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Good morning!
She did really well here – it is a HARD game!! The wrap on the wing was easier, probably because the body position and lack of motion supports that. And the tunnel was harder, because of the body position and lack of motion LOL!! So to help with the tunnel, you can say the verbal a few times, then let go of her collar, then move to face the tunnel. That will help the tunnel verbal predict the motion to it, so she will cut out the middleman of waiting for motion 🙂 and just go the tunnel. You handled the little bloopers perfectly and she was happy to keep trying.
Great job making the verbals sound very different, and having a to of action when delivering the food rewards 🙂 I think she is ready for the advanced level where we add little sequences to this game 🙂
Tracy
Hi!
Yes, you are totally right, she was like WHAT THE HECK when you were sitting 🙂
>>Is there any reason I need to teach her from a seated position if she understands it this way?>>
2 answers for you:
For teeter training, it is good to be lower for this game to keep her head lower, which promotes a stronger weight shift as she moves the end of the teeter board.And also, it is great to get the dogs to offer behavior they can do even when we are in different positions: sitting, standing, dancing, jumping jacks, etc LOL!!! That way we are really seeing what they know and it helps translate the skill to a variety of different handler positions and moves.
So, separately from the teeter, you can take a behavior she knows really well and try it in different positions 🙂 And for the teeter, maybe try it in a chair! That can split the difference between sitting and standing, which she was very comfy with.
On the circle wrap video:
>>I tried to think really hard and lean in instead of out when going around the wing. I made an improvement but there were still some reps were I leaned back. It was much better though. >
Yes, for sure there is a visible difference in your motion! You did a great job of NOT stepping back or sideways. Your feet were moving a little which is fine (because it probably feels weird to come to a complete stop).
On all of the reps, you had terrific connection so she committed to the wing AND you were able to get right behind her tail to move to the next line.
Only one little blooper here – a tiny disconnection when you were coming back to the tunnel at 2:31 but you fixed it by ramping up the connection and she nailed it. Yay!!! You mentioned pulling her off one rep, maybe it was edited out because I don’t recall seeing it LOL!!
>>By the end of the session, she was dragging on the left but again, I still felt she was stronger on that side.>>
I think she was strong on both sides – she might have been slowing down later in the session because of the repetitive nature of the turns, so you can mix in fast and fun racing through the tunnels rather than all the circle wraps 🙂
Great job here! Take a look at the NextLevel Pup games and we can start teaching her those fancy moves 🙂
Tracy
Hi!
These are hard patterns and I think they are coming along very nicely!
1st 3 wing ladder went well! You were really focusing on connection and staying in motion! These were all blind cross exits but it went well.
One thing you don’t need to do as much of is use the opposite arm to indicate the ‘landing’ spot – that was delaying you a bit from moving up the line. You can indicate the push with your dog side arm then use connection to look at the landing spot, but you don’t need big arm movement to send or indicate the landing side.
>>I did not do as much sending as needed rather i started to work the wraps from the start side>>
There is an element of waiting on these, because we have to let the dogs get ahead of us before we can move again.
On the 2nd video, with the added speed of the tunnel, there was less connection. She was reading it based on motion but you can add in more connection back to her on the blind cross exits (and use less arm movement).
On the FC video:
The first rep had very clear connection! The more you work the connection like this, the easier it is for her to see which side to be on (and the faster you will get because you will feel more comfy with it :))On the exit of the first wing on the 2nd run – your arm was down but the connection was not there, so she went to the blind cross side (it looked like what you did on the 2nd video when you wanted the BC side).
When that happens (she ends up on the other side) – assume it was a handler error and either reward or keep going. Stopping/not rewarding is confusing for the dogs because they are correct. This holds true even if you can see her: seeing her and being connected are two different things 🙂 It is what the dog sees, not us, so always default to reinforcement or continuing.You had better connection there on the 3rd rep (1at and 2nd wing) On the 3rd wing, you pushed into her line before she was past you (:48) which pushed her off the jump.
The video of the other side was the same as the first FC video.
The first rep with the tunnel looked strong – emphasizing connection really gets the job done. I think you are using different verbals? But they are al backside circle wraps, so you can use the same verbal for all of them.
The reps on the last video looked good too! You are getting faster and faster, and keeping the connection clear (make sure you don’t block the wing :)) You started with a threadle wrap on the first wing here (she was between you and the wing, turning away) which is fine – but it is a different verbal (SO MANY WORDS LOL!!!)
Great job here! Keep practicing with the emphasis on the big connection and you will see it gets easier and easier!
Tracy
Super session here!!! She is very confident and thinking about her back feet. Yay!!!
Have you used a target for the 2o2o? I ask because it would be great to get her to back end up the board and front end just barely off it, so she can balance better as she rides the board down. A target will help get that when she is hopping on and also when she is backing up to it – right now with the backing up, you can’t sit any closer because then she won’t have room to come off the board – but when she does back up, her front end is stretched all the way forward off the board. And I don’t want to frustrate her by waiting for more backing up, so the easiest route will be backing up all the way to target position – the target as a visual aid will help.
Great job here!!
TracyHi!
This video was basically a demo video on how to break down the behavior to teach it and build it back up
SUPER!!!!
Yes, coming to hand it the huge key, so emphasizing it was perfect 🙂 When you were on just the wing, you started facing her (lap turn) and then got pretty much facing forward (what you would be doing on tandem and threadle wraps).The only hard part on the lap turns was that she would sometimes flip to the other side of the wing if you didn’t use your leg (like at :15, 1:00, 1:06) so be sure to step back with the inside leg (closer to the wing) when you cue the wing.
She did great coming to hand when you were facing forward with the wing!
Adding the tunnel was harder, so you were mostly facing her in the lap turn position. Yes, use your leg to step back here too but mainly she just needed you to call her before she went in the tunnel. If you called her late, she had to come back to find your hand. She makes her decisions EARLY!
So with the tunnel added in, you can start to rotate so that you are showing her the cues facing forward like you did on the wing.
Great job!!!
TracyHi! Everything here looked so smooth and clean! Yay!!
Yes, we will go back to the proofing now that he looks so happy with the line ups 🙂
The barrel to wing version of the smiley face looked great, so many pieces in play with the reinforcement, commitment, your connection, verbals etc. All looked really strong!!! So next step: you can spread things out run more 🙂 this is the stage where we work on getting more and more motion going, so it doesn’t blow his mind on harder sequences.
Set point looked good! Because of his age, we will progress this slowly on bumps for a while, no rush. We will keep revisiting it as he grows 🙂
He was leaning forward a bit, so be sure to add in reinforcement thrown back to him especially now that we’ve added the moving target. (And go ahead and add the moving target 🙂 l
Wind In Your Hair also looked strong… so let’s build up to running too 🙂 go to a fast walk for a rep or two, then if that is fine, jogging for a couple of reps… and if he is cool with that and you still have time in the session – start to run!
Be sure to maintain your connection and feel free to use a placed reward instead of throws.
Fantastic work!!
TracyHi!
Outdoors in a t-shirt in March… in MN. Crazy 🤪 times!!!! But at least the puppy got a good session! This went great 🙂One of the hardest parts of this game is the whole cookie-then-toy and she was great! All the action really helped keep her spicy for toy.
>>I thought about tossing the toy for her to drive past to get it, but figured I would stick with the baby exercise and reward with toy in my hand for now.>>
Actually, I was going to suggest you try the throw instead of stopping or moving towards her, and see how she likes it 🙂 She had no trouble being near you so I think it will be fine and won’t create wide lines.
The other challenge in this game is for you the handler to maintain connection while running, turning, and not falling over. Nailed it! Well done!!!!! She seemed to really like it and was still on fire at the end.
You can totally add in the harder stuff and advanced levels. Great job!
TracyGood morning!
>>I promise I will get better at this so you can see just the exercises and not all the in between stuff. Today just was not the day for me to deal with it. Darn decongestants make me irritable so just trying to stay positive with my pup.>>
What you did here was perfect: A couple of reps of each then dropped the whole video into the class. Editing is a BIG pain in the *ss 🙂 so I can scroll forward any in-between stuff or type my thoughts on what we are seeing.
>> Sorry there is extra footage but to edit is just not happening today.>>
No apologies needed! Skip the editing and put the whole video in like you did here 🙂
Looking at the videos –
He does GREAT when he sees connection and low arms, and has some questions when a high arm breaks the connection.
On the first video, your arm was high then you dropped it to look forward (connection break) at :09 so he landed on the bar (trying to read the change in info).
The high arm at 1:28 and 1:58 broke connection too so he didn’t take the jump, and also he might have been avoiding that jump because ouch! It tried to bite him on the previous rep!
You had definitely better motion on run in the 2nd video and your arm was lower for longer, which really helped him commit!!!
On the Blinds videos – when he ends up on the incorrect side, you can reward anyway because that is a connection question (not clear which side to be on) What happened was that at :05 you were looking down at your side which closed your shoulder forward, so he (correctly) stayed on his line because he did not see connection change to come to the new side.
Note at :22 how much more you were looking or him and at :27 how your arm was down to cue the line and he got it perfectly 🙂 Yay!
So the timing of the blinds is not as important as the big connection after the side change.
On the last run, you had super good connection after the BC and LOVELY low arm at :25 to get the rest of it! YAY!!!!
Great job here!!
TracyHi!
Tandems are a little trickier with verbals because they are not always on the backside of the jump:
When the tandem turn is on the front side of the jump, I use a directional (left, right, or a wrap cue) or I use my tur-away-and-layer cue (switch) is there is a big layering moment coming up.When the tandem is on the backside, I use the same verbal as the threadle wrap which is “in in”. Dig dig is my push to circle wrap, and “close” is my threadle slice verbal 🙂
Tracy
Good morning! Lots of great work here!
On the straight line game/wind in your hair), the toy placement is hard (the MM out on the line did make it easier. But rather than add more jumps or distance throws for now, it is really important that you run and move forward for all of the go cues (rather than stop and throw. What was happening was that she was going a few extra jumps straight in extension while you were either stationary or decelerated – so it got the go behavior also she was extended past deceleration, and but we don’t want her to learn to ignore deceleration for turns.
So before adding more jumps or longer throws, you can add a little more distance between the wing and one jump (build up to maybe 20 feet or so) and run the whole time – you can practice your timing of throwing as soon as she looks forward after the wing wrap, while you run (that is the hard part – when you were moving and throwing, I think you might have been trying to throw so far up the line that it was ended up with the toy getting into crazy places LOL
Nice job with the set point! The more effective reps were the ones where you were facing forward (not facing her) and dragging the toy. What was the distance between the 2 jumps here? We can expand it by about 6 inches and also, you can set her up a tiny bit further back from jump 1 (probably also about 6 inches) so she has more room to lift her front feet.
Proofing looked great!! She did great with the little sequences 🙂 She was a little surprised that there would be two tunnels in a row LOL! On the wrap after the tunnels, you can keep her on the same arm she went into the tunnel on, so that the wrap entry also had her facing the tunnel. That will be harder and she is ready for it! So if she enters the tunnel on your left arm, you can pick her up on the exit on your left and cue the wrap from your left side – so she has to process the cues and not just go back into the tunnel 🙂
The distances on the smiley face game were a lot bigger and you cranked up your connection to match that! Perfect! On all the reps, I think there was only one spot where you broke connection by looking forward on a left turn, so she came off the line. You were good to reward her and then the rest of the connection looked terrific!
Carrying that into the tunnel exit game: your connection was great so now we can get the verbals sooner. Ideally, she sees and hears the entire cue (verbal & physical when she is a body length from the tunnel entry (probably 5 feet).
She naturally turns towards you on the exits, so even with the left and right verbals being a little late (she was already in the tunnel) she still turned the correct direction. Your best timing of the soft turn cues were at 5:12 and towards the end of the session, where you said the verbal just as she as entering the tunnel.Because her natural inclination is to turn to you, the GO verbal and acceleration need to be sooner. Those happened either when she was fully in the tunnel or at the exit, so you can see she curled in to you at 4:03, 4:16, 4:25, 5:02. Earlier info should help keep her going straighter. And you can say go before she enters, even when you are planning a wrap on the next wing: the Go will help her be looking forward to make the wrap easier.
Great job here!
TracyGood morning! She did super well here with the physical cues! Fast and accurate! You can add in the little sequences where she does the wrap immediately after exiting the tunnel….
>> When I did the cookie collar she stopped working for the toy and got stickier.
Do you think it was because the value of the food was high? She seemed happy and fast here when you tugged her into position, pretty much, then held her collar. Were there reps not on here where she was avoiding the collar touch? I am asking because there are a few ways we can proceed to get the verbals all trained up without adding stress or pressure to the collar holding.
If she seemed happy to do it without the food, then you can tug her into position, do a quick collar hold, then send her – that will use physical cues for the proofing game and that is fine, as we build up the collar hold love. Then as long as she is still happy with it, you can start to hold the collar for longer so you can add the verbals before letting go & moving.
Separately, you can do toy-cookie toy playing to be able to get her back on the toy, then toy-cookie-collar hold- throw a toy to build in the love of being held.
Yes, we want the verbals to be awesome but keeping this happy and without stress is the #1 for us 🙂
Great job!
TracyGood morning!
Smiley face connection was almost perfect here! You can freeze the video at just about any moment and you can see that you were looking at her very directly (while moving). There was only one tiny blip at :17 – your arm moving ahead of her to the wing, which blocked connection so she looked at you.
Compare to :32 o that same wing where your hand moved more with her (and not ahead of her) so she saw connection longer was able to commit really well!Doing these handling games with empty hands (rather than carrying the toy) will also make it easier for her to process all the cues because there is one less thing to look at and spend mental bandwidth ignoring :). She as ignoring the toy, but it is a big visual so you can have a toy in your pocket and pull it out at the end (it does not need to be a precision reward).
The Wind In Your Hair reps also looked strong! The first 2 reps were super easy for her with you parallel and ahead. She looked at you a little bit on the first part of the driving ahead rep but then she looked at the jump and drove ahead really well! Yay!
And yes, doing all of that at a brand new place with all sorts of huge distractions was awesome – she looked really focused and excited!
Great job!
TracyGood morning!
>>ARMS!!! FUCKING ARMS! My nemesis. Nemeses?>>
Ha! I think nemeses. I need to look it up LOL!! The main thing to do is to deliver all the cues to his eyes as you move. That will help with the arms 🙂
He did great here with the proofing! Yay! Strong connection! Great job getting the verbals repeated a bunch of times before letting him go, that really helps to solidify the verbals. He needed a little bit of motion to support the tunnel when he was on your right, but that is fine because it was happening after the verbal.
One detail here to add to help get your legs involved like you would need them on course: using the dog-side leg to step forward for commitment is a handler habit to build (you tend to leave the dog side leg back within and that can create questions about whether to commit or not. So on the wrap game here, try to have your dog side leg forward when you line him up and release, rather than back.
Great job here!
TracyGood morning!
>> I know you keep saying to keep the sessions short so he does not get tired, but honestly I have yet to tire this puppy out.
It I not a physical tiring that is happening… it is a mental tiring. And then he loses concentration, checks out, or the behaviors deteriorates. So yes, his body might still be happy to move around but his brain needs a break.
>>After the first session today, he came in and wanted to go work in the inside training room. Teagan has yet to lie down and rest if he is loose in the house. He never settles for very long, I need to put him in his crate to make him rest and give me a break. He is extremely active…the “Energizer Labrador”.>
That just means the body is ready for more and doesn’t mean the brain can handle it 🙂 So you can keep training sessions short but then end with a longer session of playing in the yard, or going on a walk, etc. And also lots of rewards can come for relaxing in the house (including when he is feeling restless) because we don’t want to make every waking moment into an activity.
>>I am having a hard time figuring what to do to get him to settle in the house while he is loose, especially if the other 3 dogs are also loose>>
It might end up being an x-pen with a chew bone or kong when you would like him to settle but not be in crate. That way he is contained but can also move around a bit and you don’t have to supervise him or maintain a steady stream of treats.
He did really well with the proofing game! Motion is supporting the lines for now (to the tunnel has motion and the wrap is stationary). That is a good way to start – now we attach the verbals more clearly by having you hold his collar until after you have said the verbal at least 3 times. You were letting go just before starting the verbals, so the verbals are not as likely to attach to the behavior as quickly. Saying the verbal while you are both stationary then letting go and moving will help get those verbals solid even faster.
On the smily face video: He is picking up these lines really nicely! To smooth out some of his questions, you can mphasize connection more and pointing less, especially when you want him to drive ahead. If you were pointing ahead (like at :41, which also looked like a cookie throw, and spots like 1:04, 1:34) then the connection breaks and turns you away from the line, so he is not totally sure where to be.
Compare to the smooth fast spots like at 1:47 where you were very connected and he got it! So keeping your hand pointing to his nose and not the obstacle will help, and also planning the cookie rewards will help too:
Try to either have your cookie in your hand the whole time or take it out when he is finished with the sequence (it does not need to be a precision reward throw). There were several reps where you were handling and simultaneously reaching for the cookie and moving away, so he was not sure if he should go to you for the reward or continue to the obstacle.
Great job here!
TracyGood morning!
Thank you for the blooper reel, that is hilarious!!!! LOL!!!!!
>>But my question is this – I have a marker word to get a dead toy (mark) and another marker word to chase a live toy (chase it). I guess these technically aren’t so much marker words as release words? And in that case, I would use ‘chase it’ for the moving target game – does that sound right?>>
This is NOT a dumb question! Markers are great, but when people have a zillion of them then they tend to forget them or use the wrong ones. I like fewer markers so that we can make them really strong.
Mark and chase it are markers, in that they indicate that the reward is available in a specific place. And yes, they can also both be releases in that the pup can leave what he is doing (like the stay) and get the reward. And yes, chase it sounds right for the moving target game because the toy is moving.
I have reduced that ‘toy out ahead’ scenario to one marker “get it” whether the toy is moving or not – that takes out the grey moments in between the toy being thrown and landing (dead) so it reduces the need for perfect timing. Basically it means that the dog should look ahead for the reward and should move to it (and please bring it back if it is a toy LOL!) There have been zero questions from the dogs about only one marker and it is much easier for me 🙂
>>as our bizarre winter/spring continues.
Aka the new normal, maybe? Hopefully the summer won’t be too hot!
Wind In Your Hair went really well!! Nice connection! Remember to use your dog-side leg when sending to the wing: your arms were clear but sometimes your leg stayed back, so he hesitated a little. And he was great about ignoring the distractions of the great outdoors!
>>You’ll notice I used the wrong marker word multiple times here, sigh.
That is why I use that less is more approach – if my ‘get it’ is used for everything in this context, I am less likely to mess things up 🙂
>>And James is working through some impulse control challenges with respect to grabbing the toy – we’re working separately on that, because he’s a toothy little bugger. >>
Yes, that is normal for this stage of puppyhood. Two ideas for you:
He did better when you held the toy normally in your hand rather than behind our back (that was too enticing LOL!)And, he needs a marker for grabbing the toy in your hand (I use ‘bite’ and when the dogs were pups, I was careful to not use praise for that because it is confusing). That marker will help him know exactly when to look at the toy and take it, versus when to keep moving on the line.
For example, at :25 you didn’t use the leg to send so he had a question about going to the wing. Then you said something (quiet praise I think?) so he took the toy. A consistent toy-in-hand marker will clearer that up easily because it really helps with the impulse control.
Nice work!!
Tracy
