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Hi!
>Here is the first Focus Forward video, uncut until the very end after playtime, all 4 reps. I thought it went really well EXCEPT my positioning of the camera. 🫢 I’m so sorry I hid him behind the wing as it makes feedback harder. This is where stopping to look at the video between reps, like you told us to, would’ve been very helpful! 😉>
Ha! Yes! But no worries, I can see his little face look at the jump through the gaps in the wing. His beard makes it more obvious and he looked at the jump really well!
He got really interested as you moved to harder and harder positions… it was almost like he did *better* when the challenges were harder because solving the puzzle was more fun. Maybe was boring when it was too easy and just a stay in front of a jump as compared to the delicious smell of the grass , like in the early reps. Whatever the reason, he was definitely liking the game and did well driving to the jump as you got further and further back! He is ready for you to add being on the other other side of the tunnel – more challenge seems to be something he likes in this game!
>But the grass was really wet, terribly humid, and temp rising by the second so I just wanted to get on with it.>
Totally relatable – I was outside at 7am to beat the heat/humidity and wearing long pants to try to avoid the ticks. Sigh. Gonna be a lot of early mornings because it is already so hot!
> Sadly though I was pretty proud of how I sent him right away when I saw his eyes acknowledge the jump. You maybe can’t see that, but I thought he had good visual focus.>
Nothing to be sad about! Yes, he had good visual focus on the jump. You nailed the releases and he drove himself to the jump. Yay!
>What I’m less proud of is the few points where he was distracted, but given the heat and yummy smells I’m not very surprised. I will also be more fun and exciting next time to try to override that.>
That was early in the session: maybe he was like “oh joy, more stays in front of a jump, yawner” but that changed when 2 things changed:
– the challenge of the puzzle increased, making it a ton more interesting!
– you jogged back to the start and had him chase you, which made it more fun too! You can also have him do some silly tricks at the start line.Let me know how he does when you are on the other side of the tunnel!
>Speaking of heat, I did decide to give up my spot in this weekend’s Monica Bush Novice dogs ZoomZoom seminar at Animal Inn because it’s outside and supposed to be 93 degrees here.>
That is a bummer but also it is the right decision. There was no option to move indoors? The mats are not great there, so it is not a great option either.
> Honestly I just think Reacher would feel like that’s torture>
I’m with you, Reacher! Outdoors in 93 degrees and humidity being asked to run hard? NO THANK YOU! Reacher and I will hang out in the a/c.
> and I have no idea how I would convince a dog with little Zoom to bring it on in that kind of heat when I already know he’s a slug under those conditions.>
Protect the zoom! He has zoom and there is no way we would want to potentially squish it.
> I hope I made the right choice to skip but I don’t want to be tempted/pressured and risk demotivating him because of I just want to do something potentially fun. If you think I should’ve just gone for it anyway let me know – I won’t feel bad – but curious about your opinions on this thought process.>
I think you made the right choice. I would have made the same choice. Maybe you can audit to see if there are any ideas you want to try? I like to audit stuff like this – sometimes I am like ‘cool, I want to try it!’ And sometimes I am like, ‘nope, that is too much pressure on the dog, no thanks, won’t try that’. And then I don’t have to say no to an instructor LOL So auditing might be worth it? But you are 10000000% correct to NOT ask Reacher to run in those high temps. I would not ask my dogs to ‘work’ in those temps either – at best, it is too hard to go fast and have fun. At worst, it can be dangerous if they get too hot. Maybe they will bring the seminar indoors, and that will make for comfy auditing!!
Nice work here! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
>. So for this sequence, she’s done this before when I’m trying to do a cross. I tried doing both a blind and a FC but the same thing happened. Am I too early? Or do I have to practice having her come into me on situations like that?>
Yes, you were very early 🙂 That is rare in agility, usually we are all late late late LOL! She is not seeing a commitment cue to the 5 jump as she lands from 4. Instead, she sees your shoulders turning away to the new line so begins reading a cross to come into the gap. Even when your arm is up and your head is looking over your right shoulder, from her visual perspective she mainly sees your back so it responding as if she is seeing blind cross cues (even when you were heading into a FC).
Here are pictures 🙂
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1PADWFjr7KqvhIuoEEZ1TJc3d7cJ72aNPFhYd6OuwGPQ/edit?usp=sharingTo help her see 5, a couple of ideas:
– it was hard to see the distance, I think it looks bigger on video than it was in reality? It should be about 33 feet apart, so you can make sure it is that or even closer to help her see it.
– Also, you can angle jump 5 so the bar is a bit more visible to her as she lands from 4 – it looked flat here which would keep it a bit more ‘hidden’, so angling the jump will help too! If it was angled here, you can angle it more to help her out.– you can delay the BC or FC until you see her look at 5. That means more connection and lower arms, so you can see where she is looking. And that also means she will see the commitment cues better, which will get better commitment. It is a win-win!
Nice work here! Let me know what you think!
Tracy
Hi! She did really well with the layering here! Seq 1 was easy peasy for her, so you can add more motion by running to see if she will still stay on the line (there is a lot of running in layering LOL!!)
Sequence 2 also went well –
>I thought I forgot to layer the tunnel the correct way so tried it the way I thought was correct on the next couple of reps. I think I confused myself.>
You did get that sorted out LOL! It is a little harder but it was also a great opportunity to work forward focus on the jump even with you standing by the tunnel. She figured it out nicely!! !
She had some questions after jump 2 when you were layering from the other side she came in and took the tunnel. With the tunnel blocking her view a bit and your arm high as you turned your shoulders, it looked like a shoulder turn into the tunnel (more on that in the next sequence, because it is a similar visual that she was asking questions about). A lower arm and more motion towards the jump helped keep her out on the line nicely.
>And we still had more startline problems tonight.>
Yes, she has 6 or so errors in a short amount of time, so we can increase clarity based on what was happening before she stood up from the sit. I think part of it is disconnection on the lead out, and part of it is anticipating the release because it is sometimes paired with arm movement or reconnection.
One common thing is that if you feed her several treats then disconnect as you lead out, she stands up. So stay super connected as you lead out, and you might not want to feed her a treat after the sit and before the lead out as it might cause some confusion. You can cue the position, stay connected, lead out…. then add a bit of praise for holding the position as you look at her and raise your hand. Then either release into the sequence, or throw a reward back to her.
And be super consistent with the release (being connected and adding praise before the release will help this). Sometimes the arm movement and release are separate, sometimes not (like at 2:41). And sometimes you ask her to sit again after she stands up (like at 1:49) and sometimes you release her when she has stood up (like at 1:55).
A question: since her most common mistake in the sit stay is that she stands up… why not leave her in a stand stay? That might be tons easier 🙂 Or a down stay. Both of those are generally more solid positions with BCs.
Nice work here! Let me know what you think!
Tracy
Good morning! Great to see you and the girls here!!!
>Bazinga is recovering from a coccidia infection that set off a relapse of her GI issues. Poor baby.>
Poor girlie!!! I am glad she is feeling better!
Her forward focus session went great! You were smart in your planning: just one jump for now to build the skill, and onwards to the tunnel being added in the next session.
> Me going towards the jump & backing up was totally new, so I was interested in what she would think about that. She seemed to grasp it.>
I agree, she was great about holding her stay as you marked the jump and then moved to your position. Then she got it right each time! Super! She ticked the bar a bit on the first rep, then sorted it out and had no more questions.
You were using your wrap verbal on the first 2 reps, and then switched to the break verbal for the release. She did really well on all 4 reps, so she is reading your position as part of the cue for how tight the turn is. You might end up using the directional depending on the context and how challenging the opening line is.
> I can’t come up with a description for her focus on the jump. I’m not really seeing her look at it but I felt like I knew when she was ready.>
Yes, she didn’t seem to look at it directly, but went to it really well each time. It might be harder when the tunnel is added, but she will let us know. You can play with getting her to turn her head to look at something with a bit of flatwork fun – using a target like a food bowl about 6 feet in front of her while she is in a stay and you change you position each time to get further and further away. You can add the hand cue (and a verbal if you want) – and it can all be done inside in the A/C because I am guessing it is HOT down there 🙂
>We did 4 reps & they are in order. I didn’t play a lot in between reps – just treats & reset.
This actually worked out really well – because she was wrapping the jump, rewarding from your hand and then setting up right away for the next rep helped build understanding and keep things efficient! And then a bit of playing after the 4 reps is a nice balance. If things are more challenging when the tunnel is added, you can use the lotus ball to help her “see” the jump.
Great job here!! Onwards to the tunnel being added 🙂
Tracy
Hi! These went great! The main goal was to build her understanding of layering and big distance work, and she is soaking it up like a sponge! It is a hard skill for the smallz, because they need to take a lot more strides to get the distance covered! She did a super job 🙂
A couple of ideas for you:
On the first sequence, you can give the ‘go over’ cues as she exits 1 and is approaching 2. You gave a verbal for 2 but the ‘go’ cues can start sooner there too. And you can throw a toy for the furthest jump on the line (jump 4, in this case) as she is driving over the previous jump. It will feel early but it will reinforce her for looking ahead at the line and staying out on the line. And, sometimes placing the toy out on the line helps too (I think the toy was placed at :33?) We don’t want to rely on the placed toy all the time, but having it out there randomly can be helpful!On the 2nd sequence. she read the line better when you got closer to 1 and especially 2, so you could set the line to 3 with more acceleration and bigger connection. On the first rep, you got too far ahead and had to decelerate at the tunnel, which pulled her off the line. So as she is learning the big layering skills, you can get as close to the previous jumps in the sequence as possible, so you can drive her into the distance element with a lot of acceleration.
When you put the 2 sequences together, she did relaly well! Her only question was the blind cross on the 4-5-6 line. On the first rep, you called her name (1:02) and had a higher arm (blocks connection and potentially looks like you are starting the blind) and your line as a bit far from 5, so she pulled off the line.
On the next run at 1:16, you had a much better running line and she nailed the blind! Yay!!
Since this went so well, you can add in the next part of the sequence too 🙂
Great job!
TracyHi!
Overall she is doing well with this skill and you were able to get pretty far up the line! Yay!>We’ve practiced this before: her cue is “Mark”.>
Question: does ‘mark’ mean ‘look at this jump now’ or does it mean ‘I will ask you to look at this jump when I get to my position’. You were saying it pretty early (before moving to your position) and then I couldn’t hear it when you arrived in position. So, clarifying what it means specifically can help too!
>She struggles with any delay on the release and self-releases.>
I see what you mean, she was kind enough to show us a bit of that here 🙂 Clarifying the mark cue will help, but also a few more ideas to play with for ya! We really want you to be able to trust the stay completely so try these ideas and let me know how it goes:
– There is a lot of pressure at the start line in general so for now, with this skill, take the pressure of the other dog away (sorry, River, nothing personal LOL!) so you can have her on more of a slice to help get the front of the jump (she ran around it on rep 1) and also so she can focus forward and hold the stay. You can add back pressure when things are a little more solid.
– Separate the forward focus cue from the release by more – I think she is anticipating a certain rhythm of you delivering the release in relation to her looking forward. It is happening pretty quickly after she looks forward, so she is probably anticipating the release when she self-releases. So try to add some quietly praise (‘goooood girllll, very nice’ or something similar) before the release – mix it up so she doesn’t anticipate you saying the same praise each time 🙂
– in that same mode, separate any physical movement from the release cues after the looks at the jump. On some of the reps here, you released and moved at the same time pretty much, or released then immediately moved, so it is possible she is reading some of the movement (of you getting into position) as the release.
So, lead out, cue the forward focus, let her look, praise, then be perfectly still and release her (moving after she moves).
This can be practiced inside with a toy on the ground to lay the groundwork, then added to the jump.
And of course, you can throw a reward to her for holding the stay, using a ‘here comes the toy marker!’.
Great job here!
TracyHi!
Looking at Kaladin’s video:
He did well with this overall but yes, he seemed a little sticky especially as you moved back. You did get him looking ahead and releasing with the wrap verbal, and he might have needed a bit of a step to support the release with the wrap verbal: say it a couple of times then take one step forward (which can eventually become a lean, which can eventually need nothing at all).The break release happened when he looked to be distracted by something (bird?) rather than looking at the jump LOL so I think that was an anomaly.
One suggestion to pump up this skill with him is to try a lower hand, pointed more directly to the bar. He looks up high at you already and the higher hand might draw his gaze upwards as well. You can also mix in having the reward sometimes placed out past the jump and sometimes thrown there, mixed in with sometimes wrapping to the tunnel.
On Lift’s video:
> I’ll have to try the placed reward on landing side in a future session when I don’t line her up facing the toy on a line that bypasses the jump.>
She is a spicy nugget at the start of the session, I like it! Like Kaladin, the first rep was the hardest then she remembered and did really well for the rest of it. Placing the toy is great as long as it is actually on the landing side and not past the jump LOL!! That was a slight cheat when she went to the toy and not the jump LOL
For both dogs, to get them looking forward even more, you can work the lateral position with a placed reward for the first couple of reps, then go to a thrown reward, then randomize it to solidify the skill.
Keep me posted on how Lift does with the grids – bring the video to the massage therapist, she might have seen the behavior before and have ideas!
Nice work here!
TracyYes, that’s a great observation that setting up a bunch of obstacles behind them would increase the challenge!
You can use a platform or station to help In Synch stay in one spot, for now.Let me know how they do!
TracyHi!
>Teeter- I wondered if it would be more clear for her if both obstacles were the same. >
I had found that the dogs do well with different behaviors on each. One of my dogs has a running a-frame, a 2o2o on the DW, and a 4-on on the teeter LOL!
>I wanted had her at a full height teeter but she was stopping early (high yellow) or coming to the bottom and breaking before release so I worked on not self releasing but she is not coming to the end of the board. I would love to hear your thoughts.>>
This generally happens when criteria is unclear – so adding in a specific behavior will help. I have used foot targets at the end of the board for my small dogs (nothing fancy – just a strip of duct tape 😁). And for the lighter smaller dogs, I teach them to scratch at the target on the end of the board – that becomes a very clear (and fun!) criteria which drives the dogs to the end of the board.
On the video: this forward focus went well!! You can give her more time to process the forward focus cue by arriving in position, indicating the forward focus, then letting her acknowledge the jump (even if it is just a glance :)) More processing time will help her with the bar (she had a question about the bar on the rep 1)
>Lateral was hard. I made it easier by giving her a preplaced target.>
Yes, that was a little harder for sure! You can watch her a bit more as you lead out, so if she changes position you can re-sit her sooner. She stood up at :38 but you didn’t see it til :41, which is ages later in dog years LOL! On the next rep, you were far more connected and she held the stay beautifully 🙂
On that rep, though, you didn’t cue the forward focus before the release so she came to you and didn’t take the jump – so remember to get into position and cue the forward focus, letting her indicate she has it before you release her. Then release when she glances at the jump – and you can continue to solidify the behavior by sometimes throwing the reward to the landing side of the jump.
Great job here!!
Tracy
Hi! This went great!!!! What a good boy – clearly you’ve built a lot of understanding of this. I thought you were going to lead out into the street LOL!!!
He definitely acknowledged the jump even though it looks like he was not staring at it. Since this went so well, if you want an additional challenge: Put a second jump out there, on the other side of the tunnel. And you can lead out like you did on reps 3 and 4 – and sometimes release with the wrap until the tunnel. And on other reps, you can release with the soft turn cue to cue the jump! That is a scenario I’ve seen lately so it would be fun to see how far away he can process those cues!
Great job here 🙂
Tracy
Hi! Welcome back, it is great to see you here! I have been following your adventures on Facebook and it looks like Synergy has had a lot of big successes!! Yay!
The forward focus work looks terrific! You were really very far away and she did super well.
Your ‘look’ cue (I think that is what you are saying) is going great and she is responding beautifully to the hand cue too.
One suggestion: You can release with the wrap verbal rather than break verbal then wrap. That will give her more specific info and give it sooner too!
She only had one blooper on the forward focus, when you were really far away. When you are MILES away (like at the end of the tunnel :)) you can step to the jump when you release her to support the line from the huge distance. But she really did well overall!!
On the parallel lines/layering session: this was another strong session, and she gave good feedback on the cues needed for the layering!
First rep – you were set up too far from one and had no place to set the acceleration for 2-3, and you were looking a bit forward a 1:33 so she curled into the tunnel on the Go verbals.
You had more acceleration on the next rep and you used “out jump” and it went great! The ‘out jump’ cues worked really well on the whole session.
You had gorgeous blind timing at 2:15 followed by nice ‘brake’ arms to get a lovely turn at 6!!! Nice!!!
I also really liked the blind at 2:32 – great connection on the exit! You stepped back to the jump more than needed there so she went to the other side of the jump, good girl! You had another lovely blind there on the next rep and didn’t push back into the line, so she got the correct side of the jump at 2:55.
It was also super easy to get to the backside there at 3:12 – her layering was very strong and you had time to make a phone call while you were waiting for her to catch up 🤣😂😁
As you were putting it all together at 3:23 – she kept you honest 🙂 You didn’t move much from 1-2 and you were very quiet and turning as she was approaching 2 at 3:24. You did say ‘get out’ after she landed but it was oo late, she was already reading the cue to the tunnel because you were already turned and moving along the tunnel. Good girl!
The last rep had more motion and earlier cues, so she got the opening line very nicely!!
Fantastic timing of the blind and brake arms on the 4-5-6 line! And great job sending her back out on the layering line to get a terrific blind at the end. Super!!!
Great job here – you two are really working as a smooth team! I am excited to see you tackle the bigger sequences/courses!
Tracy
Hi!
Welcome back to CAMP!!! I think your goals are good ones for both dogs!
Looking at the jumping video:
>I noticed she was drifting way to the right as she exited the bounces and went to the stride part.>
Yes! I totally saw all of that. The striding was fine as she was sorting out the distances/height, and the one rep at the beginning where she popped up high seemed to be the only one.
But yes – she was drifting to her right on all of the reps here.
>I have not seen it on set points or in general coursework. >
Agreed! Seems like a new behavior (and I don’t remember it on this same grid a couple of months ago).
>Wondering if it could be vision related?>
Without diagnostics it is hard to know, but it doesn’t seem like what we typically see when there are vision issues.
>Other potential factor is that her regular monthly massage was last Wed and she did have more tight spots on both sides of her lats and behind her shoulders (perhaps from weave sessions even though they’ve been short and max 2x/week?). >
This is more of what I have seen when dogs are drifting to one side of a line – compensating for soreness somewhere. When we vet those dogs, we have found a range of reasons, like rotate pelvis or sore hamstrings/psoas or sore shoulders. So it is best to bring the video to the chiro person/rehab vet or anyone who would be willing to take a look 🙂 I doubt it is from the weave training, but I guess ya never know!
>Massage therapist worked those out and then she lazed around with Dean & Demi while I was at the Cup so this morning was her first grid (or any training) since last week’s massage.>
Even though she had a good massage, it might not be fully worked out: when my CB had an ouch (from an accidental collision with Larry), it took multiple trigger point sessions and chiro sessions to work it out. So if Lift has something going on, it might take a couple of sessions. And since you are looking for sore spots, has she had any tick tests lately? Tick stuff can manifest as soreness or being “off” in gait.
Let me know what you think!
Tracy
So they could do it with the jump and tunnel alone… but it was harder if there was more of a course behind you? Clever to set it up!!! And yes, keep rewarding the waits by throwing the reward to the dogs, to help convince them that waiting is good 🙂
Tracy
Oops, no, that was something that should have been deleted but the site held onto it. It is gone now 🙂
