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Good morning! What a great start to her trial career!!
>(even though I was pretty nervous at the beginning lol)>
This is so relatable! It is nerve-wracking to start our baby dogs!
I got a big laugh at all the cameras lined up near the ring entry (you can see them at the start of your video) LOL!!
>Obviously she made the course 50 times harder than I intended but I just went with it >
Wellllll….. the very super good news is that she was entirely engaged and read your cues perfectly. The only spot she had a question was the very end when she was miles ahead and curled in to the tunnel (that last jump was a bit hidden, visually). I think the things that didn’t go as planned were handling cue issues and not Lu doing random things. In fact – I think she found lines here better than she does in practice! Is it possible that the arousal and the pressure of the situation sharpened her focus? Yes! And that is great. Overall a really great run. Fabulous debut!
And I love that you got it from 2 angles!
Start: she got into a stand stay and was very engaged, I love it! The stay position that you released her from just happened to be on the line to the backside, so that is where she went as you stepped forward on the release. Good girl! I don’t think that was what you wanted? But maybe it was – it was hard to tell because you were brilliant about going with it and connecting and continuing.
Looking at the jump she missed at :31 after the first tunnel: From the handling perspective, you were too far ahead of her, going really fast, and not quite connected enough to show a baby dog the line. I think to get that jump, she would need to push away to a right lead and you didn’t cue it so she didn’t do it.
>One of my friends mentioned she went around the 4th jump after coming out of the tunnel because I called her name and I think she was correct. I’ve been trying to figure out how to handle soft turns out of tunnels and have currently been using her name.>
Yes – the name call locked her into handler focus and a “GO JUMP” might have been more successful there, plus not as much speed from you and more connection (to support her line at this stage of training).
And her name might end up being all you need to get those softer turns on tunnel exits! Yay!
Then you were great about getting her back on the line, nice cues, nice reward.
After the tugging and when you reset onto the next line – note how you were SUPER connected and smooth and NOT running too fast… she really dug in and found her jumps 🙂 Lovely!!!! She likes the turf, she could really use her feet to dig in.
The tunnel send at 1:04 (video 1) and 2:03 (video 2) was a really hard serp angle, where you would need to be closer to the line and doing a massive serp. Your handling path and connection too her to the other side of the tunnel, she was correct! Yay! Even your videographer said it was hard 🙂
At the end, she had a bit of trouble with that massive ending line across the ring –
She drove ahead at the beginning of the big line then curled in to take the tunnel when you were too far behind – no worries! That last jump was in a hard spot visually and she is new to driving 80 foot straight lines 🙂Overall, I think she was fabulous and this was a great debut!!!!!
Tracy
Good morning! This went well!!
It will probably end up being less of a position game and more of an arousal regulation game with her because she had to go from barking/spinning/hopping around (pre-pop-rocks, perhaps?) to calm/holding still til released. I thought she did GREAT here!!!
As you said, doesn’t really matter what position she chooses. It was interesting to see the down here, but that is how some dogs ‘ground’ themselves to self-regulate. It is also possible that the down is something heavily reinforced that she does indoors so you might not see it outdoors.
>got the sense that she could have handled a bit more delay.>
You can add in praise before the release/reward. And you can add in changing the arousal state:
– you can be MORE insane 🙂 for longer to get more arousal 🙂 Turn on music and dance around like a crazy person! But when you do this, don’t delay the release/reward, keep the duration short because arousal makes it harder
– you can add challenge by doing it front of a jump wing or something stimulating that also has a context cue of movement – but she needs to freeze 🙂>That is totally it about the leg weave then sit. She thinks the sit is the fun part (maybe because she knows it precedes a release and eventually a reward). >
Entirely possible! I mean, she has had a zillion rewards/fun times after the release from a sit!
>There was nothing in my hands for the hand cues. The hand cue does seem to help her. My leg position alone is too subtle. I’ll add in a wing for a jump bump in a bit.>
Perfect! And as the environment gets harder (arousal, or jump wing) you can make the leg position and hand cue really big and obvious to help her pick out the cue.
>My idea with the leash cue is that it gives me something to say at the end of the Run that isn’t “yay”. If she drives ahead to it that’s great but even if she keeps moving with me to it and expects to stick her head through the loop next that will do the trick for giving her something constructive to do ar the end of a run.>
Sounds good!
>I need to email USDAA even though they backed down on requiring the tire in Jumpers. (But why no option for a frameless tire l? Guess I should be happy they didn’t bring back the chute). >
I thought it was hilarious that they announced they were doing a Board because it was so successful in the past. I was on 2 of those boards – maybe you were too? They were wildly unsuccessful LOL!!
About the tire… if you are on the committee that hosts USDAA trials, just leave the tire off the list of obstacles you provide to the judge. That way there will be no tire in Jumpers LOL!!!
I have done 2 USDAA trials recently and I have found the judges to be GREAT about competitors saying “this is terrible, can we fix it” – regarding lines, contact entries, etc. I usually get elected to approach the judge about it (gee thanks, friends haha) but we have always managed to get a lovely course set 🙂
>He’s partway to the new ADCH requirements but I think it will take at least 2.5yrs and I feel like he probably has a higher Q rate than the average team and MN has more available trials than most of the country. Just seems like a huge barrier to entry that the first main championship title could easily take 2.5-3yrs after your dog is in masters.>
I think their most recent statement gave more time to do it? Or backed off a bit? I don’t remember because there are only 3 total USDAA trials over the year that are within 4 hours. So I run NFC with the youngsters locally and threw the adults into real runs (CB got a team Q on Thanksgiving weekend, it was hilarious!) but I can’t imagine trying for an ADCH. It is sad, because I really did love USDAA. Sigh.
Tracy
Good morning!
OMG that IS a busy weekend!!! But he held up really well, mentally (and physically too). Yay!!!
>But just in case it was helpful I did add a bit from my other camera at the beginning and end so you get the fullest picture. I loved that run for him. And I completely agree that he’s a little more distracted towards the front of the ring where the crowd is.>
The moments at the beginning were really interesting to see – I don’t think he was worried at all, but he was definitely like “wait, what’s that other dog doing?” Plus there was a crowd at the entry having a conversation. All of this is stuff he has not been exposed to all that much so if you can get people to do that in class, it would really help him: have him coming into the ring when the other dog is exiting. Have the next dog coming in while he is exiting. Have groups standing around talking 🙂
I really loved the run! Lots of great line finding, speed, driving ahead. LOVE IT!! The one jump he went around was him trying to process the crowd outside the ring AND find the jumps. He was successful at finding the curve of the course but not taking the jump. Good job just continuing – next time I know he will find the jump and that is where you can take off running and dragging the murder toy, as a reward.
The 2nd run – you know it is a good NFC run when the judge doesn’t feel the need to watch you like a hawk LOL! She ran your leash for you, strolled over to the score table, causally watched with a smile 🙂
As he was entering and moving to the first jump, he definitely had a bit of “wait there is another dog?” Haha!! But he was great about moving into the sit and holding it til released. SO HAPPY! I don’t think it was a mistake to just move to the line. He didn’t struggle! And you didn’t nag him. Next time you can ask for a high five and see how he does. He might be all business and want to just move to he line.
>then seemed to slow right away as I slowed at the tunnel to avoid getting too far ahead of him.>
I think it was more of the processing of running right in front of the crowd into a dark tunnel. He did great!
He ran a pretty massive section of the course – lovely! Instead of throwing the toy, you can also take off dragging it, that can keep it alive more easily.
>Run up the line was fine and then the plan was to try a push and reward after the first tunnel. He didn’t get it but we still rewarded and went back to try that again. I just wanted to try one “harder” skill while we were out there. Second time was success.>
This went well! I didn’t enough notice that it was not to plan the first time 🙂
>The ending line was fine, but again going toward the crowd he slowed a bit and I think maybe checked in with the score table a bit before going into the tunnel.>
The ending line was great, I love that you handled it FOR REAL and didn’t babysit him. Running towards the score table and judge looking at him was definitely a pressure challenge but he was lovely!
>At the end I threw the toy down but he didn’t make any more to grab it>
He actually did move to it, but you whipped it away rather than get it moving. You can do more running and dragging (running back towards the center of the ring) to keep it alive because the dropped toy can be dull for him especially in a spot where there is a lot of pressure.
>and meanwhile where was a TON of pressure there right at the exit with a fleet of course builders all lined up outside that entire corner just waiting for us to get out so they could go in. So I just wanted to get out of there as fast as possible then to get the pile of treats I’d left on a table (and he knew it) right out that exit gate.>
He did great! At the end, you can also just head for the leash & treats. Overall, I think it was a great day in the ring!!
>I don’t think we’ll be doing any trialing for awhile because if the bloodwork looks good at the vet at the end of month I’ll schedule him for a neuter in early January to get out one undescended testicle before it becomes a problem. It doesn’t appear “close” so his neuter might end up more like a spay in terms of complexity and recovery.>
Bummer!!! Can you feel the testicle? There is a way to help bring it down if you can feel it and it is still small. I have learned this magic from the whippet people because this happens all the time in whippets (and I was able to bring down the undescended testicle in my youngest dog – my vet was so proud of me hahahahaha!) It might be too late depending on his age, but it is worth a try if you don’t mind fiddling around with it. But if it is far enough up in his abdomen then yes, surgery.
>But let me know what you think of today, and advice for our next trials or anything else!>
In classes, add the other people/other dogs distraction. I bribe the humans by bringing food haha!
Then in classes, work through the NFC progression by fading the reward in the ring on simple sequences and adding weaves & contacts to that. This is not for every run, just sometimes. Most of your runs should still have rewards in the ring.
And at trials, for jump/tunnel classes like speeds takes – you can move to doing the in-and-out runs where the toy is not in the ring or in your pocket. In UKI, it can go with the leash, or a friend can keep it hidden til the end and then throw it so you can drag it. And then if he is happy with that, there are some real runs in Speedstakes coming soon!
For contacts and weaves, you can do some NFC for those so you can reward those in the ring (especially the ones he might think are hard). If he likes the a-frame a lot, for example, you probably don’t need to do NFC for that.
And based on how he feels, you can start moving to fading the toy in the ring and be gradually moving towards real runs in the classes too!
Great job 🙂
Tracy
Good morning!
>With the side to side pattern game, I feel I am getting a bit of running side to side in the pattern without looking up at my eyes (maybe at my hands) – is this OK or not?>
Ideally she looks up towards you rather than running back and forth. She is probably sorting out the pattern and you might be tossing the next treat too soon. So, wait longer until you see her look fully up and towards you for a second or two, then toss the next treat 🙂
>Our turn and burn is less successful than I’d like. We did some yesterday with the laundry basket and then I remembered you suggested a cone so I thought it might be easier. Turning to her left seems to work better. I notice I am not looking at her – is that the magic cure? She seems to be looking at my hands/the toy.>I think it went pretty well! Yes, you can look at her more especially on the right turns, but I don’t think adding more connection if the magic cure 🙂
What I was seeing was that the left turns went super! The right turns were harder and she kept offering to go left (which is the side the toy was on). But when you were asking for left turns, she did not try to go to the toy side at all. So… she is a lefty! At least for this game LOL!
For the next session, start her turning to her left, and you can use a toy (keeping it scrunched up in your hand). For the right turns, use treats and you can help her get more comfy turning to her right by dropping treats at different points around the cone/barrel as she moves around it. Then you can work up to doing the FC and rewarding from your hand.
Her left turns will probably progress more quickly in this game than her right turns, for now. But you will see that the right turns catch up really quickly and then she will be able to do it smoothly in both directions.
Great job!!
Tracy
Good morning! Hope you had fun at the trial!
Lap turns are going well! Arm and connection worked great. Remind your leg to step back only when your arm starts to move – you were early on several of the reps so he questioned if he should come to your hand or follow the motion sideways to the prop. You can see it on the first couple of reps, because after that he had figured it out 🙂 Sometimes your leg did not move at all, so definitely remind it to get involved LOL!
To get more fluid movement out of the lap turn and to the prop (future jump), as soon as you get the turn – move forward at a walk, releasing the arm and stepping forward. You were freezing with the arm out over his head and over the prop so he had a couple of questions.
The easiest way to get you moving more is to move the prop further from you by either moving yourself further back, or moving the prop towards the camera. That way you can’t get him to touch it by just being stationary, you will need to move forward 3 or 4 steps by relaxing the arm after you get the turn and stepping forward with the leg.
That will also help the tandem turns: get the turn and move forward (with the prop further away).
>tandem turn felt awkward>
I think what was happening was that you were trying to turn him away and indicate the prop at the same time (he was like “which is it, human!” LOL!)
So you can start him further from you (stay or cookie toss, but not heeling with you) so you are moving past the prop with your tandem turn hands visible for him to lock onto.
Then when you are a couple of steps past the prop, turn him away on the flat, then move forward the new direction for him to drive to the prop.
And if the prop is there – don’t use your marker until after he hits it. You were using it as he turned away, which gets him ignoring the prop (the hits were incidental). But I think if the prop is further from where you were turning him, it will be easy to get him to move to it after the turn away.
Parallel path on the jump set up looked really good!! He did a great job finding it! Yay! So now we quickly change things:
– no more clicker 🙂 It jump-started the behavior, and now we don’t need it. It gets him looking at you which we don’t want. This is a universal issue with clicker training because the click doesn’t indicate where the reward is, and most of the time either the reward is from our hands or the dogs track our throw – both of which gets more looking at us. Instead, use your thrown cookie marker (I think it is search, as long as it is for one cookie only :))
– change the timing of the marker to make it sooner. Mark and throw the instant you see him look and take the first step to the jump, so the reward has arrived out in front of him before he gets to the uprights. We are basically shaping him to look at his lines, more than simply going through the uprights. Don’t wait to mark and throw when he gets to the uprights, because he will look at you (there is nothing else to look at, at that point :)) and then marking and throwing when he looks at you will get more looking at you :). To get the marker in earlier, you can throw the treats as far as possible so you have more time & space between the cookie eating and moving to the jump.
Tunnel threadling went great! You were showing the threadle arm before you let him start moving, which was spot on!
Be consistent with that (by the end of the session, you were letting go and doing the cues all at the same time, but you will get more learning on the hand and verbal if you show it to him before any movement happens.) And when you are holding him and showing the hand cue, you can also say the here verbal – then say it again when you release him.
On each side, you got him to the end of the tunnel where he could then threadle to the other side of it. Super! You can now try to show him the discrimination:
– when he is closer to the end of the tunnel so he can see a relatively easy path to the tunnel entry in front of him, you can hold his collar, say tunnel 5 or 6 times, then let him go so he can go into the regular tunnel entry– from almost the same spot (you can move him forward a little so it is easier to threadle and harder to get the normal tunnel entry – you can hold his collar, show the threadle arm/say ‘here’, then let him go to find the threadle entry.
And of course you can make it easier if this is really hard for him by changing his position, but I think that he is ready for this challenge!
>For contact training, with Dellin I used a box for the a frame and mat for the RDW. I think I will do the same with Judge since I am happy with how they both worked. I will try to introduce him to the box in the next few days.>
Sounds good! Because of his size and structure, you will likely have to tweak the mat method to suit his movement better. It is a method developed for Border Collies 🙂 so adjustments for a big guy who is structurally very different will make sense. I think it is Kirsten O’Neill from Canada has a great method that she has used successfully with her big Mals!
Great job here! Stay warm!
Tracy
Good morning! It was great seeing you and Ringo is SO FUN!!! Love him!!!!
Were these done in a dog run at an RV campground? Super nice!!!!!!!
Decel – Yes, the turning helped and he did well here! To give him time to process the cue and shift his weight into his rear, you can decelerate sooner. You were starting the decel when he was about a stride for you, so he had to jam on the brakes. To give him more time, you can start your decel no later than when he is halfway to you. This will carry over into his course work on jumps (starting the decel no later than exit of the previous obstacle, which is going to feel early but will work great!!0
Send back to prop: He is wanting to move to it but following your motion, so 3 small tweaks for you:
– add in a bit of ready dance to it. We don’t need to pump up the arousal, but you can use a quiet ‘ready’ moment to make a really clear transition to the send. That way he can see your arm, leg, and eyes shift from his cute face to the send
– after the send, move forward slowly and leaving your send arm pointing back to the prop. This includes when you mark and reward – you were moving fast when rewarding and that was EXCITING to him 🙂 so he wanted to follow that motion. So being slow the whole time can really help!
– you can mix in throwing the rewards back to the prop rather than always reward from your hand. That can help balance the value of the prop versus you (YOU are high value right now :))
You had some verbal excitement paired with calm body language as part of the reward for turn and burn and it went GREAT!!! He was able to commit really well. There was only one blooper moment where he did not take the barrel, and it was when you were moving before he got to the barrel. The other reps had you doing the FC just as he arrived at the barrel and he did great.
At the beginning you were lining in him up on your left, saying the verbal, then letting him wrap. Nice! That allowed you to position him where you wanted him and then let him hear the verbal before you let him move (which helps for learning the verbal).
On the other side then when you went back to the left side, you were not doing that as consistently – it was more of a send s the verbal was happening after the movement. Ideally, you line him up each time to get the verbal attached and also so you can move him a little further away – that will also get him focused on the barrel so you can start leaving sooner. A cookie lure is perfectly fine for getting him lined up where you want him each time 🙂
He tried so hard to get on the plank! Good boy! Even though it is not a perfect agility plank, it was still a good challenge to get on something narrow and balance. He could hop up and balance, but he couldn’t really turn around yet (probably not enough room). That is fine – hopping up and balancing is perfect! He was starting to get the turn around concept by the end so let him sleep on it, and I bet he will get better and better at it.
Great job here!
Tracy
Good morning!
Great news about the sit! I am glad it is going well.
>I did some judging yesterday and she got to play the sit stay game for a toy during lunch (so people eating about 20’ away) and in the ring while breaking down at the end of the day (so people moving equipment around). >
That is fantastic! What a great opportunity and it sounds like she had fun 🙂 I didn’t know you were a judge – UKI? Hope to see you in the ring!
>Distractions don’t seem to be much of an issue for her once she goes into “work” mode. Thank you to her working border collie lines!>
Right!! The BC brings a particular style of work focus to the mix. And I have found that whippets don’t care about people all that much. They don’t dislike them, they just prefer to do things with their human and ignore the people. Other things might be distractions (motion, perhaps) but I have personally found this mix to be relatively easy to train in terms of distractions 🙂
Looking at the prop game to get the RCs going:
>I found myself trying to “help” send her forward since she was stopping when I started to cross a few times, which I don’t think is the goal of this exercise.>
It is not necessarily the goal but it got you closer to the goal. I think in some ways he might have been waiting for a permission to go forward in the first minute or so, so you gave it to her and then she moved forward.
At about 1:23 she started to drive forward really well! Then you added a rear cross and she was like “wait, what?” LOL! And looked at you a bit.
No worries – she was really trying to solve the puzzle and you were good about rewarding all the effort she was making!
So for the next session: in order to get the RC we need to get you to be fully visible on her other side before she arrives at the prop, so she can turn the correct direction. When you did that, she got it! On the other reps, you were still visible on the original side as she was arriving at the prop so she sorted her turn to the original side.
You were very very close to being fully on the other side, so here is an idea to get it in the next session:
Warm up the game with the back and forth parallel path game like you did here. You were throwing the cookie nice and far away, so keep doing that.
The one thing you can add is to go all the way to the cookie with her, let her eat it… then move forward right with her.
That should help in two ways:
Your forward movement should be the cue to move forward to the prop (when you are a little further ahead and not moving, the decelerated position might cause her to want to come to you and not to the prop
And by getting her driving forward more and you moving sooner, you can get to the other side sooner too – you’ll be on the new side before she arrives at the prop. If she turns the correct direction but doesn’t hit the prop, reward anyway of course 🙂
Let me know how it goes, especially after she sleeps on it for a day or two! I mean, it is possible that our plans are irrelevant because she will now he game and the next 10 steps the next time you try it LOL!!
Nice work here 🙂
TracyHi!
This session looked great! And you were extended your arm to him which made it clearer!
For the next session – use an empty hand to bring him in and turn him away – then move forward and let him find the prop. When he finds the prop, you can mark and toss a treat from your other hand. In this session, you had the cookie in your hand which was fine for the bring in and turn away, but then you were leading him to the prop with the cookie (he was reaching up to your hand to follow it). So he was not choosing to hit the prop, it was more that you had very smooth mechanics to lead him to the prop and deliver the treat. And that is a good start! He is ready for more, so I think the empty hand as part of the cue then after he turns the new direction, moving forward and letting him find the prop will be super useful as we build this up.
>I’ve never actually done a lap turn on course.>
I can’t remember a time I have seen them in the last year or two because the threadle wrap is used more. But they are the best foundation for the concept of finding the other side of a jump! So now that he has that, you can move to the tandem turns which are the next step in our journey to threadle wraps LOL!
Nice work here!
TracyHi!
>>10 days post-spay and so far she hasn’t gone completely stir crazy yet. (Luckily she does like to snuggle on the couch so I’ve been catching up on Outlander episodes since there is way too much drama going on in the USDAA & UKI worlds. And a lot of egg cartons and paper towel holders have been destroyed)>>
She looks very cue in her outfit! Yay for not going stir crazy and the destroyed cardboard… but no yay for the weird week in USDAA and UKI drama. So much weirdness!
>>I have been playing around with some offered stand stays (no video) and the leg weaving. My original thought was that she would weave a leg or two and then stop in the stand and I could use that as a way to get from taking the leash off up to the start line. Well she started offering sits after one leg weave and they were really happy & snappy sits lined up next to me so we played with leading out from that or throwing the treat back to catch.>>
Perfect! I think a lot of these ‘tricks’ lead into the dogs telling us what *they* want to do. And the scientist people tell us that allowing agency (letting the dogs make their own decisions) is great for self-regulation and building resilience.
>Then I thought that I could evolve the leg weave into a behavior where she would keep weaving if I kept stepping another leg forward but would stop and sit if I stopped and stood with my legs together – incase the leash off point was further from the startline. Well then she started getting confused and either sitting after 1 leg weave while I was waiting for her to weave again or hesitating on the sit and swinging her butt out more. (you can see this when I ask for more than 1 leg weave near the end of the video even with a hand cue which makes it clearer for her). So I went back to just 1 leg weave since that seems to make her happier.>
Right – my guess is that she thinks it is a really fun line up thing and when you keep moving, you are preventing the part that she thinks is the fun part. So she is like WTF STOP MOVING hahahaha So if this becomes a great line up trick? Fantastic! You might eventually be able to get multiple leg weaves going, or decide you want to leave it as one weave to a sit.
> I also experimented a bit with leash off, let her shake, move forward and cue a spin next to me before a leg weave. That didnt’ seem to flow so well with her because she started having trouble with the leg weave after the spin. After thinking about it a bit, I decided I wasn’t sure I wanted to work on it that much more since I have used a spin and then I take off running to start in the past and I don’t want her to be second guessing whether she should come out of the spin blasting forward to chase me or collected to weave between my legs.>
It might be a bit too soon to sequence in another trick before the new leg weave trick – she might think the spin is followed by something else, and the leg weave trick takes a bit more processing because it is new. I bet you will eventually be able to sequence them together with no trouble.
On the video – she totally loved the weave then sit! Was your cue hand empty? If so, great! It not, see if you can cue the leg weave with an empty hand.
You can also add a wing of a jump in front of you to get this behavior to transfer to lining up in front of something.
She seemed fine with going to the leash on cue, after getting the spin – it was more of something for her to observe because there was no particular behavior for her in that moment. It was more of a ‘after you do a thing, I will say leash then we go get it, then you will get treats”. She seemed to think it was just fine. She might eventually start running to it when she hears the leash word, but it was fine that you were the one going to get the leash.
It will be fun to build on the weave-to-sit when she is cleared to do more things!!!
> am looking at the MYOB Puppies/teenagers one since I am guessing it has a bunch of relevant stuff for Ms Lift. I audited MYOB last December/January but was super-busy at the time so didn’t really do much with it.>
It has some really good stuff – there is some overlap to what you’ve done here, but also plenty of new games/variations that we haven’t done here or that come from the flyball world 🙂
Nice work here!
Tracy
Good morning!
Great tunnel session Mary! She was able to find the tunnel entry from pretty far away without any help besides the verbal! And you did a great job adding the verbal cue before you let her go, then marking with the ‘get it’ and tossing the reward nice and early. Big click/treat to you for setting up a great session!
She seems ready for you to start the tunnel threadle element, where she is between you and the tunnel and has to turn away from you to get into it. It might be hard (especially to the right side as you mentioned) so start it relatively close to the tunnel entry (and use your tunnel verbal for now). When she gets it really well, you can add your tunnel threadle verbal to it, doing exactly what you did here: hold her, say your tunnel verbal 3 or 4 times, then let her go (then mark and reward).
Parallel path is also going well! She had an easy time doing it on your right side at first (maybe because that is a left lead?) but she also did get lots of good reps on your left side too. She really had to think about it on your left side!
You don’t need a ‘yes’ marker, you can just use your ‘get it’ then throw the reward. “Yes” tends to get the dogs looking at us – and ‘get it’ tells them they are correct AND to keep looking forward because the reward will be tossed out ahead.
Since she is doing really well, you can add more lateral distance away from the jump on your right side. I think for when she is on your left, you can stick a little closer to the line for now, to support her commitment. It might feel a little weird to be further on one side and get closer on the other side 🙂 but it will build the commitment nicely. And it will end up balancing out pretty quickly so you can add equal distances on both sides.
Great job here!
Tracy
Hi!
The tunnel game went great! Great job having all those tunnel bags out there – he is powerful!
And also – very nice timing on the get it marker especially when he was on your left side. You were marking as soon as he turned to the tunnel with the get it, so he could drive directly to the toy. Super!!!He is ready for next steps here too:
Repeat this game but have him on the inside (between you and the tunnel) to begin the threadle entries. You can use your tunnel verbal for that. As soon as he says “got it, I can turn away into a threadle entry” you can start your tunnel threadle verbal: hold him, say it 3 or 4 times, then let go so he can move to the tunnel threadle.Great job here!!
Tracy
The parallel path was great! The most important thing for him here was to get him to STOP looking at da momma (boy dogs and their mommas… it is a love fest LOL!!)
Nice timing of the clicks and he figured that out VERY quickly. SUPER!!! You can also now fade the clicks – mark the smack of the prop with a ‘get it’ marker so he knows the treat will be tossed ahead (and will look at you even less).
Sideways sending looked great and his prop smacks are adorable and hilarious! The poor egg carton LOL! Great job using the hand closer to the prop to send him to it, that will make the countermotion very easy.
His commitment on the backwards sending is also looking great – he turned away to his left at :20, reading it as a rear cross. So you can send backwards a little more laterally offset from the prop, so there is no rear-cross-pressure on the line to the prop.
Since this all looks so good, a couple of “next steps”:
For the parallel path, using the prop – you can start to add in the rear crosses (the advanced level :))
For the sending (sideways and backwards) you can add in countermotion – send to the prop and start sliding the other direction as he is moving away to it. You can also use a toy for this.
And for the parallel path, you can add in the concept transfer we added last week – using 2 uprights and a jump bump! Same concept of driving to it on a parallel line – but the timing might be a bit different on the get it marker: you can mark when he is looking at and moving towards the setup and toss the reward so it lands on the other side before he goes through the uprights. The goal is to keep him looking forward. If he gets to the uprights and you have not marked yet, he is likely to look at you 🙂
One other idea: I think when your arms move up and down in the ready dance moment, he thinks you ant him to also jump up and down (we do not LOL!). So you can keep up the chatter but change the body language to not move as much, keeping your hands low. It is more about the ‘are you ready’ muscle tension to get the explosive drive into work (and arousal regulation) so you don’t have to move as much.
Great job here!
Tracy
Good morning!
This is going well – he is showing really great commitment! We can smooth out some small details:
>I didn’t do well on my side – don’t think I ever walked instead of run >
Ha! You didn’t really walk but you were definitely calmer and very connected. He did super well!
>but it ended up being a really good exercise for us as he is all about flinging himself to whatever thing I have set out without waiting for a cue and this turned out to be a great place to work with that. >
Yes! I think he is both very keen to work (yay!) and reading subtle movements as the cue to work (also yay!) so we can clarify for him when it is NOT yet time to start offering things 🙂
For the ready dance – try not to step towards the barrel because that is an indication to go to it. You can bob back and forth without moving your feet, so he can get into the game but not see any bits of the cue to go to the barrel.
Then you can make a smoother transition to lining up with a cookie lure with slow movement for now, so he doesn’t confuse you facing forward with the cue to go to the barrel (he loves his barrel!) On the last rep of the second video, your line up cue was SO CLEAR that he had no questions about what to do there.
>I’ll come back later to work on walking to get a cleaner circle and be able to leave sooner.>
You might not need to add walking if you are this clear and connected! But to get started on leaving sooner:
Work turn and burn with a line on the ground so you don’t do the FC too early. That will give you a focal point so you don’t start the FC too soon. You can start it as soon as he is at the barrel, but not yet before he gets there – so for now, the line can be at the barrel kind of where the jump bar would be, and you would start the FC when he is arriving at the line. Then you can move the line to being before the barrel so the FC can be sooner and sooner.
At :17 on the first video and :14 on the second video (the first rep on each one), you started the FC before he had finished the first step to the barrel so he did not commit. When that happens, use a reset cookie to reward his effort and to line him up again. I suggest this for two reasons:
– with handling games, there is a strong likelihood that the error was produced by human error and the pup was correct, so rewarding him is a good thing 🙂 That is what happened here.
– He is jumping up at your face-level a lot, so the reset cookies will give him something to do with all of that extra energy (especially if there is frustration) rather than jump up.On the other reps, you held your FC position for one more heartbeat (til he was arriving at the barrel and he was great! And you had great connection on the exit of these wraps too!
Great job here!
TracyGood morning!
Fingers crossed for a December warm up!! It is definitely too cold.>The first 2 reps, the cookie was in my hand that was guiding him, so that threw everything off. By the end of the session, he seemed to be getting the idea.>
Actually, it was not the cookie in the hand that made it probably feel off-kilter… it was that the lap turn hand was the ‘wrong’ hand for the prop being there. Since this is a threadle foundation game, the lap turn hand should be the one next to the prop to draw him past it like a threadle. You were using the hand on the opposite side – which is probably why when you finished the lap turn, it felt weird to get him to hit the prop because it was not on the natural line.
So for the next session, if the prop is on your left side, the lap turn hand is also the left hand. And vice versa – prop on right, right hand cues the lap turn (you had right hand here for prop on left, and left hand here for prop on right).
He did solve the problem really well though, in what I am learning is typical Malinois style: give them one rep to look at the puzzle then they have the answer and it doesn’t matter as much what we do LOL!!! That can totally work for us if we have our mechanics ready to go for the first rep – makes everything much easier (I am really enjoying seeing this in training my half Mali and watching Judge do this too!)
When you changed sides at :35, remember to have your lap turn hand more fully extended and elbow locked (not bent) when you begin the cue. If your hand is up high and your elbow is bent, the hand cue gets hidden by your torso and he doesn’t really see it. When the hand is fully extended and low, it is so much more obvious to him.
Nice work here! Stay warm!
Tracy
Good morning!
>he seems to only dislike when it’s actively raining while wet ground seems to be ok, >
Me too, Checkers, me too LOL!!!! Today will be 30 degrees and raining. Bleh!
>he’ll spend some time at my Aussie’s scentwork trial so will get some more dog life exposure there!>
This is just as important as any training games!
Looking at the videos:
He is reading the rear crosses really well when you can get to the new side in time. You did it at :24 and 1:24 to the left, and 1:02 and 1:13 to the right. On the reps where he turned the other direction – he is just danged speedy getting to that prop so he was already turning the original direction by the time you got across the rear cross line.
I like his speed, so we won’t try to slow things down. But what you can do is, instead of starting next to him (because he accelerates to the prop so well) you can actually start with him behind you on the RC by tossing a cookie a few feet back – then as soon as he eats the cookie, you start moving forward. He will pass you but you are also going to be showing the RC pressure towards the center of the prop as he passes you, then you can step to the new side immediately to get the turn.
Let me know if that makes sense or if I need more coffee to explain it better 🙂
>. There’s a few reps in there when he makes it almost but not quite to the prop and then turns, I wasn’t too worried in the moment >
I am not worried about this either, he will commit to the jump when we transfer it to a jump.
Parallel path – the first couple of reps did have rear crosses (you being close to the line then changing sides) but then things smoothed out significantly when you moved away laterally. Yay!
You can do parallel path and rear crosses in the same session, no need to do separate sessions. Your handling will cue the line. That you want, plus it will help him differentiate the cues for going straight versus RC.
Turn and burn: He is definitely loving to drive around the barrel and is maintaining his commitment as you do the FC sooner and sooner 🙂 YAY! So keep getting that FC sooner and sooner, bit by bit 🙂
I think the hardest part here was the line up and initial send. Because he is little, it is harder to get a smooth line up than with a big dog – with my bigs, they are tall enough that I can hold the collar without bending over!
With the smalls, I think it is harder to hold the collar but it is helpful to try it (collar or a harness) – it allows you to have a moment before the send, plus it allows you to start adding his verbal wrap cue by saying it then letting go and sending to the barrel. Ideally the verbal gets added before you move.
You can lure him to line up at your side with a cookie then gently hold him, before starting the cues. The big clear step to the barrel helped him get the left turns at the beginning (he tends to offer right turns if the cue is not as clear). You can see this at the beginning at also at 1:24.
For him, the most important part of the cue is going to be the connection. If you look at him while you send? He gets the left turn every time. If you look forward? He offers the right turn (like at 1;34)
I think the line up at your side will also give him something to do other than jumping around – I think he was doing that because he didn’t always know what else to do and the toy was visible. Lining up at your side as part of the start of each rep all really clarify that for him and you can bring the toy out more in between cookie reps 🙂
>I didn’t notice!!! I THINK he was going over there to either get a quick drink or to look at his cookies (both are in the direction he trotted to), and if I had been paying better attention I probably should have taken a quick break or some other kind of reset or just stopped the game, because our next reps were not the best.>
I think that moment was when you were moving the line to a new spot, so he went to look at something, no biggie. The next reps being a little off-kilter were more about the line up than him being disengaged. You can keep him with you with a bunch of treats tossed in the grass or talking to him, while you change the line. But yes, you can totally build in breaks for him too, that is always a good thing.
He is definitely understanding the value of the box! And also yes – he is FAST LOL!! You can try tossing the treats further away so you have half of a heartbeat to be ready to reward again before he looks at you LOL!! You were going pretty darned fast 🙂 And also, as you build the running contact behavior as he gets older, you will have something else out there (manners minder, or a jump wing, or an empty bowl, for example) to help keep his focus forward. For now, you can introduce an empty bowl 10 feet away on each side (you toss the cookies in it or towards it) or you can introduce a manners minder if you have one!
If he has not yet seen the MM, introduce it separately without noise or movement of the gears – just as a cookie holder. Then you can dd the gears and eventually the beep. Many dogs are afraid of it at first so we want to introduce it gradually.
Strike a pose with the dish went really well! Nice timing of the dish marker (when he hit the target). When you revisit this, you can have your cookie hand out above the dish (rather than behind your back) to make it easier for treat dropping 🙂 And you can also use a toy!
>My uncut video was super long, a bit over 10 minutes, but when I cut it down it’s about 6.5 minutes of training and 3.5 minutes of toy play and resetting the games. I’m impressed with his stamina but wondering if we should play fewer games in a session so that he doesn’t fizzle out, but also watching the videos he looks ok for each new game, it’s just when I played too long (barrel wrap) is when his brain needed a break?>
I think 6.5 minutes of training can be fine, depending on how it is laid out… was it 10 straight minutes of doing things? Then yes, it is probably too much in a short time frame because he doesn’t really get a break and you don’t really get a moment to look at what just happened and plan the next thing. 3.5 minutes of toy play is not really a break – the break should be rest and decompression, like sniffing or chewing on something.
If it was 6.5 minutes spread over 30 minutes or more, with breaks, and planning, and peeking at the videos? Then it is going to be much better – but also he will let you know.
Bear in mind that these games are mentally ‘expensive’ – they burn a lot of glucose and oxygen in the puppy brain 🙂 So while the body might look ready to go for more, the brain might not be. It is like my bank account – if I go shopping all in one burst, my bank account appears to be fine but turns out it can get overdrawn LOL!
Rather than think of it as playing fewer games, you can try to mix in other things to extend the break times. For example, I will often play a game for two minutes, then let the puppy have a break while I throw in a load of laundry or do something with another dog. Then give the pup another quick session – then a coffee break for me while I edit the video or try to straighten up the rugs in the house that are always getting moved :). So I can mix the little trainings into every day life – and eventually get a lot done in both life and dog training LOL! I tend to leave a tripod set up so it is very easy to slap the camera into it and start a session, making it easier to pop in and out of training.
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
Tracy
