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Hi!
I don’t hate AI, I actually discuss things with it and use it for science research stuff. It has some really good applications. I am also aware that it feeds to my biases and it is also wrong a LOT 😂 so I like it but I don’t entirely trust it for everything.This is wrong:
>deliver it before apex commitment
Not at the apex.
Not on the down plank.
On the approach stride that precedes the climb.>That is too late, he will need it before he gets on the board.
>You’re cueing organization, not correcting flight.>
This is funny, though LOL
>Tap-tap is already a really strong candidate.>
It is certainly the easiest to say while running, but you can run around outside and test them all. Hit will be HARD to say repeatedly while running fast.
>And yes — your instructor is right — this is musical.
You’re composing stride patterns now. 🎵🐕>HAHA! Thanks, Chat! LOL!
But testing it out while running will help you decide. Then training it in high arousal will bring it to the ring. How did you originally train the frame?
T
Hi!
>His natural stride is a 1 hit that hits just above yellow and it’s been a HUGE struggle to try to get a 2 hit in trials when his stride lengthens out and he’s aroused. Gonna think about that.>
As you work on his a-frame striding to get the relative collection, you can look at how you train it in terms of arousal level. To be able to access the proper striding behavior in the arousal of a trial, you will want to train at the same arousal level (or past it!). That is where I use something like the 10 tunnel game or other dogs to get the arousal level super high to train the behavior so I can also get it in a trial environment.
On the video:
He seemed to love the strike a pose game – the strength of his hand target skills played into that for sure. Lovely! Onwards to the advanced level, no notes here other than maybe try the baby level with a toy in your other hand 🙂>he’s less sure why he should drive into me for the lap turns if I’m just going to flip him away so he started to flank a bit. >
I was all ready to whip out the “ideas for getting herding dogs to drive in” but actually… it is a little tweak in mechanics and I think he will drive in perfectly! He was driving in nicely when you were just rewarding for driving in.
What was happening in the mechanics was that your leg was stepping back too soon, and your arm was not moving with it. By ‘too soon’, your leg was stepping back before he got to your hand, which meant there was no place for it to go when the hand did move to cue the turn. So keep your feets together until he gets to about 2 inches away from your outstretched magic cookie hand. Then the hand moves along with the foot stepping back. The hand will draw him all the way back then turn him away. Your hand was trying to turn him in place at your side, but the movement is more of a draw him back then turn him away thing, along with the leg. Let me know if that makes sense!
Nice job here!
Tracy
Hi! The lap and tandem turns are going well! The reps with food at the beginning looked great.
>Noticed that if I carried too far forward it caused her to have a wide turn as opposed to those turns where I wasn’t as near to the wing.>
Correct! The turns will automatically tighten up when you decelerate when you are drawing her to your hands. You can see this with the cookie reps at the end – the decel was there and so the turns were really nice! Being a little closer to the wing helps too, so you can send to the previous wing more to make it easier to get to the turn away wing.
When you were using the ball as the reward, she had a lot of FIRE so you had to move faster & decelerate sooner – no worries about the turns being a little wide. At 1:33 she didn’t see the cues for the tandem because you were going fast and not really showing the hands so she didn’t know it was coming.
On most of the reps, you were good about letting her get almost to your hands before starting the turn away cues. There were only two spots where you were a toy bit early (:54 and 1:09) so she turned towards you and not away from you. The rest were really good!
>Used two balls – took some time to get her interested in the ball I had. Need a better idea of the mechanics for this. >
She really seemed to be having a great time! When she is partying with the ball you threw, give her about 10 seconds then call her and let her see you bouncing the ball, tossing it in the air, etc as you head back to the start spot. That can help her understand that the party continues! You can sit on the ground if you want to but when she brings the ball back (or comes back without it) go directly to the next rep with the ball you are holding without asking for the first one back. You can pick that one up when she is partying with ball 2 🙂
Will it be less efficient? Yes LOL. But will it be a lot more fun? Oh definitely less 😉
>I edited out the ball victory laps and other throws as we would have a 10 minute video if they were included.>
Only 10 minutes?? That is a good start! And a nice workout for her, hopefully she was tired 🙂
Great job!
TracyHello and welcome!!!!
> In a tiny (22’) camper van with the puppy right as he enters adolescence. What could possible go wrong. 🤣>
OMG that sounds FUN!!!! Nothing will go wrong – Vibe is in Adolescence PreHab and will be perfect. I just did 8 weeks in the RV with 9 dogs, 2 of which were under age 2. We all survived, I think 🤣😂🦖
>This morning (pouring rain out) we did a mini version of opposite arm to cue collected turn on a single jump.>
This went great! He was super responsive to the brake arm, and not offended by it 🙂 His collections looked good.
> A couple of NASCAR turns but a pretty fair choice in this space.>
think that was mainly because he collected well enough to be able to accelerate after landing- but there was no place to accelerate to because you were right there. So the kinetic energy spread out a little 🙂 But if you take off and run away, he will drive around the wing with no problem.
>We’ll try to do the sequences if the weather cooperates.
When you do the sequences, you will have more speed so your timing will need to be sooner. Most of these reps will show up as late on a sequence – you showed the brake arm after he would have had to make a takeoff decision on a sequence (especially with taller bars). He is making his takeoff decisions at the exit of the previous obstacle so he can sort the next stride – which means you can start showing the turn info/brake info when he exits the tunnel on the sequence, kind of like what you did here at :39 when he exited the barrel. If he gets to the halfway point between the tunnel and jump on the sequences, his takeoff decision has been made and info that arrives at or after that point will be too late to get a good collection before takeoff.
>For the verbal characteristics discussion we are having in MaxPup I wonder if Zoom, Zoom for a-frame is not helping Rip have collection vibes -which he needs to not do a 1 hit. Long vowel sound. Thoughts? Ideas?>
When you say Zoom zoom, how do you say it? ZOOOOOM ZOOOOOM or more like ‘ZZuhmZZuhmZZuhm’? The z sound can be exaggerated so it is less forward, and the word can actually be almost whispered.
Nice work here!
Tracy
Welcome back to you and your girls! So fun!!!! I am glad you can come play in the winter 🙂
> Both girls compete at the Master level in AKC JWW and STD,>
Wait – I think the last I knew was Kashia was just beginning to compete and now she is in Masters? Woohoo! Congrats!
I look forward to seeing the videos!
Tracy
Hi!
Great job on these! He is so fun to watch: so keen and eager to play these games!!
Things are going really well, so as you work the sequences we can look at the timing of the cues. Because of his speed and stride length, watch him more as he exits the start wing (don’t worry about if you are close to the next jump or not). The turn cues should begin as he exits the previous obstacle: the wing, in this setup, or the tunnel when you do the sequences.
If you start the cues before he has to make a takeoff decision, his turns are terrific: fast and tight! The rep at :55 wa sa lovely example of you watching back to him, starting the turn cues/brake arm as he exited the wing and nailing the timing for a lovely turn.
Compare to the rep at 1:34 – he was more than halfway to the jump when you showed the brake arm and cues, so his takeoff decision was already made – he turned after landing. Still a good turn, but the earliy info got a better turn 🙂
You might find that you are not close to the wrap wing when he needs you to begin the cues: no problem! He has excellent commitment so you can decelerate and show the brake arms from anywhere, just as long as you don’t turn your feet too soon.
Nice threadle wraps here!!! You can also do a push wrap on the backsides – instead of having him on your left here on the last 2 reps, you can put him on your right side so you are pushing him to the backside with you on the landing side of the jump. Then you can play with a break arm to see how that changes his collection for the push wraps.
Lovely session! Let me know what you think!
Tracy
Hello!
> Like this from class last week where she drove out almost 40ft to the jump on her line because I told her to Go when I should have been cueing a left turn.>
Ok, that was IMPRESSIVE!! Wow!!!
Thank you for the boing videos. Easy answer – it is a disconnection thing. You disconnect on the send? Info turns off, she gets frustrated, BOING.
It is a little hard to see on the videos because they were a little far, but when you go from connected to disconnected to point ahead of her: that is the moment that induces the BOING RAGE. Putting a toy on the line helps of course, but when you are connected she does not boing. The connection is what actually supports the line so it is the most important piece of info for her.
Visuals:
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1FlvBHI4h_VfSrgNufD4AFJOpfQBMMsaOOE7CLEvA5jc/edit?usp=sharing> then my transition is not what she is expecting/wants and the boing comes out. >
Yes- she wants you to stay connected LOL and expects you too because she is judgey like that 🙂
>Theres’s a bit of it at 2:40 on her brake arm sequences video from 2/21 where she starts to come off the jump and towards me as I am cueing the wrap.>
That was the only spot you were disconnecting and rotating too early, but you were so good with all of the other info that she was feeling generous and did not boing 🙂
So in classes or playing these games, direct your brake arms to her eyes and let you eyes follow your fingers to her eyes. Over-exaggerate the connection and see if we can de-boing her! Let me know what you think!
Tracy
Hi!
>First, I was a bit confused by
– 5 minutes / week
or
– 2 minutes / game.
I’m not exactly sure what you meant by a “game”>Sorry for any confusion!
It is 5 minutes for an unedited video, not per week. And 2 minutes for an edited video. It is a guideline to discourage people from doing 20 minute sessions or edited 53 reps into a video 🙂
A game is basically the 4 little wing-jump sequences for the brake arm (first lesson). The sequences allow for more flexibility because on the brake arm stuff, there are a LOT of sequences but also, we don’t need to do each one 25 times 🙂 So 2 minutes of edited video or 5 minutes unedited can still provide a lot of reps. Your video was an edited collection of both the warm up games and the sequences. Perfect!Looking at the video:
One jump reps: fab! He responded well to the hand cue!
Wing to jump reps: Still fab, even when late 🙂 More in timing below 🙂
At :30 – he jumped past all the collection cues to go straight and get the toy. My response would have been “hey!!!” as well 🙂 but here are more thoughts on that:
Abuot the placed toy – I think what will work more in your favor is that toy out on that line is NEVER the reward on the wraps – the line never takes him there on a wrap cue, and we don’t want even a small part of his brain to be considering it 🙂 If that was a tunnel out on the line instead of a toy, it would not ever be in play if I am giving a wrap cue and the toy should be held to the same standards.
Since it is sometimes in play as the reward when you send him to it, his brain is devoting bandwidth to paying attention to it. If it is never in play as the reward? His brain will eliminate it as an option and there is no draw to it, and all brain bandwidth can be used to organize the tight turns. So the toy can be out there… but rewards for the wrap all come from your hand or back on the wrap direction, and he is never sent out to get the placed reward after a wrap cue. The placed reward here is only for go lines – that is much more black and white (pun intended haha)
There were some reps where there was praise but no other reward for the turns, keeping the placed toy in play which is why it is still on his mind. You can have a 2nd toy in a pocket to whip out, or a placed toy in the direction you will be heading to after a wrap. Placement of reinforcement is one of the most clarifying things in dog sports.
>> I did that to try to simulate some of the excited “out of control” behavior I get at trials.>>
You can do that while maintaining clarity on rewards by getting him tugging wildly or chasing frisbees, or running through the tunnel 5 times in a row 🙂 That will also challenge your timing because he will be moving faster and timing is an important element too.
After the wrap cues, stay connected but turn and get outta there 🙂 The rep at :43 had good collection and was rewardable. He stayed out after the collection a bit because you rotated back out towards the red jump instead of completing the rotation for the wrap. Try not to open your shoulders there or at :48 to follow his line to landing: just turn and go to the next line.
Since I have mentioned it, let’s look at the timing:
He needs to see and hear the cues before he makes a takeoff decision. That includes the brake arm (along with decel, verbal, etc). Position near the wing is lovely! But also not as important as the other cues to get the wraps.
When you were moving to the wing but late with the strong brake arm, he was wide because his takeoff decision was already made so the only option was to turn after landing. If he is past the halfway point like at 1:30 amd 1:54 between the tunnel and the jump when he sees it, it is too late. At 1:37, he was already taking off when he saw it, definitely too late.
Compare to 1:46 and then the groove you got into at 2:01, 2:10, 2:22 – NICE! All of those cues happened before the takeoff decision, starting shortly after exiting the tunnel. Lovely turns.
>He seems to turn better to his right (“dig”) but I’m not sure if it is because I am better at cueing with my right hand.>
It was timing – he had gorgeous left turns too when the timing was good!
>If I can get close to a jump (as we are doing here), I can usually collect him pretty well. I hope we work up to some distance from the wraps.>
If you think more about giving the cues at the exit of the previous jump, you can get him to collect from anywhere. This includes the brake arm- bearing in mind that the brake is directed to his eyes, you can be parallel or behind him and point the brake arm to his eyes – but don’t turn your feet because that will likely pull him off the line (hitting the brakes too hard!)
You can see this on the last few reps:
3:13 ahd cues that were very swooshy over the bar as hewas taking off – wide turn
3:23 was earlier but still after the takeoff decision was made
3:27 had you showing the brake arm cues as soon as he exited the tunnel… very nice turn!Since you have the room, feel free to put another jump 20-something feet away so the line is jump-tunnel-jump-jump here to get a wrap on the new jump. Run in closer to the tunnel so you are not as far ahead, to play with wrap timing when you are not at the wing.
>I am not familiar/practiced with using the collection arm on the backside exactly the way you do. I “trail” my offside arm.>
The trailing arm is more to support commitment because it indicates the landing spot. The issue I see with it here at 2:32 is it widens his turn by leaving you in his way on the landing spot and turning your shoulders to the wider line.
Having your arm through the uprights at 2:39 & 2:47 also got a wide line, at 2:40 & 2:48 he is landing out by the other wing. So try a brake arm to his eyes before he arrives at the entry wing, then use your eyes only (looking back) to support commitment – no arm trailing, I don’t think he needs it 🙂
One last spot – he committed to the #1 jump at 2:51 and 3:04 on the send, but didn’t really collect before takeoff (turned when he landed). You might try the brake arm as part of the release to get collection before takeoff on that type of opening.
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
Tracy
Hi!
This went really well! The Go versus Get Out when you were walking was easy on both sides. Super! Your arm cues looked lovely 🙂 There was one unrelated blooper at :48. He went to the other side of you because you turned forward to throw the toy – that looked like a blind cross cue so he switched sides, good boy!
When you added running: At 1:07 when you were really running, the motion overrode the get out cues. On the next reps at 1:18 and the last rep – you were still moving fast but really dialed up the get out cue to be even more exaggerated and he got it! SUPER!! The one ‘no reward’ moment at 1:07 and the rewards at 1:18 and the last rep were really useful for his understanding.
For the next time you visit this game, 2 things to add:
– the advanced level where you do the FC or BC as soon as you see his head turn and him take a stride to the jump
– move the wrap wing in really close to the jump to proof the ‘go straight’ moments. That jump will be very easy to do the ‘get out’ when it is close but a lot harder to ignore on the GO reps when it is only a foot or two away 🙂Great job!
Tracy
Good morning!
Nice job with Mission: Transition!
Go reps were strong, every single one was connected and fast, so she knew exactly what to do. SUPER!!
> Mission Transition I feel like I did much better on the first side, then struggled with how to time.>
I think you did well on both sides 🙂 It is a HARD game with a baby dog because they are still learning to commit!
On the first side, you can show more acceleration on the wraps . Sounds counterintuitive LOL! What I mean is that rather than be at a steady decelerated pace, you can go fast til she exits the wing then make a BIG transition into decel, then rotate when she collects right before takeoff.
On the other side you were doing the acceleration then deceleration. That is probably what made the timing feel a little harder, because she needs to see the decel early enough to coordinate her mechanics, but she did well!!
Also, she sees *everything* – at 1:14 she came off the jump after a good decel and I thought maybe it was a lack of connection? Watching it frame by frame – Nope, you were connected… it was because you started rotating too early (for a baby dog). Watch your left leg step out into the rotation for the FC while she was still several feet away from the jump (MILES away, for a baby dog 😂🤣)and that is the extact moment she comes off the line.
If that happens (she comes off the jump), you can stay in flow and send her back around the wing to either do a GO or try another wrap. That way, she is not told she is wrong, but also we are not rewarding for stopping in front of the jump 🙂
Your next rep at 1:27 was lovely – you had a good decel and waited longer to do the rotation, so she was gathering for takeoff. You started the rotation just before takeoff and she was able to stay committed. The other reps were strong too but I think the rep at 1:48 might have been my favorite! Lovely! It gets easier to time this and she will read it earlier as she gets more experienced, so don’t worry if any of the turns are a little wider for now. She is doing great!
Zig zags are looking strong too. She is ready for the next steps and because this went so well, I would add 2 things at the same time 🙂
– add the 3rd wing and bar
– move it all closer together so the wings are touching the previous bar
That will mean you both have to move a little quicker but I think there will be no issues, only success with that 🙂Great job!!
Tracy
Good morning!
I just love his turtle neck in the zig zag video! So cute and dapper! His stays & releases also looked great!
It was not exactly a cheat to come back over the bar to get the reward at :40 🙂 but handling him to go around it was helpful!
> I can be a little more deliberate and move less (like you were in the example video), >
Your movements looked good to me! They needed to be pretty exaggerated to show him the line and he did really well! You can try having your hands a little lower because he is small, but otherwise there is no need to change your movements. You can take this outside when the weather is good to let him play with lead changes on a different surface.
MIssion: transition is one of my favorite games! He was really paying attention to the cues, love it!
Note that at :16 you did your wrap verbal and he went and wrapped the jump: freeze the video there and you will see your feet pointing to the jump, so he was correct. Good boy! That is rewardable. Compare to :21 when you gave him the wrap verbal but your feet were opinting to the barrel… so he went to the barrel.The sends to the wraps were really good – he could TOTALLY tell the difference between the wrap verbal & send and the GO, and made the correct adjustments to his striding. SUPER! He really only had one question:
At :23 you cued Go so he jumped in extension, then you wanted him to come back to you for the reward. He had to think it over LOL! You can throw the reward forward past the jump for the Go reps that like you did at :41 for example. And the wrap reps can be rewarded back at you, which is what you were doing and looked great! .
Great job here!
Tracy
Good morning!
>Otherwise my body looks like same for the IN, kinda.>
The dog-side arm back is similar to the threadle slice/in cue but on the threadle slice, we swing the arm back a lot plus handler position (and verbal) is different.
Think of serps as walking through a room at a cocktail party, carrying a tray of pigs-in-a-blanket 🙂 Your feet are pointing to your direction of travel, but the serving tray is held behind you and away from your body LOL
Looking at the serps in the video:
I think the main thing is not which arm to use, but more that we can teach her to drive in over the jump based on your line & position! When you are moving parallel to the bar, she doesn’t drive in for the serp.
At :55 (first rep) your pigs-in-a-blanket arm was great! But she did not come in. On the next rep at 1:07 you had your opposite arm up but I don’t think that was what brought her in: you also stepped back away from the jump (watch your right foot there)
When you switched sides, you used your opposite arm but also moved parallel and she did not come in. So to get her to come to the jump when you are moving parallel to the bar, you can angle the jump a little towards her so she can see the bar more and doesn’t have to jump sideways as much.
Also, be sure to look at her directly on the send to the wing and face it with a big step til she commits – at 1:27 you turned away on the send so she did not go to the wing. When that happens, assume handler error and reset her with a cookie. She had a MAD when you indicated she was wrong (lack of reward, a ‘come here’ and reaching for her collar were the indicators). Note how she did not want to come back then had a change in body language when she did come back.
She had another BIG MAD at 2:15 when the send was not clear (note your left leg stepping back instead of forward) and she moved away and sat. You did pull out a cookie to get her to come back, but you can pull out the cookie to reset immediately before the MAD happens 🙂
One more idea – if you are using a toy as the target, don’t also throw food because then she will ignore the toy and just watch your cookie hand 🙂 Getting her to look downwards to the reward target will really help her also look for the bar. So you can use a toy, or a toy with a stuffed lotus ball, or a food bowl – but the reward is on the ground and she can get it without watching your hands 🙂
Looking at the ladder grid: She definitely understands the concept and her stay looks great! Yay! We are going to change the rewarding and you will see more power happening:
The first rep had the reward stationary and close so she landed on jump 2 a bit. The other reps had the reward further, but stationary (and you were moving on rep 3). The stationary reward doesn’t actually promote powerful form, so you can see her form was more up-and-down rather than pushing from the rear because she was working on stopping to get the reward more than on jumping. So… no more stationary rewards! Attach the toy to a long line and drag it (moving target). You will see an entirely different ‘attack’ of the grid 🙂 I think the distance was fine here, and possibly even too small when the moving target is in place.Nice work! Let me know what you think!
Tracy
Just posted it! YouTube was being bizarro about loading it – YouTube is having a strange week, lots of errors. I blame the weather LOL!
Good morning!
Dogs LOVE the line up and we often see it get offered as the first order of business, like she did here LOL!!
You can make the hand target more obvious by leaning a little on that side (to get the target more to nose level) and letting her see you shift your gaze from her eyes to your target hand. You can even shake the hand a bit!
I think the target faded into the background especially with the foot stance of the line up being available. What is your line up cue? It is possible that your hand position looks the same, but getting the target hand lower and making it the center of your focus will help. You can see that when you got down on the ground she found the target with no problem – that then transferred beautifully to when you stood up again.
For the next session, start with your feet together and a low target hand while you are standing, so she locks onto the target and not your feet 🙂
Nice work!
Tracy
Hi!
The novel-exciting SSC game went really well! I think the bone was the exciting object in the first part? Or maybe you were just moving it out of the way 🙂 She was great about ignoring it. She was also super with the treat bag which was definitely harder because it was so close! She looked at it when you put it down, but I am fine with that because generally in shaping sessions when we put something down, it is an indication that we want the pups to interact with it. She was able to offer strong behavior on the prop – it is interesting to see how she found it easy to move away from cookie bag to get to the prop, but harder to move towards it! That is an indication that she was very aware of the cookie bag and was working hard to ignore it 🙂 You were patient and helped a little and she was able to get it. Good girlie!!!Nice work! You can keep putting novel-exciting things into the environment and play any of the games that she is good at and enjoys.
Tracy
