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Hi!
He did really well here and has a ton of value for the prop! That will transfer really well to jumps and other obstacles when he is older!!>i see my feet were in the wrong position>
Yes your mechanics were good and also yes – the hardest part of this game is getting our feet to go straight LOL!! I use a line on the ground (like a leash) so my feet can be pointing the right direction, especially as we start moving.
And you can totally start moving now – he was able to do it from a standstill so now you can be moving up a line parallel to the prop. Sometimes cue the out, sometimes don’t cue it so he moves with you and doesn’t go to the prop.
Nice work!
Tracy
Hi!
The hardest part of the running contact box session was finding the darned cheese. When he found it, everything else was easy! In this session, you throwing it before he offered behavior on the box which got things moving. So for the next session, you can wait til you see his back feet in the box, then mark and throw the treat.
Nice work!
T
Good morning!
Serps:
I think the hardest part was him finding the start cookie LOL!! You might need big white pieces of cheese or something. He was good about coming into the target hand (he can sideswipe it at this point, doesn’t need to directly touch it) but I think he will come in even faster if you look at the target or even shake it.
What is your marker for the toy in your hand? I hear yes, get it, and bite among others LOL! So try to be super consistent for when that toy is available.
You can move to the next step where the toy or a bowl is on the ground!
Lap turns! The prop has a ton of value now (yay!) so I think making the hand cue more obvious was the most helpful: shaking it and looking at it can drive him right to it, past the prop.
Once he got to your hand, your mechanics of turning him away were lovely and he hit the prop really well! Yay! Onwards to the tandem turns!
Barrel wraps: He did well going to the barrel with you rotated.! Be sure to let him see you shift the connection from his eyes (during the ready moment) to the barrel (on the send) especially when you are backwards. You can make it super obvious so he doesn’t think it is a line up 🙂
Bear in mind that he is beginning to have value for other things so there was a lot of visual ‘clutter’ here that caused him to be a bit wide on his wraps especially at the beginning of the session. You can clear the environment more so he can pick out the barrel more and drive around it.
>I do not know why or what I was trying to accomplish mid way when I like touched him or held his chin?>
That was right before he did the leg weave – it might have interrupted his chain of thought or it might be that he needed more of a connection shift back to the barrel? But yes, he ws like why are you holding my chin LOL 😂😝
You can definitely move to the rocking horse games now!
Nice work!
TracyGood morning!
Fingers crossed for a dry weekend so Sprite gets to run!
The game outside here is looking good! Getting her to chase and play all went really well. It is a fun way to hang out in the yard – she was even on her way to you a few times before you called her. Yay! My only suggestion is to play for longer each time she gets to the toy – it seemed like you were getting her on the toy then moving to your next start spot right away. You can take 10 or 20 seconds in that spot where she got to the toy to really play and swing the toy around and make things super exciting for getting to you.
Great job!
TracyHi!
>We are at Pendleton and there is a lot of activity especially by the start jump…as there always seems to be a ring crew person there plus the leash runner. The next ring’s start line is right there also….tough for young novice dogs!!!!>
He seemed to do pretty well! You can see if he can line up quicker so you can get outta there quicker 🙂 Stays looks good!
>We had a little issue at the practice jump. There isn’t any fencing around the practice jump and another handler & dog came up….which Ringo felt compelled to go say hi. No dog-dog issues but I think I will skip the practice jump or at a minimum be more watchful for who is in the area!>
You can probably skip it and just warm him up on the flat. No need to navigate through random traffic if there might be greetings 🙂
The runs overall look good and yes, his stride is big! So info needs to be earlier and sooner but you were connected and doing a really lovely job!
On the standard course:
I don’t look at the maps until after the runs because I like to see if the handler can show me the course 🙂
So at the beginning, both Ringo and I thought the far side of the tunnel was correct. It was not a big stride issue… it was exactly what you cued. Here is a screen shot:
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1tk6-nzEfMYpQqQrQkStawKJQkpD4AJ5cRp2oOwjgGDA/edit?usp=sharing
You did get your left arm pointed to the entry you wanted but it was late and did not override all of the other cues (position, shoulders, feet, motion, etc)
He jumped at you when you stopped – and he jumped at you when you stopped after the off course after the a-frame. To get a tighter turn off the frame, he will need to see turn cues before he gets to the top of the frame (the cues were subtle and late here, so I can see why he stayed on his line). Earlier shoulder turn, using 2 hands, and a ‘right’ verbal can help get the turn.
But more importantly… if there is an error: do not stop! Assume it was handler error (because it was) and keep going no matter what – or he is going to rehearse jumping at you in the ring. So after the off course tunnel of 3, you can do a FC and put him back into the tunnel then carry on. On the line after the frame, just keep moving to the next obstacle. That will help solidify teamwork and he won’t get frustrated/jump up.
Also – you can use FEO/NFC to work on teeter criteria 🙂 He doesn’t seem sure of where to be. In UKI, you can put a target on the ground during NFC runs!
I thought the JWW run went really well!! You were super connected and that really helps!
I think perhaps a little convergence towards him at 2:29 caused the left turn? But you were connected and got him right back on track – he didn’t jump up there because you kept going 🙂Great job! Let me know what you think!
Tracy
Hi!
This setup was nice and tight between the jump and tunnel, which is perfect for his level of experience. He was basically perfect when you were connected. The 2 bloopers (:24 and :32) were when you disconnected. Aha!!
The failures can really guide us in the training here:
He might be relying on your connection to get these right on courses, which is GREAT! Except that none of us can be perfectly connected all the time LOL! So this is a perfect starting point: since he did great with the connections and had trouble when you were disconnected but giving the verbals, you can slow your motion down a lot and be pretty disconnected – let’s see if he can process the verbal without as much motion distraction. And when he can do that, we will add back more and more motion!
Great job! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
Off to a great start here!! Really nice session!
>Am I correct with front cross to tunnel and just post to jump? >
Yes to the FC on the wing before the tunnel. But you can do a spin on the wing to the jump, for 2 reasons:
– if it is angled enough, the post turn alone should put him on the line to the backside
– when we get into the harder reps where you are ahead and not connected, I want the handling to be relatively the same so he processes the verbal and not just the physical cues.He did really well here! You had a lot of sends after the wing wrap here and he seemed to have no trouble. You can add more of your motion, so he processes the jump or tunnel verbals even with you running up the line between the 2 obstacles (motion can totally change processing!)
And once you have the motion added and he is fine with it, you can add the disconnection 🙂
>I’m a bit worried about maintaining his drive to the obstacles if I’m not connected. Plan to bring out string cheese as a reward for that session.>
You will be running, so either way he will have fun chasing you 🙂 Yes to the cheese! And also, only disconnect a little bit or only run a little fast, to maintain a high rate of success.
>Any benefit to switching which side the obstacles are on or which side he starts from each session?>
You can set up a mirror image to flip things, as long as the start wing is in the middle and the discrimination is still intact.
Great job!
TracyWelcome! This will be fun and useful, especially the parts where you are running hard and not really connected and she has to process verbals as the main cue 🙂
Have fun!
Tracy
Hi! Great to see you here! This is perfect for Casper and will be a nice review for Enzo, especially the harder stuff 🙂
>Question: Why are you spinning in the first set when you send to the jump instead of doing the (dread) post-turn?>
2 reasons!
The first is that if I do a post turn, the dog should be on the line to the backside of the jump and I want the front. The spin tightens the turn.Also, when we get the handler way ahead AND add the disconnection, you are correct in that the spin makes the physical cue look the same so the dog really has to lock into verbals.
>Granted, I mostly spin instead of a forward send or post turn but I tend to consider that a flaw in my handling, not a feature.
> Ha! It is a total feature!!!
Have fun!
Tracy
Hello and welcome back!! That speedway course looks so fun – I am pretty sure we had a game that looked just like it but more squished together LOL! The Speedway Nationals will be a hoot!
This first training session went great 🙂 Most of it was super easy because your connection was pretty perfect. Yay! But that is still a nice skill review for him.
I think the only challenges he had were towards the end of the session where you were less connected and going really fast/ahead of him – at 1:34 you were saying the tunnel verbal and he really had to think about it: he was really looking at the jump for a moment! So having you ahead and in between the obstacles and minimally connected was a great way to get him to process verbals. That means for the first time ever, you should connect LESS hahahaha 🙂And you can also try it starting right at the start wing and also connect less: how much can he read based on your verbal?
Great job!
TracyHello and welcome!! And thanks for letting me know about the Verbals Only lesson… for some reason the website decided not to publish it. I fixed it so you can see it now 🙂
Have fun!
TracyHi!
> compared to in the backyard, his toy play is less enthusiastic away from home. >
You can make the toy wilder by having it tied to something long so you can really swing it for him to chase 🙂
>Skizzle’s offered play is also shorter or not at all when he’s worried about barking/whining. >
Yes, that is pretty normal – he might be able to get into chase mode in those moments, which is just a different play style than tug.
>If I’m reading this right (?), you’re suggesting I use play (increasing the time and moving away from the barrels) to help him get to an arousal level that’s optimal for the game?>
Yes, keeping arousal optimized and also giving a break from the repetition of the game.
>So if I notice him taking off instead of wrapping the barrel, I can play longer and attempt again?>It really depends on what he is taking off for – something in the environment catching his attention? Then more play might be able to help. But if he is taking off because he thinks you are going to throw the toy, then less play might be the better bet 🙂
>In general, I try not to up-the-ante with higher and higher value rewards to keep his attention. >
I think of it is as the environment will dictate the level of reward value. If it is easy, like indoors at home? A pretty low value of great. But if you are in a harder environment then a higher value reward will break through the processing challenges – it is not as much about him making choices and it is more about breaking through environmental challenges.
>I haven’t really thought about this in the context of toy/play – though I like to use different toys regularly so I have many options. Fortunately (or maybe not?) he doesn’t have a toy he’s dying to have.>
I do the same! For my adolescent dog who will be working at a national event tomorrow while 2 other rings are running (and no real ring gating other than some decorative lattice :)) , I have a special raccoon pelt tug toy and chicken nuggets ready for his rewards. Big environments need big rewards! At home, he is happy to work for kibble or maybe some string cheese, and a fleece tug toy.
>It feels like a balance – accepting the information he’s providing vs. upping my excitement level to up his.
Curious to hear your thoughts.>I think of it as fighting fire with fire. Or, pay check commensurate with level of challenge LOL! If I need to increase the value of a reward (either better food, better toy, or more exciting me) then I will TOTALLY do it. If the pups struggle to engage, it is more about them asking for help so higher value rewards totally help!
Let me know what you think!
Tracy
Hi!
>He’s full out teenager now with boundless energy lol!>
Ha! Yes, I would like to put some of that adolescent dog energy into my morning coffee!
He is doing really well with the forward sending. The sideways and backwards sending is where he has questions. He was able to do it when you arm went all the way around the barrel too, but that will make the next steps harder so we will get the behavior without your arm needing to be as much of a big part of the cue.
>I also think he has some confusion on when that reward is available.>
Yes – I think what we are seeing is from a combination of conflicting indicators: reward in your hand, and your body turned the other way. So he is having trouble understanding that yes, he will get rewarded for going the other direction. Then he gets BIG MAD and bites the barrel. Ok! Good info, thanks Quill 🙂 We can totally help him!
I think a few things will help:
– For the rewards, you can play tug before and in between games, but have your hands empty of food and toys during the sending for now. We don’t need to be super precise with the rewards, so you can cue the behavior with empty hands then reward after he does it. We can add rewards back into your hands when he understands the behavior better (and then we can add the markers too, highly recommend markers :))
– To help him know that it is ok to leave your position to go around the barrel we can use something that will be a visual aid: the bowl that you orginally used to shape the behavior with! You can put the bowl halfway or 2/3rds of the way around the barrel, then send him around the barrel. Start with sending forward (will be very easy) then change to sideways and backwards.
He will use the bowl as a visual aid, but you can whip out a toy or cookie and reward from your hand when he goes around the barrel. That way you can easily fade the bowl out again.
– You can use a big cone for this rather than the soft barrel. There are 2 reasons for this: it will be easier to go around and see the bowl with a cone, and he is less likely to bite/tug on the cone 🙂 so more likely to wrap it.
Let me know how it goes! Nice work getting him to this point and I think the tweaks will get him to the next steps 🙂
Tracy
Hi!
Great job shaping the box here! He very quickly figured out that he needed to put his feet in it AND keep moving – nice placement of reward to help that! The ‘get it’ marker is the most important – you don’t need the ‘yes’ marker because it delays the important info of the ‘get it’. The ‘yes’ was probably just creeping in because he was being great and that happens for all of us 🙂
>because there’s a franken-monster in there that loses it sometimes. I tried to throw away from the crate.>
This is possible, so you will see even more drive to it when he is outside and won’t be blown away with crazy winds.
>At 1.34 ish the pathetic keening of the Weedith can be heard.>
Yes, she was providing the soundtrack to her film “Why Do HE Get A Turn When It Should Be ME” hahahaha
Nice work here!
Tracy
