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Good morning!
Turn and burn is going well. The right turns from your left side are very easy for her at this point – so as you do your FC, you can walk away til she has come all the way around the barrel… then mark and run. That will help her slide around the barrel and not push it.
On the left turns/starting on your right, do a short session or two where you put the bowl out on the exit line as a visual target, and reward with food. The left turns are hard for her, and the toy is a big exciting visual in your other hand. So we can help her sort out the mechanics of the right turn with the bowl and food – then let it percolate for a day or two before going back to the toys. The next step would be to add the toy back but still have a bowl on the exit line as a visual aid for the left turns/right side sends.
>>Do you think she’ll get better with more practice >>
Not more practice, necessarily – slightly different practice will help (the bowl as a the visual aid and food rewards for a session or two) then less practice! That will allow latent learning to kick in and she will have it 🙂 Whippets in particular tend to need us to show them once or twice, then practice less because they are really magical in terms of latent learning.
Parallel path is going great! Note how she is looking at the prop SO well. LOL! Love it!! You can definitely add in more rear crosses as well as the lap turn/turn away games.
Great job!!! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning!
Ooh, this is a nice barn!!
It is fun to see how well the skills transfer – pretty super in a new place!!
The parallel path on the prop went well – she had an easier time in your left and a harder time on your right, You adjusted midsession and got closer to the prop when she was on your right (click/treat for you). Because being on your right was harder, being super close to the prop ws the way to go
Lap turns were lovely – she followed the hand pat the prop, turned beautifully, then found the prop on the way back. This will serve you well with your fourth threadles!
Turning her to her right (your left arm & leg) was a little harder for you both, so keep moving slowly. And when you step back, try to step straight back with your leg and not to the side – stepping to the side makes it look like you want her to go out there but getting her to slide straight back will help the lap turn.
After the lap turns, you did some patterns (looking good!) then back to lap turns – remember to have your magic cookie hand fully extended down to her nose and in position before she turns back to you, so she can see it. In some cases the hand cue got lost, visually, with the prop right there and because the hand is a small visual when held high and against your coat.
For example, at 2:40, she lifts her head from the cookie and your hand is a little hidden, visually – it was close to you and the prop was far more obvious so she went to the prop. The hand was more visible on the next reps but you can extend it even more and add in calling her name too 🙂
You dded the tandem turns later in the video – it was most effective when your hands were as low as possible and moving slowly, so she could coordinate the turn away. Yay! The lap turn and tandem turn never really need to have fast hand movement, so low hands and slow movement will help lock her onto the turn.
Countermotion looks great! The ready dance is coming along nicely too – you are getting engagement without overarousal. Remember that the ready dance is part of the cue, so you will get a smoother transition into the send than if you try to send her as she is on the way back to you. You can see the difference between the ready dance reps (snappy sends!!) and when you didn’t do it like at 3:44, when she was not sure if she should go or not.
You added some fun handling to this – yay!! Just be sure not to accidentally put pressure on her line as you do the FC – when you did the FC and move away on a straight line, she correctly turns toward you. When you did the FC and moved towards her, she (correctly :)) did a rear cross like at 3:35. We don’t want her mixing rear crosses into the FCs, so staying a little further from the line will keep those distinct.
4:20 was the start of the leg biting moment – I think 2 things were in play here: the cue to move to the prop was a little unclear (I was not sure what you wanted her to do) and if the video was edited in the order you did things… she had already done a LOT of stuff. So the math of it is mental depletion + an unclear cue = overarousal for a moment.
Part of the mental depletion is that being in the new environment burns a lot more energy in the brain than we give it credit for! So even though she did SUPER well, she is going to get mentally tired more quickly.
It is like shopping on Black Friday. I can shop at home from my computer and that takes relatively small amounts of brain energy. Or I can shop at the actual store in person – I can still spend my money effectively 🙂 but I will be a lot more tired in the store than I would be at home.
I don’t think you were being too much here and you are actually pretty quick and calm! It is more likely to be the other factors.
You create a ‘bell curve’ in your training sessions on the road: taking a break between sessions like you probably were doing here, you can start with a few easy reps of something, then do the harder stuff, then end the rental time with really easy stuff that requires less mental energy.
And, after each short session especially ones that have tugging, end the session with the resilience pattern game – that helps reset her arousal level over the long term and also in the moment. That way it is in place the whole time, rather than just when she has an arousal question.
Great job! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning!
>>I did have to control the toy with her leash as the field at dds is too much space for her little brain,>>
This was a really nice subtle way of helping her out and building value for the toy play you wanted: the leash made it a big long toy and you casually stepped on it (nice footwork there LOL!) so I don’t think she ever felt like it was being controlled.. it was more like interactive play where she still had a lot of choice of what to do. SUPER!! Terrific mechanics of play!
Her commitment to the barrel even with toy behind you was fantastic. Good girl!
For the handling: most of your handling moves here were post turns, where she started on one side of you and you turned with her, so she stayed on that side of you. Great!
At 1:19 (last rep) you did a blind cross on the barrel, where she started on your right, you turned away from her and put her on your left side, then reconnected. Gorgeous! You will need blinds with a dog this fast 🙂
So the only thing to add is is a front cross – it starts the same as a post turn, where she is in your right for example – then as she goes around the barrel, you will turn toward her (eyes on her the whole time) and put her on your left side, then drive forward to the toy.
Great job!!! She is ready for the advanced level!!
Tracy
Good morning! Lots of good work here!
Strike a pose lots good! One tweak in your position is to try to point your feet to the cookie hand and not to the target hand (on a serp, you would be moving away from the target hand, so the feet would be pointing to the next obstacle)
Retrieving looks great, she has lovely tug drive 🙂 And I am glad she is not biting you to get the toy LOL!! You can use this retrieving skill when you play with the tunnels, but throwing the reward so she drives out straight.
Sit offering : this was a good mental challenge for her!
>>I did not like the rate of reinforcement but also knew she would offer.>>>
The rate was a little low at first but then it kicked into higher gear later in the session. See below for a suggestion to get it going faster. And yes, you can try a lineup at your side (because that is super useful!) but it is great to let her think through the puzzle. Part of thinking through it is the resilience-building opportunity of “this is hard, can you think through it and bounce back” which she totally did 🙂 And resist temptation to click the tail-chasing LOL!!
Yes, she defaults to the stand at first and offered some downs, and then was offering other stuff but she did end up getting a LOT of sits clicked!!! I was going to give you a list of ideas but she is well on her way with the sit. You got lots of clicks and rewards in for it, especially after the tug break. She has quick feet so moving into a sit position requires her to quiet her feet down and be stationary… so hard!
One thing you can add is a small platform for her to sit on, so you can isolate the sit from the down. Use something big enough for her to sit on, but small enough that the down position is not going to fit on it. That can help her offer the sit and hold it (rather than going to the down right away, because the down seems to have more value).
Down is a great start line position and as you mentioned, she seems comfy holding it – so you can train the stay with this game in a down as well, but we do want to have the sit in her toolbox too. If you want the down, you can use a cue for it if you have a cue (a verbal cue or hand cue). And the little platform will help with the sit, then you will be able to put them on cue as well.
The rear crosses are going well!! Warming up with the parallel path helped and she was able to drive ahead- which bought you time to do the cross behind her, which created the turn the correct direction. Super!! She was not always sure of when to start moving forward, now that you are pretty far away, so you can give her a little ‘ready ready’ moment then start moving forward. That clear to her when you did that.
The barrel wrapping look fantastic! That is some pretty awesome commitment!!! She is turning nice and tight, and SO FAST! Love it! You can add your wrap verbals, and also start to leave sooner and sooner. Separately from turn and burn, take a look at the handling combos posted on Tuesday – they involve the barrel and also the blinds and decels and pivots… it will feel like running mini courses 🙂
Tunnel shaping went super well too! She offered beautifully and now things can get super fun! You can keep doing little sessions like this, gradually extending the length of the tunnel.
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning! Glad to see you back!
Great job with your videographer also timing your sessions. It keeps things short, fast and fun especially when you have multiple games on the agenda. Really smart training!
First video was toy races: terrific! He was focusing ahead brilliantly and outrunning you to the toy. At the end, he wanted to do a bit of a victory lap. So instead of running toward him after he gets to the toy, try running away and encouraging him to chase you 🙂
This second video was the high arousal sit-say training. He did really well! That toy is VERY exciting so when you lifted it in the air, he was watching it and really had to think to get the sit. You can try having the toy a little more in front of you (not as high) and maybe a smaller toy so it is easier to squish into your hands.
He struggled on the first rep and I think it was mainly because there was a conversation going on pretty loudly – that is distracting for a baby dog so while he didn’t leave you (yay!) he couldn’t quite remember the sit. Then when the conversation quieted a little, he got the sit. Good boy!!
You were super patient which also really helped. Click/treat for you. You can keep working the stays like this, gradually adding a little duration mixed in with quick releases.
The last video is the bowl game – note how well he ignored the distraction of people moving around behind you, and probably dogs back there too. GOOD BOY!!
He did a great job going around the cone – at about 45 seconds into the session, he lost his train of thought and wandered away, so you can do a tug break at about 30 seconds to keep things spicy. There is not a ton of movement or action in this game, so I think he just mentally wandered. If you do 20 or 30 seconds, then tugging, then 20 or 30 seconds, then tugging, I bet he will not lost his train of thought 🙂
For the next session, you can start in a chair so you are getting further off the ground. Then, if he is happy with that, after the first tug break you can be standing as he does this.
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning!
Turn and burn looked great – he definitely had the idea of wrapping and he loved this toy, so the hardest part was getting him to wait til you were ready LOL! When you used a cookie to line him up at 1:06 he had a moment of patience which helped. You can line him up with a cookie, gently hold his collar, then send when you are ready. That can give you a moment to get the toy ready and also to add the wrap verbal!
>>I kept thinking I was leaving early during the first two sessions, but then on video I saw that I really wasn’t.>>
You can use the leash you had on the ground as a target for yourself to be able to leave sooner – keep moving the leash position closer and closer to the entry of the barrel, so you can see the exact moment to leave and it will get earlier and earlier.The collection sandwich is looking strong too!!
>>Sometimes I can’t tell if Mason is really switching sides. >>
He totally is changing side. It is hard to see when you are running, but really clear on the videos. Yay!
The only thing to add is to decelerate more after the blind, so the pivot is slower. You were quick to whip through the pivot, so his butt swung out wide (:07) where he was trying to collect, and on the 2nd rep, he lost connection to the side you wanted him on (and ended up doing a blind cross when connection broke). So decelerating and then doing the pivot more slowly while help him collect into the turn and then stay nice and tight to your leg.The “get it” to get him driving ahead after the pivot looked terrific! Yay!
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
>>I’m definitely starting to trust her more! And I ran her with my other dogs barking like idiots for a distraction.>>
You are running like you trust her more 🙂
>>The judge was Pamela Bryant-Meeks, she is from Texas and has judged for FIF before. I usually like her courses.>>
They were really nice courses!
>>Novice Jumpers 2: I was going to put a BC in there, but I’m still hesitant and I chicken out! 🙂>>
That is relatable! You can set it up and practice that sequence so you feel comfortable.
>>Contacts: When we train at home, I use the Manners Minder and she usually drives to the bottom; however, without that target, things aren’t quite as smooth.>>
The manners minder is a probably too big of an obvious target. At home, switch her to a smaller target like a plastic lid, then fade that out. You can do it with a travel plank – the goal is to rehearse the behavior and gradually fade out the target so it is the same as a trial.
>> Also, we work 2o2o in practice but I know in trials I get overly excited and sometimes do a quick release once she hits the yellow without verifying the 2o2o.>>
Keep reminding yourself to get htat 2o2o so you don’t confuse her and have to re-train it.
>>One question I forgot to ask: So, in trials, she is running up to me after the run to bite me now. Never even thinks about it during a run, just when she knows the run is over. Yesterday, in practice, if I didn’t get the toy out fast enough after a run, she was coming at me like she does in a trial. How do I work to stop that?>>
When they bite us, it is because they don’t understand the remote reinforcement fully and are aroused/frustrated. She might know how to do the agility part of it, but she doesn’t understand the end of run parts of it – so definitely train those games fully so she understands the full routines. You will find games for that in Packages 2, 3, and 4 🙂
Because she is biting you, I would go back to running NFC so you can work the end of run with the toy in the ring at first, then gradually move it back out of the ring. It is a good thing to work on now before the biting gets bigger. And you can use a snuffle mat outside the ring too, to help her decompress.
>>Do I not celebrate or praise her excitedly until after we calm down a bit and get out of the ring. >>
That is a band-aid and she might bite you anyway LOL! It is the training that matters here.
>>Interestingly, her littermate was there this weekend (they look/act EXACTLY alike), and Rogue’s owner said that in the last trial or so, she has transitioned from the biting at the end of the run to jumping up and biting him during the run whenever she gets frustrated. I don’t want to get to that point because Syn seems to run so clean and focused right now, even when I mishandle.>>
Yikes! I don’t think Syn will end up doing that as long as you play the various games like the end of run games, remote reinforcement, find my face, etc. Let me know how those games are going!
Tracy
Hi!
The collection sandwich is off to a great start! After you toss the start cookie, you can run away faster so then the decel is more obvious. After the decel, you can pivot more slowly – you were quick to pivot and he had a little trouble keeping his butt in tight 🙂
The advanced level is looking good too, with the go go go added in!I definitely think this one needs to go outside for all the reasons you mentioned: you will have room to run on the blinds then decel. He didn’t want to play tug here, probably because it was right over where the food was and that was too hard. It will be easier outside!
Turn and Burn is going well! Great job with the verbals!
One small tweak is to have your dog-side leg forward and not back, that will help support commitment. For example, at 1:17 you had your dog-side leg back and off to the side, so he was not sure about the wrap. No worries is that happens – you can call him back and reset him with a cookie (I don’t think he liked being pulled by his collar) then step forward to the wing to restart him.
When he is turning to his right, be sure to have a lot of patience to let him finish the wrap – that seems to be the harder side for him so you can’t be twitchy LOL!
This game should go outside too, to get more tugging as well. If he doesn’t want to tug in the training room, try throwing the toy to see if hat gets him engaged. Any toy play is good!
Great job here!
TracyHi!
>>It’s really interesting running him as I haven’t found that calm place within me yet.
Embrace the butterflies! The calm place takes a long time to develop, so when you are feeling the stress of running a powerful baby dog, channel it into remembering to breathe and connect 😀
Tracy
Good morning! Hope you had a good Thanksgiving!
Looking at the sequences – I think she found another new gear of speed! Wow!! And you were super connected and really driving her with the handling. Yay!
A couple of ideas for you:
Rather than rear cross jump 1, try sending her from your right side as a send/post turn. With the RC, she was jumping center of the bar, turning a little to her right and turning left after landing. The send without the RC will get a left turn the whole time. the RC would need to start on more of a slice and with you both further from the jump, so you can show the RC info sooner.
The BC on the exit of the tunnel is looking good. You can get it a little tighter if you handle 5-6 more laterally, sending to the tunnel from further away, to be at the BC 6-7 sooner and call her before she enters the tunnel so she is expecting a turn on the exit.
Remember connected and keep running til after she lands from the last jump – don’t decel because that is when bars come down (:48)
LOVED the blind on landing side of 7 at 1:16! You sent her to the 6 tunnel and hustled and got there really easily!! NICE!
Super nice blind 4-5 at 1:35, great timing! You can decel sooner at 1:37 so she collects sooner for 5: when you see her landing from 4, keep moving forward but start to decel and send her past you. That will get the turn before takeoff.
You can throw the reward sooner on the ending line so she drives ahead in extension, or leave a toy placed out on that line the whole time, so she can drive to it at the end.
For the wrap to the left on 5 at 2:09 – the decel and wrap verbal can start sooner here. You started as she was lifting off for 5 so she dropped the bar trying to turn. Ideally the cues would begin as she is landing from 4 – let her see the decel and hear the wrap verbal, then you can rotate as she is approaching the jump in collection.
Overall, she is looking great!
The FIF crew puts on a great ASCA trial! I am sorry to have missed it this year. I think she liked the lower key environment – Quicksilver has more room outside the ring in some ways, and also probably the smaller entry and lots of friends helped too. Her runs looked terrific!!!
Novice 1 – Lovely course! Who is the judge? Nice handling too! She seems to have broken her stay, possibly mistaking the reconnection for the release. So lead out with more connection to hep support the stay, And you can practice leading out without connection, re-connecting and NOT releasing but praising instead, then releasing.
Novice jumpers 2, also lovely 🙂 Nice clear release on the start line! This course was a little harder than round 1 because there was an off course tunnel in view on her opening line! She didn’t even look at it. Super! For the ending line, I think you should get in and do the blind cross on the line before the tunnel (to be further ahead to support the last jump), rather than rear cross the tunnel, which cues a turn on the tunnel exit and pulled her off the last jump.
Nice gamble! Really nice run! She heard voices behind her on te start line so turned to look, but then re-engaged and ran like a star.
For the teeter and frame, I think she is a little handler-dependent for the end position (meaning, she doesn’t drive to the bottom unless you are next to her). So you can practice that with a target so you can get more independent contacts.The handling looked really good in the regular run too – great connection and you were really driving her 🙂 YAY!
Looking at the contacts in Regular – yes, definitely be sure to define criteria. You got ahead of her on the a-frame so she leapt instead of stopped. You released from the DW as soon as she got feet into the yellow… so definitely clarify what you want her to do specifically (2o2o?) so that you can have easily maintained criteria for the long term.
Great job here! It looked like you had a ton of success in the trial ring!!!
Tracy
Lovely job with the blinds here! Excellent use of the hallway 🙂 She did really well finding the new side thanks for excellent connection and reward placement when you changed sides. And, another big happy dance for her being able to go from food to the toy then back to food. Super1
The second video started with her driving to you without blinds (as far as I could see LOL!) which is a great balance for doing the blinds on the other video – we don’t want her assuming it is all blinds and then switching sides without being cued.
When you have more room (outdoors would be perfect if the weather isn’t too bad!) you can add more running to see if she can still read the blinds when there is more speed. And you can add the collection sandwich, which is the blind followed by deceleration then a pivot turn.
Great job here!!
Tracy
Yes, he probably feels some overarousal/frustration when access to reinforcement is ending/end of session, so a pattern game on the way out of the session can help with that. Start with a fast pattern, rapid cookies, then slow it down… then end with a snuffle mat or treat scatter in a different room. You can also train in different locations – if the bulk of training sessions are all in one room, there is automatic arousal shifting because of the associations of entering the room and leaving the room.
T
Good morning! This is going well!
She had a little trouble seeing the bowls at first, when you were sitting on the floor – they were a little hidden behind you.When you kneeled after the cookie re-load here, I think she had a much easier time finding the bowls. That is when things really got rolling! Rather than step ahead of the bowls (which makes it more like wrapping you and she sometimes ends up behind you :)) you can add in an upright for her to go around – and that upright is what will get further and further from the bowls. Super!! She is ready for the next steps of adding a skinny upright (like the upright from a wingless jump) then something bigger like a barrel or big cone,
Great job!!
TracyGood morning!
This is looking great! She is tugging beautifully, nice transitions from tugging to cookies to lining up , and she is wrapping really well in both directions. When you are giving you ‘chase’ marker, she is driving to the toy and smacking the box. So, do everything the same as you move away, but delay the chase marker and the toy presentation so she finishes the wrap without smacking the box 🙂
She started to get a little tired after about 1 minute (I think this has edits, so it is probably longer than a minute into the session) and was offering right turns only, and was not as engaged. Since she is only about 20 weeks old if I am remembering correctly, I think she gets depleted (brain tired :)) because this is a high energy, hard mechanics game for the pups! So set a timer for 1 minute total, or two reps on each side, so you can be finished before she gets brain tired 🙂
Great job here!
Tracy
