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Hi!
He was a super good boy here! And I think he found a new gear of speed 🙂 Fun!
He picked up the layering concept really easily so you can add 3 things:
– layer the tunnel and keep going straight to a wing out past the tunnel (the sequence I wing – jump – wing)
– add the advanced level where he does the wing to the jump then you cue him to take the tunnel after the jump.
– cue the check wrap on the wing and ask him to tunnel, NOT layer 🙂 as a balance rep.
>I don’t think I was supposed to use my check when I got to the other side of tunnel?>
Correct – I think the check check indicates tight wrap for him, yes? And that might bring him back to the tunnel, based n how this was set up.
When you were not layering, the check cue worked well because it fit the line the best (he was definitely wrapping tight) but then when you added the layer and moved the wing, you can use a right verbal then your go verbal.
He didn’t want to bring the toy back at the end – did he need a break? He did really well in the session so he might have needed a break, or he was avoiding splatting himself on the throw (he totally splatted/twisted on the last rep). You might want to use a toy to throw that will throw really far, and will keep moving and is easy to scoop up like a hollee roller with a tennis ball in it. He liked this to for tugging but it lands flat and we don’t want him to twist himself.
Great job here!
Tracy
Hi!
>It was fairly normal & high end for Cobalamin. The folate was on the low end of the normal range though.>
My Hot Sauce takes a folic acid suppplement – she had some weird health issues about 18 months ago and was low on folate (was messing up her thyroid etc) and she is back to 1000%. Folic acid is water soluble so you can’t go wrong supplementing it because they will just pee out what they don’t need, according to my vet.
Looking at Lift’s video:
The soft brake looks really good! You supported it with a bit of shoulder turn and lateral motion so her turns were pretty perfect. The wrap brake at :47 was a good balance – also loved super nice!
When you did the circle wrap at 1:01 – At this stage of training, she needs to you support commitment by looking back to the landing spot as you pass the wing. You took off running forward so she didn’t commit. Kaladin doesn’t need the support behind him so will let you run forward but Lift still needs the commitment support to override the motion.
You did reward her about 5 seconds later after asking for a spin, but it would be even better if you just reward right there – she got frustrated when you tried to send her to the start wing without a lot of connection . Even with an eventual reward, the frustration bubbles over.
You can also reward a find my face moment there as if it was not an error and totally what you had planned 🙂
You got the circle on the last rep by staying on the landing side more, but I bet you can move forward like you wanted to as long as you keep looking behind you to the landing spot.
Kaladin’s video: Super nice soft brakes too! He knows this game and was able to maintain speed while also setting up the turn. GOOD BOY!
>Or maybe it’s because I was late with the soft brake like on right turn at 0:30. >
Yes, that cue was late – be sure you do turn your shoulders along with the brake arm. At :32 he had already made a takeoff decision when you showed him the arm and shoulder turn, so he jumped straight. On the other reps, you showed the cues a stride or two sooner so he collected before takeoff.
At :51 you did a wrap brake and said it was awkward 😂 It probably felt that way because you were accelerating forward with the brake arm up the whole time. Try to accelerate without the brake arm, then add it when you decelerate. That is more like what you did at :57 but that was one stride late on starting the decel.
>Is there a case when you shouldn’t use an exit line on a wrap or tighter turn? I was thinking about it on the wrap but didn’t execute it well at all.>
There should always be a clear exit line on a wrap or tight turn – trying to connect with the shoulder closed leads to wide turns, even with the most advanced dogs at the highest levels. The exit line arm is not always obvious when the handler is very comfy with it – what it looks like eventually is the dog-side arm all the way back, handler looking back at the dog, and the barest hint of the exit line arm. The arm is used to create the connection, so it doesn’t need to be super obvious if the connection is clear.
>I’m not sure if I have enough differentiation between brake arm and soft brake since I’m not doing the in your face version. Or it is mainly that the brake arm is a bit lower and your feet start to rotate whereas the soft brake you keep them pointed in the new direction.>
There are a few differences. One is in palm position (yes, the dogs read this LOL!). The wrap brake has palm more towards the dog, and soft turn has palm facing downwards more. On the wrap brake, the hand is lower and also, it is paired with forward-facing decel, which predicts the rotation that is coming. On the soft brake, the hand is higher and if paired with shoulder turning away (and line of motion turning away) to get the softer turn.
>What (if anything) do you do for 180deg turns?>
I consider the soft turns to be 180 degrees – let me know what you are thinking of as 180 degree turns and we will sort it out.
Nice work here!
Tracy
Hi! I almost missed this one, sorry!
Rusty did great here too 🙂 He is on a roll of being brilliant with everything!
Super nice job getting him in handler focus with the ready dance, then sending him to the barrel. He seemed to have zero questions. Super!
Since he did so well here, you can start a little further away and send him backwards to the barrel. Then as he is going to the barrel, you can start moving forward in the opposite direction (the direction you are facing). Keep looking behind you as you move to help support his line and commitment. This can help you move forward sooner and sooner so he has even more independent commitment.
Great job here!!
Tracy
Hi!
I agree that this is a hard game but you nailed it here!
>Rusty wanted to do a 360 after picking up the cookie. I played around with it until we got to this point>
When he was turning in the 360, you were probably still visible on the original side so that is where he thought you wanted him to turn to.
In this session, you were able to get ahead of him on the new side so he was able to turn the new direction each time. I think after a couple of reps, he had it figured out so he was already turning the new direction based on your motion. SUPER!!
You can try this concept with the prop now too – replacing the cookie throw you did here with a send to the prop (with the prop placed where you would have thrown the cookie :))
>I will be offline for a bit as I am going to a Kamal Fernandez Workshop tomorrow evening thru the weekend. Yes, Rusty and Folger are going too. Stay tuned!>
Wow! I imagine that it will be amazing 🙂 SO FUN!!!! I am looking forward to hearing about it – I am sure Rusty and Folger will be superstars 🙂
Great job here!
Tracy
Hi!
He is definitely a foodie 🙂 That is a very exciting environment and he was totally engaged! Wow! Good boy! Very impressive work here!And you can of course mix in sniffy walks so he can fully explore the environment, along with the pattern game here. Now that the weather is improving, you can start to bring all of the games outside 🙂
Great job here!
Tracy
Hi!
He did great here! I agree, he really seemed to love it 🙂 You don’t need to say ‘yes’, the ‘get it’ marker covers both the ‘that is correct’ and the ‘reward is thrown ahead’ elements.AS the challenges get harder, he might miss the jump (only one miss on this video). If he misses – don’t mark it or restart – just keep going but don’t throw the reward 🙂 Then turn and go the other direction so he can figure out how to get the reward 🙂
> Instead of turning while he is eating his snack, I think I need to be walking clear to both ends so he reads his motion off of mine.>
You have a few different options here to use:
– you can go all the way to the snack with him and wait, so he moves when you move and drives ahead of you.– you can turn when he gets to the snack and start moving, to see if he can find the jump with you way ahead 🙂
– you can move laterally away when he is getting his treat, to see if he can find the jump with you further and further away each time.
Great job!!
Tracy
Good morning!
>not sure why this posted twice, sorry!>
Ha! It was a good session so the internet wanted me to see it twice 🙂
When she was not turning away at the beginning, part of the cue was a little too early:
What was happening was your lower body was turning into her before your upper body (hands) cued her to turn away. So she kind of stopped because she was not sure where to be.
You can see it at :03 and :18 when your outside leg & lower body were stepping towards the new line but she hadn’t had a chance to get past you yet to lock onto the turn away hand.
Compare to :33 & :42 and after that- the cue hand had already started the cue and she was past your feet enough, so your outside leg stepping supported it rather than blocked the turn away. Super!!!
> I’m not sure where to place the prop so it’s in her view lol! >
Your prop placement is good! She isn’t hitting the prop because she is looking at the cookie hand in front of her nose, and doesn’t know that you want her to hit it 🙂 Easy fix! Try the turn away with empty hands (closed like you have an air cookie in them :)) and after the turn away, keep moving but lift the cookie hand up so it is not in front of her nose. Then she will realize the prop is there and will hit it. It might take a rep or two because she is used to following your hand, but she has a lot of prop value and will sort it out. You can stay next to the prop at first but then I htink you can add back your movement really quickly when she starts hitting it.
Great job!!
Tracy
Hi! All of these games are looking really good!
The barrel wrapping backwards sending is going really well! You were great about starting each side with a simple forward send and when he said he could do that, you moved to the backwards sending. Your connection was spot on – looking behind you as you move away really supported his commitment. Perfect! You can try adding more distance away from the barrel on your sends which will also allow you to move the other direction sooner.
>Rear crosses. I think I get what you mean. I tried a couple more today to show you. I knew this would be a harder one for us thus why I picked it to start on sooner.>
Nailed it!
The rear crosses were strong too – excellent job placing the treat then hustling to get ahead of him on the new side. He was 100% sure about where to go after the first rep – the cookie had a weird bounce on the first rep but you still got the RC. All of the other reps were lovely!> Sure my husband thinks I am goofy walking around the family room next to that sectional pretending to do a RC 🤣
>HA!!! I am sure he understands and supports your dog sport love and he doesn’t judge you for rear cross practices in the family room 🙂
Tandem turns – you were actually a shade too early on the first few reps (I know, we humans are almost never too early LOL!) What was happening was you were turning him as he was passing the prop but before3 he got close to you, so he was migrating to the prop more than he was driving to your hands.
On the second side, the cues were correctly later 🙂 You made sure he was locked onto your hands and turned away after he passed the prop and when he was closer to your hands – perfect! That set things up beautifully, so use that same timing on the original side too.>I will try the parallel path with wings for sure. I have a smaller narrow wing I could use in the basement too. Should I try that?>
Yes! That will give you more room to add challenges. And you can take it outside if/when the weather cooperates.
>Running contacts. I think I get how with the toy. I will try it and show you.>>
Keep me posted on how he does. Great job here!!
TracyGood morning!
>I feel like I was really sloppy with this. It feels awkward at first. >
I don’t think you were sloppy at all! You were really focusing on mechanics – and yes, it probably did feel weird 🙂 But wow, it created lovely connection on the exits so he was SUPER tight on the lines.
On the first rep and at :46, yo were migrating into his line and landing spot so I think he was trying not to land on you when he went around the jump. That is much appreciated 🙂 so reward him anyway because this cue does ask for him to be in a very specific spot near you on a tight line.
When you were further ahead/released later, he drove directly to the line on both the blinds and the fronts. So nice!!! The camera angle really showed the gorgeous connection especially on the exits of the FCs. Love it! The blinds also looked lovely.
Since this went so well, the next step is to add more speed with the wing wrap to start. Be sure to give yourself a head start so you can show him the line and the exit line arm. And if something goes awry 😂 reward him anyway because he is working really hard to read the cues.
Great job!!
Tracy
Good morning!
She strike a pose game with the toy went really well!!! It took her a moment on the first rep to see what you wanted then she was all in 🙂 No question when you switched sides – she is happy to do it in both directions. SUPER!!!
Onwards to the next steps where we begin to ge the reward to the floor. You can dangle the toy so it is fully extended and maybe one end is touching the floor. If she is happy with that, you can place it on the floor entirely. And you can use an empty food bowl as the reward target too.
Good job with the tunnel threadles!! She had a question on the first rep – you answered it then she knew what to do. Super!
Also, she thinks the big “yay!” Is the reward marker to come to you, so you made a great adjustment to delay it so she would continue through the tunnel. You can also say “get it” before you say the praise, which should help her continue through it without any questions about where the reward is.
Great job here!
Tracy
Good morning!
The serp with the toy here went great – she was pretty quick to bring it back even though she was feeling spicy 🙂 The long tug moments after she brought it back will help her bring it back faster, and you can trade for a second toy too.
>She has a problem working for a toy when she feels food is also an option>
That is hard for a lot of dogs at this stage. You can mix in one boring dull cookie and then do the rest of the session with a crazy high value toy. Trying it outside will also allow you both to run around more, so you can really drag a long toy for her to chase and grab, to get her mind off the cookie 🙂
Her stay does look wonderful! I hear good things about Nikki’s course! You can also use this stay to set up different angles of approach for your serp game, which means you don’t need a cookie start as much (so there is less back and forth between the toy and cookie for now).
You can take the stay outdoors because I think you get more explosiveness on the release (she doesn’t want to slip here). Plus that is a good way to bring the stay to new places.
Great job here!
Tracy
Good morning!
The raised mat looked great! He totally has value for it 🙂 And sitting made it less dependent on your movement. You can have it maybe one foot further away from you, so you have more room to toss the rewards off to the side. You don’t need a target verbal at this point, you can let him offer (I am sure he will!)
I think you were nailing the timing of the ‘yes’ for the last foot. Yay!
Looking at the outdoor video: He showed lovely value here too! You can elevate it here too like you did for the indoor session. Do I remember correctly that you have a manners minder/treat n train? You can add that about 10 feet past the mat, and use it as the reward going that direction for when he gets his last rear foot on the mat. That will keep hum looking forward and not at you. Then you can either bring him back with a tug toy to start again going towards the manners minder, or you can use an empty food bowl o the other side to toss the treat to for going across the mat. If you don’t have a manner minder, you can use 2 food bowls 🙂 The goal is to keep him looking ahead.
The next steps on these is to put it into the general training ‘rotation’ to revisit it once a week or so. You can move it further away, you can be standing, you can add toy play, you can take it somewhere new, you can apply the stealth self-control games to it 🙂 The running dog walk training doesn’t get real until he is closer to a year old, so no rush to add more to this. He won’t really be in his adult body and understand his adult coordination til he is closer to a year, so it is better to take your time. When he is old enough, it will be smooth and straightforward to teach the rest of the behavior 🙂
Parallel path – Bandit definitely has value for the jump here too! Super!! Since this went so well, a couple of next steps:
Because keeping the pups looking ahead is a primary goal on a lot of these games, you do 2 things to help him not looking at you:
– mark with a ‘get it’ which means to look ahead for the cookie. The ‘yes’ gets him looking at you and the get it will get more forward focus
– mark and throw when you see commitment to the jump, rather than when he arrives at the jump. When he arrives at the jump, he looks at you (because there is nothing else to look at :)) but if you mark and throw when he is looking forward to the jump and before he gets to it, you will see even more looking forward.You can also get ahead of him by starting to walk forward again while he is still eating his reward. Or, you can throw the reward and stay more and more laterally away from the jump, to see if he can find it with a lot of lateral distance.
Great job here! He is so fun and learns so fast!!
Tracy
Good morning!
>It’s hard for me to move my arms across my body due to my neck issues. >
You can totally experiment with what works best and with what both of you can see! It might be a turn at the waist and not a big arm movement, so your neck doesn’t get mad about it.
>The move is similar to how I actually run my serps with an inside arm across my body.>
There is a difference that helps the dog know which one: the serp arm is across your body, with your serp hand held up high on the shoulder nearer to the dog. This can be similar to a threadle arm if you use the opposite arm for that too. The get out arm is not across the body at all – it is extended away from it, pointing ahead to the obstacle
For a visual: here is a video that describes the differences and has visual. The discussion of the threadle arm here is the same as a serp arm when using the opposite arm. It starts at 2:39 –
> Is this similar to what we used to call a reverse flow pivot/false turn?>
The false turn/RFP was a threadle cue, where we used the opposite arm AND rotated fully towards the dog to get them to come in, then we rotated back out to the next line. The false turns/RFPs can still sometimes be useful on super tight threadles on Premier courses but in general we try to keep your feet facing the direction you want to keep running towards.
>It’s been over a year since I’ve been at a high level class or trial. I feel like I’ve forgotten what they are like.>
No worries! The good news is that things are getting more streamlined and simplified so you don’t have to remember a lot of fancy moves 🙂
>I have no idea what to do for slice. She can play the game in new environments and around other dogs working or running agility, even with other dogs running in a big side by side pen. >
What a good girlie!!!!!!! That is fantastic!
Sport slices can be something like hearing someone yelling TUNNEL TUNNEL TUNNEL and a dog running through a tunnel, or barking dogs (excitement barking or alarm barking).
You can also add the existing slices that she can do, to different behaviors. Using something she is good at, add a slice or two! This can be a cone wrap, for example, or foot targeting.
And it is something to keep revisiting throughout adolescence. Adolescence is challenging for the pups so we want to keep these skills fresh and growing 🙂
>The only thing that might be a distraction would be my husband treating the other dogs but it doesn’t seem fair to ask that much of her yet. >
I agree, it is a huge ask BUT you can slice it 🙂 because it is an incredible training opportunity. Is there a time when your husband goes to get the treats and all the dogs know it and get excited? You can have the other dogs in a different room and send hubby to get the treats while you play with Rou.
Or you can have her in a different room, while hubby gives treats to one dog in a less exciting way.
And part of her reward can be released to go get her apple or banana from him 🙂
I use group training like this ALL the time in the house, breaking it down into little pieces. Most recently, I solidified a retrieve with my 2 year old dog – he couldn’t do it with distractions (would drop the object on the way back to me when the environment was hard) so I had him retrieve through a group of my other dogs. And if he dropped it, my 3 year old dog always picked it up and brought it to me (and got the reward). Two sessions of that and now he no longer drops it at home or in competition 🙂 The caveat of course is that the dogs all get along and there is no inter-dog tension or fighting because that would be too much.
She was CRACKING ME UP with her foot smacks on the bowl at the beginning. It was almost like she forgot about the bowl then smacked it hard to make a point LOL!!! SO FUNNY!
This was a strong session: the bowl plus the mat provided a clear ‘place to be’.
When you were remaining in front of her, you can add more angles of the cookie throw so it is almost behind you – that way she can approach the bowl fro the side and pivot more back to in front of you.
Since you are using the mat, I think the best use of it was at :25 where you stepped off to the side the pivoted her back to the position on the mat. That was excellent!!!! You can keep the mat as the goal and change your position to pivot to it, rather than have her on it and pivot off of it (for now).
The footing (concrete?) was actually a little slippery so that might have restricted her movement a bit. You can take this game to grass which should provide better footing for her. It might take her an extra moment to find the treat, but that is fine – you can wait the extra moment or you can even have empty food bowls that you toss the treat into. She will recognize the bowls from those early wrapping games 🙂
Stays are going well! Because she did well here, you can move ahead to the next steps:
Rather than have her facing you on the platform, you can line her up at your side then walk away forward instead of backwards.
>I noticed when I ask her to sit I also lean forward and step with a foot. That’s not part of the cue>
Lining her up at your side will also take out the leaning/stepping as part of the cue. 🙂
Then when she can do this at your side, with the platform – let’s fade the platform. The quicker you can get it out of the picture, the more you can generalize the stays into start line stuff. For the first couple of stays without it, reward early and often 🙂 But then you will easily be able to extend the duration as you move away.
Great job here!
Tracy
Good morning!
The reverse retrieves are looking good!
She is driving back to you super well – until you turn to face her, then she does a drive-by. Perhaps she is avoiding being ‘caught’ so we can adjust the mechanics to get her bringing it back without a drive bye 🙂
Two ideas for that:
When you presented the 2nd toy, she did not do a drive by so you can run away and don’t face her or reach for the toy she has. Instead, when she is almost at you with the toy, you can whip out the 2nd toy (or a treat!) for a trade party without reaching for the first toy.
You can add in reaching for the first toy without facing her: check out your body language on the last rep around 2:15 (after she was coughing up the cookie :)) You were sideways (not facing her) and really inviting but not reaching for the toy at all. She brought it all the way to you so all you had to do was take it and play tug. Super!!
One other suggestion: you can start with a sit but be sure to release it with a release word or with a ‘get it’ marker for the toy, just to maintain the stay criteria 🙂
Tunnel threadles are going really well too and she is definitely liking the tunnel 😂 Is your verbal cue ‘dot dot dot’? Love it! Clever!
You can line her up with a treat – she might have been diving back into the tunnel as a way to avoid being pulled into position by her collar, so calling her to your hand, lining her up with a cookie lure, than taking her collar will smother that out.
>Ingy’s getting the threadles until about 80% of the way down and then she gets confused.>
Yes – when she could see the other end of the tunnel and was right next to the magical treat robot, she was not entirely sure about what to do.
However – she is able to get the tunnel threadle from really far away so I call this a big win!!!! And we will revisit finding the threadle entry with her at the exit but for now, you can go to the double whammy game which also adds your motion. Your motion will help clarify that for her too.
Great job here!
Tracy
