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Good morning! He did well here!
As you start any session with distractions, you can reward that first head turn towards you (:20) so get the game started. As you move back and forth, it doesn’t matter which side of you he is on – I think he was switching sides because it was unclear where, so looking at him will help with that (but if he switches sides as he is working through a distraction – still fine and rewardable :))When you are using a toy as the distraction, you can also add in a ‘get it’ cue so he can grab the toy. We want impulse control on the toys but we also want him to play with them 🙂 so a get it marker will help balance that. For other distractions, you don’t need to cue him to interact. But if people and other dogs are distracting, you can also add a “go see” cue for him to visit. Impulse control is easier when the dog knows when he can have the ‘thing’ and when he can’t 🙂
Nice work here! Stay warm!
TracyGood morning!
>>I noticed that I was getting a lot of direct eye contact with her (hard to see in the videos), and I feel like it was causing a lot of handler focus when she should have been looking at the next jump, so I think I didn’t find the “sweet spot” every time.>>
I could see her looking at you and she often barked when she did it, to underscore her point LOL! Looking at the video – any of the questions about the sending or when she was looking at you were all about arm position 🙂
First, look at a super successful moment at 2:04 – your arm was low and a little back, with great eye contact so she had great commitment, no head check to look at you and no barking
Compare to the times when she looked at you and barked (:22, :28, :42, 1:29, 1:40 2:08, 217 ) – your arm was ahead of her on the line and ahead of you on some of the reps which blocked connection so she had to look up and also rely on motion. At 1:56 and 2:38 the arm was far enough ahead that the line of your shoulders changed so she came off the line.
You could probably see her peripherally on those reps, but she needed to see more of the shoulder position and connection. The trick to that will be keeping your arm back to her nose and looking directly at her eyes when she is behind you, to set up the send.
You can see the difference in quick succession at :55 (she didn’t go) and at :58 (where you dropped your arm, maybe eye contact, and re-sent her to the wing with one little step and she went to it immediately :))
So rather than using a lot of motion or verbals here, try for the massive connection, arm back to her nose until after she is past you) and one big send step. To help solidify commitment you can throw reinforcement to the landing side of the jump or past the wing. And, stay as close as you can to the previous obstacle: so if the sequence is sending to the wing, decelerate and don’t go past the landing spot of the jump to set up the send with the connection and the dog side arm/leg.
That position will make your life a lot easier in terms of getting back up the line for the crosses 🙂I think your exit line connection was looking good! You had t hustle to get there but he was able to pick up the new side easily (and yes, keep running through it with the connection until she catches up to you).
Nice work here! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning!
My favorite part of this video was that overall she made you HUSTLE to have to get the serpentines – it was great to see her speed pushing you, because you ran harder and that also got more speed from her, which required more speed from you… a happy cycle 🙂The send to the wing before the jump was the hardest part as you mentioned – on the first reps where she did not go to the wing, you were pointing ahead and looking at the wing (which caused your arm to be too high/blocking connection which is also something you already noted). But you made great adjustments and she was able to get the wing nicely! Both of you knew that you were heading to the jump, so it required a bit of patience to make sure she locked onto the wing first.
She seems more comfy on the right turns like at 1:50 and 1:56 where we had a great view of your connection. On the left turn side, it is a little harder for to propel away to the wing, so she needed one big explosive step from you with the connection – and when you worked that out, she flew away to the wing. YAY! Being able to make adjustments like that during a training session is a GREAT skill – well done!
>>I understand why we don’t because it totally closes the shoulder but that just seems more natural to my brain! LOL>>
SO TRUE! We humans like to point at things… but that is unfortunately not how dogs process handling info. The good news is that as they get more experienced, we don’t have to be nearly as precise with the sending as we do in these early stages with young dogs.
I agree with your assessment that the serpentines went really well! She drove in hard on every one of them! There was only one question moment, at :56 – it is hustle-induced because she was flying and you were trying to get past the wing. And while that was happening, you were moving forward and looking at her – ideally as you move forward you would be shifting connection to look at the landing spot, to help cue the commitment. I say it was hustle-induced because it is hard to run hard AND shift connection in the early stages – but you will get it and she will also understand to commit even as you are moving forward.
Great job here!
TracyGood morning!
>>has an unknown fur (almost like hair…)>
Interesting! I wonder what it is? She certainly loved it LOL!
She did well with the sends! Good job to you for doing one step on the send (it is HARD to not run forward but you were doing one big step from the wing to the jump and she had no questions!). The best reps were where you made a more direct eye contact as she came around the wing, so you got the most speed around the wing on those. When your shoulder was ‘closed’ forward more , she was a little slower around the wing, maybe waiting for more info.
Adding the 2nd jump was no problem – it looks like you can move away even sooner as you send to the first jump to get past the 2nd jump – you did that at 3:16 and it was TERRIFIC! She went to the jump and you were already heading for jump 2. On. The other reps you were waiting til she was taking off for jump 1 more, so you can add in leaving sooner like you did at 3:16.
Shifting connection video – this went well too! Her commitment is looking strong so you can start to rotate sooner to show more counter motion. To do that, you can spread the distances out a bit so that you take 5 or 6 steps between the wing and jump – that should give you more time to decel and rotate for the FC , so you are decelerating as she catches up to you and rotating for the FC/shifting connection as she passes you (and that will give you more time to shift your connection too). On the tighter distances, you were tending to do it as she was taking off, so adding 8 to 10 more feet between the jump and the wing should help a lot 🙂
Circle wraps on the wing are looking strong too too! Your connection shift was lovely and you didn’t have extra steps sideways or backwards: you were moving forward the whole time. She was slowing down by the end – I think that was more due to a lot of reps being the same so she was losing steam. You do a couple of reps and if they are roughly right, move on to the next thing 🙂
Serps combos – great connection here, and the exit line connection really helped her see the line! Plus it sped your shoulders face the jump more – as you move fast the jump with your feet forward like they were here, more rotation towards the jump with your upper body will help her see the serp cue even sooner (as she exits the wing wrap, you can be starting the serp shoulder rotation). The exit line connection totally help that! And you can have your dog-side arm extended out and away from you to help her se that too.
On the 2nd video, the connection looked strong too! And the exit line connection looked really clear as well – yay! You were working the serp arm here –
You can see the arm extending on the because you were facing the camera – the serp arm was happening as she was taking off, though – so change the timing to show her the serp arm/shoulders with the shifting connection as she exits the wing wrap (as if it was the previous jump).When adding countermotion at the end of the serp to get through the gap and have a wrap exit of the jump, you can be further across the bar as she exits the wing before it, That way you are moving forward past the wing, and not parallel to the bar. If she sees you moving parallel to the bar, she will jump on a slice (instead o f the desired wrap) and that is why she almost too you out at the end here. Ideally you can be passing the takeoff side of the jump with connection shifting back to her landing spot as she is approaching takeoff.
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning!
I think the connection in the sends video is looking really strong overall! There was only one moment where you were not quite connected enough at 1:36 your shoulders were already rotating away so he didn’t commit to the wing. You were fixed that on the rep after it and all of the other reps had clear connection.
>>n reviewing the video I feel like I didn’t really send. I felt like I had to move somewhere/more>>
Yes, you can definitely make it more of a send and less forward motion towards the jumps to wing.
When sending from the wing to the jump, starting with a FC like you did at :37 is a great way to set it up. Then make the BIG connection as he exits the wing wrap… and send him with the connection and one big step to the jump 🙂The sequences are going well (the wing is blending in with the visuals behind it so he was a little more careful sending to it, but he did find it well!) but you can send more here too, to help set up the cross when you add that in to the end: Decelerate near the jump before the send (probably one step past it) then with big connection, take one big step to the wing and see if he can drive to it.
The shifting connection went well too! Your connection shift on the FC on the jump was VERY obvious 🙂
With getting you even further ahead in mind: You can add deceleration into it so you can be rotated sooner and even already moving the other way when he is taking the jump. So as he is exiting the wing wrap, you can start to decel as he catches up to you then rotate and shift connection to the landing of the jump as he passes you. That will allow you to move away before he takes off.The circle wraps are going well too!
The connection and commitment was looking really strong overall. Only 2 little handling bloopers, at 2:14 and 2:37 – You looked forward on those so there was a connection break and shoulder rotation so he (correctly) read it as a blind cross cue. Good boy!
>>I also noticed that I was often taking an extra step back towards the landing side on the wraps that should not be needed.>>
Yes – the shifting connection should help you not have to move sideways or backwards. I think the reason folks do that is because we humans are weight shifting to move forward again because we were running fast then have to stop, and the added steps help us balance. So this is also a place to add decel: as you are getting to the wing, start decelerating (and lean forward a little :)). Then as he passes you, you can shift your connection and move forward again, no extra steps. The decel plus leaning forward should make it feel easier to not step sideways.
Great job! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning!
The sends are looking really good, same with theserps! If think the right turn lines at the beginning is more comfy for you – Your connection on the sending was really clear and your shoulder position for the serp was really clear too (like at :18 for example).The left turn side seemed harder for you both, but you had a ton of lovely reps! And good adjustments too if there was a blooper – like at :34 when you shoulder for the serp was not as clear but you fixed it at :40 and she got it really well!
When she is on the left turn line, you were tending to be further from the jump for the serp so it was a little harder for her to see as compared to the left turn lines where you were a lot closer. So stick as close as you can.I think you might have been trying to leave sooner from the send to get to the 2nd jump at :48 and :55 where you were moving away from the jump as she came around the wing, so she didn’t have a cue to go to the jump (so she didn’t go, good girl!)
Compare to the reps at 1:17 and 1:23 which had the big connection and the big step to the jump – and she got it perfectly 🙂
The shifting connection for the circle wraps looked great! Her commitment was strong and your connection shifts were really obvious! Because she is so fast (and there will be no hang time over the jumps when a bar in there :)) one suggestion to get you to be able to move forward faster:
As you cue her to go past you to the circle wrap, you can keep your dog side arm arm going across on front of you – you can think of it as transferring her from your dog side arm to your other arm, then using that other arm to supper the connection shift back behind you. I try not to let my dog-side arm go past my dog-side hip. That way, there is less rotation for me… and less rotation means I cam move forward faster 🙂Let me know if that makes sense! Great job on these!!!
TracyHi!
I think the distance really helped, as well as staying in motion for the rewards!For the FCs and spins: all of the reps where she turned to her left looked AWESOME!!! Good early timing from you and lovely exit line connection. She had terrific turns and no bars down.
The right turns were harder – you were tending to be a little late on those, starting them as she was over the bar (which causes a rail down)
Part pf the timing question might have been that you had too much lead out (like at :20) so as she was over 1, you did a big move and she dropped the bar of 1 then couldn’t recover to see the info for 2. Moving into it for a few steps will let her see the transition.
The timing on the rep at :43 was lovely!!!!
Interestingly, the blind crosses where she turned to her right were easier and the left turn blinds were harder – the opposite of the FCs/spins!
The left turn blind questions were a combination of a little late on the timing and needing more exit line connection.
I thought the timing at :51 was good! But your shoulders were closed forward so he didn’t really know which side to be on – be sure to show her the toy across the body until she picks up the new side, then you can throw it.
1:01 was a little too early (she had not gotten the commitment cue to jump 2 yet 🙂 but 1:07 was better timing – she just needed that exit line connection.
On t he right, most of the reps were strong – you were a little late on the rep at 1:10 but otherwise the right turns were going well! And the full extension blind at the end looked really good too!
Great job here!
TracyGood morning!
All of the opening reps looked terrific, I am loving your connection there and her commitment looks amazing! And she was totally paying attention to all of the cues. Really super session!! Even the reps where she came off the line to you on the blind looked great (she was reading you really well!)
Looking at the blinds:
>>but I couldn’t get the timing on the blind cross. She did exactly what I cued, but I am not sure when I should start moving towards the two jumps and where I should be when I do the blind. I totally dropped connection with her in doing it >>
Yes – that is exactly what happened at :41 and on the last rep. When she was one stride past the wing, you had already dropped connection and turned forward which is the first part of the BC cue 🙂 Good girl, Caper!!!
You left the send to move to the blind cross perfectly – you were already relatively near the jumps and moving away for the BC before she even got to the wing.
As she exits the wing, make a BIG regular connection back to her so you can clearly see her eyes (look back and point your arm down low and back to her nose – the arm was at shoulder height here and parallel to you, so you could probably only see a Caper-blur 🙂 and she saw it as a connection break/beginning of a blind.
As you are moving up the line and saying the jump cue directly to her, you will see her look at the jump if you are connected (she was looking at you and not at the jump here). Then you can start the blind (probably when she is just getting to the halfway point between the wing and the jump). Then make a quick exit line connection and she will read the turn.
To work up to it, don’t do the blind at all – just do a few reps where you move away nice and early like you did to get to the BC spot – but maintain connection to get commitment to the jump then reward her.
After a few of those? Add the blind in 🙂
>>I feel like once I start the blind that I take too long to complete it and I am not sure what to do to correct that if that is part of the issue. >>
Because she is able to cue off of the first part of the blind very quickly (the disconnection and shoulder turn) – as long as you make exit line connection, she will read the turn. It will get easier in terms of timing as she gets more experienced, so the commitment is key for now, then the timing will get much much easier 🙂
Great job here!
TracyWowza! This looked great! Her commitment is really really strong, so you didn’t have to work that hard to be able to rotate and shift your connection. Yay!!!
A couple of ideas for you to make it easier for YOU lol!!! She is fast so we can keep you even further ahead 🙂When cuing the FC wraps – you were rotating nice and early and shifting connection. You can add two things:
– you can change arms as you shift connection so that the arm closer to the jump you are indicating is extended pointing to the landing spot that you are looking it. You did this on some reps, but on others you were using the arm across your body more as you rotated. That will slow you down a bit so rotating sooner so you can show the new arm as you shift to the landing spot will make it easier to move up the next line even sooner.– speaking of sooner – when you see her moving past you… you can start moving the new direction before she even gets to the jump. Keep your connection to the landing spot but be moving forward to the wing in the middle and let’s see if she can maintain that great commitment (I bet she can 🙂 )
– for the circle wraps in the middle: her commitment is great here too and you barely needed to shift your connection. You can try moving forward even sooner, shifting connection to where the landing would be and moving forward as soon as she passes you.
>>Am I getting in Fritzi’s way going to the wrap (obstacles 3 and 6)? She looks like she needs to go a bit wide around me on her way to the backside wrap.>>
Yes – on some of the reps, you were blocking her line a bit but running on the line she needed to be on so she went wide looking for it. Try to stay in closer to the wing so she can see it and go directly to it, like you did on the last rep.
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyHopefully the rains move out fast!!!
>>I’ve never been good at pulls.>>
Pulls (post turns) are not all that effective for really tight turns for many, many dogs. So don’t worry if they are not the best option for Sprite. She has a lot of parallels to my Hot Sauce, and I would choose a spin over a pull for Hot Sauce because it is clearer/earlier info. I think that goes for most of my other dogs too, except the whippety dogs who are like spaghetti noodles over a jump 🙂 The pulls generally promote a slightly wider line. I was using them here to be able to set the handler up for the connection shift without too much complex handling before it 🙂 If you wanted to compare & contrast a pull versus a spin, go for it and see what Sprite says! That would be fun to see 🙂
Tracy
Good morning!
Crate shaping is looking really good! And since it is morning and I am caffeinated, shaping her to go do a thing away from the MM will be GREAT for her future running DW training! That way she isn’t just locked onto the MM and instead thinks about what she needs to do to get the MM to deliver the treat 🙂
And, doing it with different crate and with you in different positions helps generalize the concept of generalizing, if that makes sense: recognize a crate as a crate, even if it is not *her* crate. That will be useful for agility obstacles as well!The toy retrieving looked really good! Looks like she is mostly a righty (on the reps where the ball was on a relatively straight line when it landed). She brought it back beautifully 🙂 Flyball foundations are great even if you never play flyball! We do have several DSFDs that play high level flyball in this region – that are terrific!
Great job here!!!
TracyGood morning!
>>Ok thank you for the tips for the wings! We will try again tomorrow. I can definitely see how my arm is blocking the connection for her. I’m very used to using dog side arm and leg to send, but she needs a ton of connection.>>
Yes, the connection will help! Now that I am thinking about it more, using the wings: you can do a bit of one-steps sends to just one wing, starting closer then getting further and further away. And, you can toss the reward to the other side of the wing so she leaves you to go to it (perfect use for a wubba LOL!!). That can help pump up the value even more so that your connection doesn’t have to be as perfect 🙂
>>As for class, bunny toy has never been used at home, it lives in the training bag haha! I have ordered a couple more tugs, so maybe some novelty can help.>>
I think novelty is great! And rotating through a couple of favorites too – the fur toy was a BIG favorite here for a while but then a crunchy bottle tug became the favorite. Currently the wubba should also go to class and see if she can chase it there too!
>>Smoked cheese is hereby deemed a class only food!>
Yay! Sound yummy 🙂
>>Do you mean I should bring her into Lazlo’s class (which is now her class) more to the ringside area when it’s not her turn just to eat treats or play with a toy?>>
Yes – just to chill out being in the area, having a good time, not needing to think about it when you would like her to do agility stuff. And I think it is perfect fine for her to meet & greet people and even take cookies from them! Get her thinking it is really a great place and you will be amazed at how well her focus shifts to you in the ring.
For example, when my baby Whippet first started going to public things (he was a little under 6 months old at the time) – the first thing the instructors did was feed him chicken. And maybe some cheese too. He thought it was *awesome* and got to meet new folks – but then also got to play with me, eat cookies from me, etc. Best of both worlds for him – he got to socialize in the environment and then he got to play with me. Very relaxing for everyone 🙂 Now he sees The Chicken Giver Ladies and has no trouble ignoring them but also is very happy and relaxed around them – again, makes for much easier skills training when the environment is such a party place to be 🙂
>>We did just 2 reps of the serp with motion. We’ve been working hard on stationing so I wanted to try it with this exercise. >>
The stationing went well!!!! My only suggestion is to open your shoulders up back to her more for the serp cue (like you mentioned). Since we won’t want her to think that the shoulder movement is a release, you can put your shoulders into that position before you even walk away from her LOL! Then you can release as you did, verbally, without a sudden change of shoulder motion. It will feel and look weird but it will support the stay on the station while also getting the serp cue in clearly.
And the Wubba is a big favorite for her! Does she like the little ones too? I have a few different sizes of wubba in the toy bag because they are so fun to play with in new places.
Great job here!
TracyHi!
It is definitely way too cold to be outside trying to train!!!! Fingers crossed for a short winter!He did have some good wraps to his right and got one in on the left too with the toy on the ground. The challenge here is not a wrap challenge, it is an impulse control challenge as I am sure you know. We want him to be jazzed up for the toy on the ground! But we also want to be able to have him move away from it and work away from it with you having to hold his collar.
So before doing this particular game again, do a detour into the remote reinforcement game in the resilience track:
That will work specifically on leaving food and toys behind 🙂 and it will be good for his impulse control overall too! When he has a few successful sessions of that under his belt, you can then come back to the games that use the toy on the ground like this one, the serps/threadles, etc.
The spacing on the cavalettis is the tricky part – a good starting point is that the spacing is the same inches as his shoulder height, so if he is 20” tall you can start the, at 20” apart.
To help him trot, you can use an empty food bowl at each end (maybe 3 feet past the end of the cavaletti on each side as a starting point) so he has a focal point. Start on the last one and have him step out over it to the bowl, the plop a cookie in the bowl 🙂 Then back chain so he starts on the 2nd to last one and trots to the bowl, etc. That can help him stay ore balanced plus it will get him looking forward and not up at your hands.
Nice work here!!! Stay warm!
TracyHi!
>>I thought we did better than we really did.>
You two did great! The suggestions were more “next level” suggestions since everything went so well.
>>What does this paragraph mean “so now we can pump it up a little more by having you look at her and then deliberately lear her eyes to let her see you look back at the landing side.”?
I’m not sure what you mean by “lear her eyes.”>>Oops, autocorrect: “leave” not lear. So your connection was to her eyes, so you can let her see you shift from her eyes to the landing spot. Basically it is like saying to her: YOU! Go over THERE! The regular connection goes with the “you” part and then you shift for the “there” part. Let me know if that makes better sense.
>>We got really wide turns on the pulls….which we do anyway. So, what connection helps that? I thought I was supposed to look at her eyes? >>
Exit line connection! That will get your dog-side shoulder further back so she can drive in tighter on those (which is what you were doing earlier in the video).
>>So, on the circle wrap when do I stop looking at her and look to landing? I’m ahead of her so I don’t understand the comment about being on her tail.>>
You are ahead of her, so you end up waiting a bit for her to catch up (that is correct to do). In that moment, you are doing the ‘regular’ connection to her eyes. As she catches up and is starting to pass you, that is when you can do 2 things: shift your connection to the landing spot and begin moving forward again right behind her butt 🙂
>>The day before I was very careful to not pair the head turn and release. You’ll see that if you watch that video again. But..not so much here.>>
I force myself to add in praise sentences to be sure I don’t connect & release at the same time 🙂
Let me know if that makes sense!
Tracy
