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Hi!
The bowl as target definitely worked well for her! This was a good session for sure.
As you continue to add more speed through the serps, 2 ideas for you:She pretty consistently has a miss on the first or 2nd rep of the session or the new side. So to help her get it right on the first time, have the serp jump angled towards her so she can see the bar more easily. I’d say moving the wing closer to the bowl about one foot towards her line will be the sweet spot to start each session or new side. Then after a success or two, you can inch it back towards the flat position.
The other thing to add is opening up your shoulders into serp position sooner. You were rotating into the serp position after you passed the center of the bar, which was a little late. Ideally, she sees the shoulders open up into serp position as she exits the start wing – so as long as you are past the first wing of the jump, you can open up the shoulders into serp position as soon as she is committing to the start wing because that way she will see that when she exits the wing. Seeing the shoulder position sooner will help her come in sooner too!
Great job here!
TracyHi!
>> I wasn’t using any food so she must have been flossing her teeth with beard hair, LOL!
Ha! So funny!!!!
Zig Zags – she is doing well on these. Any questions were handler errors in timing 🙂 so if something goes wrong, use an immediate reset cookie to help her move back to the start spot.
What was happening was on the release, you were doing an extra move before cuing the push or pull line you wanted. On 2 wings, it was not a problem because the gap between the wings was pretty obvious. But on 3 wings, her forward drive to you made things less obvious so she didn’t get the first gap if your timing was late.
>>I’m stumped on the Zig Zag when she has to turn left. She was able to do it once with three wings, but after that wouldn’t turn in. I don’t know if it’s something I’m doing differently than when she’s turning to her right or what, >>
What was happening at 2:18, 2:56, and 3:08 was that as you said the release, you did a right arm pull then tried to do a left arm push to get the first gap, but she was already at wing 2 when you did that so it was too late to for her get it.
You actually did the extra pull move on both sides, but you were quicker to push her back when she needed to go to her right (like at 1:40). So on all the releases, you can just immediately use the opposite arm to push her line into that first gap.
Find the jump looked fabulous! Yay! I don’t think she had any questions at all 🙂 So you can expand the game – you can be more lateral (closer to the start wing) as you move up the line. And you can also run faster, and also move the wing & jump even further from the tunnel. I think that will add to the fun but won’t be hard for her at all 🙂
Great job!! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
Set point jumping looks good! He has nice form going – light, powerful, balanced! And he also is doimg a great job with his stay even when you are moving fast with the dragging toy!!! You might notice that he is ticking the first jump a little bit, because he is dropping his head in he stay which changes shoulder position. It is something to watch and let him sort out, if possible. If he gets too crouchy, we can use a stand stay.
We add to this tonight!
Minny pinny also looked great – it is so fun to see him looking back and forth as you say the verbals! He is doing SUPER with these. You can revisit this game here and there, gradually adding more challenge by putting him between your feet and being centered on the wings – but it is not a high priority right now (he has accomplished the high priorities of this game already :))
Holy wowza, he has some explosive speed going in the tunnel-jump game!! I thought it was playing in fast forward!!
You can add more motion to this – the Utah Fun Force neglected to mention that you should be in motion the whole time 🙂 So you will want to either be way ahead and moving, or lateral and moving, or run all the way to the tunnel then move forward, so he drives ahead. He was pretty darned awesome with finding the jump, so you can definitely add in more challenge in terms of which position you are in!
One small detail – be careful of your mechanics as you send and leave. At 1:38, for example, you did a connected FC on the start wing but you said tunnel and he never considered turning LOL! So be sure to face the tunnel like you did at 1:48, so you don’t accidentally dilute the FC on the start wing.
Great job here! See you in class later!
TracyI was all ready for some video analysis but this was HILARIOUS (ok, maybe not hilarious since you have all that damn snow, but still hilarious). The credits cracked me up too!!! “Else Adele Dazeem” hahaha
Can I share it on Facebook?
I can’t believe you have more snow. Ugh!
>>Will inside still work with tomorrow’s live class?
Yes, inside will work! Then the snow will melt and you will be able to take it all outside.
T
Hi!
>> staying is still for losers in his book. >>
Have you tried working stays on a mat or platform, or in crate games? Both of those can really help – he still fails a lot when doing a stay on the flat and we don’t want to condition frustration or stress into the stay. Plus, using a mat or crate games, you can also work on getting the reward to the ground before you release him, which we will eventually transfer to the jump grids.
>> I think his set point work is coming along>>
Yes, definitely! I bet you can spread the jumps out a little more too 🙂 Maybe 6 inches more.
And now we can get the target involved, to get his head down and so he doesn’t look up at you while jumping. Right now you were able to get some stays, but you were holding the reward and very near jump 2. To work jumping form, you can put a target out about 10 feet past jump 2 (a toy, or a remote feeder, or a cookie in a bowl). And then rather than do a stay, you can hold him at jump 1 and send him through the little grid to the reward target. That can get the form started so you can work on form and the stay separately.
Tunnel games – his commitment is looking better! Yay! It is fun to put together little courses now 🙂
The two things that were causing him to ask questions were when you disconnected, and also when the verbals were unclear.
Looking at verbals, try not to use your go as a wrap verbal or a “let’s start’ verbal, because then it will lose its power as a GO verbal 🙂
On the first video, you mentioned that he needs to look forward more and I agree 🙂 You can throw the reward a lot sooner and also use your “get it” marker so that he is being cued to look ahead for the reward. That will help a lot! And, try not to use ‘go’ for the wing wraps, as that can be confusing – and he will end up looking at you too much if it sometimes means wrap and sometimes means go straight.You can also star saying your left/right (or GO when you want a straight exit) before he goes into the tunnel, so he doesn’t default to looking at you when he exits.
One other verbal to be careful about: “yes”. We have all accidentally conditioned yes to mean “reward from hand” so the dogs stop what they are doing and come to us – it happened at the wing when you said yes, and then when you said yes on a tunnel entry and he came out of the tunnel (:38 on the 2nd video). So unless you want him to stop what he is doing and come to you 🙂 , use only obstacle names, directionals, and placement markers like “get it” and you will find his understanding of lines will really blossom.
One other thing will really help: more connection!
When you were connected and made great eye contact, he found the line and the wing or tunnel really well. If you were not connected (not making eye contact, or pointing forward), he lost the line and either stopped or ended up on the other side of you. Bear in mind that connection is more than seeing him, connection is being sure he can see your face and eyes.For example, on video 2, you didn’t quite connect after the wing wrap at :37 amd 1:19. and he ended up on the other side of you. When you did connect, he was perfect!
And on the 3rd video, when he exited the tunnel and you wanted the wing, if you were disconnected he didn’t find it. But when you were really connected (like on the 2nd rep) he was better able to find it. Yay!
And same with the line from the tunnel exit to the wing straight out ahead and back to the tunnel. You had really good connection at 2:09 to get the wing after tunnel! But then as you did the FC at 2:10, you had a disconnect (looking forward and switching the toy from hand to hand) so he didn’t know where to be. Compare that to 2:24, where you were much more connected and he was great!
Connection with smaller dogs is HARD!!! But once you lock it in, it will feel comfy and his commitment will be even stronger.
Nice work! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
Serps are definitely complex! It is a hard behavior to process and coordinate because they can’t just stay on their line and go fast LOL! I have seen the questions she had here in this type of sport mix in both agility and in flyball – sacrificing the accuracy of taking the jump in favor of the ‘going fast’. I think they are jut not able to pull off the coordination needed as adolescents at that speed and in that arousal state, and it is also possible that their brains tell them that they have totally nailed it LOL!! So, what helps is to widen the playing field and dial back the handler motion until they are consistently more accurate (while still going fast :))
So by widen the playing field, this is what I mean: on the easier side, keep the jump angle really easy and do a couple of sessions where you don’t change it. And on the harder side, move the start wing so as she comes around it, she sees the entire bar and it is harder to go around (I have also put 2 bars or bumps together to create an 8 or 10 foot long bar)
And, instead of really running, do a quick jog so you aren’t too stimulating and so you don’t get miles ahead. Ideally she should see you between the uprights as she exits the start wing and you should be looking at the landing spot behind you, so your upper body is rotated back towards the jump (and your feet face forward like they did here). I try to have each of my shoulders lined up with each wing, and chest pointing to the center of the bar, even if I am way ahead.
At :10 and :30 you were moving really fast, got a bit too far ahead and you were looking at her and not at landing – so she went with the motion and went around it. Your position between the uprights and your looking at the landing will enhance the jump, so she is more likely to take it.
Compare to :14 when she can definitely see you between the uprights and she came in over the bar nicely! (but you can look at landing behind you more, for better shoulder rotation)
>>It was better though. I changed to a left turn and it all fell apart! I was so surprised that she flanked the whole thing since she didn’t do that with the open jump on the right turn. >>
Yes, could be any number of reasons why, I will just file it into the “Going Fasts” category LOL! You got it by standing still at 1:02 but I prefer what you did at 1:10 and 1:16 where you stayed in motion, just slower motion, that was great!
The proofing game added tonight will help solidify her serping (and/or make her head explode :)) so you can put this one aside til after you have a chance to play with that one 🙂
Nice work!
TracyHi!
Shadow handling: this is going well – it is a lot harder than it looks!! My only suggestion is that you can wait longer after the treat toss to start, before you take off towards the tunnels. You are a bit too far ahead at the start of each rep, so she is not always sure of where to be. That causes you to slow down, then she slows down. So when you toss a treat to start the rep, you can hold your position until she starts coming towards you after eating it: then you can take off! You won’t be as far aheadd so she will know where to be, and you can both go faster 🙂She is reading the blinds really well, and she also seems to have no questions about the inside circles. Super!!!
Nice work 🙂
TracyHi!
She did great here!!! She had no problem finding the jump when you were ahead, and when you went in closer to the tunnel so she drove past you nicely. FUN!!!! And it is great to see the skills transfer to a different location really easily!
>>What I noticed was that I did not get to the tunnel exit. Too much muscle memory to send at a distance!
I thought you were just fine about getting to the tunnel exit so she could drive ahead.
>> It went ok until I tried a big lateral distance.>>
When you re-visit the lateral distance, you can try it more gradually by adding distance just one foot at a time. I like to put a line on the ground for myself, to keep track of how much distance I am adding.
Great job!
TracyHi!
>>I will place a toy or have someone drop it. She can be a little thief with the toy.>>
If she is grabbing the toy instead of doing the behavior, make the behavior easier 🙂
>>I sort of lose track of how many failures. That will go to the top of the list to be more aware of so I keep it to two.
Keeping things to 2 makes it easier to track.
>> Would this scenario be okay: We are playing a game and she has two failures. I stop and go do something else with her. Play a different game, take her for a potty break or running around break and then try again? Or, if she has two failures are we done with that game for the day, or are we done with any games for the day? >>
Think of it as shaping with successive approximations, making things easier or harder to ‘get the behavior’:
After the first failure, if you think she has a chance of success on the next rep, try it again. But if you think she won’t be successful, or if she fails a 2nd time (either in a row, or in the session), make the behavior easier by changing something (jump angle, less motion, etc).
You don’t need to stop the session or be done for the day, you just need to make it easier so she can be successful. If you don’t know how to make it easier – then yes, you can be done with it til we figure out how to make it easier 🙂
So for serpentines – if you get 2 failures, angle the jump a lot more so there are no more failures in that session. Then the next session starts there, and if she is successful, you can tighten the jump angle by an inch or two, or add more motion (but not both).
>>I was foolishly hopeful that I would be outside for tomorrow’s live class. We have gotten more than 20 inches of snow in the last two days so no outside work.
Holy sh*t you have had a crazy winter that seems never-ending!!!
>> I am planning on joining Keith and Bob at their place tomorrow. The only concern is if the weather continues to be uncooperative. I am two hours away and there is a canyon/mountain pass that I have to go through to get to their place. It can have terrible roads and is often closed.
Safety first! You also have the option of doing the Thursday live class!
>>I know that we are getting into games that really require some space. If I can’t go tomorrow, should I just skip it or would it be worth doing a compressed version at Debbie’s place?
I juts double checked the games, you can totally do thm at Debbie’s place!
>> And finally, if I do go to Keith’s tomorrow. Could on the last game, I be the first one so I can get back on the road to get home? >>
Absolutely! Keep me posted!
TracyHi!
>>The ending scene is from this morning and looking out the window now, it’s started again. Crazy!
OMG WITH THE SNOW!!! Crazy!!!
I love how the crowd started chanting the correct very, that was SO FUNNY!!
With all the speed and excitement, angling the jump will get success on the serp so you don’t need to over-rotate your upper body or stop your motion. Angle the jump so as he comes around the start wing, the bar is clearly visible and you can job with your serp arm back – but you don’t need to do any extra swinging of it back. He was starting to get better and better at it by the end, so the next step is more of your motion. And adding more of your motion will mean less time to rotate your upper body – so the angled jump will really help.
Great job on these!
TracyNice work with the MP here! The gentle collar holds worked nicely! And yes, he was HILARIOUS when he wrapped the first thing he saw: the tripod LOL!!!!!
>>Should I split the difference between center and staying just a bit left or right of center (so add another position in there) or should I stay right in the center, but help him a bit more with my body?>>
He is making tremendous progress with these verbals. Training verbals is like training weaves: takes a relatively long time. This is different than, say, a front cross sequence where if you do it right, he does it right 🙂 So with that in mind, you can very gradually begin to split the difference. Starting between your feet without any handling help was very hard, so you can be a bit left or right of center (the position will help) so you don’t need to help with physical cues as much. And it is a game of inches now to get to that center position – you’ll probably end up moving over inch by inch over the course of multiple sessions. But in general, the goal here is that he understands that left and right could be towards or away from you, so he needs to listen for the verbal cue. And he is definitely getting the idea of that!
Nice work!
Good morning!
Here was pretty darned perfect here! Wheeeee! So you can add more distance between the jump and tunnel, as well as keep varying your position to get more lateral distance, get way ahead, or run all the way to the tunnel so he drives ahead to the jump.
>>When I was watching the video, I was thinking maybe my verbals for wrap versus left/right are off given where I was starting him from as he was heading to the tunnel. Is that correct? If I start him from the side is it more of a left/right into the tunnel than if I’m by the wing, send him to the wing and then back to the tunnel? I wondered about it as I edited the video. >>
The verbal on the start wing depends on his starting position and the line it creates. So you were generally a little past the wing, which creates a left or right turn. But when you were between the wing and the tunnel, that creates a wrap.
So 2:00 was more of a left, and 1:15 was more of a wrap, for example. To keep it really clear for him (and you :)) you can exaggerate your start position by either being clearly between the wing and tunnel (wrap) or clearly on the other side of the wing (left/right).
You should move the random wings in the middle of the ring so you don’t run into them LOL!
>>One other thing I noticed is when I’m holding his collar to say a verbal (rather than just having him sit beside me), I am sometimes pulling back on the collar or up (opposition). It wasn’t intentional, but I noticed it was creeping in. On exercises where verbals aren’t as critical, should I go back to letting him sit on his own and then try and be really careful to not add opposition on exercises where I really need the verbal distinction (i.e.minny pinny)?>>>
Good observation! Pulling the collar back adds stimulation and can also cause a weight shift where the pup will start moving with more weight shifting forward. So in something like the find the jump game, where the line os obvious (no verbal discrimination) and there is no bar to drop and he won’t fall on his head :), I think it is fine to add more arousal/stimulation 🙂
But as you mentioned, in something like the Minny Pinny where we need more thoughtfulness and less explosiveness for now – a gentle calm line up and collar hold is best (for now).
Great job!
TracyGood morning!
Look at that green grass! And you are not wearing 10,000 coats! Spring is arriving, finally!!!
Find the jump looks fabulous, like she has been practicing it while you are at work and is ready for more LOL! You can run faster on these – we usually start without a lot of motion because it can be distracting to the dogs but I think she is doing great so you can just run for real, as long as you stay connected. You can add more distance laterally now, and you can also start right next to the tunnel and send to the wing, so she drives ahead of you at the tunnel exit. And you can also send to the tunnel and get waaaaaaay ahead and see if she can still find the jump.
The only thing to really work on is the reward delivery. It looks like she was doing some crazy-ass acrobatics to get the toy, and we would like her to not smash herself for it LOL!! Yo can throw earlier so she is till looking forward (throw as soon as she looks at the jump) but also maybe a large hollee roller is a better option because it moves slower and she can scoop it up? Or, maybe you can enlist someone to reward moving-target-style with a dragging toy so she chases it and gets good placement but doesn’t do anything too wild for it
Zig zags – She is doing really well pushing away to her left when you are at wing 2 and just a little past it. Being further past is still hard but she was getting it! Super! For now, you can refresh that skill (push away to the left) by standing at wing 2 or a tiny bit past it, then you can keep moving back like you did here.
All of the other challenges looked great, so that is where you can add the additional challenges of smaller distances so she has to do the lead changes more quickly 🙂
The first serp rep was GREAT because she considering going around the jump then decided to come in and take it – YES! Then the rest was all about coming in to take the serp jump. Happy dance! Super! So now we add your speed to it, to work up to you running through the serp lines (your line of motion and position relative to the wing looked great here).
Do everything the same with your handling, but now go faster 🙂 Try jogging in the next session – but because the speed might be a significant distraction, repeat the angle of the jump you did here (super obvious to start, then you can angle it but maybe not as much as you did here). She will either find the added motion challenging so you don’t angle the jump back to flat much at all… or she will find it relatively easy so you can change the angle of the jump relatively quickly like you did here. She will tell us 🙂
Great job!
TracyGood morning!
All the set point reps looked really good! They were all consistent and powerful, pretty much identical form except the last one where she lifted her head over the 2nd bar… but I think she was chewing something while in the stay (watch her head LOL!) so it is possible she still had food in her mouth. The only advice there is to be sure she swallows the treats or don’t use treats for his LOL!!
The set point can stay where it is for now, we will be using it to build the next jumping game (coming tomorrow!)
The serp is definitely going better! Super! And I think she liked the toy play mixed in too 🙂 Your footwork was great, heading towards the reward target on every rep. Your upper body can do the rotation as a little sooner (turning t the waist) so she sees it as soon as she exits the wing.
Be sure that the wing stays 6 or 8 feet from the serp jump – on the first rep of the second side, the wing was very close setting up almost a wrap on it, so she missed on the first rep (you did end up moving it further away after a few reps)
The next step is to add more motion to build up to being able to run through the serps like you would on course. To do that, angle the jump again so that she can easily see the bar. That way you can start to jog and sell get her to take the bar without changing your pace or adding foot rotation.
Minny Pinny also looking good! Now that is it getting more complicated, remember to hold her so she hears the verbal a few times before moving. Without holding her, she is basing decisions on the body position and moving as soon as you say something. The body positions here were helpful here (slight rotations, slight leans) so she was successful for the most part, but when you were not helping as much she had more questions.
So the next session can be zero movement from you (no leaning, no rotation), hold her, say the verbal 3 or 4 times, then let her go while you remain stationary.
Great job! New games coming tomorrow!
Tracy
