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Good morning!
I think the videos are numbered in order (1259, 1260, 1261) so we can look at them in the order you did them, not in the posted order š That will make more sense šHe is finding his lines beautifully so we can really get more and more independence and distance here with the sending. What was happening was that you were tending to use proximity to the wing or jump as well as forward motion to get the commitment – which means that meant you were running towards them rather than connecting and sending to them.
On the first part of the session (video 1259): Really good exit line connection after the wing! You were running forward to the jump (proximity and motion) here so he got it. We can add in more of a send so you donāt have to run to it as much (which will allow you to move away even sooner):
As he exits the wing, make the big exit line connection then maintain the connection while you send him to the jump with just one big step to it (and a verbal). Keep your arm pointing to his nose and not ahead to the jump, so he can see the connection clearly.You can move the wing and jump closer so you donāt have to do more than one step for the send.
On the second video: at :18, :44, and 1:31 he took the wing because you were moving forward to it rather than sending, So you can run in closer to jumps 1 and 2, then as he is taking 2, make the big connection and do the one step send to the wing. This can set up the distance and independence so you can get to a FC or BC on the line between the 2 jumps after it š
On the 3rd part of the session (video 1261) – the first part of the sequence does ask for proximity to the wing and regular connection as you run the circle (:18 and 1:11). For the sending after that, you can accelerate to the jumps so as he is approaching the #5 jump before the last big send to the wing, you can decelerate and make the big connection, then send him. You were working to be further away at :24, 1:18 and 1:47, but the connection was not as clear so he did not take the wing.
In that send moment, look him in the eye, with your arm back, and take a giant step to the wing so he can propel to it. That should make it easier for him to commit with you at a distance šGreat job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning!
>>So excited youāre seeing all the good things when I see the screw ups!>>
Yes! I am finding that people beat themselves up if there is a little blooper here and there, and they ignore the brilliant parts! So I like to remind you all of the brilliant parts š
On the sends here – you were using your GO verbal which is great! Remember to say it directly to her and not to the jump š That will open up great connection on the sends.
And also, be sure to step forward with your dog-side leg. That will accomplish 2 thing: better send support for her, and makes it much easier for you to move the next direction.
One thing I notice in this session is that even though she is young and inexperienced, she read all of the cues perfectly (even when things did not go according to your plan :)) It looked like she was getting rewarded for those, which is great!
Sending to the wing at the beginning was a good warm up – at :03, remember to step forward with your dog-side leg.
And also remember to look at her very strongly on the sends:
:09 you were looking at the wing and not at her so she didnāt take the wing. Good leg stepping there! Compare to :18 – you really ramped up the connection and she went to the wing! Yay!When sending to the jump, I think starting her on the other side of you then you want to send on and doing a front cross will make things easier. These were dog-on-left sends to the wing, so you can start her on your right and do a FC to your left – that gives you a clear connection moment before the send.
You had a post turn at :34 and :50 them you kept rotating so it lined her up directly into the gap (plus you were saying go, which is a straight line cue, so she was REALLY good to drive the straight line!)
You were in a better position with the post turn at :40 so she got the jump, but a FC on the wing will sets things up even better for adding the next jump after the send.
Sending on your left side on the last rep lined her up for the jump a lot better so she got it easily. Make a huge connection to her eyes as you say that (and keep your arm back and pointing down to her nose so she can see the connection clearly) and see if you can take one step to the jump – then slide away to the next jump. That will keep you even further ahead while adding even more independence to the send.
And when connecting, keep your dog-side arm down to her nose and resist temptation to swing it forward to point at the jump ahead of her – that will hide your connection and turn your shoulders away from the line. So keeping the arm back to her will really make the connection clear.
Nice work here! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
Nice connection here too! One other thing to add so you can rotate and shift your connection sooner: more room between the start wing and the jump. Because he is speedy, you donāt have a lot of time here. Adding another 6 or 8 feet between the wing and jump will give you the time to move forward after the FC on the wing, then decel as he catches up, then shift your connection past you to the landing.Nice work here!
TracyGood morning!
Super good connection on all of these, so now we can āup the anteā by having you rotate even sooner so you are basically doing a send backwards (or sideways) with t he connection shift. Think back to MaxPup 1 when we did the sideways and backwards sending to the props – this is an application of that skill š
So as he exits the start wing, you can be moving forward then decelerate. So as he passes you, you are rotated and basically sending him backwards to the jump (and shifting connection to the landing spot). The decel will be super important so you can keep the motion going while showing him the rotation & connection shift (and also o your knees donāt get angry with sudden twisting).
You can see the connection shift best on video 2 at :07 (also video 4 here) – watch how he was just starting to pass you and you turned your head to look at landing: SUPER! You can use your hand to point at landing too – it is the hand next to the jump that does the pointing (not the hand across the body).
On the other reps you were connected but your turn was not as early as it was on video 2, so you didnāt need to shift your connection away to the landing as much. When you rotated earlier on video 2 and shifted your connection, he committed beautifully AND had a great turn!
One other thing I noticed here:
He doesnāt love being moved by the collar, so you can line him up at your side with a cookie or hand cue then gently take his collar to start. I think he will move into his start position more easily when you do that.
Great job!
TracyHi! I am a lefty too! Yay for lefties, we are the coolest LOL!!!
And yes, that could explain why it is harder on your right. I have to practice toy throwing with my right hand a LOT to help myself not be so terrible at it š I am strongly lefty, not even close to being ambidextrous like some people are – so lots of practice on the right side helps to smooth things out.
T
Hi! Hopefully the storm is over and there are no power outages!!
Her commitment is looking really good here so you can time the cues to be sooner – which will give more emphasis to the shifting connection. What I mean by that is: if you face forward til she commits to the FC on the jump, she will commit but not turn as tight (plus it is harder to stay ahead of her :)) But since she is committing really well – you can start your decel and rotation a lot sooner so as she is passing you, you will be rotating and using your shifting connection to support commitment behind you (as you run the other way :)) Think back to MaxPup 1 – these are the backwards sends on the prop and on the wing š
On on the videos:
Video 1 and 2 both looked good in terms of how well she was committing and your connection, so now you can add in decelerating and rotating sooner to set up the shifting connection:Connect a lot as she exits the start wing – before she catches up to you, you are decelerating and you can then send her past you as you rotate and shift your connection to the landing side of the jump. That will cue the commitment and turn, plus you can be moving away sooner too! s
>>I do not think my treat placement is correct, and I still need to send more.>>
On these videos, I think the placement was good! When you rotate sooner to add more countermotion, you can throw the treat to the landing side of the jump to support the commitment as you get that started.
Video 3 – really nice connection from jump 1 to the wing, and after the FC! Yay! Then she is ready for the added challenge of you rotating sooner on the send to the jump for the FC. You were tending to start to rotate as she was lifting off so she was a little wide. If you decelerate so you can rotate as she is passing you – the turns will be much tighter. The hard part, of course, is the timing of that and shifting connection to the landing spot. The decel is the key so she still sees motion to the jump as you are getting ready to rotate.
Video 4: I think what was happening here and on the 5th clip was you were doing a FC on the yellow jump, which put her on the inside line for the wing wrap – which made it feel weird and you ended up doing a threadle wrap. That confused her a bit – we have more of those threadle wrap coming in the 3rd set of games š
To make this feel more fluid, you can do a spin on the yellow jump (not a FC) so she starts on your left side and she exits on your left side – that way you can push to a circle wrap on the center wing, which will set her up nicely for going to the next jump. The circle wrap might take a bit of refreshing with the shifting connection and is a good spot to toss treats to the landing spot.
Nice work here! Stay warm!
Tracy
Good morning!
I am glad her surgery went well!!
>>but revised that to ātry for a weekā when I burst out laughing. She was dopey the first night and ready to go the next morning.>>
Well, she needs to eat, so if she was happy then soft treats for training should be fine!
On the perch video:
The new bowl might have been a shade too small at first so you did a tiny bit of luring that totally helped: then she figured it out really well. As you build more value for front feet on it in front of you, I think you will be able to get pivoting back to center with the cookie toss starts. She was moving a bit with the pressure towards her, but she likes to move š so you might get even more with the cookie tossing so she can grab it then run back to the perch and pivot to center (or eventually to your side) while you remain stationary.On the Find My Face video:
Yes, the acting in the middle definitely confused her – probably too soon to add that š She was having a little bit of trouble finding the treats so that was causing a bit of high latency. She did well finding your face when you were sideways, so you can stay at that level for a session or two until she grabs the cookie and whips back around to find you. Then you can add in turning your back on her even more šGreat job here!!
Tracy
Good morning!
On the tunnel double whammy, you can get more independence by allowing her to turn herself away into the tunnel, rather than you turning her with an arm cue and foot rotation. The threadle cue means to turn herself away – but if you add in arm movement/foot rotation, then the cue will mean to look at you and wait for the arm cue.
So to get her to turn herself away, you can keep moving forward after she exits the tunnel, but slow down your motion and be less exciting LOL! That draws her attention to you. Instead, when she exits the tunnel, you can have your arm up and be saying the cue and walking forward slowlyā¦ and donāt move your arm or feet towards the tunnel until *after* she turns to the tunnel. She doesnāt have to be in the tunnel, just turning herself to it. Then you can turn and reward with excitement.
I am glad she is doing so well in class! Smoked cheese was an excellent choice of reinforcement š YUM! The toy was interesting but she might have needed the bunny fur on the first part of the class, to help settle in with all the distractions. Everything looked really good!
One suggestion – when doing recalls, can you ask the instructor to move jumps further away so she is never running past a jump that she will eventually be asked to commit to? I donāt want to build the neural pathways of ignoring jumps and then in 6 months we try to change that LOL!! Or, if they canāt move the jumps, run your recalls away from obstacles that are on or near her path?
>>I didnāt want to do anything too hard because having people and other dogs around was enough of a challenge.>>
That was smart!!
On the backside slices: She is ready for more distance on this cue so that your proximity to the entry wing is not the cue – the key to that will be bigger connection so your shoulders point to the backside line and not the front of the bar. Here is what I mean by that:
On the first video – she had the clearest connection at 1:10, so had the best line to the backside! And you held that connection as yo moved forward until you saw her lock onto the backside barrel.
Compare to 1:38, where the connection was not as clear and your shoulders were turned to the front of the bar before she passed youā¦ so that is where she went. You moved closer to the wing on the next rep (proximity) but you can ramp up the connection on the cue to get independence without having to closer to the entry wing. More importantly: Keep making the very clear, direct eye contact (tie your hair back so your hair does not cover her view of your face) and say the verbal directly her to eyes as you move forward.On the 2nd video: yes, she did want the food at the beginning – was she playing with the toy before you started? She just needed a little more excitement on the toy and running around like you did, then she got more interested in it. It is possible that she was not aroused enough at the beginning (volume dial game) so interest in the toy was lower.
You had a little break in connection at :04 (you were looking forward and turning forward) so she took the front.
The rep at :12 had better connection for sure and a little more distance away from the barrel. So you can keep moving forward on that line, but ramp up the connection to her eyes a lot more – backside connection is very direct!
The other reps had proximity to the entry wing, so your position overrode connection and she got it.
>>I was hoping to get to position 3 but I donāt think sheās ready quite yet. Can I use my arm, or am I not supposed to do that?
Getting further away will be all about motion up the line parallel to her and strong connection. The arm should stay relatively neutral because if you point it forward of her, that will cause your shoulders to rotate to the front of the jump if you are in position 2 or 3.
>> Because she wasnāt so keen on the toy at class, and then was also a little meh with this toy initially, Iām wondering if food is surpassing toy now? But also sheās a teenager, so itās hard to say haha.>>
Yes, there is probably a bit of up-and-down in values right now, depending on the day. No worries, that is pretty normal. So if she doesnāt like one toy, just switch to another when you are at class. At home, you have more time and leeway to just run around and play with the toy you brought out and if she is still not that interested, you can switch to a different one.
>> Maybe she was tired, even though she was acting bored. Or perhaps I should have taken today off, since she had class yesterday?
She might have been fidgety, not bored – teenagers can be fidgety so need to run around a bit but not necessarily train. On the day after a class, you might see fidgety as a symptom of being a little tired – so you can do really easy fun games that are not mentally āexpensiveā. That way you can help her relax but she doesnāt have to try to produce the energy in the brain to execute new or hard thing.
Nice work here!
TracyHi!
>>I walk around with treats in my hands and play the Itās Your Choice and Eye Contact games.Is this in daily life? You can change this to something that is less interactive with you and with your hands. In daily life, it is important get the high energy pups to chill out in the house and not always be so busy busy busy. And that way you wonāt have to do as many things to burn off energy every day. Yes, there you can have cookies in your pockets or on shelves around the house, but better to reward for things like just hanging out or being on his bed, than to have games that turn his focus to your eyes and hands.
Even in training scenarios – IYC and eye contact games put a lot of attention on your hands and eyesā¦ which is something that he has a lot of to begin with and could use less of. So you can shift the rewards from these games to different behaviors (like calm behavior in the house and walking around calmly (tossing treats on the floor).
>>Heās better when I can see him, heās bad when he makes a sneak attack from behind me. I have had him launch from behind me to get something in my hand.>>
Yikes! Part of the way to handle that is pumping up the value of chill behavior in the house. In training, he can be waiting on a cot or bed or crate while you are getting ready if you need to turn your back on him. If he randomly launches at your back in the house, you can greet him by gently taking his collar and escorting him into a crate or x-pen or different room (if he can be loose alone in a room) – very calm and neutral, because it is his āprizeā (no more access) for launching at you. That can help stop the sneak attacks.
The other thing that will help are leash walks where he can sniff around and watch the world. It is a bit of an icky time of year for that, but totally worth it to bundle up and go for a walk. You will be happily surprised at how much energy it burns off!
>>Take note, you will see him jump up off to the right at the beginning of the Ladder Work video. Re his jumping, I am now trying to keep my hands low, as he tends to jump up when I have something in my hands and I have my hands up high>>
Yep, he was a total jumping bean! Trying to keep your hands lower is a lot of management to remember and I donāt want him to still be jumping if your hands are not in the exact correct position. Instead, make a cleaner transition into the training (one with no jumping up at you!) by having him wait in a crate or on a bed or cot until you are ready (training set up ready, camera on, rewards ready) – then you can release him into the session to directly begin training. No jumping up in the transition – he is waiting then going right into the training.
Training him to wait on a bed or cot or crate w/ door open or something is already great for impulse control and a stay. And if it too hard at the beginning, he can be in a crate with the door closed š The main goal is to stop rehearsal of the undesired behavior.
Even when he is not jumping up, he is still entering the session trying to slurp the treat from your hand. That can create jumping up if your hand is too high, and also is a lot of rehearsal of watching your hands and trying to get the treat. That is cropping up in training when you donāt want him watching your hands.
He was moving through the cavalettis pretty well but we can get him more balanced and trotting. You can add more distance between the 2 little bars (maybe another 6 inches for now) and try it without the toy in his mouth š This might be a better game for food only anyway because when the toy was not in his mouth, he was leaping and not really as balanced. So you can get him excited to play by using the toy, then you can switch to food for the rest of the session. That way the food can be tossed down low after he trots through/ The low food will create a lower head which will help with the balanced trot (especially when you add more to the cavatettis)
On the ladder: using the toy or food as the lure is not helping him think about his body, so you you can break this skill down more to help him understand what to do. Turn the ladder over so it is off the ground and therefore more to step over.
Using food, have him start perpendicular to the ladder and at the very last gap so he only goes through one gap and then exits. Rather than lure him with a cookie on his nose: put an empty food bowl about 6 feet past the ladder. The bowl acts as a visual target. You can give a little hand cue to help him step into the ladder then turn to just take the one step out – then put a treat in the bowl. If he can do that on both sides (enter sideways then do one gap to exit) you can then start him at the 2nd to last rep, and so on. It might take a couple of sessions to fully back chain it but that will help teach him the balanced body awareness.
He did well using his back feet on the perch! Yay!! After a couple of reps, he starting offering the sit – so you can go to the next step where you fade your motion out. You can do this by working the concept of pivoting back to your front: you stand still, toss a cookie off to the side for him to get. Then when he runs back and pivots back to the center position, you can reward and toss a treat off to the other side. That can get more and more pivoting as you add harder angles of the cookie toss š
Great job here!
TracyHi!
>>Heāll stay there for a while, but if I turn my back or move around the kitchen, he will stray off of the bed/mat.>>
Have you tried a tether or an x-pen, as a way to keep the reinforcement going (even if it slows down) while you are doing things in the kitchen) while all stopping the possibility of countersurfing? Otherwise you need to keep an incredibly high rate of reinforcement and very gradually slow it down if there is no other way to prevent the counter surfing. Counter surfing is super reinforcing! And an off only works if he is already on the counterā¦ so it quite possibly can be reinforcing the counter surfing if it turns on attention from you.
>>And itās just a matter of time for the bad behavior to end?>>
I think counter surfing is not one of the behaviors that goes away because the reinforcement value is high. So denying access while you train will be helpful!
>>He jumps up/on me when I have things in my hands. You have probably seen this behavior in some of the videos.>>
In a training scenario, it is worthwhile to have him waiting on a cot or platform or in a crate while you get set up, so he is not jumping up at your hands as you move into position to get started. That way you can be ready and have a clean start to the session without any rehearsal of jumping up. Rewarding for not jumping up is good, but also stopping the rehearsal of it is important.
Tracy
Good morning!
Yes, latent learning is amazing – it is like they study the textbook and have read the next 3 chapters LOL!!
The
Push is going really well! Loved seeing him really go find the backside!!! Try to throw the start cookie further away so you can be a step or two ahead of him instead of parallel – and start to move faster mow too š IF this weather is decent you can take the outside too! The next step is to move parallel to the bar like a serp – and when you do that, you can drop the reward in behind you on the landing spot of the bar, near the barrel, so we begin the countermotion of you sliding away into a German turn (eventually) and he commits to the backside and the bar.He did well on the MP too and seems perfectly happy to go around it š Nice job with the reward placement!
>>Is it ok to help with a step or a hand when he gets āstuck?ā>>
Yes, you can give a clearer indication for him to start – I donāt think he was being sticky, I just think after the reward he was not sure if he should start or not because he was kinda sideways to the wings and had to back up to start the next rep, or far from it after the tugging. So, you can line him up again at your side, hold his collar for a second, then let go and that becomes part of the start cue.
Which leads to the next step: add your left and right verbals! This is done by lining him up to face the MP, holding his collar, saying left or right (whichever is correct for the direction he will be heading) then let go so he starts. And a footstep towards the MP is fine too!
Hooray for the flyball recalls! Especially hooray for having his friend working in the next lane and he ignored her! š One thing to add is big tug party when he gets to you for about 10 secondsā¦ then having him walk back to you with cookie rewards for every 2 or 3 steps – then cuing him to go line up (that cue might have been what was happening at the end).
Great job here!
TracyHi!
>.The bars are up and it really makes a difference as I can see that I have to give cues earlier.
Yes, the bar totally changes the picture for the timing and connection!
>> This is not easy to do and to maintain and I find when I add another part of an exercise, itās easy to not see her with regular connection. Does that make sense?>
Totally makes sense and totally relatable. This āregularā connection seems so easy in theory and yetā¦ it is pretty hard!
On the video, the regular connection will also help with the timing. What was happening here was that you were looking ahead at the wrap jump so that made timing hard, plus when you look ahead, she looks at you.
For example at :02 – she is over the first jump. You are looking ahead, she is looking at you. The reps at :25 & :49 more connection towards her but not quite enough so she is still curling towards you a bit, looking for connection.
You can connect back to her more so you see her jumping 1 very clearly – that will help her look forward on the line and also help you time the cue. When she is over jump 1, you can start to decelerate so when she lands she sees the cue already in progress (decelerating into the wrap followed by the rotation).
You had super NICE exit line connection at :27 – it was good on the other reps but GREAT at :27 and created an awesome turn!
Nice work here! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi! Lots of really good things to look at and discuss here! Thanks for posting these!!!
First off: she was GAME ON for the reinforcement so even though the games were hard and there were strugglesā¦ she never slowed down or checked out. That is a big win! Huge!
>>Hopefully, I didnāt kill the little bit of drive she gained from the new reward.>>
You did not kill anything š She was excited and happy to keep trying! And you were good about keeping things light and happy for her too even though you were frustrated.
Onwards to sorting out the sends:
It is frustrating for sure when things go wrong, and agility is a sport where A LOT of things go wrong LOL!! So here are some ideas for how handle the moments when things go wrong and a different way to look at things:>>I was so overwhelmed by the notion of rewarding failures that I just stopped at our 1 minute mark >>
Donāt think of these as failures. You arenāt rewarding her for making āwrongā decisions. A better way to think about it might be rewarding her even if things do go according to *your* plan š because she does not know your plan š Think of these as Kashia reading the cues correctly, so the responses are rewardable.
>>and didnāt bother to get a success before ending.
You actually donāt need to get a success before ending – there have actually been studies that say this is not important. What is important is maintaining a high rate of success. And part of doing that is if things are going wrong, you can totally stop the session and re-evaluate before asking for more. (More on that below)
On the videos: On some of the reps she was reading you correctly and on others, she was asking for more info. Whenever the dogs curl in to look up at our faces they are seeking more info or a clarification (which I what was happening here.
We can channel your perfectionism into specific things to do to get things as close to perfect as possible (remembering that any sport with an animal can be imperfect :))
2 adjustments to use when you play with sends (these should make a massive difference!):
– When you are sending her and using your jump verbal (great job using your verbal!!!) you can use this mantra:
Talk to the dog, not the to the obstacle. What I mean by that is make direct eye contact with her and tell her to jump (donāt tell the jump to jump :))– in order to be able to talk to the dog directly, keep your dog-side arm down and back as you start the send. Think of it as a magnet to her nose š As she passes you, you can move it forward (following her nose)
Here is what I mean by that:
Using this concept, you will be showing her a lot more connection which points your chest directly to the jump. When you were pointing at the jump ahead of her (even when your eyes were on her eyes), the pointing ahead of her was turning your shoulders away from the jump so she was confused and curling in front of you to get more info.
That is what was happening on the 2nd video – your right arm was pointing to the jump but it turned your shoulders to the wall and she was confused.
On the first video, you had some reps that were more connected with the pointing later, so she found the jump on those. Yay!!
And on some of the reps, she was heading to the jump but then you stepped back just after she passed you (watch your right leg at :31 and :47) she had a conflicting indicator – meaning 2 cues were happening and asking for different behaviors. So she had to guess, and went with motion (a good choice!). Totally rewardable with chicken because she was correctly reading a cue.
Compare to :58 and 118 you did *not* step back and she took the jump. SUPER!! Since she is young, hold your send (no stepping back) until you see her front feet lift off for the jump – that is her cue to you that you can move away.
So the main point is that our hand is not a cue that dogs follow on sends (sad but true LOL!! I totally WISH they followed the hand in this context!) They follow the line of our shoulders, so we need to keep our hands back and down and following their noses š –
So, now ideas on what to do if something is going wrong in a session:
Have a 2-oopsie ticker in your head. If things go wrong once? OK, no worries, try to cue it better and try again. If things go wrong twice? Time to change something.
You can channel the perfectionism into the problem solving, rather than getting the exercise correct. The problem solving is more important!
>>I should have moved the wing closer and/or I should have put a target bowl out. >>
Yes! Excellent ideas! You can also stop the session and do a quick video review – play the video in slow motion and see how strong your connection is. Bear in mind it is not if you can see herā¦ it is if she has a clear view of your eyes and center of chest.
>Neither of which I thought of during my 1 minute training session. >>
Before the session, write a problem-solving cheat sheet š It can be on an index card or you can put it on your phone (I text it to myself LOL!) so if you get into the 2nd failure – whip out the cheat sheet so you donāt have to remember anything.
If nothing on the cheat works? No worries! You can āphone a friendā aka posting the video and asking what we see.
>> Both of which I thought of hours later as I stewed on what went wrong and how I could fix it for next time.>>
When stewing (or I call it obsessing haha) – grab your video and watch it in slow motion. Freeze it on the moment when she stops sending to the jump. What is she seeing? If she sees your arm pointing ahead, eyes ahead, shoulders turned away from the jump, you can add more connection with more eye contact and arm down and back more.
If your connection looked really good, it is possible that the wing and jump are too far apart so you can move them closer or your can put your target bowl out.
>> I practiced for 1 min or less on both sides and that was it. I used grilled chicken as her reward.>>
It was awesome! She was happy to keep trying!
Nice work! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
I guess winter is really upon us now! Hopefully you are not getting too much snow. We are ok here, just colder than I like and a bit rainy.>>Iām probably gonna have to do most of my work with JJ at the club. That means less time to work with her due to the long drive.
Now that there is snow on the ground, it is probably better to do this on turf indoors. Even a little snow can be too slippery for her when adding jump stuff because there is so much processing involved – we donāt want a slip to cause an injury.
The sending on the first video has good connection and her commitment is really but you can fade out the number of steps you are taking to the jump. After she exits the wing wrap, connect and send with just one step. When you do that, though, be sure to maintain connection til she is at the jump: at :49 you disconnected and looked away so she (correctly) changed her line – you can reward her because she was correctly following your cue there. You maintained connection a lot better on the last rep at 1:00 and she went to the jump. So if she misses a jump, assume it was a disconnect and reward her as you reset her for the next rep š
2nd video:
This also looked really good! And you can also fade out taking as many steps to the jump: take one big send step with a big connection and see how far she can send š You can move the wing in closer to start, then gradually move it further away if she is feeling very confident.3rd video:
Great job adding the next jump! When you sent her and moved away to the next jump before she took off for the first jump, her turn was immediately tighter. Yay! You can send and leave as soon as you see her lock onto the jump, maintaining connection as you move to the next jump.4th video – comparing timing to the previous video, you can see how you ran forward for longer so she was wider over the first jump. On the previous video you were moving away sooner, so she read the turn info sooner. So on this side too, you can see how early you can send and move away to get the 2nd jump and a tight turn š
Very nice send on the 5th video! Now you are at the ātrust the puppyā training stage š As soon as she blasted past you to the wing (and before she arrived at the wing) you can be heading for the blind. At :05 you took an extra step or two the wing so you didnāt leave for the blind til she reached the wingā¦ which made it harder to get the blind by a step or two. She totally read the beginning of the blind cross so responded beautifully! You can experiment with trusting her more and when you see her blasting past you for the send, you can start moving away. The hardest part will be maintaining connection as you move away – feel free to reward her for going to the wing even as you start running away for the blind.
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
>>I just did the first couple of exercises and I only did one rep of each move. Would you recommend trying several reps of each part? >>
Maybe one or two and if it is all good, move on š Otherwise it can be too much repetition of the same thing and she might start offering different behaviors.
>>Do I need to be closer to the second jump when I am cueing the serpentine?>>
Yes – but that can be done by leaving the send sooner. As soon as you see her head turn and lock onto the jump, you can start sliding away to the next line while maintaining connection to her.
On the video: The first rep on each side had a little too much arm pointing forward (:02, and :11 on the other side when she actually ended up on your left again – exit line connection on the wrap wing will help that a lot!)
But then you locked into the send connection it was lovely: On the left side sends: :27 was strong and :44 was great! And on the right side sends: :35 was stronger and :51 was great too. Yay!
>>. I think it was okay as far as her slipping. If you see something that indicates it isnāt safe I will try to do it at Debbieās or some other non-snow place.
I recommend going to Debās place or other non-snow footing š She wasnāt slipping, per se, but she was struggling to move through the thickness/heaviness of the snow. When I lived in upstate New York and we had think heavy lake-effect snow for 6 or 7 months a year (ick!) my dogsā rehab vet told me to never do agility in the snow because it was so hard to move in for agility-type movement. She said āit was a cruciate blow waiting to happen.ā EEEK! That scarred me LOL so I now pass along that info : )
Great job on the sends! Onwards to the next games!
Tracy
