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Hi!
>We play the pattern games as well as the remote reinforcement every day. >>
Video please 🙂 These are critical games so we need to make sure they are solid and start including them on field trips to new environments!
>>Another note, she loves Find My Face, Up Down & Side To Side games because she gets rewarded quick. >
Great! Take the Up And Down and Side To Side games to some different environments, so she can get happy playing them everywhere. No need to take Find My Face to new places, that game serves a different purpose.
>>But I sometimes lose her during remote reinforcement even though the reward is still very close. >>
Video pleeeease 🙂 This is the key game for her, and if she is failing then we need to figure out what is happening.
>>She likes to do things but running to the reward doesn’t seem to keep her attention after she gets it.
Right – the reward is not designed to keep her attention – that falls more into the engagement and tricks and volume dial game as you move away from the rewards.
> I’ll take some videos next time so you can see it.>
Yay! I am looking forward to that!
T
Hi! The sequencing is going really well! You are doing a great job of showing her the lines and staying connected!
Seq 1A – the opening looked great! As she is approaching the 7 jump (jump after the tunnel), handle 7-8 like a serp with your shoulders rotated towards the jump and right arm back, but feet moving to 8, That will help her see that line.
2nd video – also looking really strong! The bar down before the 2nd tunnel was because you had a big decel and pulled away: Your voice said tunnel so she was collecting to follow the physical cue, then adjusted in the air. The rest was really strong.
7-8 was much clearer here! Keep that upper body rotated towards her and u will be able to keep moving too stay ahead.
Seq 2A video – Try to add in the engagement games and volume dial game before every sequence, so she is ready and you are connected. You didn’t quite have her engagement before you started the run, so be sure to add in the volume dial tricks to make sure she is ready. Then when you sent her over 1, you disconnected and took off so she landed and didn’t know what you wanted
Definitely better connection after 1 on the 2nd rep so she read the line with more confidence.
It might be hard to do this with the handler obstruction in the middle here 🙂 but for the blind, you will want to be more lateral from 3 and heading to 4, so when she lands from 3 you can start the BC 4-5. You started it after she landed from 5, so she was a little wide there.
The spin on 5 and the end line looked great!The 2nd run on this had the lovely connection to start with! Same ideas about starting the blind sooner.
First video at Amy’s field –
Have more connection to her as you move to position, and do tricks on the way to the line so the two of you are engaged and ready to run 🙂 And add in using the leash! It is a great opportunity to add in trial skills in a comfortable environment. And if you mess up the handling (you need more connection and pulled away to the tunnel too soon at :13, so she followed you and came off the line) – keep going as if it was correct. Even stopping to reward can be deflating because the dogs do know that something has gone wrong there.Timing and connection was better on the 2nd run there and she read. The line really well!
Seq 3 – this had better engagement on the way to the line! And nice connection and handling to get the loop to the tunnel AND the loop without the tunnel. NICE!!
Seq 4: This went really well too! Yay! Connection and cues looked really strong. My only suggestion is that on the tunnel threadle, you don’t need to pull away from the tunnel entry you want as much (you were pulling towards the jumps a bit more than needed). You can give the cue then go directly to the entry of the tunnel you want.
So since the sequencing is going well, I am going to bug you to post more of the other games. The sequencing was done with cookies very obviously with you, which is fine, but in order to get this confidence into the trial ring we need to add the other games too 🙂 More on that below!
Great job!
TracyHi!
I think the main thing is that she needs to have something reinforcing/motivating to do in order to be leashed when she is in that higher arousal state, rather than you touching her then trying to get the leash on.Yes, you can work on separately getting her happy to be touched by doing things lime a gentle touch then let go and throw a ball.
For the leasing up, you can shape her to run to a cato board or something (for lots of cookies) and separately shape her to put her head into the loop of the leash as a trick (also lots of cookies 🙂 )
Then string them together eventually so it becomes cato board then leash then cookies (and eventually fade the cato board).
For hiking, let her drag a long light line so you can pick it up when needed, put on a leash, reward her, then let her hike some more.
Be careful that for these you do a lot of letting her go back to something fun after you leash her up – that way she doesn’t avoid getting leashed up because it indicates the end of the fun.
And you can definitely add it into the remote reinforcement game: leash on then marker then cookies. 🙂
Let me know how it goes!
TracyHi!
His engagement and commitment in the FEO run looked great!!!!! Start line was strong, he was reading the handling really well (I think he ended up on a different line than expected in the middle, but that was probably about too much acceleration from you).
If he misses the Weave entry, you can bring him back to the previous jump and try it from there, to begin getting the jump-weaves going in trials.I’m glad you are keeping the jumps low for now – he is jumping with his head up, probably because his brain is processing the environment and the handling, and the jumping form is taking a back seat for now. As he gets more experienced, the jumping form will smooth out and then you can start raising the bars at trials.
Great job here!
TracyHi!
>>I’m not going to lie, these have pretty much disappeared from courses here (although I’ve seen twice this year with visiting NZ judges) so I haven’t trained them in a very long time>[
They are still very popular with the kennel club courses here, and in other venues like UKI, the challenge has been morphed into jump-tunnel discriminations (more like European courses). But it is a good timing and strategy practice, especially for being able to cue the turn and move to the next line 🙂
She did REALLY well here, so my ideas are more about strategy 🙂 Your connection and verbals all looked really good 🙂 I think your timing was good too, but I have a couple of ideas on how you can show some of the lines sooner.
She was a little wide on jump 1, so you can use less motion towards the jump and more of a send-and-leave or countermotion to get collection before takeoff. I start one of my dogs with my back to the jump and handle it like a throwback, I can dig up some video if you want to see what that looks like 🙂
She read the tunnel threadles really well – you set the line and kept moving. On the NO tunnel moments 🙂 you can set the line and move away sooner to the next jump, which will help solidify the line and take the tunnel out of the picture. It looked like you were waiting til she turned her head, but you can be moving away while she does that.
On the straight line to the tunnel, you can send to the 4 jump when she is at 3 – as she is landing, you are starting the send so when she looks at 4, you can get gone up the line rather than round the 3-4-5 line with her.
That won’t make a huge difference on this setup, but will make that blind MUCH easier because you will be miles ahead. Rounding the line with the handling 3-4-5 also got her line line to be wider. I think sending to 4 and taking off with tighten up the whole line and give you hours to get the blind finished 🙂 That becomes even more useful when it is a jump-tunnel discrimination instead of the other side of the tunnel.Great job here! Let me know what you think!
Tracy
Hi!
Yes to the tugging! That’s the volume dial game in action. Food can help get her to engage, but toy play can really optimize her arousal and engagement. When you get her back, work the volume dial game with tricks and tugging 🙂>>When training, I think I want to use the toy as the target instead of the mat.I know I probably shouldn’t have a “plan” or “routine”>>
The toy as a target as part of the end of run might not be reliable enough, because unless you do UKI, there is no way to consistently predict where to toy will be. So the end of run in training and trialing should be engagement with you then the leash then the toy (especially if AKC is your main venue :))
And she will give you feedback based on how she responds to what you try – there’s some experimenting in the early stages but that’s fine 🙂
Tracy
Oops, sorry for the delay on that reply – I thought I answered but clearly I answered only in my head lol!!
If she scoots away to see a person, it is because the environment is hard. No worries – just keep ruining your invisible dog happily, and she will come back 🙂
Tracy
Hi!
>> We did the tugging to the line. I think this will work, but she’s not necessarily letting go when I stop tugging.>>
Yes, she did well here! She might need a more specific cue to let go rather than just stopping the tugging – an out cue, which can be rewarded with more tugging (because the lining up is not a reward).
>. But, since I’m not necessarily waiting for eye contact she’s sometimes not really paying attention when I ask her to line up.>>
It is not lack of paying attention, it is the challenge of the environment (internal and external). So you are seeing a bit of a divided attentional state in that moment which she is working through. Throwing the leash made it harder for sure.
>>I think that’ll improve as she understands this is access to the fun.>>
Maybe? Or maybe not? The environment is too fluid so I don’t want to rely on association, because those association stimuli might not always be there, they way we think they are. But we can definitely help her! The speed of the actual sit was fine. The indication that she is not totally comfy was the looking around.
In training environments, do the pattern game in front of the jump after you throw the leash to the side. Yes, you won’t be able to do that at a trial but she is finding the distraction hard
And rehearsing the pattern in that context will also shift the arousal state more naturally into a place that can help.And, try adding in more volume dial game – rather than tugging to the line, try a tug-trick-tug-trick combo. Any simple non-complicated moving trick will work. The volume dial game is what takes the dog into the optimized state of arousal. Tugging is getting her part of the way there, so the next step is to add more action to it with the simple behaviors. And, you can do a bit of tugging as you move to the line, then let her just walk a few steps and look around, then tug some more – that can help give her the environment assessment she needs.
Looking at the sequencing – she did really well! Yay! Nice job getting the cues to her on time, she was able to read them really well!
On the tunnel threadles, the left turn followed by the threadle cue worked really well! The cues were timely (one was late, but she saved you 🙂 ) You don’t have to pull away from the line as much – you can turn and face the line to the tunnel entry, then more directly towards it. Pulling away too much can cause her to take a jump closer to you instead of a tunnel, or take the tunnel when you wanted the jump 🙂 And when you cue the left and want the jump, turn and lead for it sooner so she has no question about what you want.
For go tunnel, no need for a left decel on the pinwheel – just send to 4 when she lands from 3, and take off down the line. She might not even need a left verbal on the pinwheel jump, because it is not really a collected turn for her. A ‘jump’ cue might be just fine.
>>She came off a jump once which I’ll take as she’s trying hard to listen.>>
Yes, that was a left cue with decel on the pinwheel jump and you said decelerated and turning, so she didn’t really see a commitment cue to the net jump, She was being good!
>>I thought my BC was on time, but I barely got across her line.
On the BC, you ended up going too close to the pinwheel jump and that made you late, positionally. So even though the timing of the side change of BC was good, she was reading the forward motion of you driving down the line to get past the 5 jump, so turned after landing. To get it, try sending to the pinwheel jump and when she locks onto it, take off down the line to the blind. The timing of the send starts when she is jumping/landing from 3 (jump after the tunnel), so the turn cue of the send-and-go is built into the cue. That should set up a nice turn on 4 and get you way ahead for the blind.
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
Nice work here! I think the distances are fine for now but we will likely expand them soon – she is gaining more power and strength! She did really well ‘reading’ the different distances and putting in the proper striding. Yay!>>We used the MM instead of the WR so she would be thoughtful. >>
The MM is good for getting this starte – move it at least 10 feet further away from the 3rd jump on all the reps so she doesn’t change her form in order to decelerate to stop. The MM was a little too close to jump 3 here, so she had to lift her head and begin decelerating before takeoff to 3. Having it further away will allow her to decelerate as stride or two after landing, which is ideal for this!
And you can definitely add in the moving target – that will help maintain the good form while also adding more excitement and challenge: Can she maintain jumping form while she is more excited? I bet she can!
Great job 🙂 Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
The blinds looked great too – Miss Mingo has a lot power already!!!! Wow! You are going to need to run faster on these LOL!! As soon as she looks at you after grabbing the treat, you can take off running and do the blind before she is halfway to you.Excellent job with the connection before the blind and after it, she had zero questions (1:38 was probably a cookie that fell out of her mouth LOL!)
When you re-connect after the blind, you can show the toy by placing that opposite arm across your belly but you don’t need to rotate back to her as much as you were – you can make the connection and keep running forward. Your connection was lovely so I don’t think she will have any problems reading it with less rotation.
And since she is going fast and you can add more running, you can also scrunch up the toy in your hand a bit rather than dangle it, so it is easier to run with your arms in tight to you, which also makes the blind quicker.
Great job! She is looking fabulous!
Tracy
Hello from Whippet Racing nationals where I am hanging out with Mingo’s family! So fun!
Baby Mingo looks AWESOME! I love how she moves – she’s gonna have a BIG stride!The decel and pivot is going well – on the first couple of reps, you were showing the hand but not really showing a change on motion, so she was turning but not necessarily collecting.
But then from 1:05 – 1:08, you showed a deceleration sooner and BOOM! What a gorgeous collection she did as she was arriving at you. YAY!! And another one at 1:32 – so nice!
She was finding the treat in the grass really well – impressive LOL!!!
One suggestion:
As you move to your starting point, engage with her so she moves with you – she was following you, but you were thinking about the session and looking ahead, so she was not entirely sure what was happening. So you can be tugging with her until you get to the starting spot, then switch to food.
Great job here!
Tracy
Absolutely! You can take this game outside and just have the leash looped onto your wrist (or a long line) so he can’t go too far away 🙂
Have a safe trip!
Tracy
Hi!
The bowl game is looking great! Rather than tossing a cookie off to the side, you can mix in a game of tug to help bring tugging into the game.She did really well when you adding the upright – no problem, easy peasy. Yay! Next step – you can sit on something so we can start to move you to a standing position. And when you are sitting on something, if she thinks it is fine, you can start to move the upright away. No rush to do. This – you can do this every 2 or 3 days, so the magical whippet latent learning has a chance to kick in 🙂
On the prop game – I think the approach of pumping up the value really helped her – the jumping up at your hands was probably rooted in. Bit of frustration about not knowing where to look. So shaping it a bit then putting the treat on it seems to have made a big difference. Yay!!! Something you can add is changing the placement of reinforcement: the empty hand sends her and then the other hand tosses the treat to the prop as she hits it (yes, 3 hands might be needed :)) But that can continue to solidify her looking ahead/down at the prop, and not up at your hand.
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
She did a great job here too! Part of the challenge here is that she has to ignore the handful of treats in order to go around the pole – that is hard! And she did it really well (only a few passing glances at the treats LOL!)She did find it easier to go around the upright to her left (towards your left hand). It was a little harder going around it to her right (those were the reps where she was trying to squeeze in between you and the upright, she never did it going to her left). But overall she did a super job! And she will figure out the rights turns nicely – you can add a little more distance going to her left (moving towards your left hand) and then shorten up the distance when she needs to go to her right (moving to your right hand) by pulling the upright in closer to you.
But, since she is a whippet, I bet she wakes up tomorrow or Sunday and has it all figured out and doesn’t need us to help at all LOL!!
The next thing you can do is sit in a chair for this game – then we will get you standing!
Great job here!
Tracy
Hello from WRA Nationals! So many amazing whippets!
I agree, she is very intense with her toys… but she was GREAT here with being able to go back and forth between the 2 toys. She was releasing the toy pretty quickly to go to the next one!
One thing that will help is if, after making the toy she is tugging on “dead”, you make a big fuss over the toy you want her to go to by looking at it, talking to it, ooh-ing and ah-ing over it… that gets the pup looking at it faster. Here is a visual of what I mean:
And you can use longer toys and sit on something, to help preserve your flesh (the puppies that love toys often are happy to grab our flesh too!).
Overall, this is definitely going the right direction – getting what you want in terms of better releases and good tugging, while still keep it super for for her. Great job!!
Tracy
