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Hi! Nice session here!
The first run is always the most insightful when we are playing with variables! Great job with the leash added and the husband added , very good to expose her to those things. You stuffed the leash in your pocket which is AKC-legal. You can also show her the leash being tossed away, which is UKI & USDAA-legal.>seemed to me she felt the pressure of his presence.>
Totally agree!! Without the pressure, she might have been able to find the line more after the tunnel to 3-4 on the first run (like she did at 5:17), but definitely needed more support here because of the pressure. Could also be that the hat and hoodie are making you move differently, which is harder for young dogs to process too (so much to process with young dogs!!) That is definitely a good reminder for young dog – extra support and connection! Good job to you for continuing and supporting her.
On the 2nd run, you didn’t have quite enough connection on the lead out – she was standing up for a long time (in dog years haha) then she released when you reconnected. The reconnection on your lead outs might be getting paired with your release (they are happening too close together in time), so add in staying connected as you lead out, then praising, then releasing.
On the 3rd run, she had processed the pressure in the environment and smoked you out of the first tunnel 🙂 So interesting to see her say “I GOT THIS!” And also definitely good to recruit people to hang out during her practices. The more the merrier!
For the threadle – you will want to be further ahead to set it up, so work it without pressure like you were doing in the 2nd half. The husband pressure made it hard for you to be miles ahead for the threadle, but that is fine because by the time she ‘needs’ this skill in competition, she will be very used to having people in the ring with her 🙂
As you move through the threadle, you can be a little closer to the threadle jump because your position is part of that cues her to turn back to the jump (about an arm’s length away from it and moving parallel o the bar). When you were further ahead (like at 5:20) the threadle was very easy and smooth! Super!!!!
You started the other sequence on the last rep – you can call her sooner (using your right verbal) at 6:34 then as you do the serp to blind at 6:36, shift your connection to the landing spot to support the countermotion – as you are moving forward past the wing of the jump, you can use your left arm and eyes to indicate the landing spot to help her commit.
Great job here!!
Tracy
Hi!
>She got her 6 weave poles yesterday! Here is a shameless 14 second clip!!!
I’m putting together a montage video from day 1 that I’ll post on FB.> OMG! She is doing great! And yes, she was totally thinking hard about getting it right – she is already pretty fast in them and will keep getting faster! I am looking forward to your montage 🙂
Looking at the videos:
On the first video:
She is doing well with threadles! On the first few reps when you were a little ahead of her, it looks like you were a little far from the threadle jump so remember to be within an arm’s length of it. If you are too far away, she might not move away to take it.When you added more to the sequence, she was definitely reading the ‘come in’ part of the threadle. Yay! She had questions about going back to the jump – I think this was mainly because you were either parallel to her or behind her (depending on which rep it was). To help her in these early stages, you can lead out more to get ahead, which will allow you to set the line more (and you can move closer to the jump more there too!)
Adding more to the sequence on the 2nd video: She was coming in on the threadle really well here too!
To help her see the slice line on the threadle jump, we can get you further ahead of her (when she is more experienced, this will not be as important 🙂 ) You can send to the tunnel more and support the jump after it with more lateral distance, so you can stay ahead more for the threadle. You were getting close to the jump there at :15, :44 and 1:12 so she had questions about which way to turn on the threadle jump because you ended up behind her
She got the slice at 1:13 because you did a great jump of running hard towards the slice line. Yay! She did the left turn on the last rep (wrap not slice) and I think you did want the slice there – to differentiate slice versus wrap, your verbals can be different and also for the wrap, you can decelerate and use both hands to turn her away. She will then figure out that continued motion (no decel) means slice, even when you are not ahead of her.
>We are not getting all the obstacles>
I think you were meaning the line back to the tunnel here – what was happening was that you got a little too pointy (arm high pointing at the jump and tunnel) so she had some questions about the line back to the tunnel. The arm pointing at the obstacle turns your shoulders away from it, which is why she come off the line or looks at you.
It feels counterintuitive, but the further away and further behind you get, the less you will want to use your arm and he more you will want to stare at her and run 🙂 Even if you are staring at her butt and running LOL!!
Nice work here!
Tracy
Hi!
>She had a very strong touch on the left ( this is the one I use for all things) the right she was t coming in on occasion so I did pay it randomly when I thought she needed help>
Maybe use your right hand for more touches in other contexts LOL! 🙂 But I think she did well on both sides here!
>Can I tell you I feel like I have a mental block every time I stand of which way the target vs the feet go.>
Yes LOL!! Your feet point to where the next jump would be (towards the reward). And if she breaks the stay because you were noodling with your feet, reward and reset. She got frustrated and jumped up when you were figuring out your feet and moving, but she didn’t know what the release from the sit was.
Looking at the toy on the ground:
She did really well with the toy in your hand, elbow bent so the toy was visible but not that tempting.
When she started going to the toy in your hand towards the end of the first session, it was probably a TMRSDT issue: Too Many Reps, Same Damn Thing. So she was probably just ready to play and tired of the hand touches over and over. Even with the pressure of the other dogs, she did well because there was no TMRSDT 🙂
So to get the toy on the ground, 2 ideas for you:
– introduce the concept of the reward being on the ground but doing a session with an empty food bowl on the ground and cookie rewards 🙂 That might be a good bridge to be able to get her understanding to target to the hand even with a thing on the ground.
– using the toy, split putting the toy on the ground into smaller pieces. She can do it with it dangling from your hand and our hand kind of high (elbow bent). Can she do it with your elbow straight and toy more visible, not as high? Then with your arm straight, and toy dangling down by your knee? Can you make the toy longer so it is resting on the ground? And so on, until you can get the toy all the wy on the ground. And yes, you can totally reward the target with a really high value cookie to help jump start the ignoring of the toy element of the game 🙂
>it has always been get it if I’m between her and toy or just break when she looks ( focus forward ish) >
For the serps, don’t release her if she is looking at the toy (I don’t think you were here?). And I am not sure what you mean about you between her and the toy, but probably a forward focus line like toy races? This context is different enough that she will figure out that it is not a forward focus game.
>Could I use a touch cue ? I mean then I’m not really teaching the impulse to ignore the toy.
>You can add a verbal touch cue if you like – you are already giving a physical touch cue 🙂 by extending the target arm and looking at the hand. You can also shake that target hand and reward her for coming to it when the toy is on the ground.
Nice work here! Let me know how it goes getting the toy to the ground!
Tracy
Hi!
That was very smart to introduce the tape measure line so she didn’t think it was a toy LOL!!!
She seemed to have a big breakthrough here!!! She was targeting your hand a bit on the first few reps, but at :34 it was like she had a big lightbulb moment – then she was driving around the barrel perfectly! You were able to do the FC earlier AND you had a toy in your hand! Super!!!!!
Since this is going really well, you can also look at the Handling Combos games – they incorporate the barrel wraps as well as some of the other games (blind crosses and driving ahead).
Great job!
Tracy
Hi!
She was so funny here – at the beginning she was like I GOT THIS LET’S GOOOOO Then waiting for you with one foot on it when you reloaded? SO CUTE and hilarious!
I agree, this was a really good session!
>(Had one yesterday on that same town green where she worked so well last time, but this time she left working to go jump on a person, so we won’t be able to work off leash in public any more 😔)>
Sounds like adolescence is arriving, it is your Christmas gift LOL!!!! It is ok to dial back freedoms in early adolescence.
The value for the parallel path is really locking in, and that allowed you to get rear crosses easily at 1:00 and 1:17. Timing was good on both of those! But I also think turning left might be her stronger side, because that timing on the right turn cues was not working as well.
The timing of the right turn RC at 1:27 was very similar to the previous RC, but she turned left (possibly because she had just turned left, or because she is a lefty or both).
When you moved up the line forward while changing sides, she was able to commit – at 2:19 yo were legit late because she could still fully see you on the left turn side.
But at 2:39, that was the best timing of the session – moving forward and fully on the right turn side so she nailed it. Yay!!
At 1:42, 2:10 and 2:33 you were actually a little too early 🙂 You were a little ahead of her so as she was just getting past you, you were pressuring in behind you. She is starting to read the pressure as part of the RC cue which is good! Her commitment to the prop was better when you were pressuring into the RC line and moving forward towards the prop (as it if it was on the center of the bar of a jump)
I think you might need to start running on these – doing the parallel path game at a jog, so when you do the RC part of it, you can move faster to the new side to make yourself more visible there before she arrives at the prop.
>I guess still more than two “failures” so I should have done more just going with her on the parallel path?>
Yes, but you were actively in “let me help her out” mode – and even with a few more failures, she still got reinforced a if they were successes. So you hit the goal of getting the training going while making sure she didn’t get frustrated.
Great job here!
TracyHi! Orlando sounds like a blast!! That event always seems so fun!! Sounds like a really wonderful road trip!
Firi did super well in the new place with his barking friends!! It is especially cool that he worked with so much focus and engagement since he loves small dogs!
He definitely seemed to enjoy doing the tunnel-to-dish game 🙂 Nice timing of the marker (just before he entered, but when yo saw him turning his head and ducking down to definitely enter. Yay!
He did better and better about being able to ignore the placed cookie in the dish when you had lots of food reinforcement happening as you walked away from the tunnel. That will help you be able to walk away with him without holding his collar 🙂
He only had one question, and that was at about 2:08 when he almost went directly to the dish. I think that was probably because the previous rep (1:52) was a lot closer to the tunnel entry, and the rep at 2:08 was almost at the tunnel exit. It was a pretty big change, so he had a little question but then was able to be successful after that.
Since he did so well with the threadle side entry and turning away, you can add your tunnel threadle verbal!
>We started with food then when I did the other direction I used a toy. It was so much fun. Went to check the camera and forgot to turn it on. Waaaaaaahhhhhhh!!!!! So you don’t get to see it.>
I don’t know whether to laugh or cry LOL!!! The best sessions happen when we forget to turn on the camera 🙂 But since he did so well, you can move to the handling combos!
Great job here!
Tracy
Hi!
>I’m sure no one would notice. “Who’s the skinny one?” Esther? You might want to feed her more.”>
Just get him a thick Border Collie colored coat, no one will notice. LOL!
> I was not using my verbals – wasn’t sure if we were supposed to for this exercise.>
You totally can! I tell everyone to use their verbals as early as possible in the training, but if the verbals are new and the handling is new, then you can prioritize the handling over the verbals for now.
>Tonight we did sad indoor things. >
Ha! You can get a lot done indoors and it is a whole lot warmer!
For the get out:
Yes, you can add the verbal now! He was reading the physical cue really well.
>I think my issue would be if we had to bypass the prop – he’s so drawn to it- as soon as the bag hits the floor he’s on it. And my arm was not even up and he’s going to it.>
A couple of thing you can do to help him:
– for the next session, move the prop closer to the wall so you have more room laterally. That way there is a very clear line to you and a very distinct moving away to get to the prop.– For each rep, lead out so you are ahead of him when you release him, but about 5 or 6 feet – and not moving with him to the prop. That way he can see/hear a clear difference between the ‘get out’ cue versus the ‘stay on my line’ cue. Moving with him is not as clear as a lead out will be.
Then, when you want him to stay on his line with you, you can call his name and make your dog-side arm obvious (feel free to shake it a little :))
>Baby level of the strike a pose serpentines with the jump -no issues, no cutting behind me.>
He did really well here! Thinking about the circling – it might be something he does when arousal level is higher, and there is more pressure (serps have pressure because the dogs have to drive right in at the handler). But pressure and arousal are not the same as stress, so it is not concerning other than try not to let him rehearse circling you, ever 🙂
And since he does this serp behavior SO NICELY with the jump… no need to do it without the jump 🙂
Two details here:
Be sure to separate your hand motion of the serp hand going into position from the verbal release (he was starting to release on the verbal). Get yourself entirely in position, wait a heartbeat or two, then release.
Also, I think you are a little too far from the serp jump (he can fit his whole self over it with you there without having to turn). Get closer to it so you can touch it with a casually bent elbow. That will help him collect and turn before the bump, not after he goes over it.
He is ready for the next steps on this game:
– you can get an empty bowl on the ground and drop the reward into it, to replace feeding from your hand (it would go right below where your reward hand is, on his line to the exit wing). And you can use a toy! The toy can be in your reward hand then get to the ground as well.He did well with the 3 different positions here, so you can all exaggerate position 3 (the hardest position) and have him start on an even harder angle, to ask for more collection.
Great job here!!
Tracy
Hi! I think the target totally helped, as soon as he figured out to target to it! Yay!
before adding more distance, you can reduce the angle to board so it is much easier for him to step back onto (all he will have to do is lift his back feet about an inch to get onto it). There are 3 reasons for that:
– it will be easier to add distance away from it if stepping onto it is easier – and you can start him further and further away from it
– a lower board will keep him from shifting his weight onto his shoulders (we don’t want any headstand effect, because it is hard on puppy shoulders).
– the lower board can turn into a wobble board to add motion under his feet 🙂 That is a nice teeter foundation too!Since he was happy to target to the board, you can add more distance away to see if he can go back more steps. Brace the board with a bunch of towels or something under them so it does not move at first. Then if he is happy with that, you can fade out the towels gradually, so the board moves more and more… eventually he will be backing up onto a board that moves a lot 🙂
Great job here!
TracyHi!
I am so glad you had fun, and hopefully the content will continue to keep you busy as he continues to learn!
>looked around to see if there was any UKI or USDAA events near me just to try some different venues since we run NADAC (and maybe some day in the future will dip our toes/paws into some AKC). Unfortunately there is no UKI or USDAA events in my area on the calendars yet. >
My guess is that the UKI stuff just isn’t posted yet – that sadly doesn’t get posted that early! And there is not a lot of USDAA around, unfortunately.
>We will be running local NADAC trials in January, March and April.>Perfect!! Plenty of opportunities. There!
>Also very interested if you are able to set up a follow up forum as discussed in the Zoom!>I will get it sorted out after the holidays, when I have more brain power to come up with a good format 😁🤣😂
>This might sound silly, but is there a cheat sheet for all of the different pattern and arousal games. I tend to get stuck in routines and revert back to the same games.>Do you mean a list of all the different ones, or a general chart of when to use a pattern game? I do have charts like this in the planning section:
If it is the different pattern games, think of it as The Big Two:
– back and forth (which also builds into Find My Face)
– up and down (which builds into engaged chill)The main arousal game is the volume dial game (tricks for tugs and treats), which you can use any time – the trick is to figure out when it works best, based on how he responds 🙂
>(oh and I will sneak her secret in here because no one else is probably reading this post 🙂 …. her BIG secret that I can not wait to announce in all public forums….she is in the 2025 Puppy Bowl!! >
That is SO COOL!!! Now I will totally be watching! FUN!!!!!!!!!! I will absolutely be cheering for her!
>I enjoyed your teaching so much, that I would like to get her into the live Max Pup3 class. Do you know when you will be offering it next?>Right now we are about 2/3rds of the way through MaxPup 1, so the next class is MaxPup 2 (March). You can transfer your enrollment into that one! Then the net MaxPup 3 will be in June or July, which would make her the correct age for it 🙂
Thank you for the update! Keep me posted!
Tracy
Good morning!
You’re right, she looked at you like you were an alien 👽 LOL!!!!!I think the tunnel verbal has value and also a specific verbal energy. And movement towards the tunnel has value as a cue too. But the new verbal alone doesn’t have value yet.
So we can use it in a specific order to get the tunnel threadle verbal to have meaning and value:
Say the new cue (tunnel threadle verbal) then the “old” cue (either the tunnel verbal or movement to the tunnel.
So it can be zoom zoom zoom (I think that’s what you are saying 🙂 ) then tunnel tunnel tunnel without moving. Or it can be zoom zoom being completely stationary… then keep saying it as you step to the tunnel (kind of what you did at the end of the video).
That should help her understand the new cue, because it predicts the original cue coming. Then we fade the other cue (like the tunnel verbal) and maintain the value/meaning of the new cue.
Let me know how it goes!!!
Tracy
What a stunning place to let the dogs have a run! Wow! Alaska is simply amazing. The dogs looked like they were all having a grand time ❤️
Have a fantastic Christmas 🎄 and happy New Year!!!!
Tracy
Hi! This went great!
On the first run without the toy: Nice teeter! Nice sequence! Nice job praising her at the end of the run (with the sequence curling back into the course) and *then* running back to the toy. Perfect!
It was very cool to see that the teeter behavior was the same without the ball as it was with the ball. She drove brilliantly to the end. She is releasing from the teeter at the same time every time… sometimes you say th release word at the same time, sometimes he is already in motion when you say it. So be sure to be consistent so she doesn’t end up learning that the slam is the release, not the verbal.
Only one suggestion for the start of the sequence when you were working the remote reinforcement:
If you are going to work trial behavior… add the leash in because it will be part of the picture and can also change the context entirely. The leash will always be in the picture at trials, so ideally it is at least regularly in the picture at home too 🙂 especially when working remote reinforcement. That way there is no huge contextual leap at trials when the leash is involved. Plus, if the leash is mainly used at trials going into the ring, it can become associated with the higher arousal levels and possibly stress. Using it at home will help keep it neutralized 🙂 plus it helps both of you be able to work the pre-run plan with the mechanics of dealing with the leash 🙂
Great job here!
TracyHi!
Dean was a perfect leash runner LOL! We owe him!!! He was trying to act pretty invisible and not be a distraction, but that is different from normal human behavior so it ends up being distracting. Note how she shook it off both times the leash came off.
The nicely done babe moment was hilarious!!!
I was going to suggest he be a pushy leash runner and you did that on the 2nd run. Perfect!! She did well on both of these. And she was great about getting the leash on too, even with the treats *rightthere* on the 2nd rep.
This is something you can have Khamsin and Kristen do this weekend with you – everyone is a stalker leash runner 🙂 or walking around the ring like ring crew, judge, etc. It is great exposure for the pups (you can have food in the ring with you because the other people might be a significant challenge.
Nice work here!!
Tracy
Hi!
>He does know the 1,2,3 pattern, that would be a good one for moving him from A to B>
Definitely! That is a good option. Or moving hand touches! He likes those a lot and he can leap around while doing them (which he also likes a lot LOL!)
>OK, no more foot stomping.
Yea, I’m pretty good at ignoring unsolicited advice. Got a great one from the judge this past weekend – I should arm the ring crew with squirt bottles when we train LOL.>Unsolicited advice is usually the WORST. Maybe one time out of every 1000 times, someone offers something useful. But otherwise, it is not helpful LOL!! I think squirt bottles fall into the same category as foot stomping – it is weird and punishing, so he is going to associate ring crew people with being weird and punishing… and therefore need to be investigated before he can ignore them. He ignores people he knows because he has already investigated them, great! The goal is to make ring crew people into boring things: not fun, but also not weird/scary, so he won’t feel the need to check them out.
> she does accept me as her flaky student>
You are the opposite of flaky! You are always looking to expand your knowledge and help your dogs. That is great!
> For the near future class runs will be all about rewarding passing ring crew instead of rewarding performance – he goes by I mark with praise and toss his lotus ball – yes?>
Yes, perfect!
>As far as the ring crew placement, I put out the chairs when I build the course and I generally pick “in his face” locations. Should I make it a bit easier for a while?>
Great question – I think you can keep the really prominent placement on jump/tunnel lines, he is ready for that. But not yet for weaves or contacts, that might cause errors. When he is able to ignore any ring crew shenanigans with jumps & tunnels, then you can add back the weaves & contacts.
Keep me posted!
Tracy
