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Hi!
For the stay, you can add a cue if you like! I don’t think the pups actually need it, because the sit position really means ‘sit until released’. But saying the stay or wait word makes us humans feel better 😀 so if it connects us to the dog better, then use it. I totally use a stay work even though my dogs dont need it LOLWHMhen adding the toy reward: yes, I do toss it back using the catch marker, mixed in with releasing forward then tugging.
Have fun!
TracyThanks for the video!!
>I tried placing the toy and he did do better. I just don’t feel the connection & him offering to go around the barrel yet. >
He did great then his brain got tired, there was a LOT going on in this session and it was really hard. The game itself is hard: ignore the beloved toy. Now add in the chainsaw in the background (or whatever that is) – his teenage brain was processing a LOT, and that is ‘expensive’ meaning he will get tired faster.
He started really strong – was he able to tug on the toy after he got to it? The video edits happened just as he arrived at the toy. If he had trouble, be sure there are no cookies in your hand: you can give him a cookie or two as he moves away from the toy then cue the barrel wrap with empty hands.
And, watch for signs that his brain is working extra hard: he was looking back at the toy, did a couple of full body shake-offs, felt a little ‘sticky’ (moving a little slower) and then tried to pee on the barrel LOL!! All of those indicate the level of challenge, so you can keep the session really short (2 reps, for example) then go do something mindless like running around with a toy 🙂
>Do you think I need to back up & reinforce the turn & burn?>>
I think another short fun session or two of this will be perfect! The challenge here was more about the level of distraction and not a barrel-wrap challenge.
Nice work!
TracyHi!
Strike a pose went really well! He was happy to come in to the target hand even with the target down by your feet. My only suggestion is to turn your lower body a bit so your toes are facing the reward target – this will set you up really well for when we begin moving.
Moving away from the reward to go to the barrel went well You can reward him a lot more for doing thst – he saw the treats in you had but he didn’t really get any in this session. So you can deliver a treat for each step he takes away from the reward target rather than letting him see the treat or only getting one nibble of it 🙂
>I realise he shouldnt be running away with it but he had to work hard to leave it . he was coming back fast when i had a better toy. but step one was to get him to leave>
I agree – I don’t mind the quick victory lap at all! And it sounds like he was bringing it back pretty quickly. That quick lap with the toy might be a good way to release the pressure of having to ignore the toy. That is hard!!
On the turn aways:
Your hand mechanics are good! Using your leg to step back more consistently on the lap turns helped to get him to smoothly turn away: when he reaches your hand, step back and draw your hand back (same hand & leg) so that sets up the turn. Then you can relax the hand and let him find the prop after the turn away.For the tandem turns – he was locking on to your turn hand nicely! Turning him away first then you turning will help that feel smoother too. If you turned him and yourself at the same time, it got a little tangled up 🙂 so let him start turning first (with your hand cue) then you follow that line and turn too.
Great job here!
Tracy
Good morning!
He was happy to add duration to the stays! I did a happy dance when he lined up and held the stay as you moved away!! What a good boy! It was hard (note the big yawn at 1:12) but he did it 🙂 Be sure to convince him to line up on your right side too – you were asking for it, I think, but he put himself on your left side LOL! You might need to use a cookie lure to convince him that lineups can be both side 🙂
Two next steps for this:
When using the clicker and treats, ping-pong the number of steps you take before the release. We humans are creatures of habit and we tend to do the same thing over and over, such as taking the same # of steps before a release. Dogs are brilliant and yes, they will actually count the number of steps and then predict the release… leading to early releases. On these reps, you were consistently doing 4 steps before the release (sometimes 4.5 steps, but all in the 4 step range).
So to avoid him predicting that it is a 4-step-then-release dance, mix in 1 step reps, 2 step reps, 6 step reps, 8 step reps, 3 steps, etc. Keep it unpredictable so he waits til the true release and doesn’t count your footsteps.
You can also get a toy involved! You can replace the treats here with a toy, or play the entire game with a toy (no clicker). It might be harder for him to line up and hold the stay, so start with short stay and quick releases. The toy brings super valuable excitement to the game, which helps bridge the stay into the new exciting environments like agility start lines.
Tandem turns are going well! He is turning away really well in both directions!
You can add in starting with a cookie toss so he is behind you as you begin moving. That gives you an extra moment to show him your hands before turning him away – which will help him get past the prop. When you were moving together, he was reading that as a parallel path game to the prop.
But when you were locking him onto the turn hands like at 3:22 and after: that was great! He was going past the prop until cued to turn away, then he easily found it after the turn. Lovely!
Great job here!
Tracy
Good morning!
He was definitely rocketing into the tunnel: LET ME GO, HOOOMAN!! So fast! And he was finding the entry angles brilliantly on both the normal send side, and the threadle side. Good boy!!!!
These were left turns into the tunnel, so you can repeat the session with right turns into the tunnel. I bet he will be great with those too!
Then you can add the tunnel threadle verbal: starting on an easy angle with him on the threadle side and holding his collar, you can start saying the new verbal then let him go find the tunnel. You can also show him the threadle arm if you are using the outside arm as part of the threadle cue too. If he is happy with that with the new verbal, you can start adding more angles.
>We did another SSC with Handling Combos – baby level. I tried placing the toy and he did do better. I just don’t feel the connection & him offering to go around the barrel yet. Do you think I need to back up & reinforce the turn & burn?>
This video is the tunnel video -the site will tell me when you post the handling combo video so I will come back to watch it 🙂
Thank you for the tuna fudge recipe! My dogs will love that!!! And I might even try to put it into the air fryer to see if that makes it crunchy. Maybe I will do that outside so it doesn’t stink up the house LOL!!
Nice work here 🙂 Tracy
Good morning!
The tunnel threadle session looked lovely! You can totally move to the next steps where you add it into a sequence. It appears that she was not looking at you to drive into the threadle entry of the tunnel, and that is what we want 🙂 When you add it to the sequence, try to hold your threadle arm in position as you move along the line until she turns herself away to the tunnel, rather than use it to turn her away to the tunnel.
The lap turns
She worked really well for the food at the beginning! Then yes, seemed to be looking for the toy after the rep – and that is perfectly fine 🙂 You can use food to help lock her onto your hand and get the turn, then whip out the toy to reward the turn or to use after each rep. The toy can stay in a pocket so it can be easily used but it is not in the picture to distract from the hand cues.She had a question at the end and it looked like a timing question: you were actually a little early on the cue 🙂 She went around the wing at :36 as you were backing up into position. Then before she locked onto your hand, you were turning her away while still moving backwards. So like a proper BC, she went into a down 🙂 I don’t think she was looking for a toy here, I think she was waiting for clearer info.
So to clarify the turn cue timing for her, you can lean over more with your cue hand fully extended forward towards her (elbow locked so the arm is really visible). Then as she arrives at your hand, almost reaching it – that is when you can start moving the hand and foot straight back to begin setting the turn. Your hand was a little high here and you started moving it back before she reaching it, so I don’t think she really saw it. And because she has good sends to wings, you can send her to the first wing from further away so you don’t have to back up as much: you can basically be in position with your turn hand extended down to her as she exits the wing.
Nice work here!
Tracy
Good morning!
The new wing looks fabulous!And I admit to chuckling at some of this shenanigans with the toy on the ground – it was definitely a big challenge to have the toy there. The rep at 1:40 where you were cueing the wrap wing and he looked at you and then was like “BE RIGHT BACK!” And went to grab the toy. So funny! I know it was not ideal for training but it was still cute and funny 🙂
With the toy on the ground being a big visual draw, plus jumping in towards a moving handler being NOT an intuitive behavior for most dogs – this skill was challenging! He was stronger on the first side where he was turning to his right to get to the jump. You did a great job helping him by adding a bit of the strike-a-pose hand touch and not moving too fast.
He has more trouble on the other side: brain tired? Harder direction of turning (to his left?) Both? Either way, it was good info so you can do a short session and do a rep or two to the ‘easy’ side then immediately go to the harder side.
The other think you can add is angling the jump: in this setup, when he is on your right to start: you can take the wing that is closer to the toy on the ground and move it towards the fence so as he exits the wing wrap, he sees a fairly direct line over the jump bar. That will allow you to keep moving and help him see the bar better. As he gets better and better at finding the bar, you can gradually angle the jump back to this original ‘flat’ position it is here.
>picture you present directs the dog what to do/where to go (vs. verbals). >
Yes – in these early stages, the physical cues are definitely more powerful than the verbals so we want the verbal and physical cue to match as much as possible.
>Skizzle isn’t close to driving through the jump – which is what I’d like to see.>
What you might have been seeing here was that he was doing the double collection of the serp: in-then-out. It is extra challenging because he has to do that while you are (correctly) close to his space, so while it might not have felt like he was driving hard, he was indeed doing a great job 🙂 That is what makes the serp skill so hard for the dogs and probably why he was also kindly offering to just go get the toy hahahaha! I think angling the jump so he is facing the bar more when he exits the start wing will help him get comfy with doing those subtle turns faster and faster.
Great job here!
Tracy
Good morning!
Looking at the first video:
HAHA you read my mind: I was typing “You might need a couple more feet between the wing and jump, it looks like he can cover that distance with a short one stride there which makes the timing harder” and then you moved the wing a few feet further away 🙂 That helped by giving you one extra heartbeat to show him the info before he had to make a takeoff decision.The GO reps and the RCs looked strong! Great job making them look different and showing the cues nice and early.
He was so close to getting it right on the first backside wrap – you released the connection a shade too early so he slid in and took the front.That is just lack of experience – that cue would be solid with a more experienced dog. You nailed it on the next rep, holding the connection until he was right at the wing! And his commitment to the wing and the jump there was lovely, plus you supported it with connection as you continued moving forward. Click/treat for you both!
Extra click/treat to have a conversation about something else and still be very focused on good training with your pup. The life of an instructor presents these challenges and you handled it beautifully.
Find The Jump video:
He is finding it really well, especially when you were further and further away. Super!! And there was some good banging/construction noises that he ignored. Good boy!
I do think he is wondering why you are walking not running LOL so since he is doing so well it was good that you added back more of your motion. That presents a different challenge: can he find the jump even when you are way ahead or way lateral, and running! The motion can make connection harder for you both, so be sure to maintain the lovely connection you had here as you add more and more of your speed 🙂
Great job on these!!! The teamwork is looking really exciting!!
Tracy
Good morning! You have just had the grossest weather!! I hope you get some spring weather soon.
This video needed a warning at the end when you got the whole thing and said “Pigs really do fly” I almost snorted coffee out of my nose from laughing LOL!!!!!!
Good job getting the backside proofing going – having the space tight upped the challenge with the tunnel right there but he was perfect about not going to the tunnel. Yay!
In these early stages, using the outside arm really helped because it turns your shoulders to the line while allowing you to move forward without having to step to the backside. And when you paired it with BIG eye contact? Perfect!
I got a screenshot of a rep without connection and he did not find the backs, versus the next rep with connection where he did find it. He naturally wants to migrate to the front so the big cues helped him find it. Here is the link:
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/15pZQFkTi_07UXt8vB9P1bmiuLAhG5zjefS50AL32K4U/edit?usp=sharing
He had some trouble when you were trying to move up the line to the center of the bar and you needed to really exaggerate the cues.
I LOVE HOW YOU PUT A CHALK LINE ON THE MAT! Clever!
And by the last rep of the backside push, he got it really well with you moving up the line to the center of the bar. Super!
The exit line game was great, super easy. And being able to put the whole thing together at the end was wonderful!!
The next step for this one can have the little advanced level sequences with a front cross or blind cross on the landing side of the backside (then into the tunnel) or a circle wrap instead of a slice on the backside jump.
Also, you can work on fading ou the opposite arm cue on the backside by angling the jump towards the line – the cone side of the jump gets angled closer to the start wing so it is easier for him to see the parallel line to the backside without you needing to exaggerate the cues as much.
Great job here!!
Tracy
Hi!
Thanks for posting this, I think there are a couple of things going on –
She is definitely telling us something about the tunnel here so we need to listen and adjust. She refuses it a LOT, which is certainly an indication of concern of some sort. Exactly what the concern is? Hard to know. Too dark? Too curved? Falls? (I think she fell in it at :17).
Either way – she definitely doesn’t have the value for the tunnel and we need to adjust. Rather than the long/dark/curved tunnel, stick to a short/straight tunnel that is super easy to see through and find the entry/exit. You can take this one and squish it up to be about 8 feet and straight, or use another one that is short & straight.
I want to take the curved tunnel out for now because she doesn’t want to do it, and then to get her motivated she is getting a lot of cookies when she doesn’t do it – which creates a conundrum about what is worrying her about the tunnel versus what we are rewarding. So for now, take the curved tunnel off the table and if you get freezing with a straight tunnel, we take that out for now too.
And take a ‘one hit wonder’ approach to training: do one rep of something then, right or wrong, move on to something else entirely. You can have something else set up for her to do so it is easy for her to do something else. It is not about accuracy, it more about just playing with the flying squirrel and balls and fun stuff. And she can alternate single reps with Jack, to help break things up and keep her excited.
Part of what went sideways here was she had concerns about the tunnel… and you continued doing tunnel threadle reps. So she did some then checked out. Try doing just one rep! It doesn’t even have to be correct, it can just be fast & fun, no stopping, no fixing.
I think there is pressure on her to get it right and that is creating a lot of reps which is not the direction we want to go!
Think of training as a game of frisbee 🙂 with an occasional agility behavior thrown in. She eats the food, and food allows you to get more reps – but it is not nearly as motivating as the balls or squirrel toy and we don’t want more reps, we want more play 🙂
She definitely liked the toy as reward in the 2nd part of the video, but like you said – she liked it until she didn’t. That is why short short short sessions and alternating can make more progress – the toy might be bringing arousal up for a couple of reps and masking her concerns, but then the concern resurface. But if you do one rep then be done with the session, the motivation and happy play feelings will remain.
>his morning she was really into her squirrel, until she’s not, and then I couldn’t even get her interested with food. Ended up just throwing the squirrel for her. I think we’re regressing…>
It would be good to know if upswings in the freezing & not wanting to play/eat in a training session correlate to the soreness in the right hind. If something is tweaked, we will see turning off like that.
In the meantime, focus the time together on just play play play. This includes being out in the yard, maybe there is an agility rep thrown in there – or not! Sometimes it is great to just go outside and play, and Jack can be involved too. And you can do lots of play in the house, so there is a play relationship being developed all around. That can also tilt things towards more motivation when yo duo ask for training – life is all about the play 🙂 and less about the ‘work’.
Let me know what you think!
Tracy
Good morning!
Nice job with the strike a pose proofing! She seemed to have no questions about coming in to the jump versus layering to the tunnel when you cued it. Yay! My only suggestion there is to open up your serp arm more, having it fully extended back away from you (which also rotates your shoulders to face the jump). That will help with the in-then-out serp behavior as you are moving. Keeping the shoulder a bit closed like you had it here will get her to come in but will make it harder to get the next jump in a serp.
Layering: I think she liked this one 🙂 Great job getting the toy throws straight out on the line. She seemed super confident and happy to ignore the tunnel on the way to the layering. You can move to the advanced level where you do a cross after the jump to get her to come back into the tunnel.
Send and serp:
This is where you can have your serp arm back and shoulders more open to have her come in while yo uare moving. On the first and 3rd reps, you were closing your shoulders (making the line of your shoulders perpendicular to the jump) which cued her to go past it like she was layering.
Ideally, your left arm (serp arm here) would be full extended away from you and your wait a bit rotated, so the center of your chest faces the center of the bar. That will bring her in to the jump while you are moving. She did come in to the jump when you stopped moving, but she’s going to be fast and we definitely want to see you moving 🙂
Nice work here!
Tracy
Good morning! Great to see you and Leo, and I am excited to meet Scout!! He is also really fun 🙂
The brake arm with Scout is looking good, it is helping him effortlessly collect on the jump.
When he is pushing to the backside, I think he is seeing two things that contribute to it (watch in slow motion because things happen very fast with him :))
First, as you lead out without a lot of connection, he might be extra watching you instead of the jump (you can see that here at :15 and :35) That causing a widening of the line as he seeks to find more connection, so he ends up locked onto the backside line. This is a pretty common BC behavior: moving away to widen the field of vision in order to see more connection.
Second, he is seeing a subtle but clear step to the backside/convergence into the jump. Backside cue! Good boy! As you walk forward at :16 and :36, the first thing you did was move towards the takeoff spot, then watch your feet: right foot stepped to the backside followed by left foot stepping to the backside. So off he went!
You can and should use at least a reset reward when that happens because in handling, there is always the high likelihood that the dog is correct 🙂
Compare to the reps where you move totally straight and decel a tiny bit and your right foot does not step to the backside. He got the front side each time there! The rep at 1:16 was especially timely and tight! He really seemed to like coming in from the tree wraps 🙂 and was able to turn really well.
So to consistently get the front side and not the backside, I think the first bit of information he sees when he is still pretty far from the jump but making a takeoff decision is important:
– when you are decelerating facing forward to the jump as the first bit of info and then rotating, the deceleration is the critical cue that says ‘front side wrap’ and the brake arm is a nice addition to really create a lovely turn.
– when you are rotating as the first bit of info without decel, he reads that as pressure to the backside line.
This is something to test out as you add the sequences: be sure to decelerate as you are adding the brake arm then rotate, and we will see if it takes out the accidental backside cues.
Scout did really well! What a fun youngster! He was wide on his first rep at 1:21 because he was very close to the jump and already had his front feet in the air when you started the brake arm. Big difference when you started him further away so he could respond sooner! NICE!
> he usually thinks collection is for suckers. >
He was a collection star here, so this is a great start!
As with Leo, use decel as you begin the brake arm instead of pushing in to the takeoff spot, that will deliver the info even sooner. And, keep moving on the exit as you reward him so he doesn’t have to stop after the wrap. Part of the reason he was having a little trouble organizing his hind end was because he had to organize to stop. If you keep moving, he will have better hind end use because he can keep moving and really power out of the turn. Plus, it is super fun to power out of turns so that helps encourage even more collection to create the turn.
Great job here! Onwards to the sequences!!
Tracy
Yay! It worked brilliantly! Nice to see you both in action!
The get out video looked lovely – you ran the proper line and gave great cues with the upper body, so she nailed it. She seemed to have no questions at all.
The brake arm on the 2nd video looked super as well! If you are wanting a FC after the brake arm (which is what you did here), you can decelerate and face the jump a bit – then let her commit to it independently. You turned your shoulders to support her line around the jump as she was jumping, but I don’t think Waffles needs that 🙂 When you see her taking off, you can do the FC and head the new direction. Her turn was lovely so doing the FC without turning to her line around the wing will allow you to get further ahead of her on course.
This 3rd video was the *not* get out moment – perfect, Waffles thought it was easy peasy, she was fast with no questions 🙂
And the last video was the exit line arm on the blind cross. SUPER! She knew exactly where to be thanks to the exit line arm. You can get a tight turn to the last jump by decelerating a bit as she is approaching the jump after the tunnel: If you decelerate and stay nearer to that jump, the blind cross and exit line arm will set a tighter line to the next jump. She was super fast so it is not about speed, it is more about showing shorter yardage to the next jump.
Since these all went super well – onwards to the sequences so you can apply all of these moves 🙂 I am looking forward to seeing how she does!
Great job!!
TracyGood morning! This was a really nice session with a lot of good info. He is such a good boy!
He was really good about finding the line to the front, even with his amazing distance skills. He would have had an easy time getting to the backside of the jump/going around it! He *almost* pushed to the backside of the jump at :10 and :39, but I think that was due to you rotating into the brake arms without a decel – so for a heartbeat, it looked like you were pushing to the backside.
Compare to 2:43 where you were not stepping in towards the jump at all – you were facing forward as you decelerated into the rotation, so he had no questions about if it was a backside or not.
So definitely decelerate facing forward – that locks him onto the line and allows you to set up the turn, no unwanted distance moments 🙂
Now about the brake arms:
I think he was turning really well here!!! If you decelerate sooner, you can get your brake arm visible more towards him – which will set up the perfect turn. When you were a little ‘swooshy’ over the bar with your hands, he was a little wider on the turns but even the ‘wider’ turns were still really lovely!One thing that will help you get the brake arms visible sooner is to start the forward-facing deceleration into the turn cue when he is still in the tunnel – doesn’t matter if you are next to the jump or not 🙂 because he has really good commitment.
When you were a little late starting it at :40, he had a bar down, and then a little late with the timing had a bar tick at 1:32.
At 2:43, the cue was in progress as he exited the tunnel – that was really nice timing! The only thing I think he needed there was for you to have your hands back towards him more instead of moving towards the jump.
At 3:14 (the last rep), the cues were also underway as he exited so he collected really well! Then he fell when he landed, poor guy! That was because as you stepped out of the cross, you took a couple of steps backing up towards the blue jump instead of forward to the tunnel, so he thought for a moment he was turning to the jump then fell when he tried to adjust. Hopefully he is feeling fine 🙂
So if you start the decel while he is still in the tunnel so you are more fully decelerated as he exits – your brake hands will be easier to show him on the way to the jump and also it will be easier to do the tight FC because your momentum will already be shifting the new direction. Will it feel very early? Probably yes 🙂 And it might take a moment or two to solidify his commitment, but fortunately he has great commitment so I think it will be easy.
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
Tracy
