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Hi! Thanks for your patience with my travel schedule – driving is a PAIN!!!!
>>This did not go particularly well. The turn away got the wrong turn a lot.>>
I read your note before looking at the video and I was concerned that it was going to be chaos LOL!! Actually, it went really well… it is a WICKED setup of very challenging stuff. You made great adjustments and ended up doing super well!!
>>Too hot for Jan though.>>
It did seem like she was hot!
>>I broke the two failure rule.>>
It looks liked you were making adjustments to try to help her out and get things clearer, and she was still rewarded a lot – so unless you edited out a lot of errors, I think it was fine!
>>Post turns are not our thing and she kept kicking out so wide that she was on a huge right lead.>>
I think what happened there was after the first rep or two of the get out, she was all in GET OUT MODE (it is probably fun for the dogs :)) So yes, it took her a moment to process the cue to NOT get out and the turns were a little wider… but got better and better as the session went on.
Part of the goal is that we get the dogs to be reading and processing info, so some delays (and wide turns) are to be expected. Plus it is a good handler challenge to still time and execute the next cue even if she was wide. You really made strong adjustments!!
She was surprised by the first get out cue, maybe because she was in wrap tight mode. You helped her and made it more obvious: super!
Then she was in get out out mode – so each time you switch to a different cue, you can make the cues big and obvious – if you are too subtle she might not read them. Using a verbal on the wing wrap helped her to come back into wrap mode really nicely!
Same with the RC/tandems: you were a little subtle and a little late at 1:26, so she stayed on her line to the right.
Compare that to 1:36 where you wee SO OBVIOUS (practically using her middle name haha) and it looked great.
You kept the big obvious cues going a you did the sequences too, and those were very successful even though they are hard. Don’t worry about any wideness from the get out jump to the backside of the jump before the FC – it is a weird angle in the course design, so you can blame me for that 🙂
The only place to add more connection is the exit line connection of the FC when you are doing the backside – you were looking forward to the wing before she found the new side, so on some of the reps she was a little wide behind you. At 1:55, she didn’t see the new line that well after the FC so had not had a look at the wing when you did the send and ended up coming to you as you tried the FC.
The rest of the connection was looking really good!!! Nice work here! Fingers crossed for more good weather ahead!
Tracy
Hi!
>>he started to bark and carry on. I thought he might need to go out, but when I let him out of the crate, he ran to the gate that goes in to the training room. He’s so smart to have made that association. >>
Ha! That is so funny!!!!! I feel so honored LOL!!
I love his toy enthusiasm on the ‘out’ video – he didn’t exactly retrieve it but I am glad he was able to use it as the reward. You can go play with him if he doesn’t bring it back, as long as you don’t take it away from him immediately because that will cause him to move it even further away.
For the out: this will be easier when you can do it outside, because you will have more room to be ahead of him. As you cue the out, try looking more directly at his eyes (using the outside arm more than the dog side arm) – that should help push his line to the jump even if the toy is not there.
The serp behavior is going well! The
The stay is hard for him – he was able to hold his stay on some of the reps but he was releasing to the hand as soon as you moved the hand (I don’t think there was verbal release) You can work the stay where you get into position, show the target… but don’t release right away so he doesn’t think the hand movement is the release (should be verbal only).
He is ready for the next steps on the serp, which would be having the reward target on the ground (rather than rewarding from your hand). It can be a food bowl that you toss a treat into, or a MM, or a toy – all of those will work nicely to get him looking at the line even more. If that is easy, then you can start to add movement to your serps, where you are slowly moving across the jump while showing the serp cue.
Ooooh cheese in a bowl is hard (I would be distracted too! LOL!) He figured it out really well except when he was super close to the bowl. It was really excellent to see him pretty much ignoring one of his favorite things!!
You can do 2 things to make this easier:
– don’t be as close to the cheese bowl so he doesn’t pull as hard to get to it (this can be outside too for more room)
– you can start the game the moment you enter the room (you don’t need to wait for him to offer engagement).I always start the game in new environments or big distractions, because that will help him get engaged even sooner – especially as you bring him to places that are more and more challenging.
Great job here!!!!
TracyHi! Thanks for your patience with my travel schedule! I would MUCH rather look at puppy videos than drive for 14 hours.
This was a great session, lots of thing happening!
From the handling perspective, you got a good connection workout 🙂 It is not easy to connect with a tiny speed demon! But the connection on the tunnel exit is what propels her to the wing. For example, at :13 your connection was perfect and that got her to the right turn side of the wing. Yay!
Compare to :19 and :24 where you looked forward to the wing a tiny bit too early, so she went behind you. Part of that is from looking forward too soon (she was still a little behind you) so it breaks connection and kind of looks like a blind cross cue. And part of that is her right turn preference.
And compare those to :29 where you made a SUPER clear connection AND held it til she was passing you… so she went to the left turn wrap wing. Excellent! And also at :56, where you were a little behind but still used big connection with the other cues to convince her to go to the left turn side of the wing.
Wing-to-tunnel was very easy for you both – looked great! And it was really exciting to see how well she did with the tunnel threadle!!!! She was able to find the threadle side and bypass the obvious side – that is HUGE!!!!! YAY!!! It will get smoother as she sees this more but that was really a great start.
Great job here!!!!!
TracyHi! Thanks for your patience with my travel schedule!!!
We have a few more weeks here – the last day for videos is Feb 13th 🙂
He did really well here! He showed a bit of a left side preference towards the beginning of the session but he worked through it really well! The step to the can definitely helped him know where to be on each side – super!!!I think he is ready for you to add a little excitement to this 🙂 Move to the Turn And Burn game:
where we basically add FCs and running as part of the reward. You can use a toy for that because that makes it even more fun 🙂
Great job here! Let me know how his backing up session went!
Tracy
Hi!
The spins are looking really good! Nice job with the lining up, sending, verbals, and connection!
When sending, remember to step forward with your dog side leg – you will get more propulsion to the barrel if you do that.
You can do a ‘ready steady’ while you are holding his collar, as long as you start the verbal before you let him go (so the verbal precedes the movement by a few heartbeats).He only had one question, at 1:32 where you looked forward a little too early and said yes so he came off the barrel
The timing was much better at 1:45, where you waited to turn forward until he was definitely at the barrel (it will get easier to leave earlier like at 1:32 when he is more experienced).
On the serps – I think the plan to start from a stay is a good one! He was moving to the jump nicely from the cookie toss, but a stay might make it even smoother. And to help him get even more commitment, you can drop the reward on the landing side more (on the other side of the bump). You were throwing the reward back, but it was nearer to you and more on the takeoff side so it was harder of him to pass you.
>>I think his brain was getting a bit fried on the left turns here.>>
I think he was reading the pressure there a bit: on the other side, you were showing more of the barrel and looking at the landing spot more. That is what you did on the first rep on the left turn side too! When he started going around the backside, you were looking at him on each rep – there was no connection shift to the landing spot. So looking at him was causing your physical cue to show pressure to the backside, even with the bowl out there. Good boy!
So remember to show him the whole barrel and to let him see you shift your connection to the landing spot.
The retrieving is going well! Yay! He is getting really good at grabbing stuff and plopping it into the bowl LOL!
He also did well with he frisbee and the klimb. The next step for these is to change your position to standing and then add your motion so he brings it to you even if you are moving away from him.
Great job here!!!
TracyYou can try generally adding the ball in, with rolling it or bouncing it so it is a part of the routine and not something new in a pop rocks moment 🙂
T
Hi!
The combos looked great!!
The balance reps on videos 1 and 3 were lovely.For the turn aways like on videos 2, 4, 5 and the longer sequences – nice job with the connections and hand cues! You can increase the challenge now by exaggerating your hand motion (keeping them lower and moving them slower) so he is turning away pretty much only on your hand cue and connection shift, and so you don’t need to move to the RC line at all 🙂
The 2 longer sequences on the 6th and 7th videos looked awesome!
Video 6 was perfect! Video 7 was perfect too – with the turn away at the end, you can try the more exaggerated low hands and connection shift to see if he will turn away with even more distance 🙂
Great job on these!!!
TracyHi!
It is 3 jumps and one tunnel. It can all be done with only enough space for a tunnel and a jump, or a space that is about 20 or 25 feet long.Tracy
Good morning!
>>she had big feelings about the collar holding.>>
You can teach her a between-the-feet line up position to come back to and also to start from, to replace the collar holding if she really things it is stooooopid 🙂
The tunnel session went well! When you have new long (and dark) tunnels, you can help get her doing the initial turn away even sooner by putting the PT literally inside the tunnel, maybe 2 feet past the entry. That way when she turns away she can see it and you can click it, so it is right there to reward the head turn. Then you can move it further and further back until it is eventually past the exit.
Looking at the decels: the shift is hilarious!!!!
This went well too!!! Yes, she was a little surprised on the first decel so was a little wide, but then got tighter and tighter and had no trouble changing sides. You are giving her a little arm-swoosh to help with commitment and I don’t think she needed it – it might propel her forward a little too much 🙂 It would be fun to see what she would do if you were totally stationary.
The straight line stuff looked really good 🙂 No questions at all!! Super!!!
>
> Yes – letting the dog learn about the world without the social support of another dog. Now, social support of a dog like Kaladin is also good to have sometimes, but she can also get more experience being on her own.
Great job here!!
TracyGood morning!
>>When does max puppy 2 start?>
Mid-March! I will have exact dates for you later this week 🙂
On the video:
>>So many things freaked me out here. The early take offs>>
What you were seeing when she kind of flung herself at the jump was just young dog processing: her brain was like WAIT WHAT with the different cues, so the info didn’t always make it to her muscles in time for coordinated takeoffs especially on the earlier reps.
No worries! Just revisit it in a couple of days and I bet it will be so much better! She was already smoother and sorting it out by the end of the session.
To help her out on the collections, be closer to the wing and more forward facing on it – yes, be connected like you were, but you were a bit sideways to the jump so a little more forward will help.
For the going forward at the end – you were not really moving on a parallel line so she was pulling off the jump – leading out laterally then moving up the line on a parallel line will really smooth that out.
For the rewards: to help her sort out the mechanics, you can throw a big treat for the straight line stuff, and use the toy in your hand for the decels. I think that can help her sort out the mechanics because the food might be a little less stimulating on the straight lines 🙂
>>Seriously, did I break her on the final exercise?>>
You did not! She just needs to figure out her mechanics, and I know she will 🙂
Great job here!
TracyGood morning!
The resilience game went great! He did well ignoring the treat bag – the power of cheese is magical 🙂 You can move to adding random objects that might be a little weird – teenage dog need to learn to sort out weird thing that appear in the environment, so this is a good opportunity to do that 🙂
Looking at the rear crosses:
>>no matter what I tried, he kept circling right after picking up the cheese.>
He was actually correct each time, based on your position when he lifted his head: you want him to turn to his left, but when he lifted his head from the cheese pick up, he could clearly see you on his right shoulder so he correctly turned left.
Ideally, when he picks his head up, you are already past his left shoulder (you would be up by his head/neck) so he could turn towards you to his left.
To get this, I think you need more distance on the cookie throw so that you have more time to get all the way past his left shoulder: move the plank further away (maybe another 6 feet away or more) so you can throw it the plank like it is a wall – then as he is heading to the treat, you are moving fast up the line to get to his left side. Ideally you are arriving at his left shoulder as he arrives at the treat, so you are past his left shoulder when he lifts his head up. More distance on the cookie throws should help that!
Nice work here! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning!
The Turn And Burn is look great!
Starting from the clean transition with a line him up so he is next to you then sending into the game made it much smoother – without that, he was either not sure when to start or he was pretty far from you at the start.
The other thing you can do hold his collar and start saying your wrap verbal cue a few times – then let him go to drive to the jump.>>I also think I’m not supposed to be holding his collar, but rather stepping to the wing using dog side foot and low arm. >>
Holding his collar was good! That allows you to get the verbal started and helps him hear it rather than just focus on motion.
>>Finally, it was really hard for me to see if I was leaving earlier/later. I think I did a similar exercise with Robie where I put a leash on the ground so I could see exactly when I should be leaving, i.e. earlier and earlier. Do you think this would help my eye?>>
Yes – you will definitely want the line on the ground for Turn and Burn because it tells you precisely when to do the FC and run 🙂 The line starts at the exit of the wing, then you can gradually move it closer and closer to the entry so that you can do the FC earlier and earlier.
>>Anyway, I was happy with his speed and the tightness of the wraps for the most part!>
Yes! He looked really strong!!!!
>>I think I shouldn’t be saying “yes” when he is coming around the wing because it might be confusing him.>>
You can use your ‘toy in hand’ marker so he knows to chase you and grab the toy – that will be clearer than “yes” and also won’t accidentally make yes into a “come to me” cue (I have done that by accident :))
Looking at the stays: He is doing well here!
>>In watching the video back I noticed that I almost always rewarded from a stopped position. I think I need to reward more in motion.>>
Yes – mix it up more so he is not associated any particular handling motion (or lack of motion) with the release.
Also, keep it more of a game – lead out with connection and you can add in more toy play too! The toy can be thrown back to him or he can be released forward to it.
>>I forgot to start using the “catch” word, and instead was using my “get it.”>>
Yes, the catch will clarify things more but also – say the word before you move the reward. You were starting the throw then saying the marker, so you can flip that: say the marker without moving the reward, then a heartbeat later, throw the reward. That will strengthen the markers 🙂
Great job here!
TracyGood morning!
The turn aways are looking really strong!It was really super obvious when you wanted her to go to the outside of the jump versus when you want the turn away to the inside of the jump each time. Super!!
Plus your line of motion was spot on: on the turn aways, you were moving straight on a parallel line to what you wanted her to take without any pressure into the wing which might have pushed her to the other side. Perfect!
You can use her name as the verbal for now, that can help emphasize the connection shift too.
>>Hopefully we are ready to move on to the next lesson
You totally are ready to move to the next lesson! You can also spread the wings out so you have more running – that will make it more exciting for her and also more challenging for your timing 🙂
Great job here!!!
TracyGood morning!
>>Honestly, it is so hard to remember everything – LOL>>
TOTALLY relatable! It is HARD to run young dogs because we have to remember everything 🙂
One thing that will help on the shifting connection is if you let her see your hands during the regular connection moment before the turn away (holding your hands up higher back to her then letting her see your hands drop down as you shift connection to them – that can totally make a difference in her response to the cues.
You were using a shoulder rotation but that hid your hands and connection, which can actually cue her to stay on the line to the jump based on your motion. So showing her your hands up high in the air then shifting your connection to your hands should help her come in to the line (closer to what you did at :22, but you can exaggerate it even more).Extreme connection is going well! You were able to add more distance pretty easily! Your line on motion at :24 and after than was totally straight while you cued the ‘out’ which is what we want 🙂
Add balance reps a lot more frequently earlier in the session, so you don’t have to help her do the ‘easy’ lines after she does a bunch of ‘outs’ 🙂 The sequence at the end looked terrific!!
Great job here 🙂
Tracy
