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Poor Rou! Ouch!!!!!
We see pad issues at a lot of the indoor turf places in this area. Also, because I play flyball and because I have sighthounds – I see a lot of dogs with pad burns/chunks torn and also skin tears. I use something called Absorbine Silver Honey Rapid Wound Repair – it is a spray gel which has Manuka honey and microsilverBG to heal things very quickly. It reduces healing time dramatically: when my whippet rubbed a raw spot under his dew claw from running, it healed it within a few hours and he was back to normal within 12 hours.When I bashed my forehead into an open microwave door at 10pm in the RV in the middle of nowhere (not my finest moment LOL!), I put it on the deep wound and covered it with a bandaid. I really thought I would need stitches but it took 2 days to heal entirely. Crazy!
So you can try putting it on her pad, then wrapping it with some pwerflex. You will probably need to use a cone to prevent her from licking at it (sorry Rou) but I tell ya the stuff is miraculous. I have used Manuka Honey on whippet skin tears for a few years and it is great for healing but the Silver Honey spray gel is about 1000 times easier to use and less goopy.
Keep me posted!
Tracy
Good morning!
>I’ve been feeling like my hands and arms can be a distraction for her sometimes. She like to try and grab them like toys and I also don’t think she totally understands what they mean in handling yet. >
You can totally have the toy stuffed in your pocket for handling games – we don’t need precision rewards in handling at this stage and it will help clarify where to look. We *all* mess us the verbal marker for the toy and revert to “yay!” Or move the toy before a marker, which can make it muddy for when she can look at the toy or not. So having it in the pocket allows you to focus on connection and not worry about the toy 🙂
>I try to keep the sessions short but before I know it 3 -5 minutes have gone by and I know that’s too long for her. I’m going to try and be more organized and ready to work with her, and set a timer.>
Yes, setting a timer is very useful! The other thing I do when training is I use music – I turn on silly pop tunes which are generally about 2.5 to 3 minutes long. And when the song is over, the session is over and the pup gets a break and the next dog can come out for the next tune 🙂 It is fun if you like music and a great way to track the session length.
On the morning video:
She was very engaged at the beginning of the turn away session but she wasn’t sure if you wanted her to work or not – you can keep her in the house as you plan, then bring her into the session so she is ready to roll right away.
One mechanics detail on the lap turn:
Keep your feet together until she gets to within a couple of inches your hand, then step the leg back along with the hand. If the leg is too early but the hand is good, she will be a little slower. If the leg and hand are too early, she will go to the other side of the wing like at 1:21.
The rep at 1:55 was great timing of hand and foot – backing up a bit helped her drive in! Really nice!
The turn away itself is (correctly) slow moving – so pair it with running and tugging as part of the reward 🙂 That will also alleviate the repetitive factor. Our sighthounds will do it, but then need the outlet of running around and killing the toy LOL whenever we ask them to drive to us while we are facing them, or if we ask for multiple reps. I think there were too many cookies for a moment when you did the left turns but then she was right back on board when you took off with the toy at the end 🙂
Evening session: she started off with good focus – add in more toy play here to keep her pumped up too. The toy play can start as soon as she comes into the session.
She is responding really well to the handling cues. When you are spot on, he is doing great! If something unexpected happens, it is almost always a handler blooper 🙂
On this video, at :41 on the tandem turn, you stepped her to the other side of the wing by moving towards it – you can still reward the ‘wrong’ side of the wing because that is info from the dog that we cued it by accident 🙂
You can see her light up at :58 when the toy came out!
Then you moved faster on the next rep AND rewarded with the toy! Happy hound!You can mix things up more for her: instead of the same thing a few times in a row, do it once and then do the other side, or a front cross – that will keep things from getting too repetitive.
When I need to sort out my handling – I walk it without the pup and then I might ‘test drive’ it with my more experienced dogs. Then the pup comes out and I am a lot more accurate in my handling 🙂
But whether I am right or wrong, I still do a lot of toy rewards (more than food) because it keeps the dogs in the right head space: for my terrier and herding dogs, it prevents frustration behavior of getting bitey 🙂 For the sighthounds/lurchers, it prevents the frustration behavior of slowing down or checking out the environment.
Nice work here! Let me know what you think!
Tracy
Good morning!
The grid session went really well!! He did a great job figuring out his striding as the jump moved each time. I am happy with his movement and his head position and his striding choices. All lovely!
>Do you like the 5′ distance for the ladder grid for him?>
Yes, for now, it is working well! Will it change when we add more height? Maybe, maybe not, he will let us know 🙂 But if it changes, it would only be by about 6 inches (so it would be about 4 feet 6 inches instead of 5 feet).
As you rotate this game into training, you can show him a little more height on the 3rd bar, just 2 more inches here and there. The first 2 jumps do not get more height, they can remain as jump bumps.
>He broke his stay once so corrected and then reinforced.>
Overall, the stay looks GREAT – you were able to jog out to position, pick up the toy, drag it…. That is lovely!
The broken stay might have been anticipation based on the rhythm of the release: we humans are very predictable 🙂 You were running out, grabbing the toy, moving it, then releasing all in the same rhythm. Try to mix that up more so he doesn’t think that the release happens after a certain # of steps or when the toy is in a certain spot.
>And yes, movement is definitely better for him when training outside.>
Yes – but also he is figuring out how to work outside and ignore distractions because the jump grid has soooo many stays and he did great!
Looking at the rear crosses:
Good boy for putting the toy in your hand!
What was happening here was that you were actually blocking the line to the bar – you were setting the line to the backside of the jump by turning your feet to the backside line. Then you had to pull him over to get him to the front side- but that set the line straight and not the RC. So by the time he was the RC, he was already taking the jump the other direction.
You can see it on the video from 6:17 – 6:20.
Compare to 6:36 – 6:39 where you did not block his line – your feet were facing the center of the bar as he exited the wing wrap and had better pressure to the RC line (towards the center of the bar) and he read the RC really well!
He was more forgiving of the line on the left turn side but you will want to be sure your feet are facing the center of the bar when he exits the wing. The last rep on that side was fantastic!
One thing to add in is more connection on the exit of the wing. He was drifting a little wide because you were looking forward and your dog side arm was pointing a bit forward, so it was hard for him to see where to be when he exited the wing. But on the last rep, you were beautifully connected as he exited and he was tight on the turn!
Here are screenshots so you can see the moments described above:
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1OGYeB_MmBKYI_Ofk2lyOcbRvjXPXFxUtxcUimeAf9Q8/edit?usp=sharing>I don’t know if I missed the info on Max Pup 2. Is there a deadline for submitting videos or can we submit up until Max Pup 3 begins? >
Let me know if you were getting the emails each week when games were posted – it comes from the agilityuniversity@gmail account and maybe it ended up in spam?
The last day for videos here in MaxPup 2 is tomorrow – you can see more in the course overview:
Then we give the dogs a little break before getting MaxPup 3 going 🙂 and maybe Mother Nature will cooperate too!
Great job here!
Tracy
Hi!
The handling combos went well!
I think it was adorable when she went to grab the toy on the first rep – silly and fun, but she wanted to play and that is GREAT! You had a chuckle then tried again, which is a good way to handle that moment.
Then after that, she had it figured out and at 1:00, she saw you throw the toy behind her but she was pulling to get to the wing to start the game. Brilliant girlie!!! LOVE it!!
The toy play and the running here got her really pumped up – all of the distractions fell away and she did great! I think the toy play works better for her outside when she is balancing all of the distractions that are bombarding her brain 🙂
As she exits the wing, make sure you get connection to her eyes before you take off and run to the toy. At 1:49, for example, she exited the wing and you were looking forward/pointing forward. She didn’t know which side of you to be on so she guessed. You get a big click/treat for rewarding her anyway even though it didn’t go according to plan. You had more connection on the next rep but you can make even more – hesitating at the wing to get that big connection before running forward so she gets the nice tight turn. You can use the exit line arm you are using with her brother Scotch to show the connection even more 🙂
And a TRIPLE GOLD STAR for when she ignored a jogger running past with a stroller. Wow! An off leash herding dog ignoring that challenge?!?!!?!?! I am so proud of her!!! That was impressive! Most dogs her age would not be able to do that.
Great job! Hope you don’t get any of that crazy weather today!
Tracy
She did great here! It was very challenging with soooo much in the environment but she was offering a lot of engagement! Super!
Dogs tend to have a natural preference when the environment is hard: some fidget or run around more, some get more stationary and a little frozen. This is normal and not even something they thing about 🙂 She wants to be stationary when the environment is hard – so you can help keep her moving by tossing the treats further away so she moves more to get them. The treats might have to be bigger and more visible (like chunks of white cheese) but getting her to chase them more will help even more with focus during distractions.
By contrast, if she was a dog that wanted to run around more when the environment was hard, we would have the cookies be a little more stationary 🙂
Great job here!
Tracy
Good morning!
The lap turns are going well! One small detail is to keep your feet together until she arrives at your hand: then step back. Your leg was already back and you can see she was not as sure about driving to you. Your arm position was perfect!
The tandems went great – I think she really likes the added motion of these, especially when there is more distraction in the environment. Yay! Fast and snappy!!!
>She wasn’t interested in the prop, so I tossed a toy instead>
She was definitely interested in chasing the toy here! When she got to it, if you keep it squiggling and moving away from her, you will get lots of tugging. Keep it nice and low so she can really grab it.
It looks like she did hit the prop at a bit so you can do a separate game for that – in the distracting area, prop hits for cookies is a great way to work through distractions too.
Nice work here!
Tracy
Hi!
>Interesting! Do you mean after she goes thru the uprights & gets her cookie? >
Nerd alert! Yes, increasing arousal actually puts the brain in a more optimal state of focus, making it easier to tune out distractions. It is a balancing act to get it right and not get toooooo much arousal – the resilience games have already started working on that and I have more arousal games coming soon too 🙂
Arousal is widely misunderstood in dog sports (but the science is very clear) so people think higher arousal is BAD but actually… it is very helpful! Overarousal (stress) is bad and we will work on making sure Sunnie can self-regulate and we can help optimize her arousal as she grow up.
>Maybe I should be using cookie tosses when she gets fixated on the birds or flying leaves too? >
Pattern games help but you can see if she will play tug! It can be cookie toss to start, then when she looks at you: tug tug tug woohoo! Then cookie toss, lather rinse repeat 🙂
>We went to Lowe’s today, there were moments she was fixated on a thing, she wouldn’t take cookies (I had her lunch kibble) as a lure to move her off of the object. >
Being distracted at Lowes is normal – that place is distracting to me too LOL!! And I can see why kibble is not interesting enough to override that 🙂 I have a hierarchy of food rewards for the different environments:
– kibble for home and any place really easy
– string cheese or crunchy cheese balls or processed treats for other places or small distractions
– meatballs or chicken for the really hard places 🙂I am lucky in that my dogs have really solid GIs and don’t get upset stomachs, but I also introduce the food in tiny quantities.
>First lab that never took cookies like that! And she is my 5th one >
She is a good girl and is telling you about her reward preferences. You can also bring a fabulous toy to Lowes and see what she thinks.
>We had an amazing tunnel session tonight
She’s flying thru the tunnel no matter where I send her from! I would have loved to show you but my phone fell
You can hear my verbals really well tho’ LOL!!>HA! That sucks about the phone but also it is hilarious. The BEST sessions somehow never make it to video LOL!
Tracy
Good morning!
The tandem turn mechanics are looking really good!!!!
>I don’t think she’s really seeing the prop she’s just doing the turning exercise and I see why my arm stays there the entire turn! It’s hard for me to execute the turn without following thru (making the complete circle)>
She is definitely aware it is there, and was deliberately hitting it on the way to you on a couple of reps. But the prop was really close to the exit of the tandem turn, and your hand was still in front of her so she was watching it.
So what you can do is do the tandem turn further from it – rather than have the prop in the middle of the floor, have it a little closer to one end of the room. Then as you do the tandem turn, you can have her move with you all the way to the other end of the room (near where the couch is in this video). Then when you do the tandem turn, the extra room to the prop will give you more time to ge the turn hand out of the way and then you can move forward, like the parallel path game to the prop. That will cue her to hit it.
And no worries if it is a game that needs to go outside for more room – we add this to barrels soon and that will make it easier for her to see.
>At this point we are not calling this turn ?(or the lap anything yet right? I don’t have a word!)>
No words yet LOL!! Eventually it becomes a threadle wrap verbal for most of these types of turns (and a regular left/right verbal for the ones that happen on the front side of the jump). The verbal is specific to the context it will be used in.
Speaking of barrels: the rotated sends went really well!
Yes, she seemed to find it easier to turn to her right, as expected, but the left turns also went well – she was interested in your cookie hand for a moment then sorted it out. Yay!
You can add a bit more distance away from the barrel on the send now, which will allow you to begin moving away from the barrel even sooner 🙂
>She was funny when I was trying the motions without her she jumped right in and circled the barrel lol! (not on the video) I dropped cookies on her line rather than feed from my hand – was that ok?>
Yes! She was like GOT IT WE WRAP BARREL 🙂 And for the reward – at this point, you can use a tug toy 🙂 That will accomplish 2 things: make it really exciting, and add the challenge of ignoring the toy in your hand (this will come in handy in the future!)
As the weather continues to improve, you can take the prop and the barrel outside – but refresh the concepts with the simple sending games to see what she ‘remembers’ about them outside 🙂 Although the weather today around the country makes me wonder if the weather is actually improving hahaha
That first beep looked great!!!!
>But in all fairness we have been working on a few other things with me facing her like that – stand by & down stay, stays with catch to name a few! >
I didn’t see anything in particular to cue the difference other than right before the first rep, you pulled her towards you and handed her a cookie, then cued the beep beep. That might have been the cue to do it. On the other reps, you didn’t do that (she was further from you) and that might have been the context cue for sits and downs.
If that happens, you can toss a treat off to the side to get her up again without rewarding in the down position. Then call her right to you give her a cookie, then cue the beep beep. Towards the end, you were leaning lower and tossing the treats back – that helps! She might need a mat or target to back up to, so she remembers to back up and doesn’t offer sits or downs which probably get lots of rewards too 🙂
>Did I push too long trying to figure it out?>
Nope, you were good! The session was about a minute long, definitely not too long (unless there were another 50 reps after you turned off the video hahahahaha). She still got a LOT of cookies, and you didn’t get mad or tell her she was wrong. It was all good trying to sort it out.
Super nice work on all of these!
Tracy
Good morning! He did SUPER with all of the steps here!!! He is showing strong value to drive to the barrel. That means he is ready for turn and burn 🙂 which is what you were beginning to incorporate at the end.
You can start the turn and burn by having him lined up at your side like he was here, then you can step to the barrel. He was already going to the barrel when you had movement towards it, so I think that will be easy. When you put a cookie down in front of him when he was at your side, he was not sure if you wanted a stay or not – so you don’t need that cookie, you can step to the barrel and I bet he will go 🙂
Remember to have a line on the ground to tell you when tp do the FC and run. It is explained on there video 🙂
>I liked using the ball to keep Tribute from focusing on my hand. I have a Hollee Roller that migh work well too. It’s in the car under a pile of leashes. I will need to dig it up! >
He definitely liked the ball! I think a hollee roller is good too. You can use a tug toy in your hand – but for now, have it scrunched up in your opposite hand (in your left hand if he starts on your right side, for example). That way you can use it to reward but it won’t be in his face as he figures out the barrel commitment. And it will also help get him to look at the barrel and not at your hands.
Great job here! I am excited to see him do the turn and burn!!
Tracy
Hi!
>I tried not to do this in practice today but not sure I was very successful. >
He was not collected to turn to you on the tunnel exit, so it was definitely successful!
>For the Get Outs done today I think I was overhelping again and getting into his space way too much, not following the straight line. >
Yes – you were using some distance but your feet were pointing to the get out jump on the successful reps – then when you didn’t point your feet to it, he went to the backside at :50 or too the tunnel at 1:54.
Your line was good at :50 and 1:54, but he was thinking the foot stepping was part of the cue. So to be sure he doesn’t need your feet to step to the get out jump, you can be less far from it laterally but still moving forward with your feet (and upper body giving the get out cues). That way he will have a better idea of which obstacle/line you want.
>Also, how is my arm position?
It is good!
>Am I bending over too much?>
Nope! He is little so you have permission to bend so he can see the arms.
>Basically stopped on the second to last rep which is why I think it worked.
because on the next one he took the tunnel instead of going out. So, we just went back around and he got the second time, but I didn’t see much different in my handling.> When you stopped, your feet were pointing at it. When he got the tunnel, your feet were not pointing to the out jump. So I don’t think it is motion he was reading there, it was your feets 🙂
Adding the threadle slice went great after the out jump! That seemed to make the turn and threadle slice really easy 🙂 Yay!
He picked up the backside at :13 – as you went to throw the toy, it activated the outside arm/shoulder so he went to he backside. This will serve you well in week 4! At :34 you didn’t throw early and he stayed on the line perfectly.
Nice work here!
Tracy
Hi!
Yes! Your mechanics on the turn away games were great!
First rep was too early in terms of moving before she got to your hand, but the 2nd rep was great because she got very close to your hand – about 2 inches away – before you started the turn cues. After that you were locked in and the lap turns were perfect!The tandem turns also went well. To help make it even smoother, show her that outside arm more obviously. When you did that on the last 2 reps: very smooth! When you didn’t quite how the outside arm on the first couple, she was not as sure about it until she did see that opposite arm.
Tunel threadles: These ended up going really well!
She did not see your motion on the first couple of reps as a turn cue on the first couple, which is why she went straight to the tunnel ahead of her. When you got more of a turn on the wrap wing like you did at 1:09 and 1:23, things got more obvious for her and she did great! Any questions after that (like at 3:50) were because you didn’t get the turn on the wrap wing.
After you get that turn on the wing, moving towards the tunnel entry – try not to pull too far away and rely on your hand to flip her away to the tunnel.By moving away to the tunnel entry, she will flip herself away 🙂 which will help make the skill more independent.
Good work on the backsides – you amped up the connection on rep 2 and beyond, which set the line nicely!
To get her to come in and take the bar, you added in dropping the toy as she got to the backside: perfect! As you do that, you can keep moving on a serpentine line so she learns to drive into the jump even though you are right thereThe countermotion exits also went well! Nice job with the release and dropping the toy on the landing spot. You can add in releasing after you pass the wing, so she still takes the jump even though you are on the takeoff side instead of the landing side.
Great job here!
Tracy
Hi!
He’s doing great with his backing up! Yay!!!
Since he is offering backing up really nicely here, we can go go the next steps to get more backing up 🙂– at this next stage, you can use a mat but not the clicker mat. I suggest this because the mat was not consistently clicking when he got a back foot on it, but it was clicking for front feet and stepping off it. So, you can mark for back feet and he will have a clearer picture of it.
– when he lifted his head, he stopped moving backwards. So you can keep his head lower (chin parallel to the ground, or pointed slightly downwards, by keeping your cookies hands in front of you and down by your knees. That will give him a nice visual target to back away from and you’ll get more steps backwards.
Let me know how it goes! Great job here!
Tracy
Hi!
These went well! I guess he likes the blue tunnel because he kept going to it 🙂
Getting ahead on the tunnel exit allowed you to show GREAT connection and line of motion on that 2nd run, so he found the next wing really well.
Excellent timing of the verbal and physical cue for the right turn at 1:08!!! He turned really well! So why didn’t he take the wing? Lack of connection. You had both hands up (which generally draws the dogs to us, like in threadles or tandem turns) and you were looking at the wing and not at him, so he came to you. If that happens, assume lack of connection and keep going. Stopping can be punishing to him when it was handler error not poodle error 🙂
Your connection at 1:18 was better and he had the line til you swung your arm forward – keep that connection really clear for now. It gets a lot easier and moving the arms won’t matter as much as he gets more experienced.
The last rep here really gave us a glimpse of the future! You had lovely connection (especially on the exit of the FC between wings and at the tunnel exit to go straight) so he found the lines AND he found a new gear of speed. SUPER!!!!
He also looked really engaged and not distracted by leaves, etc. Did you feel he was more focused?
Great job here!
Tracy
Good morning!
> For my brain, it is hard for me to remember to say the left wrap cue in the moment. >
The most important thing with the verbal cues is that we use them correctly and consistently, so it has to make sense to your brain 🙂 Keep playing around with what makes sense, keep practicing – all of the verbals are learned through repetition for human and dogs, so you can practice the ones you want to use then it will be easy to spit them out on course 🙂
> I remember you said your RC wrap is the same as the regular wrap verbal for the right vs left wraps no matter RC or regular….did I understand that correctly?>
Correct! A single turn away verbal doesn’t actually tell the dog how much to turn, so there are questions from the dog if my physical cue is unable to support it clearly (like when I am too far away). There are plenty of handlers who are consistently and reliably able to show physical cues to support them (like Jess :)) but I am not that fast so I need the verbals. So I use a wrap or a left/right soft turn. And I use a ‘switch’ cue which means turn away and accelerate onto the line for layering (soooooo useful!)
>I only do AKC so don’t need as many verbals as maybe UKI would require. Still processing it in my mind…>
Keep playing with the ideas and it will all come together. You don’t need quite as many verbals in AKC for now… but those AKC judges are a clever bunch and they are bringing those international design elements in to regular classes, so you will see more of that in the next couple of years.
On the video:
Baby dogs do keep us on our toes! It makes sense that he didn’t quite recognize the long dark tunnel at first but you broke it down and he figured it out really fast. Super!
Then the smiley face went really well after he was comfy with the new tunnel. As you are handling, don’t try to indicate the obstacles. Instead, indicate the line you want him to take by being super connected and not pointing ahead to the wings.
When you were pointing ahead, he was doing little zig zags on the line because he couldn’t see the connection (he could see your back, mostly). You can see it when he was coming out of the tunnels – it was very clear at 3:23 and the lack of connection pulled him off the wing. You can also see it at 2:44 for example (between the wings) and on the exit of the blind at the end – he doesn’t know where to be because your arm is showing the line ahead and what he needs is to see your eyeballs 🙂
At 3:32 you had great connection from the tunnel exit to the wing and he had no trouble finding it. Compare to 2:50 and 3:17 between the wings where you made connection and your arm was basically out of the picture, pointing back to him: no questions from Brioche! Yay!
You also handled with great connection to the tunnel entry each time and he had no questions.
And handling with more connection will reduce the need for you to run fast, which helps protect your hamstring for now 🙂
Nice work here!
TracyGood morning!
>I think she may have slowed down in the last two runs yesterday as I switched to food which clearly is not as exciting as the ball.>
Aha! That is why I want to keep the ball and frisbee in the picture – for the joy! And to not see the freezing up.
>Her lack of retrieve is really frustrating. >
>Can you hear the desperation in my text?>I hear ya! And also there is some PTSD from Duffy never learning a retrieve. But we can approach it differently to get both the passion for the agility AND the retrieve.
One of the keys to the retrieve is to not worry about it that much, because putting pressure on bringing the ball back does not get her to bring the ball back as you see.
Side note: I have been down this road. My highest achieving agility dog had ZERO retrieve until he was about 2 year old. When he was about 10 months old, he was doing demos at a seminar I was teaching and I threw the toy as a reward. He then spent 15 minutes running around the outside of the barn with the toy – the seminar carried on, no problem at all. We just had a laugh and let him run. The folks in that area STILL talk about it because it was so funny and also because they learned how to not freak out LOL! This happened in 2006 (20 year ago, EEK) and they still talk about it. 😂 😆 That fiercely independent little dog went on to compete and win at the highest levels here in North American and in Europe – that taught me a lot about retrieves 🙂 which is why I am not freaking out about little Jazz running around with the toy 🙂
So I know that we will get BOTH the passion for agility AND the retrieve if we don’t freak out and think outside the box.
The key to getting the retrieve? Not wanting the retrieve. Let the dog run! And let the dog opt in when they want to do more agility. Here are some ideas for you:
>The only way that I can get it back is by tossing high value food and praying that she goes for it and leaves the ball for me. This is working less and less, resulting in more time racing around with the ball. >
This is happening because the behavior of going to get the food gets punished, because you take the dog away. The food is not a reward, it is a behavior for her in this instance, so she is not going to the food in favor of keeping the ball.
So rather than try to switch for food and grab the ball, be prepared to maybe only do one fast, joyful rep of whatever you are doing. And have a bag of balls – throw one ball as a reward, then cheer her on when she run run runs with it. Then you have 2 options:
– you can keep praising her and cheering for her as you go sit on the ground by a jump, with a couple of balls. You can be rolling them or just holding them – they can be visible – but you can’t try to get her back with them. At some point she will re-engage and then you can throw the next ball.
– you can praise and cheer for a minute or two, then start running the little sequence with an invisible dog. This includes verbals and dropping a ball then playing as a reward. It might take a couple of reps of this but the dogs do join in! And when she joins in, throw the ball and repeat the process.
– you can praise and cheer while she is running around, then run a sequence on the wings only with Jack. No tunnels when they are both out, so there are no collisions. Then Jack gets his reward. Then you can run a sequences with invisible Jazz 🙂
This keeps it fun and enticing and she can opt in on her own without any pressure and without any conflict about the toy. It might take a bit of practice to get it going, but it is worth it. Don’t abandon it if you don’t see it work immediately. There are steps after this but these are the first steps.
Looking at the video:
There was a lot of joy and speed here, even in the moments when she had a question! This is why I want to keep the ball in play even though the lack of retrieve probably makes you want to stick a needle in your eye 😂. She was paying fantastic attention and got all of the moves until the end. You threw in a threadle and she didn’t quite know what that meant in that context. Good reward though!The 2nd rep started off even faster!!!! Yeah!! The threadle is what she had the big question here too, so she stopped. In that moment, you can keep handling invisible Jazz. Yes, there was a bit of a lack of clarity on what you wanted but pretend it was perfect and keep going, run a few more wraps on the wings, then throw the reward. She may or may not rejoin you, but it also keeps the ball in play and then you can reward the invisible dog that wrapped the wing rather than trying to get her moving by throwing the toy.
So your job is to keep going, no matter what! Then reward at the end, doesn’t matter where Jazz is. The goal of this is to show her that the reward is available in handling even if she doesn’t understand the cues.
And for now, take the complex cues like threadles out. They are complex in terms of reading the handling, and they are complex in terms of physical movement. So, we will revisit threadles eventually but for now, keep it a little simpler as we work on other stuff too 🙂
>She seems to be reading the handling cues pretty well. My handling is still pretty jerky.>
She is indeed reading you well!! And I don’t think you were jerky – I think you were running hard and staying connected while she was going REAL FAST. Love it! So keep the sequences nice and short, fast and fun, and it will continue to come together like the reps here.
Nice work!!
Tracy
