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Good morning!
Totally agree, she is looking good! What is the distance between the 2 jumps? We might want to extend it a little, this might have been a little tight for her! But we will make that decision after you try the game I am posting tomorrow. Also, lower the first bar by one cup, so it is definitely lower than bar 2. When you are back at the barn, try this with a side camera view so we can affirm that she is indeed as balanced and powerful as she looks here.
Have you done the moving target pre-game yet? I don’t see it here but I am only on my 2nd cup of coffee hahahahaha!! That is the next thing to do for the jumping foundations – because tomorrow we add it to the jumping game.
Great job!!!
TracyGood morning!
>>can you tell me if I should move those two jumps a little closer?>>
It is a little hard to tell but it seems to be basically a good distance! The Manners Minder is a little too close to see how he strides out of it because he is slowing down to get to the treats. Try having the Manners Minder placed about 15 feet past the 2nd jump, to see how he strides out of it and that will tell us if it is a good distance or not.
>>Sometimes competitive nature of him make him able to work, when another dog is around and trained in what we want to do, So Charlie is learning from him much faster and with willingness.>>
If the other dogs are around, try not to let them do the jump grids too because then Charlie is racing instead of jumping, which changes his form especially as the bars come up as he gets older.
Let me know how he does with the MM further away!
TracyGood morning!
The set point looks good! The moving target is doing its job of keeping her head down and promoting good form! Yay!
>>The jumps were probably about 4.5′ apart, maybe a little more. Let me know where to go from here. Any change to distance or anything else?>>
Stick here for now, although we might change it as the bar goes up. Since she is now past 15 months, we can start playing with the bar height.
The height of the first bar never goes up, it will stay really low. For the 2nd bar, raise it 2 inches for the next session. And since the height of the bar is higher, keep the moving target but move it even more slowly, so she can focus on the bar more than the moving target. And of course get it on video so we can see what she does 🙂
This game can now move to the one-a-week rotation, no need to do it more than that especially since we will raise the bar bit by bit over time.
Looking at the Smiley Face games:
these reps looked great!! You had really great connection and that totally helped. Yay! Plus, having things a little closer than what you described you initially did probably helped too.>> I set this up at first with the tunnel pulled out as long as it would go and it may have had a little more curve than what you will see below. I scrapped that exercise because she kept running past one entrance but then ducking in and coming back through the opposite end.>>
It is possible that you had broken connection or moved away from the tunnel entry too soon, so she changed the line to get into the tunnel on her stronger side. What you describe happening is *exactly* what my Ramen puppy does when I disconnect or don’t drive him all the way to the tunnel on entries where he has to turn left to get into the tunnel. He is a righty 🙂 so he will skip the left turn entry and go grab the right turn entry LOL!!! It is like the pups know we want *something* with the tunnel, but if we are not clear, they have trouble getting themselves organized on the harder side, and hop in on the easier side.
So, I make sure I support Ramen allllll the way to the tunnel entry on the left turn entries (when he is on my right). The right turn entries (easier side for both of us LOL!) don’t need as much support, and it will all even out anyway as I practice it.
>> After running it these few times, I’m not sure I will be able to get her to GO and complete the wing when running back out of the tunnel if I’m not closer to that wing to cue it. Same with the racetrack unless I can keep up with her (not happening). How should I work on this?
The key will be to keep moving and keep connected like you were here – and when she exits the tunnel, keep connected and keep moving towards the wing til she commits. That is part of the goal of this game: to get the commitment without you needing to be faster than her 🙂
Being able to send to the tunnel will make it much much easier, so definitely work it first on the side of the tunnel that is easier for her to send to, because then you can get up the line faster. And on the harder side of the tunnel entry, keep working the wing wrap to tunnel line, to build up the tunnel sending more easily there.
For now, keep the wings in close enough to the tunnel to make it easier – as her understanding of the commitment lines expands, you can expand the distances 🙂
Great job! Let me know how she does!
TracyHi!
She was so pumped up for this game LOL! Great job getting a TON of stay reinforcement to her. I think the key for now if the toy is on the ground when you move away from her will be to have you walking slowly because anything faster than that was soooo exciting so she couldn’t stay if the toy was already on the ground.
The other thing that was effective was at 1:05 where you lead out past the jump and then put the toy on the ground, then released here. That looked great and she easily held her stay. You did something similar at 1:55ish and on the last rep and it worked well too, in terms of her holding the stay successfully.
This game is going to be useful for jumping form! It definitely made things a little harder for her – she was trying to figure out her striding and actually touched the bar on the last rep. No worries, though, because we will use this concept to help her sort out her striding.
I think all she needs is one more session like this and then you can move it to the set point (I am adding video of that tomorrow).
Great job!!
TracyGood morning! This looks fabulous!
What was the distance between the 2 jumps here? The distance looked comfy here, she was striding but I want to keep track of it in case we change it as she continues to power up 🙂 The reward target must have been in a perfect spot, because she really powered out to the it and that maintained beautiful striding 🙂Great job! I see the moving target video below this one, I will look at that now 🙂
TracyAdolescence happens during the time with our sport dogs when we unintentionally are putting a lot of pressure on them because they are competition-legal at 18 months! Or 15 months in some cases – ewwwww!!! So it is important to keep emphasizing that they are NOT ready for that pressure 🙂
T
Hi1
This session looked good too!
One thing to remember: you don’t need to be fully rotated to cue the wrap, you will want to decelerate and transition into the rotation as part of the cue.
When you were fully rotated, you end up running sideways or backwards (:10 was sideways, :28 was a little backwards and you had to stop moving) plu she goes a little wide when you are already backwards – probably because of the pressure of you facing him and stepping out and backwards. So, make it more of a transition from going fast into deceleration into the rotation. That will also feel easier to move!
You can see that transition really nicely on those little figure 8 moments at :06 and :24 -and his wraps were SUPER nice there!!!
BTW – your connection really looks fabulous! Keep it up!!!
Tracy
Hi!
>. I figured it would be fun to have the video from our very first attempt.>>Totally agree! Always video those first sessions: partially because it is really informative for the training, partially because it is SO FUN to look back on these sessions in a few years 🙂
The session looked great here!
Wing to tunnel on both sides looked great.
When you added the bigger sequences, he looked great too!
He had little tiny head checks on the tunnel exits because you were very quiet – that is fine for now, we add tunnel exit games tomorrow 🙂 Your wrap and left/right verbals are nicely timed too! I think one thing to consider is repeating the left/right verbals (“lehhft lehhft” for example) rather than one long verbal (“lehhhhhhhfffft”) because on a big course, you won’t have the wind to sustain that length of ton while you are running hard – by repeating the word, you will probably be able to breath too 🙂His running past the tunnel at :51 was a great reminder that he is still a youngster 🙂
All of the mini sequences looked great! The only thing to add is the wraps on the jumps after the tunnel to go back to the tunnel (wrap -tunnel – wrap – tunnel) because you were mainly doing left or right race tracks. So the wrap after the tunnel and a FC back to the tunnel will mix things up nicely.
Great job!
TracyGood morning! Sorry to hear there is more snow 🙁 Boooo!!!!
The wrap versus tunnel went well!!
>>“Yes” is still slipping in sometimes so I’ll continue to work on that. >>
Totally relatable. Try to plan the directional and marker before you start each rep, that can help!
>.Not sure if 0:16 was just from him hitting the wing?>>
Yes, he hit the wing at :16 and I think it was probably because of the transition into the rep. It is hard to tell because of the video edit, but it looked & sounded like the verbal and release of the collar happened pretty much at the same time, so he didn’t have a plan when you both started to move… and was disorganized and looking at you.
So try to make it verbal for 3 or 4 times… then release to move. He was more organized on the other reps but we still want to be sure that he can process the verbal before he starts to move.
The mini sequences look great! Be sure to mix in tunnel-tunnel-wrap as well as tunnel-wrap, so he doesn’t get into the tunnel-wrap pattern 🙂
And also, because he is doing so well, you can add a little motion (not handling :)) into the mini sequence: send him into the tunnel and move to meet him at the exit. When he exits, you will be moving forward (walking at first) while saying either the wrap cue or the tunnel cue. That will add another layer of challenge 🙂
Great job!
Tracy>>r I am working with advocates waiting until the dogs are 15 months old before introducing them to odor since we don’t want any fear (or funky adolescent behavior, I guess) associate with the odor. I bet I’ll still see some after 15 months but at least I know not to freak out about it and just try again another day.>>
That is interesting – it seemed odd to me (like superstitious behavior on part of the humans, because we introduce dogs to ALL sorts of sporty things before 15 months old and don’t have fear associated with them, unless they are having a pre-existing anxiety issue or something terrible happens). But since I don’t specifically train NW, I asked a couple of the Brain Camp folks about it as well as Leslie McDevitt of Control Unleashed fame (who also does NW) during a meeting we had yesterday – they all agree that there is no issue with introducing odor before 15 months. I mean, if the dog is having a bad day or weird things are happening, sure, don’t do it, but otherwise it is perfectly fine!
T
Hello and welcome! He is SO FUN!!! What a cool addition to your group of dogs 🙂
I think he will do great in agility! He looks like a big dude 🙂 so even though he is 16 months now, proceed slowly so he can grow into himself and get the coordination he needs… then it will be clear sailing! I am excited to see more of him!
Tracy
Good morning!
>>Prytania had her first sleepover while Susan had fun at nationals!!! Lots of good things from the puppy!!! She looks so mature lol! I have to remind myself she is a 6 month old puppy!! >>
Yes – we have officially entered the stage where the puppies *look* grown up but are most definitely NOT grown up LOL!
>>Annalise is trying to process everything!!! She’s an adolescent too! She’s trying to remember to tell her good girl!! She said she was nervous the other night on zoom😊! She did good!>>
She was awesome!!!!!!
Looking at the videos –
On the wrap versus tunnel proofing, Prytania was pretty perfect with the different skills with the handling, including the mini sequence and when you changed sides. Prytty had no questions, and was also patient on the one rep where the connection on the right side was late (2nd to last rep). So since this i sgoing so well, the next step is to try it without handling 🙂 You can hold her collar, start saying the verbal a few times… then let go and see what she does 🙂 You can help with a little handling but the goal is to help less and less, and see if she can do it on verbals alone.
The set point is also looking really good – her stay really looks great! Nice work rewarding all those stays too.
Is this a 6 foot distance or a 5 foot distance? It looks a little big for her today because she was not really centered between the 2 jumps and on the last one she was cantering and not really doing little jumps…but we will be adding something to this tomorrow (stay tuned LOL!) so we won’t change anything til we see what she does with the new element. And you can also use a toy as the reward instead of the MM.I think she really liked the smiley face game!!!
>>I lost connection sometimes because of my hair😂😂😂🤦♀️.
Ha! Yes! And the hood of the jacket was big, so both of those can block connection.
She had a little bit of a hard time committing to the tunnel.
Because she is so inexperienced, be sure to drive all the way to the tunnel and not trust her tunnel send yet. At :20, :34, :43, 1:59, you pulled away too early so came came with you. Because the tunnel is dark and curved, it will help hr if you ran towards the entry longer, and also maybe stretch the tunnel out a little so that it doesn’t seem as dark to her.And to help build the tunnel love – reward lots of tunnels. The wing wraps look solid so you don’t need to reward those as much.
One other thing I notice was that she was jumping up at your hand a bit. It could have been a bit of a ‘looking for a cookie’ moment, or a bit of frustration because the game was hard – but you can also run with low hands that don’t point forward so help show her the line (so it will emphasize connection and not hand movement as much). She didn’t jump up on the Wind In Your Hair game when you were pumping your arms to run rather than pointing.
>> She really likes first thing morning training! Her toy drive is really at its best in the a.m.>>
She is a morning person LOL! This is good to know, so you can plan to do the toy-based games in the morning and the cookie games in the afternoon/evening. And it will all balance out a she grows up.
Acceleration on the line for the Wind In Your Hair game was perfect! You can definitely spread this out even more so she has more distance to drive ahead 🙂
>>biggest issue on this is she is not living up to her retriever name 😂😂😂. She likes to go off with the toy. I even tried two toys, but today that was a no go. >>
We can use this game as a framework to build a retrieve up. I am not worried about getting more reps of the training skill in because she is great at it already. And, if we try to get the toy back, take it away, and make hre “earn” it again… that is one of the reasons thatpups run off with toys – too much work, not enough freedom to play.
2 ideas spring to mind (maybe more after I have my 2nd cup of coffee haha!):
– you can let her get the toy and then cue “go or a run!” with it (because she is going to do that anyway, right? So we might as well put it on cue LOL!) And let her run run run run run with that first toy, don’t call her back and if she tries to bring it back? Send her away with it to keep running – I know that seems counterintuitive but it actually gets the pups wanting to run off with the toy less, because the running off is less stimulating. Then when she is looking like she doesn’t want to keep on running off with the toy, you can whip out a different toy, call her, play, and maybe do another rep of the training.
– the other option is to use a bleh boring toy as the reward. What is the most boring toy? Usually it is a toy she gets all the time so it is not that exciting. And as soon as she gets it, you can whip out a new toy, or one she hasn’t seen, or one that belongs to another toy. Then rather than calling the pup back, I make a big fuss over the new toy, all by myself (yes, my neighbors think I am insane but they also think my dogs are on TV so it is all good hahaha). Then when she comes to the new toy, let her have it and let her party with it.
I also do a TON of trading toys for food in these sessions – high value toy, low or medium value food if the dog is a pig (my new pup is the biggest pig dog I have ever owned!!). That really helps the retrieve!
>>Maybe we need to do this with me at the end and dragging toy so she can’t run away with it??>>
I think now is a good time to revisit the retrieve (early adolescence requires a lot of revisiting things LOL!) so no worries about the wing and jump because she is great with the skill 🙂
Nice work here! Let me know what you think!
TracyWow, that is annoying! I am shaking my fist at Verizon!! Can you send me the video from your phone to my Facebook messenger?
Or try this website
https://wetransfer.com/And I can upload it for you?
Tracy
Good morning!
Someday soon it will stop raining on! Hopefully tomorrow is CLEAR!!!
The USDAA trial sounds fun – congrats on all the successes! I am very glad to see that USDAA is using bigger spacing now too!
>>We did see quite a few jump tunnel discriminations and some jump weave discriminations (almost as hard for him since he LOVES his weave poles.>>
Yep, it am not surprised! And also lots of the tunnel-under-the-contact sending & layering challenges. We are now seeing them in AKC too, based on what the AKC NAC courses showed us!
>>I did some FEO even though I’m not always sure he appreciates stopping his flow to celebrate, but he seemed to take it in stride.
Ha! Yes, he seemed fine with the parties in the video and that is a good way of maintaining things in the ring.
>> Took a Snookers run as FEO to get in a tunnel call off and LOTS of wraps after seeing the Biathlon Jumpers course was very wrappy. Paid off and he had awesome Biathlon runs (last 2 classes of the show) and came in 3rd overall in Biathlon.>>
Wow! That is awesome!!!!!! So fun! The video look really good – he was a good boy about all of those wraps (did I see a couple of threadle wrap moments in there too??) and also have gorgeous extension when needed too. The future is very exciting!
Tracy
