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Good morning!
>>It was 80 degrees today, so we waited until it cooled a bit. >>
Somehow it is summer now! Eek!
>>I typically teach this with the jump perpendicular to the line, to work distance. Am I to assume we will start moving the jump angle, or is your Get Out cue different from mine?>>
It depends on the placement of your jump on the line. My ‘get out’ is a lead change away to find a new line. There often is distance involved but the lead change away is key. Otherwise, distance on a line without a lead change away is a ‘go’ or obstacle names. You can chance the angle of the jump, but for an out make sure it is not on a straight line.
At the beginning o the session, you wrapped him starting on the inside if the wing (first 2 reps) so the jump was a true “out” where he had to lead change away from you to find the line. He did really well! You can add in putting a line down parallel to the bar, so you don’t move to the jump as you cue the out.
When you changed sides, you sent him around the other side of the wing (the outside not the inside) – that put the jump on a straight line (not an out line) and going past the jump was a threadle not a straight line. He didn’t get rewarded when you sent the other side of the wing even though he was correct, and that was why he might have been sniffy (confusion can cause sniffing). He did do the ‘go’ and not take the jump when you dropped your hand and cued it more like a threadle, but be sure to send him to the inside of the wing (the side closer to the jump) and then do a FC so he exits on the side of the wing further from the jump. That will set up the true lead change for the out, and you won’t need to pull him off the straight line.
The turn aways are going well!
On the lap turns: starting him in a stay or a little further away will make the lap turns on one wing easier to cue without having to back up.Adding the wing wrap before the lap turn went well, it was definitely easier to cue the lap turn! You can send to the wing from further away so you don’t have to jog backwards (I try to convince everyone not to run backwards because we all fall on our butts LOL!!)
Tandems on one wing – keeping him on your hands longer (til he was past the wing) really helped. The wing has a lot of value, so you can mix in rewards for staying on your hands by hand-delivering a cookie before you turn him away. I think this will help a lot when you add the speed coming from the other wing, because he needs to look at your hands for this cue and not at the wing. I am excited that he loves the wing so much that we have to reward him when we don’t want him to go to it for this cue 🙂
Great job here!!
TracyGood morning! I love obsessing on reinforcement, and I love that you are also osbessing on reinforcement 🙂 I am actually working on a webinar about it all 🙂
>> I think luring is a good thing so long as it is advanced as the pup is ready, no easy feat. I was asking because I think the INTENTION of what I’m doing is important.>>
I think maybe rather than think of it as luring versus rewarding, think of it as timing of reinforcement (based on slicing the behavior and not lumping) placement of reinforcement. I mean, we have to put the reward somewhere so we might a well place it in a location that helps us get the next step(s) of the behavior 🙂 The choice of whether to place it in advance of starting the cues, or place it after getting a slice of behavior, will depend entirely on the behavior and context – that decision can be made before the session or when things go differently than planned.
>> If I am unsure of my goal and the intended reward criteria, I can miss a lot of rewarding opportunities (especially if I’ve chunked too much for a rewardable behavior).>
Correct! Before starting with him, here are some things to live by and plan for all before the puppy enters the session:
– The goal is to start to get the behavior (or the next step of the behavior if it is not the first session) and not get the finished product, so plan the setup and cues accordingly (that is why the Baby Level games are separate from the advanced level)
– Look for the smallest slices to reward, splitting the behavior down so you can look for that split and reward it
– Choose the best placement of reward to get those little slices, especially if it is a new behavior. This might mean you throw the reward to a certain spot, or place it in advance, or deliver from your hand: all of that depends on the behavior you are working on. How can you reward the tiny slice AND place the reward in a place that helps produce the next slice?
– Live by the 2 failure rule with young dogs in particular (I like it for ALL dogs): you get 2 failures total in a session. Not in a row – it is 2 total. If you hit failure one, it is a yellow light that you might need to change something. If you hit failure 2, you need to change something to set the session up for success and ideally get no more failure. If you can’t get success? End the session with some play and figure it out from watching the video. Or, if you get success? End the session with some play and don’t keep going to the next steps or making it harder… you get more failure that way.
Why is the 2 failure rule so important? Too much failure will change the dog’s arousal state and bring in frustration. With many BCs, they keep ‘working’ but it tips over into frustration and frantic and over-arousal behavior which we don’t want of course – and that can get paired into the game, producing a generalized over-arousal that we also don’t want.So looking at the video with this in mind:
The get out behavior here is not “take the jump”, the behavior here is “shift your line to look at a new line and lead change away to that line” which is what he did. So you can reward that even if he doesn’t take the jump, like at :16 – he looked a the jump and moved to it… reward that because it was the first slice of the behavior. And the placement of reward is to throw it to the other side of the jump. (He was already past the 2 failure rule there, so the red light in your mind should be flashing to set up success).
You did start rewarding that with earlier toy throws after a few more failures and moving the jump closer. I would end the session there – he was successful and then latent learning can take over.No need to move the barrel back out in the same session or add more challenge, because this will end up being too many reps in total, and also risks more failure (he was already at 4 failures for the session and you got 4 more by making it harder – 8 failures in a session are too many.)
So there is definite human self-control in dog training LOL!!! That is why the 2-failure rule os great too… I stop myself from adding more challenge or more reps if I am already at 2 failures. I can add the harder stuff later in the week. And I am so in love with the power of latent learning that I love to put a skill away for a few days or a week, then come back to it and magically the pup knows everything 🙂
Looking at the rocking horses through the same lens:
If the goal is to come to your hand then turn away, placement options are to reward for coming to the hand, and the turn away can be rewarded with the toy or treat tossed to the opposite side of the wing. He was great about coming to the hand immediately so placing the reward on the other side of the barrel would be ideal.It is also normal to see a side preference (canine and human LOL!) because we are all better on one side or the other. He was definitely better turning away to his left here, 100% success! Nice!!! The mechanics of turning to his right were much harder (could be a combo of his mechanics and your mechanics 🙂 ). He could do it very slowly but could not do it fast.
That is where the 2 failure rule kicks in: you had the 2 failures at 2:02, so you can stay at the ‘breaking it down’ level you did by doing it with him close and on one barrel (no speed into it). And the left turn aways can be done with the speed and fancy stuff.
Then in the next session or so, you can go back to the right turns and work them up – eventually the harder side does catch up to the easier side.
By continuing to ask for the right turn away with speed, you got more failure at 2:08, 2:18 and 2:25 and that was followed by frustration behavior (jumping up at you, circling you).
>>He wanted the toy so badly.
It was not that he could see the toy or wanted it more (the toy was in the same place as it was when he was turning to his left), it was that the failure was frustrating – that is important communication from the pup! If my pup says “I don’t get it, I am having a BIG MAD” then it is a good reminder to me that I need to break things down and stop asking for the hard stuff in that session.
So you can set up these sessions with the harder stuff limited to the left turn away for now (the FCs and spins seem great in both directions, because those are different mechanics). And the right turn aways can be done slowly and in isolation, so he can sort it out 🙂
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
Tracy
Good morning! Lots of great work here!
The get out game is looking good – you were really emphasizing keeping your feet as straight as possible on the get out cues and that was strong! It will help get the cue really independent.
The key cue for her is definitely the BIG connection as part of the out cue (because it really opens up your shoulders to the jump), versus the softer connection (not as much direct eye contact) for the go cue. At :37 you did not have the BIG connection so she did not do the out (your shoulders did not turn to the jump as much on that one. Compare to
:42 which had stronger connection for sure, so she got the jump and you did the BC before she took off, making for a tight turn too! The other crosses were a little late, so you can try to turn sooner – the goal is to trust her commitment enough that as soon as she looks at the jump and takes a step to it, you can start the cross. That will also give us insight into how strong her commitment currently is and if we need to strengthen it more or not.Mission transition: this went great. You made very clear transitions and she was lovely!
Your decel is so powerful as a cue that you don’t need to push into the jump at all – that is why she went to the backside at :58 and also read the rep at 1:42 as a rear cross (I thought that is what you were cuing, actually, because you ran a rear cross pressure line). On both of those, you move in towards the bar so she (correctly) read them as different cues, depending on how much you ran to the bar.
Compare to 1:04 and the other reps where you were outside the edge of the wing more so she took the front side perfectly.
When she was on your right heading to the jump, you did the exits of the jump as post turns. They went well, but post turns will often be a little wider unless you decel into the send and move to the next line even sooner.
When she was on your left (1:48 and the reps after it) you added a FC and it was awesome – SUPER tight with great transitions into it. So nice!!! Also, well done with the strong connection and moving away on the rewards! That really gives her extra reasons to turn tight and drive out of the turn 🙂Zig zags on 2 bars – this was challenging for her but she was able to do it. Yay!
Zig zags on 3 bars: This was REALLY hard because she basically has to bounce AND change leads. She did better when she moved right-left-right later in the session than she did when she had to move to her left first. The right-left-right reps had the bounces and lead changes, good girl!!!! For the other side when she has to move to her left first, you can angle the bars a bit so they are not quite as parallel/serpy. You can make a little bit of a line visible through them to help her see the line better so she can work out her mechanics.Turn aways: you did a couple of lap turns on one wing, which looked good – try not to move backwards when you do these, they will be most useful when you are in position and facing her on a line. When you added the rocking horses, you did tandems so you were both moving:
The tandems worked great turning to her right, that was an easier side for you both! You gave early hand cues/verbals and also gave her room on the line to come between you and the wing.
When she was turning to her left, you were a little late and didn’t give her as much room at 3:21, 3:25 or 3:51 (she as already on there way to the other side of the wing and you moved towards the wing too).
Compare to 3:38, 3:59, 4:09 and 4:20 when you gave her the hand cues as soon as she was coming around the previous wing and you gave her room on the line to get between you and the jump – those looked terrific! You made it really obvious and on time, and you were also patient to let her get in to the correct side of the wing before turning her away. That worked great!
You can add the race tracks around the outside of the 2 wings here, mixed in with the FCs and spins that you did and the tandems. If you want to send her away to a wing and then be facing her and stationary, you can add a lap turn too (these are less important than the tandems).
Question: you had verbals here, I think they were your wrap verbals? For the tandem turns, you can add your threadle wrap verbal. If you don’t have a threadle wrap verbal, let’s decide on one. Those threadle wraps are becoming VERY popular now in course design so we can get them fully trained and verbal-added, so she is ready for when she sees them on course 🙂
Well done here!!!!
Tracy
Hi! The sequences are going really well!
Video 1 – She is blazing fast, I love it! You can line her up on an angle at 1 so it is a straight line to 2 rather than an extra turn. The distances were a little short here, so she was on her forehand a bit over jumps 3 and 4 (:03 and :30) – you can see her butt coming up higher than her shoulders. So you can give her another 3 feet or so between jumps – and it there is not enough space, run these at 12” so she has more balanced jumping.
Video 2 – The opening is looking good!!
>In the next clip we went a step further but missed the last jump. >
I was a connection question: She ran past the last jump when you stopped connecting and starting throwing the ball. On the first video, you weren’t very connected but you were really close to the jumps so she got it. See the next video for how well your connection supports the line.
Video 3: REALLY nice blind in the opening here! Note the connection here on 5-6 – gorgeous! And she easily got the line. I bet you can run hard up the line if you can connect like that!
Video 4: the collection on 2 was easy for her! Yay! You can line her up on a slice at 1 as well here, so she doesn’t have an extra turn. She read the RC really well! You said ‘go’ but then stopped moving, so I wasn’t sure if you wanted her to keep going or not after the RC.
>>Here is our final attempt at putting things together. Not perfect by any means but the end of this session.>>
This was the same video as the previous one, can you repost the video?
>>We are having fun with these exercises with our middle aged dog who has such anxiety at trials that she can’t function well, but loves the back yard fun. She has so many skills that it is good to see her able to play and be successful. >>
That is awesome!! I am so glad she is having fun!!!
Great job here!
Tracy
Hi!
The outs are going well in terms of the upper body, very clear cues! Your lower body can be further away to make it even more independent: You are moving towards the jump with your feet, so she is relying on your feet as the cue. Putting a line on t he ground from the outer edge of the start wing going parallel to the bar will help because you will have a visual to help keep your feet straight 🙂The transitions into decel are going great! At :45 and 1:06 you had earlier decels so she committed in collection and had great turns. You were later at :55 so she was wider – she was just about taking off when the decel started as compared to the other wrap reps where you were decelerating before she passed you (a little past halfway between the wing and jump).
She is doing really well with her zig zags! Nice job to you for the quickness of the cues!!! The next step is to start her right next to the wing, just outside the feet of the wing, so she takes off immediately (plyometrics!) for the bar rather than stride into it. That will increase challenge! And then when she is comfy with that, we can move the wings closer together 🙂
Great job here!
Tracy
Hi!
It is so fun to have a classmate come over to train!!! Would Mason take cookies from Di? If so, she can do the line up with him: cookie, collar, cookie. That way he will pull less when she is holding him.>>I don’t know if we were really better on the first side or just lucky.
It is possible that it was easier for him to go left then right, but I think a couple of things were different between the 2 sides: when he was going to his left-then-right, he as lined up on Di’s left, putting him between her and the wing so the bar was easy to see. On the other side, when he had to go right-then-left, he was also on Di’s left, putting him on the outside of the line. The bar was harder to see and get to, which contributed to running past it.
It will be interesting to see if he can find it when he is next to the wing (on her right) rather than on her left when going right-to-left.
I think having you closer to the wing of 2 really helps as well on that side, and staying close to the line helped too: if you were too far away, it was hard to show him the last bar.
>>On the last rep where we finally got going on the harder side I didn’t have the toy in my first hand and we thought that maybe that was the key, but now I’m not sure.>
I don’t think it was the toy – I think it was better position from you (closer to wings 2 and 3) and very clear handling help. The toy was in the picture on the other successful reps, so I think making things clearer here y being closer really made the difference 🙂
Nice work!
TracyThe BCs are going well! Excellent job with the verbals! Super nice connection after the blind so he knew where to be. You only had one heartbeat of turning towards him on the first one, and then the rest were true BCs (or a post turn but I think that was what you wanted in that post.
You can add the tunnel back in, so you can do this with more flow and movement (it might feel easier that way too!)
He did well with the wraps and the decels! Yay! You can add more connection to his eyes as he comes around the start wing – that will let you be even earlier plus he will drive to the jump even more independently and know which side to be on: on most of the reps, he was looking at you a little when you were looking forward at the jump. At 2:09, you were looking forward a lot so he read it (correctly) as a blind cross and went to your left side. I think the left side has more value for him in general, so if it looks like a blind to your left side he is happy to go there 🙂 Big connection will smooth that out.
It was not a toy distraction issue, because the toy was in that same hand on the other reps (including the next rep) and when you had clearer connection, he went to the jump not the toy. With that in mind, though, you can totally add in a marker word for toy-in-hand being available (I use ‘bite’) so he is completely clear on when it is available for grabbing or not.
Because this went so well, you can do a mash-up of GO, FC wrap, backsides, and rear crosses. All in the same session! That makes it harder for the human end of the team 🙂
Great job here!
TracyHi!
The wraps looked great and so did the GO lines! You can throw the toy for the go as soon as he looks ahead after the wing… then race him to it 🙂 That will get even more extension and less looking at you. Your timing on the wraps was great! He collected really well – only a little bit of trouble sorting out his feet on the first one and moved the bump, but I was super pleased to see his adjustment on the 2nd one: wrapping but not touching the bump. Yay! I think you can show him this with a bar too, to help him sort out his mechanics over a bar.
He also made great adjustments on the ladder grid – on the first couple of reps, he moved the first bump with his back feet. Then at :49 and the last rep, he sorted it out and jumped it cleanly. Super! The other jumps looked clean too and he was GREAT with the stay and the moving target! I think we should start introducing bars to this one too: bars on jumps 2 and 3 to get started and if he is feeling comfy with that (clean jumping efforts) then we can add a bar to jump 1. All bars should be super low to start, maybe 6 or 8”.
The out session was great too!!! You stayed in motion on the straight line while cuing the out and he was such a good boy to change his line and move away to the jump (he did look at you like you were nuts, though hahahaha!) And nice job throwing the reward early. You can move to the advanced level now of adding the crosses on the jump – wait til he is just about at the jump then start the FC or BC.
>>I’m back to keeping things super short and fun for him (5 min timer for the whole session, or 4/5 reps of something). It keeps both of us wanting more next time>>
Super! All these sessions looked short, fast, and fun! We have been talking to our Brain Camp neuroscientist vet about how we can use the ‘leave them wanting more’ concept to work on dopamine releases to get the optimal “crave” for agility and therefore build up a lot of intrinsic motivation for the game (which should theoretically make it easier to fade out food and toys when getting ready to trial).
>>I’m noticing he doesn’t like to shift his weight onto his hind legs and I’m policing his sloppy sits. We have a fitness appointment for him in a week to start working more on these, and a sports vet (in June! — wow they book out). So hard to tell with these youngsters if this is a puppy thing, or something else (and ofc we always worry about the “something else”).>>
Totally relatable about worrying! He is young, large, and male 🙂 so it is probably just puppy stuff. He can totally learn a tight sit on a platform: that is one of the first things sports vets want us to do anyway! Get a low platform that is only big enough for him to sit with really straight tight sits, and work a few minutes of that every few days. That will really help him!
Also, he made excellent hind end adjustments in the wrap video and the ladder video, so I think he just needs to sort out his mechanics and is totally on the right track.Great job here!
TracyGood morning!
I think the distance on the ladder grid was the sweet spot! He did really well: it was challenging but he was powerful! The best reps where when the toy was a little further away from jump 3 before releasing him (so he could power her jump 3 without slowing down). That will continue to get easier to do as his stay gets better and better with the moving target.
The next step is to change out the smaller jumps to wing jumps and 4 or 5 foot bars. That will change the visual entirely and the dogs need to adjust. When he is happy with that, you can move to the advanced level where the bars are angled – that is also a hard visual change for him too (you might have to move things closer when the angles change because the distances get a bit bigger when we angle the jumps).Because it is a jumping challenge and he is a youngster, this can go into the rotation for once a week, so we don’t over-jump him with all the other things he is learning too 🙂
The Rear Cross wind in your hair game looked AWESOME!! The rear crosses were all super (maybe even a little early on the first couple). He was looking at the pressure for the first couple of steps on the first couple of reps, but then he sorted out the line and drove ahead really well. AND turned the right way in both directions. Yay!!!!
Great job with the balance reps with the GO lines – he is getting really strong with looking forward to his line, you’ve done a lovely job with consistent toy throws 🙂
“”Was I too far in the middle of the jump for the straight line?>>
On some of them, yes, a little too close to the bar. Your motion still said ‘go straight’ but you can line yourself up more for the outer edge of the wing to run past like at 1:09 and 1:37 and the last rep.
Great job here!!!! I think he is totally ready for you to add the advanced level (backside wraps) to this game, which will also lead us nicely into the mission transition game posted last Wednesday.
Tracy
Good morning!
She did super well on the 1st and 3rd rep here!
>>On the first clip (the forced front cross in review), the second run, I am not sure why JJ read this wrong. >>
I think that yes, walking past the takeoff side was part of it and also she as lined up facing straight to the front of the and jump. She got it on the 3rd rep, but on all 3 reps you can have her start position more angled so she is on a slice over 1 and looking directly at the backside of 2 (rather than straight over 1 and seeing the front of 2).
The threadles on the 2nd video looked great (and sounds like the verbals were in place too – super!) You can tuck in behind the wing a bit more, so half of your body is behind it – you can line ip your belly button with the wing 🙂 That way you will still get he threadle but also be one step ahead when she gets to the backside. And since she is so speedy, any extra step is a useful advantage 🙂
Great job here!
Tracy
Hi!
>>I am struggling getting those verbals out!>>
It is perfectly fine to do these without verbals for now as you hash out the physical cues!
Looking at the mission transition video:
The 2 lovely transitions were at 1:06 and 2:10! You had a very clear fast forward, slow forward, rotate transition and he of course produced gorgeous turns. Click/treat to you both!!!
You can decelerate sooner at :02 and :57 and 1:52. On those reps, your decel started more at takeoff so he was wider (he had already made a takeoff decision so could not adjust until after he landed.
The reps at 1:17, 1:32 and 2:01 didn’t have decel – you went from fast forward to slam-on-the-brakes-rotate which actually cued him to NOT commit. If that happens (he stops short in front of the jump) – you can assume it was the slam-on-the-brakes, reward (human error, sorry dude!) and then start again. Fixing it in the moment is confusing to the dog (you got another error at 1:19 and then he slowed down and got sticky) and also it doesn’t teach us humans to properly decelerate.
The Go lines were looking good- I think you were really emphasizing getting the toys thrown early so even if they were not all great throws LOL you definitely got him looking ahead!!!
Now that it is getting hotter out, shorten up his sessions til he can build some heat tolerance. You can see in the last part (1:45 ish and on) that he was hot, not really lining up and trotting at a distance to the start wing -you lose some of the crispness of the behavior when they are hot so short short sessions when it is hot out will help him build up tolerance.
Zig zag are going well – loved the crazy arm movement dance on the lead outs LOL!! Keeps us from accidentally releasing with arm motion. He was even happy for you to jog to position!
Good job starting back on 2 wings – He is getting very speedy on these so you will probably want to stick to 2 wings for now. The ones he missed were because you were late or he couldn’t really see the cues, and so there ended up being too many errors. Since it is a mechanics game, it is fine to stick to 2 ing for now as he learns his mechanics at speed. Leading out to the entry wing of 3 was where he was most successful, so a session of that will help and then you can take a step back a little further, then a little further, to gradually build it up to all 3 bars with you past the 3rd one.Nice work here!
TracyHi! This went great!!!
>>I tried the treat/collar-grab/treat setup routine you suggested and it worked great! The first rep shows this.>>
Yay! I thought it was really smooth: he was happy to line up and you had super clean transitions into grabbing his collar then letting go pretty quickly. Super nice!!!!!
>> I was late on all of my toy tosses though. I tried to look for the head turn on the get outs, but it went so fast that I really couldn’t see it.>>
Yeah, he was really fast so you got your throws in a quickly as you could LOL!!! You can move the wing further from the jump so he has to ‘get out’ more to find the jump – that will make the head turn more obvious and also buy you time for the toy throw or the cross.
One thing to add in the next session is a line on the ground from the edge of the wing going parallel to the bar. And keep your feet pointing along the line and not to the jump at all. That way the upper body cues and the verbal do all of the ‘work’ of the get out cue, and your are moving forward on the same exact line as the non-get-out reps (without stepping to the get out jump at all). That will give you even more independence on the cue (more distance!) and also it will make the crosses a lot easier. When you were taking one step to the jump, you then had to quickly change direction to get the cross. If you are moving forward the whole time, the blind cross in particular will feel a lot easier because all you need to do is turn your head 🙂
Great job here!!
Tracy
Hi!
>>so now if you want a low height you need to use the very heavy and cumbersome baby dog walk which is usually set at about 2 feet high when it is out.>
Bummer about not being able to use the big DW for this, but I think she can practice her safe exits on the baby dog walk too! It is a good skill for all dogs to have 🙂 It is not so much of a turning around game as it is a stop in the middle and hop off on cue game.
Looking at the videos:
The FFCs on video 1 look great – you can add a little more connection to her eyes before you release her, which should help her when you get into the bigger sequences and she is coming up the line with more speed. And when she gets to your hand for the FFC, you can use that hand to indicate the landing spot behind you without turning all the way to the jump.
2nd video: The first two reps looked like threadles here with you facing her: SUPER timing on the threadles! She read them really well. You don’t even need to move to the jump after she get to the backside; you can stay in position and she will turn herself away. The last rep was a forced front, so you can try it with less rotation (throwing her behind you while your feet face forward). The forced threadle is a little bit of a harder move but it is definitely more popular nowadays and she read it great!
>>. I definitely noticed that if i was impatient that JJ did not read this correctly.>>
Yes, if we move too early then the dog might pick up the wrong side of the jump. You had great timing on these though, she had no questions.
Great job!
TracyGood morning!
Working this on the DW up ramp with the MM worked well (they also need to find the entry on dog walks!) You can do it on the teeter when you have a chance but it is a similar concept for both (but the teeter moves, of course LOL!)
This went really well! I hope she never sees those angles of approach on course, but sadly you might see the pink jump to the dog walk that she was doing here. So it is good she is prepared!
Since you have access to a dog walk, you can lower it to maybe 2 feet off the ground and have her turn around and hop off from the top plank – that is a great body awareness game to help the dogs out if they ever lose their balance and jump off.
Nice work here! Fingers crossed for good weather!
Tracy
Good morning!
I love the photo of him having a big sleep at the end! Learning if consolidated into the brain when they sleep, so he was learning there 🙂
A main theme you will see on these games is that connection is key for him: when you are connected, he finds his lines brilliantly! When you are looking ahead of him and he can’t see the connection, he looks at you seeking more info about the lines.
On the serp versus tunnel, you can see the connection plays a bit role: when you were not connected and looking forward on the release when you wanted the tunnel, he knew it was not the jump but came to look at you for more info. When you were further ahead and nearer/past to the tunnel entry he found it but more connection will help build more independence so he won’t need you to be as close to the obstacle.
On the serp reps, you were more connected plus you were more visible between the uprights so he had no questions. YAY!
So if you get 2 failures or more (like missing the tunnel) you can stop the session for a moment and watch the video to see what he is seeing. When I look at the video, I look first for connection and if I am looking at the dog clearly enough.
>>On the RC I wasn’t completely sure what you meant by putting a wing out.>>
Oops, sorry for the lack of clarity! I meant for the wind-in-your-hair version of it, with the wing wrap followed by moving up the line to the jump. He did really well with the tunnel here! The rear crosses all looked really strong: you had connection and you were moving along a very obvious rear cross line, so he got it nicely!He had questions about the go line and it was a connection question 🙂 At 2:31, you were looking forward and pointing forward, so he didn’t see connection. That caused him to come off the line to look for more info. When you were closer to the jump he got it but to build more independence, add more connection.
>>On the ladder game, I didn’t realize he jumped over the last 2 jumps on the last couple of reps. Oops>>
The moving target adds more power for sure! What were the distances here? Since he had an easy tie sailing over the 2 jumps, you can add a foot to each distance and see how he does. If it is too big we can shorten it up and find the sweet spot 🙂
Tunnel exit game: He gave great feedback about the connections too! For example, when you were not connected and looking forward instead, he was looking at you for more info and didn’t take the obstacles (like at 4:20). Compare to 4:33 where your connection was much clearer and he got it. Yay!
And you can compare the wing wrap cues at 4:47 (where you were pointing ahead and your arm was high, so he couldn’t see your connection) and he didn’t commit to the cues at 4:53 where you had. Lower arm ad a lot more visible connection, and he was perfect!So adding more eye contact as you move is a big help to him. And, especially since he is so small, try to keep your arm really low (pointing to his nose :)) so he can see the upper body connection and I bet you will see more consistent commitment and more independence on these lines.
Great job here!
Tracy
