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Have fun! And I think a fun summer plan is to start bring the jump heights up! He seems ready for more 🙂
Tracy
Good morning!
San Diego sounds wonderful 🙂 and sniffy games are always fun!
On the video:
He was so cute at 1:00, standing in the tunnel and wagging his tail, waiting to start the game. Love it!Wing wrap to the tunnel went really well, he is a pro at that 🙂
>he nailed all the far-end tunnel entries!>
Yes! He is really good at those and seems to really enjoy them too 🙂
Going from the wing PAST the tunnel is harder of course 🙂 And the increased eye contact really helped – you can see the clear connection at :47 and 1:20 and 1:32, for example, and he was great! Those were really good examples of using connection to commit him to a line, rather than hands.
>switching the toy from one hand to the other was hard for him. Then I put it in my pocket – but then the tail started dangling – which was still hard for him >
I think the dangling was less hard than the hands – when the toy is going from hand to hand, it blurs the cues. But I bet he will also love a smaller toy with a ball on the end of it that is easy to stuff into a pocket!
I am so glad that you and Skizzle had fun and I agree that you have made tremendous progress! This is where it starts to get even more fun: we put the big pieces together 🙂 I am looking forward to see in you in MaxPup4!
Great job here!
Tracy
Good morning!
Wow, he was a layering superstar! And more importantly, he didn’t blast to the off course tunnel when you cued the turn. He was paying attention to all the cues!
I am not sure that he needs a soft turn cue on the pinwheel jump (I think that is what you were saying at :21 & :30, for example) – you can see him collect and kind of wait for permission to blast forward 🙂
Because of his size, you can just let him blast, no strong turn cues needed – I think that is what you were doing on the first couple of runs and he was perfect. A 20” jumping dog might need turn cues there but a 16 tall dog can run it in full on extension even when the bars go to full height..
Based on how well he did with the basic structure of the layering, there is an opportunity for a double layer on this setup: when he was exiting the tunnel and driving forward to he jump, you were layering a jump then went in to support the last jump. He had no questions – so you can try layering the 2nd jump that it out there too! Will he stay on the line while you layer 2 jumps? Certainly a useful skill on course nowadays! And of course you can place a reward or do a really early throw to set up success.
Great job here!!
Tracy
Good morning!
He is reading the decel really well here!>I think when he came back out of the tunnel and I ran to the second jump, I pushed on his line and he took the middle of the bar. I was trying to get tucked in by that wing. Is that necessary? >
This is at :33 – and yes, he was seeing a bit of pressure (similar to rear cross pressure) towards the jump so he was more centered on the bar. If the line to the wing is straight, you can run straight to it. But if you have to push in to the line to get to the wing like you did here, you can stay outside the wing and do a forward-facing decel. The setup here had the slightly smaller wing as jump 2, so you had to go around the first wing and push in to get to it – so in this case it is better to keep moving straight rather than push in. That way we don’t get any accidental rear crosses 🙂
The best way to cue the send (especially with the small dogs) is to keep your arm back and down, pointing towards his nose as he exits the tunnel. That way when he exits, he sees your eye contact as you step forward into the send. The arm travels with him as you send, rather than points ahead of him when he exits the tunnel. Pointing ahead rotates the shoulders away from the line, and many dogs (especially inexperienced ones) will look at the handler for more info or get on the wrong line.
What a fun class video!!!
>I opted to break it down for the lead out because I thought it might be a weird picture for him but he totally knew what to do so probably didn’t need the toy thrown in the beginning as he actually was headed to the tunnel.>
It was smart to break it down and reward! But also it is soooo cool to see him understanding the big pieces. Exciting times ahead!
He was great with his stay and yes, he totally knew where to go even though I am not sure he has ever seen the tunnel-under-the-dog-walk thing. Be sure to look at him more after that tunnel exit – at 1:38 you turned your back on him and took off, which drew him off the jump. He was not sure if you wanted the line or an immediate blind cross. Much clearer on the next rep of that! Fun!!!
Yes, probably some amazing critter smells back there! You can whip out amazing food to fight fire with fire – it looks like he was able to work for food at the end and that is fine: I am sure he could smell birds, sheep, goats, chipmunks…. Very hard to ignore! But he finished strong 🙂 The layering is impressive and fun to see the parallel path foundation game coming into sequences!
Nice work here!
TracyThe good news and also the bad news is that Kong makes a LOT of amazing toys out of tennis ball materials 😂 I have purchased way too many 🙂
Have fun at the specialty!!!!!
Tracy
Good morning!
This went well! As you saw at the beginning, he had a couple of questions especially at the beginning. For the serps, your feet and position were really good! His question was about the upper body – the shoulders are what cue him to choose a line. So when you were shoulders were a little closed forward, it cued him to go pat the jump (layering! Smart pup!!) When he was able to serp the jump, your shoulders were more open towards him.
What I mean by that was you were a little more rotated at the waist, which pointed your shoulders back to the jump bar and not to the MM.
So to get more consistent serps: keep your feet as they were (pointing towards the MM) but rotate even more at the waist so your upper body is almost facing him. The goal is to have the center of your chest pointing towards the center of the bar – it will feel a bit like an agility yoga haha – but swinging your arm back even more will help!
And the threadle per body is similar too – you can swing your arm back even more to exaggerate the upper body. He read your position really well though and got the threadles!
I think he finds the MM a little boring 😂🥱 😂 so his attention wandered a little. He likes food but I think he likes toys and interaction with you better. So you can mix in throwing a toy around or even throwing treats around and playing a bit, he will stay pumped up more 🙂 You don’t necessarily have to tug (we want you to protect your hands!) but you can have a dance party with him after every couple of reps and he will be happier to work for the MM 🙂
Great job here!
Tracy
Hi!
>I am finding the off-side arm send to be super helpful. I recently purchased the Backside Sends self study course and am working through those videos. The one about “extreme commitment” really helped to seal the deal for me. >
Yes, I love the opposite arm 🙂 It is a really useful tool and worked super well in the videos here!
>I know I saw somewhere that you had a “naughty arm” class, but I don’t see it on the Agility U site>
It is here:
[AU-089] The Handler’s Toolbox Winter Camp: The Opposite Arm!
Looking at the videos:
Seq 1:
This went really well! It is hard to time the 2nd blind (4-5) and trust the dog’s commitment but you nailed it at :07 and again at :52 and 1:30! He was a very good boy!
Using the opposite arm for the send to the other side of the tunnel worked great. My only suggestion is to do a post turn on 6 to set it up: Doing the spin on 6 was not needed with the out coming up because it sets a tighter turn, and we don’t want a very tight turn for a small dog there. The spin worked great to go back to the tunnel.
His only question was on the tunnel entry at 3 at :35 and 1:18 – if you were a step or two too far past it, he would run a parallel line to yours and not commit. I think your handling line was fine and we do kinda need him to let you get that far ahead! So it is a good section to break out and train: you can get ahead by walk through it so motion is not as compelling, then throw a reward back to the tunnel exit as you continue to move well past it before he enters.
Seq 2:
The BC from the tunnel to jump 3 looked great each time. Yay!!!
Sending to the ‘get out’ behind the tunnel at :10 & :36 needed a few more steps parallel to his line to support his commitment (you were turning away a little too early, which is why he thought you wanted the tunnel). A post turn on 3 will work here too, to give you a slightly wider turn and less collection, which sets up the send into the layering really well. Much better driving a line parallel to his at :57 & 1:44 & 2:17 and he easily found 4-5. Super!
Having to support a little extra at :57 & 1:44 made the BC a little late 5-6, but connection got it done so I twas still a good line. You really trusted the commitment and stated the blind even earlier at 2:19 and it produced a really good line!
You can add a BC to the exit if the wrap on 6 (spin) so you can have him on your left there and not need to rear cross the tunnel entry.
Sequence 3 – I think he is really liking the get out concept! He had no questions about it here 🙂
Good timing on BC 3-4 – try not to get past the wing of the jump at 3, as it ended up getting you too far past the mouse line at :08 & :49 which created a wider turn. And keep that in mind for the last BC at :25 & 1:04 – motion will support the line so you do’t need to get between the uprights of the BC jump.
On the last run you did a FC on 4 – that made for a slightly slower line to 5 but got you into a decent spot for a FC on 5. You did a spin to the tunnel threadle handling on the previous reps and it all went really well – it is fun to have both tools available!
Great job here 🙂
Tracy
Hi!
>today was only a minor severe weather warning…>
I actually heard about it on the news and thought of you! But the people on the news didn’t seem very concerned about it… LOL!
I train in the rain a lot because I only have an outdoor field, but most agility in the USA has either gone under cover or into a horse arena… or into fancy buildings with climate control and turf. California has outdoor trials but the rest of this country really doesn’t. We’ve gone soft LOL!!!
It was definitely windy here – he might have been a little distracted and that might be why he was going to the wing but not always finishing the wrap? It was happening a bit on the normal rocking horses so it was probably an indication of the wind being a distraction. You got him finishing the wrap really well with some well-placed rewards!
He was turning away really well – it was much smoother when you let him get very very close to your turn hand before you stepped back and moved your hand back (like at 3:16 and 3:50). If you moved too early (like at 1:23 and 2:58 for example), he had a question and would either stop or spin a bit. So definitely hold your position into he is almost at your hand, then move it back and step back to begin the turn cues.
Great job here! I hope the crazy weather goes away soooooon!
Tracy
Hi!
Sounds like a really busy weekend!!!>I’m not sure why it was all going so horribly wrong.>
It didn’t go horribly wrong! This session went well and I think it shows us a bit of a a side preference: moving to his right seemed easier than moving to his left. Good to know! That is where his questions were.
At the beginning, he did really well pushing away into the first gap (to his right), but had trouble coming in to the 2nd gap (to his left). I think he needed foot rotation and a more dramatic cue to understand to come into the 2nd gap. He was reading motion of you moving forward so didn’t read the upper body/arm dipping back.
At 1:48 you had a slight rotation in your footwork which made a huge difference to help him come into t he gap to his left. So definitely keep using the foot rotation to help him out.
Pulling into the gap on the other side needed a little bit of drama at first (also to his left!) but he got it when you added the drama in the handling 🙂 Coming into the 2nd gap was much easier – to his right.
This is useful info! For this game, you can help him a lot when he has to move to his left. And when teaching new and/or complex skills, work on having him turn to his right first so it is easier to learn. Then it will also be easier to transfer to the left turn side.
Thanks for the course – I love it!!! Were the dogs going into the tunnel after 13? I would use a brake arm (opposite arm joining dog side arm) to get collection there.
Great job!
Tracy
Good morning!
>I’m seeing a pattern I need to work with. The weekends after conformation, she’s so hand focused and grabbing at treats. >
That is interesting! Is she asked to focus on the bait hand in conformation? You can add a marker for the treat delivery there so help her understand when to grab the treat and how to otherwise ignore it 🙂 Or, do you find she is extra grabby on the Monday or Tuesday after a weekend of conformation? That might indicate she is brain-tired from the weekend and might need either easier work or more reset/recovery, or both 🙂
>I need to slow down and maybe go back to the attention game before we train.>
Yes – that pattern game is great for a mental warm up before training!
The blind crosses went really well!
> I’m not 100 percent certain I’m doing the blind cross right.>
You totally did them right 🙂 Turning away on a wing is probably weird-feeling, but you were spot on!
And the best reps were when you exited the blind with the toy visible across your body (like at :17 and :44). That created amazing connection and she knew exactly where to be 🙂
Speaking of connection – there was one little blooper at :23 which was a disconnection on the send: you were looking ahead before she saw the wing so she saw your back and not a clear connection. It looks like a blind cross cue, so she switched sides, then said “oh! My toy!” 😂 But all of your connections on the other reps were great!>I was able to send her to the tunnel and over the jump once with a pre placed reward but the distraction was too high.>
Was she going past the jump and heading straight to the reward? If so, you can use an empty target that the reward eventually gets thrown to after she commits to it.
Great job here!
Tracy
Good morning!
>Did we not have a decel exercise where we divided the space between jumps (or tunnel to jump) into thirds and we were supposed to do our decel transition in the second section of the thirds?>
Yes – the original game was a handler game, for timing deceleration and rotation on wrap cues. Handler deceleration was supposed to start when the dog was at the jump (or tunnel exit) before the wrap.
>So now we run up to the jump and stand still…to me that doesn’t seem like handler decel?>
Also yes – standing still is the ultimate and most dramatic form of decel 🙂
This decel game is a dog training game: can the dog recognize decel as a really important cue and set up collection? The reasoning behind it is that if the dog doesn’t understand decel which is usually the first thing they see as part of a tight turn cue, then the turns will be wide. We don’t want to rely on verbals and hands and rotation – we want decel to be a strong part of the cue.
Looking at the video:
This went well!
>He did it better on the one side than the other but could be my mechanics.> That looked like we were seeing a side preference. We could see it on the stand still moments and also on the sends:
Brioche did a good job when you were standing still on the lead out to the right turns – he turned but didn’t add much collection before takeoff. But he didn’t launch to takeoff in extension, and that is good! He had an easier time adding collection before takeoff on the left turns! Super nice!
This held true both when you were standing still and releasing from the stay, and when you added the tunnel & jump-tunnel before it. The left turns (dog on right) were stronger in terms of how he set up before takeoff.
For example, at 3:57 & 4:36, he was just slightly wider over the bar and turned when landing. Compare to 2:34 and 3:30, for example, where you can see him setting up the tight turn to his left on the takeoff side.
Sends are looking good too! It is basically a one-step send to the jump like you did here.
When he had a harder time starting at 5:40, you were not as connected on the send but more importantly: the cue was to the right turn (his harder side). He was able to get it after a couple of reps – but notice how much easier the left turn reps were. And your mechanics were a little stronger on that side too.
So what does it all mean? I think his is doing well understanding decel – yay!! And seeing the slight side preference is very useful info. It means that when you are teaching him a new or complex skill, do it with him turning to his left first. That will make it a lot easier to learn! Then it will also be easier when he transfers the skill to the right turns too.
Great job here!
Tracy
Good morning!
He did really well with the ball retrieves here! We can use his ball love to build up his retrieving love 🙂 For some dogs, the best way to get the retrieve is to use a toy they love and the reward is getting that toy back: in this case, he seemed to really love the ball (yay!) so you can play with it while it is in his mouth when he brings it back for 10 seconds or more… then throw it again. Using a food reward was good, but he does love his food (he was cracking me up when he was poking you to get the treat out faster haha) but you can also reward with play or a 2nd toy.
Getting back to tugging with what he retrieves: I have found this to be a great way to get a retrieve to hand until I cue the ‘drop it’. The baby whippet you see in some of the demo videos will now bring anything back and shove it in my hand until I ask for it back – and whippets are definitely not natural retrievers LOL! Since Rusty loved the ball and was chomping on it happily, we can build from that!
In order to do that safely without your hands getting chomped by accident (ouch!) a couple of ideas for you:
– You can use a really big ball so you can put a hand on each side of it when it is in his mouth, to play some tug.
– I wear a glove when tugging with a ball close to the dog’s mouth. It is a heavy gardening glove (I think?) that I got at Tractor Supply a while back. It allows me to tug near the dog’s mouth without getting hurt if the dog accidentally touches teeth to my flesh. I only wear it on one hand, but both hands are of course a possibility!
– You can get a bigger toy made out of tennis ball material (dogs love that material for some reason). I have used the big stick toys made by the Kong company, for example: the same exact materials and feel as a tennis ball but in a stick shape! It is big enough to tug with as a reward when he brings it back, and very ball like in feel and movement.>One thing I did learn for sure is that turning to his left is his preferred side!>
This is very useful information, for when you start teaching really complex skills and handling. When introducing really hard things, I teach it to the dog’s preferred direction first. They learn it a lot faster, then it is pretty easy to transfer to the harder side.
Great job here!
Tracy
Hi!
>I have gone back and worked on the release word and this is already making a huge difference>
Fantastic!!
Find my face will use a toy- currently he only works for two sorts of treats both high value.>
You can expand his treat preferences by pairing them with the toy: do something fun like a tunnel or wing wrap. Then give him a treat. Then give him the toy. Eating the treat is the actual work in this setup and it gets rewarded with the toy 🙂
>remote reinforcement no treats on me but didnt think about hand in pocket although toys out rank food hugely. >
Toys might be what he likes better, but all dogs know what hand-in-pocket means 😂 so we definitely want him to know there is nothing in your pocket.
>Need to do some more work on pattern games . It wasnt so much we were doing anything except walking or playing or tolieting at agility, now I get lunging towards ring when dogs running before he didnt pay much attention. >
Yes – add more distance, bring super high value food when near the rings, and get him really good at pattern games at home so you can play them at agility trials.
>But sudden big changes in how he behaves- typical adolscent loss focus and brain goes into overdrive.>
Adolescence is a hard time for dogs but that is where all of the tools come in – the pattern games will be your biggest help.
He seemed to be happy to do the ball retrieves! Fun! It was hard to see but he also was really focused on the ball.
>What size ball do you use for smaller dogs (not tiny like In Synch) he is probably going to be 390 at shoulder so terrier size. >
I buy smaller balls (usually from the Kong company) at pet supply stores. But be super careful that the smaller balls are not available for the big dogs – they could swallow them! If there is a possibility that the bigger dogs will get to the smaller balls, you can also use low-compression tennis balls. They are full-sized balls but much easier to carry. I get them on Amazon.
Nice work here!
Tracy
