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Here is a very beginning example of what I mean, with a baby puppy (he is a Mal/Whippet mix and was about 12 weeks old at the time). You can see that I was holding with one hand and pointing with the other (he didn’t have any real stay LOL!).
I started with a food bowl and moved it around the wing (you can do the same on a jump with a very low bar) then went to a toy.
And here is where it leads to, on a jump:
You can do as much of that as space allows on one jump, without baking outside.
Tracy
YIKES the forecast is terrible!!!!!! So in thinking about what to do indoors: we can do some focus forward to a wing/barrel/jump indoors! All you need is a carpeted space which I am sure you have (so he doesn’t slip when he is moving)
You can hold his collar, toss a treat or toy to the other side of a jump with a low bar. When he looks at it… let him go so he goes over the bar and to the reward.
Now if there is not enough room for a jump, you can do it with a wing or barrel (the reward goes just around the barrel, so it is a little visible but he has to go around the barrel a bit to get it).
You can progress this pretty quickly:
– add a hand cue pointing at the jump or wing and when he looks at the reward, let him go (some folks have also added a verbal cue to this, such as “look”)
– add a stay (if he will hold it) while you place the reward then use a hand cue to point at it. When he looks at the jump/barrel you can release him to it
– fade out the placed reward and go to a thrown reward: you point at the jump/barrel, he looks at it, you release him to move and throw the reward to the landing side.This forward focus game is super useful (we are seeing it needed for the beginning of courses a LOT nowadays!) plus it builds commitment like the lazy game does, plus it builds motivation to find the jump.
Let me know if that makes sense! I will try to find some video of it!
Tracy
Good morning!
Looking at the wrap video:
>>xIn watching the video, I think my feet are often wrong>>
I was watching it and ready to notate the spots where your feet were āwrongā as in, not using the dog-side leg. I have bugged you about that in the past LOL!!
But I think you were 99% spot on with your feet here! Ok, maybe at :35 your step to the wing was a little āsoftā and could have been more obviousā¦ but the rest looked great! You had that dog-side leg participating on both sides. Click/treat for you!
The other thing I really liked was that he was pretty self-propelled, meaning he was going going going with the must subtle cues. That means great commitment is really developing and I love that!
2 small details to consider:
Send with the wrap verbal consistently (or the soft turn left/right when using the middle wing). He is reading the context perfectly so is wrapping really well or going to the middle wing based on the physical cues – using the directional verbal is more about human rehearsal than dog rehearsal here LOL! You had it sneak in here and there, try to use it on every single rep. Take a moment before starting to remind yourself of the verbal.
The other small detail is if you are carrying the reward, donāt switch it from hand to hand during the sequence because it delays the next cue (you are switching when you should be cuing) and it draws his focus away from the line and up to your hands. So, leave it in one hand – that is also great rehearsal for us humans!
Overall this is going great. Onwards to this weekās new sequencing games!!
The plank walking is going really well too. He seems perfectly confident going back and forth. You can elevate the board now – do you have bricks or blocks or anything stable to lift it (and keep it from being too wobbly?
When you were adding the angles, he was still confident but I donāt think he realized he was supposed to get on the board at the end and not near you in the middle. So two things can help him out:
Toss the treats on angles that are a bit towards you rather than away, and on soft enough angles that the board entry is still pretty obvious. if he is having trouble finding them in the grass, you can us a towel on each end to toss them onto.You can also put cones at the entry on each end of the board, to give him a visual to lock onto for getting on rather than coming to you then getting on š
Great job here!!! Stay cool!
Tracy
Good morning!
Starting on the other jump looked fun – I also like to sometimes just run the speed lines without the start line stays – fun fun fun!!!
The first loop looked great šOne thing to consider as you build up layering is the intensity of verbals – you were very quiet on the first loop at :14 where you ran with the line, but you can be loud there too š You got louder as you added more distance and layering, which totally helps: bigger, louder, repeated verbals will help propel him out on the line.
Other than repeating the tunnel verbal a zillion times, you can also add a directional – in this case, a āgoā will be helpful. That will indicate to continue on the big line even if he doesnāt yet see the tunnel, or if there is no tunnel (when the layering is all jumps, for example). So people will be able to hear your for miles around: GO GO GO TUNNEL TUNNEL TUNNEL hahahaha I am sure my neighbors think I am NUTS. LOL!
Since this went so well, I think he is ready for you to add the backside elements of pushing the the backside versus blinds to threadles. Great job!!
Tracy
Yes! The 2nd rep was better than the first – on the first rep, he was also watching you reach for the toy š
On the second rep, he looked at the jump when you first pointed at it, then looked at it again when you got to your position. SUPER!!! And he seemed clearer on the release on that 2nd rep. Nice work!!Tracy
Good morning! Lots of good work here!
Plank:
Turning around on the plank is going well! He seemed happy as usual and not at all concerned that it was elevated. You can keep revisiting this here and there as we add more elements to the plank game.Teeters – he likes the teeter a whole lot, which is great! I think this session progressed too quickly, so you can see he is slowing down as the teeter went from basically no drop at the beginning to the full teeter by the end. So, rather than try to get to running across the whole board, you can work it more gradually by getting it up to full height without much tip at all, then gradually adding more tip over the course of a few weeks. It looks like the teeter holes device can move down in tiny tiny bits, so the goal is that we donāt see any change in his speed as the drop gets bigger and bigger.
And at each step, add a wing wrap and some handling elements before adding more tip – one of the goals is that he can go independently to the end and wait there without you also needing to be at the end. We have more games coming for that too š
Connection game is going well! I accidentally released that yesterday, there are a bunch more that go along with this coming today! He is showing really strong commitment and that is fabulous!
He did well finding the jumps! You can keep your arm lower, pointing downwards to him – when it is high (top of the wing level) he looks up at you more because it is blocking connection. So think of your hand position as being low enough that your fingers point to his nose š
But when you just run without pointing at all and your arm down (like 4:45 to 4:49) he is smooth and fast! No questions! Compare to the end of that run when you had the high arm and he was not as sure of where to go.
Lazy game is going well too! He I driving around really well, including the tunnel. And that is good, we want him driving to the tunnel too! At 5:23 when he went into the tunnel, he was correct – you turned and faced it for a step, so good boy to commit š
When the middle jump move further away, you needed one more step towards it to help him out (that was pretty far for a small dude!) And when he got that one extra step, he nailed it.
Super!Winginā It – nice connection on the one step sending! The only spot where you didnāt have connection (arm high and blocking it as you looked forward a step too soon) was at 8:23 and he looked at you instead of going to the wing. On the reps where your arm was lower and he could see you face, he went pretty directly to the wing. Super!
The low arms also help support the send to the middle wing better – the more your fingers point to his nose, the better he commits to the line without looking at you. When your hand gets high (above the top of the wing) he canāt see the connection as well and he looks up at you. You can add that arm-to-his-nose on the exit of the FCs, so he sees that big connection and can be super tight on his turns.
Great job here! Have fun this weekend!!
Tracy
Hi!
>>I meant to tell you the reason I didnāt add the spoon to the teeter ā he fell off about mid-point yesterday morning so I didnāt think he needed the added motivation / distraction until he had a few more reps going up and some more plank confidence work. >
Ah! Good point! No falling off, Ven! He doesnāt seem phased by it, thankfully.
>>Thinking I will first add it for plank confidence before he sees it up high.>
Sounds good!! Let me know how he does.
>>Teeter end behavior ā Iāve never had a dog do 2o2o on the teeter, theyāve all been taught 4on. Ven weighs 26.5 pounds.>
You can certainly do a 4on with him! He weighs enough to do a 2o2o if you wanted to do it. Or, a 4on where he is right on the edge of the board is also easy and fun to train.
>>I only see 1 new game for this week. Is that correct?>>
Actually, there are a bunch! The games are released on Tuesdays for this session (which feels weird LOL!) and I must have time stamped one of them incorrectly to release yesterday. The rest should be released before 7am Eastern with an email going out at 8am Eastern. I will double check that I did it all correctly š
Super nice winginā it sessions! It must have been HOT but he ran really well (so did you!)
There must have been something in the grass on the tunnel exit side on your left because he had no trouble going fast when he exited the tunnel on your right – he was hesitant on the dog-on left side for some reason (heading to the wing). Heading back to the tunnel? No problem, the tunnel value overrides whatever the challenge was š
Looking at where he was super speedy versus where he had questions and slowed down:
He was not quite as fast sending to the wing when you were not moving as he was when you were moving, so we can add value to the sends:The more you use you dog side leg to help send to the wing, the better he does! So give him a big swoosh step before he passes you. And then you can throw a reward to the wing when he gets to it after passing you. That can pump up the value for zipping past you to the wing and create even more speed and independence.
Great job getting the FC on the middle wing without any bonus tunnels!!! Yay! Nice connection š It looks like he never looked at the off course tunnel.
His only question on the tunnel was when you said āyes good boyā which indicates reward so he skipped the tunnel – try to not make āyesā a reward marker because then they sometimes come to us rather than finish the obstacle (I have made this mistake LOL!!) The āget itā marker will be better for a tunnel exit.
He liked the big speed loops at the end! On those, you can just bend your arms and keep them low (like a sprinter) and run with connection – that supports the line really well. If your arms get too high or forward, the cue starts to look different so he looks up at you and asks questions. You can see that at 2:18 on the 2nd video, where your hand is pointing high. The wing, but your feet & shoulders have turned. He is cuing off your feet & shoulders, so it looks like thought he was supposed to come through the gap.
Great job! Stay cool!
Tracy
Hello and welcome back! It is great to see you and Djinn here!
Bummer about the shoulder injury, but we can modify everything so there is no impact as it heals up. And yes, you can run her mom too – that will be fun!
Nice start to the lazy game here – it will require her to take her eyes off of you and look downwards to find the line between the uprights. That is hard for her because she is so food motivated and she is very engaged with you. She is definitely figuring it out – you can see the moments when she drops her eyes to look at the jumps! That is when you can mark and throw the rewards between the uprights.
She had some success in video 1 but a LOT of success in video 2! Super! Since you are working in a smaller space, you donāt need all 3 jumps. You can use 2 of them and slowly wander back and forth – using 2 will give you both more room, and the more slowly you move the less likely she is to look up at you. That can get even more success, then we can work on adding distance.
Great job!!!
TracyHi!
She looks super happy to go back and forth across the board! She was even happier when you started moving too – running! Yay! She did well finding the different angles of entry (t the end of the video) – finding the treats on the ground was the hardest part so you can put towels or something on the ground that the treats can land on (easier to find). She was definitely working to balance and stay on when she was entering from the side!
Since she seemed to have zero questions about it, time to raise the plank a bit! What do you have that you can put under each end and maybe in the middle so the plank is about 6 inches off the ground? Then you would repeat these little games and add in jumping off the middle. That is the beginning of teaching her a safe dismount is she loses her balance. Better to jump off than to fall off!!
Wow, nice big distance on the one step sends to the wing! And her commitment looks great – nice connection and send from you! Yay!! New games coming today for sequences with jumps, then we will revisit these the following week with new stuff š
There were only 2 teeter reps – it looks like the cookie was already at the end of the board but she had not yet fully figured out that it was there and that she didnāt need to wait for you. So use this exact set up until she is 100% forward focused on the treat, then you can add a wing wrap before the teeter and different handling challenges.
Great job!!
āØTracyHi!
Wow you two nailed it! Super!!! She looked at you like, āthis is easy, mum!ā Yay! Her turn was lovely on the backside wrap, both times! O the second run at 1:16, you lost a little connection trying to get around the blue jump, so she though it was blind cross.
I bet you can move up to jump 3 and then send to the tunnel, so you can layer the blue jump on the way to the last jump. That will make it easier for you to handle, plus she will not see any potential blind.
Great job!!
TracyHi!
>>Ah, Tracy, āLet me know what you think!ā is a pretty dangerous thing to ask of me right now.>>
I am always interested in what you think! I should probably qualify it as let me know what you think about this agility discussion. I am pretty sure I know what you think about a lot of other things in the world and I am pretty sure I agree with you.
>>(I canāt drive so I am missing all my seminars and summer trials; I am not in a great place right now. >>
It must be really hard. I am so sorry that this sucks so much! I think I drive through Michigan later this month, maybe I will grab you for an adventure! I need to look at google mapsā¦
>>One more thing: on the previous video, you wrote that he showed signs of fatigue at about 2:25. In āreal timeā, that was much more; closer to 14 or 15 minutes.>>
Right – I put the time marker on the video but you had mentioned that the sessions were longer. He did not show any physical of mental fatigue signs in the earlier sections. I have found that my young dogs (almost 2) can go for a solid 7 minutes if I go overboard but that is about it (and I try to avoid that)
āØ>>2. Use a toy with a rope, so that little time is wasted on āfailure to recall/retrieveā>>
Yes! The victory laps and please bring the toy back moments are definitely not efficient. Not the end of the world, but not efficient.
I think the 5 minute session went pretty well. You found some things that really worked, something that did not help (the placed toy) and got a lot of success š
Two ideas for you for this skill:
You can lower bar (like it was on the 2nd video) to teach this skill so he doesnāt have to think about organization til after he thinks about jumping it. That will get better commitment faster and more efficiently.And you can be moving through it at a fast walk, he has struggles when you started running. I use a walk-jog-run progression to build up my speed, so it is somewhat gradual.
>>Wasnāt very good at the ādrop toy on the lineā although pre-placing it was even worse.>>
I thought you had good placement when you dropped it and he seemed to agree because he was getting the idea! You can drop it sooner (as soon as he is approaching the entry wing and long before takeoff). I agree that the placed toy was harder for him, he couldnāt process the backside cue and ignore the toy.
Also, you can ask him to sit or down while you are resetting a bar or wing – not because we are BIG MAD at him :), we are not, but because it will stop the pacing in the circle which will waste his brain and body resources on a ācheapā behavior (circling/herding).
>>Have to buy an egg timer; used the iPhone>>
When I donāt have to post a video, I will often pick out a song that is 4 or 5 minutes long, and play that while training. Song over = session over. And it is a fun way to have good music playing š Youtube will strip out music which is why I donāt have it playing when I film the demos.
>>And because I am struggling, hereās what happened in the few minutes after that:>>
Well, isnāt this a great video! Success! VERY fun to see it coming together!!!!!!!! YAY!
>>Then we went inside.
Air conditioning is LIFE at this time of year.
>>I canāt begin to tell you how much your kindness and attention has meant to me this summer.>>
Awwww I am glad that our discussions are helping you get through this! I am on board for whatever it takes to help out until you are back on the road again!
Tracy
Hi!
Yes, you can hear the dammit from all of us at the end of that run!
>>But, the back and forth behind me lining up isnāt new. She definitely likes to do that. Itās like her pre run routine. >>
ah, it is her shtick! All dogs have a pre-run quirk. It is better than one of my dogs who had to put dirt on his head LOL! A bit of a decompression/pressure release perhaps? That is fine and yes you can interrupt it after a couple of seconds with a hand to stop the movement and then set her up.
T
Hi! Fantastic question… the answer is “it depends” šš¤£
It depends on the dog you are running.
For example, I don’t think I need to *ever* use it with my Elektra, who is always very very tight on her turns and always looks for me on tunnel exits. I work to get more extension from her on course.
The opposite is true for my Hot Sauce… she goes forward at 10,000 mph all the time, so I use the brake arms in all the places you mentioned š
Interestingly, those girlies are about the same size (15 inches tall, give or take).
And my other dogs are in between – my Voodoo needs it on tunnel exits and wraps (front and back) but not on 180s. And my Contraband needs the brake on 180s but not backside wraps or front side wraps. My young Whippet, Ramen, needs it on 180s when he is turning to his left. Very specific use LOL!
I figured this all out with some experimenting and video watching (then I had to write it down because remembering it is a whole other issue LOL!!)
So – thinking of Turbo and Topper: where are they naturally tight? Where are they naturally wider? Do they have trouble keeping bars up in certain contexts? That is the starting point for figuring it all out š
Tracy
