Forum Replies Created
-
Posts
-
Hi!
This session went really well! He got all of the rear crosses except 1 (that one was just a little disconnected).One thing that will help make it feel even smoother if is you start moving before he gets to you or passes you. You can be a bit further from the jump and toss the treat as far away as you had it here – then a he finishes eating it, you can start moving forward to the center of the bar for the RC.
The other option is to start with a barrel wrap before the jump (about 10 feet away or more) – that might feel even smoother! And you can mix in some ‘go straight’ reps so he can read the difference between those cues and the RC cues.
Great job here!!!
TracyHi!
Fingers crossed the cold weather goes away – this winter is already too long LOL!!The Serps are looking good from position 1 and 2! He had a little trouble with position 3 – the angle looked like a threadle angle, so you can make position 3 a little easier and also you can be more visible been the uprights of the jump.
The other thing that will help is if you are closer to the jump, so he collects to turn before he takes off. You were a bit too far from jump on the first side (he could fit his whole body over it before turning) so try to be close enough to touch the wing with a relaxed, bent arm. You were definitely closer on the 2nd side!
>Mostly just working on getting him to move faster. I need to remember to do more tugging at new/distracting places and when he’s fresh>
Looking at the parallel path commitment games on the jump and the tunnel – he was doing this really well and moving faster for sure! I think you can change the reinforcement to get even more speed – the back and forth with the cookie has probably maxed out on speed here because there is not a lot of running needed to get the cookie and also it is not that exciting 🙂 So you can use a thrown toy for the reward: what does he love? Fur tugs? Ball? Or you can use a lotus ball or something with food – you can throw it further and he will really be able to chase it and run run run 🙂
Nice work here!!!
TracyHi!
>Well Sunday did not go! The class was cancelled due to snow.>
Darned snow! I am ready for spring.
>This Saturday I have Knight scheduled for Speedstakes 1 and 2 and Jumpers on Saturday. Then on Sunday I have him scheduled for Agility 1 and Agility 2 and Jumpers. I can also do mulligans after each of these runs if I want to.>
That is a lot of runs, especially at this time of year when the pups might not be outside running around as much as normal. So feel free to scratch runs if the course is weird or if he is at all tired, or even if he does great and you want to end early on a high note.
> Figure in Speedstakes I will start him at a tunnel. Jumpers at the weaves or tunnel. Sunday start at dog walk, Aframe, teeter, weave poles. Also thinking about starting at a jumper before the contact. Your thoughts.>
Excellent idea, especially because of how much he loves contacts! Fingers crossed the course design has lots of contacts and tunnels near the ring entry!
>You might have done this, but you can mix in a run or two in class where the rewards are outside the ring (then run to them at the end). The other runs can have rewards in the ring with you, but mixing in rewards outside the ring can keep those remote reinforcement skills sharp!>
Yes, you can totally do this. It is totally up to the handler so you can decide in the moment what you want to do, based on what you think will be most successful.
Have fun! Keep me posted!
Tracy
Hi!
How was Westminster? It looked wild!You couldn’t find it because I forgot to post the recording. SORRY!! It is here now:
Hi! Thanks for the update!
>then he watched as I gave it away with his leash for the others and he received it at the end of the run.>
This is a super valuable experience for him – very smart to show it to him at the match!
>I need to use a brake arm more, it is something I don’t do enough.>
The brake arm has been a great addition to the toolbox – we can keep moving forward while also getting great collection (without having to do nearly as many spins or other rotations).
The fun match video was fun to watch! I love that they had music playing and people cheering for you and Callan!
The barrels run was great fun – a really nice way to establish connection. There was a threadle wrap at the end of it (:23) – remember to use deceleration on those to tighten his line coming into it. Decel is actually a critical element of the cue but it is also not discussed or used enough there 🙂
>The one time I lost connection with him he didn’t take the jump as I was rushing and thinking ahead, connection, connection, connection!!>
Yes, I think this was at :31 – he gave a great reminder to make big connection back to him on the tunnel exit. You can keep going when that happens to maintain the flow. The rest of the run looked great! And you made a big adjustment on the 2nd run at 1:18 and later at 1:53, fantastic connection and he had no questions. YAY!
The standard run also looked really good!
>He missed his down contact in his running A frame in the last clip so that is something to work on. I also need to practice a soft turn cue from the Aframe or other pieces of equipment, other than jumps. Do you have one and if so what is it?>
I use the same soft turn cue as I do for jump (left/right) and the timing of the verbal & physical cues is pretty early – before the apex of the a-frame, for example. So you can work the frame by giving really early cues but rewarding him for hitting the contact zone correctly 🙂
>I was very pleased with his behaviour and Startlines all day! 😄 Interesting that he barks as running the fun barrel racing but not during agility courses.>
Yay for his good behavior and start lines! I think he looked great! About the barking… it looks like he has to think a lot harder for now in the jumping and standard runs than he does in the barrel racing runs. When he is more experienced, he won’t have to concentrate as much in the jumping/agility runs (it will be automatic) and you might get some barking there too 🙂
>I have the UKI Cup this weekend. Only doing Speedstakes. We do have a fun run on Friday. It will be busy with two rings going! Wish us luck!>
FUN!!!! Have a blast, I know he will be terrific! Send updates!!
Tracy
Hi!
>With the line-ups where she was still standing.>
Yes – you can ask for a stay in that moment, 50/50 are decent odds. It is her current version of ‘all business’, perhaps? She is lining herself up facing the jump, so maybe see if she can sit in that spot. It might work great! Or not at all 🤣 she will let us know.
>I saw the rabbit fur lotus balls at Clean run but wasn’t sure how to attach a bungee to it. >
I took a thin long bungee from another toy and tied it around and the center. Not the best looking toy out there but definitely functional LOL!
T
And Lift has been meh on any kind of lotus toy that doesn’t have fur – there are a lot of fabric/canvas ones out there that I found.
Hi!
He did great with the countermotion serp exits! You can start moving forward even before he is passing you to challenge him to continue to the barrel (be sure to look behind you and indicate the landing spot as you did here).
You can definitely move to the advanced level where you are in motion across the jump and passing the barrel before you release, so you are on the takeoff side as he gets to the takeoff side too.
>Should I have used his wrap cue there?>
If you are doing this as a regular serp then yes, you can use a wrap verbal (but it is not really needed because the physical cue is powerful). You will also be able to apply this to backside serps with wrap exits, and it will eb the backside verbal for those (wrap verbals not needed).
For the advanced level, you can probably pivot the setup 90 degrees so it runs lengthwise in the room, giving you more room to move.
The lateral lead out also looked good here – you will get a smoother line to the barrel if you can get him to focus ahead (and not look at you :)) before the release. You can try it by slowly putting your hand & foot into position, pointing towards the barrel, and wait to release until he looks towards it (I don’t think he has a verbal cue on this but maybe I am remembering incorrectly? We can also work on adding a verbal if you like).
If he struggles to look at it with the hand/leg cue, we can put a target out kind of like the beginning forward focus game on the cone: a toy or bowl placed on the entry line. Then that toy/bowl moves around the barrel so he is looking at the barrel and not at the toy/bowl.
Great job here!!
TracyGood morning!
>I think he liked having more space to practice this!!!>
I agree, he definitely likes having more room to move here! Fun!
He did well with the serp versus the threadle here – you can add a bit more movement, progressively working up to being able to run through it over a bunch of sessions. As you do that, remember to stay close to the jump – one casual arm’s length away. You were a little far away on these. He got it, but as you add movement the position relative to the jump becomes even more important.
And when adding movement… if something goes wrong, assume it was handler error and either keep going or reward. On the rep where you had a blooper (at 1:11 where you did a serp physical cue and a threadle verbal), so he served), you indicated error (note the change in body language and the drop of your right hand) and he jumped up at your face.
Even giving him cookies on the way back to try again won’t override the frustration/arousal shift when you indicate an error, so the one of the ways we build resilience is being sure to not indicate errors.Note the difference when he didn’t take the 2nd tunnel at 1:40 and you praised and rewarded (that was also handler error and probably above his current pay grade coming off a threadle 🙂 )
Nice work here! Have fun adding motion!!
TracyHi!
>I realize we really need a stay. It’s a work in progress…baby level at this point. And sometimes it’s decent, and then at other times the whole concept is gone. Which is ok at this age. When there’s no stay, I change to games that don’t need a stay, or just end the session for a while.>
Stays are definitely hard! And I think they are mentally expensive – so you can start a session with a stay or two, then switch to cookie toss starts.
On his stays here, you were walking back to hand-deliver a treat. That can work, but definitely mark to let him know you are coming back so he doesn’t move. Also, when doing lead outs, you’ll be able to build up distance and duration really quickly by marking and throwing the reward back to him. So when you are working the threadle slices, for example, you can go to position (have a cookie ready in your hand), stand still, say your ‘I am throwing it back’ marker then toss is just behind him. That builds a lot of value for you being progressively further and further away 🙂
The threadle slice session went well! He really loves to target the hand 🙂 Popping up to target it will go away as soon as we add motion but it is wonderful how much he loves driving to you on these. You can add a barrel to the jump as a ‘wing’ because he will always see this with a wing. Since this is going so well, you can look at the serp and threadle next-steps where we do add a bit of handler motion.
He did a great job on the minny pinny too! He was very careful to look at the bars and get the striding correct in both directions – good boy! And nice job with your placement of the reward to get the last barrel to have the soft turn too. Yay!
>I didn’t remember to hold his collar, and he’s still not a fan of this (and I need to spend some time improving his emotional response to holding the collar)>
This game is a good way to build up some collar holding love – You can line him up at your side with a cookie, then put one hand on his collar (or one finger) then immediately let go so he can move. The line up with the cookie before the collar touch makes a big difference (most dogs don’t want to be moved around by the collar). And since he is small, you can do this sitting in a chair so that you are not bending over as much (bending over can add pressure that he might not love). As he gets happier with the collar holding, you can add in saying the verbal before letting go, but you don’t need to do that until he is very comfy with your hand on the collar.
>Feel like I’ve fallen off the training wagon a bit, but looking forward to working towards the skills we need for these latest games.>
No worries, you had work and life stuff, and he had a little break. He looked strong here so you are totally on the right track.
Great job here!
Tracy
Hi!
>I’ve been looking for another fur covered lotus toy on a bungee off and on for weeks and finally realized I bought the one I have from Fusion! (Ordered from Paws Made in the UK) Good news a special order going in tomorrow. Bad news they won’t get here for a few weeks.>
Clean Run sells them and they are usually quick with shipping:
https://www.cleanrun.com/product/lotus_ball_with_rabbit_fur/index.cfm
(I attach my own bungee :))I also did a search on Amazon and found a bunch of them and similar toys. I am sure delivery to your area would be quick too!
>but I only have 1 lotus toy and I would like to use it for part of the seminar with Casey on Friday. So should I make sure I really clean out any crumbs after the seminar and still use it as my bridge to the food box?>
Yes, cleaning it is fine 🙂 Do you have a different normal lotus ball for the seminar? Or maybe someone has one you can borrow?
Firt video:
>but lots of feelings about lining up (not sure if it was the lack of treats or just because).>
Sitting after lining up between your feet was definitely hard here. She was lining herself of facing the jump – when she does that, can she respond to a sit cue? That is an option to get her into a stay. Or you can cue a spin then ask for a sit. The other option is to not ask for a stay at the beginning of the first run – a spin start (a spin cue then take off running) worked great!
>I am pretty sure we won’t have time (or enough brain cells) to do more than 2 mini sequences.>
Hopefully there is a tunnel close to the ring entry, that would be fun in the short sequence!
The tunnel exits went really well! The Go on and RC on the jumps looked good! Her only question was on the left turn cue for the tunnel under the a-frame: she came out looking straight each time. Looking at the timing, I think the physical cue was a little late. It happened just before she entered, so I think the last thing she saw was you facing forward. If you can turn away while she is still 4 or 5 feet before the tunnel entry, she can see it better. A brake arm can also help that, it would be interesting to see which one is clearer for her.
Nice work here :) Tracy
Hi!
Congratulations on her first ribbon!!! It is very exciting the hear that she is figuring out the trial environment!!Her runs are looking really strong – I am very happy to see how well she is driving her lines. At the openings of the course, since you don’t have a big long lead out yet, you can use a break arm for tight turn in the opening. She is looking for lines which is good, so using a 2 handed turn cue can keep you moving while also get the turn you want. On the first video, a break arm can help get the turn to the first tunnel.
I think that as she gets more experienced, she will find the lines even better. Plus, adding contacts and weaves will make it easier because you will have time to catch up to her 🙂 Now that there is a little break from trials, you can prioritize the weaves – let me know how she is doing and we can troubleshoot if she has questions. And also, getting the contacts finished up can be a priority too!
>She is now offering a sit at the start do still get a stand when remove lead so may experiment with carrying in no lead on. >
This is great – the stays are really dramatically improved. Yes, carrying in might be good or take the leash off as you approach the line then let her offer the sit after the leash is off. Or, cue the sit after the leash is off if she stands.
Great job here!
Tracy
Good morning!
>I’m thinking that the difference between the 1st and 2nd setups was that Judith was already sitting in the chair before I brought him out to the floor vs being out and watching her walk to the chair in the tunnel mouth setup. >
Aha! What a great observation! And since he is highly successful with the ring crew already in place, you can add in asking them to move to position as he is coming to the line. This is very realistic and would totally happen at a trial!
>I’m thinking about taking my time in bringing him out to the floor in our trial runs – wait until the barsetters are done and seated and the judge is in position before bringing him to the line. >
Yes, you have plenty of time if you are first dog after a height change. He is inexperienced so he basically needs things to happen fast at a trial – delays might cause him to notice things in the environment more. Plus it is unpredictable – how long will a height change take? It won’t matter when he is very experienced but for now as his career is launching, you can wait til the height change is finishing before moving to the line.
>I can still bring him out early is classes and reward for for pattern games and volume dial work, maybe helping him acclimate to the movement in the ring.>
Yes – and build to bringing him in without treats and having him experience a delay… those are inevitable! And then he can get rewarded early in the course after that delay.
> – a work in progress, some chasing, no tugging, not his thing yet. Happiest chasing it after I tossed it.>
Chasing is great! It is stimulating and fun, so it can accomplish the same goal as tugging in terms of building excitement and engagement.
>Judith will also be attending this coming Saturdays UKI trial – any thoughts on how to best use her as a helper if she’s willing?>
Good question… maybe she can be ring crew or help ring crew get into position before Coal enters the ring?
Keep me posted!
Tracy
Good morning!
The spin session went great! Most of the reps had lovely lovely connection and timing from you, so she had great commitment on almost all the reps! No worries about the rep towards the end where you had a few extra wraps LOL She was happy to keep going 🙂
On the very successful reps (which was most of them here), the timing/connection that worked great was when you were connected and decelerating into the turn, but you didn’t start the FC or spin until after she was past you and heading to the barrel.
She had a couple of reps where she came off the barrels (1:41 to 1:51, and at 4:18). On those reps, you were stepping back into the FC/spin as she was arriving at your leg. That was too early, so she came off the barrels. Letting her get past you was definitely the sweet spot.
>Waiting for the cue to start is overrated in her opinion though.
Yes HAHA!!!! You can mix in stay rewards. This game is easy to accidentally pair motion into the release, so mixing in rewards for holding the stay can help convince her that waiting for the cue is cool too 🙂
Threadle slices:
>Unfortunately threadle slices for the manners minder are still not going well. She still does not seem to understand. >
I read this before watching the video and I was expecting a really poopy session LOL!! Not at all! Things went really well. She is getting it! I have a couple of suggestions for you:
>she really didn’t want to come in to the hand and does some avoidance>
It might be more boring than it is an avoidance behavior 🙂 She is half BC and half sighthound… neither breed is wired to drive in hard to a stationary handler facing them. But she was doing it!
For an anti-boring moment, you can tug with her after each MM reward. That way we begin to pair in the stationary handler position/go to MM with the WOOHOO tug party and running around. That will also keep arousal higher, so she is less likely to look around at all the interesting things in the environment.
For some reason she only wanted to turn right here – the 2nd side was the left side so it was harder. Was it because she is currently more right-sided? Or because the left turns were the 2nd side, so she was in right turn mode? No worries, you can separate the sessions:
The first few reps on the first side were really strong – the rep at :52 was GREAT, so I suggest ending the session there. Don’t go past 4 or 5 reps in a session where you are stationary… then break it off and go do something wild and crazy 🙂 Then let latent learning work its magic. Even a 2 minute session might be too long for this type of behavior, so limiting the # of reps to 3 or 4 or 5 total can make a huge impact. And since it is not a hugely high priority skill for her age range, we have the luxury of time to build it 🙂
You can also start her on easy angles and angle the jump a bit, so coming to your side of the jump is easier: the wing closer to the MM gets angles towards you and the wing further from the MM gets angled away from you, so the threadle side is a bit more visible.
Nice work here! Let me know what you think!
Tracy
Good morning!
Find my face went well!
>This seemed sort of too easy. And ackward lol
>It is supposed to be easy for now 🙂 She did great! We want this alternate behavior to be really well-developed as part of the arousal regulation. So keep re-visiting it, adding more arousal in the form of tugging before you play and also going to new places to play this 🙂
>Before this video starts I had to use a “julee Reynolds” in a kind way of course bc she was bouncing all over the place like she was on scent of a rabbit or something. I realized we had league and there were a bunch of dogs she didn’t know in there. It was quite interesting as I’ve never seen this before>
Ha! Does she have a middle name yet? JULEE LOUISE REYNOLDS! Hahahaha
The tunnel session went great! She was very happy to send her self back to the tunnel. Nice job with the physical and verbal threadle cues!
When you revisit this, you can add in some reps where you do t he FC on the tunnel exit but DON’T do the threadle back to the tunnel – just do a FC and take off up the line past the tunnel entry. That will provide a nice balance and help her remember that we don’t always do 2 tunnels in a row 🙂
Great job here!
Tracy
Good morning!
>Have had almost no motivation to train (or edit videos lol) lately>
That is totally cool, sometimes we need a break and then come back fresh 🙂 And you don’t need to edit videos (because it is a pain in the b*tt LOL!) – you can hit record, do a session, then just post it.
>I feel really behind in the lessons but trying not to worry too much>
You are right on track – you have worked almost all the games and are now coming into the last set of games, which is good timing as we finish February! Perfect!
Threadle wrap rocking horses went really well – the FCs on rep 1 and the spin on rep 2 looked great! Lovely connection from you and lovely commitment from him! Those were a great warm up for the threadle wraps!
He got to the correct side of the threadle wraps very consistently on all of the reps, which is awesome. Coming to the correct side is the hardest part!
One suggestion: add a bit of decel as you are getting ready to turn him away, because that is what helps cue him that the turn away is coming (and will also make it easier to toss the reward to the other side of the barrel).
For example, at 1:41, you had the decel before the turn away and he absolutely nailed it 🙂 Decel is a big part of the threadle wraps. When you were moving fast the whole time, it was harder for him to turn away.
Also, getting the reward tossed in to the other side of the barrel as soon as he turns his head away will help him complete the wraps too! When you did that, he was easily able to compete the turn. Yay!!
Stays – great job working the stays! He is a speedy dude and will definitely need a stay so you can lead out 🙂
He was happy to move into the sit – but he was not as convinced about letting you move away to length duration or distance. So a couple of ideas for you:
He is driven for food 🙂 so we can help him learn the concept of waiting for a marker to end the behavior and release him to move, rather than watching the treat hand – when you tried to move away, he moved with the treat hand.
So you can cue the sit with an empty hand (opposite hand can have the treat). And add a a bit of quiet praise between the sit and the marker/cookie delivery 🙂 to begin adding duration.
To help build ore duration, you can add a clicker for a session or two, so we can give him the lightbulb moment of the marker before the cookie. Then you can add back your ‘catch’ marker – but make sure the cookie hands are totally still as you say it, then toss it. In my inside-my-head voice, I am saying “catch then toss” when working this with the pups 🙂 so I don’t accidentally toss then say catch LOL!!
Great job here!!
Tracy
