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Keep me posted! It was fun to see him working with complete engagement in a big field with all those people around.
T
Good morning! Lovely session here! You sorted out the line she needs to see on the tandem turns because that is the strongest part of the cue.
When you stepped to the wrap side of the wing (very first rep and first tinme you did both wings at :40) your feet & shoulders were facing the wrap side so that is where she wanted to go. But when you turned more and were facing parallel to the line to the turn away side of the wing: perfection!! She got it every time on both sides. And it was easy for me to see where should would go, based on you turning to move parallel to the turn away line. Yay!
I grabbed screenshots so you can see what I mean:
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1v6JQEktSFTBhIw_94evzZJt3Za2pn-lTAgB29WeKnHk/edit?usp=sharing
That line you set will be key for the tandem turns and also for the threadle wraps when we add them.
Great job!!
TracyGood morning!
>She was so cute and I loved her jump to try and catch it.
It was really adorable!!
>I have used the word switch for rears with all my other dogs. Sometimes I have combined it with left/right, but not often because I screw it up, and thankfully they’ve learned switch is only for rears and sometimes changing lead leg.>
If switch is only a turn away/rear cross, then you don’t need left or right because she will already know that based on your location. One less thing to have to remember LOL!
>I see what you mean about using Go. I don’t think I’m that great with verbals in general. What word do you use to indicate take a Jump? I’ve used Jump and Go.>
I have a lot of words 😂 mainly because there is no way I can outrun my dogs, and I like UKI which has bigger distances. So the directionals all imply commitment to the jump:
* Go means go straight, full extension, looking ahead
* Jump means take the jump straight-ish on a gentle curve towards me, no real collection. Relative extension. It is for that middle ground between full extension and turns with collection, probably what you think of when you ay ‘regular jumping’
* Wrap cues for tight wraps, coming back around the wing (I have one for each direction – noises, not words – and many folks use ‘wrap towards me’ and ‘wrap away from me/rear cross’)
* Soft turn cues for collected turns to create 90 degree lines that are collections but not wraps. I use left and right for that.I have more verbals than these, but I don’t want to scare you off hahahaha and you might not need all of them unless you decide you want to do UKI or international stuff.
>Do you think it’s necessary to use a cue word for regular jumping? >
I don’t think you need one for every single jump (I mean, you will have to breathe at some point too haha) but it is good to name the obstacle. I added the ‘jump’ cue because it helps when the dog is working at a distance and it REALLY helps when faced with the popular jump versus tunnel discriminations. Currently popular course design challenges in every organization is to have a jump and a tunnel next to each other so the verbal cues REALLY help.
>I’m actually thinking of changing my release word from OK to maybe Break. I say Ok all the time in regular life and have realized that might be confusing for the dogs.>
Dogs are brilliant at context so they might have it figured out, but also being ultra-clear is always better!
>Once I think I said it as I was getting Gromit’s leash at the end of a run and he was right in front of the gate and thought I was telling him to jump. So he jumped it, and then jumped right back into the ring. Luckily we hadn’t Qd.>
OMG Gromit!!!! You must have had a small heart attack in that moment LOL!!! These dogs are SO athletic and honestly, incredibly verbal. I think my hounds/lurchers are better are learning verbals than my herding dogs.
Let me know what you think!
Tracy
Good morning!
This was really good in 2 ways:
– he was organizing his jumping nicely with more speed, super useful for the future!
– he was very pumped up and excited, just like he will be at the start line for a trial run 🙂 so he got to practice his stay and his jumping when he was more stimulated. Perfect!The hardest part was holding the stay when you picked up the big toy but you mixed in a ton of reinforcement so he had a lot of success.
The only suggestion is to lead out a further before the release, so the toy is 2 or 3 strides past the last jump. That way he will maintain form over jump 3 instead of immediately reaching for the toy.
Remind me how old he is? I want to start thinking about raising bars.
Great job here!
Tracy
Hi!
This went well! He is committing nicely on the get outs in general and I am very excited about how he had ZERO mistakes on the go!
When you really started to trust his commitment and turn as soon as his head turned (like at :21, :44, 1:14, 1:26) his turns were amazing! When you were a little later, the turns were wider but no worries, it will be easier when things are not nearly as close 🙂 and you have more time to start the turn.
> He only had one time to miss the get out
Yes, that was at 1:45 and it was actually really funny: he jumped *next* to the jump LOL!! I think he was on his way then saw you turn away from the blind and said WAIT WHAT?!?!
You waited a shade longer on the other reps, and then he had it 🙂 You can start to do the blind earlier again now that he is not so surprised about it 🙂Great job!
Tracy
Hi! YouTube got itself together LOL The Diamond is the hardest wing-tunnel game! You were doing a great jb of making handling adjustments to get the line you wanted. Yay!
On the blind crosses – at the beginning, you were working the connection on the exit of the blinds, but he is still wide because the connection is late 🙂 (I know, I am a pain in the *ss)
Two things that will get tighter turns:
You will quicker on the blinds if you keep your arms in tighter to your body, rather than fully extended.
And show exit line connection with the toy across the body, not in the new dog-side arm. So start with the toy in the dog-side arm for the previous line (left hand for when he exits the tunnel at :10 for example. Keep the toy in that hand, no switching! Then as you finish the blind, put that hand across your body so he can see the toy. That will get your new dog-side arm back and out of the way so he can clearly see connection.
The toy is more of an aid to get you to connect – he is not targeting the toy, he is looking for connection. We can see that he is not targeting the toy towards the end of the session:
You were trying to ‘catch’ him with the new dog side arm (even dropping the toy in at 3:56 and 4:27 & 4:49) but they don’t read that and went wide- he didn’t really come to the new side til you stopped moving. They read the eye contact on the new side for the blinds, and the toy hand across the body makes it super clear.
Note how low and tight your arms are on for the FC at 1:18 and how you made direct eye contact back to him… and how gorgeous that turn was!!!
The race tracks are hard on this game!
Face the line to the middle wing longer at 1:22 – you were saying right and turned right so he didn’t take it. Much better at 1:40 so you got htemiddle wing but you decelerated which pulled him off the next line. Less decel and more hustle got it on the next rep – good job throwing the reward on the line so he learns to look at it more and you don’t have to be as perfect 🙂At little rushing at 2:40, so he didn’t take the tunnel (I feel this pain). You connected more at 3:05 but your body was still turned away from the entry. Nailed it at 3:30 & 3:50 with motion showing the line to the tunnel. He keeps you honest 🤣😂
Great job here!!
Tracy
Hi!
She is committing to the wings really well here!
SHe was a little wide on the blind cross exits, mainly because she didn’t see connection that clearly. As you finish the blind, use exit line connection to get a tight turn to the new side. This is when the original dog side arm (left at :04 and right at :22) is holding the toy all scrunched up, so when you do the blind that arm comes across your body to really open up connection. That way she sees the new line really easily.
You were holding the new dog side arm out with the toy, but she didn’t see connection – so even with the toy visible, she was not sure where to be and drifted wide. It is proof that they look for connection rather than target our hands or toys 🙂
The race track is looking good! You can decelerate into the wrap at :50 – she was wide because you were a little late telling her about the turn. Gorgeous connection with your eyes on her eyes at :54! Then maintain that connection and stay closer to the line at :55 – you peeled away a bit and said tunnel before she got to the wing, causing her to skip the wing.
She had a question about which side of the wing to go to a 1:22 – I think it was because you were decelerated and also looking ahead of her instead of connecting directly to her, so that changed your line and she picked up the inside of the wing.
Compare to the next rep at 1:26 where you were connected beautifully as she exited the tunnel, so she went directly to the wing. Yay! She didn’t finish the wrap there but that might have been how you turned on the FC – you stepped back towards the line she came in on, rather than out towards the next line (tunnel) which is what you did on the other reps.
I grabbed some screenshots of the connection moments, so you can see the visuals:
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1qF1LeSBUyj_1auW0Ni2ci2IQHlf5yuY3LNtv4qAtaCQ/edit?usp=sharingGreat job here!
Tracy
Hi! YouTube says it is still processing… can you check that YouTube is not trying to eat it?
Thanks 🙂
Hi!
It was fun to see her get the very first RC, right at the start! That is great because usually young dogs are NOT expecting a rear cross at all! The 2nd rep went great (RC to the other side)
You got a little laet on the 3rd rep but then you were back on track after that. Super!!
The one suggestion here is to not say ‘go’, because that implies going straight instead of turning away on the RC. You can use a general jump cue, but it might be better to use a directional. This can be left or right (whichever one matches the direction of the turn) or a rear cross cue (some folks use ‘switch’). I use left/right because it is very specific for the dog 🙂
Layering: This is a skill I bet you will use a lot, thanks to her big stride! Great job breaking it down for her so she could see that yes, it is good to go find the jump on the other side of the tunnel! Moving the jump in closer was a smart training move – it limited the opportunity to go past it (without making it impossible) and made it easier to find the bar. As you move the jump back out away from the tunnel, you can put another wing on the side closer to the tunnel (2 wings next to each other to make a giant wing). That way the bar is still the main focus and it is still a little harder to skip between the jump and the tunnel.
One more thought: the left verbal on the start wing might have actually turned her too tight! So this is a place where I think using ‘go go go’ will be very effective for her.
She was a little tired by the end but you got her back for one more good rep by making the toy super fun.
> I have a hard time remember all the set up and practice directions when I get out there so things seem rough. I’m sure it doesn’t help that it’s after work and my brain is tired. >
I feel this pain! I have hit the age where I forget things in 30 seconds LOL!! You can take a screenshot of the field guide on your phone (or have it on your phone already) and that way you don’t have to remember things – the field guide and maybe a screenshot of the setup will make it easier 🙂
What did she catch at 3:02 when she jumped up? So funny!
Great job here!
Tracy
Hi!
>We tried some right rear crosses again. This time she took the jump but is doing an extra spin. I think I’m pushing off into her too early?>
What was happening in those moments were you were still behind the tunnel exit so she couldn’t really see the info – so she looked back at you, then it was too late for her to adjust fully into the RC. Here are visuals of those moments:
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1TX9cmc5uj2ztNzLVjrZ_JuGwmmSGSIVc-ZD2IDgadjM/edit?usp=sharing
The last 2 reps had you moving forward more to get her to commit to the jump, but that caused the RC info to be late (so she turned left).
So to help her see the RC line, you can get ahead of her before she exits the tunnel so she sees you a bit ahead. You can send to the start wing from even further away to make that easier 🙂 That way as she is exiting the tunnel, you are visible on the RC line to the center of the bar of the jump. You can put a little more space between the tunnel exit and the jump so she can get past you, but I think having you a little ahead of her at the tunnel exit will help a lot.
Turn Aways:
>She is not too fond of this one. She was able to do it a few times for one wing but not wrapping to one.>
She was actually so funny here! On the one wing reps at the beginning, things went well mainly because there was no toy in the picture. The food is fine, she says, but things changed the more the toy came into the picture – she stopped wanting to lock onto the cookie hand and very politely asked if she could just have the toy thanks LOL! Ok then 🙂 You can either stick to cookies only and have the toy in your pocket, or you can scrunch up a toy and have it in your hand rather than a cookie – that way there is no conflict as she is learning this between following the cookie hand (which she thinks is 🥱😴 when a toy is visible) and following the toy hand (which she thinks is 🥰👌🎉)
Wind in your hair went really well! You can start decelerating even sooner: as she exits the start wing, you can start your verbal and begin decelerating as long as you continue to face forward until she takes off. On the left turn reps, you were decelerating as she was about halfway to the jump so the turns were tight! On the right turn side, the decel was a little later, coming as she got close to the jump, so she was a little wider on that side. Starting the decel sooner will tight that up as well as teach her to commit in collection, which is hard for you dogs.
Smiley face threadles:
These were lovely but either I need more coffee (always a possibility) or these were front crosses not threadles 🙂 An example would be at 1:08 where you sent her to the wing on your left side, then did a FC to your right side to show the line to the tunnel. And at 1:35 when you sent her to the red wing on your right side then did a FC to get her on your left. That kept her on your outside of the line on the way to the tunnel, turning to you. The threadle arm opened up lovely connection so she had no questions!To turn it into a threadle, you will want to send her to the wing before the tunnel and keep her on the same side, with the threadle arm cueing her to come in while you turn to the tunnel entry you want. That will put her on the inside of the line, turning away from you to get to the tunnel entry.
Nice work here! Let me know what you think!
Tracy
Hi!
> So, he’s super interesting to me and does still get very work focused at times and in “work” settings. The past few days I’m letting him watch Rip train in the house and outside using toys instead of food so he can see what that looks like. He seems to be starting to see that you can work for toy play.>
It is entirely possible that ‘work’ is the highest value reinforcement right now. That would not be surprising on many levels 🙂 Because of the needs of agility training, we can balace that into convincing him that things like coming in to line or put his hand in your collar are also ‘work’, that leads to more ‘work’ LOL! And as the value pendulum shifts as he grows, we can take forays into eating food as ‘work’ or tugging in certain environments as ‘work’. I don’t mean that in a bad way – it is more about him loving the work and the movement, so we can use something like ‘eating the treat’ as the behavior we want and the reinforcement is… more work! Because he loves the work. Then it all evens out where it is ALL reinforcing in a nice balance. Every drivey herdy dog at some learns that eating or tugging are a fun bit of ‘work’, rather than just obstacles. Let me know if that makes sense 🙂
>Then knowing he’s not super hungry anymore we’re doing some training for just the toy with Vibe. We’re getting there, he just has a very interesting mind and personality.>
Great! I prefer to train when pups are NOT super hungry! And yes to the interesting mind & personality. He sure does!!! That is why I love training different breeds: we learn so much about the breed and the individual.
>This morning we did a super short strike a pose for toy only (so no cookie tosses to help with the start yet).>
The hand target element looks strong! He was really into the toy as well 🙂 You might need to keep your hand lower to maintain good hits (although we do fade out the actually hitting of the hand pretty quickly).
A non-cookie toss way to start that might also be super fun for him: he loves his send to cot behavior, right? You can set up a behavior sequence: tug tug tug then send to cot, release to hand target, reward with toy, send to cot, and so on. That gives us the benefit of being able to have different start positions, and that can actually pump up the value of rewarding with a toy – because it is followed by work (cot) and more work (hand target). That could be super fun!
> He’s also in a baby agility class with Nancy Gyes that’s only happened 3 times due to the weather and our travel. We actually did a tunnel exercise there like you have in the content this week so sharing that here too. >
Very fun!! Is that Jessica with Bokeh? She is in MaxPup 2 Small world! He did great, of course 🙂 And we can see his love of work here – the moment the leash comes off, he heads to the work 🙂 Is that a bad thng? Nope! Not at all. But we can shift that to when the leash comes off, he stays with you (leash off, immediate cookies/toy, or leash off and you run the other way so he has fun chasing you). He is not disengaging or getting caught in the environment, we just want to make you the priority in the environment. That way he will also drive back to you in the in-between moments before the cues. The reasoning is two-fold: it will keep things in balance when he gets even more value for obstacles 🙂 and it will help keep him coming in for resets or starting next to you when things get more exciting with movement, especially if something has gone sideways 🙂 It is all a balance game so we watch for the little things at this stage to keep them in balance.
Great job!!
Tracy
Hi!
Lap turns are looking good, the only thing you can add is consistently stepping back with the leg like you did at :22: when your hand moves back, the leg steps back with it. That will set the best turns.
After the lap turns, you were doing threadle wrap foundations where she did a complete circle while you kept moving forward. Those went well! You can decelerate while you are cueing her to turn because that makes it easier for her to follow your hands. When you were moving forward, I think turning her away in a circle worked best when you used your dog-side arm and opposite arm together, not your opposite arm by itself because that was harder to coordinate.
At 1:10, you disconnected and it looked like you were starting a blind, which is why she started to change sides. Then she wasn’t sure and tried to offer a line up 🤣😂 My 2 year old dog is obsessed with lineups because he just started competing, so I feel your pain here LOL!!
The tandem turn is when you both turn and go the new direction (back towards where you started here) – you did one at 1:13 and it looked great!
We will be doing more with threadle wrap foundations coming up soon, and you can add in more tandem turns where you both turn.
Nice work!
Tracy
Yay! She did great here!! No lineups 🙂 and great targeting! You will be able to relax your foot position as we build up the game but for now, feet-together for the win! You can move to the next steps of strike a pose, where you can have a toy as the reward instead of a cookie. And you can also start getting the reward to the ground – an empty food bowl (that you drop the cookie into) or a toy on the ground.
>Also, thank you for examples of what games represent what>
I try to put it in context so you all aren’t think it is a just a series of weird dance moves hahahaha!
Nice work 🙂
Tracy
