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Hi!
Bummer about all the rain but you still got some excellent training in!
He did well with the end of run work and also the tricks – and we got some good info!
Two things I noticed:
When he is in work mode, he doesn’t really want to be touched or played with using your hands. You can see it after he did a few tricks then when you reached for him or tried to pet him or gently tap his ribs, he backed away every time. You can see it when you reached for him at the beginning to get the leash on, and also after the hand touches at 1:06 and 4:10 – great hand touches then when you praised and reached towards him, he backed away.This is entirely normal when dogs are in ‘work mode’ and a higher arousal state – most are all business and don’t want to be touched. The ones that like to be touched will move into your hands, the rest move away. And that is fine! (I can relate – when I am very focused and in work mode, I find it icky if someone wants to touch me or hug me LOL!!!!)
This is good to know, because he is perfectly happy to follow you and do the next thing, so you can have him do that instead of reaching toward him.
That will also help for getting the leash back on – he can slip his head through it nicely but moves back when you move towards him. So you can hold the leash open like you did on a lot of the reps, and even lure his head into it the first few times – that can quickly shift into him moving his head towards it then through it before he gets the cookie 🙂
He was responsive with his tricks too, no problem moving away from the cookies. The hand touches and sit were easy peasy for him. The spins were good except for when you cued the 2nd one too quickly, so you can slow down the cues there to give him a little more processing time. The only one he couldn’t do was the down – but that makes sense because a down in a higher state of arousal is a lot harder (unless you are a Border Collie where the down is the easiest in the higher state of arousal LOL!)
Really good recovery from the stuff almost falling on him at approximately 2:00! He was startled and recovered beautifully.
He as very engaged for the find my face game and did great!!! When it stops raining 🙂 you can bring this into a sequence and deliberately mess up once or twice (disconnection) and have a huge reward for him finding your face. If you are near a jump or tunnel and he takes it? Bonus!!! That is not require but it is nice if they do it 🙂
>We have a trial this weekend & I will take Indy along & will work the Find My Face game & will try getting him to engage in play some more.>
Fun!!
The top priorities can be the regular pattern game (not find my face) so he can get engaged with you even in the harder environment, and the volume dial game (tricks for treats!) Start in a comfy quiet area, and if those go well, you can get closer to the ring. And if all that goes perfectly, you can add a little Find My Face or even a small bit of the remote reinforcement game!
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
Tracy
Good morning!
>YUP!! Very timely reminder that I had just a so-so class on Monday (excitement-wise) and a downright abysmal one on Friday during rented ring time. Of course, it was all my fault for not setting things up well- rushed for time, too many reps of unfun things, a jump accidentally set too high was taken unexpectedly and not successfully. >>
That is all good to learn from! Making of list of things to NOT do again is as important as the things you will want to do again 🙂
>Good news was that we had a GREAT class today also several were absent so it was almost too quiet! I’m starting to think Reacher might like a little environmental excitement as long as he feels safe.>
Yes – exciting busy environments can actually be helpful because then the brain cannot process any single small distraction. If things are too quiet, the small distractions will seem really big to a brain, especially an adolescent brain 🙂
>Yes, I am so used to that sound I don’t really hear it! But what it actually is is that just off camera to the right is a building on our property that my husband runs his business out of>>
Your adult brain is habituated to it, and your adult brain doesn’t need to process it out in favor of focusing on the agility (agility is something your neurons know how to do :)) His adolescent brain seemed to be having trouble processing the information – noise plus agility plus ice…. So much! Maybe if it was just noise plus agility, or agility plus ice (like at the beginning) – no problem. But all 3 at once? His brain was like “NOPE!” LOL Especially since agility is hard & unpredictable, and ice is DELICIOUS lol
But learning is still happening – as crazy as it sounds, there is still learning happening and latent learning takes over (this is HARD for us humans LOL!)
On the video – he was very pumped up! This session went well!!!
>I found the furry lotus ball so that’s what I was using as a reward in this one. He likes it! But I did also have food in it so that helps!>
It a start with food and sometimes you can just let him chase it attached to the long toy, and food can come after he grabs it.
>>he was doing a lot of tugging on my sleeve and biting it, which he loves and really gets him jazzed>
I think UKI would be fine with that but I think AKC might have a heart attack LOL!!!!
Looking at the handling:
For the ‘close close’ to the tunnel, it worked best when you did not to decel as much because it pulls him in too much, almost off the line entirely (first run). It worked great when you cued a turn on the jump before the tunnel threadle (you were using his name which is probably all he needs n that context) and then keep running to the correct end of the tunnel like you did at 2:14 – that was great!!!At 1:32 and 3:10 – yes, there was a little disconnect so he didn’t take the jump. It was a moment of shoulders closing forward and you seeing him peripherally rather than being perfectly connected.
It would be cool for him to take the jump anyway (you were pretty close to both of them) so you can play a bit of running lazy game so as you move close to a jump and say jump – don’t be quite as connected but reward him for taking the jump (throw early is needed to help him out :)) That should help reduce the need to be perfect. I know you saw him miss those jumps which means there was some connection, but it is hard to be perfect so we can pay him a lot for taking the jump anyway when you are not perfect 🙂One thought on verbals:
At 3:24 – you can replace his name as the turn cue with the left verbal on the 7 jump. His name is more of a general “pay attention” thing which works great for getting ready for the tunnel threadle in this context, and the left verbal is super specific so should be even easier to get the turn there (and take the tunnel out of the picture).
One other thing to add is to shorten the distances a little, so he gets used to running tighter sequences like he might encounter in AKC, USDAA, and sometimes in UKI. He is taking 7 strides or so between the exit of the tunnel and the jump, for example, but he will see a lot of sequences with 4 or 5 strides distances. That will be good to get him used to and also good for you to be able to plan handling when there is less room.
>>Also, I’d like your opinion on whether it would be a good idea to do another NFC day (just one!) at UKI up at On the Run mid-December. It might be good practice if have a good/fun plan but I don’t feel strongly one way or the other.>>
I’d say yes! Do speedstakes! You can check out who the judge is and then decide, but I think Julie brings in the judges and she has excellent taste 🙂
Great job here!
Tracy
Good morning!
>>I do think her tendency is just naturally be chill ring side. I fast forwarded a lot of the snuffling but she is just content to hang out listening to all the dogs going through the tunnels, etc. >>
This is great to build in the power of being relaxed and not over-aroused ringside!!! The more powerfully you build this up before she realizes that she will also get a turn in the ring, the easier it will be maintain it as things get more exciting
>>So it only makes sense the universe gave me Lu who is the sweetest chill dog in all life events but really hard for me agility wise 😂. But she’s my level up dog 🙂>>
Ha! Ye, the universe always provides balance. Think of her as different in terms of the agility training/handling, not hard. Yes, different can be harder at first but then when things click into place, it will be AMAZING 🙂Looking at the video: yes, Lu loves her patterns and snuffle mat!!!
She was great with the pattern games when you were in the chair and also ringside. When you were ringside, you can keep the snuffle mat out of the picture so she doesn’t ignore it and also so there is no ‘work’ built in around it (even patterns are work).
For the pattern game, two things to add whenever you are at the next trial or class: walk around by the ring doing that back and forth treat tossing (more movement adds arousal that she can self-regulate plus it will simulate you getting ready to run a course). And you can go near the gating and play the up and down game (cookies on the ground or your shoes, with her in front of you).
Snuffle mat was awesome!!!
The other thing you can add is the volume dial game (tricks for treats or tugging). This is how I would do it for her:
– enter the environment and start with the pattern game (back and forth so she can move). This helps bridge her up to a higher arousal state, as if getting ready to run
– do a bit of volume dial. Maybe 3 or 4 tricks for rewards. This helps her body learn to come to a higher level of arousal to ge ready to run, while still responding to cues. And it helps you learn how she is when asked to ‘work’ around the ring.
– then go back to the pattern game to help bridge her back down to a more relaxed state
– Then end on the snuffle matIt is like a physiological workout for her 🙂 It will take maybe 60 seconds or so, and will be super useful as she begins to do more and more sequencing in more exciting environments.
Great job here!
Tracy
Hi! He is doing well here!
Video 1:
The before and after run stuff looks good here (and on the other videos too!)>>I was having the hardest time getting him to take the #4 jump on this with the blind. >
Part of it was how the sequence was built – having 3 angled up against the pole was blocking his ability to turn tight and see you. The other part was your line of motion: when he could see you again after the pole, your line of motion takes you parallel to the bar of 4 and not forward to 5, which cued him to go past it at :35, 1:30 and 3:27.
You had much better turn cues at 2:07 for 3 (you can use a directional there too, but his name was pretty powerful) and you had exit line connection – and you stopped moving which we don’t want, necessarily, but it prevented you from running parallel across 4 so he took the jump.
Ideally you would send to 3 and run away directly to 5, calling him and doing the blind. Don’t handle 4, don’t get near it 🙂 Your motion should present it and handling it or being parallel to it changes his line.
Good job working the Forward focus on 1! At 1:24 – be sure that he is facing the jump you want (his feet were parallel to the bar so he had to almost look over his should to see it) and also that he doesn’t move til after you release.
2:03 and 3:05 were very nice reps of the forward focus!!!
And also, great job continuing and rewarding even if it went wrong.
Seq 5:
He was being a super good dog on the opening 🙂 The opening 1-2 line is a serp so when you released at :13, you were close to the first wing of 1 and not showing serp (open shoulders back to him and moving towards 2) he was correct to not consider flipping away to 2.
At :15, your arm was pointing sideways to 2 but your feet and shoulders were pointing to 3, so he took 3.
The 2nd rep at :45 had a better serp on 1, but then pointed forward to 2 – which turned shoulders and feet away from it and towards the backside so that is where he went. He was correct there too, you owe him a cookie. Then you shoved him to the backside at :53 – he was correct again, you owe him a cookie 🙂
He is reading you perfectly – so if he goes somewhere unexpected, look at the video before the next rep, and freeze it at the moment he decides to go to the unexpected place – you will see the handling that is causing it. So keep rewarding everything because he is correct!
So to get 1 to the front side of 2? Keep moving to the exit wing of 2 while holding the serp position (arm back, shoulders rotated, good connection) until you see him turn away and look at 2 – then you can relax the position and move to 3. Because he is young, you might have to hold it a little longer, until takeoff. What was happening here was that you were closing your shoulders too early which pulled him away from the jump if you were further from it, or pushed him to the backside when you tried to get close to the jump.
>>This showed up in class with backsides at speed this past week.>>
Slices in general are hard and need to be handled with young dogs (they are not likely to hop into a slice on their own). The backside question is probably a slightly different but similar issue – I will bet you were closing your shoulders forward and not maintaining the serp. In theory, taking the jump on the backside should be a default behavior, but he is young so is still likely to follow handling. So keep your shoulders open and look at the landing spot (and throw a reward to the landing spot as you run through, to help develop the default behavior).
3rd video:
He was great with his find my face game! But you an also see it is HARD because he jumped up at you at :25. If this session happened after the previous sequence where there was a lot of failure, he might be carrying frustration over. (BTW at :41 – :43 you had nice serp handling so he took the 2 jump :))You can also surprise him and whip out a toy for this game – the cookie is nice but I think the toy will be much more motivating and will help him work out any frustration.
Last video:
Sequence 1 looks good! The only questions he had were about going through the box 5-6-7.
When you say run at :26 to cue the line to 7, look at him not ahead – looking ahead turned your shoulders off the line and that is where he went
At 1:28 you had connection on the exit of 5 but then looked forward which looked like the beginning of a blind so he changed sides
Last run had great connection exiting 5 and great connection over 6 at 2:29 then at the last minute, you pointed forward (which turned your shoulders) and reached for the toy and he didn’t take the last jump. On tat line, try to run like there is one more jump after it, showing huge connection. He is learning how to run through the box and ignore the jumps you are running past, so the extra connection will help (and it will get easier when he gets more experienced with this challenge :))
Great job here!
Tracy
Good morning!
I like that she could do her tricks! The barking did not take long to become the easiest trick ever :))
>>Did not get sticky on lead outs (even with me using the obstacle name) and had faster, happier line ups.>
Yes – the arousal in the environment is her friend, not a struggle at all. That is fantastic!
And she was great on the practice jump! She seemed to have perfect response to every cue for almost the first 2 minutes with people and dog walking by – at a little past the 2 minute mark you can see her attention wandering. It was good to end it right after that, but you can also go in with a goal of 3 reps on the jump then be done (which should keep you well within the ‘optimal arousal’ range).
There was not a lot of room to extend based on handing cues (no place to run to for you LOL!) so you can throw a treat or toy pat the jump to let her fly to it (think of it as Toy Races, Practice Jump Edition 🙂
>>So we’ll take the pattern games/volume dial etc on the road.>>
Sounds good – she is likely going to be a bit depleted (travel, trial, travel, flight, new location, etc) so build in a TON of decompression in there for her adolescent self 🙂
>In other news, Kaladin decided that Camille Cargol was OK in his book after he had to roll his eyes at her for a bit when she worked on the tightness in his neck.>
I am glad she worked it out! No tightness allowed heading into the Open!!
Great job here 🙂
TracyI love the big outdoor trials! I wish we still had them here on the east coast. I am jealous!
Great job with these videos – a lot of this is simply exposing her brain to the environment using a framework that helps the brain process the info it is being bombarded with (and creating positive outcomes :))
>>Decompression is a priority for me. >>
Yay!!! It is so important (and for us humans too!)
>We do flexi leash walks (lots of them) where the girls can sniff and lead the way >
I also do Flexi walks – flexi leashes get a lot of hate but honestly, they provide a way for dogs to have some freedom to sniff and decide where to go, in a way that I can more easily control (if needed) than a regular long line or being off leash for youngsters.
>> They always get chews in the RV
Perfect! I also use some lickimats because even the dogs who don’t like sniffing enjoy those 🙂
>and I did some one on one Chuck it with Taq so she could move fast. I am not crazy about Chuck it but without it at this venue she could not stretch out and run. This seems to be a daily requirement for Taq. She gets 2-3 opps a day at home.>
Yes, it is hard to get that blast of movement that the teenagers require! I have been using disc rollers lately, because the dogs can run but they don’t slam themselves like they did with balls or a thrown disc.
Looking at the videos:
>>I did two sets of patterns and volume dial. First pattern she got distracted by distractions very close by- other dogs. >>
These went well!!!
Pattern 1 – good work, you can see her really processing the environment. And that is exactly why we do it 🙂 Her latency was much lower in the 2nd video of the pattern games. So I don’t worry at all if the responses are a little slower at first… it is just the brain saying “processing, processing, processing”. The environment is HARD.
Volume dial 1 – her tricks looked good and she started with great engagement. Lots of things were happening in the environment that her brain is processing besides the cues: judge, beeps from the ring, dogs walking by, dogs barking etc. She did great!!
>>I picked a toy that she was not do crazy about >
I think the struggle here was that she had a little trouble grabbing the toy, then started to give up (this is when she was disengaging a bit). That toy was interesting at first! To get more engagement on it, you can move it more slowly so she can grab it or tie it to a longer toy. It was a little too small and that would mean trying to grab it close to your hands, which is a lot of pressure in that environment especially when you were leaning over and moving it away from her before she could grab it. You can also toss it to let her chase it a bit 🙂
Pivoting to treats worked well – you read the situation and helped her out, which is great! She was very engaged even with distractions all around.
The second round went super well! The pattern games had low latency (chewing was the only delay LOL!) You can walk around while you do this, bringing the back and forth game closer to the ring (be sure to use big obvious chunks of food).
On the last video: note how this toy was longer and she had an easier time grabbing it, so she was super engaged. Plus it looks like fur which is often a winner 🙂 Remember to keep it long while playing, don’t accidentally shorten it up – you hold the end of the handle with the rest of the toy down low, and don’t let your hands get too close to her mouth 🙂
Tricks looked good here, lots of distractions nearby and she was very responsive!! It was a good choice to go to the practice jump in that moment – she was great!! Her leash was off and she had easy access to dogs and people walking by… and she was perfection!! Totally engaged and responsive – fantastic rehearsal!!
Great job here! After getting some rest, what else is on the horizon in terms of FEO runs?
Tracy
Hi!
>>parts actually felt like we were flying>
She is definitely figuring out her lines and doing better with the start lines too! And the teamwork was at its best when you had your hands low and kept moving. The high hands and sudden stops were where she had questions like at :34 and :47. In those moments… keep moving, don’t freeze up or stop – she is doing better about not jumping at you but the more you keep going, the better she will stay on the line and not get overaroused.
You were clearer at the beginning with the stays in terms of trying to turn to face the jump before releasing her, so maintain that clarity for the whole session. It will be worthwhile to take the extra time to turn to the jump as you build up to a lead out.
And when rewarding – remember to use the toy marker to indicate the toy, rather than praise or hand position or a sit cue.
>will get more distance at end of week but quite like that she is comfortable these distances and staying at high arousal with less boiling over. when go to bigger distances will make easier too.>
Perfect! I don’t think you need to make things easier with the added distance – the key to maintaining an optimal arousal state will be to keep moving and not stop to fix errors. Distance is not over-stimulating… is the the start & stop when we handlers mess up that cause arousal shifts due to frustration. So no matter what happens – keep moving 🙂
>shouldI train In synch first as her behaviours are still green and not opolished. and then train Fusion with behaviours like weaves she can d in training. If I train fusion first then scentlikely to be attacjed to the chaos that still happening for In synch or am I oer thinking or perhaps use a cloth like they do for scents and put in a sealed bag. sorry my mind is going down rabbit holes working out how to try and utilise.>>
Because scent is linked to memory, I think using it in situations where you can guarantee great success and very happy feelings will be most important. We are looking for an easy way to carry a happy conditioned response into a new environment. So it is not really about using a scent to attach to a skill, especially when the skill is new and being trained as that might involve frustration which we definitely do not want to attach.
>>2. this thing about unexpected rewards to maximum dopamine ie one armed bandits I understand how this works in isolation but how do we fit this in with frequent rewards and reinforcing behaviours or is it that once a behaviour is understood use intermittent training which I find hard as fall back into habit of patterns or the level of rewarding drops off because it gets forgotten. Or do you plan when you are going to intermittently reinforce or do you use changing the value of the food treat >>
There are two things that are happening here – learning and rehearsal. Most of what we do in dog sports is rehearsal, not learning. So we don’t need to worry about dopamine coding for learning in rehearsal. Sure, there are dopamine shifts but mainly in rehearsal, we are looking at developing neuronal memory to make the behaviors faster, more fluent, more automatic.
This is not the same as learning and in rehearsal, toys and treats are motivators and not reinforcement. Yes, we use toys and treats to keep the motivation going (which does involve dopamine but in a different way) and also to maintain optimal arousal but not allowing frustration or boredom to creep in.
For intermittent reinforcement and changing values – yes, those can both be powerful learning tool but mainly what we are doing is using them as motivators and not reinforcement 🙂
So after the initial training, and understanding is underway, I don’t worry so much about the surprise factor of reward prediction errors as much as I do about keeping the dog motivated. And also, the surprise factor or reward prediction errors can work against us when we do NOT produce an expected reinforcement or when we punish the dog (the same thing, really). That shows a dopamine drop out which is damaging to arousal levels and motivation for the sport.
>or do you change how you present the reward I have been trying to animayte food moe with In synch to increase food value. I do try and bring out higher value toys when we playing games- agility I use a low value so she doesnt lose her mind but ften bring out at the end of a session or if she does something hard.>
Yes, I do but that is not always learning – usually we are rehearsing so the changes in value or presentation are all about maintaining motivation in a way that I like it.
There is no black and white line as to when learning (reward prediction errors) becomes rehearsal – we don’t have electrodes in their brains LOL so we just do our best to use motivators a LOT and not allow frustration or punishment to creep in. This is especially true because they are not actually “learning” the behavior in that moment – that doesn’t happen til learning is encoded in sleep!
So if we keep motivators as valuable as needed and are as clear as possible with using them and training, then it does not matter as much if it is learning or rehearsal because it all turns out well in the end.
>>I suppose my dilemma ie what I havent clear in my head how do you keep up reward frequency vs the value of the surprse.>>
Keep the reward frequency high – and that includes delivery of a motivator like a toy or treat, or continuing the sequence for dogs who like to sequence. You can’t always make it a surprise, plus reward prediction error tells us that a toy at the end of a sequence for a dog that has done sequences before is probably *not* a surprise – so no dopamine coding in that respect because there is no prediction error. But it is a valuable rehearsal (neuronal memory, automaticity, etc) and it is key that we continue to use motivators and not withhold or punish or frustrate the dog.
The science of learning versus rehearsal is fascinating and in dog sports, largely misunderstood. And all, we don’t need to worry about it that much as long as we make sure we are using valuable motivators.
Tracy
Good morning!
>>Our treats were on the DW right behind the camera. Should I move them out of the field altogether like I at a trial?>>
You can set up a reward station, like on a folding chair that you might take to trials. And let the reward station be right outside the course, then sometimes out of the field. I use that station with my young dogs because they recognize it and it makes the reward more predictable.
>> We don’t have a DW yet.>>
You can totally start NFC/FEO stuff before the contacts are finished 🙂
>When we go to other locations, he runs around sniffing everything so I’m pretty sure he won’t stay with me yet. >>
So before doing NFC/FEO, let’s sort this out! Can you get him to different agility places, and see if he will play pattern games, do tricks, play with a toy, do recalls, etc? One thing I am doing it taking my youngsters to all sorts of novice-level seminars to be able to get them on course and playing on simple sequences, in all sorts of new places. I do Novice level stuff because I really don’t want to focus on crazy backside-threadle-layer-cartwheels etc when I mainly want to focus on getting them focused and engaged in the environment 🙂
And at the local trial in December – rather than enter him, can you bring him to the environment to play games outside the ring and in the environment, mainly to see how he feels about it and what he finds motivating.
Any UKI in your area? I ask because it is VERY young-dog-friendly and you can have helpers in the ring to make it more fun and successful.
>I say Yes all the time when he does something good. It’s such a bad habit and he totally thinks it’s the marker word.>
SAME!!!! I had to train myself to NOT say YAY or YES all the time with the adult dogs, so I have gotten much better. And in my NFC runs with the younger dogs now, I have somehow developed a “YES SIR” that is the come-get-your-toy marker. LOL!!!
Using your stool as the reward station worked great!! He was able to ignore a new person (dog dad? LOL!) and he was perfect! You can be more connected to him as you walk away and add the leash as well (because the leash will be on when you move away from the treats and into the ring). You can also add a trick or two: move away from the reward station, ask for a trick, and then when he does it (even if it is not perfect :)) you use your marker and run back to the treats.
He looked kinda interested in the toy, and it looks like the toy is a good furry crazy toy – but with the possibility of food there, he was not interested. You can see if he is interested in the toy if you throw it a lot or drag it away like a deranged squirrel for him to chase. I have had a lot of success with my food driven dogs by attaching a furry lotus ball to a long toy – they love chasing it! At first there is food in it, then it becomes a toy by itself.
>>He loves tugging with his brother. He’s not that much into it with me unless brother is right there.>
When they aet tugging, watch to see what gets Indy going: is his brother moving it away? Hoarding it? What instigates the play and keeps it going? You can then try to simulate that with him and the toy 🙂
Great job here!!
Tracy
Good morning!
>>My dw was in the way but I was too lazy to move it which forced a slice on 8>
This is entirely relatable, I hate moving the DW and I haven’t yet won the lottery to buy one that I can move with one hand LOL!
>>I edited and gave some nice long toy rewards but West said Yay! No start lines!!>
Yay for both!!!!
The sequencing is going really well 🙂 There are some small details that will make it even smooth – pictures might be more helpful here, so I grabbed some screenshots to illustrate the points, you can find them here:
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1eiqQq6E5Cl3XU0QLMuz_wfH_KE5070ytORfJfOoSLaw/edit?usp=sharing
On the opening line, I think you were feeling the pressure to send to the tunnel and get up the line, but you were pulling away a little too soon at :07 which caused a question. You were much clearer at :20!
And as you were planning the blind, you might have been feeling the pressure of getting there and left the tunnel send too early at :14. :25 was better but he still had a small question 🙂 :41 was even better !
So be sure to be connected and maintain the parallel line til you see him lock onto the tunnel, then you can move to your next spot.
(You can stay on the line by 4 more so you are more laterally away from 5 more like where you were at 1:02 and even further over, which gets you to the BC even sooner)
Being further over at 1:02 actually helped you get the blind on landing of 7 at 1:07!! He found that to be pretty clear (bar up!) even though you might have felt like he was going to run over you LOL
It will be even easier if you are further over to your destination on 7 by staying closer to the 3 jump as you send to 4, 5,6. At 1;21, you ran close to 3 and that is ideal – stay on that line as you send 4-5-6 and the landing side blind will be super easy (so will the takeoff side blind)
Going back to the blinds on takeoff side – you got there nicely and your line was good, so now easily now add more connection back to him on the exit of the blind, and stay connected to help him keep the bar up (he looks at you when you were disconnected, especially over the bar at :29 and :44, so the bars came down) You can also add a jump verbal which should direct his focus to the jump and not at you.
You did the RC at 1:27 and it worked well, you can go in a little closer to the tunnel to set it up so you don’t end up behind – he dropped the bar here on the last jump but that was mainly because you both had to pull up in order to not run into the dog walk.
On the last rep, you did a serp on landing side of 7 – really great connection!! You can stay more lateral on that one too (it almost looked like you were going to the RC line because you got in close to 5).
And as you serp, open up your dog side arm back more so both of your shoulders face the 7 jump – he knew to take 7 but because your shoulders were forward, he took it straight at 1:43. At 1:44 he saw motion to 8 and tried to adjust midair (and ticked the bar). Open serp shoulders will tell him to turn to his right, so he can do that before takeoff for 7.
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
Tracy
Good morning!
Sequence 2 is looking good too!
Even though you are still on walking restrictions, you can add in decel to get the FC wrap on 5 – that will tighten it here, get you into better course positions because you can decel to hang back in places where that is helpful, and it will all get your brain trained to decelerate when you are back to running 🙂
You are doing what I call “big walking” with nice long strides. As she lands from 4 (the middle pinwheel jump) you can keep moving forward like you did, and go to small walking (short strides).
The timing of your rotation for the FC at :14 was good! But since there was no transition into decel, she didn’t know it was coming and didn’t collect til after landing. It was like changing lanes on the interstate without a blinker 🤣
Your rotation was earlier at :46 and she had a better turn – the decel will help that even more too.
The rear cross at :31 was TERRIFIC! Especially after the wrap on the previous sequence, you had to be spot on with the info… and you were. VERY NICE!
Wow, look at you getting the blind while walking!!!! Your tunnel send really helped that and in fact, you were a tiny bit too far past 4 there – too far ahead! But that is great because you didn’t have to run to get there. So you can actually plan to stick a little closer to the line 3-4 so when she lands from 3, you can start the blind being approx at the wing of 4 (and passing it)
The way the end of the sequence was built, it seems like the line from 6 to 7 causes the 7 jump to be on the backside line (position and angle of the jump). That is why you got a lot of backsides – that was the natural line when you gave forward cues. And that independent backside line is definitely a skill we want!
She got it a few times when you pulled your shoulders more or were further away from the line or behind her – but the best and clearest rep there was at 2:45 where you had your opposite arm up for a threadle along with calling her name – she totally got it. So when you are walking the course, look for those natural backside lines so you can handle her to the front side where needed (with the threadle arm and threadle verbal).
When you revisited seq 1:
She was hilarious at 3:11 and on the last rep – you cued the tunnel and she looked at you like “ARE YOU SURE” because she had just turned on the 5 jump a bunch of times LOL! Good girl!
Revisiting the Serp at 3:14and 3:38 went well, you were staying on your line and serping it nicely!!! She was not quite as speedy on the big tunnel send (probably because it was the end of he session and also she was double checking to be sure you definitely wanted the tunnel) so it will be even easier to get to the position for the serp when she is feeling spicy at the beginning of a session because you won’t have to handle the tunnel send for as long as you did here.
Great job!!
Tracy
Hi!
The sequence looked great – really nice connection throughout it, which showed him the lines clearly. Really nice tight turn out of the tunnel!!!You can spread things out for him a bit too, so he can see trial-spacing 🙂
He worked really well without the treats in the ring, and then you praised – then the video ended (of that section) so remember you can use your marker worker to go get the rewards outside the ring.
Do you have any NFC plans or fun matches coming up? He looks ready to take things on the road 🙂
He is doing well on the teeter! It is hard for a small dog to do it from one jump without a lot of momentum, but he is doing really well driving to the end of the board. He does that best when you are at or near the end of the board, so you can keep that going for now (and continuing past, like you did here).
Adding it into bigger sequences will make it even easier to get him always driving to the end of the board. And continue being super consistent with your motion (not toooooo much speed running past the board for now :)) and verbals (he totally thinks that “yes” is a release to come get the cookies, so the release and reward markers will work a lot better to help him hold position).
Great job here!
TracyHi!
>>When you plan, do you also move? yes but her speed doesnt always fit my planning and now we are starting to get more it is coordinating the start when I am focused on her wait . but practise wil help.>
To really make my planning good, I have to run when I planned. My goal was to run faster than I needed to when I ran the dog. Was it exhausting? YES!!! But it was totally worthwhile because I sorted out my timing very quickly.
>jumping is her default when she thinks something is happening or she want to play or she gets impatient because she dooesnt know what is happening. >
I see that in lots of Papillons/Papillon mixes/small dogs (mainly because we humans let it happen because it doesn’t hurt like it would when a large dog does it :))
All of my small dogs jump around before starting – but they don’t bite and the find my face game has replaced jumping mid-course when the cues might not be clear, so definitely work on that game too. For her, the criteria will be find-you-face WITHOUT jumping up so you will need to be quick to reward.
Another thought with her is that all cookies can come on the ground: rather than feed from your hand where she jumps up to greet the hand, you can toss it to the side so it is all about stay down on the ground and not leaping as much.
>Limited room at this site I havent got out to the other site lately but will go back redo then.>>With smaller spaces, you can remove a jump so the handling is mostly the same, but the distances will be bigger.
>when I try and line her up she loses it . but am working on it separately so not too many layers.>
I agree that the start line is very complex with a lot of layers. Will she line up following a cookie? I also taught 2 of my young dogs to line up between my feet as a fun trick – it is fun for the volume dial game and also is useful for lineups on the start line.
>some lead on off work. Had to do somw extra reinforcing of lead as she is not used to haveibg a slip on lead but it is what I want for ring. >
She did well here! I think tossing the treats on the ground instead of delivering from your hand will help reduce some of the jumping up (she has an impressive vertical leap LOL!!)
The pattern games helped her settle a bit so one idea is to begin with the back and forth game so she can keep moving and then bring things in closer for the up and down game.
2 other ideas:
Have the toy visible at all times (in your hand, for example) so she gets used to working without leaping for it. Then you can use your marker so she knows when to get it. You were sing your marker, but it was coinciding with you taking the toy out, so she was leaping for the toy.And since she loves the toy and the out is a little delayed, you can say your cue (I think you are saying “mine”) and then trade for a treat – that will make the out response faster.
>also want her to put her head into it.>
That is a great one! I think she will like it as a trick. And the leash can be used to tug on like a toy – that is legal in NZ agility, yes?
Looking at the sequences:
She did well with her engagement when the leash came off!!The stays at the beginning of the sequence are definitely getting better!! Because you get a lot of errors without a clear stay and line up (she would go to the wrong sequence or not take jump 1, for example), we can now focus on getting you to be able to get the stay and take a one step lead out. Will she hold a stay on a platform or mat? You can totally use that here.
When you tried to get her to line up with a cookie, she told us that she doesn’t really know how to follow a cookie lure into position so she just took off (stress response). So at home, teach her how to line up at your side for a cookie, on both sides of you. That will be easy to transfer to a jump.
Also – it looks like she is learning leg weaves so you can easily make that a stay by lining up between your feet!
The middle part of both sequences looked great: super nice connection 2-3-4-5!!!
It was hard to see the end of seq 1 because of the tree branches 🙂 But it looks like you did get a good BC in there at the end of the 3rd run and also at 3:32. Yay!
Sequence 2 – the beginning looked strong! VERY nice FC on 5 at 4:09 and at 5:12, excellent timing and connection there. Lovely!
She had some questions on the way to the last jump: too much “here” and not enough connection so you pulled her off the last jump on the first rep.
You had less “here” at 5:15 but your arm was ahead which turned your shoulders away so pulled her off (try not to reach for the toy as that also draws her focus off the line). Keeping your arm a little more back towards her nose (like you did on the 3-4-5 line) will show the connection and show line a lot better.At the end, was she avoiding being caught? You can have her do tricks with you back to her leash – then when the leash is on, reward, take it off again, then do another sequence 🙂 That will help make it fun to come back and get the leash on 🙂
Great job!
TracyHi! Sounds like a great weekend!!!!
Looking at Lift’s video:
She did great here in a challenging environment! I think the environment pumps her up, though, in a good way – her posture, ear set, tail set, and muscle tone all looked more stimulated than home or even at Fusion. And her engagement was great!
I was going to suggest taking off her leash, and then you did it LOL She continued to be perfect (I don’t think she loved dragging the leash, and that is fine because leash dragging is not really anything we need and she does not appear to be a flight risk LOL!). In fact, she almost looked confused about why you were not doing more LOL!!
If there is a practice jump – you can do this at the practice jump! Bring a chair or something to put the cookies on – then have her doing towards the jump and you can use your happy hour marker for moving with you, tricks by the jump, lining up, maybe stays/leadouts/releases… she will let you know if you can add more, based on her success rate and engagement. Doing this at the practice jump during a walk through or course build would be ideal, because you won’t feel rushed and you won’t be in the way of dogs getting ready to run.
Great job here!
Tracy
Hi! I agree, these went really well!
I loved your high energy bringing him into the session and before each run! Ignoring outdoor distractions is hard and the energy level of your play before each run really helped him get pumped up for it!Run 1: Only small suggestions for you here, it was overall really strong!
On this sequence (and sequence 2) you can send to 1 from your right side rather than send from your left and rear cross it – that can make it easier for you both!The only question he had was on the tunnel cues at :40 and :50. You were running without a lot of connection, so he looked up at you at :40 and almost did not take the tunnel at :50. He doesn’t need a ton of connection, but a little more so he can see your face and having your arm a little further back will make it much clearer for him.
Run 2:
You had clearer connection on the way to the tunnel at 2:42 here and he said it was great! He ran a fast, smooth line to the tunnel.
This one went really well too – the only suggestion here is to not go past the wing of the 4 jump to begin the blind (2:49) – that makes the turn a bit wide.
Something caught his eye on the ground at 2:47 so that might be why you got further up the line than expected. You can see him hesitate and look to his right, then resume driving the line.Your connection after the BC and the ending line looked great! Super!!!
>>Reacher thought the remaining tiny bits of slush on the ground were just too irresistible and stopped to eat it so we just quit. Even really good treats were not luring him away! I’m sure he was eyeballing it the whole time and I’m lucky I got too runs.>>
I think there might have been a few things in play: working outside and ignoring the ground distractions can be very mentally depleting, especially with the high energy play before and after each run. I know the total length was only 5 minutes, but he might need a break after each run as he build up the mental stamina .
The other thing happening was that there was a weird noise in the background that his brain had to process out – like horns blowing in the distance?? He was engaged at 4:20 and you were getting ready to do another sequence… and then the noises started at about 4:22 – you can see him look off in the distance like “wtf?” LOL!!! So it is possible his nose to the ground had more to do with the weird noises than anything else. You can hear them on the video but I bet you didn’t hear them in the moment because you were really focused and engaged.
Great job here!!
TracyHi!
This went pretty well and had a lot of strong points!
She played a lot and stayed with you, finishing very strong!In the run, I think there were 3 moments where she said “this is hard”:
– moving from the start line into the course without playing (I don’t think she knew what was happening so you got a little sniffing)
– the super dark tunnel with you moving away. It looked like a black hole LOL but she figured it out really quickly 🙂
– too much decel asking for the wrap after the tunnel, that was a little disconnected.But you stay connected and kept playing, so the rest was great! Yay!!! It looks like the course was not as pretty, in terms of being able to make up a fast, fun FEO run 🙂
>>We warmed up with the 5 tricks for treats at my rv. Then we crated ringside for 10 mins then warmed up for toy.>>
Maybe I should not have used treats?>>I think a different progression might be more helpful:
Crating ringside can happen, but the pattern game can happen before and when she comes out, a bit more pattern game after it to start getting ready for the run.
Then, when the dog or two before you is running, do the volume dial right outside the ring, right before the rub. That helps optimize her for the rub! Doing it at the RV and more than 10 minutes before probably caused her to lose that optimal state (which is possibly why you saw some distraction outside the ring).
The pattern game is for food, and the volume dial can be toy or food or both 🙂
Even though she isn’t entered today, you can pretend she is running to try these – pick a dog to run after, and do the patterns followed by volume dial near the ring… and see how she does in terms of engagement.
She might be a little mentally tired, so be sure she gets some good decompression too 🙂 she’s doing great and I’m super excited for you!! Any UKI or USDAA coming up, or a class or seminar you can drop into?
Tracy
