Forum Replies Created
-
Posts
-
Hi!
I think the distance really helped, as well as staying in motion for the rewards!For the FCs and spins: all of the reps where she turned to her left looked AWESOME!!! Good early timing from you and lovely exit line connection. She had terrific turns and no bars down.
The right turns were harder – you were tending to be a little late on those, starting them as she was over the bar (which causes a rail down)
Part pf the timing question might have been that you had too much lead out (like at :20) so as she was over 1, you did a big move and she dropped the bar of 1 then couldn’t recover to see the info for 2. Moving into it for a few steps will let her see the transition.
The timing on the rep at :43 was lovely!!!!
Interestingly, the blind crosses where she turned to her right were easier and the left turn blinds were harder – the opposite of the FCs/spins!
The left turn blind questions were a combination of a little late on the timing and needing more exit line connection.
I thought the timing at :51 was good! But your shoulders were closed forward so he didn’t really know which side to be on – be sure to show her the toy across the body until she picks up the new side, then you can throw it.
1:01 was a little too early (she had not gotten the commitment cue to jump 2 yet 🙂 but 1:07 was better timing – she just needed that exit line connection.
On t he right, most of the reps were strong – you were a little late on the rep at 1:10 but otherwise the right turns were going well! And the full extension blind at the end looked really good too!
Great job here!
TracyGood morning!
All of the opening reps looked terrific, I am loving your connection there and her commitment looks amazing! And she was totally paying attention to all of the cues. Really super session!! Even the reps where she came off the line to you on the blind looked great (she was reading you really well!)
Looking at the blinds:
>>but I couldn’t get the timing on the blind cross. She did exactly what I cued, but I am not sure when I should start moving towards the two jumps and where I should be when I do the blind. I totally dropped connection with her in doing it >>
Yes – that is exactly what happened at :41 and on the last rep. When she was one stride past the wing, you had already dropped connection and turned forward which is the first part of the BC cue 🙂 Good girl, Caper!!!
You left the send to move to the blind cross perfectly – you were already relatively near the jumps and moving away for the BC before she even got to the wing.
As she exits the wing, make a BIG regular connection back to her so you can clearly see her eyes (look back and point your arm down low and back to her nose – the arm was at shoulder height here and parallel to you, so you could probably only see a Caper-blur 🙂 and she saw it as a connection break/beginning of a blind.
As you are moving up the line and saying the jump cue directly to her, you will see her look at the jump if you are connected (she was looking at you and not at the jump here). Then you can start the blind (probably when she is just getting to the halfway point between the wing and the jump). Then make a quick exit line connection and she will read the turn.
To work up to it, don’t do the blind at all – just do a few reps where you move away nice and early like you did to get to the BC spot – but maintain connection to get commitment to the jump then reward her.
After a few of those? Add the blind in 🙂
>>I feel like once I start the blind that I take too long to complete it and I am not sure what to do to correct that if that is part of the issue. >>
Because she is able to cue off of the first part of the blind very quickly (the disconnection and shoulder turn) – as long as you make exit line connection, she will read the turn. It will get easier in terms of timing as she gets more experienced, so the commitment is key for now, then the timing will get much much easier 🙂
Great job here!
TracyWowza! This looked great! Her commitment is really really strong, so you didn’t have to work that hard to be able to rotate and shift your connection. Yay!!!
A couple of ideas for you to make it easier for YOU lol!!! She is fast so we can keep you even further ahead 🙂When cuing the FC wraps – you were rotating nice and early and shifting connection. You can add two things:
– you can change arms as you shift connection so that the arm closer to the jump you are indicating is extended pointing to the landing spot that you are looking it. You did this on some reps, but on others you were using the arm across your body more as you rotated. That will slow you down a bit so rotating sooner so you can show the new arm as you shift to the landing spot will make it easier to move up the next line even sooner.– speaking of sooner – when you see her moving past you… you can start moving the new direction before she even gets to the jump. Keep your connection to the landing spot but be moving forward to the wing in the middle and let’s see if she can maintain that great commitment (I bet she can 🙂 )
– for the circle wraps in the middle: her commitment is great here too and you barely needed to shift your connection. You can try moving forward even sooner, shifting connection to where the landing would be and moving forward as soon as she passes you.
>>Am I getting in Fritzi’s way going to the wrap (obstacles 3 and 6)? She looks like she needs to go a bit wide around me on her way to the backside wrap.>>
Yes – on some of the reps, you were blocking her line a bit but running on the line she needed to be on so she went wide looking for it. Try to stay in closer to the wing so she can see it and go directly to it, like you did on the last rep.
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyHopefully the rains move out fast!!!
>>I’ve never been good at pulls.>>
Pulls (post turns) are not all that effective for really tight turns for many, many dogs. So don’t worry if they are not the best option for Sprite. She has a lot of parallels to my Hot Sauce, and I would choose a spin over a pull for Hot Sauce because it is clearer/earlier info. I think that goes for most of my other dogs too, except the whippety dogs who are like spaghetti noodles over a jump 🙂 The pulls generally promote a slightly wider line. I was using them here to be able to set the handler up for the connection shift without too much complex handling before it 🙂 If you wanted to compare & contrast a pull versus a spin, go for it and see what Sprite says! That would be fun to see 🙂
Tracy
Good morning!
Crate shaping is looking really good! And since it is morning and I am caffeinated, shaping her to go do a thing away from the MM will be GREAT for her future running DW training! That way she isn’t just locked onto the MM and instead thinks about what she needs to do to get the MM to deliver the treat 🙂
And, doing it with different crate and with you in different positions helps generalize the concept of generalizing, if that makes sense: recognize a crate as a crate, even if it is not *her* crate. That will be useful for agility obstacles as well!The toy retrieving looked really good! Looks like she is mostly a righty (on the reps where the ball was on a relatively straight line when it landed). She brought it back beautifully 🙂 Flyball foundations are great even if you never play flyball! We do have several DSFDs that play high level flyball in this region – that are terrific!
Great job here!!!
TracyGood morning!
>>Ok thank you for the tips for the wings! We will try again tomorrow. I can definitely see how my arm is blocking the connection for her. I’m very used to using dog side arm and leg to send, but she needs a ton of connection.>>
Yes, the connection will help! Now that I am thinking about it more, using the wings: you can do a bit of one-steps sends to just one wing, starting closer then getting further and further away. And, you can toss the reward to the other side of the wing so she leaves you to go to it (perfect use for a wubba LOL!!). That can help pump up the value even more so that your connection doesn’t have to be as perfect 🙂
>>As for class, bunny toy has never been used at home, it lives in the training bag haha! I have ordered a couple more tugs, so maybe some novelty can help.>>
I think novelty is great! And rotating through a couple of favorites too – the fur toy was a BIG favorite here for a while but then a crunchy bottle tug became the favorite. Currently the wubba should also go to class and see if she can chase it there too!
>>Smoked cheese is hereby deemed a class only food!>
Yay! Sound yummy 🙂
>>Do you mean I should bring her into Lazlo’s class (which is now her class) more to the ringside area when it’s not her turn just to eat treats or play with a toy?>>
Yes – just to chill out being in the area, having a good time, not needing to think about it when you would like her to do agility stuff. And I think it is perfect fine for her to meet & greet people and even take cookies from them! Get her thinking it is really a great place and you will be amazed at how well her focus shifts to you in the ring.
For example, when my baby Whippet first started going to public things (he was a little under 6 months old at the time) – the first thing the instructors did was feed him chicken. And maybe some cheese too. He thought it was *awesome* and got to meet new folks – but then also got to play with me, eat cookies from me, etc. Best of both worlds for him – he got to socialize in the environment and then he got to play with me. Very relaxing for everyone 🙂 Now he sees The Chicken Giver Ladies and has no trouble ignoring them but also is very happy and relaxed around them – again, makes for much easier skills training when the environment is such a party place to be 🙂
>>We did just 2 reps of the serp with motion. We’ve been working hard on stationing so I wanted to try it with this exercise. >>
The stationing went well!!!! My only suggestion is to open your shoulders up back to her more for the serp cue (like you mentioned). Since we won’t want her to think that the shoulder movement is a release, you can put your shoulders into that position before you even walk away from her LOL! Then you can release as you did, verbally, without a sudden change of shoulder motion. It will feel and look weird but it will support the stay on the station while also getting the serp cue in clearly.
And the Wubba is a big favorite for her! Does she like the little ones too? I have a few different sizes of wubba in the toy bag because they are so fun to play with in new places.
Great job here!
TracyHi!
It is definitely way too cold to be outside trying to train!!!! Fingers crossed for a short winter!He did have some good wraps to his right and got one in on the left too with the toy on the ground. The challenge here is not a wrap challenge, it is an impulse control challenge as I am sure you know. We want him to be jazzed up for the toy on the ground! But we also want to be able to have him move away from it and work away from it with you having to hold his collar.
So before doing this particular game again, do a detour into the remote reinforcement game in the resilience track:
That will work specifically on leaving food and toys behind 🙂 and it will be good for his impulse control overall too! When he has a few successful sessions of that under his belt, you can then come back to the games that use the toy on the ground like this one, the serps/threadles, etc.
The spacing on the cavalettis is the tricky part – a good starting point is that the spacing is the same inches as his shoulder height, so if he is 20” tall you can start the, at 20” apart.
To help him trot, you can use an empty food bowl at each end (maybe 3 feet past the end of the cavaletti on each side as a starting point) so he has a focal point. Start on the last one and have him step out over it to the bowl, the plop a cookie in the bowl 🙂 Then back chain so he starts on the 2nd to last one and trots to the bowl, etc. That can help him stay ore balanced plus it will get him looking forward and not up at your hands.
Nice work here!!! Stay warm!
TracyHi!
>>I thought we did better than we really did.>
You two did great! The suggestions were more “next level” suggestions since everything went so well.
>>What does this paragraph mean “so now we can pump it up a little more by having you look at her and then deliberately lear her eyes to let her see you look back at the landing side.”?
I’m not sure what you mean by “lear her eyes.”>>Oops, autocorrect: “leave” not lear. So your connection was to her eyes, so you can let her see you shift from her eyes to the landing spot. Basically it is like saying to her: YOU! Go over THERE! The regular connection goes with the “you” part and then you shift for the “there” part. Let me know if that makes better sense.
>>We got really wide turns on the pulls….which we do anyway. So, what connection helps that? I thought I was supposed to look at her eyes? >>
Exit line connection! That will get your dog-side shoulder further back so she can drive in tighter on those (which is what you were doing earlier in the video).
>>So, on the circle wrap when do I stop looking at her and look to landing? I’m ahead of her so I don’t understand the comment about being on her tail.>>
You are ahead of her, so you end up waiting a bit for her to catch up (that is correct to do). In that moment, you are doing the ‘regular’ connection to her eyes. As she catches up and is starting to pass you, that is when you can do 2 things: shift your connection to the landing spot and begin moving forward again right behind her butt 🙂
>>The day before I was very careful to not pair the head turn and release. You’ll see that if you watch that video again. But..not so much here.>>
I force myself to add in praise sentences to be sure I don’t connect & release at the same time 🙂
Let me know if that makes sense!
TracyHi! I think the send connection is going really well – and on the blooper moments, you knew it in the moment and fixed it on the next rep. He responds beautifully to the big connection and low arm on the sends!
The first part of the send looks GREAT in terms of connection and if your arm stays low? He get it every time. But if your arm gets high? It turns your shoulders away from the line, so he has questions.
We have a good view of it at :31 – :33 – you sent at the barrel really well with great connection but then as he was passing you, your arm got really high and that turns your shoulder aways from the line. So, he had a little zig zag question.Compare to :44-:47 where he had no question on the send: your arm was lower and supported the connection so he drove directly to the jump because your shoulders were facing that way.
>>As you can see, Casper sends beautifully but drifts around the turn, especially turning left. I tried a few things to tighten them up without very good success. (Why do I bend over when trying to communicate something?) Ideas?>>
I think part of it is the footing: he was collecting before takeoff especially on the early reps, skittering and sliding after landing and on the way back. My guess is he was trying to compensate for that on some of the reps, and there was a lot less skittering if he stayed on the line to the next jump (like at 1:26). I would be curious to see what he does on turf or on grass if this winter ever ends LOL!
Also, you were tending to be stationary after the sending and using general verbals instead of wrap verbals, which didn’t provide a lot of cues for the exit:
For example at :35, it was fair of him to take the purple jump – you didn’t tell him to come through the gap with a verbal or handling, and you were stepping backwards… so that cued the purple jump. To paraphrase the words of Linda Mecklenburg: Backwards motion is still motion 🙂
You did add the check check verbal at :48 but it was after he took the jump – ideally the send verbal is the check check.
And on any rep where you were facing him and not moving much, he stayed out on the line.
So use his wrap verbal and add in motion away to the line you want with exit line connection (toy across the body). That should both give him a clear cue of what you want, and the motion to drive back to you (rather than the toy on the ground, that contributes to the ‘cues are too stationary’ confusion he is having)
>>Maybe I should place the toy on the tight return line? >>
I prefer to see what he does with exit line connection to get more info about what cues he reads best.
>>I thought I had tried strong counter motion but I couldn’t find it on the video. (As we used to say in the pharmaceutical industry: “not documented = not done”.)>>
>>Ha!! I love that saying!!!
>>Then I tried the next part (with the FC or BC on the far side of the two jumps). I really feel that the only reason I could get the cross in was because of how long he went over the first jump.>>
I didn’t see that wideness as a drifting behavior – it was cued by accident 🙂 Part of why he went long was because you did say GO (1:49) so he went… good boy! He does listen to the verbals! And the FCs were a bit late, so you were facing forward as he took off on the them, which cued him to go long. You can send to the start barrel from further away (closer to the jumps) so he can see the rotation of the FC or BC before he makes a takeoff decision – that should help him add a stride to set up the turn. And he had some skittering on the footing to come back towards you, so have super clear exit line connection as that will really help him drive back to the tight line.
>>Also, we (Jen Pinder and I) have decided that we really, REALLY need to get a handle on this “no recall” thing. I am doing a lot of “work for breakfast” exercises (touch, stay, sit at a distance, sit/down while I approach) while he is on a long line. For these exercises, that got really old, so I put the line on the toy for a while. I did discover, however, that a dog who hasn’t had breakfast yet will work for dog food.
>> He worked beautifully here! Will he do the no-recall thing even on your home turf? Do I remember correctly that it was happening when he thought he was finished and he was avoiding being finished? If so, you can add in pretending you are finished here: praise, reward, pick up the leash…. Then go right back to work. And eventually the leash goes on, then off then right back to work. And so on – we are basically un-pairing the “we are done” cues to help him understand that there is still reinforcement available. That can build in nicely to things like having him down or sit while you approach (for food rewards, and for tugging on his leash too because you can use that at trials).
Great job here! Stay warm!
TracyHi!
I too have slacked off on true SG crate games over the years (which cracks me up because my dog is in the video LOL!!) We have a lot of ways to teach concepts now that can leave the crate as a place to relax and no arousal added into it.
Lift did a good job figuring out this into the crate thing – fun shaping session! It is possible that the PT was a little too far away, making it harder in those initial steps. My philosophy on crates nowadays is basically to shape the dogs to go into them, to make sure the dogs know to not bolt out of them, and to make them a chill place to be 🙂
The toy session was fun to see too! I think it is great to allow a puppy to choose the Toy Of The Day 🙂 It took her a moment like you noted but then she was all in and it became a really fun session! And she brought the toy back and let you engage with it 🙂 I like that she also offered the spin trick 🙂 Seemed like a fun play session!!!! Yay!
Great job here!
TracyHi!
The first part of the video looked really strong- you got things going with the cookie tosses then added in earlier rotation and more movement. It looked great!The freeze behavior was interesting to see – were there any errors on course before that? Or was the session long? You could have been a little more connected perhaps but I didn’t see anything that caused it in that moment. The previous reps didn’t have anything that told her she was wrong and the rep in progress didn’t communicate that either. So I totally 100% agree with your instructor saying that Changtse doesn’t like to be wrong – there didn’t seem to be anything that triggered here (there was a car noise off in the distance – is she sound sensitive?) You can try for very very short sessions, 1 or 2 and then take a break, and see if that helps get rid of the freezing. And keep track of what happens before & during it to see if a pattern emerges.
The earlier reps here looked lovely so it would be great to sort out the freezing behavior 🙂
Tracy
Hi! Everything looked great on both videos!
Looking at the regular connection video – it went really well!!! Your connection looked good on all the reps. She is still learning to drive ahead of you so on the first drive ahead rep (:32ish) she had a little question. But then she got the hang of it perfectly on the other side, no questions! I think the higher value toy helped – she was able to keep focus on it more than n the toy from the other side.
2nd video: the exit line connection looked really good! You had really strong mechanics on all reps. SUPER!!!
For the FCs and spins – you can add decel to cue the collection sooner on the FCs and spins so you are rotating and moving the new direction sooner. You were tending to face forward until she takes off, and that made turns a little wide. So as she is landing from jump 1, you can be decelerating as you move forward so when you see her approaching the bar and collecting, you can rotate into the next part of the cue.
As you do that, remember to maintain that ‘regular’ connection on jump 1. When you did that? She had a lovely straight line. Yay! If you looked forward she would start looking at you (like at 3:28) and that made her have a zig zag in her line.
The BCs looked good too! You were a little late on the first one (a right turn) so she found the new line after landing but then on the other side, the BC at 2:59 was lovely! You can trust her commitment on that and start your turn when she is still a full stride before takeoff (or sooner!) so she sees the BC before she takes off.
>>Ginger is having some odd salivation/drooling when I get to the training building. I’m not sure if she is excited to be there or if there is some sort of new chemical or cleaner I. The building. There has been some salt in the parking lot. No drooling at home…any thoughts??>>
That is really weird!! Do you think it might be a little car sickness? Does it happen anywhere else? It could be a chemical or cleaner or salt… It could be excitement but it seems out of character for her breed in general? Let me know what you think.
Great job here!
TracyHi!
I think what might have felt a little weird at first was that with tighter distances it was harder to get the rotation in and the connection shift. You had a little too much forward motion at the beginning, sending him with a few steps forward so he was driving to the jump with a little too much extension. You can stick closer to the wing wrap in the center so you can end him to the jump with just one step, then rotate and shift your connection – that will feel a little better! And adding more distance might feel a little less weird too 🙂
The circles on the middle wing all looked good! He has really strong commitment to those, so you were able to really play with your shifting connection – the reps of that at 1:37, 1:56 and 2:01 were AWESOME! Very clear connection shift and you to waaaay ahead – he was great with his commitment and had a lovely turn too!
Nice work here! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
I agree, she is doing AWESOME and you get a massive click/treat for really embracing the connection. You are starting to look like a smoooooth fast em!I like that you switched back to something totally different – too much repetition is not something super useful for her!
She looked great here – her commitment is already so much stronger, so you are able to just focus on connection. The camera angle gives us a really clear view of your face – connected throughout! Plus, low hands, so she could really see it on every rep.
One small detail on the circle wrap – when you were sending her around the cone, you were stepping to the side then continuing on your path behind her. See if you can use shifting connection instead of the step to the side – that will be a lot more challenging for her because there will be no motion support, and it will rely on the connection shift entirely 🙂You can see what I mean at 2:04 approx, when you send her around the cone on your left, you then step back and to the side then move forward. See if you can just move forward as she passes you – with a massive connection shift with your eyes and other hand to show where the landing spot would be.
This will be harder for hero do it slowly 🙂The other thing you can do on any of these to make them even more spicy is to spread out the distances even more! 🙂 Try 23 foot distances betewen the jump and the cone, and another 23 feet or so between the cone and the next jump because that will get you both running (she will like that a LOT!) and it is a good challenge to try to maintain connection while running even faster 🙂 Or feel free to make it more like 25 feet between the jump and cone 🙂
Great job here!!!
Tracy
