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Hi!
>>. I am also finding that I can hold regular connection longer on an actual course.That is great! And it is the goal: hold it on the actual courses.
>>I know it should be ALL of the time but its not as easy to execute when you have all of the emotions in the way as well.
This is true! And that is also why we work disconnection skills, so the dogs can help us out if we disconnect 🙂
Looking at the videos:
Wow, she read the get out without needing the opposite arm – just on connection and verbal! You were great about staying on your side of the line – the first video had a tiny bit of motion to the out jump. The 2nd video was even better – you didn’t use even the slightest motion pressure to the get out jump, she went entirely on her based no the verbal and connection. YAY!!Your regular connection wasstrong too! It is very exciting to see how well she read it 🙂 You can put it into the longer sequences now too!
Great job 🙂
TracyHi!
>.So your recommend is that I use the off arm, correct?
Whichever is easier to make the big connection. It doesn’t have to be the outside arm, as long a she can very clearly see the connection. Handler’s choice! (And the dog gets input too LOL!)
>> What a good dog – Glad I reward her for everything. >>
YES! That is why I reward my dogs unless I am 10,000% sure that it was *their* error (which is soooo rare LOL!)
>>And my connection when I got the fancy backside 😂 was non-existent. And yet, she tries ❤️.>>
She is being well-paid to make the effort!
>>So I shouldn’t expect her to look at me when I do strong connection – just the jump ahead, correct?>>
For that extreme connection to her eyes to get a tighter wrap: if it is appropriate for her (meaning she needs it to get the good turn), she will not look at you and she will just take the jump. If it is too much or not needed, she will look at you and stop LOL!
Keep me posted!
TracyHi! These two videos are the same, let me know if there is supposed to be a different one.
Super good job getting him to the backside on this one too! He is ready for you to add more distance on this side too – don’t go past the center of the bar on the backside and use the big connection as you say push to him (tie your hair back so he can see your face:) )
Great job on these!!
TracyHi!
Go reps on the first video looked good! You can throw the toy sooner so he doesn’t look back at all. He found is line really easily and with a ton of speed!Nice job on the push in the second video! You can try adding more distance and see if he will go even further to the backside. To get more distance – You can ramp up the connection even more and look at his more directly (and use a little less arm to send, so the arm send doesn’t turn you too forward).
Nice work!
TracyHi! These are going well!
You can be a little more patient on the circle wraps at the end of each sequence – at :24 and :39 you were rushing a little, so remember to look back at him to support commitment (and don’t say yes as that sounds like a reward marker and pulls him off his line 🙂 It is a fine balancing act because you don’t want to rush, and you don’t want to over-help (:50). I think the ‘just right’ rep was at 2:15 – super nice!!!!Looking at the wing wraps – when he is on your right and you are heading to the wing furthest from the camera, yo uare at your best with the transition into decel and rotation. When he is in your left (heading towards the camera), you are more llikely to slam on the brakes which leaves your dog-side leg back (:34) so remember to decel then rotate 🙂
>> I can’t quite figure out why he wasn’t wanting to take the tunnel when I started him on my right side. >>
I think it was a slight side preference issue for him (being on your right is a little harder) and also – when you were cuing the tunnel on that side, he was struggling to get in when you were running fast and past the tunnel entry (1:06, 1:11, 1:57). When you were not past the entry and more connected, he got it really well (1:44,for example). So, take your time and take off on him 🙂
>> I watch handlers like Casey, whose dogs are super fast, and she is barely running! She always has her eye on her dogs and watches for commitment before moving along. This is my new goal,>>
It is a great goal! What is happening there is a conversation between dog and handler: handler cues the dog and maintains the cue until she sess the dog say “I see it!” but looking onto the correct line obstacle. Then the handler can proceed to the next cue. So using the tunnel entry as an example: be moving but not too fast for now (because he is a puppy) – and don’t explode away until you see him really locked onto the tunnel entry. Then reward it lots – it is a hard skill!
Great job here!
TracyHi!
>>I wanted something that had been relatively easy for her after the excitement of the MAC UKI trial.>>
That is smart – even though she didn’t do ‘a lot’, just being in the environment is challenging for a pupster!
>> She got to run around in the backyard with Kaladin over lunch and then she was gung ho to play with toys after dinner so we used a fur tug for this session in the basement.>>
Fun! I need to scroll back to see if she is more interested in toy play after eating?
>>Unfortunately I didn’t hit record (I think my finger missed as I went by) so you didn’t get to see her first 4 reps (2 each direction with an easier time going to the left). So here’s take two.>>
Also relatable – I just had two fantastic sessions that didn’t get recorded: one because the memory was full, one because I forgot to hit record. That all guarantees a great session LOL!
This session looked good too – she was definitely into the fur toy! The left turn side looked awesome! She was a little hesitant on the right turn side but I think it was because you were really quick to turn away when you started her so she was like “what are you doing, HOOMAN”. You can be more stationary on these, let her do all the work LL!!!
Great job!!!
TracyHi! Nice work on these games!
He did well with the beginning of the backside wraps! He is turning To help with commitment, you can add in looking at him on the sends and not at the jump wing 🙂
If you are looking at he wing, he will look at you. If you are looking at him, he will look more at the wing (strange but true LOL!)For example, you were looking at him more at 1:16 and 1:30 and he was very smooth going to the wing!
You can start adding the advanced level of handler motion to this: as he is heading to the wing, you are moving forward behind him (like a backside circle wrap). Move very slowly because the countermotion is hard and you might find it easier to use the barrel than to use the upright
One thing to add here too (and on the backside push session) is to work in more sit rewards on your right side – he is great on your left and when you face him… but a little confused about lining up on your right. You probably have not rewarded enough on your right, so a few sessions will fix that 🙂
Good job on the backsides slices! As with the wraps – you can look at him on the push cue (say it to him and not to the barrel) and be moving ahead of him before the release – just mix in lots of reinforcement for NOT moving when you move because because we don’t want him leaving the stay on motion. For you hand position, you can leave your hand pointing to his nose more rater than pointing ahead – pointing ahead turns your shoulder to the front of the bar so you want to be sure your shoulders are open o the backside line.
You can start adding more and more independence by changing your line of motion to the center of the bar rather than to where the bar and barrel meet.
>>Question: I see that you are starting a MAXPup2 in March. Do you think Teagan is doing well enough in MAXPup to move on?
Absolutely! It builds on where we left off here 🙂
>>Second question, I also saw there is a MAXPup3 coming up. Will there be another MAXPup3?>>
Yes – your group will get their MaxPup 3 closer to the summer, which is easier because of the good weather 🙂
Great job here!
TracyHi! I am glad you are having a weird winter and can get him doing the games outside! He is doign well!!!
>>Turn & burn – I put a leash down and I think these were a little better? We just need more reps I think, he’s chasing the toy well, I just need more independence going around the barrel.>>
Yes, this is going well! You can get a bit more independence by holding him by the collar and letting him get a little pumped up, then letting go of hte collar – that is a cue to start moving so he can drive ot the barrel. You can also step towards it with the dog side leg. As you start doing the FC sooner and sooner, he will push the barrel less because he will be driving around it more to follow your line.
Reverse retrieves are going well too: One suggestion is to hold his collar, drop the toy, let him focus forward on it… then reelase him to it as you run the other way. That will help him have a clearer understandng of driving to it as you run away. If you drop and run all in one motion, it will not be as clear.
>> He doesn’t always bring it to my hand, but he brings it very close to me and doesn’t dodge away.>>
He is bringing it pretty close on some of the reps! Be sure to do nice long tugging when he brings it close enough to pick up, and also let him have it back a lot. Be sure to not take it away too quickly or he will stop bringing it near you 🙂
Strike a pose is looking really good! You don’t need a target verbal (just presenting the target and loking at it is fine, espcially snice we will be getting a jump and movement involved soon :)) You can use a reward marker verbal (I htink you were saying ‘floor’ on the last couple of reps) but be sure that you say it before you say “yes” so it is clear what the marker is.
He is ready for the next step which would be a toy in your hand (great way to get rid of leapiness :)) and then a reward target on the ground (out where you were tossing the food rewrd here). That can be an empty food bowl to toss the treat to, or a Manners Minder (or any remote treat dispenser) or eventually a toy!
He did great with the new weirdo peanut barrel on the rocking horse game! I think the main thing for the rocking horses now is is to give him a cue to begin. It is not an offered behavior at this point any more, so when you cued it with a little footstep, he did MUCH better. You can also use a small hand send (like you did at the end). So you can get him engaged and then give an obvious leg step and hand cue (with connection, of course). You can start this on each barrel individually, then move them closer together so you can do 2 in a row with the FC in between.
I also think he is a righty (you saw this too) so make the left turn sends really obvious with leg/hand/connection so he won’t offer the easier “middle” behavior 🙂
Great job here!
TracyHi! I hope the weather is calming down – it sounds crazy!!!!
Backsides: Lots of good reps here!
>. We don’t have backsides to fluency and I usually do them differently so I could be confusing her. I don’t usually use my off arm.>
she did really well with the off arm! And it got you a LOT further ahead when you did that, because she pushed away a lot more easily. When you didn’t use the off arm, she either didn’t go to the backside (:41) or you had to hold position for too long to get her to the backside (:53) so you were a little in her way on the landing side.
The questions she had here were about committing to the jump on the backside when you were moving ahead of her like at :05 and :15. You were in fantastic position on those two reps, to get a tight wrap exit (you were on the takeoff side at the same time she was, perfect!) What she didn’t understand was to take the jump in that context. To help her out,you can shift your connection back to the landing spot as you run forward, then throw the reward back there nice and early 🙂
On the other reps (:22, :29, :36) she could still see you between the uprights on landing side as she got around the backside wing, so she committed more easily. It was the countermotion that was hard for her, but that is very trainable with the shifting connection and toy placement on the landing side of the jump as you move forward to the takeoff side.
Wrap connections:
Yes, on the first rep, you were not connected and trying to get to the jump, so she tried to figure it out and offered the fancy backside wrap move. Good girl!
2nd rep ended up as an accidental rear cross at :12. What happened was that you hit the brakes really hard and turned towards the RC line (you can see it in your feet on the video) and there was extra hand movement towards the jump… so she read it as a turn away/RC cue. On the video, you said something like “you’re not watching at all” but it is just the opposite: she was watching very closely and was correct 🙂MUCH better timing on the last 2 reps! You were more connected and started to decel as she was over jump 1, and you were facing the wrap wing you wanted. On the big connection to get collecion, you can turn and look directly at her there – you were facing the jump a bit so while she did collect, I bet you will get even more collection on the takeoff side if you rotate and look at her eyes more.
Great job here!
TracyGreat question:
>>. Couple questions, we NQ d a jumpers novice run because he skipped the middle pole , I honestly didn’t notice but wouldn’t have fixed it anyway ( judge said she was surpised I didn’t, I also didn’t fix his weaves during an FEO run and he got the same set up and weaved correctly in the jumpers run I posted above. So your advise would be to not fix weaves in a trial at this point?>>
You can add weave challenges in FEO with the toy: if he misses, you can keep moving but circle back to the jump or two before the weaves… then reward him for correctly doing the weaves.
It is a trickier question about fixing weaves in a regular non-FEO run. If you can happily call him out and keep moving and circle back around, he should be fine with it, if it only happens sometimes. If it is a recurring issue (I don’t think it is for him) then that is a different story and more training/less trialing would be useful. And yes, you can support the weaves a lot in this stage with more connection – connection won’t create the weave performance, but breaking connection can distract him at this stage and cause an error.
T
What is the last day to post? I need this class to be longer….
Hi there!!
The Circle wrap session went well! He is strong with his commitment for the most part and your shifting connection really helped him. He is not as sure about it when you are doing a lot of countermotion – meaning, you are on the ‘takeoff’ side at the same time he is (like at 2:05 and 3:00) and he didn’t finish the wrap there. If he could see part of you on the landing side, he was good about finishing the commitment.
So 2 ideas for you:
– as he is passing you and heading to the wing, you can make he connection shift even more obvious, Using the good view from the camera when he started on your left side at 1:46, for example – as he passes you, you can shift your connection to the ‘landing’ spot and also point at it with your right hand fully extended. Both of those can make things more obvious for him– use a reward target like an empty food bowl or manners minder tucked in to where he would be exiting the wing wrap (yes, he would have to pass it on the entry of the wing wrap 🙂 ) that way he has a focal point to drive around to as you add more and more countermotion. Plus, it will make the reward easier to find because you can either click the MM or you can toss a treat near/into the bowl.
The serps are going well too – good job breaking it down to help him see the line over the bar! He did better when you used your dog-side arm (left arm here) for the serp cue (at :44 and 1:07 you had the other arm in play and it sent him around the jump).
One thing you can do to help him is when you release him, look very directly down to your serp hand/landing spot. That connection shift can help him come in over the jump more than looking at him will. And keep dropping the reward like you did, that was super effective!
The shifting connection for the turn aways was definitely harder!
How does he do on the flat with just the hand cues? For example, when you are walking forward, you can do the connection shift to your hands and turn him away on the flat without the jump being in the picture.
Then it will be easy to add the jump back in. What was happening here was he was trying to sort this out with the jump, and you were trying to help with your feet/motion – but that was pushing him off the jump a bit (your feet were facing the pole and not the jump so he was not sure if he should take the front of the jump or the back of the jump).When he is happy to turn away with just the hand signal as you walk forward, you can then transfer it to the jump where you walk forward to the center of the bar and flip him away (using just a wing is a good intermediate step too, because it is such a hard skill).
Nice work here! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi! The video is looking good!!!
On the tandem turns (front side of jump here):
She is reading them well! You were also using RC motion a bit to set it up, which is fine but you can also now start to fade that out and do it only with hands and connection shift! That will add distance and also answers your question:>> I’m having trouble seeing how this drill for switches will translate to the dog being way in front. Most of the time if I’m doing a switch it is because my dog is too far in front of me to do another cross.>>
That is true for a true rear cross/side change. But, you can use the switches in situations where you are behind (the dog can still see and hear the info) as well as when you are laterally away and can’t show a FC/BC or a true RC either 🙂 It is almost like a RC on the flat in those moments.
The other places I use a turn away/switch would be if I want a really tight turn on the next jump (rather than run in for a FC or BC, I would hang back and do it as a switch). Or, when setting up layering: that is where you would NOT want to use RC motion because you want to be at a distance and switching the dog away so you can layer and go the new direction. It is a cool application!
Here is what that would look like:
>>I still don’t think I’m doing the threadles correctly,
For the threadle wraps: You are 100% on the right track – the hardest part is getting her to come to the correct side of the jump!!
At :37, you did a great job of connecting to her eyes, showing your hands, and then shifting connection to your hands as you dropped them down to get the threadle cue going. That got the threadle every time you did it like at :45, :55, 1:07. When you didn’t do that (either disconnected by just looking at your hands, or looked at her the whole time), she took the front of the jump (first 2 reps and at 1:07).
The next steps to really get this smooth are to:
-add a wrap verbal on the wing before the threadle, so she knows exactly how tight to turn to set it up
-add a threadle wrap verbal as you shift connction to you hands
-instead of turning your feet torwards her at all, you can keep your feet forward both as you cue the threadle wrap and as you turn her away, so you are staying on the line of motoin past the jump and not turning with her (she will do a full circle wrap on the jump).>> I was thinking of signing up for a working spot, but Synnie is getting spayed on 3/11. Will the working skills be okay for a dog on the mend or should I just audit this one?>>
Is it a regular spay or a lap spay? The recovery from the regular spay will take longer and there is too much movement in the working spot stuff, so might be better to audit.
>>We were at Bon-Clyde. I’m not sure if you have been there, but when you exit after you run, you directly leave the building. I put the tug outside that door, and once we were about 10 feet away, Syn would tug to the point that I could “walk” her back to the car with her tug. Usually she hasn’t been that committed.>>
That is great! Bon-Clyde has a different layout than most agility places, so it sounds like she did really well!!!! Yay!
>> She also would tug in the building but only after working the practice jump. I also think I got to the point that I went too far with her warmup and we started down the slope.>>
Ah yes, it is always a balancing act with young dogs so your idea of adding pattern games after the warm up jump is smart! Keep me posted!
Great job here!
TracyFor the threadle verbals: I was cuing a turn on the wing before the jump. Then the threadle verbal is “close close” for the threadle slice verbal.
T
Hi! The last video submission day is Feb 21. The approximate calendar math is one week after the last games are posted (which is tomorrow) then 2 more weeks after that (which brings us to the 21st, I believe :)) The weather has been a little too crazy lately for tight timelines! So you should have plenty of time to finish the games 🙂
T
