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Hi!
>.The bars are up and it really makes a difference as I can see that I have to give cues earlier.
Yes, the bar totally changes the picture for the timing and connection!
>> This is not easy to do and to maintain and I find when I add another part of an exercise, it’s easy to not see her with regular connection. Does that make sense?>
Totally makes sense and totally relatable. This ‘regular’ connection seems so easy in theory and yet… it is pretty hard!
On the video, the regular connection will also help with the timing. What was happening here was that you were looking ahead at the wrap jump so that made timing hard, plus when you look ahead, she looks at you.
For example at :02 – she is over the first jump. You are looking ahead, she is looking at you. The reps at :25 & :49 more connection towards her but not quite enough so she is still curling towards you a bit, looking for connection.
You can connect back to her more so you see her jumping 1 very clearly – that will help her look forward on the line and also help you time the cue. When she is over jump 1, you can start to decelerate so when she lands she sees the cue already in progress (decelerating into the wrap followed by the rotation).
You had super NICE exit line connection at :27 – it was good on the other reps but GREAT at :27 and created an awesome turn!
Nice work here! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi! Lots of really good things to look at and discuss here! Thanks for posting these!!!
First off: she was GAME ON for the reinforcement so even though the games were hard and there were struggles… she never slowed down or checked out. That is a big win! Huge!
>>Hopefully, I didn’t kill the little bit of drive she gained from the new reward.>>
You did not kill anything 🙂 She was excited and happy to keep trying! And you were good about keeping things light and happy for her too even though you were frustrated.
Onwards to sorting out the sends:
It is frustrating for sure when things go wrong, and agility is a sport where A LOT of things go wrong LOL!! So here are some ideas for how handle the moments when things go wrong and a different way to look at things:>>I was so overwhelmed by the notion of rewarding failures that I just stopped at our 1 minute mark >>
Don’t think of these as failures. You aren’t rewarding her for making ‘wrong’ decisions. A better way to think about it might be rewarding her even if things do go according to *your* plan 🙂 because she does not know your plan 🙂 Think of these as Kashia reading the cues correctly, so the responses are rewardable.
>>and didn’t bother to get a success before ending.
You actually don’t need to get a success before ending – there have actually been studies that say this is not important. What is important is maintaining a high rate of success. And part of doing that is if things are going wrong, you can totally stop the session and re-evaluate before asking for more. (More on that below)
On the videos: On some of the reps she was reading you correctly and on others, she was asking for more info. Whenever the dogs curl in to look up at our faces they are seeking more info or a clarification (which I what was happening here.
We can channel your perfectionism into specific things to do to get things as close to perfect as possible (remembering that any sport with an animal can be imperfect :))
2 adjustments to use when you play with sends (these should make a massive difference!):
– When you are sending her and using your jump verbal (great job using your verbal!!!) you can use this mantra:
Talk to the dog, not the to the obstacle. What I mean by that is make direct eye contact with her and tell her to jump (don’t tell the jump to jump :))– in order to be able to talk to the dog directly, keep your dog-side arm down and back as you start the send. Think of it as a magnet to her nose 🙂 As she passes you, you can move it forward (following her nose)
Here is what I mean by that:
Using this concept, you will be showing her a lot more connection which points your chest directly to the jump. When you were pointing at the jump ahead of her (even when your eyes were on her eyes), the pointing ahead of her was turning your shoulders away from the jump so she was confused and curling in front of you to get more info.
That is what was happening on the 2nd video – your right arm was pointing to the jump but it turned your shoulders to the wall and she was confused.
On the first video, you had some reps that were more connected with the pointing later, so she found the jump on those. Yay!!
And on some of the reps, she was heading to the jump but then you stepped back just after she passed you (watch your right leg at :31 and :47) she had a conflicting indicator – meaning 2 cues were happening and asking for different behaviors. So she had to guess, and went with motion (a good choice!). Totally rewardable with chicken because she was correctly reading a cue.
Compare to :58 and 118 you did *not* step back and she took the jump. SUPER!! Since she is young, hold your send (no stepping back) until you see her front feet lift off for the jump – that is her cue to you that you can move away.
So the main point is that our hand is not a cue that dogs follow on sends (sad but true LOL!! I totally WISH they followed the hand in this context!) They follow the line of our shoulders, so we need to keep our hands back and down and following their noses 🙂 –
So, now ideas on what to do if something is going wrong in a session:
Have a 2-oopsie ticker in your head. If things go wrong once? OK, no worries, try to cue it better and try again. If things go wrong twice? Time to change something.
You can channel the perfectionism into the problem solving, rather than getting the exercise correct. The problem solving is more important!
>>I should have moved the wing closer and/or I should have put a target bowl out. >>
Yes! Excellent ideas! You can also stop the session and do a quick video review – play the video in slow motion and see how strong your connection is. Bear in mind it is not if you can see her… it is if she has a clear view of your eyes and center of chest.
>Neither of which I thought of during my 1 minute training session. >>
Before the session, write a problem-solving cheat sheet 🙂 It can be on an index card or you can put it on your phone (I text it to myself LOL!) so if you get into the 2nd failure – whip out the cheat sheet so you don’t have to remember anything.
If nothing on the cheat works? No worries! You can ‘phone a friend’ aka posting the video and asking what we see.
>> Both of which I thought of hours later as I stewed on what went wrong and how I could fix it for next time.>>
When stewing (or I call it obsessing haha) – grab your video and watch it in slow motion. Freeze it on the moment when she stops sending to the jump. What is she seeing? If she sees your arm pointing ahead, eyes ahead, shoulders turned away from the jump, you can add more connection with more eye contact and arm down and back more.
If your connection looked really good, it is possible that the wing and jump are too far apart so you can move them closer or your can put your target bowl out.
>> I practiced for 1 min or less on both sides and that was it. I used grilled chicken as her reward.>>
It was awesome! She was happy to keep trying!
Nice work! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
I guess winter is really upon us now! Hopefully you are not getting too much snow. We are ok here, just colder than I like and a bit rainy.>>I’m probably gonna have to do most of my work with JJ at the club. That means less time to work with her due to the long drive.
Now that there is snow on the ground, it is probably better to do this on turf indoors. Even a little snow can be too slippery for her when adding jump stuff because there is so much processing involved – we don’t want a slip to cause an injury.
The sending on the first video has good connection and her commitment is really but you can fade out the number of steps you are taking to the jump. After she exits the wing wrap, connect and send with just one step. When you do that, though, be sure to maintain connection til she is at the jump: at :49 you disconnected and looked away so she (correctly) changed her line – you can reward her because she was correctly following your cue there. You maintained connection a lot better on the last rep at 1:00 and she went to the jump. So if she misses a jump, assume it was a disconnect and reward her as you reset her for the next rep 🙂
2nd video:
This also looked really good! And you can also fade out taking as many steps to the jump: take one big send step with a big connection and see how far she can send 🙂 You can move the wing in closer to start, then gradually move it further away if she is feeling very confident.3rd video:
Great job adding the next jump! When you sent her and moved away to the next jump before she took off for the first jump, her turn was immediately tighter. Yay! You can send and leave as soon as you see her lock onto the jump, maintaining connection as you move to the next jump.4th video – comparing timing to the previous video, you can see how you ran forward for longer so she was wider over the first jump. On the previous video you were moving away sooner, so she read the turn info sooner. So on this side too, you can see how early you can send and move away to get the 2nd jump and a tight turn 🙂
Very nice send on the 5th video! Now you are at the “trust the puppy” training stage 🙂 As soon as she blasted past you to the wing (and before she arrived at the wing) you can be heading for the blind. At :05 you took an extra step or two the wing so you didn’t leave for the blind til she reached the wing… which made it harder to get the blind by a step or two. She totally read the beginning of the blind cross so responded beautifully! You can experiment with trusting her more and when you see her blasting past you for the send, you can start moving away. The hardest part will be maintaining connection as you move away – feel free to reward her for going to the wing even as you start running away for the blind.
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
>>I just did the first couple of exercises and I only did one rep of each move. Would you recommend trying several reps of each part? >>
Maybe one or two and if it is all good, move on 🙂 Otherwise it can be too much repetition of the same thing and she might start offering different behaviors.
>>Do I need to be closer to the second jump when I am cueing the serpentine?>>
Yes – but that can be done by leaving the send sooner. As soon as you see her head turn and lock onto the jump, you can start sliding away to the next line while maintaining connection to her.
On the video: The first rep on each side had a little too much arm pointing forward (:02, and :11 on the other side when she actually ended up on your left again – exit line connection on the wrap wing will help that a lot!)
But then you locked into the send connection it was lovely: On the left side sends: :27 was strong and :44 was great! And on the right side sends: :35 was stronger and :51 was great too. Yay!
>>. I think it was okay as far as her slipping. If you see something that indicates it isn’t safe I will try to do it at Debbie’s or some other non-snow place.
I recommend going to Deb’s place or other non-snow footing 🙂 She wasn’t slipping, per se, but she was struggling to move through the thickness/heaviness of the snow. When I lived in upstate New York and we had think heavy lake-effect snow for 6 or 7 months a year (ick!) my dogs’ rehab vet told me to never do agility in the snow because it was so hard to move in for agility-type movement. She said “it was a cruciate blow waiting to happen.” EEEK! That scarred me LOL so I now pass along that info : )
Great job on the sends! Onwards to the next games!
TracyHello and welcome! Prudence is so fun!! You’re doing a fantastic job with her!
This session was really strong. The main thing I see here is we can look at the smaller details of making the ‘regular’ connection that will make a big difference for her.
You were always looking towards her to make connection, so we can look at how your arm use supports connection. Because she is low to the ground, you don’t need to have your dog-side arm up high or out to the side at all as that can block your connection to her.
When you are ahead of her, you can reveal the connection even more by having your dog-side arm down and back, pointing to her nose 🙂
When you are in any position, you can also use your arms like a sprinter by bending your elbows and pumping them at your sides 🙂 This is particularly helpful when you are behind her (she can see more connection in her peripheral vision). And arms bent & pumping will keep your shoulders open to her more than low arms at your sides will. Small details but they can be powerful!
On the first 2 reps, it looks like you had an arm out at your side, then your arm down at your side. Compare those to the rep at 1:19-1:22 and the last rep here: you were using ‘sprinter arms’ on those and that just made your connection crystal clear!!
Great job here! You can definitely add the exit line connection and combos. Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
The exit line connections look terrific here! Yay! And his turns were SUPER tight. No tweaks or recommend are needed on the connections!>>Not sure why I got a turn the wrong direction in here. Thoughts?>>
The handling showed rear cross 🙂 It is actually something that dogs give us very good feedback about:
When we are moving along the line to the wrap wing and transition into decel before you rotate, the dog always sees the correct wrap.When we pushing in towards the bar and *don’t* do a transition to decel… Rear cross!
That I what happened here:
At :27 you were in motion at the same pace and then stepped towards the center of the bar as you rotated, so there was no transition and there was pressure on the rear cross line, so he did the RC. The same thing happened at :54, so he did the rear cross there too. Good boy! If that happens, you can reward him and assume that you cued a rear cross by accident 🙂Compare the accidental RCs to the reps at :34-:37 and :40-:43 for example, where you did really good transitions into the wrap: clear decel and no pressure into the rear cross line. These were particularly lovely wraps!
Nice work here!
TracyHi!
Hooray for his terrific class performance! Yay!! So fun!!!>>to not get quite so bummed with my performance here.>>
I don’t see anything to be bummed about here, unless you edited it out bloopers 🤣😂🤣 Overall, it was strong! You are definitely stronger in terms of connection when he is in your left as opposed to when he is in your right. More on that below 🙂
On the first 2 reps, I think you were using proximity to the start wing to get commitment. When you were close at :02 he went. But as you got further away (:11) and didn’t connect, he had questions (if you freeze the video at :11 as he takes his first step, you can see how you were rotated to the other side of the wing so he was following you correctly). Nice adjustment to use connection in the form of direct eye contact on the send at :19 and :26 – much better! And so were all the other start reps.
The dog-on-left reps all looked good in terms of connection down the line and exit line connection. He had a bar down on one of the reps because your decel and rotation was late so he didn’t have time to adjust before takeoff.
Dog-on-right reps – the regular connection can be stronger by opening your right shoulder back towards him, and exaggerating the exit line connection. Sometimes it was clear but sometimes he would lift his head a bit to see it better or go a little wide. It was still good, but the dog-on-left reps were great!
>One interesting thing is that I thought he was much more happy and confident on the last 3-4 reps, but I did switch from toy to food and I think he was much more excited about a food reward.>>>
Yes – when he was going the right side reps, I think he was getting a little fatigued (of the repetition? Or of the toy?) so bringing out the food really got him pumped of again! The last few reps were fast and happy!
Well done here! You can totally work these games in your basement – the jumps being close together makes things harder for sure but it really sharpens the skills 🙂
Tracy
Hi!
I think this went really well!!! Things happen a lot faster when she has more room to really run 🙂 Your connections were really good! And our brains want to switch the toy to the other hand so good job to you for catching yourself! Even when you were accidentally switching, it was almost like you were two-handing the toy so she was still able to see very clear connection.The FCs looked good! She was turning really well!! And the spins looked good too – when you wanted her to take the jump after the spin, keep moving while you are connected to show the line.
She was correct at 1:09 to go blasting past on the new side because that was the direction you were running and the connection was really good, so she seemed to feel SUPER confident about it. Yay!
Same with 1:29 and 1:50 – She stayed on her line. If you want her to take the toy, you can present it to her and use a marker: I say “bite!” when I want the dog to take the toy in my hand.When you kept moving and connecting and ran past the last jump? She got it very easily 🙂 like at 2:33!
Your running line on the last rep just needed to be more in the gap – the line presented the backside of the jump so she was correct to almost go to the backside til you pulled her back in.
>>Side note: she was focused and engaged! Didn’t run off so high hopes when we get back in the ring->>
Yes, she was great! And there were distractions and she stayed with you. Super!! You can totally use the process to get her into the ring for competitions from the Transition To Trials class and I think she will be super successful.
Nice work here!!
TracyGood morning! Really nice work on all of these clips!!! Interestingly, you have better connection on the sends when he is on your left than when he is on your right. When he is on your left, your arm is lower and pointed at him more, showing more connection.
When he is on your right, you are tending to point ahead of him more which can break connection on bigger distances – so tell your right arm to point back to him like your left arm does 🙂
Looking at the videos:
Video 1: Nice send! You can start closer to the start wing to add more distance on the send to the jump.
Video 2: you had a little more distance here and the send looked great!
Video 3: This one was on your right – there not as much connection on the 1st send (pointing ahead go him to the jump, which turns you a little away from it) but much clearer on the 2nd send
Video 4: this is also on your right and not as clear and the left side sends. Remind yourself to look at him more when he is on your right and to say the verbal to his cute face. That will help support the connection too!
The 2nd rep was MUCH better 🙂 You can still use less arm to point ahead. Really nice lateral distance to jump 2!Video 5 – Very nice building up to the sequence! Remember to look at him as he is over the 2nd jump rather than point forward to the wing. You can keep the arm pointing to his nose and tell him very directly.
Video 6 -The 2nd send here looked really good!! Try not to keep going in a circle for too long you’ll both get dizzy LOL!!
Video 7 – This was a send on your left – really nice! Your left side sending is spot on!!!
Video 8 – This had 2 sends on the left – really nice too! You can trust his commitment and move away sooner:
As soon as you see him look at the wing, move to the cross to get there one step sooner.
SUPER nice exit line connection!Video 9 – these were on your right side and you are pointing forward more than you do on your left side. We humans have definite side preferences!
You can definitely leave earlier for the FC on this one – at :17 when he was landing from the jump he was totally locked onto the wing, so you can turn and leave (staying connected) to go grab The FC ) Nice exit line connection on the cross here too!Video 10 – nice sends here on your left, he had a lot of independence going to the wing here. You can also stay further from the jump before the FC – you ended up getting a little too close to it at :41 which sent hi to the backside of the next jump after the FC (good boy!)
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning! It looks cold there! And yes, slick footing is harder for us humans to process. That can contribute to the accidental rears (like at :32), because your brain is trying do the handling AND remain balanced on uncomfortable footing.
But, overall, I thought your connections here looked GREAT!! There was one spot where you could have looked at her more and forward less (:38) and she was wide there… but every other rep had great connection both on the line and after the cross for the exit line. SUPER!!!!! So forget the one less-than-perfect rep and focus on all the others 🙂
We can now look at the timing of the cues that got the best turns.
The best turns came when she was turning to her right and when you were NOT trying to drive ahead of her (like at :48 and 1:03). And your decel started as soon as her front feet landed from the first jump. So it was a combination of connection, decel (looked really good!!) and positional cue (hanging back, which probably exaggerated the decel too).
It was harder to get that same turn when she was turning left and you were ahead of her. So two suggestions for that (which can also be applied to when you are ahead of her on the right turn side:
Start your decel as she is lifting off for the 1st jump, so she fully sees it happening before she even lands. And as you do that, you can intensify your connection to her eyes so as she is passing you and as you are rotating, there is a BIG and very direct eye contact. More on that coming in week 4 🙂 That can help get her into a better collection especially when you are ahead of her (so less positional cue to help) and when she is turning to her left.
Great job here!!
TracyI am sure her answer to any questions will not be “run faster” but more like “here is how to send Karma on her line while you run over there” 🙂 That is the trend in European course design and totally helpful for us too!
T
Good morning!
Yes, it is so much easier to work inside in bad weather. I am ready for spring!
For the break release forward: this was harder for him!
Add a little praise here after you stop moving and before the reinforcement. You can mix things up 2 ways:
– you can mix in some ‘catch’ rewards and throw cookies back instead of releasing forward on all reps. That will help him not anticipate moving forward (he had trouble with that).– Ping pong the duration of the stay before the rewards – some easy short stays, some harder longer stays. He had trouble after the first rep on either side, with multiple failures. You can live by the 2 failure rule – if he fails twice, make it easier (like a quick throwback of a cookie for a short duration) to help refresh the stay if he struggles for whatever reason.
And if he is *really* having trouble – you can add a platform for him to stay on.
He did much better with the ‘catch’ rewards. I think you were waiting for him to do something after the ‘catch’ word? But it is not a cue – it is a marker that indicates placement. So after you say it, always throw it to him, or it will be confusing (sometimes you marked the stay with the catch but then waited and withdrew the reward if he came forward). So he had multiple good stays until released but didn’t get a reinforcement – then he started getting confused and coming to you more and more (so got fewer and fewer rewards).
Catch is like a click, so always reward after you say it. The difference between catch and a click though, is that the click does not indicate placement of any sort. Catch means “that is correct, reward is flying towards you” and we don’t want to dilute that by withholding the reward. He is not required to do any other behavior after you say “catch”. I personally don’t test the markers because that can be confusing, so I always reward just like it is a click.
>>I have a non-agility question. Teagan continues to jump up on/at me and counter-surf. I have tried several things to break these behaviors, without success. I was wondering if you can suggest a good “CONSEQUENCE” for his bad behavior.>>
Part of this is not knowing what to do instead, so definitely put a ton ton ton of reinforcement into behaviors that are incompatible with jumping up/at or countersurfing. More reinforcement for the behavior you want to see, along with less access to behavior you don’t want to see, is always a key element. For example, if he is countersurfing in the kitchen, the value of the ‘what to do in the kitchen’ behavior is too low as compared to the value of counter surfing. So you need to flip that by putting a lot more value on behavior you like (like hanging out on a bed or chewing on a bone) and denying access to counter surf (x-pen, or tether, or different room). It is work intensive at first but it is totally worth it!
>>continues to jump up on/at me>>
What scenarios is the happening in? We can plan for better behavior to reinforce.
>>I was wondering if you can suggest a good “CONSEQUENCE” for his bad behavior.>>
Step 1 is setting up a consequence for good behavior! He is a teenager, so he might have a little too much freedom for undesired behavior and not enough reinforcement for desired behavior.
There is a possibility of a neutral time out for undesired behavior, but that should be only after a really extensive history of reinforcement for desired behavior. And, in the moment of wrong-doing, he should also have the easy option to earn reinforcement. But this is a definite step 2 after reinforcement because if you use time outs (punishment) as step 1, you will get more frustration and less of the desired behavior (for example, he will countersurf faster or when you turn your back).
Let me know what you think!
Tracy
Hi!
>>On any given day, I cannot relax if my dogs haven’t been given a workout. It just drives me crazy to think they haven’t burned calories or met their “step goals”!>>
During heavy training and competition season, you can schedule in rest and recovery days, which will look more like happy hikes and not as much of a workout 🙂
>>Anyway, I’ll try your treat ideas tonight! I would think the grilled chicken would be a hit.>>
Bring her a little hungry and use great treats with short sessions – if it is going great, be sure to stop before she stops. Keep me posted!
>> Some of my coworkers are K-9 handlers. So I’ve gotten a close view of what works and what doesn’t when it comes to training police dogs. No way they would work for just praise. 🙂>>
Exactly! Many of the dogs are working for *SOMETHING* which can range from a tennis ball or wubba, to the opportunity to bite the sleeve, etc. Very cool that you have co-workers who do this!
>> Kashia and my other agility dog do not have that personality. They love mama but they are not focused on pleasing me. They are extremely independent.>>
Actually, sporting breeds are supposed to be very smart and very independent… so her genetics are good! Hopefully her love for high value food is just as good so we can convince her that she can be independent AND please us by playing this game 🙂
>>She also isn’t always a piglet for food. She sometimes has very little interest in food depending on the day and what she is doing (training aside). However, I have hope your chicken or salmon or cheese tricks will work!>>
That is interesting to know! So for training tonight, bring her into the session before meals and before other treats and we will see what happens. There is no one-size-fit-all approach to this, so we can experiment.
>> I just want to get to a phase where the rewards are further apart from one another. Rewarding bigger moments rather than the super small ones. I know Kashia is still learning though so I’m accepting of it.>>
You will get her there! That comes later in training as she is getting ready for trials.
Keep me posted!
TracyYou are both doing AWESOME!!!!
Working with Sabina will be really exciting! Be sure to video all the things 🙂 One thing I notice about the Europeans that is a little different is that many of them connect *under* their arms, meaning they have all the same connections but they have their arms really high and they connect by looking under the arms or over them if they are tall enough. Many of them are super fast runners so it still works! I am not fast and not tall, so my arms stay low to be able to connect AND run (more like Jenny Damm). Let me know how it goes with Sabina!
Tracy
