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Hi!
> I have to use my right hand to signal my dog to turn left! And vice versa!>>
Do you mean you are saying “right” when you want the dog to turn left, because it is your right hand? That is actually fine and might be easier to remember!
And other options include a ‘towards’ and ‘away’ verbal rather than right or left – totally depends on what feels best for you!
TracyGood morning!
>.Obi is 11 months now!
Baby dog is growing up! Large breed, boy dog – I would say 11 months is a good time to start showing him wrist-height bars. In the next couple of months, go up to elbow height but take your time – the big pups take a little longer to develop.
>>I’m not sure where to get jump bumps, but I can make some out of pvc + pool noodles (DIY ftw!). Already ordered the noodles >>
Pool noodles are perfect!!!! I have also gotten PVC plumbing supplies at Lowes or Home Depot (and the staff there has cut them into 5 foot sections for me).
>>that’s not the reason for my lack of coordination. Lots of things happening at once/quickly and I think I just need to go run circles by myself before involving Obi >The pillbug game is pretty easy for the dogs but I find them super hard for ME! LOL!!! We have to connect to the dog, do handling and not fall over the tunnel. LOL! Wearing a hood probably limited your peripheral vision, so the rain was a factor here too! Darned rain!
Looking at the video: you did GREAT!!! If you hadn’t mentioned that it felt weird, I would not have known – you looked very connected and you did not run into anything LOL! At the end, as you both added more speed, it was a little harder but still went really well! You did well showing him the connections and he got a TON of reinforcement – so he thought it was a fun game 🙂
>>More specifically I see myself hesitating to make sure he is on one side of me and somehow try to observe as he switches over as I make the cross.>>
It looks like you were connecting to be sure of where he would be – and that might have felt like you were hesitation, but it looked like connection and he was reading it beautifully!
You might find it less awkward-feeling if you had a 2nd ‘tunnel’ so you can do the blind between the 2 tunnels. If you don’t have another tunnel, you can use a barrel or jump wing instead. That way you can run more, get the blind in between the 2 obstacles, and not feel as hesitant.

Great job here!!
TracyGood morning! I hope your migraine went away!!!!
The 3 foot spacing challenged her footwork and coordination… and she had no trouble! Good girl! So if you are still indoors, you can add a 4th wing to this 🙂 and also give your cues sooner – it will feel like fast dance moves LOL!!!!
Fingers crossed for nicer weather ahead!!!
Tracy
Good morning! Hopefully the snow isn’t too bad!!!
On the discrimination video:
Yes, the wraps are definitely easier for him! Partially it is value, but also proximity and lack of motion helps 😁
For the tunnels – Motion to the tunnel totally helps! He has too many failures happening though, and was getting frustrated (leaping/grabbing for the toy). So, time to build up the tunnel value & understanding! To do that, you can straighten the tunnel out and have it closer to the wing so it is easier to see and go through. Or take the wing out entirely until he can find that tunnel 100% of the time. And add in a lot of connection – with the curved tunnel, you were disconnecting a bit and moving away, so he was following your body cues and not always going into the tunnel. If something goes awry, no need to mark it as being wrong like at :24 – you can call him back, reset with a cookie, then make it easier on the next rep.>>FAS helping out (she likes that she has her own acronym, by the way).>>
Ha! She is very helpful – holding him but not getting him jazzed up and leaning forward. Yay! He did well here – you probably don’t need both the release work and the chase it marker, because the toy placement and the release implies that he can have the toy (I cannot think of a time when we would drag a toy, let him look at it, release him and NOT want him to take it LOL!!) Because he is not in a stay, the chase it might be technically more correct than a release but either way, you can go with one verbal rather than trying to use both 🙂
He did better when you were walking and not running, so you can revisit this maybe once a week, with you walking for now. As he develops his mechanics, you can add more running – because he is young, his body & mechanics change every day so there is no rush to add more challenge to the game yet.
>>I also moved the bumps a little closer – set them at 4 ft, I think I had them at 5 ft last time.>>
This will continue to change has he grows (not even 7 months old yet?). He will probably end up at a 6 foot set point distance but we have plenty of time to sort that out 🙂
>>we did some find the jump work. This was pretty easy for him, at least the finding the jump part. Still working on tunnel commitment.>>
He was great about finding the jump! Yay! You can throw the reward even sooner: use your marker and throw it as soon as he looks at the jump, which will be basically right after he exits the tunnel. That way he looks forward the whole time and not at you. On most reps, you were throwing as he was arriving at the jump, so he was looking at you.
You can also mix in rewards for taking the tunnel, thrown at the tunnel exit. For now, stretch the tunnel out so there is less curve and more light in it, making it easier to go to and go through 🙂 He committed nicely when you supported with connection and motion to it! When you pulled away too soon (right after the wing wrap) and disconnected like at :31, he followed your motion (good boy!) so be sure to reset with a reward and support more like you did on the next rep.
Great job here!! Fingers crossed for clear weather ahead!!
Tracy
Good morning!
He did really well with the tunnels here! Great job using motion to help him out! He had a little trouble going to the wing wraps after a tunnel rep, so you can do two things to help him out:
– the line ups are looking really good, so you can hold him a little longer so he hears the wrap verbal 3 or 4 times.
– After he hears it a few times, let him go to the wing and use your other arm to present the reward in the gap between the wing and tunnel (rather than move away, which could look similar to movement to the tunnel)Hearing the verbal first then having it be followed by the hand cue will help him predict that the wrap verbal is followed by coming around the wing, so he will anticipate the reward and come around the wing 🙂
Great job making the verbals sound different in the minny pinny! And you were holding him til he heard the verbals a few times which goes a long way to helping him process them. I think the placed reward helped him turn away, which is definitely the harder skill here! When you revisit this game (every few days, or once a week – it doesn’t need to be a daily game) you can fade out the placed reward and replace it with a thrown reward when he turns away.
The more exaggerated handling on the zig zags really helped him! He did super well here!!! So keeping the exaggerated handling, you can move the wings a little closer together 🙂 If they were about 6 feet apart here, you can try moving them to about 5 feet apart and see how he does.
Great job here!
TracyGood morning!
I do think that dogs are brilliant and can learn the same word being used in different contexts. So the Go as a release without meaning acceleration (delivered more quietly) and the Go Go Go on a big line to mean big extension is a possibility and the dogs can figure it out 🙂 but it might be easier to have a separate cue like RUN RUN RUN for the big lines 🙂
T
Good morning!
I am glad you didn’t get too much snow!
This was a good session! On the first rep, she pulled in from her front more than she pushed in off her rear, but she adjusted after than and pushed from the rear on the other reps.
>> After a couple of reps, I moved the bar to 12″. Not sure if I should have done this. Coincidently (?) that’s the only rep where she breaks her stay.>>
I think it was fine, but you can leave it there for now for a few sessions. Did you move it up from 8 inches, or 10 inches? The more gradual approximations are easier for the dogs. The stay break might have been partially the processing of the higher height, and partially that the toy had a big movement and she might have anticipated the release.
>>Your notes had a good reminder not to do too many reps of this. I deleted the last rep where she showed disinterest.>>
Yes, I like to do 5 or fewer reps. This is mentally challenging for the dog (moving target is HARD!) and also the plyometrics of pushing in off the rear is definitely physically hard too! So a couple of reps then letting her go do something else will help keep her from getting depleting or losing interest.
Great job!!
TracyGood morning!
>> But I was most proud of how happy she was! That just made me so excited! She was so dang proud of herself afterward. You should have seen it. It was so cute!>>
I love that! She felt good about it all!!!!
>>After reviewing my video later, I’m a little embarrassed at my poor handling in areas but oh well! >>
There is ZERO to be embarrassed about! Look for the good points and remind yourself of those (like the strong connection even when her speed surprised you). And if there was something you can do differently next time? Note it and practice it. But don’t pick on yourself – the run was incredibly successful!!!
>>For both of my dogs I wanted to make it super clear that they were to jump and immediately come back to me. What a weird way to start but I didn’t want there to be any temptations for that other jump that was super close to the start jump. >>
It is a good one to practice, because it is a trend we are seeing more and more: taking the first jump away from the course then coming back. It started in Europe, now we see it all the time in UKI, and that means we will be seeing it in AKC soon too (although AKC does have a lot of starts from a tunnel, which is fun :))
>> I’m still kicking myself at my poor handling right there where I had to call Kashia off the tunnel and turn right. I’d practice a front and a blind right there and in the moment, I did a sloppy rear which didn’t show Kashia I wanted to turn right so she went towards the tunnel. If I’d done my plan, we could have saved a second or two. It was so sloppy of me! >>
Another way to look at it: you were surprised by her speed but still showed her the line. Next time you can either show it to her sooner or dive into the original plan more aggressively (that is something to practice – going for it without breaking connection).
>>Isn’t it amazing to see how much she likes tunnels now!? Thanks to your class they have so much more value! Yay! Loving the tunnel makes agility SO much easier!
>>But after that, I’ve thought about doing it for Kashia or at the very least, exaggerating my deceleration better.As she gains speed in trials, more deceleration will be useful! You might not need it in practice but it is worthwhile to practice anyway, so that you have it at your fingertips at trials.
>>Granted this is only her second trial competing and she’s only done one course per day. >>
I personally think this is the correct way to begin a young dog’s trial career: one day here and there, and one SUPER FUN class only 🙂 Build it up as something really fun and then slowly add in the other classes.
>> always go into the ring with the mindset you taught me, just run and have fun! No fixing things or putting pressure on any of it.>>
This is a career goal in agility, whether it is at novice level or a big event: focus on your handling and connection, have fun, and everything else falls into place.
>>Just let Kashia run and have fun! I don’t declare NFC because I don’t think she needs that. At least not in Speedstakes. She doesn’t like toys enough to make that worth it for her. >>
I agree – because she won’t be jazzed up by a toy in that environment, it is possible that stopping to ‘reward’ is not actually a reward and could be frustrating or stressful. Getting to run run run? Yes, that might be the best reward 🙂
>>Now I know next time I need to mentally prepare for her to activate the turbos once we get going! Ha ha ha I don’t want her to go flying and leave me in the dust!>>
Yes! On the speedstakes courses, be ready for speed. And take the risk to do the crazy blinds – you have terrific foot speed! And if something goes wrong? NO worries at all, just keep going. And a few NQs would actually be good because she is going to move up to the higher levels pretty quickly and a little more time on the lower levels is a good thing 🙂
Have fun!
TracyGood morning!
>>I think she wanted to offer her backup behavior to encourage me to give her the treat but she had no room to move & offered the down instead. >>
That was so kind of her to encourage you to give her the treat! LOL!!! And if that is how she offers the down… cool! We will take it AND give her the treats 😁
I am glad you posted the RC video – you can get on the rear cross line even sooner 🙂 What was happening was you were running the straight line parallel to her line until she was committed to a takeoff spot, then cutting into the RC line – that was too late for her to change the striding to turn away, so she didn’t read the RC. It is possible that you were waiting for her to get past you or get closer to the jump before showing it? But by then, her decision has been made.
So to get her seeing it sooner: as soon as you pass the jump after the tunnel, your running line should be to the center of the bar of the RC jump. That way, as she is making her takeoff decision for that jump, she will see the motion and pressure, and set up the RC.
The tricky part is starting that motion line (and verbal, but the motion is more important) as soon as you pass the jump – but not being too far ahead that you push her off the line, or too far behind that it becomes late. Ideally you are a little ahead, or parallel to her. And keep moving forward to the center of the RC jump until she is very close to it, then you can finish the RC (if she ends up on the backside, you were too early 🙂 )
Circle wraps are going well!!! You were really emphasizing the connection shift (and using a bit of turn at the waist and arm movement to help support that). The session was highly successful – one little blooper where the connection was not strong enough but you quickly fixed it and the rest were lovely! You can probably keep your hands in lower and tighter to you – that can help with the quickness required to make the blinds & reconnections. She is soooo quick that less arm motion will let your rotation be quicker and also, she will see the connection even more.
Speaking of arms staying closer and tighter to you – keeping your arms in tight will help with the tight blinds too! I have found that the further my “wings” are from my torso, the longer it takes me to bring them in, changes sides on the blind, and stretch them out again. That probably seems like hours to speedy dogs LOL!!! And the quicker we can show the clear re-connection like you had at :16, the better the blind cross lines will be 🙂
>>. I didn’t like our timing, so I ended the session there.>>
I think trying to get the timing from the stay was a bit hard because there was not enough time to show the line and start the blind.
When you added the tunnel, your motion supported the line so your timing at :24- :26 was really strong!!! You started the blind when she was about halfway between the tunnel and wing, and you were reconnected just as she arrived at the wing. NICE! (Having your wing in tighter to you will help you be even quicker :))
The timing at :37 was also good! The other reps from the tunnel were strong but not as great as the timing at :24-:26. There is a lot of trust involved in blinds, so trust your motion to commit her to the line so you can start the upper body rotation.
Tandems are going well too! I think the best reps were when you were not that far ahead of her, so you were moving together (that is why they are called tandem turns :)). At :20 you were a step early on the rotation (stepping into her so she turned away on the flat) but then you nailed it on the next rep! Yay!
>>Now I need to pick my Threadle Wrap verbal. I’m thinking maybe “round, round” (short for around). I think my brain will “see” that and help me communicate it.>>
I like ‘round round’ – it describes the behavior and I think it sounds different from any of your other cues. And it brings up a cool 80s song in my head (you spin me right round baby right round hahahahahahah)
>>Also, I saw this term and never considered this before – what is a Weave Threadle?>>Yeah, the world has gone MAD. Bearing in mind that threadles are all when the dog needs to squeeze in between us and the obstacle then turn away to get into the non-obvious side of it. Just like we have a verbal for the other side/non-obvious side of a tunnel and a verbal (or two haha) for the threadle other side of a jump… you can train a verbal that cues the dog to go to the threadle side of the weaves.
Basically, if the course heads towards an obvious entry (pole 1), the threadle entry would be pole 12!
The reasoning behind this is that with all of the discriminations involving the weaves and tunnels and jumps nearby, you can’t use the same verbal for all the threadles because the dog won’t understand the discrimination. This is a valid argument!
But in reality… even though I have dabbled in the training of it with my youngsters, I have NOT seen it on course at all. Anywhere. I mean, maybe we will run into it on a poorly designed ISC course somewhere? But I have not seen the weave threadle challenge anywhere and it is really hard on the dog’s body. The current trends seem to be more towards really independent weaves so we can focus on that. And if the trend of weave threadles appears, we can add in the training.
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
Supporting with the physical cues leads to better connection and that was super clear here (so he was very successful). And we have a great camera angle to see it! For example, look at the first rep (:05 and :07) as well as the last rep: as he is working the circle wrap, you can see your connection shift to the ‘landing’ spot rather than looking forward so he got those really well!On the 2nd rep, you did not have the clear connection like the other reps so he didn’t get the middle wing (:16) – compare to :23 and 34 on that middle wing as you ramped up the connection, looked behind you, and he got the commitment. Super!!!
So keep going with that connection and you will see the countermotion gets easier and easier for him.
Nice work!
TracyGood morning!
This was not painful at all! You broke it down and helped him out. Yes, there is a discrimination element here between the jump and tunnel, but also it is a huge connection game along with the timing of the motion. Backside circles are hard!When you were using a little less motion and more upper body (like on the last 3 reps), he more easily found the circle wrap. More upper body was making it look like you were shifting connection behind you to the ‘landing’ spot (looking at where you wanted him to go). That is also what you were doing on the more successful reps earlier in the session (even before the tunnel was blocked :))
When you were moving faster and not shifting the connection/using as much upper body, the cues pushed him off the line and into the tunnel. You did have the opposite arm in use there but everything else was cuing forward on a straight line (like at :08 and :14)
So connection is the key – feet moving forward and waist turned a bit (arms can help too) so he sees your connection move to the landing spot. Then make a quick connection on the line to get him to the tunnel or wing after that – he makes the decision based on what connection he sees (like at :22 and :37) so if he goes to the other side of a wing or tunnel, it was just a late connection when you were looking forward rather than at him.
Then when the physical cues are smooth, we add the verbals and it will be even easier.
Nice work here!
TracyGood morning! Lots of good work here!
Wing-tunnel discrimination:
Great job with the collar hold and verbals – you can add in motion support after you release him, to help build up the verbals (the verbal coming before the motion will predict which motion is coming, so he will start to do the thing based on the verbal :))For the tunnels, you can say the verbal a few times like you did, then release – then turn and step to the tunnel with the dog-side leg to affirm that yes, it is the tunnel 🙂
For the wraps you can help similarly – say the verbal release then – and then use a hand cue to help him come through the gap.
He had a few too many errors here and had some big mad moments, so you can totally help him out! As long as. The verbal cues before the motion, he will still learn the verbal very quickly. And if he has a miss, you can reset him with a line up cookie rather than handle through to the correct line – that way he can really focus on the verbal.
Set point is going well! You can add a little more distance between the bumps because he is powering through it even more (6 inches for now and we will see what he thinks) and you can also add the moving target.
Minny pinny – nice mechanics of the verbal then release here too! Yay! And great job adding the different angles. He was sometimes a little sideways on the line up, so to help get a straight line up you can lure with a cookie to your side, then take his collar, then give him another cookie. Lotsa cookies will make lining up at your side into a very happy place 🙂
As you add more challenge to these, we can make the verbals sound a little more different from each other. You can slow down and stretch the verbals out (as in, riiight riiiight riiiight and lehhft lehhht)so they are more different in sound and rhythm. That will help him understand the difference which helps as the challenges increase. If they are both short and fast, then it is harder to process the difference.
Turning away was hard as expected, it is normal to have trouble with the turning away at first.
He had a slightly harder time turning away to his left (he might be a righty, based on this game and the zig zags too), but had questions in both directions so you can help solidify the ‘turn away’ concept by holding him, tossing the toy to where you want him to turn to (to really enhance the line), starting the verbal – then let him go. That can help him understand that it he can turn away on these cues.
When he has the light bulb moment of “Oh! I can turn away!!!” Then you can fade out the reward placed on the line.Zig zags: The early reps of moving right then left went well! It was easy to get all the way out to the 3rd wing. As you mentioned, when you switched to
left then right – it was too hard with you out on wing 3 and serping (upper body cues without foot movement). Great job breaking it down and moving back to the 2nd wing to get that left turn! On the next session, start those left turns the way you ended here: facing him and turning your feet in a more exaggerated way, almost like a front cross. That can help support his lead changes to his left (the movement to the right after that is easy!). When he can do it smoothly, you can start to move your position further back, bit by bit.Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning!
The minny pinny is looking good, she was flying here too!!
>>even got 2 directional out before I let go most of the time!
You were really good about it when it was a right turn… not as good as when it was a left turn LOL!!! Try to remind yourself to do it every time to speed and strengthen the learning of the verbals.
Where was she going at :19? She was looking at the line as you started and drove there with conviction LOL!!!!
The turn aways are harder for sure! This is normal – if she has a question like at :25 and turns back to you, don’t move to help her: just keep saying the verbal and let her sort it out, the reward 🙂
She did much better when the more distracting toy was not moving in your hand or on the ground – that is too much to process (verbals PLUS favorite ring toy) so for now, the more exciting toy can be stationary in your other hand or not used at all. It can come back in when she has more experience with this under her belt.
>>Then I tried the serp. I left my fall in for your entertainment. >>
The ground reached up and grabbed you! LOL! Ouch!
What was happening here was that you were a little too close to the start wing, so you had to accelerate to the serp jump without enough time to rotate your upper body from ahead to show the serp. She was reading acceleration and staying on the parallel line past the jump – that is lack of experience on fast moving serps, so we can totally help her out 🙂
On the reps at 1:01, 1:05, 1:08, 1:23, 1:34 – you did a foot rotation that brought her in but if you were late (1:15) she missed it. Ideally you keep moving forward like you did at 1:26 (that one had less rotation but a little decel).
So to help her get the serps without the foot rotation or decel, two ideas:
– Start with her at your side and you are at the entry wing of the jump. Send her to the start wing and that way you will be easily ahead and visible between the uprights as she exits the start wing, so she can see you open your shoulders without rotating your feet.
– Rotate the serp jump as much as needed so she can easily see the bar without you rotating your feet to bring her to it. The wing closer to the start wing and stay where it is, and the wing of the jump closer to the MM can move towards the camera a couple of feet, until the bar is basically on her path and nearly impossible to miss. Your running line remains the same, as if the jump is still in the ‘flat’ position – that way you can show her the serp movement without rotation and it is easier to get over the bar. When that goes well, it is easy enough to rotate the bar back to the flat position over a series of sessions, while maintaining the serp cues.The balance Wraps looked great! Easy peasy for her!!!
Great job here!
TracyGood morning!
Ewwwwww, snow!!!! I hope it melts asap!!!The zig zag reps looked good!! It was pretty easy for her and she seemed to be equally strong on both sides, so you can add challenge by moving the wings closer together 🙂 It looked like they were maybe 4 feet apart? Move to 3 feet and see what happens! If that proves to be too hard, you can move them to 3.5 feet. I bet she can do it at 3 feet though!
Great job!
TracyGood morning! Lots of great work here!!!
One thing I notice is that you use ‘go’ as a release to work, and that is fine! In order to protect the verbal for straight line acceleration, you can use something else for straight line work, such as “run”. That way she will understand ‘go’ means ‘get started’ and ‘run’ will mean ‘accelerate straight over a line of jumps.’
She is doing really well with the minny pinny on both videos here! Turning away is definitely hard, and so we can add in clear lineups to help her understand that it is perfectly fine to turn away (rather than towards you first, then find the line).
If she is turning away to her left, for example, you can move your position so you are a little bit on the center of the first bar, with her on your left side – and then start your left verbals. That gives her a better visual to be able to turn away to (starting in the center of the setup made it a little too hard for now). If she still has questions, you can jump start the behavior by holding her and dropping a treat or milker between the bars in the direction you want her to turn. She was very happy to have that happen on the straight line in the collar grab video below 🙂 so I think she will be happy to have it in the minny pinny too 🙂
As soon as she has an easier time turning away, you can then start to move back to the center position – that way she won’t need to see arm cues and can easily move into the little grid here.
This game (and the zig zags) have a lot of footwork, so when training indoors you might want to put something over the mats so she doesn’t slip or have to shorten up to stay balanced. I have used cheap rugs with rubber backing from Walmart or amazon, and I also have a couple of small rolls of turf in my small dog training room that I got from amazon – anything for the dogs, right? LOL!
Sends and serps are going well! The next step is to have you moving parallel to the bar on the jump (and towards the MM) while she is moving too.
To get you to be able to move up the line, you can send her to the start wing rather than start from a stay: start with her at your side with you at the center wing so you can send to the start wing and then be moving across the center of the bar as she exits the start wing.Starting from a stay caused you to have to release and step to the wing, which delayed your motion towards the serp jump… and with her whippet speed, she caught up to you immediately LOL! Starting with her next to you and sending her away will set you up to stay ahead through the serps.
Wrapping rather than serping on the 2nd video looks great! And she was really good about taking the jump for the serp when you did not cue the wrap. You were saying “right” on these, but they were lefts unless the video got mirrored.
Zig zags – – she has a really strong stay, so to be able to get all the different positions for the lead changes you can try this from a lead out and stationary position. You were trying to go faster than her and that was challenging to show all the lines soon enough 🙂 which shifted her focus to to handling rather than lead changes. Leading out and facing her will allow her to process her lead changes more because the info will be sooner. And that way you won’t need verbal cues, you can use physical cues.
Great job with the collar grab to toy throw! She was totally happy with that!!!
>>She also had to just sit quietly on the Klimb when Paul worked with Chitlin. Chitlin staying while Kishka retrieved the inflation got her a big jackpot of treats>>
Yay! Both are super good girls 🙂
Great job here!!!
Tracy
