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Good morning!
Super nice session here! By staying in motion more and being on the line that shows him the wing, you were able to get an extra step or two ahead and be more accelerated on the next line. And his commitment is looking strong: you were looking forward more as he passed you, and he committed to the bar without needing extra help (you will see more of that in the super independent obstacle game posted yesterday). And his turns were gorgeous! Super!!
Tracy
Hi!
Keep me posted about what the conditioning person says. He’s at about the right age for sports evaluation stuff anyway – that can help with all the jumping stuff. And for motivation, keeping sessions short with surprising fun rewards will help! And he will be very motivated when it is easier in terms of mechanics too 🙂
TracyHi!
>but plan on setting up the walk through! We have a trial this weekend. I will likely also set up some big long lines for both girls!>
Fun! The walk through stuff should give you ideas for the trial this weekend!
>I tried to test her fluency on slice ( Introduced to her recently). We will stick with back as her single cue! It has worked well.>
I will continue to try to talk you into have 2 separate cues, one for wrap and one for slice 🙂 Separate cues given info sooner for pretty different behaviors.
You are going to laugh because I am going to tell you to look at her less LOL!!! As soon as she gets to the backside commitment plane, look forward (totally disconnect) but also throw the toy to the landing spot. You are looking at her too much as she is coming to the takeoff side so you need to disconnect more 🤣😂
Think of it as sliding past the exit wing while doing a blind
At 2:24 and 3:34, the disconnect and countermotion were really good, but you were waiting to see if she took the jump before throwing the reward. Don’t wait for that, for now – as soon as you look forward because she is committing to the backside, you can throw the to as you move forward. Remember that we are rewarding committing to the backside while also building up value for the bar by throwing the reward past it to the landing side 🙂 In other words: throw immediately so she learns to look for the bar as you drive forward past the jump.
Nice work here!
Tracy
Hi!
>I think I get the concept of messing with the visibility of the entry to both obstacles. I don’t have a curve in the tunnel because I am very hesitant to carry more tunnel bags. I don’t “approve” of only 2 sets of bags even on a straight tunnel but that’s that best I can do right now.>
I will send you drawings with straight tunnel and jump setups where the jump moves and the tunnel (and tunnel bags) do not move 🙂
>I am quite hesitant to mess with the pitch/volume/rhythm of my verbals because I doubt that I will be able to execute that in a trial. >
I admit it took some practice but the results were worth it! I walked around my house practicing without the dogs a lot LOL!!
>Also, would I use the louder verbal for the one further away or would tunnel always be louder/quicker and jump lower/slower?
I like to be consistent, so the tunnel verbal is always loud/long and the jump verbal is quieter/more conversational.
You are doing a great job keeping your motion pretty neutral and he was finding the obstacles pretty well on the original setup! Swapping obstacle positions was harder at first – this is where you can rotate the jump to be closer to 90 degree, so it is more visible past the tunnel.
He really does seem to like this puzzle, I am impressed with how he is able to keep moving fast, doesn’t get deflated, and is working to figure it out! Super!!!
>I thought it was going well, so I added in the weaves. That isn’t even on the video because it was such a goat rodeo. >
Goat rodeo is one of my favorite phrases LOL!!! It is possible that he used up all of his brain juice and there was nothing left for adding weaves… thus the goat rodeo outcome 🙂
>I’m going to stick with just the tunnel and jump for a while longer. Or, what about if I pull out the jump and use just tunnel and weaves?>
Absolutely! You can do tunnel-weaves, or jump-weaves. Both are pretty common discriminations lately.
Nice work here!
TracyHi!
Poor Beat! Hope she is feeling better!Sequence 1 went great!
>Repeated that first sequence trying to get off his line 2-3. >
Mission accomplished, he had a much better line there 🙂
>Roots would need some intentional shaping of the line there or he would slice it, so I did it with Pick too yesterday.>
It would be interesting to see what Roots does with foot rotation as he is exiting the previous jump but without the shaping? Same physical cue as if shaping, but you would be more where you were here with Pick.
>I realized after the fact that it was silly to do, Pick turns easier (he’s slower but I think even at the same speed he turns better) and with jumping a whopping 8” shaping lines is just dumb!>
It wasn’t dumb, but it might be more than needed 🙂 He does turn really well! He reads your decel really well on the other turns!
> He got the backside at 5, but watching it back I realize I helped way too much over the bar and his line was wonky after that (see third sequence).>
On this sequence, there is a bit of convergence/countermotion on 5 to get the smoothest line to 6. You ran it pretty straight which might be why he didn’t see the smoothest line. More on that below.
Pop out 2: Nice forward focus on 1! He read the 1-2-3 serp really well. You pulled away further than you needed to but he stayed on his line nicely!!
The super technical section 5-6-7-8 went great! You can go in closer to the tunnel before moving to 6 to keep moving more so he doesn’t curl in at 1:04 (you were stationary and that caused him to ask a question).
The push to the 6 backside then the spin to 7 were excellent choices and well done! He might have a tighter line to 8 with a brake arm on 7, but that is something to try both ways and time: sometimes with terriers, the wider line is the faster line 🙂
Pop Out 3: This went well too!
You can have him sitting on a really angled slice on 1 to get as straight of a line to 2 as possible. And you can be on a line closer to 2 before you release. He jumped pretty straight over 1 based on his setup and your release position.
At 1:54 he had a a better position for the stay but you can be serping more even before the release (arm back in serp position) and further up the line towards 2.
He had the best line there at 2:42 because he was on more of a slice and you were further ahead and really driving on the release. Yay!
The turn on the tunnel exit is definitely a hard one! You can let him see the FC before 4 sooner. As you do the verbal and brake arms before it, he can see you turning and running away to the next line to set up the next turn.
>But then we were back to not being able to get him to take that backside after the tunnel without me having to take steps in the wrong direction to get him to come in. I>
Yes, because he was not comfortable with you sticking close and doing the bit of countermotion, you had to help which made the line much harder. If you have to help and it might take you off the line, you can get the next jump with an outside arm as if handling a ‘get out’ (which is what it will be if you are hanging back to help).
But, perfect timing to see his questions about this: the independent obstacle game this week is all about getting the dogs to jump the bar on backsides without our help and while we move through a countermotion line. That will help him get this line much more easily
Nice work here!!
Tracy
Hi!
>On another note, Katniss has gone to 4 flyball practices with my local team (Harrier Jump Jets). She has done AMAZING!!! >
This is SO FUN!!!!! It is a whole new fun sport to enjoy 🙂 You can also come practice with us in Richmond!
>! But I got my IT team (i.e. my husband) to help me figure out the problem.>
It is lovely to have a built in IT division 🙂
>After having a pity party about how this was too hard for us, I decided to do some backchaining using my Manners Minder at the end of the teeter.>
Good for you!! So basically, you whipped out your dog training skills and taught her a really helpful skill. She did great! She nailed it in that first run! Keep rewarding the teeter to maintain the skill.
I think it was Susan Garrett who said “Irritation is motivation”. You used your irritation at the course design to turn it into motivation to train the skill 🙂 Yay!
The opening looked lovely each time!
If she gets sticky on backside pushes like at 1:05 and 2:55 it is mainly a connection question. It ill feel counterintuitive, but using your dog-side arm to point forward to the backside actually cues the front side by turning your shoulders to the front. So keeping the dog-side arm back helps a lot and you can even use your outside arm to help push her to the backside. (Same on the backsides at 8 at 3:05 & 4:07 and 9 at 2:31 – less arm, more eyes 🙂 )
You used less arm at 2:13 and 3:56 and she did great finding the backside!
A little decel on the tandem and making your arms more obvious will help her turn away. When you were isolating the tandem, there was decel built in so she read the cues really well. When you were running into it, you were driving fast then tried to turn her away, so she was not ready for the collection required. then a to more connection to set the line to the tunnel at 1:33. Restarting from the jump there will help with her understanding too and help get you to the next line
She had a bar down in the same spot at 1:51 and 3:31 – on both of those, you were decelerating but facing forwards rather than to the next line. I think you can decel and turn to the next line (like you did at 5:24), and she will be able to set up the turn there.
Ending looked great each time! The backside and the layering were fabulous. Great job with your connection through that section, that is what made it flow so nicely!!
Nice work 🙂
Tracy
Hi, welcome back!! Sorry to hear about all the rain, it has been a gross weather summer!!!
She did well with her lazy hoops! She seemed surprised by the first reward then totally got into the zone of offering the hoops pretty easily. SUPER!!
Since this went so well, you can move on to the parts 2 and 3. And you can spread them out to add more distance! And you can totally use hoops or jumps or a combination of the 2 🙂
>I will stop and brag a minute on Wayne. Trialing has been great for him, really using a lot of the skills we learned from you! Wayne finally earned his first novice Regular Q last weekend and has moved up to the Open Class in both Tunnelers and Gamblers (earned 2x 20 point Q’s last weekend)>
YAY WAYNE!!! He is really blossoming! Congrats on al of your Qs and successes!!!
Tracy
Hi!
She did really well with the tossed cookies here – I love how she just started looking ahead and not at you! Smart!!
The tug break was great and also informative LOL
I admit to snorting out loud when she did her first leapy loo after the tugging. She settled down pretty quickly and regulated her arousal but the leap was helpful information!!
>Do more of this with frequent play breaks to keep the arousal up so she learns to do it in arousal?>>
Yes, exactly. She needs to sort out the mechanics in high arousal, so she needs to be brought into high arousal in order to do that. I was glad to see her be able to regulate so quickly and not continue to leap around!
Do you do any balance stuff with her, on unstable surfaces? You can use the same concept to get her balancing and working the mechanics (it is part strength, part brain training :)). You can get her wild with tugging (on the flat) then on a low slightly unstable surface (or a few of them so the dog can stand naturally and not be compressed), reward her for balancing. Definitely make sure she is already happy to balance on those before you add the arousal, but I am thinking she already knows how to do that 🙂
Great job here!!
TracyGood morning!
>I tried it today and it did work well.>
Yes! It worked brilliantly!!! Super!!!
This session went really well!
>Now, I have to tell you that I HATE blinds. I cannot do them. I have a mental block and I am scared to try them in real life.>
Thank you for letting me know! It is understandable that you would be concerned about them – we don’t want Ellie to hit you by accident! One thing yo did her was you stayed off of her landing spot, meaning you were pretty far away from her as you did the blind, and that makes them much safer and (hopefully) less scary. Thanks for trying them!!
>The last clip here was actually our first try and it was our best attempt.>
Do you mean the rep at is at 1:50 in the video? That was really lovely, especially because you trusted her to stay out on her line to 3 more, so you could easily get to where you needed o be to show her the front of the jump after the blind. NICE!!!!!
On the reps where she ended up on the other side of the jump after the FC or BC, it was mainly due to you helping her at 3 more than she needed (by staying close to it). Then when you did the FC or BC, you ended up not getting quite far enough over to show her the front of the jump, so she thought you wanted the backside of the jump. Good girl!!!!
So the key is to send her to the #2 tunnel more and be further from 3 and 4 so she find that line independently (as long as you are connected, I am sure she will!) and then you will have an easy time with the FC or the BC.
On the tricks to getting the exit of a blind is to use what I call ‘exit line connection’ where we really open up connection as we finish the blind. It looks like this:
You can use it for front crosses too, but it really makes the difference for blinds.
Great job here!
Tracy
Good morning!
>Note: it’s been 90-10” degree here. I am not ok. lol!
It has been a gross summer!! I feel like I live in a tropical rain forest. Ewwwww!
I think my feedback here can be summed up in 4 words:
Less arm, more eyes.When you were connected to her by looking directly at her as you moved, with your arms low and not pointing at the jumps? No problem taking the jumps. When you got pointy by pointing ahead with your arm at shoulder height? She came off the line, because that arm point both blocks connection and changes the line of your shoulders and motion.
If she misses a jump, take it as feedback on connection and keep going 🙂 and if she makes the same ‘mistake’ 🤣😂 a couple of times, watch the video and see if she can see your connection or not.
Looking at the specifics:
Very pointy arm and shoulder turning ahead broke connection so she didn’t take the jump at :14.
At :35 – good connection exiting the tunnel! She had it! Then you pointed and it changed the line so she tried to change the line and came off the jump.
Compare to 1:29 and 2:03 and 3:42 when you had great connection (no arm pointing) and she got the jump after the tunnel, no problem at all. Then you got pointy at 1:31 and 2:05 and she missed the next jump. She actually did a threadle wrap on 2:07 which was clever, because that is kind of what the cue looks like . You moved closer to the jump t 3:44 so she got it even though you were still pointy.
So, don’t be pointy! Run with your arms low and pointing at her if you want to point at something (not at the obstacles parallel to you or ahead).
Another thing to consider is that just about all reward is from your hand right now so she is very tuned in to what your hands are doing. Throwing rewards will make a big difference. If you don’t want her to splat herself chasing the frisbee, you can throw a lotus ball or giant cheese balls or something fun like that.
>My favorite moment was when I tried to pass one on border collie and drop a toy down thinking she didn’t see it>
Haha yes, she totally saw and heard you drop the frisbee. Placing it after the jump gets her going to the jump but does not fix the handling that caused the bloopers 🙂 So be sure to ramp up connection if you are seeing her run past jumps!
Nice work here!
Tracy
Hi! He is doing great with these sequences!!!
>Funny, it really felt like I had connection, but when I watch the video, I can see that my body and head are not really turned toward him as much as they should be.>
I can totally relate to this! I think what you were feeling was the difference between you seeing him peripherally, and him being able to see the full connection.
On the FC wrap video:
>Our first attempt he went really wide – not sure how much of that was me being too late, and him just not attending to cues. T>
He was completely attending to the cues 🙂 His wideness on 4 at :10 was because as he was lifting off, you were still facing the straight line (and not to 5). You had good timing with the wrap cues so he collected at 5 but than as he landed, your dog-side shoulder closed forward and he could not see your full connection (face and front of chest) so he drifted out waiting for more info.
He could see more of your face at :30 so he drove to 6 a lot better.
At :45, you got your shoulders turned to 5 so he had a lovely turn on 4! And a little more connection at :47 helped him find the line there too.
The last rep had really spot on timing for the turns at 4 and 5! Nice!
The one thing to add as you exit the wrap is to look back at him a lot more. That includes looking at him more directly, and also pointing your dog-sided arm all the way back to his nose 🙂 to really open up the visibility of the connection.
Looking at the RC video:
He might be more of a righty than a lefty, but also your right turn info was earlier than your left turn info. On the right turns, you were moving to the center of the RC bar before he made a takeoff decision, so he got it. Yay!On the left turn RCs, you were facing the right turn (post turn) wing until he was gathering for liftoff at :19 and :28, so the info for a RC was late and he couldn’t adjust his line in time.
Placing the toy definitely helps and on that rep at :40, you also had much earlier info too, going to the center of the bar as soon as you saw him exiting the tunnel! Yay! Your info at :52 and 1:00 was great too, and the right turn RC at the end looked lovely too.
It also helped that you moved in closer to the tunnel so you could set the line by moving to the center of the bar.
He did super well with the fluffy blinds, and it sounds like there was another dog working too which he completely ignored! Yay!
The timing of your first BC was good but the 2nd blind at :31 was GREAT. Same with the blind at :44! You started it when he was taking the 3 jump so it was completed when he arrived at 4. Nice job keeping your arms down so he could see the connection!
>Then tried with the spin, with a bar down >
On the bar down rep, you were rotating and running backwards at the same time, so he was not entirely sure of what to do. He kept the bar up at :46 when you only took one step backwards 🙂
I don’t think you were deliberately trying to move backwards – I think what was happening was you were doing the spin at full speed so the momentum pulled you a little backwards. On the last rep (going the other direction) you ht the brakes and did the spin in one spot, and he slipped when he landed at 1:03.
You can eliminate the bar and the slipping by decelerating as you finish the blind, then think of the spin itself as a FC then a BC. So it is 3 things one after the other: decel then FC (as you start moving the next direction) then BC (continuing to move up the next line). That will get the great turn and keep you further ahead.
Great job here!
Tracy
Hi!
It looks like you are definitely paying attention to the timing details and had a lot of success! Timing, connections, and verbals had a lot of great moments on these reps!!
On the first rep, there was not quite enough connection after the tunnel to get jump 3, but the 2nd rep was really good all the way through. One thing I notice here was your arms are high, which delays timing and blocks connection a bit. So running with lower arms definitely helps you move up the line better and him see the line better too.
The 3rd rep that started at :22 had a really good start – low hands, clear connections, timely verbals, and good BC timing! Good connection after the BC!! More on the bar down on the wrap jump below 🙂
The timing on your blinds are going well – Really good BC timing at :39! And you got even earlier on the next ones – super!
He had a bar down on the jump before the tunnel at :31. Something I notice is that he is not really pushing from his rear there (not just over the bar, but also kind of short striding the line). It happened in a couple of other spots too – he just was not pushing to jump from the rear. Maybe he was hot and needs more significant breaks between reps? Also, does he like getting massage or body work? If he doesn’t want it from other people, you can do it for him to keep him loose, in case the shortening up is coming from a restriction or trigger point somewhere.
He had trouble with the bar on the wrap jump when he was turning to his left. It looks like a decel issue, mainly: your decel is happening when he I pretty close to the bar so he is not shifting his weight back. Since your blind cross timing is really good, you can help him with the wrap after it by decelerating as you finish the blind, so he gets the collection info on time.
I think you were working hard to get right to the wing but that made the decel late so the bar was coming down. And by getting to the wing, you were also running a bit sideways out of the blind so he was not always sure of what line to get on (like at :40) where he hit the bar of the pinwheel jump. So do the blinds with the good timing you had here and running straight to your position… but decel wherever you are when he is over the pinwheel jump.
The bar did stay up at :50, but he didn’t use his rear there – he slowed down to step over it with his front then carried his rear. It might have been because he was hot even though the session didn’t seem very long.
I know you do conditioning stuff with him – what kinds of stuff are you doing to get his hind end powered up? And maybe he is old enough for some endurance work too?
Nice job here!
TracyHi!
This is great! Was that Jamie’s voice on the 2nd part of the video? Sounds familiar LOL! He was a VERY good boy on these! It was interesting to see him totally notice the difference on the first rep for each teeter. But he continued up the board and was very keen for the next rep, driving up the board even better!!!
He also seems to really love recalling to you, which makes this game even more fun for him 🙂
For the home base teeter (the one he practices on most) you can slide the holder a out a fraction so there is a teeny tiny bit of tip – maybe a centimeter 🙂 And repeat the game. For the new teeters on the road? No tip yet, because he is still sorting out the differences in how they feel and sound.
Great job here!
Tracy
Hi!
The going forward to the jump is looking good, just be sure to connect to his eyes more when he exits the tunnel as you give the jump verbal, and keep moving when you throw the toy.
About the toy:
The good news is that he loves the toy! And I LOVE using those little tennis balls because they are easy to throw and super high value.Right now you and Max have a bit of a contentious relationship about the toy. When you reach for it, he steps away – possibly because you take it away and the trade is not good enough in terms of value and that he has to work again. You can see it at the beginning of the video – you are reaching for him and the ball pretty quickly, then get it back and give him a treat, then put him back to work. He was like “but my ball! I want more ball time!” so after that he wouldn’t even trade for it. That is because giving the ball back becomes almost a punishment because it is not paired with good reinforcement, it is paired with the withdrawal of the ball.
One of my dogs, Hot Sauce, has o much love for tennis balls (especially the little ones) that she and I have a great relationship with using the back and giving them back 🙂 Bear in mind that she also plays flyball which is all about giving the ball back 🙂
Here is what I do with her which will probably work well with Max!
First off: 2 balls, maybe 3! And SUPER high value treats for the trade moment.
The first ball is thrown as the reward. Then I show the 2nd ball and when he drop the first ball, throw ball 2. Then as he is getting ball 2, pick up ball 1. Then you can either repeat the process of getting the ball dropped to throw. The 2nd ball. Or, you can do a cookie trade – using a high value food reward like a big piece of cheese, get the drop of the ball then throw the cheese to the side for him. As he is getting the cheese, pick up the ball. It is actually pretty fun, happens pretty fast and there is no problem working with the highest value reward. As Max gets more used to the game, it will get even faster and easier. Don’t fight with him or get annoyed by it 🙂 just keep making it fun to give the ball back 🙂
Try it and let me know what you think!
Tracy
