Forum Replies Created
-
Posts
-
Good morning! Lots of great work here!
The left & right minny pinny went well when he had to turn towards you!
Turning away was much harder so if something goes wrong, don’t mark it or reach for him (you had some avoidance when that happened). You can line him up with a reset cookie at your side then try again.
He had more than the 2 failures for the 2 failure rule here, so you can get him understanding turning away with a placed reward between the bars as a focal point (hold him as you place it, then start the verbal, then let go). Do this going to his right first as that seemed the easier direction for him to go. And that will take out the turning towards you then turning away chain he was offering 🙂Finding the jump after the tunnel went really well too!
Rather than the PT, use a toy as the reinforcement. That’s partially because you’ll get more speed (he has to decelerate a lot for the PT) and partially so you practice the timing of the toy throw (as soon as he looks at the jump).
You can add more distance between the jump and tunnel now, as well as more motion for you 🙂
I agree, the serps were hard! 2 ideas to make it easier:
– start the session without a placed reward on the ground for now. The PT here was too big of a focal point so he had a hard time ‘seeing’ the jump. You can have a reward in your opposite arm and toss it when he takes the next jump.
– rather than turn your shoulders more or add the pressure of another person, we can make the bar more of a focal point by rotating it to face him more (it can start perpendicular to where it was here then very gradually rotate back to the flat angle of a serp. That way you can still move along the serp line (parallel to where the bar would be) and show the arm-back serp handling, but the bar would be a bigger focal point for him to lock onto.
This game is also good to live by the 2 failure rule – if he fails twice in the session, you can make it easier to get some success then finish the session. No need to do both sides, you can stay on one side for the whole session.
Great job!
TracyHi!
Yes, the toy with the zig zag game was definitely hard! He was a little confused about the release at first when the toy was involved (when the toy moved, or not?) and where to look (at the toy or at the wing) When you gave an exaggerated cue, he was able to get it – super! And using the toy worked the mechanics of these lead changes even when he was more stimulated (which is great prep for agility!) So you can definitely use the toy on this game specifically to work the mechanics when he is really excited.
He had questions about the stay release with the cheese too (broke position on the first stay) – so try to lead out with connection the whole time because connection can really support the stay. And if he doesn’t quite get the lead change, you can reward him because it is possible that your cues were not exaggerated enough for what he needs.
For the next session, you can mix in stay rewards by throwing the cookie back to him as well as adding a little more distance between the 2 wings.
Find the jump went well! He did a great job finding the jump!
The tunnel exit was not directly straight to the jump, so calling him was the right thing to help him find the line. Also, be sure to use a ‘get it’ marker when you throw the reward – I think part of the reason he was looking straight out of the tunnel was because you started throwing food, so he was figuring out if the arm movement was a cookie toss. A ‘get it’ marker for each throw will help him look for the line and not for a cookie toss until he hears it.
For the next session, you can add more distance between the tunnel exit and the jump, as well as more motion from you!
Great job here 🙂
TracyWow, this went great!!!!
Your timing is super on all of the verbals 🙂 The best results were when the physical cues matched the verbal timing, like on the first GO rep when you used your verbal and acceleration to get him to the wing after the tunnel, as well as on the left & right soft turn verbals too! Yay!No need to wait at the wing wrap after the straight line exit to move to the next tunnel cues – that was causing your verbal cues and physical cues to not match, so he had small questions:
For example, at :08, you waited for him to finish the wrap which made you a little late showing the acceleration for the GO, so he curled in a little. When you waited at the wing wrap at :36 and :49 then game th cue to turn right, the verbal timing was good but the body was showing acceleration, so he did turn but ti was wider than on the other right turn rep. So, you can send to he wing and when he commits (arriving at the wing is probably a good guarantee of commitment for a baby dog :)) you can do the front cross and move away, so you can show acceleration for the go or turn for the right verbal.Great job here!
Tracy
Hi! The serps went really well!!
She easily found the line on the first 2 videos when the jumps were very angled, no problem. You didn’t have your serp arm back on those, so you can practice that even though the angles were really easy for her 🙂
You started the serp cues on the 3rd video (2nd post here) but the best serp cue was on the last video (adding the tunnel on the other side). At :05, as she was exiting the tunnel, you already had the serp cue visible so it was very easy for her to read – perfect!!!
Hold that upper body position for another couple of strides – since it is also the cue to go to the next jump, you can hold the upper body in serp position until after she lands from the serp jump *and* steps towards the next jump. If you turn forward to cue the next jump, you might inadvertently cue her to go past it (especially if your position is not perfect or the line is not easy).
Great job here!!
TracyGood morning!
Turning away is going really well! The right turns were easier, as expected, and I think the mechanics were a little cleaner on that side in terms of the cookie not moving while she was processing.
The left was a little harder but she was able to do it as long as there was not a competing visual to process – in this case, the competing visual was the cookie hand moving (cheese is life!). If you were reaching for the treat and starting the verbals at roughly the same time, she struggled to turn to her left away from you (like at 1:20ish). But when the cookie was not moving for a bit longer then you started the left turn cues… she was able to process it (like at 1:31). So after you line her up and get the cookie ready, you can take an extra couple of seconds with no movement before starting the turn cues.
The line up and collar holding went really well, very smooth mechanics here and she seemed to be happy to do it! And it is fun t hear that she is moving towards you ‘gimme your collar’ hand 🙂
Fingers crossed that the snow melts while you are in Chicago! Safe travels and see ya there!
Tracy
Good morning!
>>We tried a Mini-Pinny verbals session with our makeshift travel agility setup The mountains got a couple of feet of snow, so we are taking the pups on a few days of advenutre.
This is awesome! I love your creative travel setup! The towels were great for teaching the concept indoors.
He did really well turning away to the right! The only thing I would add is to hold his collar, say ‘right’ a few times, then let him go because that helps him process the verbals before he starts moving (you did that at the very end of the left turn reps and he totally looked to his left!)
And yes, the left was definitely harder – he did sort it out but it was after turning to his right first 🙂 So you can help him out by placing the reward as a focal point before you start her verbal: hold his collar, toss the treat or toy out on the line between towels 1 and 2, start the verbal, then let him go to turn to his left. That should help him sort out the mechanics of turning away to the left which is definitely a brain-exploder 🙂
Great job here! Enjoy your snow adventures!!!
Tracy
Good morning!
She did great with the quicker zig zags! No problem at all. You can keep shortening the distance until they are 3 feet apart. But for the next session, be sure to rotate the wings so they are perpendicular to where they were here – you can visualize that they are jumps with a bar (but no bar yet for this game). Her line up spot would be next to the flat part of the wing (not the jump cups).
Great job with the find the jump game too! It looks like you gradually added distance between the jump and the tunnel, and also changed your position a bit. She seemed to have no trouble at all. Super! So for the next session, you can add a little more distance as well as changing your position:
– You can run all the way to the tunnel then hesitate before running forward again, so she blasts ahead of you
– You can send to the tunnel and get miles ahead of her
– You can add more and more lateral distance, so you are further away from the jumpWith all of those options, you can add in a “go” verbal before she gets into the tunnel so she exits straight, and keep saying “go” for the jump too.
Great job here!!!
Tracy
Hi!
Hopefully no more rain and DEFINITELY no snow (especially because I am driving to Chicago today so pleeeeaaaaassssseeee no snow LOL!!!!)She did well here with the quick/tight zig zags!! I think she was a little surprised at wing 4 but did make the adjustment. Yay! You can keep your arms lower so it is easier for her to see, plus now that she has seen how fast she can do the lead changes, I bet she will be even quicker next time.
>>We also did more send and serp, and I swear I filmed it but it’s nowhere to be found. She did well, but I wish I had video so I could see my arm position. We will try again.>>
Yes, I know the pain of thinking I filmed something then not being able to find it LOL!!!! If you are stuck indoors you can work more speed on the serp by moving faster even if you start from a stay rather than a send to a wing.
Great job here!
TracyGood morning!
Sounds like a crazy day with the dog visitor! Glad you were able to get training in between the crazy weather too!
Nice job on the discrimination game, it is a hard one! This is one of the strongest first-sessions that I have seen (usually there are more errors). She seems to have a strong understanding of ‘cot’ especially when you say it softly. Finding the tunnel was a little harder for her but you were great about making it sound SUPER different and saying a whole bunch of times before letting her go. Yay! You can even play this game sitting in a chair 🙂 so there is zero physical help and verbals only.
Looking at the serps: These went great!!! Only one suggestion on these: have you serp arm back sooner, so she can adjust the jumping to make the “s” line before takeoff rather than after landing.
On the first serp video, lead out with the serp arm back and with connection before you release her so she can be organized before she leaves the sit and also so she doesn’t think the release is the arm cue. Then as you get to the exit wing of jump 1, you can release her with the verbal. You will see her take off for the serp jump already turned to the next line, rather than jumping towards you then turning after landing.
The timing of the serp arm being back Video 2 is to open up the serp arm as soon as she is lifting for jump 1. You did it just before takeoff for 2 at :02 and :11, so she is not making the 2nd turn of the serp until after landing.
As you angled the jumps and added more motion, you can see that the serp arm is coming just before takeoff for the serp jump (Video 3 at :05, :24, Video 4 at :04, :20, and Video 5 at :01, :11) So she is taking off directly to you and turning after landing. If the serp arm is up as she is over the first jump, she will takeoff look at jump 3. And that will also allow you to move faster through the serp lines, which will be very useful when you add the tunnel (and more speed from her!)
>>I noticed that I need to only use the one arm and keep the other one out of sight. I look like i have helicopter arms in some of these video clips.
I didn’t really notice the other arm here because the serp arm was very clear! So don’t worry about that too much, because you made the serp arm very clear (it was probably just centrifugal force grabbing the other arm and lifting it up :))
Great job here!!!
Tracy
She was a speedster on the tunnel game!!!! She had terrific straight exits and only one moment of going too fast and running by the tunnel at :13.
When starting from the side wings – you can time the verbals sooner. The left/right/go were all when she entered, so you can keep the earlier timing of starting them when she is still about 5 feet before the tunnel entry.
At :34 proved she is understanding the GO verbal because you did a RC (which is a turn cue) but said GO so she went straight. Wow!
The RC cue at :41 was a little early turning to the next line, your feet turned before she was past you and pushed her off the line. The next RC was super nice! And nice job ending on the straight line!
On the serps – she is reading the come-in-go-out element of the serps and not running past that first jump too much 🙂 As you add more of your speed, open up the angles even more so she can find the jumps very easily (because motion is hard!) It looks like you might be a little far from the jump, which is why she is landing on the bar a few times on the one jump exercise. By being too far, the positional cue doesn’t help create the turn as much. So ideally you would be close enough to the jump to reach out and touch it with a relaxed arm – that way she can turn before takeoff and not over the bar or after landing.
>>She got the turn aways but she was tracking the toy.
It looks like that was because you were a little too far from the jump too so when she landed, the physical cue did not necessarily show the line to the 2nd jump. If you are closer to the jumps and a little more ahead, she will automatically turn to jump 2.
>>I did the same session with Frankie who loves serps and she ran past the jumps, which I think means my “usual” serp body cues are different for her. How do you evolve your mechanics when you have multiple dogs that may have different nuances? Do you just remember which dog needs different things on course or do you keep training the newer mechanics with all of them?>>
Great question! What does Frankie’s serp usually look like? I personally cannot remember a lot of different handling (currently running 4 dogs and getting 2 more ready, OMG hahahah!) so while I remember some specific individual needs, the handling is pretty much the same for the 11 year old dog as it is for the 3 year old dog. That means if there has been something I have changed, I will show it to the older dog. And if the older dog says WHAT THE HECK then I will do the younger dog’s training exercises too with the older dog. The older dogs usually just pick it up very quickly because most of the changes are to make it clearer for the dog, but there are a few things that are harder (like threadles, for example). Hope that makes sense!
Nice work here 🙂
TracyGood morning!
>>. I did realize that I need to work on a clear targeting criteria. He is still working on his hup it up confidence and he is not popping right into position.>>
Yes, for now, it is a matter of BIG paychecks (meatballs 🙂 ) for jumping on the end – we aren’t worried about position yet. To plan for position, what are you using for targets and what is your desired end position?
I love the video angle here!!! The session went well – the first rep was a spin and the timing was good! On the spin here and the blinds on the next 2 reps, you can send less and move into it more. What I mean by that is to stay in motion and ue your arms less. On the blinds, your arm got really high (above shoulder height) so he did go to the wing… but the arm being extended and high delays the quickness needed for the tight blind (because you have to draw your arm back in then turn). If the arm stays low, you will be quicker to reconnect – and that will make the blinds even smoother and tighter. The reconnection here was a shade late, so he thought the focal point was the toy 😁 and then did change sides when he saw the reconnection when he got closer to you.
So keeping your wings (arms ) in tight and low will allow you to reconnect before he even exits the wing – he is a speedy little dude (so is Skipper) so super quick reconnections will get amazing turns and lines!
Great job here!
TracyHi! Tons of great stuff here!
The lefts and rights are going really well!!! She is REALLY good at this game, especially because you were not using a lot of motion to help. When she had a question, you were good about helping her out – like at :48 and :55 when you were cuing a left but she was facing the right turn line. That was super hard so you were moving over to help her out and she got it. Yay! That neutral position where you were right in the center of the wings was a little hard, a few too many errors – so for now you can be a little off center on the side you want the turn to, and after another session or two you will find that the neutral position is much easier.
Serps looked great!! No trouble at all! You can add more motion and get way ahead – she should still take the jump as long as you look back at her while showing the serp upper body. Your wraps looked great, she had no trouble with that at all.
The sound on the video cut out after about the 3:00 mark so I will assume your backside verbals were perfect 🙂 When doing the backside element of this try not to stop and send, try to keep moving along the Serp line while you are using your connection and upper body to send to the backside. That will help you get further ahead on the backsides too!
The zig zags also looked really good – easy peasy 🙂
She had a little trouble coming towards you to her left but I think that was more about the position of the MM being on her straight line there. When you had more drama in the handling, she got it with no trouble at all.She looks ready for the next step of moving the wings closer to about 5 feet apart (or 4 feet, if they were 5 feet here). That challenges you to cue faster and challenges her to make her lead changes faster too!
The sound came back for the find a jump game! Using the ‘go’ verbal really helped and she was able to find the jump with you ahead or behind. So the next step is to add a lot of lateral distance on a parallel line. On those, be sure to tell her to ‘go’ before she gets into the tunnel so she drives out straight and not waiting for more info.
Great job here!!!
Tracy
Hi!
I agree! He is doing really well with the left and rights! And it is fun to see him working for a toy so much more now.
Since he is doing so well, we can get the verbals even more independent. You were already. Fading out your motion in this session (super!) so the next step would be to hold his collar, say the verbal 3 or 4 times… then let go (and don’t move, let him do all the moving :))
If he can do that, then you can go to the next steps where you change your angles and have him tart turning away from you. When you start the turning away, you can jump start it with a placed toy out on the line: put the toy in between the bars you want him to turn towards as you hold his collar, then start the verbals, then let go.
>>I just hope I can remember the correct direction when on course, >>
You totally will! Planning and practice will help make them very comfortable to use 🙂
He is doing well with the serps too!! As you add more and more speed to your motion, stay really close to the jump (close enough to touch it!) with your feet parallel to the bar the whole time – without moving backwards at all. We want upper body to draw him in but not motion pulling him into the jump, because motion away from the jump will make cuing the next jump on a serp line harder. The upper body can test back to him more (dog-side arm extended like the original strike a pose games).
You got more of that going at 1:35 and the rep after it with the more extended arm & rotated upper body without moving back as much. Those reps looked great! Sometimes you would also use the cross arm instead – I think the strike a pose extended arm is clearer for him and you can keep moving forward better that way too!
Great job here :)
TracyUgh! The weather has been nuts recently! Fingers crossed for calmer weather ahead.
And I am crossing all fingers and toes for good x-rays!!!!!
Tracy
