were late 🙂
Set a timer for these games – at about 3 minutes, she was a bit launchy and lost her mechanics, then splatted herself onto the bed. She still played, but all of that loss of mechanics show fatigue. Since we don’t want her working while fatigued, set a timer for 90 seconds so you are finished by 2 minutes. You can always do another 90 seconds or two minutes later on, which actually results in better learning anyway 🙂
>Not really enough space to do this upstairs unless I stand still, which might help with not being late on doing the blind, which I was at least once.>
The space here worked well! But you can also take this game outside. You can use a big towel to toss the start cookie onto so she doesn’t lose it in the grass.
And since you are at a trial this weekend – if she is comfy with people, you can play this game as a restrained recall. Hand her off to a holder then run away. The person lets her go when you call her name, and you do the blind the instant she starts to move towards you.
Pre-game foot target – this toy is hard for her at this size (she can’t really grip it so she is using her feet to try to help with that, or grabbing your hand by accident on the 2nd video). When she is bigger, this toy can probably work well but you can also give her the full length of it – you hold the end of the handle instead of the blue part and move it a lot, rather than just a little in front of you.
On the send video – when using the treats, sending with an empty hand (the reward can be tossed from the other hand) will make a big difference at this stage as she is learning it. She did well with her sends when the toy was present, especially because it is a new game and tugging has a lot of value!
> Should I do a couple more sessions of the pre game foot target and tossing to see if that helps getting her to stop looking at my hand?>
Don’t worry about where she is looking yet – as we add distance on the sends as well as add the other games, she will learn to not look at your hands 🙂 So let her sleep on this game and when you revisit it, you can start to add more distance (just as little) because that requires her to look at you less as well.
>I have a question about the Shaping in Arousal game.
Kyrie is already a pretty good size (she really needs to stop growing! LOL!). She’s been on pretty much everything I have that would meet your criteria for the game and be something that I can move in and out easily.>If she can get on everything while in high arousal, you can take a few things and make a trail of them for her to walk along, or pile them up for her to climb on 🙂 That adds a bit in instability and unpredictability, in a good way!
>My only thought of what I have that she hasn’t been on that would be decently easy for her to get on would be one of the pillows we have for the couch but not sure it’s a great choice.>
Fun! I bet she would love that. Or you can pile up the dog beds that are on the floor 🙂
Have fun at the trial! Great job here!
Tracy
Good morning!
I agree, I hate being nailed. It is not malicious on the part of the pups, of course, but still – OUCH and it makes me tentative when playing to avoid the ouch.
>I’ll definitely let go of the toy. Is that still my “strike” marker? >
You can set this up by doing little cookie recalls: send her away to a cookie, call her to chase you without a ton of speed, present the toy… use your strike marker just before she gets to you and let go of he toy as she is opening her mouth. I like to show it to the pup in isolation first so they don’t fall on their heads when surprised at high speed 🙂
I use the strike marker even when I let go, because it matches the location and style of delivery. “Strike” basically means “toy from my hand” without contingencies on what happens next. I mean you totally *can* add another marker word 🤣 but I don’t recommend more words right now for any of us 🙂 Using the same marker has created NO confusion for the dogs we do this with.
>What are your toy sites again? >
I just a saw a bunch of new toys posted at Twisted Bliss, including bottle cruncher toys that she might really like:
https://twistedblisstugs.com/
https://www.facebook.com/TwistedBliss4DogsI think 75% of my toys are from TugawayCUWin. They have all sorts of fun stuff!
https://www.tugawaycuwin.com/
The only toy my dogs didn’t like was the coyote face tug – it was given to me because it was toooo stimulating for a house full of terriers LOL But my dogs got the ick from it – just too weird. So I gave it away.My young dogs are obsessed with the toys from Roadkill Emporium:
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61580531600604They are a little more expensive but they are VERY long-lasting and the dogs LOVE them. The person who owns this company just had surgery, so I am not sure what her turnaround time is at the moment. Tell her I sent you 🙂
I also really like the Floramicato toys, and you can get them from Jaimie Weber here. They are imported so I don’t know what the current prices are:
https://www.facebook.com/floridadogsports> But, shes targeting the red bungee part by the handle.>
Bungees are kinda fun so
The bowl to bowl video looks good! She recognizes the pattern and that is what we want to see as the cue for us to move to the next steps. Adding the barrel was easy! Super!
One suggestion is to break this session up more with play so there are not as many treats in a row. The play moment allows us to keep her in a higher arousal state (critical for learning and memory) and it is during the play moments that you can inch the barrel away a bit.
One more suggestion: I don’t think she needs to hear the treat drop into the bowl anymore, so you can go to a softer treat that she doesn’t have to chew as much – that way she can move faster 🙂
Next session: pick up where you left off here (starting with the barrel close to you) but you can sit on something low like an ottoman or low stool or something. We are going to start working your way up to standing! And if she is happy wrapping with you sitting on something taller, you can add some more distance too (after play breaks :))
Thanks for the send video! I see why she is doing hand touches on the forward sends – your hand is totally in hand touch position 🙂 (next to your body, flat palm facing out) You can see that at :06 and :33.
When you did the backwards sending (1:13 and 1:26 for example, and 1:30 and 1:37 on the other side plus the last few reps) the arm was pointing more and she had no questions at all.
So for the forward sending, try a closed fist and pointy finger that is ahead of your torso and not next to it. Think of it as you have just bowled a 10 pound ball to the prop, so momentum would pull your arm forward.
I grabbed screenshots because visuals might explain this better than words:
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1W106BXrYd-3-56Ig4K5V_a-7k3_Cuwnmxgl8GI8BBVQ/edit?usp=sharingShe definitely liked the ready game, and the moments when she started without you built even more drive to it when you did send her! She did great here!
Nice work 🙂
Tracy
Good morning!
It is very fun that you are camping and can play in a new place!
I am VERY impressed that he ignored people on bikes! There were a few that were actually very close. The 2 people walking very close were much harder to ignore but he came right back to the game. Yay Benny!
His driving ahead looks great as expected and you did a great job of turning and running the other direction before he got to the toy. The only challenge was picking up the toy that was so big 🙂
For more fun with this game, you can change the angle that you run away on, so he starts to have distinct turns in each direction. You were running forward to the toy and straight back to where you started, which went well. Now you can run forward to the toy then run away on a 90 degree line to your left or to your right (you can do it as a blind cross or post turn or front cross). This will cue him to turn to his left or turn to his right, which takes a definite amount of coordination and mechanics to pick up the toy AND turn the correct direction.
At the end of that fun session, he didn’t want to come to your hands to be finished – he might have been very pumped up from the game and did not want to stop. So you can wind things down at the end of a high energy session like this by sitting on the ground and having him tug on your lap, then maybe scatter some treats in the grass. That way he can relax at the end of a fast & fun session 🙂
He did well with sending to and hitting his target! He was a little ‘sticky’ (not as sure about sending) when you were not stepping forward with your leg at the very beginning. But when you added your left leg stepping forward, he sent much better!
And you did a great job stepping forward with your right leg as well here and he sent really well on that side too.
He was turning to his left a lot in this session when he was on your left (ideally he turns to his right when he starts on your left side). I think that might have been because there was a distraction to his left (people walking). He did better when there was less distraction but we will help him see which way to turn (see below).
He was also good about showing you that a BIG send motion sends him far – you did a BIG send at 1:37 after a couple of ‘ready ready’ so he went pretty far. It was adorable and hilarious!
For the next session if you get a chance to play again: To help him always turn towards you on these sends, you can send him to the prop and then step away to help indicate the turn (like you can do in the driving ahead game).
For example, if he is on your left, send with your left arm & leg then as he is arriving at the prop, you can mark it and step strongly to your right so he turns to his right. And when he is on your right, send with your right arm/right leg and step strongly to your left when he is arriving at the prop.
Sending to his platform: he did well getting on it and sitting when cued – definitely a little harder in the new place but he was super about moving into his position and holding it without barking! You delayed the click on the last rep and that is what your next step here should be: start to delay the click more and more to add more duration. You can add a bit of very quiet praise in between the sit and click to help get more duration too.
One more thing to add in sometimes: letting him wear a very light leash. This will be good for when he is training in places where he can’t be off leash, so he gets used to training with a leash on and in your hand. And it will make thigns easier to transfer to trials (eventually :)) Wearing the leash will be good for some of the games where he doesn’t need to run run run, like the hand target game. No need to use it when he is doing the forward focus game where he is running, as long as he is sticking with you like he did here 🙂
Great job!
Tracy
Good morning!
The toy is indeed very exciting 🙂 Pretty normal for his age. He was fully engaged but didn’t know how to take his focus off the toy yet. His wagging tail was so cute!!!!
Here is what I suggest: do a shaping session (or two) where you begin with tugging like you did here. Then put the toy under your arm or behind you, and let him offer some behavior on the prop for treats. After 3 or 4 or 5 cookie rewards, back to the toy play. Then repeat the process. That will build the critical ability to offer behavior and think about mechanics even when in higher arousal and with something really exciting in the picture (toy!).
When he is able to readily offer behavior for cookies when the toy is somewhat in the picture, we can then bring the toy in more and more.
Side note: rather than cookie-only shaping, every shaping session should basically have this structure (toy involved, cookie rewards) to generalize the ability to offer behavior in high arousal and to help him learn to ignore the toy in favor of interacting with things. It makes a massive difference in the long run!
Bowl game:
He was super with this game – lovely in both directions. He had a blooper when the barrel got too far away. No need to move it back in immediately, see if he can work through it. I also think the sliding of the barrel (and the noise) was more distracting than intended, so any moving of the barrel should be done during tug breaks. Speaking of tug breaks:Even when you sit to get this started: do some tugging 🙂 And in the in-between moments… more tugging 🙂 It is truly the thing I consider the most important for baby dog learning. And since he will go from food to toys to food, we can start this right away!
For the next session of this: starting with the barrel really close, change your position to sitting on something taller. The goal is to start to get you off the ground and (eventually) standing. No need to add distance from the barrel when you are changing the variable of your position.
Hand target: He is quick to come back after the thrown cookie LOL! This session also went really well – nice job transitioning from placing the cookie reward on the target, to tossing it away so he can drive back to it (I think he MUCH preferred the action of the thrown rewards :))
Next steps on this one: Like the wrapping foundation, change your position to sitting on something low so we can start working up to standing. And mix in tug breaks after every couple of cookie rewards 🙂 We don’t use this game for a couple more weeks, so there is no rush on it.
Forward focus:
“Best game ever!” ~ Drift, probablyThe driving ahead looks terrific 🙂
And he brings the toy back! He might think this circle toy is either a throwing-only toy or it is too hard to tug on right now, because when he did bring it back he didn’t really want to tug at first. He did get into the tugging on the 2nd rep and after that, but the toy is small and it was cranking his neck up during tugging. So while this toy is perfect for throwing, you can change up to a longer tug toy. It will be harder to throw in terms of distance, but that is OK: I think he gets a gold star for the distance element here 🙂 A nice long toy with something big on the end (like a hollee roller) will be great for tugging because he can keep his head lower and shift his weight into his rear more.Great job here!
Tracy
Hi! Keeping session short in the new environment was smart! He did really well and was very focused even though there were a ton of distractions (and opportunities :)) all around him. The harness and light line were good for peace of mind in that environment too 🙂
>And I don’t usually keep a collar on him because he shows and I don’t want a collar line. But I can put one with his training gear and use it for training to hold him back.>
Keeping one with his training stuff is a great idea!
>Well I failed at keeping the prop closer hahha. He was doing so well I moved it too far away! Next time I’ll just keep it close the whole time.>
He is totally getting the ideaa! But also yes, you were being a little greedy 🤣😂 but also I don’t think it needs to be close the whole time. A couple of ideas for you:
Break the session up more – after every 3 or 4 or 5 cookies, break it up by getting up, throwing a toy, throwing a cookie… anything that is stimulating and breaks up the repetition. Otherwise it can get boring and he might look for other things to do.
Also, when you break it up… that is the opportunity to move the cone out a tiny bit. Just do it inch by inch, but probably not more than once per session.
And if he has an error: don’t react at all, be completely neutral. Nothing happens when he has an error of sliding between you and the cone. Let him try to figure it out! If you have a big reaction like you did here, he might either find it icky or rewarding (attention! And more exciting than the repetition of too many treats in a row). We don’t want either of that, so if he doesn’t wrap, don’ do anything. And if he doesn’t figure it out within a few seconds, you can move the cone in a little and let him figure it out from there.
Drive to handler was easy peasy for him! You can add in running! When he is grabbing his start cookie, you can take off running. When he starts running to you, decelerate so he can collect to arrive around your side. You started a bit of this on your lat rep and it went really well.
Since he likes people and you are around people this weekend, you can also do this as a recall: have someone hold him as you run away. Then they can let go as you call him (then decelerate and do the pivot as he gets to you). You can also do the blind cross game as a recall. It will get even more speed and it teaches him to ignore people 🙂
Great job here! I am so excited about his focus in that big open area with all those people and dogs!
Tracy
Found it! Video of letting go of the toy with baby Jitterbug (and the exciting part of the toy being low to the ground):
Hi!
>She’s not understanding the send. When I use my arm she starts nose touching it or licking it>
Definitely get it on video – closing your empty hand and doing a pointing finger can help, and also be very close to the prop. It is possible that your hand has more value than the prop so you can shift the reinforcement to shift the value: throw it to the prop with the other hand, rather than reward back at you from your hands.
She read the side change of the blinds really well! Yay!
>Why do my dogs all want to bite the handle? She’s nailing my hand and Mama does not enjoy that. >
It is because agility dogs have most of their value up by our hands: the toy is uniform in terms of value across the length of it, and tugging happens close to us with their mouth close to our hands. I also do not like my hands being nailed! So two things to add to the toy play here, rather than just lengthening it:
– put most of the value and focal point of the toy into something big and exciting at the end of it with something more boring leading up to your hand. It can be a high value LONG fur toy, or a hollee roller with something else inside of it – anything big and bouncy that will draw her eye to it. And that part should be extended down to the ground.
Here is an example with my (giant) puppy. His mouth is at the same height as my hands LOL! The long exciting part of the toy is low to the ground and he is definitely targeting that part of the toy and not my hands. You can see where he is looking during the slow motion:
– on these speed games, let her run through the toy. As she is approaching it, just before or just as she grabs it – let go! You can toss it a tiny bit forward at first, then she will figure out the game quickly and you can just let go. As soon as she has it, you turn and run the other way to encourage her to bring it back (for a food reward). True, you might get some victory laps when you let go of the toy but I prefer that over tooth hugs to our hands. I have video of this somewhere, I will find it!
Decel with food went great! Your decel was timely, so she was able to collect and get in nice and tight to you as you pivoted. Lovely!!!!! We build on this game soon.
Great job here!
Tracy
Hi!
Poor Kida! I hope she has a fast & easy recovery.
Sol did great with her pattern games at the event! Holy wow, it was loud and busy! With big loud announcements & music playing, but she maintained her engagement with the game brilliantly. There were other dogs around and she was ignoring them nicely too. You can have her closer to the rings during walk throughs perhaps? And also get tug toys involved – she might be even more engaged when tugs are part of the reinforcement 🙂
Looking at the sequences:
Threadle cues are verbals and arms that need to override motion – in other words, upper body needs to override lower body. At :06 & :32 – even with good timing of starting it, the threadle did not override motion in the full sequence. Breaking it down definitely helped her see it in context, starting from a jump or two before it. Then you were able to put it back in context at 1:11 which went really well! Part of what helped it was you were earlier with the cue but also your arm cues were more exaggerated (the dog-side arm really pulled back and your opposite arm helped your shoulders rotate to her more).For now, you can keep it broken down a bit to just 2 or 3 jumps and show her the balance too: sometimes cueing the threadle, sometimes keeping her out on the line to the obvious side of the jump, so she can experience both cues and see the difference.
Sequence 2: went really well! Super nice application of the tight blind 5-6! You can start the blind even sooner – when you see her land from 4, start the blind so it is fully finished before she takes off for 5.
>Second sequence felt nice! A few bars were dropped. I think all timing issues?>
I think it was a little bit due to timing, but mainly due to the lighting – it was dark and the lighting was a bit uneven so she was processing both the cues and the visuals. She dropped bar 1, probably trying to sort out the line and lighting, She ticked a lot of bars as compared to the previous daylight session, even if the bar didn’t fall. When the bar did come down – yes, the cues can be earlier – you were a little late on the blind at :48 (bar down on 5) and the break arm was late at :26 for the turn on 7 – much earlier at :50 so the bar stayed up.
Great job here!
Tracy
