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Hi!
>I switched from his harness to his tiny made-for-a-kitten collar and it was hard to hold him without pulling his fur. >
Can you split the difference and use a cat harness? That way he can pull but it will be less restrictive and heavy with more freedom of movement.
Great job with both the tunnel sends and adding the threadle cues! He was really funny in the middle when he kept trying to get to the left turn tunnel entry. Maybe the draw of the TnT was pulling him there but he didn’t actually go to it? So maybe the harder angle made him think about going the other direction. No worries, he will sleep on it and then be able to do it to his right as well 🙂
He most definitely loves the clicker sits! He reminds me of my Hot Sauce: all sits, no duration at the early stages LOL Two things to add with him to get duration:
When you cue the sit, continue to click it right away – but you are in motion the whole time, slowly walking away. So as you say sit, you are already moving away (but click and throw the catch cookie immediately). That introduces the motion very early on, and it doesn’t require him to see you start to move while he is in the sit (which might entice him to move with you).
When he can do that, add in the next step which is to delay the click. You are moving the whole time for this too, but clicking a little later then tossing the treat back to him.
You can see it a bit here starting at 1:34 where I am moving away as soon as he starts moving into the it, but click pretty immediately (before he gets his butt up).
Great job here! Have fun this weekend!!
Tracy
Hi!
Looking at the set point:
I think he looks great with the new height and he had no questions. Super!!!!
>You can see clearly in this video how he slouches back in the sit position when I walk away.>
It looks like his back gets a little curved perhaps, and on a couple he ends up with his hind too far under him, like at 1:31? Since the jumping looks strong, can you get video from the front so I can fully see his front feet? The jump was blocking the front feet but it looks like he was not really even with his front feet on some of the reps in the sit. The jumping looked good so I am not worried, just curious. You can also try a stand-stay and see if that looks more balanced.
>Rain, rain, rain today. So lateral lead out in the basement. Worked both sides dog on left and dog on right:>
Bummer about the rain but the session went great! He had a pretty easy time finding the jump on both sides – great job with your lead out, releases/stepping to the jump, and also mixing in lots of rewards for the stay 🙂
Before trying the advanced level (which will be easy for him), we can add in getting him to look at the jump on cue before the release. That will help you add even more distance!
Using a toy on the ground, you can replace the jump with the toy: he is sitting and facing the toy. You lead out laterally. When you get to position, you turn to face the toy and slowly raise an arm to point to it. Watch his eyes: the instant he looks at it, release him to get it.
When he can do that reliably with the toy without breaking the stay when you raise your arm, you can add the jump back in. To bridge the gap and get him looking forward, you can put the toy on the landing side of the jump for a few reps. Then fade it out to see if he will look forward to the jump when you indicate it with your arm.
Great job here!
Tracy
Hi! Sounds like you’ve had a crazy week so far!! It must be nice to see your grass again!
Nice sessions with both dogs here! They were virtually identical sessions: on the first couple of “get out” cues, you were migrating towards the jump but then fixed it as the session went along. The last part of Kaladin’s session (where you were moving towards the camera) had a perfect line – no convergence towards the jump at all. Yay!
Interestingly, both dogs had a little trouble ignoring the jump when you were just going straight. They seemed to assume it was the jump and headed towards it, even though you were not cueing it. That got ironed out with a bit of practice, and I am sure the sequences will make it more obvious to them too.
They are both ready for the sequences, just keep reminding yourself not to gravitate towards the get out jump 🙂
>Also – how do you throw the reward with your opposite arm if you are not supposed to be flapping it? If I throw it on the first arm movement isn’t that a bit of a lure?>
You can flap a little, in the name of toy throwing 🙂 I thought your throws were good – the toss movement was happening after both dogs were on the way to the jump – definitely not a lure.
Great job here!!
Tracy
Hi! He did super well with the toy and the stay! I think the toy made it more exciting – he seemed very pumped up in a good way! And getting these stays when he is excited will serve you well at the agility start lines in the future! He really loves the line up between your feet 🙂
Since this is going really well, and you want him to focus forward: when he is in the sit, you can place the toy on the ground about 6 feet in front of him: can he hold the stay? And you can release him to the toy when he focuses forward on it 🙂 Start by releasing pretty immediately when he looks at it, then go to adding some duration and quiet praise before the release.
Great job!
TracyHi!
For the stay, you can add a cue if you like! I don’t think the pups actually need it, because the sit position really means ‘sit until released’. But saying the stay or wait word makes us humans feel better 😀 so if it connects us to the dog better, then use it. I totally use a stay work even though my dogs dont need it LOLWHMhen adding the toy reward: yes, I do toss it back using the catch marker, mixed in with releasing forward then tugging.
Have fun!
TracyThanks for the video!!
>I tried placing the toy and he did do better. I just don’t feel the connection & him offering to go around the barrel yet. >
He did great then his brain got tired, there was a LOT going on in this session and it was really hard. The game itself is hard: ignore the beloved toy. Now add in the chainsaw in the background (or whatever that is) – his teenage brain was processing a LOT, and that is ‘expensive’ meaning he will get tired faster.
He started really strong – was he able to tug on the toy after he got to it? The video edits happened just as he arrived at the toy. If he had trouble, be sure there are no cookies in your hand: you can give him a cookie or two as he moves away from the toy then cue the barrel wrap with empty hands.
And, watch for signs that his brain is working extra hard: he was looking back at the toy, did a couple of full body shake-offs, felt a little ‘sticky’ (moving a little slower) and then tried to pee on the barrel LOL!! All of those indicate the level of challenge, so you can keep the session really short (2 reps, for example) then go do something mindless like running around with a toy 🙂
>Do you think I need to back up & reinforce the turn & burn?>>
I think another short fun session or two of this will be perfect! The challenge here was more about the level of distraction and not a barrel-wrap challenge.
Nice work!
TracyHi!
Strike a pose went really well! He was happy to come in to the target hand even with the target down by your feet. My only suggestion is to turn your lower body a bit so your toes are facing the reward target – this will set you up really well for when we begin moving.
Moving away from the reward to go to the barrel went well You can reward him a lot more for doing thst – he saw the treats in you had but he didn’t really get any in this session. So you can deliver a treat for each step he takes away from the reward target rather than letting him see the treat or only getting one nibble of it 🙂
>I realise he shouldnt be running away with it but he had to work hard to leave it . he was coming back fast when i had a better toy. but step one was to get him to leave>
I agree – I don’t mind the quick victory lap at all! And it sounds like he was bringing it back pretty quickly. That quick lap with the toy might be a good way to release the pressure of having to ignore the toy. That is hard!!
On the turn aways:
Your hand mechanics are good! Using your leg to step back more consistently on the lap turns helped to get him to smoothly turn away: when he reaches your hand, step back and draw your hand back (same hand & leg) so that sets up the turn. Then you can relax the hand and let him find the prop after the turn away.For the tandem turns – he was locking on to your turn hand nicely! Turning him away first then you turning will help that feel smoother too. If you turned him and yourself at the same time, it got a little tangled up 🙂 so let him start turning first (with your hand cue) then you follow that line and turn too.
Great job here!
Tracy
Good morning!
He was happy to add duration to the stays! I did a happy dance when he lined up and held the stay as you moved away!! What a good boy! It was hard (note the big yawn at 1:12) but he did it 🙂 Be sure to convince him to line up on your right side too – you were asking for it, I think, but he put himself on your left side LOL! You might need to use a cookie lure to convince him that lineups can be both side 🙂
Two next steps for this:
When using the clicker and treats, ping-pong the number of steps you take before the release. We humans are creatures of habit and we tend to do the same thing over and over, such as taking the same # of steps before a release. Dogs are brilliant and yes, they will actually count the number of steps and then predict the release… leading to early releases. On these reps, you were consistently doing 4 steps before the release (sometimes 4.5 steps, but all in the 4 step range).
So to avoid him predicting that it is a 4-step-then-release dance, mix in 1 step reps, 2 step reps, 6 step reps, 8 step reps, 3 steps, etc. Keep it unpredictable so he waits til the true release and doesn’t count your footsteps.
You can also get a toy involved! You can replace the treats here with a toy, or play the entire game with a toy (no clicker). It might be harder for him to line up and hold the stay, so start with short stay and quick releases. The toy brings super valuable excitement to the game, which helps bridge the stay into the new exciting environments like agility start lines.
Tandem turns are going well! He is turning away really well in both directions!
You can add in starting with a cookie toss so he is behind you as you begin moving. That gives you an extra moment to show him your hands before turning him away – which will help him get past the prop. When you were moving together, he was reading that as a parallel path game to the prop.
But when you were locking him onto the turn hands like at 3:22 and after: that was great! He was going past the prop until cued to turn away, then he easily found it after the turn. Lovely!
Great job here!
Tracy
Good morning!
He was definitely rocketing into the tunnel: LET ME GO, HOOOMAN!! So fast! And he was finding the entry angles brilliantly on both the normal send side, and the threadle side. Good boy!!!!
These were left turns into the tunnel, so you can repeat the session with right turns into the tunnel. I bet he will be great with those too!
Then you can add the tunnel threadle verbal: starting on an easy angle with him on the threadle side and holding his collar, you can start saying the new verbal then let him go find the tunnel. You can also show him the threadle arm if you are using the outside arm as part of the threadle cue too. If he is happy with that with the new verbal, you can start adding more angles.
>We did another SSC with Handling Combos – baby level. I tried placing the toy and he did do better. I just don’t feel the connection & him offering to go around the barrel yet. Do you think I need to back up & reinforce the turn & burn?>
This video is the tunnel video -the site will tell me when you post the handling combo video so I will come back to watch it 🙂
Thank you for the tuna fudge recipe! My dogs will love that!!! And I might even try to put it into the air fryer to see if that makes it crunchy. Maybe I will do that outside so it doesn’t stink up the house LOL!!
Nice work here 🙂 Tracy
Good morning!
The tunnel threadle session looked lovely! You can totally move to the next steps where you add it into a sequence. It appears that she was not looking at you to drive into the threadle entry of the tunnel, and that is what we want 🙂 When you add it to the sequence, try to hold your threadle arm in position as you move along the line until she turns herself away to the tunnel, rather than use it to turn her away to the tunnel.
The lap turns
She worked really well for the food at the beginning! Then yes, seemed to be looking for the toy after the rep – and that is perfectly fine 🙂 You can use food to help lock her onto your hand and get the turn, then whip out the toy to reward the turn or to use after each rep. The toy can stay in a pocket so it can be easily used but it is not in the picture to distract from the hand cues.She had a question at the end and it looked like a timing question: you were actually a little early on the cue 🙂 She went around the wing at :36 as you were backing up into position. Then before she locked onto your hand, you were turning her away while still moving backwards. So like a proper BC, she went into a down 🙂 I don’t think she was looking for a toy here, I think she was waiting for clearer info.
So to clarify the turn cue timing for her, you can lean over more with your cue hand fully extended forward towards her (elbow locked so the arm is really visible). Then as she arrives at your hand, almost reaching it – that is when you can start moving the hand and foot straight back to begin setting the turn. Your hand was a little high here and you started moving it back before she reaching it, so I don’t think she really saw it. And because she has good sends to wings, you can send her to the first wing from further away so you don’t have to back up as much: you can basically be in position with your turn hand extended down to her as she exits the wing.
Nice work here!
Tracy
Good morning!
The new wing looks fabulous!And I admit to chuckling at some of this shenanigans with the toy on the ground – it was definitely a big challenge to have the toy there. The rep at 1:40 where you were cueing the wrap wing and he looked at you and then was like “BE RIGHT BACK!” And went to grab the toy. So funny! I know it was not ideal for training but it was still cute and funny 🙂
With the toy on the ground being a big visual draw, plus jumping in towards a moving handler being NOT an intuitive behavior for most dogs – this skill was challenging! He was stronger on the first side where he was turning to his right to get to the jump. You did a great job helping him by adding a bit of the strike-a-pose hand touch and not moving too fast.
He has more trouble on the other side: brain tired? Harder direction of turning (to his left?) Both? Either way, it was good info so you can do a short session and do a rep or two to the ‘easy’ side then immediately go to the harder side.
The other think you can add is angling the jump: in this setup, when he is on your right to start: you can take the wing that is closer to the toy on the ground and move it towards the fence so as he exits the wing wrap, he sees a fairly direct line over the jump bar. That will allow you to keep moving and help him see the bar better. As he gets better and better at finding the bar, you can gradually angle the jump back to this original ‘flat’ position it is here.
>picture you present directs the dog what to do/where to go (vs. verbals). >
Yes – in these early stages, the physical cues are definitely more powerful than the verbals so we want the verbal and physical cue to match as much as possible.
>Skizzle isn’t close to driving through the jump – which is what I’d like to see.>
What you might have been seeing here was that he was doing the double collection of the serp: in-then-out. It is extra challenging because he has to do that while you are (correctly) close to his space, so while it might not have felt like he was driving hard, he was indeed doing a great job 🙂 That is what makes the serp skill so hard for the dogs and probably why he was also kindly offering to just go get the toy hahahaha! I think angling the jump so he is facing the bar more when he exits the start wing will help him get comfy with doing those subtle turns faster and faster.
Great job here!
Tracy
Good morning!
Looking at the first video:
HAHA you read my mind: I was typing “You might need a couple more feet between the wing and jump, it looks like he can cover that distance with a short one stride there which makes the timing harder” and then you moved the wing a few feet further away 🙂 That helped by giving you one extra heartbeat to show him the info before he had to make a takeoff decision.The GO reps and the RCs looked strong! Great job making them look different and showing the cues nice and early.
He was so close to getting it right on the first backside wrap – you released the connection a shade too early so he slid in and took the front.That is just lack of experience – that cue would be solid with a more experienced dog. You nailed it on the next rep, holding the connection until he was right at the wing! And his commitment to the wing and the jump there was lovely, plus you supported it with connection as you continued moving forward. Click/treat for you both!
Extra click/treat to have a conversation about something else and still be very focused on good training with your pup. The life of an instructor presents these challenges and you handled it beautifully.
Find The Jump video:
He is finding it really well, especially when you were further and further away. Super!! And there was some good banging/construction noises that he ignored. Good boy!
I do think he is wondering why you are walking not running LOL so since he is doing so well it was good that you added back more of your motion. That presents a different challenge: can he find the jump even when you are way ahead or way lateral, and running! The motion can make connection harder for you both, so be sure to maintain the lovely connection you had here as you add more and more of your speed 🙂
Great job on these!!! The teamwork is looking really exciting!!
Tracy
Good morning! You have just had the grossest weather!! I hope you get some spring weather soon.
This video needed a warning at the end when you got the whole thing and said “Pigs really do fly” I almost snorted coffee out of my nose from laughing LOL!!!!!!
Good job getting the backside proofing going – having the space tight upped the challenge with the tunnel right there but he was perfect about not going to the tunnel. Yay!
In these early stages, using the outside arm really helped because it turns your shoulders to the line while allowing you to move forward without having to step to the backside. And when you paired it with BIG eye contact? Perfect!
I got a screenshot of a rep without connection and he did not find the backs, versus the next rep with connection where he did find it. He naturally wants to migrate to the front so the big cues helped him find it. Here is the link:
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/15pZQFkTi_07UXt8vB9P1bmiuLAhG5zjefS50AL32K4U/edit?usp=sharing
He had some trouble when you were trying to move up the line to the center of the bar and you needed to really exaggerate the cues.
I LOVE HOW YOU PUT A CHALK LINE ON THE MAT! Clever!
And by the last rep of the backside push, he got it really well with you moving up the line to the center of the bar. Super!
The exit line game was great, super easy. And being able to put the whole thing together at the end was wonderful!!
The next step for this one can have the little advanced level sequences with a front cross or blind cross on the landing side of the backside (then into the tunnel) or a circle wrap instead of a slice on the backside jump.
Also, you can work on fading ou the opposite arm cue on the backside by angling the jump towards the line – the cone side of the jump gets angled closer to the start wing so it is easier for him to see the parallel line to the backside without you needing to exaggerate the cues as much.
Great job here!!
Tracy
Hi!
Thanks for posting this, I think there are a couple of things going on –
She is definitely telling us something about the tunnel here so we need to listen and adjust. She refuses it a LOT, which is certainly an indication of concern of some sort. Exactly what the concern is? Hard to know. Too dark? Too curved? Falls? (I think she fell in it at :17).
Either way – she definitely doesn’t have the value for the tunnel and we need to adjust. Rather than the long/dark/curved tunnel, stick to a short/straight tunnel that is super easy to see through and find the entry/exit. You can take this one and squish it up to be about 8 feet and straight, or use another one that is short & straight.
I want to take the curved tunnel out for now because she doesn’t want to do it, and then to get her motivated she is getting a lot of cookies when she doesn’t do it – which creates a conundrum about what is worrying her about the tunnel versus what we are rewarding. So for now, take the curved tunnel off the table and if you get freezing with a straight tunnel, we take that out for now too.
And take a ‘one hit wonder’ approach to training: do one rep of something then, right or wrong, move on to something else entirely. You can have something else set up for her to do so it is easy for her to do something else. It is not about accuracy, it more about just playing with the flying squirrel and balls and fun stuff. And she can alternate single reps with Jack, to help break things up and keep her excited.
Part of what went sideways here was she had concerns about the tunnel… and you continued doing tunnel threadle reps. So she did some then checked out. Try doing just one rep! It doesn’t even have to be correct, it can just be fast & fun, no stopping, no fixing.
I think there is pressure on her to get it right and that is creating a lot of reps which is not the direction we want to go!
Think of training as a game of frisbee 🙂 with an occasional agility behavior thrown in. She eats the food, and food allows you to get more reps – but it is not nearly as motivating as the balls or squirrel toy and we don’t want more reps, we want more play 🙂
She definitely liked the toy as reward in the 2nd part of the video, but like you said – she liked it until she didn’t. That is why short short short sessions and alternating can make more progress – the toy might be bringing arousal up for a couple of reps and masking her concerns, but then the concern resurface. But if you do one rep then be done with the session, the motivation and happy play feelings will remain.
>his morning she was really into her squirrel, until she’s not, and then I couldn’t even get her interested with food. Ended up just throwing the squirrel for her. I think we’re regressing…>
It would be good to know if upswings in the freezing & not wanting to play/eat in a training session correlate to the soreness in the right hind. If something is tweaked, we will see turning off like that.
In the meantime, focus the time together on just play play play. This includes being out in the yard, maybe there is an agility rep thrown in there – or not! Sometimes it is great to just go outside and play, and Jack can be involved too. And you can do lots of play in the house, so there is a play relationship being developed all around. That can also tilt things towards more motivation when yo duo ask for training – life is all about the play 🙂 and less about the ‘work’.
Let me know what you think!
Tracy
Good morning!
Nice job with the strike a pose proofing! She seemed to have no questions about coming in to the jump versus layering to the tunnel when you cued it. Yay! My only suggestion there is to open up your serp arm more, having it fully extended back away from you (which also rotates your shoulders to face the jump). That will help with the in-then-out serp behavior as you are moving. Keeping the shoulder a bit closed like you had it here will get her to come in but will make it harder to get the next jump in a serp.
Layering: I think she liked this one 🙂 Great job getting the toy throws straight out on the line. She seemed super confident and happy to ignore the tunnel on the way to the layering. You can move to the advanced level where you do a cross after the jump to get her to come back into the tunnel.
Send and serp:
This is where you can have your serp arm back and shoulders more open to have her come in while yo uare moving. On the first and 3rd reps, you were closing your shoulders (making the line of your shoulders perpendicular to the jump) which cued her to go past it like she was layering.
Ideally, your left arm (serp arm here) would be full extended away from you and your wait a bit rotated, so the center of your chest faces the center of the bar. That will bring her in to the jump while you are moving. She did come in to the jump when you stopped moving, but she’s going to be fast and we definitely want to see you moving 🙂
Nice work here!
Tracy
