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Good morning!
Yay for the tunnel!
>apparently Rou said WTH is that thing, I can’t possibly go through a curved tunnel.>
Interesting! She might be out of practice with the tunnel and taller than when she did it last. She figured out how to duck down to get into the straight tunnel, so you can gradually start curving it again. Good job shaping it!! I bet she sleeps on it and it is once again super easy for her.
The dig on the wing then the line into the tunnel went well! Because she is tall, she has to work pretty hard to get low into the tunnel. You can move the MM further away so she can explode out of it 🙂 that will make the tunnel even more fun!
>We have an issue I’ve ignored for way too long and I left a short clip of the leaping and grabbing at me.>
Thank you for leaving it in! She definitely loves the ball so we want to be able to use it, but we also don’t want her leaping/grabbing so we will definitely address it.
>She can wrap and do the rockinghorse exercise with wraps and use the ball. She can’t do the smiley face with wings or the wrap to tunnel.>
My guess is that the tunnel means she can’t see the ball, so she can’t do it – then gets aroused/frustrated when asked to work without seeing the ball (then leaps/grabs). With the single wraps and rocking horses, she can see the ball the whole time.
So a couple of ideas:
You can shape the tunnel and let her offer it in order to get the ball. It is basically a puzzle: figure out how to get the human to throw the ball. You can take out your movement – walk or stand still – and see if she can look for the tunnel and not at the ball.
When she gets that, you can add more and more of your movement building to running towards the tunnel (with the toy in your hand). You can shorten the tunnel and keep it straight for this.
Then when she can do it, I bet it will be easy to add back the wings – just be sure to maintain big connection to her eyes so she has no questions about how to earn the ball (by going to the wings and tunnels :))
>am I asking too much of her puppy brain using the toy for this right now?>
There is a fine line 🙂 For anything new and hard, introduce it with a lower arousal reward (treat or a less stimulating toy). When she has the game figured out, bring the ball out in the next session. The arousal regulation needed to ignore the ball will take up a lot of brain energy, so we don’t want to try to teach her something new while also asking her to NOT leap/grab for the ball.
Let me know what you think! Great job here!
Tracy
Good morning!
The ‘don’t hit the handler’ game went well – they both looked at you like you were a little nuts 😂 😆 but they did not hit you. Super!
I was going to write down which reps had good timing but it turns out ALL of the reps (except one) had great timing! Yay! You were nailing the timing of seeing both girls exit the wing then starting the blind, then showing the great connection on the exit.
The one rep that wasn’t perfect: You were early at 1:42 – the blind was finished before she exited the wing so she correctly did not take the jump (your connection told her not to, oops!) I think you felt it in the moment and she got rewarded, so all good 🙂 And it is nice to know she is paying attention and not just doing what she did before!
My only suggestion is that after the blind and seeing they are on your new side, when sending to the next wing, you can drop the cross arm that you used for the connection on the blind exit and go back to the dog-side arm for cueing the next line.
>I think my timing of the blind was terrible but my girls read it correctly sooooooo…??? Are they just forgiving or was my timing better than it felt and seemed in the video? I wasn’t ready to commit to the blind when they exited the tunnel because I wanted to see commitment on the jump! >
Yes, it is a fine line with commitment! With the blinds, our motion along the line also helps commit to the jump.
Looking at your timing:
I think your timing with Kashia was really good! She was maybe a stride out of the tunnel when you started and you finished all the blinds with her before she took off, so she had no questions. Maybe it felt weird because she was not moving that fast. You can get more speed from her by running in closer to the tunnel – she always thinks really simple setups are silly LOL so you can run more to get more speed.Kastella was happy to run fast even on a simple setup, which challenges your timing more. The first blind could have been a step sooner but then you locked in: at :54 and 1:03, you saw her exit the tunnel then started the blind immediately after that. Great timing!
Looking at the 2 jump games:
Kashia liked these better LOL so she ran 🙂 And your timing as lovely! Same with Kastella – your timing was spot on! You saw the girls exit the wing, you started the blind, and was finished with the blind before they took off. Your connection was super clear with both, so they had great turns! Super!
Maybe it felt late because blinds in general can feel weird? LOL!! But you were spot on with all the elements of getting in and out of the blind. Click/treat to you and the girls responded brilliantly 🙂
Great job!
Tracy
Good morning!
I am really excited to see that he seemed to have no environment issues with playing outside! He was perhaps even faster because the grass is easier to dig into.
All of the wing/tunnel sequences looked great!! Wow! Commitment to the tunnel and the wraps/FCs? Fabulous!
And the rear crosses on the easier approaches looked strong, he seemed to have no questions about which way to turn. SUPER!!! You can start to move the wing before the tunnel on the RC reps to gradually harder angles to see if you can till get the RC info to him nice and early like you did here.
>He thought we could go into the building for round 2 after we were done in the field,>
Ha! That is funny! But also really nice that he can switch to outdoors so easily. It has been a while!
Great job 🙂
TracyHi!
The set point is going well! His best stays were when you stayed connected as you walked away and were very clear about the release: talking or putting the toy down were a little confusing to him unless you were repeating the wait cue. So to help him hold the stay, you can totally repeat the wait cue a bit so he understands that it is not general talking that is the release, and not the toy moving as the release.
For the actual jumps: they should probably be a little further apart. You can try 1.5 meters and see how he does. And you can add a a low bar on jump as well – I think he is ready for that.
Nice work here!
Tracy
Yes! Hands in back pockets works like a charm to show connection and keep your arms from flying out 🙂 That is something to revisit for sure!
Tracy
Hi!
>We do have weta…. which are huge and aren’t cute.>
I had to google weta: they are NOT cute LOL!
This is a pillbug:
Looking at his video:
This is on a big slope! I guess it makes sense for the way your city is built, I remember walking many hills!
He did really well following the handling – great job showing him the connection so he could find the line. He was able to pick up a lot of speed which didn’t make it easy for you 🙂 and yes, the slope was hard. That resulted in some of the blinds being a bit late especially when you were trying to run uphill: you can use that use your connection to make even more eye contact which will help even if you are a little late. Keeping your arms in tighter to your ribs will help make showing the new connection sooner too.
Nice work here 🙂
Tracy
Hi!
First two reps looked really good: Strong connection, great timing, clear line of motion! Yay!
When you switched sides – the timing and line were still good, but the connection was not as clear so you can see him slowing down and looking up more. You were looking forward or at your side more (like at :21) rather than back to him so he was looking at you more.
The same held true when you switched back to the other side, even when you changed the angle of the jump: great connection going away from the camera but then not as much connection coming towards the camera. Interesting! So keep the timing and line the same on all reps, but be sure to connect more on all reps so he sees connection coming back towards the camera too 🙂 That will get even more speed.
Great job!
Tracy
Hi!
Overall this is going really well! The mechanics of the blinds are looking good, especially the connection you are showing him as you finish the blind. Super!
>but he still knocked many down – mostly due to lack of speed I think. >
Most of those were the bar of the blind cross jump after the tunnel (like at :36, 1:23, and other moments when that bar came down). What was happening when that bar came down was that you had stopped moving and were sending to the jump. That caused him to think it was a tighter turn – then he had to make an adjustment when you moved forward into the blind cross.
Ideally, staying in motion and moving past that jump will set the line and help keep that bar up. Staying in motion rather than sending is what you did at 2:24 and you both nailed it there! Then later in the video on the 2nd sequence (at 4:26-5:04 for example) you kept moving past the jump and the bars stayed up AND your timing was really strong!
He had one other question, on seq 2 – at 2:55 and 4:12 you were on his line so he ended up on the wrong side of the jump after the blind. Good boy! On the other reps, you ran a great line so he did really well and had no questions.
>In watching these, I realized I need to pay attention to my verbal cues as well. I accidentally called a simple jump an “out” and a “back” more than once
>You can totally give yourself a walk through with the verbals before you run him to make sure the right words come out 🙂
>We head to Europe on Sunday (next weekend), >
OMG! I am jealous! So fun!
>so I will send you a couple videos of Copper’s contacts by Friday.>
Great! I am looking forward to it!
Nice work here :)
Tracy
Hi!
The wrapping game went really well here!!He totally understood the forward sends and figure 8s/front crosses. There was a little bit of jumping up at your hand but that is usually puppy-speak for ‘more connection needed’. You can look at him more as you are sending him past you, so connection is emphasized more than the hand cue is.
The backwards ending went great too, both in isolation and when you did it as part of the figure 8s. Super!!!
He did have some questions about the sideways sends, like at 1:05 and also a bit later in the session. I think his question was also about connection: you were looking at him when the arm and leg sent. For the sideways sends, you can make eye contact with him then as your arm & leg step to the barrel, your gaze follows them so he gets more support on the cue to go to it.
Great job here!!!
Tracy
Good morning!
>**** No its when I open the door both coming and going or just open it to step out into garage and grab some sodas for the refridge. Its quite the habit. I’ll see if I can get some video.>
OMG!!!! Total teenager herding dog. I can see how it would be frustrating… sometimes we just want to grab a soda and not have a Sheltie assisting by biting the door!
>**** I have been using scatters and snuffles. But it happens in everyday life.>
Maybe have a journal or piece of paper or something on your phone to jot down each scenario it happens in, and we can make a plan. I usually have my phone attached to my hand 😂 so I have a document on it where I jot down a quick note to add to my list of ‘things that drive me crazy with the teenager’ so make a general plan. I keep telling myself that pushy teenagers make GREAT competition dogs and wonderful companions in the house too, so we just need to survive adolescence 🙂
I don’t know if this is the case for you, but I feel that if I am having trouble with my teenage dog in everyday life then it does indeed bubble over into training & play – I get more easily frustrated when they do goofy things like visit people or things go wrong, because there is existing frustration with other things in life. If this is at all the case with you and PoweR, I can TOTALLY relate and happy to support getting it sorted out. Thanks for the insight into what is happening!
The serp session went really well! He had a question early on about coming into you versus running parallel & past the jump. But after that clarification from you (no reward for passing, lots of rewards for coming in) he got it every.single.time. including when you were running at the end. Fabulous!!!
Since this went so well, 2 ideas come to mind:
– you can move to adding the next level of game, adding the other jump (keeping them angled as needed for success as you add more motion)– since he has challenges with other people/dogs and wanting to visit in class, you can add in more distractions in your home environment. Just random objects in the environment will be great to train his brain to ignore things, making it easier to transfer to his class setting too.
Great job!
Tracy
Good morning!
>When I get the head check and even the pulling off the wrap is when I’m in motion to start. >
I agree!
I think his send questions are all about knowing that the cues of decel & send have to do with turning to go back the other way, so he is predicting that and has trouble maintaining the commitment while you are indicating the new direction. But…. Cookies help a LOT 🙂
This sending session is going well! He definitely does NOT think of sends as his most favorite thing 🙂 but adding the value for it is really helping AND taking the pressure off of you having to be perfect with timing or feet or arm. Your cues were strong and the rewards definitely helped. You can also tuck a manners minder in behind the wing and trigger it sometimes for him to get rewarded for sending too.
For example – on the first part of the session, you worked on a couple of sends then put together the full sequence: and nailed it (1:30 – 1:36).
Then you repeated the process on the other side and it also went really well: I think the left turn wrap commitment might be the harder side for him because he had a few questions but still went and did the wrap on almost all of them. He didn’t do it at 3:00 because he felt your arm was just too high and too early, causing your hips to turn away from the line. But then he went and did it when you sent again – perfect!
>Do you think that I am on the right track to separate out the sends, and then do a couple reps with motion then go back to stationary start again?>
Totally on the right track! And you can even add in a bit more arm flailing in the general direction of the wing and BIG rewards for when he goes to it even when you are not perfect 🙂 It will probably be even easier when there is a full jump there, but training it on just the wing will make it easy to build tons of value.
Great job!
Tracy
Good morning! It is indeed morning now 😂
>Weird question, on the wings for this game, are we supposed to be imagining where the bar would be if it were a jump or does that not matter for the purpose of the game?>
Great question – for this game, it doesn’t matter. You can use whatever is comfortable. The wing is just a way to get the dogs moving without using stays.
>I needed to work out my verbals for sending to the wing. Once I got the right one, she sent out great. I usually use a backside verbal for a wing send but I was using the wrap verbals.>
Interestingly, the backside verbal helped connect you better. When she was not going to the wrap wing, you were a little disconnected and pointing forward while she was still behind you (:24 and :35 for example). But then when you went to the backside verbal, your connection also got much clearer: 1:06 was good and 1:14 & 1:24 were GREAT! On those you had a clear connection and a low arm so she saw your face and shoulders easily. And sent beautifully to the wing!
The blinds overall went really well! There were a couple that I would say were good (like at :05, a step late perhaps) but most were LOVELY with my favorites being at :49 and 1:46. Super! And at 1:07 you were a tiny bit early (she saw you connected on the new side as she exited the wing wrap – but your line of motion (mouse line!) was really good so she was able to read the line.
Overall, great job! It will be fun to add these to trial runs!
Tracy
Good morning!
>Been working on the double blinds (no videos) and dealing with stall outs so gave her a break yesterday >
Those double blinds are definitely one of the harder skills! It is hard to make connection so it is possible the stall outs were because she didn’t know where to be?
I think the tandem turns went really well!!!!
About which arm(s) to use: for tandems, generally both hands are clearest because tandems rely on the arm cues (because the contexts can be different) – so we want them to be visible.
For threadle wraps, that is more of handler preference. They are related to tandem turns but we don’t use the hand to turn her away as much – we want her to turn herself away. Some people use both hands, some use one hand.
In this session, I think the one hand confused her for a heartbeat when you used it at 1:43ish but then she caught on and worked well for it! The 2 hands worked really well.
Overall, she was finding the turn away moments really well when you were facing forward. Leading out a little but not too much was great! She even brought the toy back pretty quickly early in the session, without any lengthy victory laps (at least not on video haha)
There were a couple of blooper moments but that had to do with you indicating the line toward the wing rather than around it. At :25 & :57 you stepped in too early & pushed her off the line to the other side of the wing. At 1:12 the step was not as big but there was still a bit of motion to the other side of the wing. At 2:18 your hand sent her out to the other side of the wing. She was paying close attention! In those moments, you can reset her with a treat because she was indeed following the handling.
>Couple of times she thought there should have been a food toss so stalled.>
Yes – I think that was mainly when you were using the one hand cue and she thought it looked like you were dropping a treat? But she figured out that it was not a treat drop cue and that went away pretty quickly.
>Also worked on end behavior (4 on for the teeter) on the plank. She caught on to this super fast so no video. Wanted to get this solid before we tried the bang game.>
Terrific! It will be easy to add to the bang game.
Great job here!
Tracy
Good morning!
The blind crosses were lovely here! He was committing to the jump really well, and your timing and reconnection were spot on!!
So we can focus on getting the sends more because those are actually a critical part of blinds: we can’t get to a blind if we can’t get far enough ahead without sending. Moving the wing closer will make it harder to get the blind because you will have less time.
It looks like what was happening was that you were decelerating and rotating at the same time, so that was pulling him off. You can be decelerating and facing the wing until he is close to it (without you going all the way to it). Putting on the brakes is needed as long as your feet and shoulders continue to face the wing.
And as you send, emphasize connection and let your arm move with him, rather than the arm moving ahead of him. But I don’t think his questions were about arms or connection – it was mainly about rotation of your feet. Forward facing decel should do the trick! And when he goes to the wing, you can throw his lotus ball to the wing to reward the send.
You can replace the wing with a jump if you think it will make more sense to him, but I think facing forward on the send will be the key.
Nice work here! Let me know how he does with the sends!
Tracy
Good morning!
This session went really well!
Looking at the blinds: he is reading the cues really well: the shoulder rotation and good mechanics of re-connection are showing him the new line really well.
Based on his commitment looking strong, you can start the blind a stride or two sooner: you were starting it right before he took off for the jump so he was seeing the connection on landing (which means the shoulder rotation takes on more value as part of the cue, more on that below).
When he exits the tunnel and you see him looking at the jump, you can start the blind as soon as you see him look at the jump so it is finished before he takes off.
You also had really nice lines of motion (mouse line!) so he was finding the the turns really well! Super!
>I am not really sure why he ass-passed me on some of the balance reps. >
He was giving you good feedback on shoulders and connection 🙂 What was happening on those reps is that when he was behind you landing from the jump, you started to rotate your dog-side shoulder forward and point ahead of him to the wing. That looked exactly like the beginning of the blind cross 🙂 so he said “aha! A blind!” And changed sides. Good boy, he was correct (which is why we want to reward even when it doesn’t go according to our plan).
The reps where he did not changes sides were when you kept connection back to him better. Ideally, your dog-side arm points back to his nose and you don’t swing it forward to show the wing ahead of him. It is that swinging forward that breaks connection and looks like the beginning of the blind cross cue.
And we do want him responding to the beginning of it, because that gets the great turns and also because it eliminates having to be perfect in timing – being perfect is pretty impossible so we like it when the dogs can respond quickly.
Great job here!
Tracy
