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Hi!
The collection sandwich is off to a great start! After you toss the start cookie, you can run away faster so then the decel is more obvious. After the decel, you can pivot more slowly – you were quick to pivot and he had a little trouble keeping his butt in tight š
The advanced level is looking good too, with the go go go added in!I definitely think this one needs to go outside for all the reasons you mentioned: you will have room to run on the blinds then decel. He didn’t want to play tug here, probably because it was right over where the food was and that was too hard. It will be easier outside!
Turn and Burn is going well! Great job with the verbals!
One small tweak is to have your dog-side leg forward and not back, that will help support commitment. For example, at 1:17 you had your dog-side leg back and off to the side, so he was not sure about the wrap. No worries is that happens – you can call him back and reset him with a cookie (I don’t think he liked being pulled by his collar) then step forward to the wing to restart him.
When he is turning to his right, be sure to have a lot of patience to let him finish the wrap – that seems to be the harder side for him so you can’t be twitchy LOL!
This game should go outside too, to get more tugging as well. If he doesn’t want to tug in the training room, try throwing the toy to see if hat gets him engaged. Any toy play is good!
Great job here!
TracyHi!
>>Itās really interesting running him as I havenāt found that calm place within me yet.
Embrace the butterflies! The calm place takes a long time to develop, so when you are feeling the stress of running a powerful baby dog, channel it into remembering to breathe and connect š
Tracy
Good morning! Hope you had a good Thanksgiving!
Looking at the sequences – I think she found another new gear of speed! Wow!! And you were super connected and really driving her with the handling. Yay!
A couple of ideas for you:
Rather than rear cross jump 1, try sending her from your right side as a send/post turn. With the RC, she was jumping center of the bar, turning a little to her right and turning left after landing. The send without the RC will get a left turn the whole time. the RC would need to start on more of a slice and with you both further from the jump, so you can show the RC info sooner.
The BC on the exit of the tunnel is looking good. You can get it a little tighter if you handle 5-6 more laterally, sending to the tunnel from further away, to be at the BC 6-7 sooner and call her before she enters the tunnel so she is expecting a turn on the exit.
Remember connected and keep running til after she lands from the last jump – don’t decel because that is when bars come down (:48)
LOVED the blind on landing side of 7 at 1:16! You sent her to the 6 tunnel and hustled and got there really easily!! NICE!
Super nice blind 4-5 at 1:35, great timing! You can decel sooner at 1:37 so she collects sooner for 5: when you see her landing from 4, keep moving forward but start to decel and send her past you. That will get the turn before takeoff.
You can throw the reward sooner on the ending line so she drives ahead in extension, or leave a toy placed out on that line the whole time, so she can drive to it at the end.
For the wrap to the left on 5 at 2:09 – the decel and wrap verbal can start sooner here. You started as she was lifting off for 5 so she dropped the bar trying to turn. Ideally the cues would begin as she is landing from 4 – let her see the decel and hear the wrap verbal, then you can rotate as she is approaching the jump in collection.
Overall, she is looking great!
The FIF crew puts on a great ASCA trial! I am sorry to have missed it this year. I think she liked the lower key environment – Quicksilver has more room outside the ring in some ways, and also probably the smaller entry and lots of friends helped too. Her runs looked terrific!!!
Novice 1 – Lovely course! Who is the judge? Nice handling too! She seems to have broken her stay, possibly mistaking the reconnection for the release. So lead out with more connection to hep support the stay, And you can practice leading out without connection, re-connecting and NOT releasing but praising instead, then releasing.
Novice jumpers 2, also lovely š Nice clear release on the start line! This course was a little harder than round 1 because there was an off course tunnel in view on her opening line! She didn’t even look at it. Super! For the ending line, I think you should get in and do the blind cross on the line before the tunnel (to be further ahead to support the last jump), rather than rear cross the tunnel, which cues a turn on the tunnel exit and pulled her off the last jump.
Nice gamble! Really nice run! She heard voices behind her on te start line so turned to look, but then re-engaged and ran like a star.
For the teeter and frame, I think she is a little handler-dependent for the end position (meaning, she doesn’t drive to the bottom unless you are next to her). So you can practice that with a target so you can get more independent contacts.The handling looked really good in the regular run too – great connection and you were really driving her š YAY!
Looking at the contacts in Regular – yes, definitely be sure to define criteria. You got ahead of her on the a-frame so she leapt instead of stopped. You released from the DW as soon as she got feet into the yellow… so definitely clarify what you want her to do specifically (2o2o?) so that you can have easily maintained criteria for the long term.
Great job here! It looked like you had a ton of success in the trial ring!!!
Tracy
Lovely job with the blinds here! Excellent use of the hallway š She did really well finding the new side thanks for excellent connection and reward placement when you changed sides. And, another big happy dance for her being able to go from food to the toy then back to food. Super1
The second video started with her driving to you without blinds (as far as I could see LOL!) which is a great balance for doing the blinds on the other video – we don’t want her assuming it is all blinds and then switching sides without being cued.
When you have more room (outdoors would be perfect if the weather isn’t too bad!) you can add more running to see if she can still read the blinds when there is more speed. And you can add the collection sandwich, which is the blind followed by deceleration then a pivot turn.
Great job here!!
Tracy
Yes, he probably feels some overarousal/frustration when access to reinforcement is ending/end of session, so a pattern game on the way out of the session can help with that. Start with a fast pattern, rapid cookies, then slow it down… then end with a snuffle mat or treat scatter in a different room. You can also train in different locations – if the bulk of training sessions are all in one room, there is automatic arousal shifting because of the associations of entering the room and leaving the room.
T
Good morning! This is going well!
She had a little trouble seeing the bowls at first, when you were sitting on the floor – they were a little hidden behind you.When you kneeled after the cookie re-load here, I think she had a much easier time finding the bowls. That is when things really got rolling! Rather than step ahead of the bowls (which makes it more like wrapping you and she sometimes ends up behind you :)) you can add in an upright for her to go around – and that upright is what will get further and further from the bowls. Super!! She is ready for the next steps of adding a skinny upright (like the upright from a wingless jump) then something bigger like a barrel or big cone,
Great job!!
TracyGood morning!
This is looking great! She is tugging beautifully, nice transitions from tugging to cookies to lining up , and she is wrapping really well in both directions. When you are giving you ‘chase’ marker, she is driving to the toy and smacking the box. So, do everything the same as you move away, but delay the chase marker and the toy presentation so she finishes the wrap without smacking the box š
She started to get a little tired after about 1 minute (I think this has edits, so it is probably longer than a minute into the session) and was offering right turns only, and was not as engaged. Since she is only about 20 weeks old if I am remembering correctly, I think she gets depleted (brain tired :)) because this is a high energy, hard mechanics game for the pups! So set a timer for 1 minute total, or two reps on each side, so you can be finished before she gets brain tired š
Great job here!
TracyGood morning!
It is fun to see you playing along!
Strike a pose is looking great – well done with the position and reward placement! You can see how quickly it creates the serp in-then-out behavior, because he did it at :25-:27 where you saw the swipe of the target followed by turning the new direction because of the reward placement! Super! Going to your left hand as a little harder for him but he still did it beautifully!
For the next session, try using a toy as the reward (the advanced level) and see how he does!
He did really well with the wing wraps! This game is HARD because of the impulse control on the toy. He did really well turning to his left, as you mentioned. No problems! Turning to his right was MUCH harder so on that side, you can take out the impulse control of the toy on the ground for a rep or two, then add it back in with a lot of patience on the handling cue because you can’t do the FC as early on that side as you did on the other side. You did post turns which worked really well to support the right turns! As he gets more experienced with it, you will be able to add back the FCs on those right turns.
And yes, at 2:45, when you said get it – you looked ahead which is exactly what the beginning of a blind looks like so he changed sides (good boy!) Good job rewarding him and having clearer connection on the next rep.
>>When I can get outside, Iāll add in the BC handling as well. >>
Perfect! He is ready for that!
The lap turns looked really good on both sides! You had strong mechanics and a nice low magic cookie hand š The position of the prop at :44 was great, because he had to go past it to the magic cookie hand, and then it was on his line after the turn. Nice!!! You can move to the tandem turns now (advanced level).
Great job here!! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning!
>>I taught her mom the āhead upā way. I was wondering aside from mechanics wise, whatās not good about that? >>
When the head is too far up, the backing up form often changes to the front feet lifting up off the ground and the pup start moving backwards by pushing off the ground with the front feet moving together, almost like hopping backwards š Or, if the head it too high, they stop moving. A more natural and slightly lower head position can get the form of walking backwards, with each foot taking individual steps. Now, if the head up get the smooth walking? There is nothing wrong with it š
She did well here! She was offering really good quick steps backwards. Keep your reward hand low, below knee level, so she can keep her head from coming all the way up and that will get more backing up steps. When her head came all the way up to look at your hands, she stopped moving as he weight shifted all the way back, almost into a sit. Feel free to sit in the chair behind you here to be able to comfortably keep your hands low with having to bend in half too much š
Strike a pose is looking really strong! She does love her target a whole lot š When you made the target a little more obvious by wiggling it, she had an easier time going to it.
>>she runs back part way and looks at me funny before she will touch:>>
What was probably happening there was that she was sorting out the impulse control to ignore the cookie in your other hand. That is hard! And, to help direct there to the target hand, let her see you shift your gaze fro her cute face to the target. So as she is heading back to you, you can turn your hand and look at the target. That can help her drive to it without looking at you as much.
She seems to come in a little straight to your right hand on the 2nd video – you were wiggling the target a bit more which was great, and it might be her stronger side. Yay! You can turn your head and look at the target her too: where you look gives the dog a lot of information about where to go.
>>Sometimes she āLeaves the buildingā while weāre training lol. Sheāll be super focused and doing great and then all of the sudden just run off ā this time it might have been because of the other dogs barking>>
It is entirely possible that she gets caught in distractions in those moments! Puppy brains will tend to prioritize attention to things like the other dogs barking (āwhat are they barking about, gotta go see!ā) and less attention to trained skills. You will see. That start to shift as she gets used to the distractions and as we add more games. You can also do more play and tugging before and during the sessions – that can raise his arousal and get more engagement, making it easier to ignore distractions.
Great job here!
TracyGood morning!
>>Thank you for the detailed feedback on Masonās missing brain in class.
Donāt think of it as missing – he has a great brain! Think of it as a developing brain š Also, boy pups mature more slowly that girl pups in many cases, so that is part of it too. He is a really good puppy š
>>The instructor is also my training buddy >>
Well that makes it a lot easier! You have a good relationship already and that is a nice starting point for conversations about how to help him out.
>>Mason is such a nice, confident boy. I want to do everything I can to support his wonderful temperament. The stress reaction took me completely by surprise.>>
He is SUCH a good boy!! And keep in mind: all puppies have stress responses to challenging scenariosā¦ but some are better communicators about it (MASON! LOL!) than others. I prefer the big communication because we can help out better.
Looking at the videos:
>>Mason loves climbing on anything and everything. Iām moving around a bit here to get him to get on and off the plank and turn around. >>He did really well here! You can elevate the plank by putting it on blocks or something, so it is higher off the ground (maybe 6 inches?) and try this again. We will keep gradually raising the board. And moving around here helps by giving information about what he should do, so he was able to offer a lot of info.
>>When I tried to shape getting on and off he got frustrated and lied belly up on the ground. I guess I didnāt click enough>>
He is the KING of big communication, isnāt he LOL!!! So when you were standing still, he didnāt know what to do and did the belly up thing? That is good to know – it is entirely possible that you didnāt slice the behavior thinly enough and click enough. So, separately from the plank, choose something relatively big and easy (and meaningless, in terms of sports behavior) and shape him to get on it. Click as often as needed for every tiny interaction, and letās see what he thinks about that.
Shaping is part operant, yes, so it is a good skill to have. But there is also a big resilience element to shaping because the dogs have to be resilient to those unexpected moments when we donāt click, or when they donāt know what to do. Yes, arousal levels come up and their bodies learn to manage frustration and arousal, so it is a great game in ways that have nothing to do with whether he gets on the thing or not š
The backing up onto the board was great! YAY! You can use a smaller target as the destination to get him walking backwards straighter.
Looking at the prop games video:
I think the parallel path is going well. Some of what you are seeing in terms of him coming to your side is probably value built from rally and general leash walking training if youāve been doing that. But he is touching the prop really well. You can start to reward earlier (as he is on the way to the prop, before he even touches it) – that will help keep him out on the line. Think of the prop as the jump bar in this scenario so he can go over it without pouncing on it.
Wow, countermotion looks fantastic! You are able to move away pretty early and he is continuing to hit the prop really well. Yay! This will transfer well to the other skills.
>>For the rear crosses I believe you said we didnāt need to worry if the dog turned the wrong way ā¦ so I didnāt, lol. Someday Iāll learn how to do a rear cross, maybe.>>
Ha! Correct! Generally we humans are late with the RC info so the dog is correct then the dog gets confused if we donāt reward. So on the reps at :37 and :52 and 1:10, you were late so as he was arriving at the prop, you were still on the āturn to meā side – which is what he did. You were earlier at 1:02, so he did get the turn the correct direction!
What will help is if you start even further away (15 feet would be great!) and then cut behind him to the other side when he is still 5 or 6 feet away from the prop. That way, as he is approaching the prop, he sees you on the other side already and can make the change of direction. And in these early stages, if he doesnāt hit the prop – no worries! It will all come together when he gets used to seeing the rear cross.
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
Tracy
Good morning!
>>I swear Iām going to figure out how to keep myself organized with recording and training >>
Totally relatable LOL!! I set calendar reminders on my phone to poke me to remember to get things done š
Decel and turn video: He felt this was super easy and perhaps the best game EVER. Eat a cookie, then come to you and eat a cookie? YES! At this stage, doing the pivot on all reps will help him keep his butt nice and tight to your leg. And you can take this outside (as long as the weather is OK) so that he can get more speed running to you, then see you slow down so he can decelerate into the pivot. He is ready for the collection sandwich game, where you start like this, throw a blind cross in before the decel, then after you decel and pivot: throw a toy ahead and do the toy races (the full explanation was posted last week).
And the tricks at the end were a good way to finish the session!
2nd video:
Hahaha āchoose violenceā with the tugging is fun chatter LOL!! He does love his toy! And transitioned really well to the prop. Nice!!
He definitely has good prop value!!
>>He gets the idea that he has to hit the prop but often enough turns into me then āremembersā about the prop. Iām guessing I should have kept the distance shorter for a few initial paths through, to make it a pattern.>>
I donāt think it was a distance question – I think he is asking if he should be heeling next to you, or prop hitting so he checked in first before going to the prop on some reps.
One thing that can help him read the cue to NOT watch you is to have your dog side hand/arm relaxed at your side. When it was holding a treat and you had you hand on your stomach, he was tending to look at you (this is a natural cue we often use when we are having the dog walk next to us).
But when your hand was empty and at your side, like at 1:24 – he never looked at you. Yay! The other hand can have the treats to toss.
Hooray for taking the blinds outside so you both have room to run!
You are both doing great here! The first part of the blind is perfect – you are not slow at all. Then I think you are over-rotating back to him after you finish the blind, which is causing your feet to turn too much – that might be why it feels weird.
So you can try this: rather than stop and reward him when he gets to you, make this strong connection that you did (it looks great!) and then throw the cookie past you as you keep moving forward. That way you can keep going and he can drive past you.
Great job here!! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning! She looks FANTASTIC!!!! Everything about this was lovely: she is fast, focused, happy in the ring, executing the harder behaviors really well like start line, weaves, teeters, rear crosses. Happy dance!
And there was one moment where communication was not super clear (before the tunnel, I think the cue and rotation towards her was bigger than needed) but note how she did not get frustrated or change her behavior. Instead, she checked in to clarify, then carried on. YAY!! And continuing after the reward was terrific.
So much good here! And I love the videographer quietly cheering for you š
I think you can keep working through the NFC progression and start fading the toy to outside the ring on some runs… moving towards real runs!!! You can still do toy-in-hand NFC runs, but you can mix in the In And Out (short runs with no toy) and then if that goes well, do some real runs!
Great job and thanks for the update!
TracyGood morning!
>>He used to be able to watch Marky work calmly and quietly believe it or not.>>
I totally believe it! Between the sport getting more exciting for him, and then the brain changing/developing through adolescence and into adulthoodā¦ I totally believe that this behavior changed. It is pretty normal though, I donāt want you to think there is anything wrong!
>>Iām always so pressed for time all I think about is getting them worked and what to work on that day. Add this to the list :-). >>
This is totally relatable, especially at this time of year. I often drive my van down to my agility field (which is about 100 feet from the house LOL!) so I can get training in and the other dogs can chill in their car crates. Sometimes when I have more time and energy, I will work on one being calm while the other works. But if I just want to train on sequences? Hello, car crates LOL! That way we are all happy!
>>After all that stimulation he did work very well so Iāll take that as a plus.>>
This is a HUGE win. He works beautifully and he has gotten even better during the short time Iāe known him! Yay!!! He definitely finds movement reinforcing, so with that in mind:
>>Iāll need to figure out a nice reward for him when we get to the kennel or back to the house.>>
Anything that involves movement. Is there anything like a favorite toy he can run around with? Or chase?
>>Iām my worst enemy when it comes to enabling this behavior>>
You are NOT your worst enemy! You are figuring out what works and what doesnāt work while videotaping and getting int from others, and that means you are doing right by him ā¤ļø
Safe travels to EOTT!! Have a blast!
Tracy
Good morning!
This went really well!Using the other room as the waiting area was clever! He seemed happy to do his pattern games and his volume dial game, no problem! And good job acting as if you were watching another dog run š He seems fine with that too, just asking for the cookie in your hand LOL!
>>Think I need to make more distance between us and the reward table,>>
I think it was good – even though it was relatively close, it was still in a different room which makes entering the ring really clear.
The only thing he thought was weird was when you went to the first jump on leash and tried to line him up. He was not entirely sure which way to face and flattened his body language a bit. But then as soon as the leash was off – he was happy to work and the mini sequence looked great. You can experiment with taking the leash off as you walk in then lining him up – that might be more comfy for him.
>>I think I mistimed the āLetās goā?>>
it went well, especially on the 2nd round – he finished the lat jump, you praised, got the leash on, then gave him a very clear “let’s go” to go get rewards . Super!!
I know winter is settling in… what do you have coming up locally where you can take this on the road? Fun matches, local trials, ring rentals – anything where he can bring his skills to new places will be great!
Nice work here š
Tracy
