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For the leash, you can have it on him and hold it as you walk away, to simulate walking into the trial ring with the cookies/toy left outside the ring. It adds a different component for most dogs so I like to get them used to it as youngsters 🙂
Tracy
Good morning!
It didn’t really hurt but I was mad at myself for being careless by leaving the door open LOLKeep me posted on how she is feeling!
Tracy
Hi!
>. I didn’t have the camera at the best angle either, sorry about that.>
No apologies needed, the camera angle worked great!! The session went really well.
The reps of the brake arm for the wrap went really well. She turned nice and tight!
When you were right at the wing, she committed really well wioth you rotated and your outside arm up – those turns were REALLY tight! Later in the video, you added more movement into it and that was great – it gave you the chance to decelerate and show her the arm cue. The reps at 1:12 – 1:24 were really good with you moving forward and then decelerating to show her the arm, then rotating. Those were pretty realistic to how it would be on a course and it worked really well. The other reps were strong but you might not always be ahead of her to be rotated at the wing, so it was great to practice with movement into the cue.She only had one questions about where to be: When you were facing the jump and then swung the opposite arm across at 1:08- that also caused your left leg to step out so the arm and leg together pushed across the bar, which looked like a rear cross cue (which is why she turned right not left)
When you sent her back through at 1:13. the arm cue was to the left turn wing and the leg planted in position rather than stepped towards the jump, so she got the left turn there really well. Super!
> I couldn’t really wrap my brain around the exit line. It looked easy when you did it but then when I tried, I felt super awkward so I’m sure I was doing something wrong.>
The first exit line arm reps looked gorgeous! She knew exactly where to be! Loking at the reps at :27, :37. :43 your exit line arm was clear and your dog-side shoulder was back towards her.
When you revisited the exit line arm later in the video, the exit line arm was still good but not as tight as the earlier reps because your dog-side arm was not back enough – I think you were trying to show her the line with it but it ended up blocking her view of the exit line arm (like at 1:42, 1:46) So you can keep the dog side arm out of the way and let the exit line arm do all the work.
Great job here. She is ready for the sequences!
Tracy
Hi! I am glad the weather is cooperating and you & Luna could jump in 🙂 Luna is really fun and I am glad she is yours!
The evil arm wraps went really well!
>I think I’m seeing a difference? With the opposite arm, she seems to commit earlier and give me a tighter/clearer wrap. Without it, it feels a bit flatter and maybe slightly wider.>
Yes, I see it too. The opposite arm is a strong collection cue so she is turning better. Without it, she is jumping straight and landing wider.
I grabbed some screenshots of it! On the evil arm reps, you can see she is collecting before takeoff and landing on a nice tight line, ready to finish the turn. On the non-evil-arm reps, she was taking off straighter, landing wider and doing most of the turning after she landed. It is a bit subtle because she did a good job but it is definitely there.
You can see that here:
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1kfd2upL0lclvAnFGZA1CTdAnM6_oW3kFImubEIWE_WI/edit?usp=sharingShe was getting a little tired by the end and trotting more than running, so you can mix in more go reps to give turn muscles a break, and also work the games with lower bars,
Adding the exit line arm will also tighten the line after the wrap – those are 2 evil arm uses that work really well together 🙂
>One other question I had is I’ve been cueing from a bit of a distance because I don’t really want to go all the way in to the jump. Is that okay?>
Yes – you can cue it from anywhere and we definitely don’t want to rely on always having to get ot the jump. When you get to the sequences, you will see that you can start timing the cues for when she is exiting the tunnel before the wrap jump. Wherever you are when she exits the tunnel, you would start the decel and bring the evil arm 🙂 into play to help commit her to the jump. The only thing to be careful of that is that you don’t rotate too early because that might pull her off the jump.
Great job!
Tracy
>but she doesn’t think he’s quite finished growing!! yikes>
Wait, what? I am glad he is feeling great but also, how old is he? He can be done growing LOL!!!!! He is already perfect 🙂
Tracy
Hi!
I agree – this was really excellent!!
Great job maintaining criteria here on the mat! You were really good about marking that last back foot, and really good about NOT rewarding when he missed and only hit with 3 feet 🙂 Super!
So the next session of this can have even more tugging so he is in higher arousal. That will challenge him: can you be precise with your feet while you are feeling wild? That will be very useful for his agility future 🙂
Great job here!!
Tracy
Hi!
> I typed up a whole thing about the week I’ve had – the week was suboptimal.>
Oh no!!! I am sorry to hear that!!! But at least you got to vent it out!
> But I lost what I typed>
Darned internet!!!!
> Which was yesterday’s attempt at ssc. I was away on the weekend and we did some ssc at all the places I went and he did great in unfamiliar places, I even added a neutral distraction (shoe) while I was camping on Sunday night.>
Yay! Good boy!!
> I thought maybe I could up the distraction in the familiar location of the backyard (narrator voice; she could not in fact up the distraction level). I cut out a bit where I go to try and find a neutral distraction.>
I think he was ignoring the toy on the ground until you said YES and tug at :53, so he went for the one on the ground. Ok, that is legit, he thought it was for him to grab it 🙂 The tug verbal might have been too general meaning any of his toys were available.
He did investigate the plastic lid you put down at 1:35, but I think that was because it looks a lot like one of the target/prop games. Then he was very good about ignoring it. It was pretty neutral!
What you can do is bring a chair out into the area before he comes out. Then put a bag of treats or a toy onto the chair… then bring him out to add more distraction. Having it on the chair makes it a little easier, because toy on the ground was very hard 🙂 And I love that he enjoys tugging, so putting the toy up on a chair can help him understand that not all toys should be grabbed 🙂 And by having it already out there when he comes into the session, he won’t see you put it down. When you interact with it, it enhances it and draws his attention to it, making it harder to ignore.
Great job here!
Tracy
Hi!
Here is a video of the dog working on the raised platform.
I didn’t do a great job of securing the mat here so switched to duct tape for later sessions. It is a yoga mat on a sheet, over an aerobics step. Wearing pajamas is optional but very comfortable LOL!!
T
Hi! Great job working through the rear cross game.
He is very quick, so when he lifted his head from eating you were still on the original side – so he turned back towards you like a front cross.Then you made 2 excellent adjustments from :29 to the end:
– you threw the treat a little further from you, so he was moving straighter to get it
– you got past his shoulder really fast so when he lifted his head from eating, you were visible on the new side.
These adjustments got the rear crosses! Super!!!!
>why did you use a raised mat for when you were sitting with the running contact- is it to make it easier for you to se the feet or is it for the dog or both.>
Both! Partially so I could see it more easily. Those little feet move FAST! And partially so the dogs were making a more deliberate effort at foot placement because they really had to lift their feet.
Nice work here!
Tracy
Hi!
I love the St. Patrick’s Day theme on the video!!! The photo of her as a puppy in the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow – SO CUTE!
And we got exactly none of the crazy weather, thankfully!>This week’s exercises are tough so far..for me! A lot of trying to remember which way to cross and which hand to use. >
The handling is always harder for us humans 🙂 If we get it right, the dog gets it right. You did really well!!!
The Front Cross to Blind Cross on the barrel looked great! She was a tugging beast 🙂 It might feel easier if you send to the barrel from further away so you have more time to get the FC to BC in. She was moving really fast! And since her barrel commitment is looking strong you can probgably start the FC sooner (just before she arrives at hte barrel) which will make the blinds easier.
She tends to mentally wander a bit when the training is only about cookies – the toy definitely keeps her engaged more! She went and grabbed the toy at around 2:15, I think that was her way of saying you should use the toy LOL! The food is good but you can mix in the toy even if it is not every single rep.
> I used cookies to start so I could have them in both hands; trying to switch the toy around and remember which way to turn was too much for this round>
I agree that it is a giant pain to have to deal with the toy in your hand at these early stages. What you can do it shove it in a pocket (it stick it down the back of my pants LOL) and then take it out as the reward at the end of the rep. The rewards don’t have to be super precise here, so having it tucked away until you need it can help your hands be free and also help her remain more engaged.
In general, she is reading the commitment and connection really well! Your connection between the barrels after the FC to send her to the next barrel was spot on for every rep except one – you were direct with your eye contact (hallmark moment!) so she knew exactly where to go. YAY! And on the one rep where she didn’t get the side change, you knew that the connection was not as clear and you rewarded her. Perfect!
She only had commitment questions in one spot:
On the sends like at 2:40 when she was not really going to the barrel – you can get better commitment with a lower hand send so she can see your eyes more at the start of the send. When you were beginning the send with your dog-side arm getting higher (up at your shoulder), it actually turned your shoulders away from the barrel a bit and blocked her view of your eyes so that is why she pulled off of it. On the other reps, you had your arm nice and low plus the eye contact was clear, so she committed really well.Stays
These are going well! A couple of ideas for you to get even more duration:
– after she sits, you can walk away in the direction her feet are pointing, so she is not tempted to turn to follow you (and move her feet to do so).– Yes, the goal is to release before she breaks but I think we can get more duration by putting the reward in your other hand. She was locked onto the magic cookie hand, wanting to move when it moved 🙂 So you can have the hand next to her be empty like you did at 6:57 then toss from the other hand. That way she doesn’t watch the cookie as much and will be able to hold position longer. It might sound like a small tweak but I think most of her movement here was because she was following the cookie hand that was above her eyes (STARVING, obviously LOL )
Great job here!!
Tracy
He was so expressive on the remote reinforcement session here too – he is so cute! He was like “ok. this seems easy too, why is it so easy?” LOL!! Good boy! He certainly liked the ‘let’s go’ followed by heading to the bowl. Since he found it super easy, you can add in some tricks or simple behaviors after he moves away. You can also use the toy as the reward. And, one more thing to add in: his leash! I use the leash a lot in these early sessions because it helps for when we need to have the dogs on leash at trials.
Great job here!!! All of his games are looking terrific!
Tracy
Threadle wrap foundation:
His face was so cute here, almost like he was surprised at how easy it was to turn in a circle away from you. Almost like he was asking: “Is that all there is to it?” Getting him locked onto your hand before turning him away worked the best: :18 1:19 and 1:27 were great examples where he turned left, and also :26 and 1:55 were great examples where he turned to his right. There were lots of good reps like those, where he was just about all the way to your hand, then you turned him away. Super!When he had questions about where to turn too, it was because the hand was moving a bit too soon, before he got locked onto it and got close to it. You can see that at 1:02, 1:33, 1:47 for example.
You can refresh this in the next session then add the barrel to turn away to! Let me know how it goes. Nice work!
Tracy
Adding the Manners Minder: Mojo gets a gold star to immediately hit the target hand even with the Manners Minder right there. YAY!! Good boy! The MM was keeping things spicy by malfunctioning but I think he got extra treats so he was happy with that.
The MM is on the correct line tight to the jump and now you can move it over, so it is outside the line of the wing – maybe 3 or 4 feet past the wing. That way you can be positioned closer to where the MM was, and he can come in and out – and as he exits the hand touch, he has a couple of strides before arriving at the MM.
Speaking of the hand touch – we are also at the stage where you can start fading out the actual touch and we will see him do a bit more of a drive by on the hand. That is what happened on the last rep, and that is GREAT because as we get him serping on jumps, we want the in-then-out but we don’t want him to actually touch your hand anymore.
Remember to stay nice and close to the jump (close enough to reach out and touch it with a relaxed arm). If you get too far from it, he will not turn as well over the bump 🙂
Great job!
Tracy
The out game went really well too – he was lovely about responding to the ‘out’ versus the ‘right here’. For the next session, I bet you don’t even need the right here – you can run forward and either say his name once or say nothing, to challenge him to read the motion on the line.
He only had one question, at 1:14 when he went past the prop. On that rep, the cue was a little late: he was already ahead of you, committing to going past the prop. But when you were earlier with the cues on the previous reps and on the next one at 1:31, he got the ‘out’ brilliantly! Super!
You can keep adding speed to this one 🙂 with you running more and see how well he can respond. Nice work!
Tracy
