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Hi!
Yes, that might be a bit of adolescence 🙂 But you have a great foundation & relationship with him already as well a a ton of tools to help keep reinforcement balanced so I think you will survive 🙂 Welcome to the Adolescent Dog Support group! He’s really a super good boy so it will be a fun time ahead 🙂
T
Good morning!
I am glad she likes this pillbug game – it is goofy fun for the dogs and actually pretty hard for us humans 🙂 She did great!
She was swinging wide a bit but I think that was because she was going to the toy. So you can keep the toy scrunched up in your hand as you run (until you reward her) and that will keep her even tighter to you.
You had one rep here where she had an inside turn – you can totally do inside turns too! She did well with it and was following your line and connection brilliantly. She is ready for the next steps and more advanced levels too.
It sounds like everything else is going well too! Have fun especially when the tunnel gets added 🙂
Tracy
Good morning!
This went great!
The single blinds looked really strong: you were really trusting his commitment and starting the blinds with lovely timing!I LOVE that you tried to do multiple blinds on this setup 🙂 YAY!!! 2 things that will help make it easier :
More direct connection to him when he exits each wing, and keeping your arms in lower and tighter to you (which helps with the connection and quickness for the blinds).When you were going for 2 blinds (woohoo!) you had a lovely first blind but after you send to the wing at :38, there was no commitment cue to the jump. Your arm was high, you were looking at the jump and not at him, and there was no jump verbal, so he didn’t know where to be.
At 1:00 you moved closer to the jump but still had the high arm/no connection /no verbal.
About the connection – I am pretty sure you could peripherally see him, but he couldn’t see enough of your face/front of chest to find the line.
At 1:12 and 1:26 and 1:37 you moved past the mouse line and he took the jump because motion helped a lot! The turn was wide because you were past the mouse line.
So to get all of these on time and nice and tight: as he exits each wing, have your arms in closer to you and eyes on him, and tell him to jump the jump. The verbal is not hugely important but what it does is get you to look back at him. And when you see him look at the jump, you can go into the blind. That will get all 3 of the blinds feeling nice and easy 🙂
Great job here!
Tracy
Good morning!
This went really well – the exits of all of your blinds were really spot on, he had no questions about that. Happy dance!
The rep at :37 was my favorite – great timing! You started the blind as he exited the wrap wing and you were finished with it when he was still a stride from takeoff for the first jump. Lovely!
The other side was harder (when he started on your left) – it was only harder because you didn’t have as much room for the start wing, so the blinds were one stride late, finishing when he was already in the air (less room means less time to do them 🙂 ) He still read them and kept the bars up, so it is good to know that your connection was super clear and timing is not as critical.
He did have some questions about getting to the wing after the blind cross jumps. I think that was mainly about holding the exit line connection from the blind for too long and then pointing forward instead of looking at him. So after you get the connection to finish the blind, you can keep your dog-side arm back and use connection as you step into the send to the wing, rather than point to it.
Great job here!! He is ready for the advanced levels of this when the tunnels are available at the field so you can have bigger distances.
Tracy
Good morning!
Happy 18 month birthday, PoweR Pup!!!!
>I am still struggling with my relationship with him. I finally figured out that its because he is not as biddable as what I have had and he is way more independent. He knows how to push my buttons and trigger me. Heavy sigh.>
What types of things push your buttons/trigger you and make training harder or frustrating? Independent pup are definitely and sometimes it might feel like butting heads! But we can sort out how to make it feel like smooth easy (and FUN!) teamwork.
>He really struggled with any counterclockwise rotation. At one point he got so amped he bit me.>
I think that was at :26 – he was struggling with the circle wraps on that wing and the frustration bubbled over for both of you.
My number 1 suggestion is going to be to live by the 2 failure rule: 2 errors or questions from him? Make whatever you are working on easier to find where you can get success. He had those 2 failures really early on in this session – circle wraps are hard! So you when you get the 2nd refusal break it down a lot. Usually slowing the motion helps and throwing the reward behind you when he wraps helps in this particular skill. Having more failures gets more frustration, which for him get more barking, looking at you, and the bite.
Adding your hands a bit more helped when your hands were low (on the right turns in the 2nd part of the video). When your hands were high, he was looking up at them which made wrapping harder.
A compounding factor on the hard side was the lotus ball – he was struggling to ignore the lotus ball and sort out the countermotion. So you can use a small cookie to throw to the ‘landing’ side of the wraps which will be easier to ignore than the lotus ball. Or, if holding the lotus ball, slow the motion down so he can lock onto the line and not watch the ball.
It will all come together where you can run with speed and the ball 🙂 but watch for the 2 failure rule: 2 little bloopers? Clarify the info and see if that helps to eliminate more errors.
And keep using the good connection! I think your connection to him was really good throughout the session.
>We did not get through all the iterations because he was just spiraling up. So I cut it and am sending what we got.>
Continued spiraling probably meant there were more failures, so that 2 failure rule will definitely change the shape of the sessions.
>n class he leaves me a lot to go visit other dogs or people (he loves both)>
When specifically does he leave? Is it as soon as the leash comes off, after a certain amount of obstacles, after failure, during the in-between moments when you are talking to the instructor… tell me more (or send a video) and we can game plan. Breaking things down for now is a good start!
Nice work! Let me know what you think!
Tracy
Good morning!
Great job getting the connection after the tunnel to commit her to the jump! I don’t think she had any questions there.
>In our practice I’m not doing all the steps like having her sit or sending her to wrap before going to the tunnel like you show in the videos just because I’m worried that she’ll lose motivation and energy if I do too much. >
That is good, to keep things feeling different and fun! You can mix in a stay or wrap here and there but you can also just let her run into it sometimes too like you did here.
To keep her motivated: if there is an error, just keep going and reward something else rather than stop and pull the toy away.
For example, on video 2 as she exited the tunnel at :39, your arm was high/blocking connection so she was not really sure where to be. You were moving the toy from hand to hand (which caused a disconnection) and pulled her off the jump. Handler blooper 🙂 so you can keep going, get her on a jump, then reward. That way there is no stopping (which can be deflating) but also you are not rewarding for going past a jump – all rewards come for the jump or tunnel.About the middle jump: I think a little connection adjustment will help get commitment to it nicely!
The key will be keeping big connection to her eyes and ‘opening’ up your shoulder by dropping your arm back to her nose 🙂 so she can see the connection. A closed shoulder blocks her view of the connection, and pointing forward/ahead of her will turn your shoulders away from the line on the sends.
When you run close to it (:32 on video 1, 3:09 on video 2 for example and lots of other reps on video 2) proximity and motion cue it even if your shoulder is closed.
But if you are further from it (2:48 on video 1, 1:42 on video 2, for example), the closed shoulder doesn’t indicate the line so she comes with you. Sending with your arm forward/hand pointing (4:06, 5:04, for example) also turns your shoulders away from the line
But when you start the send with more connection to her eyes and less pointing forward (4:41 for example) she got it! Yay! That is because looking at her on the send points your shoulders and feet to the takeoff spot. And when you are running along the line and not sending, having your arm back to her nose and eyes on her eyes will help support the line to the jump. And if she goes past it – keep going to reward the next jump she takes to help keep building value for the line.
Nice work here!
TracyGood morning!
Thanks for the kind words about Elektra – she is almost ready to return to sports, I just have to do more conditioning. She is a good case to use in the webinar because all the presenters are familiar with her and she never ever limped. Crazy!
>Bandit seems to have slowed growing in the past three weeks. He went from 16 lbs to 16.3 in that timeframe. Do you recall when Elektra started slowing down, and how much more growth happened after she turned 6 months old?>
She continued to grow in small increments til she was about a year. Then at about a year, she started to get some muscles growing 🙂
Looking at the reverse retrieve:
In this session, he did really well with bringing it to you! Most pups just take off with it and have a party of one LOL!! I think part of him being slightly hesitant was that it was kind of big, so he ws figuring out the best way to grab and carry it. A smaller/lighter toy might be easier and quicker. Calling him but not showing the 2nd toy til he got to you will help too, plus tugging with the first toy (without having a 2nd toy at all) can help because he does love to tug!
You can also try throwing the toy more like you threw the ball – that gets a lot of drive to it, as opposed to dropping the toy. He brought the ball back at the same speed as the toy, but brought it directly to your hand for you to throw again (smart!) so you can take that same approach with the toy: have him bring it to your hand then throw it again immediately 🙂
I think you will enjoy flyball! There is a team that practices in Brooksville and a couple of their members live in Orlando. I’ll get their contact info. And know of a couple of team in Colorado so I will find out how far they are from Colorado Springs.
Looking at the threadle wraps on the barrel (1st video):
Turning to his left looks great! Turning to his right also looked strong – might be the harder side for you both? But by the 3rd or 4th rep, he was smooth to his right too. Adding more speed by starting further away also went well!For now, he is still locked onto the hands as important pieces of the cue, so keep your hands a little lower (you can lean over) so he can see you turn your hands away. The 2 little blooper moments (one on each side) were because your hands were high and he didn’t see the turn away cue. You won’t always need to use your hands to turn him away (he will start to turn himself away) but it really helps for now.
The advanced level went really well – you were very precise and clear with the cues that he was able to get it in both directions! SUPER! My only suggestion is that you can start your hand cues to turn away one step sooner: start them just as his shoulder is arriving at the barrel. You were starting them as he was passing the barrel, so starting them one step sooner will make the turn even tighter.
Great job!
Tracy
Good morning!
He did really well going to the backside around the cone here! The new verbal was easy to add and he was pretty perfect 🙂
Since this went so well, you can add more literally distance between you and him. You’ll still want to move forward on a parallel path to his backside line, but you can inch your way further across the ‘bar’ each time. Your goal for now is to be able to walk towards the center of the bar while cueing the backside (and he continues to go around to the back of the cone).
You can also take this outside or a bigger space – he is getting big and tall now 🙂 so a bit more room will give him space to ramp up his speed to the backside too.
Great job!
Tracy
Good morning!
>Vibe officially hit adolescence yesterday.
I’ve warned my wife and the other dogs that shit’s about to get real up in this joint.>Ha! What behavior officially announced the arrival of adolescence? He looks like he has had another growth spurt: more legs! I see in the video a treat refusal (and lots of good tugging!) Was it only that one time – did you ask him to eat a treat later, or decide not to open that can o’ worms?
The tunnel session went really well- he was able to find that turn back to the tunnel really consistently. Yay!
And he barked at you when you had a little too much countermotion at 1:58 by being too far past the tunnel for him to be sure it was the correct thing as he turned away. When you revisited that concept, you were not as far past the tunnel entry and he found it really well.
The next steps for this are to see if you can fade out the ‘here’ (I think ‘chute’ is the threadle cue in this scenario) and the hand movements to turn him away. He was starting to turn himself away by the end so I think that will be an easy transition for him.
The reps of the threadle wraps at the end went well! It was good to do a couple then leave the rest for another time 🙂
Great job!
Tracy
Hi!
Swing is a good option but might be too similar to in in, during the heat of the moment. Other considerations can be: close close, flip, me me me, dig dig dig. Let me know what you think!
T
Good morning!
Congrats on a great weekend and new title!!
>Would you do a private lesson on running dogwalk criteria? If so, I’d love to sign up for one!>
Sure! You can use the link here:
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScDxgW08hhu0HXCSIVVkiQsNxW1VY0kzXUMYZ1cuscDePr1kQ/viewform?usp=dialog>I also have a question for you about tunnel threadles when the dog can only see one tunnel entrance. That came up with weekend a few times.>
Send me the maps – Facebook messenger or email is great (agilityuniversity@gmail.com). We can figure it out!
Looking at the video:
Your timing to start the blinds was spot on each time except for one rep where you were early (:41). On that rep, you did a spin which was the quick FC to BC move so when she exited the wing, she already saw the new side and thought you wanted the backside line. The other reps showed her the line to the jump before adding the blind.
She had one question about the exit of the blind:
Compare the exit line connection at :31 (where she didn’t read the blind) and :58 )where she totally read it). At :31, you had the arm across the body but not really looking back at her, so your dog-side shoulder was a bit closed. At :58 you were totally looking back at her and she had no questions.
>I think we could use more work on the send commitment. Should I throw the lotus ball out to the wing to reward that?>Actually, her commitment was good! I think there were 2 things happening that caused little questions:
– You were a little close to the start wing which ended up getting you tucked into the jump, so you had to pull away from it to avoid hitting the wing. That was part of what created a little zig zag to the next wing.
– On the sends, be sure to look directly at her as you send rather than look forward ahead of her or point forward. Looking forward turns the line of your shoulders which might not cue a smooth line to the wing.Great job here!
Tracy
Good morning!
The double blinds went really well!! Wow! On the first rep, the 2nd blind was late but then you locked it in: your timing on the other reps was really strong! It almost looked easy and I know these are not easy 🙂 Super job getting the connection on both blinds so she knew where to go.
The FCs on the 2nd video were harder because FC rotation is harder to finish than the blinds. So you needed to start (and finish) the FCs before she got to the first wing, to make the blind easier to show the next line. You were getting her to the correct side after the blind but not to the last wing: so you can also do the FC more laterally away from the first wing, giving you good position to show the next wing after the blind.
The bang game: I think she was not sure what she was supposed to look at – the target or the cookie hand 🙂 Instead of having her walk up then turn around, you can hop her on from the side and step into target position, without your cookie hand leading her. When she gets into the target position, the cookie can then go on the target. You can start this on a regular plank to take out the complexity of the moving board so she can focus on the position and not have to think about the board movement yet.
She did well finding the serp line to the tunnel! You can definitely add more movement on the first sequence, where you are moving up the line through the serp. She did really well on the 2nd rep too! You can start to angle the jumps bit by bit into the ‘flatter’ serp line too.
Great job!
Tracy
Good morning!
These are going really well! I was trying to find a ‘favorite rep’ but all the successful reps were really strong! You were able to get ahead, move fast, and maintain the connection so he knew where to go.>Skizzle went between the jumps once – where I stepped into his line. >
Yes – he pays attention to all the subtle details 🙂
>And he went beyond the 2nd jump once – not sure what I may have done to cause that one>
This was also a subtle detail:
At :50 as he was taking the first jump, you turned forward and looked forward which was a bit of a disconnect (even though your arm was back, your shoulders turned forward). And that subtle shoulder turn forward indicated the line past the wing so that is where he went, good dog 🙂
Overall a really terrific session!!!
Tracy
Good morning!
>I don’t have a tall cone – gotta get one! >
Every time I drive through a construction zone on the highway I just want to grab a cone 😂
The x-pen was a good idea!
I think at first she didn’t recognize it as something to wrap. But when she figured it out and your hands were clearer, she got it well! You can fade out the foot step towards it – try to just use hand cues. That way you can begin adding movement forward and keeping your feet forward. A little bit of decel next to the x-pen will help too, so she can lock onto the hand cues.
For the hands – if it felt weird, you might have been using the outside arm too much. You can try using both hands nice and low, turning her head away and letting her do the rest. If you turn her head away, I think she will finish the wrap without needing bigger arm cues.
Nice job here!
Tracy
