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Hi! He wasn’t upset with you 🙂 He was trying to solve the puzzle 🙂
>>The strategy there was to run along and stare in his eyeballs until he looked at the jump and then throw the toy.>>
Perfect! This worked well with the go lines.
For the RCs, what was happening was that you were a little late on the first several because you were running forward like a go line, then cutting in for the RC at the last moment (like at :18 – he is taking off and turning left and you were just starting the RC). On the reps where he did a spin in front of the jump, you were also cutting in a little last-minute but he had not taken off yet. Then he started watching the toy, so when it was behind you back he was not driving forward as much so even with earlier timing, the RCs didn’t quite happen.
Two ideas for you to help out:
– stick closer to the wing wrap then get on the RC line to the center of the bar as soon as he exits the wing wrap. He won’t be past you yet, but he will pass you as you run forward to the center of the bar.
– use a cookie throw and even an empty food bowl as a visual add for him, turning the correct direction. That will get him looking forward more than a toy does for now, and then we can bring the toy back in later on.>>I went too long into scientist-debugging-mode)>>
Ha! Yes, with mammals (humans and dogs for example) we don’t want to go past 2 failures total, because then we get frustration or unwanted behavior change (like being sticky). I have been doing some thing with AI recently and it has been fascinating how many time I can tell it that it is wrong and to try again, and it tries again with the same gusto LOL!!!! But with the dogs, adding something to help will keep the frustration away while building the behavior.
Nice work here!
Tracy
Hi!
The RCs are going well! Your info is clearer so he is able to process it and make the adjustment to turn away in both directions. Super!>>I think on at least some of these Mason is turning after he lands instead of before.>
Even though you might not see the collection before takeoff, his head is turned and he is prepping the turn before takeoff, so I call it a win! Yay!
Two small details as you get ready to move to the game using the tunnel:
As he exits the wrap wing (and the tunnel when it gets added), you will want to make a bigger connection as you move forward, because it will get him looking forward sooner. At :10, for example, you can see him looking up at you while you are looking ahead and it takes him a couple of strides to process the info. Compare to :33, for example, when you look at him more so he looks ahead sooner and that makes the RC even easier.
You can also be more direct to the center of the bar like you were at :16, try not to take any steps towards the backside line until after he has passed you. That is a subtle difference but will be very helpful when adding the backsides.
That is why he slipped into the front side on the first rep of the backside jump – it looked the same as some of the backside handling, with motion to the backside line than at the last minute you pointed forward and looked forward… which cued the front side and RC at :05. Remember to reward reward reward anything that could potentially be a handler error – and if you are not sure, reward then go watch the video 🙂
>>On the first side I’m helping Mason with an arm behind the bar. I know our goal is to not have to do that. >>
On the first side you were helping more than on the 2nd side – you had the arm out on the right turns, but just used a connection shift on the left turns. I agree – the left turns were smoother! His commitment was good on all of those but the one suggestion is to throw the reward back to the landing side rather than dropping it near you. That will help with commitment as you add more speed and also help him not touch the bar, because he will be looking at the landing spot more and you can move faster through it.
Great job here!
Tracy
Good morning!
Nice job building up the layering here!!
I think the hardest part for him was the send to the start wing. To get it more consistently, you can make a bigger connection to his eyes and give yourself one step of a lead out so you can set the line from in front of him. If you move at the same time he moves, it is harder to get the sending going to add distance (which is why you ended up running in past the tunnel more).
Once he was past the start wing, you were able to get a lot of reinforcement for the jump which is great! You can throw the reward as soon as he looks at the jump.>>I realized after we worked that I should have been shifting the first wing closer to the tunnel as I moved that direction.>>
Yes, you can move the start wing so the jump is the only thing layered but also you can throw the reward for sending to the wing on the other side of the tunnel.
>>Do you think this direction is ready to add the tunnel?>>
Yes! Do a little warm up reminder (especially if you move the start wing) and then open up the tunnel entries to see how he does 🙂
>>It’s in the 80s again today and after we went this direction, Ven told me he was hot and I think that’s why his enthusiasm for the toy waned. >>
He is right, 80 is hot! So you can wait til there is shade and try it – there is a lot more running for the pups than humans on this game LOL!!
Great job 🙂
Tracy
Hi! Thanks for poking me, I totally missed it! See response above. And it looks like a super fun day with Casey, he is doing really well!!!!!
T
Oops, sorry I missed this!! It went really well!
>>No idea why this one particular thing is so difficult for me. Always late!>>
You had a lot of good timing moments on the tight BCs, like at :33 – you committed him and then did the BC before he got to the wing so he had a really good turn! And that helped him have a good turn on t he next wing too (he was wide at :36 but I think you were blocking the wing on that rep).
On the reps where you were a little later or he didn’t take the wing:
>>I noted myself looking forward again when Yuzu did not wrap the wing on the advanced exercise>>
Yes, no looking ahead 😁 because it looks like the beginning of a blind (:41 on the race track and 1:17 exiting the tunnel) and puts him into handler focus. One way to maintain connection is to point at his nose and deliver all verbals directly to his cute face (talk to the dog, not to the obstacle). That way he will see the commitment cues and your timing will be easier because you can see where he is at all times, and where he is looking.
>>And I am not sure why he decided to go SO far out on the race track. He may have been locked onto the tripod instead of the wing? But it was probably my handling, lol!>>
He was being a good boy! This was at 1:36 –
you ran straight and said go, so he went 🙂 And if there was a tripod out there, I bet he thought it was something to wrap. Good boy! He turned as soon as you turned to the middle wing. So as he passes the first wing, you can turn sooner to let him see the 2nd wing.Great job here!
Tracy
Good morning!
>>Where in Florida are you? We are in the Panhandle in Carrabelle (south of Tallahassee)>>
I am in Brooksville! I will have to see how far Carrabelle is in case I borrow a car and go doodling around! Right now I am in a big boat I mean RV that doesn’t get around easily LOL!!!
>>I can not wait to hear his/her name!
I believe I am going with “Plot Twist” as his name LOL!!! I haven’t decided on a nickname yet: Twist? Twister? Plotty? And then of course there is a middle name to be decided. So many options. LOL!!
>>I think she’s a little “chonky” lol. How much does Elektra weigh?>>
So if Bazinga ends up at 12.5 lbs, perhaps, as her competition weight, she will still need to drive the board down. At least as a Boston she has a lot of weight in her shoulders/neck/head, which actually helps get the board moving. Elektra is 13.5 lbs right now and she is built like a hummingbird (her nickname is Angry Hummingbird 🤣😂) so the teeter takes a long time to tip for her.
She did really well with the mountain climber game, offering the the down at the top of the board! The next step is to add the tiniest tiniest most subtle bit of movement – like getting the teeter to move a centimeter. Then doing the mountain climber with massive high value reinforcement and a centimeter of movement 🙂 It almost won’t be moving LOL!! But we want to maintain her confidence 🙂
And you can also look at the new bang game for her to hop on the side and into position.
Wingin’ it: These are going well! The lap turns looked good, both in isolation and when you added the tunnel!The lap turns from the tunnel were easier than the tandems to get to the correct side because you were facing her and she came right to you. Super!
Great job gradually adding movement to the tandems – these are harder because the upper body has to override the lower body. It was easy when you were starting from the tunnel exit, but harder when adding the speed from the tunnel. When she is rocketing from the tunnel, ]you can reward her for coming to your hands as you move forward to help set up the tandems. It looks like when she was on your left, you were further away from the wing and that helped her too! So adding more lateral distance and rewards from your hands can help set them up. We can also call her before she gets into the tunnel, and add the threadle wrap verbal which will help discriminate! (Apologies for so many words LOL!!)
The serps are going well! When you were doing the line from the tunnel going towards the camera, she read it really well even as you made the angles harder!
She had one miss early in that part of the session and another at 1:12 when you flattened the jump next the ent, but it looks like you were too far ahead on those. At 1:13 you were closer to the last jump so she didn’t really see the serp jump.To help her see the serp jump after the tunnel, you can be more visible between the uprights of the serp wing when she exits the tunnel and you are driving up the line. Adding more connection and shoulder drop totally helped too. You can see at 1:17 you were more visible and that totally helped her find the jump even when the angles were flatter.
When you were going down the line to the tunnel: she read the jumps really well and just needed the motion to the tunnel that you’ve her at :52
O the wingin’ it games:
>>I changed to the soft turns (left and right) we had trouble. She was coming to the inside of the wing. I was trying to stay connected but we struggled. >>
It looks like you were curling away fro the wing and breaking connection before she was committed. You can see on the reps at :32 and :50 and 1:24 for example, that you were moving up the line but looking forward, so when you turned away she curled in off the line. On the successful reps (like when you broke it down at the end) she was able to get it because you had more support on the line until she was committed. It is possible that the wings were set up a tiny bit further away so needed more support to get commitment.
Comparing that to the blind crosses on the next video – your connection ws great on those and also the blind cross line supports the wing, so she had great commitment throughout. That made. The blinds look lovely and also set up really great wraps on the middle wing!
So going back to the previous video – you can support the line on the soft turns like you are going to do figure 8 FCs or the blinds… but then keep her on your side for the post turn into the tunnel threadles 🙂
She totally had fun with the raised plank! LOL!! I think the MM was very exciting on each end so you got some leaping or coming off the side. No worries – we can use a target to help her NOT leap LOL! She is definitely confident.
Separately from the plank, you can use her running contact foundation mat and the MM to teach her not to leap. It is a little tricky because you are not going to click the MM for her touching the mat… you are going to click for her taking a stride after the mat and NOT leaping. She is going to have to think hard!
My Hot Sauce was also a giant leaper, so this is what that delayed click looks like:
I need to find a video of her leaps but it basically looked like a flying monkey going straight up in the air LOL!!!
Great job on these! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
The stays are looking great and big click/treat to you for making sure she is holding position before the release AND rewarding her so much. With a lot of movement into the lead outs, be sure that you add in time gaps between the arm movement and the verbal release. You were starting to do them pretty close together so the arm was starting to predict the release, and she was anticipating and moving a little too soon on a couple of reps.
She reads the lead out pushes really well – be sure you are stationary on the release for those, to get commitment to jump 2. If you move too soon, she (correctly) might not take jump 2 like at :38. Also, too much movement too soon puts you on too much of a straight line so you get too much extension over 2 and not enough turn to 3 (:57). Holding still on jump 2 for a heartbeat as she lands from 1 before moving to 3 will help you get a great turn over 2.
Great video angle on the next part of the video!!
Terrific timing of the FC at 1:15 and 1:53! Your position was too much between the uprights between 2 which cues a straight line, so she jumped straight at then you had to push her back to 3. That worked for the extension line at the end, but when you wanted the turn on 3 you ended up pushing back to 3 instead of decelerating so she jumped 3 in extension at 1:18. Ideally, the FC position would be closer to 3 so then you could immediately decelerate as he is approaching 2, so you can cue the throwback as soon as she is looking at 3. When you do the blind cross on the these openings, you can also do it running to 3 the whole time and not between the uprights of 2.
She was very clever at 1:43 – as soon as you lapel forward, she read it as a blind cross and went to the 3rd jump. Smart! You were looking to where you wanted to put the reward… but the shoulder movement and head turn totally looked like a blind. Good girl!!
Nice work on these!
Tracy
This went well – it is a really hard grid! The angle that you used for most of it was spot on: challenging for sure, but she sorted out the bounce. It looks like she was not totally comfy with it yet because while it was a bounce, she was at different heights over the bar and being thoughtful about it (thoughtful is good and a zillion times better than flinging herself!)
When you flattened it out a little more, she could do it when jumping in to her right but had mechanics questions going to her left. Good job opening it back up a bit when she had to jump in to her left – I’m confident she will sort it out. To help her out, start with the easy angle and then flatten it a half inch at a time (over the course of multiple sessions). This grid is something I revisit a lot when they are adult, so we have plenty of time to get there 🙂
Great job!
TracyGood morning!
Very nice job with the teeter entries! The wings were definitely the right choice to get her started as a aid to find the line. And the MM on a ladder at the top is brilliant 🙂 She seemed very confident to run up the board!When you revisit this, you can maybe turn them on their sides to start fading them without her jumping over them. Hopefully we never see this entry on course but it is still good to get her to line herself up with less help from the wings 🙂
Nice work!
TracyGood morning!
The blinds went really well on the first video! His commitment looked really strong and your line and timing looked good too!
The 1st blind rep was good! The 2nd blind rep was great in terms of timing and connection! You started it earlier than the other blinds and finished it sooner, making for a tighter turn.The others were more in line with the first blind in terms of timing and connection – really good! The 2nd blind is my favorite 🙂 and you can definitely keep playing with starting them earlier like you did on the 2nd rep here.
Because he is fast and small, you will find it easier to make and maintain the connection if you use the arm across the body on the exit of the blind so you don’t have to open your shoulder back up to him as much. So in this case, he is approaching the wing on your right – after you do. The blind, put your right hand on your left hip as you look back to him and you’ll find you can see hm a lot better.
Looking at the 2nd video – the first rep as a BC to a FC on the middle wing, very nice! The 2nd rep was a BC then a post turn on the middle wing, which worked but then you changed it to a spin on the 3rd rep, which worked better 🙂
When you switched to your left was harder like you mentioned – your muscles really wanted to turn towards him so it ended up looking like a spin.
The key difference between the blind and the spin is the turning away (blind) versus the turning towards of the spin. So when you revisit this, you can use a reminder word like “away” on the blinds to remember to turn away and not accidentally do spins if you want blinds. Or, pick a wing to turn away to look at as you start the blind.
You can also make more connection on the tunnel exit – but I think that you were thinking about the handling move so looking forward more than usual, so no worries :). The connection will come back when you are happy with the blinds on your left.
Great job here!!
Tracy
Good morning!
>>I committed horrible verbal crimes,
Ha! It is only a crime if he gets blamed for it LOL!
He is paying attention to verbals though: note at 1:05 on the first video you were saying the “right” verbal and never said a backside verbal… so he took the right turn and did not continue out to the backside. What a good boy!!
He had some great lightbulb moments here – a couple of questions about coming in to the jump early in the session but you clarified it for him by slowing down and making your serp arm more obvious. Yo can even shake your serp arm a bit, that can help him lock on.
Once he saw that though, he had it and was great. But he also was perfect when you asked for the FC wrap on the wing.
He is doing great with his grid! The distance is good for now (we can change it as he continues to mature, if needed).
He is working out his mechanics really well. You can click the reward dispenser as soon as you say the release, so he comes up the line with this head forward and more down (looking at the reward and not at you). And also, since his stay looked amazing, you can move to the moving target reward – this will also get his looking more forward and downwards and less up at you (he loves da momma!)
>>Proudest moment was when on rep3 I called out the ‘catch’ cue instead of the release and he knew there was a cookie about to fly his way so he didn’t move
That was hilarious! And he was licking his lips in anticipation. What a smart boy!!!!
>>The pool noodles are split lengthwise and wrapping around a jump bar, hair ties are pretty great way to keep them from popping off the bar!>>
That is brilliant! I love it!!!
Great job here 🙂
TracyGood morning!
I am sorry to hear about the crud! I hope you are feeling better!The blinds are going well!! Nice connection and timing!!
>>I will do the race track and then blinds next.>>
I think you will find the race tracks into the blinds even easier- the blind were hard when you were too far ahead (there was a FC and she came off the line ti the wing on one rep). When you were moving into the blind, it went great (like the first rep). The race tracks bring so much speed that you will probably not be ahead and landing still LOL!
Good job on the rears out of the tunnel!
At :35 you ran a good line, but she looked at you because you were relatively stationary when she exited the tunnel. On this setup, you can run all the way into and along the curve of the tunnel so you don’t need to stand still at all.
You had more movement at :47 and that totally helped! You gave her a shoulder pull as you said right – the shoulder pull said ‘turn left’ so she looked at you. You don’t need the shoulder pull at all, so you can leave your dog side arm low and pointing to her nose as you run to the center of the bar on the RC line (she will blast past you :))
Great job here!!
Tracy
Hi!
I am sorry to hear about your migraine, that stinks!! I hope you are feeling better!!!The diamond game is going well… you and Vesper are turning into a fast, connected team!!!
The wraps on the wing after the tunnel – super nice! You were connected and decelerated so she knew to commit AND turn tight.
On the first race track after tunnel – you decelerated on the first wing and Vesper and I both thought you wanted a wrap 🙂 The race track was better on the 2nd run, but I think we can get it to where you can just run and don’t need to point at each wing. You can start by moving the wings in a little closer together so you can just jog around with your arms bent like a sprinter (or dog-side arm down & back) and reward her for staying on her line out around the wings. Then you can add more and more speed to the race track, then more and more distance. She will enjoy thee, they are perfect for whippets LOL!!!
>>I tell myself to do that before I start and I think I’m doing it but the video says otherwise>>
That is completely relatable LOL!!!! And that is why we reward the dog when there is a blooper because what I *think* I did and what I *actually* did are generally two completely different things 🙂
Great job here!!
Tracy
Good morning!
He is doing well with the find the jump game! It was easier for him to find the jump on your left than it was on your right (2nd video) so it might be time to work him more on your right side, so you cam connect more and he gets more experience on that side.
On both sides – you can throw reward sooner on all of these (as soon as he looks at the jump, which will also help your connection because you have to be looking at him to see where he is looking 😁)I think it will be easier if you use a toy (tug toy or food toy like a lotus ball) as well – the cookie was hard for him to track, so he was looking at your hands a lot so he could see the hand movement (and even then, didn’t always see the cookie). A toy will be much more visible and will lock him onto the jump even more.
<>Mason lied down before the last rep to tell me that he was done, but I asked him for one more rep. I’ll try to pay more attention to stopping when he’s done in the future.>>
Try to stop before he is done 🙂 Do 4 or 5 reps and be finished before he says he wants a break.
Great job with your connection on the BC figure 8 video!!! WOW!! Those are hard to pull off and you used connection very effectively to the info to him. Super!!!
Looking at he 2nd video:
<>Annie and I always used to get refusals on wraps and it seems I’m transferring that tendency to Mason. On the few times when I got the wrap on the far wing,>>
What was happening that caused the refusals at :05, :42 and :54 was that even though you got close to the wing you hit the brakes really hard and didn’t really connect. That is missing the deceleration which is the actual commitment element of the cue. He did get it at :54 so reward immediately (then question yourself if you want LOL!)
Compare to :13 and :27 where you did have deceleration after the cross and before you rotated: he nailed it! So think of it as running fast, then decelerating…. And then rotating. No rush to rotate.
>>we missed the next race track wing which was probably supposed to be easy.
By adding the cross on the top wing, you added complexity there 🙂
To get the next wing, show more the big arm-back connection and run towards it rather than point forward – reward him if he misses or keep going, because stopping and *not* rewarding makes the assumption that is is a dog error when in fact it is handler error 99% of the time 😁🤣
You were finishing the cross and then looking forward/pointing forward so he was unsure of the line. Connection and motion towards it will make it smoother.
>>Also, on this sequence I noticed that the tunnel was getting all out of shape when Mason was going through it, which was pretty scary to see on the video. One time I heard him slip while he was in the middle, but I can’t remember which rep that was. Is he doing something weird inside the tunnel, like banking too high off the side? Do I just need more bags?>>
Two things will keep the tunnel safer:
– stretch it out fully through curve, UKI-style, so there are no hard angles in the tunnel.
– yes, more tunnel bags and also heavier tunnel bag. There should be enough bags on the tunnel and they should be heavy enough that you find them to be a giant pain in the butt LOL!!! (Believe me, I have a deep hatred for hauling tunnel bags LOL!)I follow the UKI rules for tunnels. The UKI rule is 1 set of bags for every 3 feet of tunnel, at a minimum. I know other venues don’t require the # of bags or weight of bags or stretched curves of the tunnel, but having just come off of the UKI invitational where we bagged the daylights out of the tunnel, there were very few issues with all of the fast, powerful dogs running through those tunnels.
Great job here!
TracyGood morning!
Yes! These were blinds 🙂 You were definitely turning away on just about all of these AND you got your verbals in too. SUPER!!! If the weather is clear, try it outside so you can run into it – you will want to walk it first without him to get the turning away from him into your muscles because it is easy to default to turning towards the dog when we are running.
Looking at the ladder grid:
His stay is coming along! I think he was releasing when you looked towards him on the earlier parts of the video, because you were looking towards him and saying the release at basically the same time. He got better later in the video, but we don’t want to muddy the waters at all so be sure to look at him the whole time you lead out and then say the release after multiple steps, so they are not paired together.Because the stay is still a work in progress and you were not able to get all the way past ump 3 before releasing him – you can do stay work on one jump, but don’t use if for the ladder grid yet because he looks at you as you move alongside of him (rather than process his jumping mechanics). We can add the ladder back in when he can stay while you go all the way past jump 3.
Nice work here!!
Tracy
