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Good morning!
I am glad she is doing well with only a small setback!!! Hopefully she heals up FAST!!! And it stinks to have to go into the office for real, maybe it will rain so you aren’t missing nice weather 🙂
>>I am going to obsess a bit about tunnels to see if I am rear crossing tunnels when I shouldn’t be. Can I come back with questions if I start driving myself crazy?>>
Absolutely!!!! Bring the questions!
>>Question: Do I put the target down & reward in position & throw the reset cookie and leave the target in place and repeat? I just wasn’t sure if I needed to add the target each time after she gets on the board.>>Honestly, I think she was getting annoyed by waiting for the target LOL!! You were not being slow, she was just being super fast. So you can already have it on the board and let her leap into position, reward in position, then release and toss a treat off to the side to reset for the next rep.
Have fun!
Tracy
Good morning!
She is doing well with the left & right verbals! She had very few failures when you were off-center… but a lot of failures when you were centered on the wings. So, remembering the 2 failure rule (no more than two failures total in the session), you will want to stay off-center for another session or two and then inch your way to the center position. And if there are failures… dial it back to where she can be successful and don’t make it harder again, because she starts to slow down and guess at that point. We want to keep her confidence very high!
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The serps are going well too, with a lot more motion added now! She is doing really well with the left turns towards the jump (which is a slight right turn over the jump). The right turn to the jump (left turn over the jump) took a couple of reps to solidify – you exaggerated the serp cue and that really helped. Super!When adding the backside: you will get fewer questions if you keep your dog-side arm back pointing to her and not ahead of her at the jump, and move forward on a parallel line to her line to the backside for longer, before turning your feet to the next (serp) line.
At 2:34 and 2:39 you were saying ‘back’ but the high arm pointing to the wing turned your shoulders away from the backside line, and your motion also turned towards the front side, caused her to look at you with a question.
Then when you were further across the bar at 2:43, as she exited the wing your verbal said back but all of the physical cues said front so she took the front. You gave her an ‘uh oh’ marker but I really think a reset cookie is far better there: the uh oh marker implies that she is wrong… but what happened was the cues conflicted so she correctly went with the stronger cue (all the physical cues and motion). So, rather than mark it as wrong, reset her with a treat and clarify the cues (or watch the video before the next rep to see what she saw). You can see her slow down and get sniffy after that, which we want to avoid, of course.
On the next rep at 2:49, compare to how your line of motion was parallel to the backside line for a lot longer and your connection was much better, so she went to the backside You were closer to the entry wing there which is fine, and as you get further across the jump, you will want to use the same physical cues. You also had a good line of motion and connection on the reps on the other side. Yay!
The zig zags are going well too! Be super clear here about supporting her if there is an error, because the chances are that the errors are human errors and not canine 🙂 and live by that 2 failure rule – there were a LOT of failures marked on this session. That can cause dogs to slow down and stress. So keep the sessions shorter and let her success level guide you as to how fast you can add more challenge. She did really well with 3 wings. Adding the 4th wing makes it harder of course! So at 3:51, the handling was late and you were moving backwards (which presents different motion info). So a reset reward is fine there (she was correctly following your motion). The same happened at 3:59.
At 3:54, the cue to make the first lead change was a little late too (it was after the release so she moved forward then saw the lead change) so she missed the first gap – again, a reset reward there is fine, no need at all for a ‘no’ marker because that can be deflating to her when she is reading the info correctly.
Note the difference in the cues at 4:04 and the reps after it to help her see all of the gaps. Those were more obvious and really helped her be able to process the cues and get her mechanics going.
Since I am being a pain about the 2 failure rule 😁 at about 4:30 you changed the picture a bit (other side, different use of the leg) and she failed times in a row. She did get some successes after that, but she slowed herself down and I think we prefer the speed and confidence! So when working the games as t hey get more challenging, don’t allow more than 2 failures (total) in a session. And you can spread the training out so that adding the challenges is more gradual over the course of a week or so rather than multiple challenges in one session.
Find the jump went really well!!!
>>I really enjoyed seeing her drive out of the tunnel so focused. >>
Yes! There was a lot of speed and a lot of reward! On the first rep (4:55), I think the pole got in your way: you were on the other side of it but not connected and didn’t say go, so she stayed on a straight line but it was past a jump. That is another good spot for the reset reward because human error caused the dog error 😁
The rest of the reps had great connection and line to support the jump, and she found it easily! She was confident and fast, even as you added layering the pole – and when you did run on the other side of the pole, you were still connected and she found it easily. You also added try ‘go’ verbal a lot earlier (before she got into the tunnel), which really helped as well.
Nice work here!
TracyHi!
>>It gave me time to “remember” the course and time for Teagan to play with his tug toy.
That is great! I like to play tug to buy myself some time to remember the course 🙂
>>I am not always getting out the correct verbal for a left wrap (FLIP) versus a right wrap (WRAP).>>
Definitely practice the words by jogging the sequence without him, then checking that you have used the correct one 🙂 And, remember that the flip & wrap verbals can be very quiet (compared to “GO” which is nice and loud) and that will help the turns too.
First video is marked left but it is rights at the beginning (and you used the correct verbal :)) . The left looked good too! Try to call the left & right verbals before he enters the tunnel so can turn tighter on the exit. You can add more distance between the tunnel and the wings, so you can move more and not send from a stationary position as much.
The lefts at the beginning of the 2nd video looked good – you were moving more instead of sending, which supports the line better. He is seeing good connection here too, which helps him find the lines!
When getting to the wrap wing after the go, you can still use a go before he enters the tunnel to help him propel straight out of it.
On the 3rd video – nice connection on this video, and you had even more movement Super! You can put a line on the ground about 4 feet before the tunnel entry, to mark the moment when you need to be starting the exit line cue (left, right, or go). You were starting the directionals when he was already going through the tunnel, so he didn’t make the turn til after the exit. Starting them before the entry will help him turn before he exits.
>>We still need work on the GO. >
To build up that skill, keep throwing the reward straight when he exits and show him acceleration too – the acceleration will predict the toy throw, so he will start to rocket straight out of the tunnel.
You had more acceleration at :38 and :50 on the 3rd video, so he had a better GO exit there. Yay! Remember to stay connected so that he can see which side to be on as you indicate the wing. You had better connection on the next rep there (:53) so it was a much smoother line.
Great job here!
TracyHi!
She did well with the jump angling back to being ‘flat’! You can move the PT to where the next jump would be (almost parallel to the exit wing of the serp) so your line of motion will be parallel to the jump bar even more (not moving away to give her the one to the PT). That will add a little more pressure because she has to jump really close to your leg, so you can angle the jump a little if she has questions.
The FCs are also going well! Your connection looked really strong, and th best reps with motion had you moving on the line in the gap, rather than to the jump. Her only blooper was at 1:23 when your connection was strong but your motion towards the jump on the FC overrode the connection. The rest all looks great!!
Great job here!
TracyHi!
This is looking great! I am laughing that you called them lazy – nothing lazy here, you were both hustling! Yay! Super strong session here. You did a great job with your connection going to the wing on all the reps: perfect! On the wing exits, you were very strong too – there was only one spot (:08) where you can see you were looking ahead on the way to wing 3, so she was behind you for a bit and not sure which wing to go to. The other reps had clearer connection, so she knew where to be each time, including the reps where you did a blind to the threadle wrap on the last wing! Super!!
Great job here 🙂
TracyHi!
>>Speaking of which, my friend who recommended your classes to me said you sometimes travel to teach seminars. Do you happen to have the west coast on your travel list this year? I’d love to take a lesson in person one day!>>
I would totally love to meet you and the girls!!!! I think the furthest west I go this year is Iowa if you are up for a road trip… maybe Utah in the fall but we are working that out. I will keep you posted!
The contact discrimination game is SUPER hard – anything that is verbal only with no handling cues is sooooo hard for the dogs at first.
>>Three, she also seemed confused because I had no motion. >>
Yes – the lack of motion can be mind-bending for the dogs. Kashia definitely seemed to think you were insane LOL!!! The ‘place’ cue was easier, probably because she is used to getting on the place without you moving? And the tunnel was harder because the place had more value in the lack-of-motion context at first… but then it got more value when she got it right a few times, so she had to ‘find’ the place again. So hard!!
>>I only included a few but in between those bloopers, she’d do pretty well. Why do they back track like that? One minute we get 3, maybe even 4, good reps and then all of a sudden it’s like we are back to square one with not knowing which to do. >>
My guess is it is depletion in the brain – they get a little brain tired and use their train of thought. And since it is a new skill, it is easy to lose their train of thought LOL! Plus, if you change sides or change locations, it can seem totally different to the dogs and it is like going back to square one sometimes. All totally normal, and they figure it out with a couple of sessions. She did well here!!! And she will keep doing better and better each time she sees this crazy game LOL!
She did great getting right back onto the teeter board! She has a LOT of value for the teeter now – you can add a little ore tip so she has to jump up on it a little more (another inch for now). And if she is happy with that, you can also add slowly walking past the end of the board while she is moving into position. Picture it as when you are on course and she is doing the teeter, you will not want to stop with her when she stops – you will want to keep running while she holds her teeter position. Starting with very slow walking will get that going 🙂
>>I didn’t figure you needed to see me bouncing around like Tigger trying to excite her.>>
That was funny! She was like “YOU CANNOT DISTRACT ME FROM MY TEETER, HUMAN!!!” Hahahaha
Great job here!
TracyHi! Congrats on your reserves!!! Well done!!!! It is hard showing young Paps against the more mature dogs, it sounds like he did great!
Great job on the countermotion game! He was just about perfect on all of the countermotion sends because your cues were very clear: your arm & leg & connection all indicated the wing. His only question was at 1:37, where it looks like you didn’t have enough of a step to the wing, only upper body in use, so he looked up at you. And on the very first rep, I think he was looking at the tunnel like he (correctly) dd at 1:21 when you said left and he turned left… directly on the line to the tunnel LOL!! You would need a bit more of a left cue there, like a brake arm or more decel.
And I am impressed with his distance on the race track – he stayed out on the line brilliantly without needing a lot of running from you, but also turned when you asked him to. Yay! The counter motion-race track combos looked terrific 🙂
Great job on these!!!!
Tracy
Hi!
>> is this something I should not do with a tunnel? Rear cross the tunnel if the next obstacle is straight ahead? >>
I think it should be done very rarely and only if the verbal Go is super strong – if we do it a lot, then it will dilute the RC as a turn cue and the dogs will ignore it when we do what them to turn.
Thanks for the serp clip! Frankie looks great! I think you had a little bit of motion away from the serp jump to help draw her over it, and Frankie is experienced so she took the serp and also found the next jump with no problem. Your connection was great! But also yes, I bet you can get even tighter lines with a bit more upper body rotation and that way you can keep your motion going forward. It was already pretty close to what you are doing with Bazinga so I bet Frankie has no trouble with it.
On Bazinga’s serps: Driving out to jump 2 looked really good! The only questions she had on that were when she went to the backside – that was because you were a little too close to the jump so the backside line was the obvious line.
To get her to come into jump 1 for the serp more reliably, you can open up your arm more (rotate a little more at the waist) and exaggerate it by looking at your hand or the landing spot – that can really draw her in! I think on the reps that she missed, she was reading your motion and the upper body was being a bit too subtle 😁 so you can add drama with more rotation of the upper body and looking at the hand/landing spot.Both girls on the board at the beginning – SO CUTE!!!!
Bazinga was hilarious: she would get on the board, get her cookie, then back up to get back into position to encourage you to give the next cookie LOL!!! So you can take it a step further: reward in position one time, then release so she gets a cookie off to the side and has to jump back on and into position to re-start the targeting (rather than scooting back up the board then back down it LOL!) The target has basically convinced her to put her chin down even when the target is not there – that will be great for criteria on the end of the teeter! I am excited to add this to the moving planks/bang game!She is doing so well with her motion override game! She gets the sit most of the time, and on the other reps she stands still while trying to process it. Yay! You made things really exciting when she got the instant sit which is great but also made the next reps harder because she was more excited. Since she is doing the down on the plank… you can add the down cue to this game to see if she can do a down while you are moving – great prep for the teeter!
Nice work here 🙂 Let me know what you think!
Tracy
Hi!
Week 8 is 3 jumps and a tunnel to do it fully (but you can replace the tunnel with a barrel 🙂 )Week 9 uses less equipment (a tunnel and a jump would be good, and a plank if you have one that is easy to travel with).
Tracy
Hi!
She might not have been ready to see the a-frame in this context yet, because the a-frame mechanics are so much harder than the cot 🙂 The next step would be a plank replacing the cot, something that is easy to get on. That will help prime her for adding the aframe and dog walk too!
Tracy
Hi!
This went great! It will be fun to take it outside when the weather behaves so you have more running room!
My only suggestion here is to use a soft turn left/right verbal on the start wing when setting up for the serp, and use the wrap for the FC (when you didn’t want her to take the jump). It sounded like you had the wrap for the start wing on all of the reps here, but it is more of a soft turn and not a wrap to set up the line for the serp.You can also go to the next step of moving the start wing further back so the jump becomes more of a backside push.
Great job!
TracyHi! Good session on the set point!
>>I was hoping you could help with advice on what to do to tweak my set up or what I’m doing.>>
He is processing a lot of things here (mechanics, motion, etc) so the hits of the bar/bump came when you were running and also when you said a ‘get it’ marker a he was over the bump (or saying it and running, like in the last rep :)) So for now, drag the toy slowly, no running yet, and be connected to be sure he doesn’t move before the release (that is what happened on the first rep here). Then after he lands from the 2nd bump, you can say the ‘get it’ marker. That can smooth it out and let him focus on the mechanics of the movement.
Also, having the cones in front of the wings might present a depth perception visual he has to process, and that changes his approach to the bar. So let’s try it without the cones (use only the wings) and let me know how he does!
Keep me posted! Nice work here!
TracyHi!
>>Did we do this kind of proofing for the wing wraps? I feel like we didn’t, but could have missed it!
No, we used the wraps for proofing with the tunnel but not for turning away. That is coming soon LOL!
>>I realized I switched the order from your suggestion – said the verbal first then tossed the cookie on the away turn.>>
Your cookies tosses were good here – they were still visible before he started moving and that is the key! He was far more successful this session! Super!!! I think there was team coming out of his ears on the left turns when he had to turn away – that seems to be his harder direction to coordinate turning away.
>>What was really interesting is that he was resisting the collar grab when it was time for turn away turns and wanted to line up on the other side of the jump. ‘Um, you are totally wrong lady’ attitude :)!>>
Ha! Yes, he was probably like “Those turn aways are just wrong, human” LOL! But he did great!!! Sooooo much more success already!
>.I always try to end a session with something he finds very easy to make him feel extra successful. So we went back to the easy sides.>>
Yes, that was great and definitely easier for him. The next step would be to put this on jump bumps when you are back in your yard 🙂
Great job!
TracyHi!
Serps are definitely hard, especially with the handler movement and the distraction of the MM out there! The dog side arm being used makes it easier for the handler to run, but the opposite arm is also totally a valid way to do it as long as you don’t rotate your feet 🙂
When he had the errors at the beginning, you can totally reset with a cookie right away at your side, no hand touch needed – because that can get him back into position without leaping at you, and it will reduce frustration because there are till cookies flowing.
Good job breaking it down to help him out! I don’t think it was your arms that he was struggling with, I think it was more about having to come in over the jump rather than run parallel to it. You build it up by doing it on one jump and then reducing the motion, which totally helped!
For the next session, we want to show him the serp while you continue ti move with pretty quick motion (that was the hardest part for him) so angling the bar can help him out a lot. Rather than having the jump “flat” like a serp, you can leave the entry wing where it is but angle the exit wing towards the camera/away from you, so as he rounds the start wing, he can see most of the bump. You will still move forward on the same line as if the jump was a flat serp jump (towards the MM) and then he can get the serp over the jump in an easier way. Over the course of a few sessions, you can inch it back to being flat and he will still come in over the bar, even as you move (and with whichever arm you prefer :))
Great job here!
Tracy
