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Hi!
You can try using the highest value tug with the lowest value pocket-lint level food…That night work with the trading 🙂 Keep me posted!!Tracy
Hi!
The Minny pinny is looking really strong! I like how you made the verbals really different from the GO verbals for example. The will really help on course! Great job working the turn aways with placed rewards – he will keep getting stronger and stronger with those turn aways as he gains the understanding and mechanics.
The reward target for the RCs really helped! You can now tuck the target in behind the wing on the landing side, so he doesn’t see it quite as much. Plus you can add in straight line “go” cues to balance the RCs – sometimes cue him to run straight, and sometimes cue a rear cross to the target. And since this is going so well, you can add more distance away from the jump to show more motion – and then add the start wing back in too!
Great job here!!!
Tracy
Hi!
>Oh FFS, I knew I was doing something wrong. But I was so proud of him!
He was great, and it was still a valuable session to teach him to find the jump!
>> Again, it’s like I’ve never done agility before.
Ha! I can relate, I feel like this with each new puppy.
>> And it’s snowing again. Sigh.
Yep! I am in Wisconsin… in the RV… with 8 dogs… in a blizzard. FUN TIMES lol!!!
Stay warm!
Tracy
Hi!
>>We did a stay training session. Then moved to jump grid>>
Did you do the stay session right before the grids? Maybe her brain was tired? She was releasing on the toy drop here or having trouble holding the sit and she has been really good with the stays. We will chalk that up to just not having a great stay day 🙂
>>Then I forgot to hit record.
Were the stays good during the session when you didn’t have the camera recording?
Even though the stays were not as solid and also you were a little closer to jump 3 (ideally you would be another 6 feet past it when you release her), I thought her form was good!!!!! What was the distance between jumps here? She might be ready for youth add another 6 inches.
Nice work 🙂
TracyHi!
These games all looked terrific! I have a suggestion here and there but overall you and Roux did a great job 🙂Serp proofing went really well, both stationary and with the motion! It took her a moment to find the tunnel at the beginning but then she had it. The threadles also looked great! Nice job to you for making all 3 cues look entirely different.
On some of the tunnel moments, she looked at you a bit. You can release with the tunnel verbal instead of the normal OK release. I think when you said OK, she took it to mean to come towards you a bit. So just saying “tunnel” can help keep her out on the line.
You were quiet on the serp reps, so you can call her name (eventually on course it can be her name or it can be the directional like left or right
Wing games also looked strong – nice connection and commitment throughout! On the tight turns on the wings, you were doing FCs or spins. That worked well here, but also be sure to practice the blinds where you turn away from her, so she learns about tight blinds too. The racetracks went really well, and she was easily a bel to transition from going really fast in extension to doing a tight turn. YAY!! And your verbals are really fluent now, and that is really helping to support her lines.
Ncoe job with the FCs!Hooray for the rear crosses! Those are hard and she did great!! On the last RC (2:35) you ran a bit of an “L” line: you went straight for several steps so she was setting up to turn left toward you, then cut in to the right so the pressure on the line was late. She did turn correctly, but you can get her to turn sooner. Compare to the first ones, like at 2:16, where you got on the RC line to the center of the bar pretty immediately and she was able to read the RC even sooner. Super!
Backsides looked awesome on all the reps! Adding the connection as she exited the wing wraps really lined her up beautifully for the backside and your line was super clear too.
Grids looks terrific! She looked very balanced! You can try adding maybe 6 more inches of distance and see how she does? Since she did so well here, you can also add a 4th jump (on the straight line and on the angled line) and if that goes well… add a 5th jump!
Great job here!!
Tracy
Good morning!
Looking at the first video –
>>When he is on my left (coming from the can) and I want him to go around the wing from right to left (a flip), what should I be doing with my arms? >>
Ideally, a blind would put him on your right side so you would only need to send him to the next barrel. What was happening here was that you were doing a spin (FC/BC combo) which is why the flip felt so weird. The spin does not get a side change to your right side, but a blind would. So after the spin, he ended up on your left – and you would need to do turn away arms (like a tandem turn) which pulls him in between you and the barrel, then turns him away to it.
On the 2nd video – you were doing spins here too. You can get the flip with more connection nd emphasis on your hands to turn him away – you were not looking at him as much so he as looking t you (then grabbed the toy when he didn’t know what else to do).
So to make it into a true blind – turn away from him as you send to the barrels. Pick a spot on the wall to turn towards to help you remember to turn away from him. One thing that might help is to remember that you and Teagan will be turning the same direction on the blinds – and then you look over the other shoulder. The spin starts with rotation towards him (like a FC) before you look over the other shoulder – but you end up with him on the same arm as you start with on the spins. The blinds produce a side change (left arm to right arm, for example) which will make the cue for the next wing a lot easier 🙂
Your spins were good here! But they set up a harder line on the next barrel, so try it with the regular blinds and let me know how they go 🙂
Nice work!Tracy
Good morning!
The toy definitely brought the excitement to this game! He was looking forward and lower, which is what we want him to do 🙂 Super!
How does he do currently when you go back and forth between food and toys? Trading for a cookie and lining him up with a cookie will smooth out the dropping of the toy and the line up.
One thing to work on separately from the grid is to get the toy to the ground for a few seconds before he moves – he was moving a little early here, as the toy was moving to the ground and before the release. It was more obvious at 1:52 but it was happening on the other reps as well. When you reminded him to wait at the very end, he did indeed wait til you released so that might be the best bet: get the toy in position, praise, wait reminder… then release. That way you can also get the toy dragging forward before the release
>>with slightly less space/less angle. I think I need to add the space back.>>
Possibly! This was looking pretty balanced but you can try adding 6 inches and see how he does. Hopefully the bad weather skips over you and you have clear days!
Nice work here 🙂
TracyGood morning! It is so fun to see her running!!!
Wind in your hair is looking good – one suggestion is to start the wrap as a half circle instead of a full circle around it, so you can do a FC around the outside then be ahead of her as she exits. That way you can move up the line ahead of her to the jump (and she can blast past you). That will definitely help the rear crosses!)
Very fun to see her get to run in the Find The Jump game! You did a great job with your connection and verbal and motion on the line so she found it perfectly without needing to look at you or ask questions.
The way you sent around the first wing here (to the tunnel) is also a way you can send around the wing before the jump in the Wind In Your Hair game – she exits facing the obstacle and you are moving towards it.
Looking at the blooper video – you were near the wing but facing the tunnel… so even the barest hint of motion forward sent her past the wing to the tunnel. Good girl! Compare back to :31 on the previous video: your cues were facing the wing and then turned to the tunnel. That was perfect!
Great job here!!
TracyGood morning!
Lots of good work here!!
Looking at the left/right minny pinny videos – there was too much motion into it at the beginning of the first video, so he wasn’t able to get the mechanics. Things went much better when you started up close! He sorted out the turn aways with physical help (he was really working hard to process that!). So next time, do less physical help on the turn aways – you can use a tiny bit of it, or you can have him turn away to a placed toy. The toy can be between jumps 1 and 2 at first and when he is happy with that, you can move it to between 2 and 3… then fade it out entirely.
Tunnel exits: he does really well when you maintain the connection and motion to the tunnel until he is really locked on. That is a hard angle of entry, so you can move. The wings out more so when he exits the wing, he sees a straighter line into the entry. When you turn away too soon, he jumps at the toy. I think that is more of a frustration behavior than a lack of impulse control – he only really does it when he is not being connection or the skill is really hard.
When finding the exit wing, he is having a little trouble with the countermotion when you are standing still and a bit rotated, so you can move forward a bit more. You had more motion forward on the left turn lines and he did a lot better there – nice and tight to the wing!
One suggestion to differentiate the left/right exits from the RUN exits is to use a different volume and pitch for the left/right. They can be softer and more drawn out which will change the pitch too. Then the run verbal can be LOUD which will help propel him.
For the straight exits, you can throw the reward sooner but also to handle to the wing after it, you will need to be a little ahead of him for now so you can make connection and show the handling too. That requires a more independent tunnel entry, so you can focus on that first – send to the tunnel entry from different angles and reward straight out of it. That will make the go exits really easy 🙂
Well done on the pillbug ! On the outside turns when he was on your left (turning to his right) you generally stayed connected and didn’t run into the tunnel 🙂 and he stayed on your side. Nice!
Turning to his left was harder – he had a toy leap (probably a product of having a little trouble with the mechanics when you were moving fast). At :38 and after that, you were not as connected so he changed sides and then I think at the end he was trying to change sides to be able to turn right. So when he is turning to his left (on your right) you can use food and slow things down so he can process the mechanics of staying on that lead.
On the serps – you inverted the line to the jump so it was more a FC drill where you had to push him away to the jump and not a a serp. I agree, he did really well finding the jump – the extra connection and movement towards it helped and he also did really well when you did the post turn to put him on your other side and *not* take the jump. Yay!
To make it the serp, send him to the start wing the other direction around it so he exits facing the jump (you will be on the landing side of the jump). And if he runs past it, you can angle the jump so the bar is more visible and he has an easier time taking it while you move along the serp line.
The ladder grid definitely needs a stay or holder LOL! He was thinking of them more as a cavaletti and trying to trot through. To do it without a stay, you can line him up at the first jump, click the MM, then send him through the grid. The value of your movement is higher than the value of the MM, which is good to know because that means you will want to either use higher value food in the MM, or a placed toy so he looks at you less.
Great job! Fingers crossed for no more snow!!
Tracy
OMG this looks terrific! He was able to shift his leads in both directions pretty darned easily. SUPER!!!!
>> in case I’ve introduced a bad habit getting him to do it. >>
No bad habits! You were using your upper body and it looked great.
So for the next steps: Go back to 2 cones but move them closer together – try 5 feet. If that goes well, go to 3 cones 5 feet apart, then 4 cones with 5 feet between them.
Then after that… back to 2 cones with 4 feet between them 🙂 No need do try to get it all done soon, but shortening the distances will require you to handle faster and him to change leads more quickly too!Great job 🙂
TracyHi!
Good job with the 3 wings! Your connection as you were cuing the entry to the circles looked great!
I think you will find it even easier to get all 3 smoothly when you add in the countermotion of moving up the line behind him but looking back too the ‘landing spot’ – that will allow you to be earlier on the blind cross exits and also cue the next wing sooner.2nd video – on the first couple of reps, I think you were figuring out what you wanted to do so he stayed on the line to the outside of the wing (that is what I thought you wanted too!) So reward him when that happens 🙂
>>change sides and realized I was trying to do what I think were tantum turns. >>
I think it ended up being threadle wraps on the first wing after the tunnel, so be sure to show him very clear arm cues to pull him into the side you want, On the other wings, you were doing double wraps (around twice) on that first rep. When you add in the tandem turns and threadle wraps, you can work it on one wing first – no need to do it on 3 wings in a row til he totally gets it on one wing 🙂 The very clear hand cues and connection will help pull him to the correct side so he can turn away.
Nice work here!
TracyHi!
CB sends his thanks for the love and support! He is feeling much better.
Bazinga seemed to love the lazy contacts game LOL!!! She was fast and also FLAT to the board, it was cracking me up! I think she is ready to see the bang game, and when she is happy with that we can merge the two games together 🙂
>>I needed to get my mechanics of holding her worked out. We have not been working on that. I want to teach her to stand between my legs to help me get her aligned without having to move her with my hands. I’ll start on that.>>
You can lure her into position and feed her there – that will make it really easy to get her into a line up without moving her around with your hands. Does she have a harness? That can make it easier to hold her.
The crate versus tunnel went really well!!! I could see the steam coming out of her ears when she ws processing!
Note how she was amazing and perfect for the first 40 seconds of the video, then she kind of had a zoom then was not as precise with her responses. I think she had the mental bandwidth until about :40 seconds then she got mentally fatigued because it is such a hard game. So you can do maybe 3 or 4 reps total then give her a brain break so she doesn’t have to get brain tired 🙂
With the wire crate, you can use duct tape or a piece of pool noodle along the bottom edge of the door so she doesn’t potentially smack or catch a little foot on it as she goes flying in 🙂
The serp video looked great – that is smoke in the background?!?!? She was great with ignoring the crazy distractions!!! Only one barking explosion at the end. She is finding the serp lines well, so you can either add the tunnel (but keep the jumps angled) or using just the 2 jumps, start to flatten them out a little bit. I don’t think it matters which one you do first – both will be fun!
Great job here!!
TracyHi!
The serp session looked really good! She read the serp Iines really well. Running in closer to the tunnel helped you stay in motion and set the lines so you all got a lot of speed throughout the session. To get them really perfect, remember to rotate your upper body back towards her so your upper body is facing the jump bar – but keep your feet running forward like you were here, that was perfect! The upper body rotation will cue the turns on all of the different types of serps 🙂
Looking at the teeter session: the skill is similar to the motion override game where we want the dogs to hold a poition while we move. That was where she was having trouble. She is used to you stopping and using an arm cue. So to clarify it:
For the target position, she can sit if you want her to, but also she can top in a standing 1on, 2off position (that is easier for the dogs on the teeter). The target is what helps guide that position – it is a focal point and a place to help them know where to put their feet.So to get this independent:
Start right at the end for the bang game, and move soooooo slowlllllllllyyyyyyyy as she is getting into target position – you should be barely moving at all for now. If you want her to sit, you can use the sit verbal. I use a ‘target’ cue to indicate the 2on 2off position. Then as you keep moving, you can add in throwing the reward back to her – but start with the barest hint of movement so she can be successful. Otherwise you will end up stopping your motion, so ideally you would be barely moving and then over time we work it up to being able to run past 🙂 In this session, you were moving a bit too fast so she was unsure of what to do, because she is used to you stopping with her at the end.Super nice job with the tunnel exits!!!!
The go lines are looking good – you can throw the toy sooner on the go, so she sees the reward flying ahead before she exits and doesn’t look at you – the timing at :38 was great!The turns are looking good! You can probably cue the left/right even earlier, when she is about 5 or 6 feet before the tunnel entry. You were about 3 feet before the tunnel entry at :48 and she had no trouble at all. The earlier you cue the turn, the easier you can leave for the next one and still get a tight turn 🙂
I am super excited about the rear crosses! It seems like the RCs to the right are very easy for her. And the RCs to the left went well – she had the one turn to the right at 1:12, but that was when the RC info started after she was already in the tunnel. On the other reps, like at 1:29 and 1:41, you started the RC info before she went in and she turned left easily. Super!!! So if there were any more misses on the RCs, I bet it was just that she needed to see the info before she got into the tunnel.
Great job here!!!!
Tracy
Hi!
This is another case of him reading you correctly, and the bloopers were not because he was wrong 🙂 The main issue was that after the blinds (which were really nice!!) you were blocking the line to the next wing. So if you blocked the line and moved forward, he went to the 3rd wing (correctly).Or if you blocked the line near the BC wing and stopped moving as you made connection: that turned your body to the tunnel so that is where he went at :36 and :41 and :53. Good boy!
You did start getting him to the center wing at 1:08 and 1:18 – you can see you blocking the wing but the you stopped next to it so he got it (he starts barking on the reps where you are blocking then stopping).
Compare to the reps at 1:45, 1:57 2:08 – you were on a great line to the center wing, and he got it brilliantly! Nice!!
He also read you correctly at 1:20 where he went into the other side of the tunnel from what I think you wanted 🙂 After the wrap on the middle wing there, you never made connection on your left side to change his line so when you said tunnel, he stayed on his line and went to the tunnel he saw out ahead. Compare to 1:28 with lovely clear connection and he read it perfectly. Great adjustment from you!!!
Nice work here! He reads you really well, so rewarding him for it (even if it is not your plan 🙂 ) will help him *not* bite you and also watching the video more frequently in the session if things are not working that well.
Tracy
Hi!
Threadle wraps are similar to tandems – you had more connection on the successful reps here too! So definitely keep adding connection and big obvious hands cue on these too and don’t converge towards the wing – just go straight or even pull away a little to set the line. Using the name on the tunnel exit to get his attention is a big help! So be sure that he hears his name and sees your hands move into threadle wrap position all before he moves into the tunnel – that will really set him up for success on the wing after it.He had really strong commitment the wing as you kept moving forward – super!!!! Nice work!
