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Good morning!
>I couldn’t include all of our reps in my next video, obviously, but by the last couple, Kashia was just trotting the entire course until the last 2-3 obstacles. Her slow pace made my video clips too long, so I couldn’t include many. She’s just too smart and bores easily!!! >
Since you have 2 dogs to work, you can get more speed overall by limiting their sessions to 2 or 3 reps… then letting them watch the other dog’s turn. That way they are pumped up and a little jealous – and they never trot! Usually trotting is a sign of too many reps or getting bored or both, and we don’t want them to rehearse trotting. So Kashia can watch Kastella do a run or two – then she can do a run or two – then Kastella can come back out. It will keep them both excited and fast!
On the get out arm warm up at the beginning: great connection! She found it easily.
On the sequences:
Both dogs are reading the cues brilliantly! Your arm position and connection looked great so they were able to find the get out lines pretty easily. That allowed you to get to whichever position you wanted for the next part of the sequence. YAY!Small detail: You can stay more connected on the tunnel sends rather than point forward to it – more connection will get the driving to it and pointing to it turns your shoulders away so they have to check in to be sure, or they almost come off the line you want (:46, for example).
You can add challenge to this by running closer to the obstacles. That will show more acceleration so they will go faster. The challenge is for you to be able to still time and execute the skills when everyone is going after 🙂 Kashia in particular runs in collection when you are walking, so you will see more extension from her if you are moving more in the early parts of the sequence. She pcked up speed on the ending lines when you also picked up speed.
Kastella is a bit more self-propelled but more acceleration from you will get more from her too, which will feel more like running her at trials 🙂 On the last run where she was a little tired, she was decelerating when yo were walking but accelerated really well when you stared running.
It will also allow you to show earlier timing – for example, the FC for her was a little late at 1:13 and 1:47 so you can run through the ‘get out’ moment which will get you further up the line for the FC.Great job here!
Tracy
Good morning!
Working light skills is perfect for keeping things fresh without overwork on the way to a big event.
The tandems went well here. The timing you had at :29 in terms of letting him see the hand cues then turning him away was really good! The rep at :07 where the bar came down had the turn away happening over the bar, which is early in the case of a tandem turn so the timing of turning him away after he landed was really good at :29.
And adding more decel at :54 got a nice tight turn!
A major difference between the tandem and the threadle wraps is that while we need to set the line on both of them – on tandems, we do actually use our hands to flip the dog away especially when it is on the front side of the jump – because tandems, like rear crosses, have a variety of different possible lines so we have to cue them.
I mention it because the threadle wrap does not need us to flip the dog away and has far fewer exit possibilities.
>For the threadle wraps we used to use both arms and then transitioned to mostly dog side arm. I feel like sometimes that’s what he needs and sometimes he likes the opposite arm coming up.>
The TWs can definitely be done with one hand (usually punched down low next to the handler). The outside arm can make it more visible for the dog especially when the handler is not ahead or has to really set the line.
>The issue we have is that if the opposite arm comes up before he’s on the line to the backside he takes it as a front side turn away/fake rear cross/get out cue. >
There are two thing that cause these questions from the dogs:
– when we don’t set the line to the TW by turning to face parallel to the dog’s actual path. Too much pressure/motion to the jump blocks the dog’s TW path and cues the front side. This is the #1 TW error that I see on course.
– when we over-help with the hand or shoulder by turning to the dog (showing too much outside arm) or by trying to flip the dog away. Both of those turn our shoulders and feet to the front side or rear cross side of the jump or both!
And we handlers often combine these 2 errors in the heat of the moment 😂 Decel to set the lines and show the hand(s) cue is also important, even if it is just a tiny bit for the more experienced dogs.
But turning to set the line parallel to the dog’s path and showing the hand cues but not over-doing it will et us good TWs. Sometimes the natural line for both dog and handler *is* to the TW, but I see those mainly on well-designed FCI courses and not on UKI courses 🙂 which generally need us to set the line.Looking at the video: I think your hands were quiet and your hands were not trying to flip him away. Yay!
We can see him strongly considering the front side of the TW jump at 1:06 and 1:22 – that was because you were a little late turning to the correct line. The instant you got on the correct line – he found the TW, no problem at all. You were earlier at 1:22 but on that one, as he was in the air over the spread jump, you were still facing the front side of the TW jump so he landed straight. Ideally he lifts off seeing that you have turned to the TW line so he adjusts to the line before takeoff, then he won’t consider the front side of the jump.
So try to set the TW line before he takes off for the jump before it and let’s see if you get any accidental front sides or rear crosses on either side of the jump 🙂
Nice work here!
Tracy
He did super well here too! The arousal did not seem to be a problem at all for him.
I think the ‘find it’ marker will work better for this skill too – the yes was getting him looking at you, which is why the 4th foot didn’t always hit the mat. If he is looking forward more, than you job is easier because you can just stare at the mat and say find it when foot #4 hits it then toss the treat 🙂
You can also add a manners minder or empty food bowls (as cookie throw targets) to help him look forward even more.
He did a GREAT job ignoring the toy! Yay!
Nice work here!
TracyHi!
He did think it was a bit odd at first but figured it out very quickly. Super!If he misses, just keep walking past the jump (no reward, no marker needed) then turn and go back the other direction. The no reward moment gives good info and continuing to move makes it easier to reset the next rep
He was watching your hands a lot, so 2 ideas to help him look at you less and at the jump more:
– rather than say ‘yes’ which gets him looking at you, you can use your ‘find it’ marker then throw the cookie. That will get more looking ahead.
– You can mark and throw earlier now – when he looks at the jump but before he gets to it, you can say find it then throw the reward. That switches to rewarding commitment choices rather than arrival the jump, so he will commit even sooner and look at you less.
Great job here!
Tracy
Yay for motivation! I love it! He is such a fun partner that hopefully it felt great to get outside and play with him 🙂
He did a great job moving with you/ignoring the toy… and when he saw the barrel on his line, he went to it directly on that first rep. YAY!!
When you asked him to wrap the barrel, it is possible that your footwork turned him to the toy a bit (you stepped with the outside leg) so he mistook it as a send to the toy. Good job rewarding him for not actually grabbing it! But the toy was definitely on his mind, which tells us how hard he was working to ignore it. He did wrap the barrel at the end, but it was really hard for him to wrap *away* from the toy. Good boy!!!!!
You can do an experiment and see if wrapping towards the toy is easier than away from it. Moving with you was much easier than wrapping and he did a great job.
Nice work!
Tracy
Hi!
He definitely loved the manners minder and did a great job hitting the mat!!
To be sure he realizes the clicks of the MM are coming for the mat, you can start adding angles where he has to do a bit of a curve away from you to get to the mat. Your position can be off to the side. Think of it like a clock: mat is in the center and the MM is at 12 – you were at 6 here, so you can change your start position to 5 then 4 then 3 when he is on your left, and 7, then 8 then 9 when he is on your right. Let me know if that makes sense or if I need more coffee 🙂
Great job here!
Tracy
Good morning!
>I am deliberately not in the basement because that is where Rusty expects food and goes on strike when it is not available.>
Smart to take it somewhere that is NOT associated with food! Associative learning is powerful!
He did really well retrieving the white cord toy! He drove to it and brought it back pretty directly. I would like more speed on the retrieve, so we can play with using a reward to give him when he gets back to you. It can be another cord toy, or a ball: he brings the toy back to you and when it is in your hand, you can toss the next toy 🙂
>I tried the fur pouch which has had food in it in the past and so like the lotus ball, he wants to keep it for himself so he has the time to try to open it.>
I figured it was a food pouch toy, because it was something he wanted to settle in and eat 🙂 You can use the clicker/shaping approach for this (clicking/treating for him lifting it, bringing it to you, etc) because it seems like he perceives this more as a food item than as a tug toy.
He did like the ball throws too! When using a ball, hold him when you throw the ball until the ball has stopped moving. Then send him to it. When the ball is moving, he is sliding and splatting himself to get it, because balls bounce so erratically.
>>He is a very much “what’s in it for me” type dog. At this point, food rather than fun is very much his “it”.>
That is pretty normal, dogs are driven to get what they want and they do a fantastic job training US to give it to them 🙂 But we can make the toys a lot more fun because he does like to play!
For example, you can tie the white cord toy to another toy that is really long – ideally a 4 or 5 foot long toy! Then you can swing it around, getting him to chase it and grab it. I think he will also tug on the food pouch if it is presented like that – swinging away from him, almost like a flirt pole. The excitement of chasing the toy while it is moving will be very enticing and he will play – the trick is to keep the toy moving away from him, keep it long so it is on the ground, and keep the toy sessions really short because they require a lot more energy (and puppies will stop playing if they get tired.)
Great job here!
Tracy
Good morning!
>I did try a stay outside the ring before class and he didn’t do as well. Thinking I need to work the stays in more locations a little too. >
You can take the early stages of the cookie toss stays into new environments to help transfer the understanding.
There was some good madness happening behind him in class (good experience!) and the instructor holding 2 jumps bars is a different visual – he did great!
He was really good about bringing the toy back too! Many puppies would just take off with it and run around but he was great about bringing it directly back to you. His tunnel skills are looking super! In a class setting, when trying to get him going straight out of the tunnel, you can ask the instructor to throw or drag the toy after you send him to help him drive ahead. The placed toy is good (he already knows how to drive to it, thanks to toy races:)) but he will LOVE a moving toy 🙂
>You will love his accidental wing wrap. Already starting with my handling errors>
Ha! You can totally reward those moments – he was a good boy!
>At the end he was a little unsure about cart in the ring.>
Helllooooooo, adolescence! That is a totally normal adolescent behavior, especially after using a lot of brain juice in his turn there. And he is right at the age where he is beginning to enter adolescence. I mean, the cart IS weird! And young adolescent dogs might respond with concern to something even if they had seen it all before… adolescent brains are wild LOL
You can help him out in those moments if you see him questioning something in the environment: pattern game! That is a perfect time to whip out some cookies and do a bit of that back and forth pattern game near the cart until he assesses it and begins to ignore it. It will take maybe 20 seconds but totally worth it 🙂 He is excellent with the pattern game (like you can see in the next part of the video) so a useful application is when he sees something weird (or if you see something that he might think is weird).
Great job here!!
Tracy
Good morning!
>I used a medium length tug toy for a few reps before he got too work focused. >
This is one of the reasons why I love to video everything! It was a cool video to watch from that angle, because we can see what he likes as play which is harder to see during the actual play. I think that toy choice and the dragging movement was a winner for most of it! He just needed a few more moments in each tug session to find a good grabbing spot for it. That is hard to see in the moment when you are up close and playing but easier to see from a distance on video.
From the video angle, he was really engaged with the toy but trying to find the best stop for grabbing/pulling – giving him a little more time without pulling it out of his mouth will get great tugging. It is definitely a fine line because we want to move the toy but we also want him to find a gapped grab spot and don’t want to pull it out of his mouth. A long toy that is soft everywhere might be best for these puppy stages? If he had a fully adult mouth, I think this toy would be perfect because he could grip it better. But he had no question marks over his head about playing – he seemed all in!
At 1:00 you dropped the toy, then you got low and presented it to him: that is currently not a play style with the toy for him. The toy ended up moving towards him at 1:06 and that was when he stopped moving towards you, then walked away to sniff when you presented it to him. Excellent feedback, young man!
I do not think there was a work focus overriding the play there, he was fully engaged with you and not looking at the obstacles -it was more that the toy in that moment was not eliciting play because the toy was too ‘dead’ and moving towards him too much. The look on his face when you moved it towards him was hilarious – “that was weird, human!” I bet if you stopped up and ran away with it, he would grab it 🙂So the dragging toy it is – apologies for the running and sweating as you drag the toy LOL! Big, long, fuzzy, grabbable 🙂 with a few extra heartbeats as you move it to let him find the grabbable spot. Then you can do the hand-sliding of the fake-ish pulling so he can really pull back.
>Also a tiny bit of squeaky ball to see how he felt about that. I don’t plan to use thrown balls with him but wanted to see how he felt about the noise and rolling to overcome his work focus.>
He was interested in it – grabbed it AND brought it back! You can do some arts and crafts by putting a ball inside a hollee roller which makes it better for rewarding (attaching a line to it makes it super fun) wile still retaining the value of the ball. Balls are generally very valuable but I worry about dogs slamming themselves when chasing balls. I do use balls as rewards sometimes but only after the dogs have had a lot of experience *not* splatting themselves. to get the ball 🙂
>We did a few barrel tunnel wraps including a couple of backward sends. A few reps my connection was crappy and he found the wrong side of the tunnel but all good bonus points for the effort that took. >
Yes! In general the handling looked great and he was fast and focused on the lines. There were 2 reps, I believe, where the connection was not clear and he had to freestyle a line. THANK YOU for rewarding that for real, because he was being fast & confident with the info he had and we want to support that!!!
>I’ll use more of the opposite arm exit line connection with him in the future from Rip’s class.>
Perfect! And you can decelerate at the barrel at first, so he can see it and lock into it, to help the connection override motion. Then it will be easy to bring back the full running.
>We also did some Startline work. We’ve done this a bit away from agility at home and away from equipment at trials so this was in the ring with our parallel path set up.>
Looked awesome! You had a nice, easy warm up into it and since he was looking so good, putting the stay in front of the jump was ideal. He easily released to the jump.
He did give one bit of feedback at 3:37 when he left the stay position when you re-connected after the lead out, before the verbal release. So in the spirit of “puppies are never wrong” and “the human didn’t do anything strange there”, I scrolled back to watch the other releases to see why he thought your reconnection was the release.
Looking at the previous leadouts (2:28, 2:39 2:46, 3:01, 3:15), the release or reward marker/throw can either simultaneously with the full re-connection, or within a second of it. So it makes sense that he quickly tied the re-connection into the release. Smart pup!
For the next stay sessions, separate the re-connection when you get to your lead out spot from the release by adding praise, adding delays, and sometimes mixing in staying connected the whole time as you lead out so there is no reconnection moment getting paired with releases.
>Also, including some clips of Vibe getting to play with his 2 Tulsa littermates that he hasn’t seen since he left Canada (including 1 who belongs to the facility’s dog diving instructor – it will be obvious which pup that is). Our “get measured/podium training” at trials paid off when he came time for a group pic. >
That was absolutely adorable!! What a fun group!!!! The group photo is a adorable 🙂
Where is your next travel adventure? Heading over to Chicago? Great job here!
Tracy
Hi!
I hope the next few weeks are easier – it is hard when life gets in the way of playing with the puppy!!!
Video 1 – She did well here on the rotated sends! She had a question right at the beginning, but that was more about her needing to have a clearer line up before the send. On the other reps, you lined her up on the side you want her to move away from, then sent – and it worked great! Those were smoother cues and she was more than happy to start moving to the barrel
When you went to the sideways sending, she defaulted to turning left on both sides. No problem, we can convince her to turn to her right as well 🙂 When you are sideways and sending from your right side (which is the side closer to the barrel), you can be closer to the barrel and also closer to side of the barrel you want her to go around, so she doesn’t slip in and do a left turn 🙂
She had a bit of trouble on the right turns on the backwards sending at first, but you were in a good position right near the barrel, so the easiest line around the barrel was to the right. It took her a moment then she was able to easily execute it by the end.
Video 2:
These had the sideways sends at the beginning and you can see the first one was a left turn – basically, a threadle wrap 🙂 where she slid in between you and the barrel. This is where you can be closer to the barrel and indicating the other side of it so she turns right. That position works really well when you are sending backwards – she only had one instance of offering the left turn when you wanted the right turn, but you helped her out by getting a little closer and re-sending.The blooper was SO FUNNY! She loves the lineups 🙂 One thing that will really help is taking a very big step back to the wing, just as she is passing you. You were taking a little step back but it was actually too early so she didn’t really see it as a cue. So your feet can be toggery til she gets to you, then you can give a big step back to the barrel along with the arm send and looking back at it.
She does love her parallel path game too!! She did a great job finding the jump in both directions even when you added more lateral distance. SUPER!
You can add 2 things to this now:
– you can move faster 🙂 Try a fast walk and if she still finds the jump, you can jog. If that is easy? Run! Fun!– you can throw a toy instead of treats. You won’t get as many reps because it takes a little longer to play tug and get the toy back, but it will amp up the fun of the game and she will probably really love it.
>We did take the resilience game out to the bike trail/lake down the road – but we needed to bring it back to somewhere with less distraction. >
Is she great at it in lower distraction places? If so, you can bring it to the bike trail/lake, but use insanely high value food (or even a toy) and be further from the things that will challenge her. You might be using meatballs and 50 feet from the distractions, but if that is where she is relaxed and successful? Cool! That will make it easier for her to handle the environment.
>Her choice lately is to bark at people>
It isn’t really a choice, it is more of a reflexive response. The part of the brain that drives the barking like this (especially at this age) is not the good decision-making part of the brain (prefrontal cortex), it is mainly driven by the survival part of the brain (amygdala) which is probably saying to her body something like: OMG WE ARE NOT SAFE CAN’T GET AWAY MUST BARK!
It is similar to the response I had when I was walking down the street and a giant rat 🐀 jumped out in front of me and ran across the street. I totally shrieked LOL!!! It was not a conscious choice, it was my brain trying to make sure I survived 😂 Thanks, amygdala!
> and I have a hard time redirecting. >
Because she is unable to redirect, that indicates she is too close to the trigger. Distance is your friend! Being MUCH further away really helps her be able to not bark and also will help her recover faster from something startling when it appears in the environment. Adolescent dogs take 2 times longer (or more!) to recover from something than adult dogs do.
>Some have indicated that she may be resource guarding me>
It is unlikely to be resource guarding, based on the context, the response, and her age/breed.
>some think it’s fear>
Yes, this is more in line with what it likely is. Fear/anxiety especially with fast moving things or triggers suddenly appearing. The resilience game really helps but be sure to do it at a distance so she can actually eat and process the triggers. If she is barking and/or cannot eat, you are too close to them and she is over threshold. If that happens, rather than try to redirect – just move her further away so she is not as close to the triggers that are concerning her.
That can also include going to the bike trail at weird times so there are far fewer people/bikes/etc around, or going to places that are less populated in general.
>And my new tunnel bags came in this week! So we finally get to go back and pick up the tunnel game this weekend >
YAY!! She will love the tunnel games 🙂
Nice work here! Have fun!
Tracy
Hi!
It is definitely a harder game because it focuses more on independent offering and takes out your physical cues. But it is very worthwhile and he did well!
One thing to focus on are your verbals in the session. Don’t talk to him when he misses – stay silent. Talking to him after a miss was pretty animated, and draws his attention to you and away from the mat. The silence and no cookie gives plenty of info 🙂
Add more of a verbal when he does hit the mat. A clear marker after he hits the mat will help get more mat hitting. You were either quiet when he hit the mat, or said ‘yes’. Instead, consistently use a ‘get it’ marker so he knows there the reward will be placed (out ahead of him). A ‘yes’ marker does tell him he was correct but doesn’t provide info about where the treat will be – a ‘get it’ marker will do both of those and if really helpful for getting more independence.
Nice work here!
TracyGood morning!
He definitely likes the parallel path game and he did great!!! Hopefully your weather continues to improve so you can take this outside and add more distance laterally. Two suggestions to keep him looking ahead and looked onto the jump as you add more and more distance:
– use a ‘get it’ marker instead of yes because it will be more specific about where the reward is (ahead of him) so we don’t glance at you.
– you can start to reward (mark then toss the treat) even sooner now. As he is on the way to the jump, you can say ‘get it’ then throw the reward. That begins to reward commitment rather than arriving at the jump, so he will lock onto the jump even sooner and continue looking forward to the line.
Great job here!
Tracy
Hi!
>Though accurate, he was a bit less animated in this sequence. >
He committed really well here!! This game will appear less animated because it is a collection game and requires slowing down, as opposed to the parallel path which is all about the run run running 🙂 Plus this game requires him to tune out your motion in the other direction to finish his commitment and he did a great job here!!
>Let’s just say that it was done following Parallel Path Commitment at the end of a long day that involved his going to obedience class and then waiting while his sister had class too. I think he understands the task>
He had a busy day!! I agree that he understands. And I think he did really well!
For this game, you can add in looking back to the barrel as you send him, letting him see a big head turn as you look at it which will really support commitment.
Nice job with the ready game – he was shifting from handler focus to barrel focus brilliantly!
And when the weather is good enough to do it – take the barrel outside! The environment will probably be harder, so start with very simple forward sends so he ‘sees’ the barrel in the new location. If that is easy, you can switch to the sideways and backwards sends too!
Great job 🙂
TracyHi!
> For the stay with toy should I click or not use clicker for that anymore either?>
I think his stay skills are advanced enough that you don’t need the clicker anymore.
> And I assume I don’t move yet. Just maybe count in head to 2 or 3 then increase duration?>
I think you can move a step or two… but not as much as you can with food. And if I am wrong and he struggles then yes you can make it easier and not move 🙂
>RC would the next step be adding prop target?>
Yes – you can bring it in by putting it where you tossed the cookie, toss a cookie to it, then do the RC. If that goes well, send to the target instead of tossing the treat.
Keep me posted!
Tracy
Hi!
>We are definitely still figuring out toy play in the presence of equipment. He tugs like a beast at home, outside the ring at trials, and various places as we travel, but once the opportunity to work is there he really loses interest right now.>
I think he was interested in tugging – but was not quite sure how to get it started. So you can try a big long toy and when he gets to it, you can grab the other end and keep the game going by letting him chase it and grab it then tug 🙂
He was a star at the seminar! The games were easy for him. You can add turn and burn exits (peeling away ar 90 degree angles) because that is a happy surprise and will get him even tighter on the wing wrap 🙂 The countermotion cookie game is also a place you can add in toy play: as you run away, you are dragging the toy behind you so he can chase it and tug tug tug. That is actually more of a flyball-style of using the toy but it helps get amazing speed in agility too (and gets the pups locked onto the toy even when food and/or work are easily available 🙂
Great job!
Tracy
