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This went really well too! He watches everything, that’s the good news and what made him respond so quickly.
So on the serp reps where you kept your shoulders open til he landed? Perfect!
If you closed your shoulders too soon, he either went to the tunnel or considered the tunnel.
You can make the serp clearer by rotating a little more at the waist, so the center of your chest points to the center of the bar (like a yoga position LOL)
Great job making the tunnel cues look really different so he was able to get it even with the layering component. He totally watches – when your shoulder supported the line, he was perfect. When you turned and moved to the tunnel exit, he turned too. That is great because we want him to pay attention and not just have tunnel vision LOL!!
Great job here 🙂
Tracy
Hi!
Rear crosses are hard with inexperienced dogs! What was happening was that you were just a little late starting the info, so as a baby dog he committed to what he saw. No worries! One small adjustment:Instead of starting the RC pressure line after he passes you, start it sooner: as he exits the wing, you can already be running to the center of the bar, which means he will pass you with that info already in view.
If you start after he passes you, he is seeing “go straight” info.
On the 2 reps were you started before he passed you (1:10 and the last rep), you nailed it 🙂 Yes he has to get past you, but as long as you don’t cut to the other side til he is past you, all will be good!He also appears to be a bit more of a lefty than a righty, so work the left turn side first. And you can place a toy for the right turn side too, to help him out.
Nice work!
TracyHi!
The videos are set as private, can you reset to unlisted?
>>I have been working a lot of stays in the house and outside but Zyp is starting to lean forward or lay down when placed in front of a jump and I am not sure how to fix it. >>
He might be so pumped up that he doesn’t even realized he has changed positions. So rather than worry about it, try leaving him in a down at the start line! Start him a few feet further away from the jump, leave him in a down stay, and see how he does. A down stay is a great start position for agility!
>>Zyp is also getting more vocal about the game and sometimes just starts offering behavior before I have asked. Should I try to de-escalate him a little with pattern games when he is in that mode before I start anything?>>
I think he has reached the stage that he should not be loose while you are setting up, so you can bring him into the game without him offering all sorts of behavior before you’re ready. Then you can bring him into the session on a leash, or ask him to be waiting on a cot or mat, or in a crate, then call him to you to start.
We totally want his enthusiasm, but he’s going to get frustrated if he offers behavior and is then stopped. So bringing him in on leash or as a recall from a mat or crate will help that, and it is also great practice for future trials.Tracy
Yes, the high aframe makes it harder. Is there anyone who can help out or can people who are there before you leave it lower?
Hi! The volume dial game is looking good!!
I loved her tugging here – will she tug like that in different locations? If yes… Yay!!If not, you can work this game with food too – it is all the same except the food delivery will be moving and from your hand, same as the tug would be 😀 Basically, rather than deliver the treat to her as she is standing still, you would have her chase your hand as you move a few steps away from her, so she is running to eat the treat from your hand (not tossed – you are moving and she gets it on the fly from you hand)
And work the food version of this to be able to use it in smaller, tighter spaces too!
What other tricks does she know? Her sits were good here (you can release quickly) and you had a hand touch at the end. You can add in spins, leg weaves, more hand touches, etc. Those can be done with hand lures or cookie lures 🙂
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning!
>>I am not sure why I can’t get my crosses done more quickly but I tend to stand around and be slow about them – this is an important thing for me to work on. >>
It is totally normal at this stage, and feels that way mainly because she is young and needs to see the full cue before she can start responding, so we walk. The fine line of being as early as possible but also not toooooo early because we need commitment too. As she gets more experienced, she will be able to process and respond more quickly, so it won’t feel as hard to get the crosses.
Sequence 2 is looking great! You are correct, a little more connection was needed for the 4 jump and you made a great adjustment for all the other repps.
The lead out push and the blind worked great. The FC is not as useful there as the BC – you did it well, but the BC will be much easier. My only suggestion for the lead out push and the BC is to change your positional cue a bit:
For the lead out push, be more on the center of the bar and as she lands from 1, stay connected like you did and start moving to 3. That way she will turn before takeoff of 2. You were more on the far side of the bar and so she went straight and turned after landing.For the blind (and FC), don’t go anywhere near jump 2 🙂 Basically your running line is from 1 to 3 and when she has landed from 1, start the blind. She should find 2 on her line. Running towards 2 will set the line straight causing her to turn after landing, plus it risks putting you in her way and she might have to slow down to avoid hitting you.
And the RC looked great!! YAY!!!!!
Great job!
TracyThe pattern games are looking good! For the back and forth, you can wait a heartbeat longer to throw the next treat – add in waiting until he lifts his head and looks directly towards you (hands, face, etc). That will slow down the game in a good way, and get even more engagement.
For the up and down, you were doing it right! You don’t need for him to sit or stand in between reps – he can go into the down, because your movement will still get the up and down of his head and he was doing a down to sit to down to sit and that is fine 🙂
On the sequences –
>>Here is what I’m thinking while I “run” Casper: he is so fast and I don’t stay properly connected and I’m really glad there were only 8 obstacles! (Obviously, I’ll need to fix that!)>>
I was thinking that too LOL!!! He is fast, has a huge extension stride, yet turns really well too. Very exciting!!!!
>>Ps: iMovie has changed how it exports videos.
Ugh!! That is a pain. I will look at it when I get home, it would suck to no be able to use it as much! What you did with just slapping up the whole video is fine, I can scroll through the parts where he is not running 🙂
One thing that is really important is that is something goes wrong in the handling, just keep going or reward. Definitely don’t mark it as an error or stop, because 99% of the time it is handler error of lateness or lack of clarity. So carry on and then fix it on the next rep or watch the video if you are not sure what happened.
On the first rep, your lead out position and quick release when you reconnected totally cued the tunnel. He needs a moment for you to lead out, point at the jump, see him look at it… then release. Being so far away was above his pay grade so there were a bunch of failures – when you see the 2nd failure, break it down so there are no more failures, You changed his position s he could get it and that really helped. Yo can also teach the skill with your hat far away by placing a toy out past jump 1.
>>Casper has not reached that level of sophistication.>>
This is a perfect way to put it LOL!!!
The FC will tighten up when you have more of a lead out on jump 1 to get to it sooner, so he can see the deceleration into it starting as he exits the tunnel.
He had a question about 5 at 1:31 , wasn’t sure which side of it. It was because when you point forward, that pointing turns your shoulders away from the line so he came off the line (young dogs are very literal!). Compare to 2:49 where you just ran, arms down, stayed connected: no questions! Super!
The rest looked really strong, especially the last rep where you had great connection and timely verbals!
On the opening of sequence 2, the physical and verbal cues were late so he could not change his lines in time. The come verbal to turn to 3 happened after he was over the bar of 2 (that cue should be starting as he lands from 1 and looks at 2) plus there was no decel or turn to 3, so he landed then scrambled to turn. The switch happened as he was just a few feet from takeoff of 3 (it should be happening after landing of 2) so he ended up on the backside of 3. Good boy!
He got marked with you stopping and saying ‘ohhhhh’ – and sent to the front of the jump. That reads as telling he was wrong… but he read the info presented as best he could, so it is a good place to just keep going and fix the handling on the next rep. We don’t want him to slow down or get frustrated when he is trying to respond so well!
The 2nd run was sooner with the info on the opening so he was able to get it! Try to keep moving the cues sooner – when he has landed from 1, start the verbal/decel/shoulder turn. When he is landed from 2, do the switch as you move into the RC. Those cues were happening at takeoff of 2 and 3 respectively so he was able to get it but ideally you can tell him sooner.
The lead out push worked well too and he was very responsive to the collection cue! That was nice to see – huge extension stride and great job collecting! As you do the spin and the countermotion away to jump 4, add in looking behind you to the landing spot to get commitment. You were looking directly at him the whole time, so he did not go past you.
The post turn worked well there too on the last rep! Nice!!!
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
I agree, the timing of young dog handling is tricky! We keep trying to get it earlier and earlier, which might show us where he commits well or where he needs more help. All good info!
>>The sit was MUCH harder for him on the Volume Up game, but his hand touches were GREAT, he really pushed nice and hard. The sit was so much harder for him, but definitely keep it separate.
Yes, the sit was hard! You don’t need to do the sit in the volume dial game, you can stick to the fun tricks 🙂
Tracy
Hi!
I think what’s happening here on the a-frame is that he is cuing off of your position by taking several small steps over the apex then may or may not hit through the box, depending on where you are or how fast he is moving. He is looking at you, which changes the striding.On the flat, did you do any jump-box-wing patterns, where he could go through the box by jumping in and out of it then around a wing, without looking at you? If not, go back to that 🙂 You’ll vary your position the whole time.
And then lower the frame so he is taking bigger strides over it, through the box, then to a wing to wrap after it. That should help getting him to look straight!
Let me know if that makes sense.
TracyHi!
>>Loud may be my friend! I will try this!!!
Yes! Saying it loudly is the actual rehearsal of what you will be doing, so you might find it helpful!
The Get Out game looked really good! She was totally anticipating by the 3rd or 4th rep, so remember to keep mixing in different cues.
When you made the BIG eye contact on the get out, she got it (like at 1:04). When you did not make the big connection, she stayed on the regular line (like at 1:07) so keep making the BIG connection 🙂
The same happened when you were adding the cross after the jump. If your connection was too normal and not BIG eye contact, she would not go to the jump (like at 1:35, 1:37, 1:43). But when you added more intense direct connection, like at 1:56 and 1:59, she got the cue and you got the cross 🙂
When she went to the backside of the jump a few times (like at :34) it was because you were wrapping her on the outside art of the wing towards the jump, so the backside was on her natural line. Ideally you would wrap her around the inside of the wing (between the wing and the jump) so that she exits on the line on the outside of the wing (right next to you).
Looking at the lap turns:
>>She was either really excited about getting turned around on the lap turn or we’ve been practicing spinning too much!>
I think 2 things were happening here:
You were too early to step back with your leg, and it is possible that the cue looked too similar to a spin cue. I think it was that you were stepping back too early, because when you starting stepping back later, she got the lap turns nicely! So for timing: hold your cookie hand out towards her til she is about 2 inches from it… then use the arm and leg stepping back together to set the turn.
This is what you did at 1:17. 1:22, 1:39 for example, and she read it all beautifully 🙂 When she was spinning, your leg was already back before she got to your hand, so she was not sure of the cue.The zig zag session went well! When you get to the 2nd jump, you might have to step forward with your outside leg (left leg in this case) to indicate the takeoff spot of the first jump. That can help build up your distance! And you can also angle the jump a little so the bar is more visible in front of her. She was pretty perfect when she was on the other side of jump 1, jumping towards you for 1 then away on 2 – so the only question was jumping away from you on jump 1. She is doing a great job with her lead changes!!
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi! These sessions looked really strong!!
The backside wrap session went well and he easily contrasted them with the RCs and the GO line. Nice!!!
>>Slight distraction when the jumps in the background fell over in the first rep,
Yes, that was a legit distraction that he needed to look at, he came right back!
>> on at least 1 of the backsides I was really blocking the wing though.
Yes, a little over helping by blocking the wing, so remember to run to where the wing and bar meet, and really ramp up the eye contact to help him see the backside. Is the verbal you were using for all backsides, or just the backside wrap? I vote for separate verbals for backside slice and backside wrap 🙂
He is ready for you to add this week’s Mission Transition game 🙂
For the serp proofing, there was a question on the first rep. I can see his argument on that rep because your shoulders were a little forward and you had motion, so he was not sure which it was and choose the None Of The Above option LOL! The 2nd rep (serp) and 3rd & 4th reps (tunnel ) were much clearer, and so was the threadle rep – that was very obvious change of position and arm cue! NICE!!!
So as you add motion to this game, keep the very obvious shoulder positions and I think he will have no trouble reading it.
Great job!!
TracyHi! She was a really good girl and this session did have a lot of success!!
The better connection to 3 (:11) and more support of it totally helped! Saying Go before the tunnel (:48) helped commit her as well, AND also allowed you to get a turn on the 3 jump!
Th more experienced she gets with this, the easier the handling will be, so you won’t feel rushed like at :58 – your opposite arm was up and you were rotating as she exited the tunnel, so she was correct to NOT take 3. The last rep was definitely the sweet spot for the 1-2-3-4 line!
A couple of ideas:
When you start the FC, finish it asap so that you don’t end up moving backwards like at :50. And also, if you take too long for finish the FC, you end up accelerating forward after it rather than cuing the turn like at 1:06, which put her on the backside of 5.Releasing behind her with her looking at you at :13 was confusing – being nearer to her to one step ahead will help, and you can work on a bit of focus forward to jump 1 by placing a toy out past it so you can release her with you a bit behind her.
Great job here! She is doing really well!! Leave this sequence for now and try some of the others 🙂
Tracy
Good morning!
Both dogs did well here! A couple of ideas of how to help even more and the next steps:
For Huck – try to stand still more at the start of this, and use treats that he can easily swallow rather than needing to chew. Something soft and visible will be good, like bits of string cheese.
For the movement – start by standing still, then you can add back and forth walking. You were wandering a bit I different directions so there was not as much of a pattern effect, in terms of him and you moving back and forth along the same plane.For the up and down game, use both of your feet LOL! He should go up and down but also back and forth from foot to foot (you were only using one foot). He was really quick to re-engage with this one. Yay!
For Maple, I think she is not quite as fluent in this game so was slower to re-engage. That is fine, she will learn it really quickly. 🙂 Like with Huck, use more obvious treats that do not require chewing 🙂 And also, stand still rather than wander, so you can establish the pattern of going back and forth, as if moving along a line.
Both dogs are ready for you to do this with a leash on. If they don’t normally wear a collar or leash at home, then that is a huge difference and you will want to neutralize the collar and leash but using it a lot more in home training.
Great job!
TracyHi!
>>I really find your comments about food very helpful as they make total sense and help me get my own thoughts in better order if that also makes sense.>>
Yay! I think that if we think of eating food as “behavior” rather than as motivator or reinforcement, we can make tremendous progress 🙂
>>She will take food at a trial after she has run so we usually have a very brief tug when she comes out of the ring and then switch to food for the cool down She will also take food before she goes in if it’s high value enough, but prefers the toy.>>That is great! It means we can use food if needed and the toy when needed, to help optimize arousal states. The food is likely more of a gateway to getting the physiological effects of the patterns, but that is fine with me 🙂
>>I’m happy with her focus at a trial but I just feel that I need another set of eyes on what I am doing now as I’m sure there are always gaps and at 2 I think it’s a good time to address any.>>Perfect! At 2, she is still an adolescent so we can see what she needs help with, and what she does not need help with, and keep planning from there.
Volume dial game is looking good! She was quick to respond to the cues (except one down cue, she was delayed, which made me laugh because the down should be easiest for a BC LOL!!!!!) And her ‘out’ of the toy was great. So she was likely in a pretty optimized state at the moment, and we have a good picture of her body language at the very end. So the next steps would be to take this game to different places: what does it look like in a new location? When another dog is running agility? With a video on and someone yelling TUNNEL TUNNEL TUNNEL on that video? We can get a good picture of how her arousal states change.
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
Tracy
