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Good morning!
He did well on the verbal only session, nice high rate of success!!! Tis is a good game to revisit here and there – so the next time you play it, try to say the verbals 3 times and then release him… regardless of where he is looking. You giving a bit of help by holding him til he looked at the correct obstacle. He is ready for more challenge you let him go ecen if he is looking at the wrong obstacle. Yes, he might have an error but that will help him sort it out even more, without hanler help 🙂
The combos are going well! And yes, remember the jump verbal – when you did say the jump verbal, he drove the line even faster than when you were quiet. It doesn’t defeat the purpose to not use it, because we also want him to read the handling. And the handling all looked super strong – nice connection! I don’t think he had any questions here!! YAY!!!
So since these went so well… onwards to week 2 games that are now posted! I will send the official email in about 2 minutes 🙂
Great job!
TracyHello to you and Rocky!! He is adorable!!
>>Rocky is 16 months old and a product of the pandemic and a couch potatoes Mom. I know he should be farther along but that’s life.>>
I don’t agree that he should be further along – he is an adolescent boy, so doing simple stuff at this point and letting him grow up a little is going to set up long term success later in life!!! I don’t want you to feel pressured – enjoy the training adventures with him!
He was a good boy in the first video! Perfect! You supported him with motion and connection and your verbals were strong. And, he ignored Grady being jealous in the background (hi Grady!)
The 2nd video was also super nice! You know the handling cues are clear when a baby dogs get it right, because the baby dogs don’t know how to save us if we are unclear 🙂
The next two links are marked private, can you switch to unlisted?
Great start here!!!
TracyGood morning!
Wow, she looked so good on these combos!! Your connection is fabulous and that makes a big difference to her (along with the verbals). Even when you were way ahead (like at :38) she still found the line to the tunnel with the verbal and connection. And when you were closer to the wing like on the last rep – still no questions. YAY!!! Her tightest turns around the wing to the next obstacle were all when you had the clearest connections (like at :13 when you did the FC to head back to the tunnel).I don’t have any suggestions other than “keep up the great connection and verbals” LOL!!!!
So, challenges mastered… onwards to the week 2 games which build on these skills and are posted (I will be sending the official email in about 5 minutes).
Great job here!!
TracyGood morning!
This is a hard game and he was doing really well, especially on the last couple of reps!! Yay! I love how you had the toy swinging before you gave him the verbal cue – it helps take out any possible toy movement as part of the cue. Because you were sitting, the verbals were sounding a little similar (in terms of pitch and rhythm) so try to get them to sound the same as they do when you were running (which is pretty different, having seen you run him and heard the verbals in action).Adding the subtle help to get success was perfect! For the next session, a suggestion for you so you can fade out the subtle help:
he is wanting to move on the very first inkling of the cue, almost as he hears you inhale to start the verbal… so he is making the decision before actually processing the verbal. Sometimes he was correct, sometimes not so much correct 🙂 To raise the success rate, hold onto him so you can say the verbal 3 or 4 times, then let go. And yes, it might raise his arousal level to be held but that is actually really helpful – it challenges him to process the verbals when he is aroused (like he will be on course) and also if we encode the skill in the state he will be in when asked to retrieve the memory… then he will retrieve it better aka respond to the cues better.You can definitely also do the handling games because those challenge different skills 🙂
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
The sitting game is off to a great start!
The backside is correct-ish so you can reward it. It is not entirely incorrect (I mean, she didn’t run into the tunnel LOL!) and it she made the choice to move towards the jump… It is probably just the dogs asking a big WTF?? question because the game is weird LOL! So they go out and try to look at us at the same time, and end up on the backside. You can reward it for now. She also leans away when she is held, so that contributed as well.
The tunnel from the chair was the easiest thing ever from her LOL!!!! So you can definitely try the discriminations on the verbal only with the chair involved.Handling games:
She did really well with all the positions with you connected and running Yay! You can try sending her miles away to the start wing, so you are past the jump-tunnel when she exits the wrap, to see if she can see the connection/hear the verbals when you are running fast and both obstacles are visible.I love how both you and Jamie were looking up at the sky on the first disconnection rep LOL!
The biggest and best moment on the video was at 2:41 when you were saying jump but she was facing and looking at the tunnel…. but then stopped herself (“wait, I think the momma was NOT saying tunnel!”) You can totally reward that moment – part of the jump criteria is a “not the tunnel” choice LOL!!! She ended up in the tunnel there only because she didn’t get feedback so she carried on. Good girl, though!
So you can reward “close enough” answers on these games because the games are so hard!!
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
>>Callie is experienced enough she saved me (which is interesting because although more experienced, her words aren’t as strong)>>
It is cool to see when that happens! With Callie’s generation, we were NOT really doing much with verbals… but her ability to get it right even without strong connection shows us just how much the experienced dogs can process. So cool!!!
The connection parts with Fever looked great! With the connection portions, you can try to get waaaaaaay head and see if he can still pick up the connection and verbals even though your motion is smack in the middle of the 2 obstacles.
I see what you mean about the disconnection! Interesting to see that he chose the jump over the tunnel! You helped a little with arm position at the very end. You can also help a little by going from real connection (which is what you were doing earlier in the video) to soft (or bad :)) connection, where the dog sees your cheek and you can see him out of the corner of your eye. That will be a good middle ground, I think, to bridge the gap to full disconnection (plus the dogs tend to see bad connection from us pretty often – sorry, dogs haha – so it is a good one to practice)
Since we were discussing markers – when you said “good” then get it, he slowed down and looked at you hesitantly. When you said “get it” then good… he was faster and more explosive on the line (and I don’t mean explosive pee hahaha – he had to go! LOL!)
Overall this is looking great – you can work on handling combos and also adding the bad connection in too!
Great job!
TracyGood morning and it is great to see you here!!
>>When I take classes or seminars (not with you) people get after me for not praising my dog and I just want to please everyone- Fever included!>>
Mark – then – praise. Rapidly hahaha 🙂 because yes, we want the praise and engagement but we also want the clarity of the markers. We want it all LOL So with my baby bitey Whippet, I will mark with the toy marker (Bite!) then praise praise praise. Everyone else hears the exhuberant praise, but Ramen hears the marker first, for clarity. Doing it like that will provide a lot of clarity for Fever (who thrives on clarity) and the other instructors will be happy because you are praising a lot too LOL!! And if you praise him mid-course and it confuses him by stopping the flow of info or causes him to look at you? Well, that is not helping him so the next cue is the praise 🙂 If you can praise and it is not distracting to him and he likes it? Cool beans, keep praising! Every dog is different in what they like and what is helpful.
He liked the verbal obstacle sends with the frizzer! BEST DAY EVER! ~ Fever, probably. That first video looked awesome!
Looking at the 2nd video: the chair-sitting is definitely hard for the dogs at first!!! It shows us how much they are relying on certain cues like motion or even standing! When he went to the backside of the jump at :56, I think that was friz-worthy because it was jump-ish even if it was not perfect.
It was hard to see how close you were to the obstacles here, so you can move closer to be within 4 or 5 feet of them. You were kneeling/sitting pretty close to the jump and the tunnel later in the video and that really helped him understand the framework of the game: go do the thing while I sit here. And you can also split the difference between sitting with no handling help and actual real handling: when he is in neutral position (probably easier in a chair LOL!) you can say the verbal a few times, then point to the obstacle you want. That gives a little more help to get him moving, and the pointing is also pretty easy to fade out.
Great start here! Onwards to the handling!!
TracyGood morning!
First of all, thanks for the great tunes – they are agreat Monday morning bop to start the week!!! Excellent choices!!!
The feedback on the video is a little boring… it was great, he didn’t have questions, you were running hard and he was VERY stimulated… but still nailed it. Your connection was great!!! And he even still found the lines when you took off and pulling the toy out – he continued to nail it with all that distraction. Yay!
So, I think our work here in week 1 is done 🙂 Perfect timing, because week 2 is posted! I will send an email about it shortly but he is definitely ready for it.
Great job!!!!
Tracy
Good morning!
It was great seeing you on Friday, you and Nox looked fabulous 🙂 And yes, I can see BIG progress and you can definitely be in the Masters level next time. So fun!!
>>I suspect she will, in fact, have some opinions about having to hear the verbal multiple times before she’s allowed to go, lol! >>
Yes 🙂 But that is good because she will learn to process the verbals even when arousal is increased!
She did really well with the handling games here!
She was so smooth about finding the tunnel on the first video that I was trying to remember if she used to have BIG FEELINGS about tunnels or not. And then it was super easy for her to find the jump. She also found them both easily when you were past the obstacles and running.
She also didn’t get angry at all when you went to disconnection – she found the line so nicely!!!
You can add in starting so close to the wing that you can touch it, so she drives past you.
I think the hardest part was it was so windy and that was a little distracting but switching to the food rewards helped her with that.
The combos looked really good too! I didn’t see any questions from her about the jump or tunnel cues on any of the sequences – smooooth and clear throughout. Her only question was on the send to the wing:
for example, at :04, :24, 1:07 stepping forward too early, you were stepping forward a little too soon and looking forward (she was too far behind you, exiting the tunnel, so she was not seeing the connection and send step). Compare that to :36 and :51 – that was perfect connection and great timing on the step on the send. It looked like you connected strongly to her as she exited the tunnel (arm back to her and lots of eye contact) and then as she started to catch up to you, you did a clear step to send her past you. Looked great!!!So definitely keep that big arm back, eye contact connection when she is exiting the tunnel and exiting the turns (rather than bringing your arm to your side at all). You were looking at her the whole time on all of those, but when you arm was at your side she was not seeing it as clearly as when your arm was pointing back to her.
Great job! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning!
The neutral position looked really good!!!
> We had a slight bobble at the beginning because he had retrieved one of his precious tennis balls and initially wanted me to play BALL not tunnel/over. Once I picked up the ball, we did fine.>>
Aha! I was wondering what was happening there 🙂 You can also repeat the verbal – go tunnel tunnel tunnel tunnel tunnel – rather than saying it once, because the repetition will help him process the cue without handler motion.
Looking at the 2nd video – he did well here too!
>>. I promise I WILL NOT indulge in an ice cream sundae right before I train again…>>
I *highly* recommend ice cream sundaes before, during, or after training 🙂 YUM!!!!!
He did well finding the jump and the tunnel and you had enough connection/motion that he seeemed to have no questions on that part of it.
>>. I had more trouble getting him to go OUT (my verbal to have him go away from me and take a jump…but the wing isn’t a jump so I think he was a tad confused). >>
Yes! This was the hardest part of it – and it was more about connection than the wing not being a jump. What was happening was that when he was behind you and passing you, you were pointing forward and looking only at the wing. That causes your connection to break and your upper body to turn away from it, so he was confused (like at :45 where he didn’t go, and at :53 where he had a big wide turn. On both of those moments, you can see him looking at you for more info when you are looking and pointing ahead at the wing. Because this will help all of your course work, try to keep your arm back and pointing to his nose (and not pointing to the wing). And when you give the verbal to send him way from you, say it to him as you move (yes, make eye contact with him as you do it). That will show him connection and line info by turning your shoulders to the line, which will totally help him with those big sends.
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning!
He did really well in the new environment! His only question was that he was having trouble finding the treats in the grass and reengaging, so the pattern game would be VERY useful for that. With the pattern game, he can learn to get the treat and re-engage immediately while ignoring the smells.
The tunnel rocking horses looked really good, he is finding his lines really nicely!!
Try to be connected while you are leading out and he is in the stay in front of the tunnel (have your plan ready so you don’t have to think about what to do or look ahead when you are leading out). I suggest this because he is starting to release from his stay when you reconnect before you say the release word and we want to protect that stay like it is gold 🙂He did well with bringing the toy back – you can also have a second toy in your pocket so that you can reward him from bringing the toy back, rather than trying to get the toy is he carrying, to make it even more rewarding to bring the toy back.
The serp exit/countermotion went well too!!
The Manners Minder was useful as part of the reward for the countermotion! Yay! He was happy to let you drive forward 🙂 So you can keep using it, nicely tucked behind the wing, as you add more and more motion to this.
Great job on these! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning!
This went really well and she definitely liked the toy!Position 1 was really easy 🙂 Yay!!
Position 2 – I think the hardest part of getting her to commit to the long distance sending. You can use your dog side leg (left leg) to help support the big sending to the wing to get her started. When you did a big step with the leg, she sent really nicely. When you didn’t use the leg, she would spin and get confused.
The hardest reps were where you were way ahead and not 100% connected, so that is where you can focus your training! Do the big send to the wing and walk forward so you are passing the obstacles without a lot of connection (using your verbals, of course :)) The other good challenge for her was when you are way ahead and running really fast – that is when you can add a lot of connection and see if she can read the cues (I think that was the only thing that caused an error for her).
You can also start so close to the wrap wing that you can touch it, so she has to drive ahead of you to the jump or tunnel. With her speed, it is a useful challenge because that way you won’t also need to be ahead of her.
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning!
I hope Changste is feeling better today, poor girl!!! She was probably distracted because she was exhausted and not feeling well. I think giving her a few days off will help her bounce back to top form.Nuptse did really well stepping for his sister! Looks like he read all of the cues perfectly and your various directionals (the wraps, tunnel, and the jump cues all sounded super different – NICE!!!)
>>The “juuuump” verbal is tough to say! Can’t see saying it in the heat of the battle!!!
The way you were saying it in this session worked really well!! It was a different pitch and rhythm – and you said it while running, so I think it will work out really nicely 🙂
Since this went so well, you can try it with you getting closer to the wrap wing, so see if he can drive ahead of you into the discrimination. New games coming tomorrow!
Nice work 🙂
TracyGood morning! Lots of good stuff here!
She did well with getting to the backside when you were closer to the entry wing and some good reps where you were center of the bar. You can be a lot earlier with the toy placement on these – drop it on over the center of the bump as she rounds the entry wing to help condition her to immediately go to the bar without any handling help. You were waiting for her to come over the bar, so she was waiting for an indication to take the bar – which was creating interesting footwork. If you closed your shoulders forward, there is no indication to take it
At 1:45, you dropped the toy in and that was what I mean, and the last rep you dropped it on right over the center of the bar while you stayed in motion – that was perfection!
For now, stay on the line to where the wing meet the bar and inch over to the center of the bar. That will raise the success rate of getting to the backside – she is not quite ready for you be on the far side of the bump yet, but you will be able to gradually work your way over there over a series of sessions. No rush on that – being able to move to the center of the bar is a huge step towards massive independence!
Looking at the threadles and serps – these are going well – to set up even more success, try to make the first rep of anything really hard or anything really different easier so she can be successful.
The threadles at the beginning of the video looked really good – try to make the first rep a warm up/reminder rep in an easy position, especially in a different location, so she can be successful right off the bat.The serps looked really good – she had a little trouble with the “hard” position of the slice where she was facing the toy so you and slow down the motion on those to help her out.
Then same idea of the first rep of something “different” when you went back to the threadles – she missed the first rep at 1:39 because she had just done a bunch of serps – and when you are moving t the same pace on the same line, it looks like the same thing and she didn’t have time to process the verbal (also note where she is looking when you release and if she is looking over the bar at the toy and you are going to cue a threadle… don’t release 🙂 ). So on that first rep of something different, slow don you motion and make it really obvious that you are doing something different.
She had a lot of errors towards the end… I think the session was just a bit too many reps and she was mentally tired and didn’t really differentiate the cues. It was about 3 minutes of edited reps, 22 reps. It should ideally be an unedited 3 minutes total, which will create a good number of reps (10 reps, approx).
She did really well with the tunnel threadles! You can add moving forward to those now, so she sees it in motion as well (and also add the double whammy game which is really fun :)) And if she gets it wrong – don’t use an “ah” marker to pull her off the wrong end of the tunnel because it deflates her. Let her finish the tunnel and use a reset cookie to set up the next rep. She had those 2 errors when your position was stationary and near the wrong entry, so try to be a little further away from the wrong and and add motion to help support the line to the correct entry.
>>What’s the difference in positioning for a lap turn vs a threadle? What cue would you use?>>
On a threadle, your feet point towards the next line (to the tunnel entry or towards the landing spot of the jump). On a lap turn, your feet point towards the dog with your handler fully rotated towards the dog. I generally use threadles because it is nearly impossible to be far enough ahead in time to be decelerated and fully rotated in time to show a good lap turn – and then it is hard to accelerate again to the next position.
Stays – She is doing really well with the stays! At this age, I don’t think dog with her drive needs the proofing” element of you crouching then stepping forward again but not releasing – it sets up failure and is going to make her ask questions about what the actual release is (potentially either getting sticky or frustrated). So you can stand still and praise, or you can run and release, but you don’t need to tempt her into breaking because… she is not going to be sure what the actual release is LOL!
Rocking horses – she is showing really good commitment on these, so remember to be patient when she is moving in deep footing because it takes longer to commit. I think you can be more upright and connect without leaning over, it will make it easier for you to run 🙂
Also be clear with the toy – when she grabbed it on the first rep, you were not moving or cuing the wing and the toy was the only thing moving so she went to it. On the turn and burn for the 2nd rep, you took off and transferred the toy to the other hand so she went to it. When you repeated that exit, you didn’t move the toy as much and she did a lot better (same on the last one, where you were more patient too, and it looked great!!! We are all a little inconsistent with our toy markers (in a perfect world, we would only ever give crystal clear markers and we would do it every time but we are not perfect :)) So if there is no other info and she loves to the toy, no worries, just reset.Be super careful of marking errors and deflating energy – in handling games, errors are human errors so it is better to either keep going with no marker, or use a reset reward and try again. For example, at :43 you were blocking the line to the cone and she went out to the tunnel, and you marked it (it was a happy marker but those can also turn into negative things when used as “that was wrong” markers. In that situation, yo can call her back and keep running to the next wing. At :47 you rotated too soon (she needed one more step to get past you and commit) and marked it – with uh oh and an energy change, which can be deflating, so if that happens ether keep moving to the cone or reset with a cookie and start over.
The last short clip of the rocking horses looked good! You are connected really well, so now it is a good time to experiment with seeing if you can bend over less and still get that strong connection.
Great job! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning!
I love that you are playing the flyball games – they add a lot to agility training AND flyball is super fun 🙂
The over-and-back to introduce the prop looked good! She was happy to bop back and forth over it. When you were adding he quick footwork, you were delivering cookies on both sides so she was moving slowly to eat each treat, rather than bounce back and forth. So the cookie only gets tossed after she has down the over-and-back. You can use your hand to indicate that she should hop over it, then use your other hand to indicate she she turn and come right back (then reward). That will help get the quick bounce steps.
My other suggestion is to stabilize the prop a bit, so it doesn’t fall over as much – maybe put small plat “feet” on it 🙂Looking at the wing wrapping – she thought you were being a little weird to stand totally still and stare at the wing LOL! When you were stationary and looking at her, she offered the wing wrap really well (and taking a little step towards it was fine too). When you were looking at the wing but stepped to it – she did the wrap. When you were only looking at the wing and NOT stepping, she sit stared at you (“Are you ok, mom? LOL!). So add a little more connection to it all and she will move to it more easily, plus it is fine to step to it as well 🙂
Great job here!!
Tracy
