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Good morning!
Omg! Outdoors on grass!! Love it! He seemed super happy to be outdoors and this session was mostly about showing him that agility is also an outdoor game!He was trying to balance the outdoor environment, going faster (grass is GREAT footing!), reading cues AND finding jumps. I could see his brain doing all the calculations 🙂 and he was 10000% engaged with you. Yay!
As he sorts out his commitment in new environments, try to look at him as he exits the tunnel rather than try to handle the line or jump. When you were trying to handle the jump, the accelerated motion when he was on your right was pushing him past it. And the shoulder turn when he was on your left was pulling him off it on the inside.
You were able to get him on the jump by rotating into him then sending him back out, but I think dialing back the motion will make it easier. Motion can ‘cloud’ the cues for dogs that are sensitive to motion cues. And being sensitive to motion cues is a GOOD thing in a sport that requires so many motion cues 🙂
At the beginning of the session, a quick re-visit of the lazy game is a good warm up: you can walk up the line (for now, a casual springtime stroll :)) and look at him – then throw a reward when he finds the jump.
He was really starting to lock in on the lines at about 5:20. It was definitely easier for him to go to his right (your left side) but I did a happy dance when he got it on your right (to his left) as well at the end! SUPER!
One thing I noticed on those super successful reps was that you were not trying to move fast – you were just showing great connection and turning. That worked beautifully. You probably don’t even need to use your arm as much – that made it harder to see the connection on the middle jump when he was working further away.
Try not to mark misses – just keep going and toss rewards when he finds a jump, in the lazy game style 🙂 Marking and stopping was hard for him to process and teenage boys need to keep moving to keep processing 🙂 You can see he was actually moving more after a misses were marked and you were like “dude, stop moving” LOL!!!
For the rewards: It might be hard for him to find the treats in the grass – you can try a couple of reps with giant cheeseballs that are easy to see. Treats are more efficient to throw if he can find them. You can also throw a toy (a hollee roller is perfect for this) – how quickly will he bring it back? A 2 second romp then coming back to you for another toy or treat can be really helpful: he gets rewards out on the line and you don’t spend too much time trying to get him to come back to you for the next rep 🙂
Great job here!
Tracy
Good morning! Lots of lovely work here! I really like how you get rewards to her all the time, when things go perfectly AND when there is a blooper (there were very few bloopers but she still got rewards and happy engagement). It is strong dog training to do that and very motivating! Click/treat to you 🙂
Looking ahead video:
This went great! She was happily running to the jump without needing a lot of help from you. Your toy throws were spot on: early enough to reward the commitment and landing before she looked back at you.You can add in more motion now, especially with you getting way ahead of her: can she still find the jump when you are ahead and going fast?
The rep on the wrap video also went great! The timing of your decel was really good and it was really clear too – her collection was lovely! She had a little question (looked at you) on the jump after the tunnel – I think it was because you were moving forward but decelerated, so she was looking to see if you wanted a tight turn. You can add more acceleration on that line and that will keep her looking forward.
Straight line combos:
The first video was the 2 jump warm up.
The wrap can have a bit more decel to it but I think that will happen when the GO is more solid on the bigger sequences.The RC was good here! Nice job driving to the center of the bar.
The backside push can have more connection all the way through to when she gets to the backside wing. Keep your dog-side arm back, and deliver the push cue directly to her eyeballs as you run to where the wing and bar meet. That will help her find the backside more easily.
Adding the tunnel:
The wrap was super good!She had a question on t he rear cross: you can run straight to the middle of he bar until she is passed you and locked onto the bar. At 1:34 you cut your feet across to the RC line before she passed you which pushed her off the jump. You ran more to the center of the bar at 2:17 and she got it nicely – on that rep, you were actually a little too far ahead. You can start close to the tunnel so you can accelerate of the line and not need to decel at all to let her get ahead of you.
She was looking at you on the GO rep at the end and the GO rep on the 2nd video and straight reps of the 3rd video, maybe because you had one a bunch of turns in a row? Your line and connection all looked good, so you can add in more GO reps in the session mixed in with the turns to keep the Go lines strong too 🙂 The wrap rep in the 3rd video went well – she was looking at you so responded really well. The Go reps were definitely harder for her on that setup.
You can also place the toy at the end of the Go line to race her to it – if you get there first, you win (toy races!). That will also help keep her looking forward.
On more thought on the 3rd video: When adding the jump before the tunnel – when you add the jump, look for the shortest, fastest line back to the tunnel after the wrap. In this case, wrapping her to the left puts her on a straight line to the tunnel so it is the faster line. And it sets up easier handling, because you don’t need to stay near 1 to step her back to the tunnel.
When you turned her to her left at :58, you were past the jump after the tunnel as she exited the tunnel. That was a couple of steps ahead of where you were on the previous reps – s0 turning to the left also gives you a positional advantage on course! She is super speedy so we will definitely want any positional advantage we can get.
Great job here!
Tracy
Good morning!
Good job sorting out the mechanics of getting him close to your leg then turning him away! It was easier on your left side at first but then he had a lightbulb moment and was able to get it on your right side too. I think the hard part was getting him close enough to your leg to set up the turn away – when he was close to your leg, he was perfect every time after that.
You can add in motion with you moving forward then decelerating as you start the cues for him to lock onto your hand. I think you will have to be leaning over for now so he really sees your hand down low. Maybe the easiest thing so your back doesn’t get angry is to move forward upright, then decelerate and drop your hand down low to lock him into the beginning of the cues.
We will be adding the barrel soon which will hopefully make it easier for you to not have to lean down so far 🙂
>I feel like I finally really understand threadle wrap vs threadle slice from your video – thank you! I made everybody do this game. Maybe we can get all get fluent with these. >
Awesome! I think you will be seeing the threadle wraps in AKC more regularly in coming years, so we want all the dogs to be prepared!
Great job here 🙂
Tracy
Hi!
It was a good morph, to shift to stay rewards and not worry about the serp. That way he learned to hold his position as you got to your position and put your hand cue in place – and then he still got really good serps 🙂
I think part of the stay question was that he was really excited at the beginning 🙂 and also that he was relatively convinced that the hand moving to serp position was the release.
You can be more consistent about putting your hand in position then waiting for a couple of seconds, then releasing him – when the hand and release come relatively together, he will think the hand is the release cue (which is what happened at :26).Great job here!
Tracy
Hi!
The threadle wrap foundations went great! The warm up without you moving was perfect, easy peasy. Maybe too easy when he was offering his line up behavior LOL! Great job adding your movement.
>The hard part was keeping him from leaping!>
He seemed really good about not leaping when your hands were low! And when we add the barrel, he will not be leaping because he will have more of a destination.
When you started moving faster at around 2:08, he had a question – moving too fast makes it hard for him to read the turn away cues. So adding a bit of deceleration as he got to you was really helpful and he was able to respond correctly each time. YAY! Threadle wraps do have an element of decel, so keep that decel in mind when we add the next steps on Monday 🙂
Great job!
Tracy
That is great news about Georgia! Congrats!! A small dog going sub-8 is fantastic!!! Wow!!!! Speedy little girlie!!!
I am glad you got to watch the agility – the higher levels that get livestreamed are super experienced dogs so definitely don’t worry about that stuff for now 🙂 You are totally on the right track with Ingot!
T
Hi!
Nice work on this session – the lazy game was a good review and the blinds went really well! Your timing at :34 was spot on! It helped that you didn’t need to go to the middle jump at all, so you were in a great spot to easily get the blind. You were a little closer to the middle jump at :49, which made it harder to get back up the line so the blind timing was a little late compared to the previous rep.
>I did beat him to his reward one time and he was very unhappy about it and then decided he wasn’t going to do the tunnel so I didn’t try that again.>
When I read this I was thinking maybe he got worried about it… turns out he was simply cheating LOL!! Clever 🙂 he figured out how to win haha He did great with the placed rewards and was not looking at you on the way to the tunnel on the last few reps.
> He said that it was worth it for pie crust>
PIE CRUST omg I would also back up the teeter LOL! You always have the best, most creative rewards!
Backing up went really well – he was totally ‘looking’ for the board with his back feet. Good boy!! The movement of the board didn’t seem to be a problem and he was definitely figuring out the coordination he needed to get his hind end on. Yay! It was a little harder as there was more tip, but pie crust was clearly making it worthwhile 🙂
Great job here!
Tracy
Hi!
He did really well with backing onto the board!! He figured it out pretty quickly – great job to you for adjusting by starting with the toy then going to the treats, and changing your position. He didn’t seem concerned about the movement of the board at all!When you revisit this, the next step is to get him to put his front feet on the board too when he is backing up, so he ends up in the 4-on position. You can sit closer or move the bowl closer to the board, then wait til he offers front feet too. He is a little too small to do a 2on, 2off behavior so we will be aiming for him keeping all 4 feet on the end of the board.
I think the wrap session went GREAT! He was just about perfect, which means you were pretty perfect too! Baby dogs really rely on the handler so you nailed it! He had a little question on your left side where he slowed down, but he still got it. And for most fo the reps, he was really zipping around. YAY!!!! Doing it without the tunnel was actually a little harder but he still did great.
I hope your back feels better! Great job here!
TracyHi!
>She was unsure why the auntie had her toy toy and was pretty sure she needed to line up with her, lol!>
That was hilarious and adorable!
>Running with her versus Kida is very different especially with timing!>
I was thinking about this and I think the timing is tricky because she is a baby dog and the bars are low. So what is happening is she is landing close to the middle jump (because the bars are low, she is not really jumping like she would be at 16 or 20 inches). And because she is a baby dog AND working on a low bar, her takeoff decision for commitment is later… all of that comes together to make it really easy to be ever-so-slightly early at :13 and 1:14 for her commitment, pulling her off the jump.
However, as she gets experienced and as the bars get taller: she will have to make the commitment decision sooner to jump the taller bar, and she will better understand the blind – so your timing at :13 and 1:14 will be perfect! And the timing at :45 that got the jump here will end up being late 🙂
Remind me how old she is, so we can plan on when to raise the bars? is she 10 months yet?
And she was a very good girl at :27 – you were trying to support the jump but had a touch too much push across the jump so she read backside (that will come in handy later in her career :))
Great job here!
Tracy
Good morning!
Your connection looked really good here! That is the connection we want. So to answer why he was looking at you and hitting bars:>. In watching the video I was kinda hunched over, so maybe that threw him off?>
Yes, that was part of it for sure. Also, you were decelerating a lot, so that was causing him to ask if a turn was coming (which is why he was looking at you instead of propelling forward). Ideally, you would be a little more upright with your shoulder ‘open’ back to him, and running faster to cue the extension on the lines.
By ‘open’ what I mean is when he is behind you, your arm can point back to his nose so he really sees the connection.
And for running faster, no decelerating on the extension lines (everything except the wraps), you have 2 options:
– you can run closer to the obstacles here (stay connected like you were) and go as fast as you can 🙂
– you can adjust the sequence so it is a tunnel and 2 jumps. Something like this, approximately: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1F7D_BCD_tXS5A6-egHEWmsWHPrq97dTlqNRGQOiT6z8/edit?usp=sharing
That will give you more room to run run run 🙂 while making the lovely connection you had here.
Nice work! Let me know what you think and see you in a couple of hours!
Tracy
Good morning!
>This was hard!>
They look deceptively simple but they are actually pretty hard, especially with bay dogs.
>We have been working the stay. Stilll figuring out which will work best for lead out to minimize the front feet. Errors happen less but randomly he only had 1 here.>
Part of it was that when using the frisbee (which is super high value and very arousing in a good way), the mechanics need to be clean and crisp. It was the mechanics with the frisbee that led to most of the questions here.
About the stays: he was happily tugging on the frisbee when you grabbed his collar and whipped it away (:39, 1:11 for example) then immediately went into the line up even as the frisbee was still moving up and away. That transition can definitely be cleaner: tug tug tug, do *not* grab his collar, get the out of the frisbee without lifting it up by your shoulders or behind your back when he lets go (trading for a treat is fine). Then settle the moment, put the frisbee into the reward hand (squish it up so it is not flapping, more on that below). Then cue the line up.
>But at the third ? Rep he jumped up at me when he was between my legs so I just decided to take a calming moment. It wasn’t terrible but he was trying to tell me things. >
He was telling you the mechanics were weird and to stop grabbing his collar LOL. You used food in the transitions from the tugging to the stay after that which definitely made it cleaner.
Looking at the stays:
He did better with his feet when he was lined up a little further from the jump and you could walk forward on the lead out. When you were closer and moved away to the side, his front feet were not set so he moved them (like at :47, his right front was in the air). You can step to the side, but give him a moment to get his feet settled before moving forward.Being further back so you could move forward worked really well at 2:07!
Back to the frisbee mechanics:
Before lining him up, get the reward smaller and settled into the hand that it will remain in for the entire sequence – and don’t let it flap around (that splatted him into a jump at 2:00)Having the frisbee out and switching it from hand to hand was delaying the blind crosses – you can start them a little sooner (ideally no later than landing at the jump after the tunnel). But more importantly, we want the new connection to be visible as early as possible. What was happening was that in the new connection moment, you were switching the frisbee from hand to hand, which delayed him seeing you make the new connection (and also draws his focus to the frisbee and your hands).
I am pretty sure that you didn’t consciously think about switching the frisbee around in that moment, so having it stay in one hand is something to set up at the start of each sequence. If you keep switching it accidentally, shove it in a pocket then whip it out at the end – precision rewards are not really needed for this drill 🙂
And getting that new connection visible sooner will help set the line to the front of the jump – he was ended up on the backside a few times towards the end because you had to stop motion a bit and open up the connection extra to find the new side, which put you on his line and sent him to the backside (good boy!). Good job rewarding those!!
Nice job here! Let me know what you think!
Tracy
Good morning!
>Thanks so much for pulling things together and emailing Dr. Canapp. I’m hopeful we will be able to get the mystery with Jazz sorted out.>
I am happy to help and it was actually really interesting to scroll through it all in order.
Dr. Canapp has about a zillion things on his plate so if he doesn’t have the email at this fingertips, you have it so you can pull it up or resend it. He loves a good mystery so I am thinking he will be invested in helping Jazz! I hope you get to put her on the gait mat, that is sooooo cool and fascinating.
>Trialing with Jack was hit and miss. Outside, on grass with wind and rain.>
A couple of other folks I know where there and they had a similar experience: hit and miss with the weather, the surface, the course design. Bummer! Onwards to better trials ahead!
>I considered registering with him for your 2026 Dog Camp that starts in June >
I am hoping that your plan is firmly in place and maybe even closer to finished by mid-June! And many CAMPers split the spot between their grown up dog and their teenage dog so everyone gets to play a bit 🙂
Looking at the video: I added it to the document to bring it to the appointment today!
First rep was great! She seemed surprised there was no baby bar there LOL! Excellent connection!
2nd rep – something notable – she is leaning sideways on the stay. Just noting it, it might mean nothing LOL but I don’t remember her leaning like that.
This rep started great, lots of strong connection and commitment, including letting you rotate into the FC as she was passing you and committing to the wing.She started to slow down at :27 before the stall out at :30. You were a tiny bit disconnected there so it is possible she was not entirely sure of what to do on that line for a moment.
Rep 3: a little bit of leaning here too. Interesting that she started to release then she stopped and put herself back into the sit.
She did start moving (yay!) – at :56 you disconnected a bit and left the line too early so she had a question. You can keep going rather than fix it in the moment (fixing it in the moment tends to get a stall out).
On those sends, you can use more eyes and less arm. If you look directly at her as she is taking the previous jump and cue the send, your shoulders will automatically face the line you want. When you were pointing to the jump at :55 and on the next rep at 1:05, the pointing was turning your shoulders away from the line and causing your weight to shift back. That was a bit of conflicting handling info that caused her to stop. An experienced dog would keep going, but baby dogs will indeed ask questions in moments like that.
Also of note since you are seeing Dr. Canapp today: when she is stationary at 1:08, note how she shifts her weight forward into her front end and off her hind end (but isn’t moving). It might mean nothing, but it is just something to note.
After that frozen moment: great job turning and going the other direction, then continuing even after she passed a jump – no stall out!
The connection was stronger on the last couple of reps here so her commitment was good! There was more emphasis on your motion and connection, with the arm cues being there but not the primary cue. Nice! 1:59 was the only moment there were your arm took over and blocked connection, so she stopped committing (you can also see the subtle step back that pulls her into you).
Useful visual moment though – when she stops, she is using her right hind differently than her left hind, then is trotting on the last part. Notable!
Nice job here with the sequence! Keep me posted on how today goes!
Tracy
Good morning!
That sounds like such a fun trip! I am glad he was so comfy with it 🙂
>Everybody wants to pet him because he is so fluffy, that is the only thing he doesn’t lobe until he really knows someone. But I think that is a very acceptable boundary to have and one that I can provide for him.>
I agree 100000% !! Just because he is small and adorable doesn’t mean that everyone should invade his space. They can stand a few feet away and admire but they don’t need to approach or touch him.
>But he is a loud complainer if Bazinga is gone & so am I.>
It is great that Bazinga was his helper! When you leave, you can try putting a kong toy with a little cream cheese in it for him to lick and see how he feels about it? Or a lickimat? I think the Kong might be too hard for him to get the stuffing out unless he has the world’s longest tongue LOL but a lickimat would be perfect.
>We did the parallel path game with the 2 jump stanchions and no bar there too. He worked like a champ!! I was impressed. I also got to do the resilience game on leash there and he liked that too.>
That is great! It sounds like a terrific weekend!
Looking at the videos:
The bath mat is perfect – it can be this size for the early stages of training then we can make it smaller as he gets to the more advanced levels down the road. He immediately understood to offer behavior on it – you added treats right on it in the middle, but I think at that point he already understood to get on it so you can go back to tossing the treats off to the sides. That will help promote running through the mat – and then you can mark & throw for back feet on the mat. And for the next session, you can switch from the click to the ‘get it’ marker so he keeps looking straight.
The get out session also went well! I see what you mean about him pausing before the prop: he was doing it a bit on the original side after the first few reps and definitely on the other side too when you switched. I think he was doing it because the treat landed right on or near the prop, so he thought it was more of a stopped behavior. Easy adjustment: throw the treat further away past the prop, so he keeps moving over it.
The other thing that will help is adding your movement. He is totally ready for that!
Well done with the backing up session!! He is totally getting the idea! You can sit on something low so you don’t make your back angry by bending over 🙂 One other detail: you might notice that he is curving to the side a bit. That was because the rewards were coming from your right hand so he was locked onto it as the focal point. If you have cookies in both hands and alternate which hand tosses the treat, he will stay straighter as you add more distance away from the mat.
Great job here!!
Tracy
Good morning!
>I walked into the training center with Tribute thinking it would be an easy day of walking and tossing treats and was totally blindsided when he started running! Looks like he knew the assignment and I didn’t; LOL!>
Ha! At least have gave you a warm up by walking and trotting at the start before adding the speed LOL
>I attended a full-day workshop with Diane Patterson and she said the same thing! >
Perfect! Your dogs are speedy so you don’t need to use your arms much, you can just run run run 🙂
>I have this same issue (head checking) with Tarot I definitely need to work on that.>
The get it marker will definitely help them look forward.
Keep me posted!
Tracy
Good morning!
>I walked into the training center with Tribute thinking it would be an easy day of walking and tossing treats and was totally blindsided when he started running! Looks like he knew the assignment and I didn’t; LOL!>
Ha! At least have gave you a warm up by walking and trotting at the start before adding the speed LOL
>I attended a full-day workshop with Diane Patterson and she said the same thing! >
Perfect! Your dogs are speedy so you don’t need to use your arms much, you can just run run run 🙂
>I have this same issue (head checking) with Tarot I definitely need to work on that.>
The get it marker will definitely help them look forward.
Keep me posted!
Tracy
