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Hi!
It is hard helping dogs relax while their housemate is doing something fun! Is there a way they can go to separate classes, so Katniss is not stressed when Nox comes out of the crate? Can she safely stay in the car? And a MM in the crate or xpen is a possibility (tape the lid down so he doesn’t open it by herself LOL), or a stuffed kong or bully stick. The main goal is to bring her into those environments and through adolescence without building in stress or frustration or high levels of pressure.Tracy
I sure did miss it, sorry!
Yes, tandem turn is dog and handler moving the same direction, then they turn the same direction (dog turns away) and go back the way they came.
Lap turns have the handler facing the dog and not moving much.
T
Hi!
>Please keep reminding me if you see it. Iāve been trying to catch myself doing it and instead following through with the tunnel sends but obviously Iām missing it a lot.>>
Challenge accepted LOL!! And you can rehearse the post turn by slowing yourself down (I know that is your favorite thing to do š¤£šš¤£) and practicing stepping towards the tunnel and not rotating away from it.
>>This is one thing I donāt do during the session but need to start adding. I review after during editing and catch it then :-/
That is an agility thing: we video and then at 10 o’clock that night, we sit down to edit it and see that the errors were ours, not the dogs. That was a HUGE learning moment for me when I was getting frustrated with my youngster (now 11 years old) Voodoo for not turning tight… until I watched the Voodoo and his turns were incredible. Oops, bad me!
So I have adopted a flyball style of video review: in the moment, each rep, unless I am 10000% sure of what happened. Plus, it has really trained my eye to know what the dog is doing in terms of movement and commitment, which also helps!
Tracy
Hi!
The playlist worked like a charm!!! It is an easy way to get your videos on line without wasting time with all the editing.All of the clips looked good and he found the jump each and every time. Super! He did better when the motion (running) and the verbal (go go go!) matched. If you were walking and saying it, he had a valid question: mouth says go, but body does not!
So to get the physical and verbal cues to match, you can let him see you accelerate and start saying go go before he enters the tunnel. When you do that, it is important that you do a post turn on the tunnel entry, turning your feet fully to face the tunnel then your motion faces the curve of the tunnel before running up the line: that is a physical cue for a GO exit. On several of the reps, you did a spin on the tunnel entry (rotated like a FC then did a BC) – that is a strong turn cue, so that is why he was looking at you when he exited: are we turning mom? And we donāt want him to learn to ignore a turn cue on the tunnel exit by pairing it with extension.
He only really had one question, which was in the last clip – you were saying tunnel but facing the jump, so he correctly did not cut behind you to the tunnel (tunnel is a forward cue, not a go behind the momma cue LOL!)
For the next session, you can work more on getting him to drive ahead of you by deliberately going very close to the tunnel until just before he exits, then running up the line saying go go go. For those (and for any of these reps), you can throw the toy as soon as he look ahead rather than wait for him to get to the jump. Or you can have someone else throw it, that is easier, as long as they throw it as soon as he looks at the jump.
Great job here!!
TracyHi! These went well and we have a really good idea of what JJ responds to in terms of cues: BIG connection and both hands nice and low, and very visible before she has to make a decision.
First side, up close to the wing – looked good! You added distance and faced forward more, which worked great, as long as she can see the cue before you both start to move. On the last rep, you showed the hand cue before moving and that really helped!
2nd video, from tunnel exit – yes, more motion really helped. Also you got your hands and connection in place beautifully on these 2 reps.
3rd video: As you mentioned, you were facing her a bit and that was more of a lap turn version of this. Still a good move to practice! I think you ended up facing her because that made more sense to your feet when there was not a lot of motion.
Backside was great!4th video, 2nd side
Adding more action! And when you add more motion and speed into it, be careful about converging motion towards the wing (that will push her to the other side). Keep moving forward on a parallel line to the one you want her to take.She is also starting to release on the hand motion, so be sure you are using a clear release. It can be the verbal for the cue (see below). You will want to show her the hand cues, start movingā¦. Then release.
At :48 – the hand cues were there after you both were moving so it was not as clear. The reps where she nailed it had the hand cues in position before you both were moving (or when she exited the tunnel).5th video: good first rep, from the tunnel exit!
When adding the tunnel, you can add a call for the turn before she enters or she will go blasting out the wing. The call was late here (when she exited) and you were stationary, so she had questions.6th video:
A similar thing happened at the beginning of this video: At :02, the verbals started at the exit of tunnel and your hands were completely hidden and you were not connected (turning forward)- so she took the other side of the wing (correctly). At :08, you showed massively different cue and she came to the side you wanted. Yay!!!!When a blooper happens, always assume it was handler error and not dog error, and reward or keep going. The reward is not contingent on whether she did what you planned it is contingent on if she did what your cues showed her. Stopping and not rewarding can be very very confusing to the JJ, who read you correctly but the stopping/lack of reward tells her she was incorrect. This can lead to slowing down, frustration, stress. If you are not sure if it was dog or handler error: reward anyway and then stop the session to watch the video in slow motion. If the video 1000% shows it was a dog error (this is highly unlikely š ) then one reward is not a big deal. However, on the flip side, withholding rewards or stopping when the dog was correct can quickly build undesirable behavior. Soā¦. Reward her work even if it was not your plan.
The last video from the tunnel went well, and the physical cues looked really different so she was able to read the tandem versus the backside. Super!!!
So from the tunnel, try to add more motion so you are not stationary – keep moving forward on the parallel line. To help her know this is coming, start calling her when she is at least one stride in front of the tunnel entry, so she hears it (and sees the hands) before se goes into the tunnel.
Have you chosen a threadle wrap verbal on yet? You can add a verbal other than her name to it. If we treat these tandems like she is coming to the backside, then the threadle wrap verbal will be perfect. Or, if you treat them like they are a front side, then you can use as directional or a rear cross verbal.
Great job here!
Tracy
Hi!
Yes, something was going on with the tunnel. I don’t think you did anything different here in terms of volume or motion. Did anything happen before the session, like you told her she was wrong about something? Or were their weird noises in the environment that she was being sensitive to? When this happens, 4 things come to mind as possibilities:– something hurts – check her over and see if she is sore or painful anywhere
– something is weird/scary in the environment. Maybe she can smell or hear something that we can’t see. Here in Virginia, it would be something like gunshots (neighbors like target practice, ugh!) or coyotes nearby.
– false pregnancy – if she just came out of a season, depending how long ago it was, this is a possibility.
– something smells weird in the tunnel – it is possible that there is something in the tunnel that was gross or distracting.Adolescent brains can also just have weird days. So you can clean the tunnel and do different games for a few days, then move the tunnel to a different spot and try it again. Keep me posted!
Tracy
Good morning!
>>We were both a little tired in this video I think. I alternate working her and Nox, and this was her last turn. They only work for a few minutes at a time before getting a break, but Iām finding that she tires more quickly than Nox ever did as a puppy. I donāt know if itās a mental or a physical thing (or maybe both).>>
That is a good observation! If Katniss is in the vicinity and can see Not working (or is on a station or something) what you are seeing a mental fatigue. Yes, her ātrainingā sessions might be short but alternating is exhausting, mentally, because of the mental energy and bandwidth required to produce impulse control. I donāt ask my young dogs to alternate in a way that can be depleting: one will remain in the house while the other trains, and then I switch. They have a lot more mental bandwidth to devote to training that way.
I also donāt have my adult dogs nearby or watching or running around when I am trying to teach the puppy something. That is yet another pressure that the puppy needs to process, leaving less bandwidth for other things and leading to faster mental fatigue. I know that a lot of folks put that pressure on their young dogs early, but I see a lot of fallout from that in a way that make things a whole lot harder for the pups.
I do work specifically on alternatingā¦ but that is the only training and there are no other real skills being asked – just simple stuff that the pup is very familiar with.
The wing in your hair game went really well! It looks like she found the jump each and every time. Your connected was great! Yay!!! You can change your position to start really close to the wing and see if she can drive way ahead to the jump (feel free to add more distance between the wing and jump). Or, start a lot further from the wing and see if she can find the jump with you miles ahead.
The further from the wing you get, the more you will need your dog-side leg as part of the send – when you used it, she sent perfectly! If the dog-side leg was not moving forward, she was not sure if she should leave you to go the wing (like at :45).
>>Our biggest challenge was the toy. She is getting much better about bringing the toy back or at least to my general vicinity and then letting me walk over to play with her.>>
Yay! Keep working the toy play games! And also, be sure that bringing it back is sooooo much fun with more play, more toy throws, toy trades, etc. And watch what happens when you get the toy back: do you bring her right back to work and take it away and ask for more? That is what happened :31 and that is one of the things that causes dogs to stop bringing the toy back (party over, back to work so they start avoiding it).
The placed reward was enticing for her and totally works for this game – but keep it as the main focal point and donāt pull anything else out. You placed it at 1:27 but pulled something else out at 1:32, which changed the focal point so she did not go to the toy.
Great job here!!!
Tracy
Good morning!
>>Wow, I am really struggling with my dog side leg! >>
To get your leg more involved, play some wing games without your arms – have your arms behind your back š Maybe do it with Robie first because he wonāt mind that we are doing weird thing hahahahahaha
I think this session of tunnel exits went GREAT!!! Your timing was terrific!!!! There was exactly one late verbal (the last GO cue at the very end, he was already in the tunnel) but the toy throw got him happy to exit straight. All of the other verbals were on time (aka significantly before he entered the tunnel) and that is HARD to do but you nailed it. YAY!!!
The left & right verbals at the beginning were well-timed and the physical cue supported them, and his turns looked really good! You had a moment or two of moving away from the wing wrap too fast, but you sorted that out really well.
The only wide turns on the right turn verbal were at 1:09 & 1:20: the timing of the verbal was great but the physical cue showed acceleration forward on a straight lineā¦ that is a conflicting indicator (my new favorite phrase haha). Voice said once thing and body said something else so he was running forward but looking to his right for more info. You will get a tighter turn there is you cue the right verbally like you did, and add in supporting it with physical cues like letting him see you peel away to the wing after the right turn.
Only one other small suggestion:
Keep saying go go go for the straight lines as he learns this. Your timing was good but you only said it once, so he looked at you on the tunnel exit.>>I wonāt move on to advanced level until I get the soft turn better.>>
I think you can totally try the advanced level – your timing was spot on and you can add in that physical cue support. It is a fast and fun game which should be a nice balance for some of the more cerebral games LOL!
Great job š
āØTracyHi! I know you mentioned you struggled here but I think it went well!!!
Yes, you did spins on the first few but then you caught it and got a lot of really nice blinds! One thing to be careful of is to NOT do a spin on the tunnel entry when you want a straight exitā¦ we donāt want her to learn to ignore tunnel turn cues.
Your BC timing is coming along really well – at :35 and :45 nice timing! SUPER nice at 1:48! She is turning pretty tight here and it would be fun to try to decel into it, to see if she can turn even tighter š
There were two bloopers that happened a couple of times:
At :48, 1:12, and 1:29 you took off with no connection back to her, so she took the other side of the tunnel Reward all of those because she was correct! You rewarded the first couple but then didnāt reward on the last oneā¦ but she was still correct š And while she is playing with the toy, look at the video to see if you were connected or not š When you were connected: perfect!! So remember to maintain BIG eye contact back to her on the side you want her to be on, as you move away.>>Starting to see a trend ā I kept catching myself on her line so she really couldnāt even see the wing ā
I think you might mean at :58 and 1:50 – it was hard to see if you were blocking the wing or not, but you were definitely leaning forward/looking forwardā¦ and your feet accidentally stepped to the tunnel so off she went. Good girl!
So even if you are not completely out of the way, keeping your connection back to her and not leaning forward with your arms forward will help her see wing and not the tunnel.Nice work here!
TracyHi!
>>I should have quit sooner.
You kept saying āone more timeā lol! It was cracking me up LOL! You can set a timer for 2 minutes then be finished, or decide on 5 reps total.
To get the connection on the BC earlier and clearer, you can keep your arms in tighter to your sides. That will make the rotation quicker and so you can connect to his eyes even sooner.
His commitment was looking really strong! You can start the blinds sooner – when he lands from the middle jump and looks at the BC jump – do the blind. You were starting the blind just before takeoff or at takeoff of the BC jump which made it too hard to find the new side. You can go in one step less on the sends like you mentioned, but I think the main thing is that you can start the blind sooner and trust his commitment.
One other suggestion – you can be more lateral on the way to the blind: rather than run towards the BC jump (which also shows motion to the wrong end of the tunnel) you an stay in line with the middle jump so you are heading towards the correct tunnel entry and he sees a positional cue as well there.
.>Fun bloopersā¦ my arms going everywhere on the one attempt. Putting in a reverse spin. Realize I am going in too far on my one step sends and then not getting down the line to do a timely BC.>>
They are hard sequences, so yes, there might be bloopers š Remember to reward him no matter what happens – like at 1:25 and 2:05 when you started after he took off so he didnāt know where to be – you rewarded but it was a while later.
Or at 1;46 when your opposite arm pulled him off the jump – he was correct! So it is really important that you reward him for trying to read the handling, even if it doesnāt go according to plan – assume all errors are handling errors so he was following you perfectly!He was very confident on the plank! Yay!!! You can take that little Cato teeter to different places, to help him get this happy anywhere he goes!
>>My thoughts due to his small size I would like a rock back on the end of teeterā¦.>>
Yes – definitely a 4on behavior, and either a down or a bow at the end (which is a rock back) or a scratching behavior at the end. He was happy to be up at the end of the teeter on the mountain climber game – I think he can be further up the board (his toes right at the edge) and then you can get him to do a down or bow to rock back. To get hm all the way to the end, you can duct tape a target to stick out just past the edge of the board (I use a spoon LOL) and then put the reward on it before he runs up. I like something the dogs can lick, like a dab of cream cheese. That way he focuses on the end of the board and runs to it, so you can start to change your position or walk past the edge of the board as he is hanging out at the top of it eating his reward š
Great job here!!
TracyGood morning!
>>I often use the wrong verbal and need to work hard to correct this. This goes for my obstacle cues as well as my reward marker cues. >>
For the verbal directionals, practice them before each and every rep so you have them ready before you run the dog š That will help sort them out! For markers – take a less-is-more approach. You might not need all of these markers – dogs make it easy for us š
āØ>>Take It, I deliver food to dogāØYep, dog moves to me to take food>>
These are very useful!
āØ>>Get It, I throw the food away from me and dog (sadly, I say āget itā for almost everything)>>You might find it easier to use Get It for toys as well, to mean āget the thing ahead on your lineā. That way you donāt need an additional marker for that.
āØ>>Catch, I throw food to dog (my new favorite deleivery since heās getting so good at catching flying cookies)>>This can also be used for food and toys, because the context is so recognizable and we will never throw food AND a toy to the dog and ask them to figure out which it is based on the marker.
āØ>>Chomp, I deliver toy to dogāØTug, dog comes to me to interact with toy>>Is chomp a thrown reward, back to the dog? That can be ācatchā as well. One less word to remember!
āØ>>Chase It, dog releases to both stationary toy or chases toy that I drag. I probably need to add a stationary toy marker.>>
I donāt think you need to add a stationary toy marker. Chase it can also be a āget itā marker which indicates getting the reinforcement that is ahead of the dog (moving or not).
He did really well on the tunnel – wing proofing! Wow! He did not seem to even look at the tunnel when you wanted the wrap then was great about going to the tunnel when you cued it. Super!
He was reading your motion there, so now you can add in more emphasis on the verbals. Because the motion was happy before or simultaneously with the verbal, it was motion leading the way on that session. Since it went well, we can put the verbal before the motion by having you hold his collar, say the verbal 3 or 4 times, then let go of his collar so you can both start to move. By attaching the verbal before the motion, the verbal will predict the motion which then predicts the obstacle you wantā¦ so he then can get the obstacle and you can fade out the motion.
The set point is also going well. The first rep ws really good! His line up position on the 2nd rep was a little further back, so he was not as balanced – so that first position was the sweet spot with his feet just past the feet of the wing.
Good job mixing in stay rewards! Having the toy under the cone caused him to shorten up a bit, so it is better to either have it on the ground without a cone, or to have it as the moving target. What was the distance here? It might get a little wider as you add in the moving target šWind In Your Hair is going well! You can move the wing over to center it, so his line to the jump is straighter – it was a bit of a push back to the jump, which is why he passed it on one of the reps when your connection and verbal was not as clear.
For the next session, you can start closer to the wing so he can practice driving ahead of you. The placed toy was a little challenging, but helped him look forward so that will be useful when he is getting way ahead.
Smiley face also looked terrific – you were really emphasizing connection and that is great! The connection was pretty much perfect; the only spot to be earlier was after the spin at :40.
You can add in decel to the wraps here: as she is exiting the tunnel or exiting the previous wrap, you can decelerate before rotating, to help tighten up the turns. That decel will help her collect sooner.
She looks ready to move on to the tunnel exit games.Great job here!!!
TracyHi!
>>Should I toss it on the line she is coming in on or toss on the curve around the pillbug? >>
I think you can toss it away from the pillbox entirely š there is some pressure in this game (handler motion, the giant tunnel) so letting her chase the toy and move away can be a nice balance for that!
The set point session ended up well! I think at the beginning she had to process that you were combining the moving target and the set point, so she couldn’t quite get on the toy. The release was confusing for her at first! Changing toys and then doing it away from the jumps at first really helped, then she did great! Yay!!!
The next session will tell us more about distance, but this was really great to start it off!!!Great job here!
TracyRight! I think the more you do the deliberate practice you did here, the easier it will be to go faster and faster without having to think about it š
