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Hi!
>Gromit is funny, at trials he’s very amped and spicy but in training he’s only like that maybe half the time. Keeping his turns short does help and often watching one of the others practice increases his motivation. >
That might be partially that the trial environments amps him up, and partially that he puts down an amped up first run in training but then dials it back to conserve energy when he realizes there are more runs happening in that session. You can treat training like a trial: he gets one run then someone else gets a turn 🙂 That way you can practice at true Gromit speed!
>At trials he often gets so amped that he shoots out ahead and then can’t turn.
At the trial I tried to use the break arm a few times but I think I need more practice with it because he pretty much ignored me. >It might be that it was either visible too late, or the brake arm was directed forward to the jump and not enough back to him (and paired with deceleration). The timing for a dog with his speed and stride is generally he sees the turn cues starting at takeoff to the previous jump. If he sees them starting at landing or after landing, he won’t have time to adjust. If you have video, feel free to post it and we can figure out why he didn’t respond to the arms.
>One time this week I practiced the break arm with Carmen and she did really well with it and made nice tight fast turns. I’ll get back to video this weekend.>
Perfect! Looking forward to the video!
>Oh, and I’ve entered Gromit in a UKI trial beginning of April. I’ve run UKI a few times with my girl Ginger, but not Gromit. He’ll be in beginner since when I first signed him up a few years ago that’s what he was in. I’m hoping he’ll like it.>
I think he will love the fast, flowing lines 🙂
Have fun!
TracyGood morning!
>Partway through where there are a couple extra treat tosses and a hand touch, someone opened the door and came in the building and I wanted to see if Aelfraed could keep working (normally he gets distracted and wants to see who’s there), so that was good too!>
Yes, it is hard to ignore someone entering a quiet environment. He did a great job!
The tandem turns looked great! Only one small blooper when you changed sides but I think you were not as clear or early with the cue as you were on all the other reps. It sounds like you are calling his name as you start the tandems – since he is at almost 100% success, I think you can switch to your threadle wrap verbal. It can still be a tandem turn but you can also mix in a true threadle wrap!
And when that goes well, you can also add more distance in between the wings to get this with more and more speed 🙂
Great job working the decel wraps!!! He had a question on the first rep but then at :19, he was able to pass your decel to commit in collection. SUPER! And your reward placement was spot on. Yay!
At :46 on the new side, he turned the ‘wrong’ way – that was possibly because he had been rewarded for a bunch of left wraps but also it looks like you stepped in and had pressure to the jump with your feet (the decel was a little late), with your right foot stepping across to the RC line. It was goof to reward it anyway! On the other reps, the decel was clear and distinct from the feet rotating, and he had no questions.
Nice work here!
Tracy
Good morning!
>Then…. As I started actually doing this “out” is my drop the toy cue. And “get” man so many “get”>
Other verbals options can be something like “shift” (which of course will sound like shit when yelling which is HILARIOUS) or “away” which is more family friendly 🙂
He had a little trouble shifting to his left lead on the first couple of ‘get out’ reps which is why he was moving away but not exactly taking the jump. I was going to suggest placing the reward and that is exactly what you did – yay! That totally helped, and then he was able to do it without the lure. Super!!!
With the placed reward, be sure to also do the balance reps of going straight, so he is learning the cue and not just going to the reward.
>Or I physically helped lol.>
Yes, there was a bit of turning your feet to the jump which helped him take it but didn’t really show him the lead shift. So be sure to maintain the integrity of the cue: at 3:38 & 4:03 you were not using an arm – he saw connection and you moving to face the jump so I think he got it based on what had just been rewarded and that you were not moving (facing the jump) so it was not a lead change anymore. Put that line on the ground so you are always the same with the lower body 🙂
Nice work here!
Tracy
Good morning!
She did really well with both the lap turn and tandem turn in the first video! Yes, she was vocal on the lap turns when you cued her to drive to you – but that might just be because there is an arousal shift of having to drive to you with you facing her.
When you cued the down at :14 – did she make contact with your leg, or was it because she was barking? If it was just barking, usually that is a sign of needing more connection in that moment (especially when things are exciting early in the session) so you can keep going and connect more. If she made contact with your leg, you can make it more of a ‘game over’ moment: yes, you can cue the down to stop the action, but then you can happily leave the game and take out another dog to play with. That is a bigger response cost for contact with your flesh – a down is a stop in the action for a BC but not being able to continue the work is a bigger “oops, I guess I shouldn’t bite the momma” moment that is delivered happily.The lap turns were pretty perfect, my only suggestion is when you start cueing her to come to the lap turn hand, you can also plant your feet together as she is approaching the hand – that way the leg movement will be a little later (when she get closer to you). She almost went to the wrong side of the wing a couple of times because the leg movement was a little early.
Tandems went great, pretty perfect! So with the tandems and also the lap turns, you can add more distance between the wings to get even more speed 🙂
Wind in your hair went really well! On the first couple of reps, I think you were pressuring in towards the jump so she almost pushed away to the backside. But then on the rest of the reps, you stayed on your line and she knew exactly where to be. The decel looked really good and her commitment was lovely, resulting in beautiful turns! And you were able to get ahead of her on the exit because she was committing really well.
>I’m not sure if I’m doing the end part correctly though?>
You had great connection on the exit and that really helped her see the new line. What might have made you think it was not quite correct was you did a two different handling moves: a spin (front to blind) on the exits at the beginning on the left turn wraps. On the other side you did a regular blind (no front, just blind) on the right turn wraps. Both went great! You can also do some regular front cross exits 🙂 All of those are used in this scenario.
Great job!
TracyNo worries at all! Sounds like a busy week – work gets in the way of resting up after the trial and the dog training! It sounds like she is doing really well on the games you played this week. Spring break will be so nice 😊 I am looking forward to updates!
Tracy
Good morning!
>>I have discovered that she is much more likely to bring the toy back closer to me if I’m on the ground so Weds afternoon played tug/grab/toss with me laying on the grass. Fewer laps that way and she almost brings it to my hand…>
This is great! Being low to the ground seems to help jumpstart the retrieve and also tugging in the new place. Yay!
>Later this morning decided to see how things went if I had Jack out first. I decided to move the “Backside” set up so things looked different from the morning.>
It was fun to see the go versus push set up so you could switch back and forth! I am glad she had a good first part of the session – it is tempting to do multiple reps in a row but just doing one is the best route. Jack can do a few, Jazz does one (doesn’t matter how it goes well or not, stick to one) then Jack comes back out.
One thing video, she had 2 good reps then stopped on the 3rd. So a better approach might be to that you stop after the first good rep 🙂
One of the reasons that alternating works well is because of the arousal shift it brings – it can center arousal enough that the dogs work with high intensity and focus! But that arousal will shift pretty quickly which is why one rep is great but longer sessions can end up with her stopping.
>She had an adjustment on Tuesday so thought it might be due to residual discomfort from that.>
Possibly! But then my question is… why is she having discomfort from an adjustment? There could be no discomfort unless there was a big adjustment and/or something painful underlying it. Behaviorally, we definitely do see a pattern of one or two fast snappy reps… then she stops wanting to do it. Chiropractically, there is a pattern of pain on the right hip the is recurring to the point that it sounds like Jazz reacted to it. So the question remains: why is it happening?
Since the rads ruled out orthopedic issues (yay!!) the next steps to figuring out the pain would be soft tissue specialist who can palpate things like the psoas or even do an MSK ultrasound, as well as considering a pain trial. A pain trial is 2 weeks on pain meds (usually NSAIDs) and look at what, if anything, changes. Those are very useful! Food for thought.
>I hope to set up another one of the games to try with her there. Thinking that my yard may have soured her on agility here.>
Let me know how it goes at the new place! Arousal and adrenaline might really support her wanting to play agility but keep it to one rep then take a break. It is possible. The yard has soured her on agility so keep that to just playing with favorite toys for now with single reps thrown in here and there to see if we can get the association back to being super positive in the yard.
Nice work her! Let me know what you think!
Tracy
Hi!
>As you have noticed, my timing is terrible and my mobility isn’t great. I can’t move fast enough or in a stable enough way to get where I want to be and in a good position. I had a complete rupture of my right hamstring three years ago and a high grade tear of the left hamstring and glute two years ago. I will probably never get my mobility/running back to where it once was. Hence my distance handling. Ugh!>
Ouch! The hamstring issues sound so painful!! But watching you and Scotch – I think you are selling yourself short! Your distance handling and his distances skills are making it so that you don’t need to worry about moving fast – he is reading the cues from wherever you are! So no worries about mobility or position: are you doing GREAT and I have no arguments with your position here – you used your distance skills to get exactly where you needed to be (on the other side of the tunnel). And look how well he is turning and how close to you he is working on these 2 videos!
He is becoming very responsive to your brake arms, so the main thing here is to lock into the exit of the tunnel. You were past it and finished with the blind on both of these videos – so as soon as you are past it, don’t worry about getting up to the jump wing for the wrap. Decel and lock onto the tunnel exit so as soon as he exits, you can cue the wrap.
On the first video, you were moving forward to the wrap wing so ended up being late. But on the 2nd video, your brake arm was in place and you were connected when he exited the tunnel at :15 – fabulous turn!!!! You did it as a FC – if you are further from the jump, I bet you have more time to exit with a blind so he is on your right side if you wanted him to be. It is not required but it would be fun to try because it will keep you ahead of him even more.
Great job here!!
TracyHi!
Leo’s sequences went really well – he is responding beautifully to the brake arms! He turns really well with just a suggestion of the brake, even when it is late. So let’s talk about timing!
One suggestion is that you don’t need to be at the turn jump to get a great turn. You were continuing to move forward to it even when it was time to decel and show the hands – he still got really good turns here but I think on a bigger course or with a tunnel, you might end up with off courses or wider lines.
The middle jump (tunnel replacer 🙂 ) is the key to the timing on this setup: when he is finishing that jump, the next cues should be underway. That correlates to the tunnel exit.
So you can drive hard to the turn jump until he is in the air of that middle jumper- then you need to decel and start setting up the brake arm and rotation from wherever you are. Continued motion to the jump will cause questions.
He is super responsive to the decel and arms like at :23 ad :34 but those can both be starting as he is over the middle jump so he has more time to prepare for the turn.
Same with the throwback: drive hard to the wrap jump until he is in the air over the middle jump, then decel wherever you are. At :44 and :55, those cues started just before he took off for the wrap, so he had a wide line coming into it (but responded immediately when he saw them! Nice!)
You can also start the backside wrap cues when he is in the air of the middle jump: no need to decel hen he is at the middle jump! Stay connected keep moving to the backside wing (where the wing and bar meet) and as he is landing from the middle jump, you are showing him the backside cue.
Being behind from the decel at the middle jump and looking forward almost caused him to take the front of the jump. He still turned nicely, so I am very excited to see how responsive he is to turn cues!!
Scout gave us good feedback about the timing of the cues 🙂 Because he is less experienced he was a true mirror of the timing:
On the first rep, you accelerated from the middle jump until he took off for the wrap jump. The decel and rotation were late so he was wide on the turn. You had your brake arms up so he was only a little wide, but the decel as he is exiting the middle jump will really help. You had a stronger rotation at :15 so the turn was better, but you can decel into it as he is landing from the middle jump. The forward motion at :30 almost sent him to the backside then he ended up wide on the front side.
The timing of the FC at :20 was good! Spot on! When you start it, then you can decel and do the brake arms. You were running backwards a bit here so he ended up wide.
The timing of the throwback rep at :46 was not quite as nice as at :20 – a little late but he still saw the decel into the brake arms before he had to make a takeoff decision: nice turn!
So I think what was going on with both boys was that you were working the cueing of the middle jump more than needed then trying to get to the wing of the wrap jump, which ended up making the turn cues late. For that jump (or for a tunnel) you can end to it then trust the commitment – and head directly to the turn jump. You might not get to perfect position, and that is fine 🙂 If you are in decent position when you start the decel, you will get great turn because the decel leading into the brake arms are very powerful cues.
Applying that to the backside wraps: you can send to the middle jump and head to where the wing and bar meet on the backside jump. When he is in the air over the middle jump, wherever you are, you can decel and use a brake arm. Then hold that position til he passes you to set up the turn.
At 1:04, you got close to the middle jump then accelerated to the backside wrap, so he accelerated too and almost went past it 🙂 You were there at 1:17 sooner and had some decel, soHe was not sure about committing to the jump as you moved forward, so you can shift your connection to the landing side (and point back to it with the left hand in this case) as you keep moving to support his commitment.
Great job here!
Let me know what you think!Tracy
Hi!
>YouTube decided I’d uploaded too many videos today. >
YouTube has been having a weird week!!
>For the get out cue, what might I use that for in AKC? We will work on it but I couldn’t picture when we might need it.>
I can be used ay tie there is a lead change away from you (which there are plenty of in AKC) – a weave entry that is offset, for example, or trying to cue a jump across the box and you don’t want to run to it because you have to get to the next line. And it is super useful in FAST sends too!
The advanced serps went great! She gets a double gold star for the first rep on the 2nd side because she almost ran past the serp, then caught herself and fixed it. Yay! I think the left turn side is harder for her (where she is coming to your right hand) but she was still super successful on that side too.
The Treat n Train is useful for this! On the first side you were moving your shoulders as you were indicating the Treat n Train but you kept your shoulders more ‘frozen’ on the second side – that was better because we don’t want her to think shoulder movement is part of the cue.
She is ready for you to put a jump bump or pool noodle in as a bar for her to go over.
She is doing well with the pivots! You can add in keeping yourself in one spot and throwing the treats off to the side, to see if she can get on the bowl and pivot back to center, which will add more steps to the pivoting. And you can also add something low for her to step over in the Advanced level.
Great job!
Tracy
Hi!
The milk bones box was a good challenge! He did really well with it!>I found his noticing of the distraction and then quickly returning to task, even when he noticed it multiple times,>
He was really great with the food jar and bag of treats too! I think he showed a bit of interest in them because he saw you putting them down, which makes them more interesting. To add challenge, you can have something already present in the room then bring him into it and immediately begin the game, to see if he can ignore it from the start,
Interestingly, you had a side preference with the rewards: when he was coming towards your left side, you were seeing engagement (him looking toward you) and rewarding. When he was coming towards your right side, you were actually a little early: the reward came when he was moving towards you but before he looked at you. So you can delay the reward on that side a bit so it matches what you did on the left side by rewarding after he looked towards you. You can also add a ‘get it’ marker on the cookie tosses.
This is a great game to take on the road to different locations! I think he I read to see it in new places. It helps the pups figure out all sorts of new environments.
Great job!
Tracy
Hi!
I think she really likes the tunnels 🙂 That is a super long tunnel and she was really zipping through it! Great job holding her so she could hear the verbal before letting her go – that also allowed you to change her position.
She was having a little trouble ignoring the dog barking but was super clever to find the other end of the tunnel when you were pretty far from the entry you wanted. She had to sniff it out to deal with the barking dog in the distance, but then she finished really strong at the end: finding the entry from really far away AND ignoring the barking dog. SUPER!!!!!
You can definitely add in the threadle side entry where she is between you and the tunnel o she turns away to get into it.
And, since she is small, we want to throw a reward further so she blasts out of the tunnel instead of turning really tight towards you. I want small dogs to have really big commitment so we don’t have to run close to the obstacles with them 🙂 So to get that, you can throw a toy or a ball, or even a lotus ball to be able to throw food so it easy to throw and easy to find.
She was brilliant with turn and burn, in both directions! You got a little too excited at 1:52 and pulled her off, so you can do the FC nice and early like you did there but try not to have big praise until she has completely the wrap 🙂
The only thing to add here is that you can step to the wing as you say the push verbal ,so she as that physical cue to support starting. She did move on the verbal but the physical cue of stepping to the wing will get even more propulsion to the wing.We are building on this soon and she is definitely ready. Great job!!
TracyHi!
>m I understanding this correctly, the only cue we are giving the dog is the Release cue? >
Yes, for now. We are getting the offered sit then uses releases.
>We never say Stay (or Wait is what I have been using when she needs to wait before exiting her crate) When does the Stay cue come into the picture? Once they know it then we start saying it? Or are they learning this position (sit) means stay put until I release you?>
They are learning that sit means stay until released! With that in mind though… the stay words are more for us humans LOL so when she is reliably staying, you can add it is you want to. It helps us humans stay connected and it is perfectly fine to add it 🙂 even if the dogs don’t exactly need it 😂
The catch game is going great with the cookies! You can fade out the clicker now – all you need is ‘catch’ then throw the treat. She only had one blooper where you tried to move away fast. Moving away a little more slowly was successful every time. Super!
On the second video:
She did well here too with the ‘ok’ release! You can take the clicker out of this one too – one less thing to worry about and then there is no confusion about if the clicker is the release or not. The click doesn’t provide information past “that was correct!” So it can indeed be a release. Using ‘ok’ and ‘catch’ is better because they both has the same “that was correct” info as the click and they also tell her what to do next :). You can do both in one session, and mix in some quiet praise too.
>When I release her from her crate I am sometimes in this position (drive to handler) to do a hand touch, sometimes I face her & she does a hand touch. Most of the time she gets a cookie for either the HT or “driving” to my hand. I don’t know if this carries over into this, but I thought I would mention it! >
She night be thinking that the click is the release, and that is fine because we are going to maybe be using verbals rather than clicks. I am sure her understanding of the release from the crate is carrying over to this in a positive way!
Great job!
Tracy
Hi!
>but didn’t get to eat all my snacks because I had a gall bladder attack!!>
Oh no! Ouch!!!! I had my gall bladder out when I was 49 (emergency surgery) and I am so happy it is gone!!!
Plankrobatics at the beach looked great! He did a lovely job balancing on the plank and hopping on & off. Turning around was hard – I am guessing the plank was too narrow so he couldn’t quite do it. But it was really fun to see him off leash and training/playing with total focus, in a new environment!
Nice work!
Tracy
Hi!
>Bloody hell you make this rear cross look easy!!
They aren’t easy but I have a lot of practice being behind my dogs LOL!
The turn away here’s are big well! You can lean forward and make your arm cue even more exaggerated, reaching the magic cookie hand directly towards him so it is very visible when in competition with the prop At :33, for example, the prop was more obvious so he didn’t realize you wanted him to come t your hand.
For the tandem turns, you can make the outside arm more visible earlier too – as you slow down when he catching up to you, you can let him lock onto the outside hand joining the inside hand before you start turning him away. I think he is reading the outside arm as the main cue, so letting him see it sooner will help him lock onto it. On the reps where he didn’t turn away, the dog-side arm was the main cue and that didn’t make as much sense to him as the reps where you also had the outside arm turning him away.
> But I do manage to rhyme armpit and shit when singing to the Baz.>
That was excellent LOL! The singing is super important 🙂
Tracy
Hi!
The threadle flatwork is going well! He was happy to come in and hit the target hand. You can be more precise with the cookie delivery: deliver the cookie in exactly the same spot that you delivered the toy (in the other hand so he turned in front of you) – that was great!
And I agree – that was lovely self-control on the toy!!! It was hard but he did it. And you let him have a victory lap which was a smart and fun reward. One small blooper and then he was great And I also love how well he went back and forth from the treat to the toy. Super!
>As I watched it back I realised I didn’t release him from the wait>
Yes, you should release the wait 🙂 and you might need to do a session where you reward waits when you put the hand in position so he learns that the hand is not the release cue.
>I’m just gonna blame perimenopause.
>That is legit! Perimenopause does cray cray things to be brain LOL!!
Great job!
Tracy
