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Hi!
Her turns looked great on the first run! Nice!!!And nice adjustment to handle the jump she missed at :17 by supporting the line better at :33 (great job continuing when she missed it and rewarding the jump line after it!
She had some questions about the threadle wrap cues! I think part of it was that the motion was reversed: the threadle wrap cue should actually have a lot of decel to it (and there was decel at :51 when you lead out and did the little shoulder pull to get it).
On the other reps, you were stationary then released and accelerated forward – the acceleration cued a lot of moving forward, which is why she went to a variety of lines but not the threadle wrap. So if someone is holding her or it is mid-sequence, try running then as you release her, decelerate and show the TW cues.
You can also consider making your TW hand/arm cues look different- they looked like forward cues which is also part of why you got so many different offered behaviors from her. You can play with using just one hand/arm across your shoulders towards her, or both hands/arms visible but low and near you rather than forward and extended away from you.
The clearer hands/arms plus the decel should make it easy for her to read.
>However, I did do one start line stay and she held it really well.>
Yes! That looked great!!!!!!
Nice work here!
TracyHi! I am really glad you got this on video! I think it is a processing thing: she doesn’t quite know how to organize the jumping when you are going fast and when she is exiting a tunnel (going from dark to light, not seeing the line or you, etc) so she slides right past it.
So a few ideas for you! You will see that none of these ideas involve you being stationary or you adding lateral distance, because yes she might take the jump but neither will help her understand how to take it when you are running past it.
To get her setting up for the jump more:
Separately from sequences, set up a really easy jump grid right past the tunnel exit – anything that she is experienced with and has super low bars, like a 3 jump balance grid (bars at 8 inches and jumps 6 feet apart, starting about 12 feet from the tunnel exit). I bet that will be challenging! You will be moving the whole time, even if you are walking or slow jogging to start .
Side note: I know you have done jump grids – has she seen you jogging or running while doing grids? If not, do that before adding the tunnel 🙂To get her finding the jump more:
When sequencing, you can move the jump after the tunnel closer to the tunnel exit (less than 10 feet) so it is *right there* so it is hard to go around it and easy to take it. The bar should be VERY low to start (8 inches) with tons of thrown reward. You can raise the bar up bit by bit and move the jump further away bit by bit too – and you are in motion the whole time.You can try using TONS of toy placement on the landing side of the jump after the tunnel, but I am not sure if that will help while you are running – try it with a low bar there too. You did it at :38 and she took the jump, but it was a really odd jumping effort so the lower bar will help too. The toy placement can get further and further away to fade it as she gets better at locking onto the line.
One more thought – Remember not to reward passing by things by stopping and giving her the toy. Yes, we want to reward for effort but keep going til she gets something rewardable (like the next jump). She was not getting rewarded for skipping the jump after the tunnel here, but she kept passing the bar on the backside jump and getting rewarded. That can dilute her understanding of the backside cue so be careful of that as you were problem solving the other stuff.
Let me know if this makes sense! I agree that it is an important area to focus on!
Tracy
Hi! Yes, class went well!
>I’ve probably got to work on getting off the line faster, gave him too much time to ponder on the 1st rep.>
Yes, I totally agree with this 🙂 You will want to get off the line faster especially when he is facing the crowd. You can make sure you are on the correct side of him then just toss the leash anywhere, don’t worry about placing it in any spot.
On the first video – he did well on the first run – he was paying attention on jumps 1 and 2, then things were a little unclear so he went to the instructor then came right back – totally rewardable or keep going rather than take his collar and walk back to the start. (I will pay the $5 for you if you get in trouble LOL!!)
2nd and 3rd run he did really well – the cues were good and he read them well including weaving right past the people! Super!!!!He was a little wide on jump 1 on the 4th run – it was not a distraction issue, it was more that you stepped backwards so he almost turned the wrong way on 1 then circled back the correct direction. The full run on the course looked really good!
On the 2nd video –
>Rep 2 there is a leash runner in the back corner who blends in nicely with the black wall. My thought was to work on driving a line towards the ring crew, that seems to be hard for him. He did give the person a good look on the 1st time he passed her, but did not stop. Next couple of passes were good.>
Yes, that was a good thing to work on – running right towards the person. He did great! Looking at the person without going to the person is a big step in the right direction (pun intended 😁) Very nice!!!!! And he was ignoring the instructor who was moving her arms around a lot as he passed. Super!
>“he feels the need to check weird things out so that was definitely a little weird and different!” – yep Coal is definitely an I don’t know what that is so I better go find out type of guy – the exact opposite of Cody>
Right! Which is why we want people to be as normal as possible. If they are acting bizarre, he will be even more interesting in seeing what is happening. You can ask the ring crew to look at him and smile at him, as long as they are not being weird 🙂
Great job here!!!!
TracyNope! This is a MUST for her, because it is an arousal regulation game. It teaches them to patiently and calmly keep all feet on the ground when something happens to spike arousal (like disconnecting, etc). It was originally designed for dogs who jumped up at their handlers when aroused 🙂 so I think this is a definite one for her toolbox.
T
Hi! Thanks for all the runs, it was good to see how her day progressed on all of them!
You are handling with a lot of speed and connection, which is really helping to keep her pumped up! And if she starts slow, she was finding the speed as the course progressed thanks to the clarity of handling – click/treat for you!
>New things: We have barking on cute command “Who’s gonna play?”!!!! It is a cute bark too, but I may be biased>
The barking is SO CUTE!!!!!! Love it! Next step: can she bark without cookies? One thing you can do is play with walking her around and getting the bark without cookies (and you can do it as remote reinforcement, so when she barks you run back to the cookies) You might be able to build it up enough that she can bark at the start line as a way to pump her up!
>We did our bowls, up and down game, and practiced moving away from reinforcement, engaging & going back to the reinforcement ringside.
I love how you brought your 2 stools and played with the bowls next to them – just like home! I agree with your assessment that she seemed very confident outside the ring and there were plenty of pressure and distractions!
>She did well in all her runs, but I can see the difference in her speed and on Sunday her motivation in the later runs.>
Yes! The FEO runs early in the day were great – and then later in the day (last run) she definitely started off slower. Could be different reasons for that: was she tired? (This is a possibility, I mean I also get tired in the mid-afternoon – it is a blood sugar thing for me because I eat too much sugar 🙂 but it can happen with dogs too). Was the pressure of starting right near the score table and people at the fence line a LOT for when she was tired? Was having a ring full of jumps less motivating? She does like her contacts!
We might never know the full reason, but we can help her out. You can do fewer runs per day – these courses are BIG yardage courses that covered the full ring. And that is exhausting especially for the small dogs who have to take a lot of strides. So maybe on day 1, you can do 2 classes and on day 2, only 2 classes as well. Or day 1 can be 3 classes and day 2 is one class 🙂
And physical recovery stuff can help her a lot: getting her to eat some protein/carbs as the day progresses (a light lunch :)), making sure she is very hydrated, trying to let her have quiet time to sleep, and other stuff like a Back On Track coat can be AMAZING for keeping her feeling good. I am not sure if you have tried those but they are great for maintaining blood flow and getting rid of inflammation. I ‘borrow’ from my dogs and use it when I am in pain LOL
I don’t think physical fatigue from a lot of runs will be an issue at Westminster (2 or 3 runs on one day only, right?), but you will still want to make sure she eats and drinks and feels good 🙂
Something that you did really well was you were engaged and connected and fast on ALL the runs – didn’t matter if she was blasting off the start line or slower off the line. You were engaged and connected and fast, so she locked into that and finished fast on all 8 runs here!!!
So looking ahead for Westminster – the hard part there will be not be the courses, you and Frankie clearly can run those courses 🙂 The harder part might be a bit of travel fatigue, plus it will be cold (bring lots of layers) and the activity level in the environment. You can bring blankets and stuff to cover her crate so she can have some quiet relaxation – and great treats for your pattern games and tricks and barking, so the value of the food can win out over the environment if it is busy and noisy.
And if she starts off a bit concerned, you do what you did her: keep going fast, super connected, and let her kick it into high gear 🙂
>We’re getting her b12 tested next Wednesday too just to see, it can’t hurt.>
I am glad her bloodwork looked good! I believe that all of the B12 and folic acid supplements are water soluble, so we cannot overdose the dogs on them LOL I add folic acid to my dog Contraband this week and he seems perkier for sure! Definitely can’t hurt!
I am excited for you! Have a blast and please send updates!
Tracy
Hi!
>The seminar was SO MUCH FUN! Bazinga had a blast. She slept the whole ride home! It really upped my confidence about my connection with Bazinga in longer sequences. I was so happy that blind crosses and exit line connection happened! Thanks so much for a great experience!>
Thank you so much for coming, I loved meeting you and Basing in person! You are a fabulous team and looked great on the sequences. Hopefully you could hear everyone cheering for you two 🙂 People were talking about Bazinga all weekend 🙂
The trial environment was busier than the other recent trials but she looked really comfy in the warm up video outside the ring. Yay! She was in food mode, but she might be a food dog outside the ing and a toy dog inside the ring. That is great!
Looking at the run – SUPER NICE!!! Super fast, great connection, and you made great choices for her.
>I see her glance at the judge when the judge moved before we started, but I don’t think it concerned her. She ran around 2 jumps in this run and also I think 1 jump in the run on Sunday!>
Yes – the judge moving towards her caught her attention. She actually moved forward out of the stay a tiny bit… I am not sure if it was that she was feeling the pressure of the judge, or temporarily forgot she was in the stay LOL! But passing the other jumps was also a mild judge/ring crew distraction question: someone was moving and someone else was sitting *right there* on the line facing her, so she stayed on the curve of the course but didn’t find the jumps. And you were quiet in that moment too. So we will chalk it up to young dog inexperience in that environment. No worries at all!
The 2nd run looked great too! She passed a jump on the outside here – she was looking forward so it might be that she was visually processing the environment (it is a BUSY environment :)) and also that your shoulder cues to turn her were late (which they were LOL!) Watch the very end of the video and you will see the next dog do the same thing: pass the same jump 🙂 It looks like the way the course was built, the dogs are on a natural line to the backside so if we don’t turn them with shoulders and verbals, they stay on that line. But everything else looked GREAT!
For the next trial, you can try the next step of doing a loop on course without the toy with you 🙂 I bet she does GREAT. She is pretty much ready for ‘real’ runs as soon as the weaves are ready (the weaves should be rewarded in NFC the first few times she sees them). If there are any USDAA or UKI trials within reach, she can run for real in USDAA jumpers or UKI speedstakes: no weaves! That can provide a great opportunity to run for real while the weaves are getting ready.
Great job!
Tracy
Hi!
>hardest was when in different classes running similar- it didnt help that ribbon trial so only about 12 dogs total in the two baby classes In Synch was in so not much space between her runs.>
Yes, that is definitely hard! You can enter her in fewer things – pick and choose so you have more time and are not as rushed. Maybe don’t enter classes with weaves for now, which also solves the issue of having to get her past weaves without jumping up on you.
>he wait she broke on it wasnt really a wait – in that she didnt settle and just took off.>
Definitely be more clear, then – ask for the settle and the wait so there is no confusion and so she doesn’t take off without you 🙂
>Then they got worse esp in the last run as we both got tired. >
This is another reason to enter less for now – you both won’t be as tired, so you won’t get rehearsal of the unwanted behavior.
>I also need to do alot more work at home on the weaves- we are struggling with them- she doesnt want to slow down and focus so have been trying different things. Have introduced channel weaves- first time have done this as think she might prefer as train with some motion>
Channel weaves are a GREAT option – most of my dogs are trained with channels now (only one preferred the 2x2s). I bet she will like that method a lot!
>Another baby dog show tomorrow (wish the were spread out several months to the next one) and then a proper show at the weekend but not entered in very much and manly jumpers. My preference for her at the moment is baby shows or jumpers when I can>
Have fun! Keep me posted!
Tracy
Good morning!
>Well Sunday drop in class was cancelled but good news have a class this Sunday so I will ask the people there to assist.>
Bummer about last Sunday but I am glad you will have the opportunity this coming Sunday!
>Today I took Knight to Lowes and walked him around the building. When he got to the front, he got concerned so I started doing the pattern game. Still was a little concern but was going after the goodies.>
Great job getting the pattern games going! That will really help him. You can start those before he even shows any concern – they can be a part of just going to new places 🙂
>Tomorrow is our regular class and he is solid there. He does his tricks outside the ring and will work with him before he runs by doing spins, etc. After class I will be stopping at Home Depot with Knight and see how he reacts.>
Awesome! Can you get your classmates to be a bit more noisy? Maybe play music in the background, just to add some more craziness to the environment?
Keep me posted!
Tracy
Good morning!
She is doing well here!!!! She did really well on course (gets faster and faster each time!) and the class sounded more like a trial and less like a library 🙂
>I felt like she was a bit less into the toy when I tossed it after she realized there wasn’t a treat in it. >
That is fine – I think she is catching on to our masterplan of using it as a bridge to mark a moment then run to the food box. We will be able to fade it out pretty quickly.
> I wanted to try lining her up without using treat tosses but she had some feelings about that and then it was too much when Beth came in close to get the leash so when she came back after I called, I did toss a few treats for tricks and then got her to spin and took off.>
She might be shifting into ‘all business’ mode at the start line now – originally, she found tricks and play to be really helpful. Now she seems to be saying “I AM READY, GET ON WITH IT” (because yes, she is yelling it LOL). So you can line her up and immediately start working the course. This is a pretty normal shift and you will see her shift back and forth between all business and needing more play to get engaged, until she locks in as an adult, experienced competitor.
So at this stage in her career, it will be a ‘read the room’ moment -if she seems like she is ready to go, try an all business approach: line up and lead out and work the course. The line up can be less-than-perfect because it is a hard arousal regulation moment: she can be a bit sideways to to you, not perfectly facing the jump, etc. But that is all fine for now.
Or, if you see she is not quite engaged? Then you can ask for tricks until she is ready to roll. There is some guessing for now and she will definitely provide feedback as you sort out exactly what her needs are at the start line.
Now that she is really flying and locking onto lines, the courses are bigger – so you can really emphasize the connection. It looks like at :51 and maybe 1:23 here she didn’t quite take the line you wanted (it was hard to tell because you were GREAT about continuing). Both of those moments can benefit from high connection and not having your arm out. We really have to exaggerate connection with young dogs LOL!
2nd video – this also went well, and the environment was harder:
>she was really good about circling back around (kinda in a flow) to get the tight right turn out of the straight tunnel the 2nd time. (I think I was pretty late with the cue the first time and was facing towards the left a bit which is probably why she turned to the left out of the tunnel the first time).>
For some reason folks started drumming on the tables and stuff (maybe they were running out of ways to make noise LOL), and both Lift and I were like “wth?” LOL! You were fully in the zone so I don’t think you heard it. That new weird noise was part of why she was a little wide at 1:13 and it looks like she went past a jump (and turned towards the noise when exiting the tunnel at 1:19). That is a good moment for big exaggerated connection to show the line. Your arms were a bit floaty which blocked connection as she was also trying to process why there was drumming happening LOL
>I did get a leaping lizard moment when I was asking for the back of a jump>
This was towards the end – I think there were a lot of context cues that the run was finished then you brought her out for the backside, so she was not really ready. And at 2:23, you cued it with a ‘banana line’ of shoulder movement (your shoulders curling off the line, which presents the front side before she gets to the backside side). So I think the combination of those 2 things plus residual drum line questions played into the leaping moment – but she recovered really quickly! Yay!
>I had her bark after she gulped her treat and before running out again. I think that little “yup I, ready to go again” bark worked well since she had a speedy line up (no barking) the 2nd time even with a handler walking by a few feet away.
>Fantastic! She is getting really good at moving through crowds and ignoring people in the ring. Yay!!!! And barking after eating the treat also helps make sure she has swallowed it and want cough it up.
Sounds like she did well at the UKI trial – it is always good to just be able to hang out and have fun in that environment.
>doing some backside slice drills. I was thinking about going back to wrapping a wing/cone and then moving up the line to the jump and gradually moving across the bar more.>
Yes – and you can angle the entry of the backside jump so it is more visible (the entry wing getting closer to her) and that makes the front side of the jump a little less visible.
> After that she has a class next Tuesday and then Casey is here for the seminar next Friday.>
Fun! February is flying by, which is GREAT because I am ready for warmer weather 🙂
Nice work here!
TracyGood morning! Thanks for the update!!!
>Ven is 20 months old and 28 pounds now. How did that happen?
Baby dog is growing up!!
>Jumping – We are working on getting him up to full height of 16″ jumps. He’s been at 14″ for a couple weeks now and isn’t knocking bars too much so I’ll probably move him to 16″ in the next could weeks. >
Sounds good! You should enter him in NFC runs at trials at a lower height, so that is easier because the environment will be harder.
>He still needs to see doubles, triples, panels, and broad jumps. What height would you use for set point exercises now that he’s close to full height?>
For single bar jumps, you can revisit the set point at full height or close to full height (but with the reward 12 to 15 feet away, so he doesn’t land on his shoulders trying to get to it. For new obstacles in a set point – super low introductions, like at 8 inches 🙂
>Obstacles – Ven’s 2o2o teeter is a thing of beauty except for driving ahead of me. Need to figure out how to get him to go ahead and bang it when I’m behind. >
Awesome!!! I recommend a target for that. And driving ahead can be built in to simple games like the bang game, where you have him leap into position with you hanging back, or even with you moving backwards as he moves forward to the target position.
>Dog walk – Ven has started running full height dogwalk with 2o2o. He’s not driving ahead when I’m behind or holding his stay if I’m ahead so we have work to do there.>
A target can be helpful here too – it is a focal point for the dogs, and you can then reward when he hits and holds position regardless of where you are. And targets are easy to fade, either by making them smaller and smaller, or covering them with grass. In UKI, you can do NFC runs with a target on the ground! That really helps the dos transition the skill to trials.
>Frame – no work there yet. I need to get the flat work started again since I’m planning on a running frame contact.>
I think he will like that 🙂
>Weaves – Ven is close to 6 straight poles with entries all the way around the clock.
Sequencing – we’re able to run 12-15 obstacles in sequence.>Super on both of these!!!!!
>Competing – I’m trying to get my nerve up to enter a trial or two. Right now, with tracking class and tests coming up, I’m looking at a mid-March ASCA trial where we could enter jumpers, gamblers, and maybe use regular for teeter/dogwalk experience. >
ASCA is great for jumps and tunnel stuff. If there is any UKI available, that is better for starting the contacts because you have more training options (like using a target on the ground).
>He hasn’t “wandered off” to pee on anything in a while but I’m not sure I trust him yet.>
Good boy! What can you bring into the ring for the training runs to help ease the transition – that way the stress levels stay low and he is far less likely to pee anywhere 🙂
>Tracking – we’ve done a lot of tracking while he learns agility obstacles and we wait for a little more maturity. He passed his certification track last Saturday so we’ll be entering TD and TDU tests at the end of the month.>
I have been following his tracking adventures that you post on Facebook – really impressive! He is doing great!
>Rally – Venture is basically ready to enter novice rally except he gets confused between heeling around cones vs wrapping them for agility. Any bright ideas how to help him get the difference?>
I can see his point about the cone meaning wrap… What physical and verbal cues are allowed in rally? I think something that can get him focused on you will help – a hand cue, a watch-me cue, or something, as you walk around. When we want the cone to be wrapped, we want him looking at it. When you don’t want the wrap, you can cue him to look up at you. That might make it easier!
>I’m going to build some of the course work from this class over the next couple days so we’ll have some video by the weekend.>
Great! Have fun!
Tracy
Good morning!
>Also I’m not tossing toys or fodd bc we have a massive KC outbreak here and it’s making training suck but I don’t have space at home. Lotus ball with barrel was not ideal.>
Yes, the outbreak totally sucks. But isn’t KC airborne? So I am not sure if not throwing toys is helpful (plus the dogs can lick their feet, etc). I would definitely avoid sharing toys and bowls, and cleaning everything. Hopefully the outbreak clears up soon.
Tunnel threadles:
>I should have an arm out. It’s not really…>
I could see it, mostly, LOL!!!
>I see I’m rotated a lot to her, shouldn’t I be more feet forward? Also I’m almost to the entry she’s gonna take so not sure if I’m too far up.
Yes – you can be facing straight more and not be as far ahead. To get that, send her to the first tunnel entry from further away (closer to the exit). Then as she exits, meet her at the exit of the tunnel more and walk forward, facing straight, showing the arm cue and giving her the verbal. Then let her turn herself away – no arm swooshing and no foot turning 🙂 The motion supports the line and the cue indicates that she can turn away, so you can be facing forward to support that.
She did really well here and seemed like she was having a great time, so I think it will be easy for her!
>Also: she did her jump up thing and clipped me in the cheek!>
Yeah – ouch!
>Member how we tossed frisbee and it was HIgHLY rewarding? When I toss frisbees she had a hard time the next couple training sessions to know we aren’t doing that and she got a little over stim when I took the toy for the first “out” and thought she was either getting a frisbee throw or working….>
It is valid for her to think that the presence of the frisbee to possibly indicate it will be thrown, but it is ok to sometimes use it as a tug toy. If you are getting too much arousal on the frisbee, you can use it less 🙂 Regular tug toys are also easier to manage for tugging because they are bigger. But don’t ignore the face launching!
Something to consider: I give my dogs feedback on that, meaning that the game absolutely stops, always, if they leap at my face. (I also give them feedback if they launch at someone else’s face, which they really don’t do – probably because maybe they tried it once and I gave them feedback LOL!)
It might be as simple as I take their collar immediately and freeze there for 10 seconds or maybe they can go in a crate for a minute and we restart.
It is not a behavior that I think is at all acceptable (and can be dangerous!) so I don’t need to approach it with sunshine and rainbows LOL!! Sometimes it is OK to provide a consequence that says to the dog “this is not going to be a rewarding moment”. My youngest dog has jumped at my face once or twice and the game has ended immediately – no more face launching. Another example, I was recently taking care of someone’s year old dog and on a potty walk, he launched at my face high enough and fast enough to knock my glasses off. I took his collar and just quietly held him next to my leg for about 10 seconds… no more face launching. The collar hold is done quickly and unemotionally, and has no fallout in terms of collar holding because the other 99.9% of collar holds are associated with fun times.
Yes, it is an arousal regulation moment but the feedback of “it is unacceptable to leave the toy I am presenting and launch at my face” (which is what happened here) is valid feedback and part of arousal regulation too! Don’t just ignore it, I definitely suggest providing feedback – never harsh, just a quick, clear, stop in the action.
Now, to be better prepared, you will want to change your mechanics in the transitions to help her know what to do instead – the mechanics here made it really hard to deliver information about what to do, and hard to deliver info about the launch being unacceptable because your hands were full (hard but not impossible :)) So cleaning up the mechanics can be something like having your toys and treats ready to go in pockets or on a table before she enters the training so both hands are available. Or, she starts the session waiting on a platform or bed, so you can bring her in cleanly. The frisbee here was stimulating and the first 40 seconds were about getting the toy and treats and your position ready – that can all be done before she is there (then call her into the session). That can also help eliminate the face launching!
She did well turning away to the barrel! You can start fading out your hand cues a bit by showing the turn cue hands but doing less and less ‘swoosh’ to turn her away to the jump. That way she can turn herself away 🙂 And you can start adding motion, with you moving slowly forward up the line and giving her the cues.
>I don’t know if I want an arm ( you had asked this on the flat work too) I think I should? >
I think the dogs do best with arm cues – I use 2 hands, both pretty low with the opposite arm being super prominent. Lots of people do 1 hand – a super prominent outside arm. Some people do a low dog-side hand with a closed fist, but I think that one is the hardest one for the dogs to see.
Nice work here!!
TracyGood morning!
Great question! Backside jumps do have some grey areas because there are so many different exit lines, and I personally don’t want to add MORE verbals.
>I personally use separate cues for backside wrap and backside slice.>
Same here!
So I have 2 backside verbals, and they are based on the entry and exit wings:
– “Back” is my verbal for ‘push to the backside/stay on parallel line – enter on that wing, exit closer to the other wing. So it is pretty slicey.
– “Dig” is my verbal for when the dog pushes to the backside/stays on the parallel line, then enters on one wing and exits on the same wing – LOTS of collection.
>Backside Slice Verbal (Back Back) This means “go out to the backside of the jump away from me and slice the jump”, which could imply pushing away to go there or staying on the parallel path line. >
Yes – looks like you “back” and my “back” have the same meaning – enter on the push wing and exit on the other wing-ish. It is not always a perfect slice as there are many variations, but the dog jumps in extension.
>Backside Wrap Verbal (DigDigDig) This means “go out to the backside of the jump away from me and wrap the jump, creating a 360 degree turn”, which could imply pushing away to go there or staying on the parallel path line.>
That is similar to what my dig dig is as well –
>So you’d use your “backside wrap” verbal only for when it’s a 360 wrap? Or would it be the same verbal if it’s a backside with the entry and exit wing being the same but it’s more of a 180 back towards where they were coming from than a 360 turn continuing forward.>
Because there are so many variations, I also use it when it is not a full 360 but the dog is still entering and exiting on the same wing. For example, if I do a tight FC (like the turn and burn game) and head away on a 90 degree angle or back the direction they came from, or some similar really collected turn. It still fits my criteria of entering and exiting on the same wing (because there is a ton of collection when the dogs have to do that).
The dogs seem happy with that and are better prepared for the collection required on the dig versus back, because we are giving them the info so early. I used to use ‘back’ for everything except a full 360, but the dogs didn’t collect as well on the really tight wraps that were not full 360s. Using the same verbal has solved that problem (and my handling doesn’t matter as much LOL!!)
Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning! I just saw this! You and Joplin were great in class – it was lovely to see things getting back to normal!
Tracy
Good morning!
>I’m finding that the hardest part of the process is getting the helpers to follow directions LOL. The more is better mindset is prevalent when it comes to distraction work.>
Yeah….. you might have to use velcro or duct tape to get people to stand still or do what you ask.
>Did some work on thursday with ring crew having the reward and tossing it after he passed them – >
Yay! Perfect!
>that went well until the RC decided to start waving the lotus ball in the tunnel mouth while he was approaching.>
Well….. I am sure Coal was like WHAT THE HECK! That is definitely a distraction that would make no sense to him. It was probably confusing for him and I think that the RC definitely needed to be velcro’d to a chair so they don’t freestyle any distractions.
> Also got in a good sequence with a person sitting on the floor in the middle of the ring>
Awesome!!! I am sure that was challenging – he feels the need to check weird things out so that was definitely a little weird and different!
>My Friday group was better at following direction, they got stand there and do nothing LOL. Got is some good reps with a leash runner behind him. No video>
Super!!!!
>Saturday, I volunteered as a demo team in one of the facilities. We did a bunch of chill and MYOB in a fairly busy environment – went well. Also did a couple of short demo runs which went well. Video attached for this.>
This was a great experience for him and he was a superstar! People, dogs, the person talking on the mic – so many big challenges. And being ‘center stage’ for the agility put him right into the pressure cooker of distractions… but he did GREAT! Yay!!!
>Tonights plan is to set up some short sequences and reward after passing the leash runner or ring crew.>
Let me know how it went! He might have been brain-tired from his busy weekend, so I am looking forward to hearing about the class!
Tracy
Hi!
Strong session here too! He needed to sort out his footwork – on the first 2 reps, he was a bit bouncy/hoppy. But after that, he lowered his head and really powered through brilliantly.One suggestion: when you say. the left/right verbals, you can hold him so he doesn’t start without you – then say the verbal 3 or 4 times before releasing him, so we can attach the verbal to the behavior more easily (by separating it from motion). And, as he is going around the setup, you can keep saying the verbal because he is turning on each bar – that also helps us strengthen the verbal.
Great job here!
Tracy
