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Hi!
I don’t think his speed changes here had to do with longer sequences. Yes, shorter sequences for more rewards are always good to mix in! But what was happening was he would slow down whenever something was not clear…. then speed up when it was clear.He was scratching at the leash/collar at the start, so maybe that was different/weird feeling? But then he did well getting started. As he exited the tunnel on the :37, you said whoops then kind of stopped, so he was not sure what you wanted (and wanted the food instead of the toy).
The other 2 spots he slowed down was when connection was unclear at :55 (from the yellow to orange jump) and also when connection was unclear 1:46 on the tunnel exit. He was trying to get more info, so slowed down. But then he came right back up to speed when you were connected on the sequence! Yay!
So make connection the most important thing for him, and I bet you will see him being very enthusiastic! The connection for a dog his size involves a lot of looking down and keeping arms out of the way, so he can see it.
Nice work here!!
TracyHi!
The teeter definitely adds a bigger challenge to the backing up (smaller target and it moves!) and she did really well! Yes, she offered going forward a few times but she also offered backing up. It was hard to see your position, but you can make it clearer for her by sitting on the ground or in a chair, so you are nice and close and her head is lower.
>>. The second attempt I changed it up and put her turf mat (which I originally used to introduce the game)>>
That was smart, and a really good way to transition from the mat to the teeter!
>> She just didn’t like the idea of backing up to put those back feet on it. I think she did an actual back up on only one rep and after immediately putting her foot on the board, she snatched it off like it was hot lava.>>
Yes, she was probably startled by the sensation of the back foot but that is good, we want her to think about those back feet 🙂
Tunnel to wing looked good on the first video! Nice connection out of the tunnel on all the reps, and also really clear exit line connection on the FCs and the spins. Kashia seemed to have no questions at all. Super!
On the countermotion video:
>> Again, she’s giving me grace.>>
Ha! Yes, they learn to save our butts when we are not perfect. That is part of the reason they get rewarded for their efforts, in the hopes that they save us when we are not great LOL!
Very nice job with your cues on this game – randomizing the pattern worked well! And you were showing her very clear transitions in to the collection and rotation so her commitment is really blossoming! It was maybe a month ago where she would have thought that these wing games were stooooopid but now she is flying AND committing independently. You had some significant distance happening when you were sending her behind you for the rotations, she doesn’t need you to be at the wing anymore. Happy dance!
>> I included a video just because I think she’s made improvements. I still have to say sit twice but it’s better than the first video.>>
Definitely big improvements!! She is still processing the cue so there are little delayed (which is why you were repeating the cues). So what you can do is move sooooo slowly… and say the sit cue only once. See if she can process that (it will take a couple of seconds, probably, so resist temptation to say it again :)) And I bet you will have this a a run by the end of class. Yay!!
Great job!!!
TracyHi!
Sounds like th moving target is going well – we add it tomorrow!
On the wrap proofing video, I think there was a lot of visual stuff in the environment that she was proccesing that made it hard to find the wing and play with the toy here – the cheese was defintely the motivator that helped break through the distractions in the environment! Super!
You should also use the cheese to line her up (she is avoiding being moved by the collar) for each rep. Go to where you want to start, line her up with cheese, then gently hold her. She wants to keep playing, but is staying away when being moved by the collar is looking possible.
The verbals had a really nice contrast here in how you delivered them! You can hold her longer while you say the verbals so she can hear them 3, 4, 5 times especially when you are doing something different from the previous rep 🙂 And then you can use motion if needed: like after a few reps of a wrap, a little motion to the tunnel will help. She needed a little help to the left on the FCs, so you can start the verbal then use a hand through the gap to help her see it in sequence but then was fine (she didn’t really see your foot rotation, the tunnel is a big visual 🙂
Great job here!
TracyHi!
>> I should post the blooper reel
Yes please!!! LOL!
Working on the stay separately is perfect, no need to put it in yet. At the beginning, with you rying a tiny lead out, it was hard for him: when you released him while being next to him and your hands in the international position of “I have a cookie”, the reward out ahead was not a strong focal point. Things worked MUCH better when FAS (Favorite Auntie Sarah) calmly held him. His striding is going well! I am sure this distance wll change but it is good for at least a few more days as he grows 🙂
For now, don’t add lateral distance away from the reward target – you can be next to it and even bending to point to it so he continues to develop his forward focus. How is his moving target pre-game going? That is what gets added next 🙂
Great job!
TracyHi! Great job on these!
On the go line – she did great with the verbals and the MM out ahead and with the thrown toy. You can definitely add your motion in, running as much as possible from aheadd, behind, parallel to her. Motion is a key part of the cue and we want her to understand it if the MM is not out there and also not be distracted by your motion of running (and also not lose the value of the decel for when you are not running and wanting a turn 🙂 So you can definitely crank up the motion for the next session 🙂
Discriminations are going well too! Be sure to maintain the super clean mechanics of saying the verbal a few times (and super loud for the tunnel cues LOL!) then letting her start moving. When you did that, she was basically perfect!! On a couple of reps you released her collar and either started the verbal simultaneously with the release or just after the release – that is where you got errors. So the clean mechanics of starting and definitely help her process the verbal so motion is not as important.
She looks ready for you to add the advanced level of this game, sequencing the tunnel-then-wrap or tunnel-tunnel-wrap.
The smiley face game looked really strong too! Very nice wrap exit connection!! And also super strong connection on the FC between wings and as well as when you supported her lines to the tunnel entries. Yay! You had some different handling mixed in too, and connection supported that – just be sure to plan it in advance and maybe walk it so that you can give really early info.
She is ready for you to spread out the distances here so you can show more motion between the tunnel and wings too!
Nice work here!
TracyHi!
Congrats on your amazing weekend!!! That is impressive!!Looking at the videos:
>>She was super wide coming around the wing.
She was able to successfully go to all the right places, but had wideness happening on the videos because of connection questions. What was happening was that you were running hard but not connected – so she was also running hard but waiting for information. Your motion told her to stay in motion, so she did, but she couldn’t see which line to be on until she saw the full picture, so she had to stay out wide to wait for the info.
You can see it on the first 2 videos:
At :02 and :25 and :46 of video 1 and :01, :23 of video, she exits the tunnel but can only see your back, so she looks at you then goes wide looking for more info.And without connecting to her on the tunnel exit, the timing of the decel and rotation into the FC or spin gets delayed so she goes wider based on that too.
>>. I noticed my connection was not good after the wing wrap>>
Yes, you took off looking forward, like at :04 and :27 and :48 on video 1, so she drifted wide waiting to see your line of motion to know where to go.
So then on video 3 and 4 on the harder side, because there was not a clear connection in and ou of the cross, she went pretty wide trying to sort out the info for the next line like at :30 and :52. She can’t commit to the side or line until she knows if it is a FC or spin and which side of the tunnel to head to, so that is the source of the wideness.
On the first rep of the last video, you had more connection to her when she exited the tunnel, and that helped you time the decel earlier, which cued her sooner to collect for the wing. Yay! The 2nd rep did not have the same connection or decel, so she was wider getting more info in and out of the spins.
So to tighten things up, remember tha she’s the sportscar and you are the GPS – you don’t need to go fast, you just need to tell her where the turns are in enough time for her to make the lane change and get it done. The key is connection of course: big connection to her as you move up the line out of the tunnel will help her look forward plus you can time the decel into the FC or spin to happen no later than halfway to the wing (depending on the distance) followed by the rotation. Then as you mentioned – connect on the exit of the FC or spin as the first order of business as you move to the next line, so she can immediately see where to be. And if she is really wide, chance are the connection is unclear.
And to do all this, you don’t actually have to run as fast as you were running 🙂 Let her do the fast running, so you can do all the connecting and rotating 🙂
Nice work here!
TracyHi!
The straight lines are going really well!
The GO line on 2 jumps and then later when you added tunnel looked terrific. Yay!The wraps at the beginning and at 1:10 also looked really good – you can add deceleration to help her get earlier collection info. When she has landed from the 1st jump, you can decelerate a little as you move forward, then do the FC when she is closer to the jump and locked onto it.
Very nice job with the RCs on 2 jumps at the beginning and then at 1:48!! What worked really well on those was that you were moving forward to the center of the bar until she committed to the jump (almost at takeoff) then cut in behind her.
When you added the tunnel, you ended up being too early at 1:16 and 130 and 138 (you turned your feet to cut behind her when she was just past the first jump). You were a little late showing the line to the RC at 1:23 but you kept moving forward, which helped her commit to the jump. So when the tunnel is added, you can move forward to the center of the bar, just like you did on the 2 jump reps, so she can commit and turn.
I agree with your assessment that you needed to be pretty far ahead to get the backside connection. When you broke connection and turned forward, she curled in. But at :52 and 1:56, you had a good line of motion to the backside stating before she landed from the first jump, and maintained connection all the way through. That really got her on the line nicely 🙂
So for both the RC and the backside, maintaining the respective line of motion for each will really help get commitment – commitment for the RC is probably her feet lifting off for the RC jump, and commitment for the backside is probably when her little nose arrives at the outer edge of the wing. That will get earlier as she gets more experienced.
Great job here!
TracyHi!
Nice job on the opening FCs! Her commitment is looking really strong so you can decel a bit sooner and rotate sooner, that will help with the spins (see below).
The rep at :20-:22 was perfection with decel and connection 🙂
>> She was going out and taking the other wing instead of the tunnel.>>
In this case… she was following the handling nciely 🙂 She is making decisions and blasting to the line as soon as she sees the exit of the wing wrap. Definitely reward those moments!
Here is what was happening:
Freeze the video at :29 as she exits the wing: you had stopped moving to re-connect with her, which set up pointing directly to the off course line. Good girl! That is also pretty much what happened at :37 and 1:02.Now compare to :53, MUCH better position and line of motion to the tunnel. She was looking at the other wing a little because she had been rewarded there but she picked up the turn and got the tunnel. Yay! The same happened at 1:12 and1:21.
So the earlier you decel and rotate for the spin (before she arrives at the wing), the earlier you can run up the next line. Trust your connection back to her like you did at :21 and keep moving, that should take out the off courses here.
Nice work!
TracyGood morning!
I don’t think you did anything wrong 🙂 I think what was happening was that she was having a little trouble running through the box and passing the wing. Pretty normal for young dogs, because they kind of expect to take whatever that see 🙂
You broke it down and built it back up exaclty as I would have suggested:
– moved the off course wing further away
– rewarded the NOT going off course a lot
– dialed back your motion so she could more easily process the line
That really helped her and you were able to build the sequence back up. Super! For the next session, start where you left off with big distances and not a lot of motion. If she does well, you can add more speed and the higher level challenges 🙂Great job!
TracyWhat a fun run!!!! At this stage, no need to fix things in a trial – just let him rip! And no worries about being busy last week – we have catch up time built in.
Have fun!
TracyGood morning!
She was really loving the drive ahead here! The distance allowed her to open up and run, and the dish as far enough away that she could still run and get to it (didn’t have to slow down at the jump).
>>One of the things I notice about her, is she doesn’t really want to speed into the wraps. There’s a lot of trotting to them. So I played around with getting her a bit fired up, so she’d at least canter.>>
Because of the collection needed for the wrap, and the anticipation that she is going to be running to the jump, getting a lot of speed into the wrap is hard here – cantering is fine because she is setting up the collection.
I think she liked some of the revving up, like when you were giving her a little ‘ready ready’ moment and then taking a couple of steps to the wing. She was speedy there! I don’t think she loved all the physical stuff like at :22 – she was trying to move away from it. Yes, there was speed but I think it was more based in frustration so we want to avoid that.
We can build more speed on the wing wraps when you are using the verbals and not moving – that was the end and she was trotting. So you can isolate that skill and have massive rewards (highest value food or a toy she loves) for sending to the wing and coming back to you! That can make it super valuable which will get more speed too, without having to get her extra revved up 🙂
Great job here!!
Tracy
Good morning!
There is MUCH to be thrilled with in this video!! She was ignoring the massive amount of activity in the environment and OMG she is really hustling, I love it!!! So your new mantra is:Don’t run fast – run connected.
I think you were trying to outrun her to the wings to cue each one, but that sacrificed connection. That is why she didn’t get the wing wrap at :16 and also there were some zig zags on the other lines.
So yes, run! But make looking at her at the tunnel exits and on the exits of the wings into your highest priority. You might not be as far ahead but you will get great commitment and sending.
It is very fun to see her bring out her whippet speed here and still engage, eat cookies, play with toys, retrieve, and be overall perfect 🙂 Exciting times ahead!!! Great job here!!!
Tracy
Good morning!
Yeah, the weather has been gross and everything here (including my floors LOL) is a mud pit! Fingers crossed for warm dry weather ahead.
Wind In Your Hair:
Yes, use your arm to support the send, but I think the refusals are a combination of needing more connection and maybe being a bit too far from the wing to start (when there is a jump out ahead).First rep – no connection (refusal) followed by connection so he got it
1:03 – you were looking forward so he was unsure then the step back cued the jump which you were closer to. Same at 1:25. Great connection at 1:27! And 135
Line him up at your side (most of the reps had him facing you or milling about a bit) then establish connection then send. The last 2 reps at TW had that clean start and wow, it made a big difference on the commitment to the wing
Ticking the gutter was late toy throw happening as he was over the gutter. It should be when he looks ahead after the wing wrap. It was coming when he was between the uprights, so he was looking at you
>>I’m curious to know what you think worked better, the toy toss or the MM. >>
Both were effective! The toy toss is something that will ultimately be used on course when running sequences, so throwing it earlier here is good to practice. The MM already be out there helped him look forward and not at you, but it was a little too close to the jump so he had t decelerate. Moving it further from the jump so it is about 15 feet from the jump will help!
The set point is off to a good start! What was the distance here? Using the MM was good to get him looking forward and not at you – it can be a little further away to allow him to stride out over jump 2. The MM will often produce a calmer-looking approach because the dogs have slow down to get to it. And he does like it! The MM can often produce a more upward “hop” over the jump which is what he was doing here. Using a toy will generally smooth that out.
But mainly since his moving target game is going well – we are going to use that 🙂 Stay tuned for more coming tomorrow!! The moving target can be a toy or a MM on wheels 🙂
>>I think Mason knows that CheckCheck and SaySay are his wrap verbals, but he doesn’t know the directions yet. I’m guessing he just assumes I am always on the inside of the turn.>>
Yes, that is likely to be true. We tackle more of the turning away later in the class 🙂
Proofing is going well!! Especially the sequencing! He has gotten even faster!
>I noticed that sometimes I released him as I was saying the cue, so next time I’ll try to make sure the cue comes first. >
Yes – you were generally saying the verbal and releasing almost immediately. So, try to say the verbal 3 or 4 or 5 times… then let go of the collar. That will allow the verbal to really attach to the behavior by coming significantly before the motion. That way you can basically be standing still the whole time 🙂
You can also move the wing closer to the tunnel. See if he can still process the cues with. The wing about 2 feet away from the tunnel entry or even less!
>>on the last rep it looks like he jumped at the toy on his way to the tunnel. I suppose I need to keep switching the toy from hand to hand to make sure he doesn’t see it.>>
No worries – the tunnel cue was a little late (you were still saying the wrap cue as he was exiting the wing) so he might have thought it was reward time. As soon as you said tunnel, he went to the tunnel.
Smiley face game: I am loving his speed on these! So fun! And when you are connected? LOOKING AMAZING!!!! Also note that on the sends to the start wing here, you were smooth on the line up and connected on the send, so no refusals on the video.
>>I had a hard time keeping track of the verbals and had to edit out a bunch of my miscues. Also, my head was spinning from trying to remember the cue names, the timing of the cues, the connection, and where to point.>>
There is a LOT of detail to add to the handling indeed! You can begin to practice this without him, doing walk throughs on video – then checking the video to see if you are getting the cues out properly. That way when you run him, all the cues will be rehearsed.
And when you run him on these sequences: remember that all errors are handler errors 🙂 and the pups respond perfectly to what they see… that means you must reward him even if it was not what you planned. What you planned and what you did in the moment might be 2 different things 😁 so he is correctly responding to what you did. Stopping and re-setting will be frustrating.
The most important element of all of it is the connection. Motion is important too but the connection to his eyes when he exits the tunnel especially will be super helpful to get commitment. That was easier when he exited on your left side (stronger side for both of you, maybe?). When he exited on your right side, you were less connected and he had questions. At :05, you were looking ahead so he came in next to you (that is what the physical cues said, good boy!). You can either reward that or just keep going back to the tunnel then reward – no fixing needed because he was correct and you can fix the handling on the next rep 🙂 The motion was better on the next reps on that side but you can look at him more directly to smooth out the line as you cue the tunnel exit.
>>I’m thinking of ways to do some pressure slices with obstacles and incorporate that into a setup routine, but that discussion can wait for another day>>
No need to add obstacles or setups yet – start the pressure framework with the pattern games and with the silly sporty behavior, then it will be much easier to transfer to the real behaviors 🙂
Great job!
TracyGood morning!
Nice job with the set point!! He seems to be figuring out where all of his feet are quite nicely 🙂 A couple of ideas for the next session (this is something to do once maybe twice a week).
There were a lot of stay rewards, which is great!! Be sure that the connection of looking back at him is not associated with the release – if you lead out without looking then look back and release (releasing forward or throwing a cookie back) then the looking back at him becomes the release (which is what was happening here a bit). So either lead out with connection the whole time, or look back but pause/praise and don’t release immediately.
We was looking at you a bit here even with the toy on the ground. So, be sure to be all the way-out at the toy and for now you can even bend over to point to it so we can lower his head position.
But that brings me to a question: how is his moving target game going? That will help us get him focusing ahead and not at you 🙂 We add it in starting tomorrow 🙂
For the next session, you can move the cone out of the way so he doesn’t need to process it being there (teenager brains are busy enough hahaha) and see if you can video from the side so we can see his mechanics more. They look good from the front!!
Wind In Your Hair is looking good! Nice timing of the toy throws – he was really looking ahead and leaving you in the dust 🙂 Yay!
You can add more distance between the wing and jump now, and add more of your motion – he seemed to have no problem with you jogging at the end.
He did have a couple of questions about the wing wrap start – if your leg was back, he was not sure about committing especially if you stepped away early (like at :23, :57, 1:10). So use the dog side leg to step to the wing and you can also reward the wing wrap – he figured out that the frisbees was coming after the jump 🙂 so was anticipating moving to it. Rewarding the wrap a bunch will help balance that out.
Great job!
TracyHi!
I use the MinnyPinny to teach the left/right verbals. Here is the Maxpup 1 start to them:
And you will see more of that upcoming here!
Tracy
