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Good morning!
This countermotion/throwback session went well!
The first minute was a bit of warm up and the real countermotion started at about 1:07 – nice commitment! The left turns were basicall perfect (not a surprise). The right turns were a little harder at first but he sorted them out really nicely, so the last few looked as strong as the left turns. YAY!!During the next session, you can start moving forward sooner because the MM is helping with the commitment!
Since I am bugging you about using more toys and not doing food-only sessions for handling stuff… This session needed toys too LOL! You can incorporate the toy as much as possible especially when the MM is in the picture.
He even held his stay while you yelled happy birthday across the field! Make sure you reward those moments!!
Nice work here 🙂
Tracy
Hi!
>.Someday we won’t have snow or storms with bad roads and it will be easier to get video. That day is not now. Anyway we played in the driveway. I am not sure that we will be snowless when Max Pup 2 starts but it can’t last forever.>>
I had my people talk to the weather gods people, and they have assured us that March will be warm, clear, and spring-like 🙂
>>She used to be scared of the Treat and Train, now seems okay, but she doesn’t love it. Sometimes she can leave a preplaced toy but often she can’t resist it, so I am not sure if I just keep trying with the Treat and Train.>>
My Contraband never loved the TnT as a puppy, so I would put the toy on top of it, then when I clicked it, he could grab the toy (it was a frisbee, actually). That really built the love (and allowed me to train with it) and now he loves the MM for food as well.
Judging by her response to the grinding gears (she doesn’t run to it, she waits til you ask her to get it) then you should use it with a toy. If she struggles with the toy on top of it, put the toy inside it then lift the cover and play. How does she feel about the beep? Unless she is afraid of the beep, I would put the beep on too as that can be clarifying as to when reward is available.
>>When I switched directions she had a few misses. I can tell she gets worried about this and I am not sure what I do that worries her also what I did/didn’t do that caused the misses.>>
The first miss was at :;45, when the MM was triggered while she was in the stay. And since the grinding gears sound basically says that cookies are available, you can just let her eat the cookies, have a laugh, and reset. (This is especially important because the MM is not high value yet).
It looked like you kind of dove on it there and also at :55 where she went to it immediately (possibly because left turns are harder than right turns, possibly because it had triggered early a moment before…)
That pressure of you moving in to withdraw a reward (a reward that she doesn’t really love anyway LOL!) was off-putting and punishing to her, so you got displacement behavior at :58 (low head, slow movement, appeasement body language moving towards you). So basically if something goes wrong with the TnT – no worries, just reset and try again. She already thinks the TnT is a little weird, so don’t make it weirder by diving on it at all LOL!
I think the toy on top of (or temporarily inside of) the TnT will make a big difference, so definitely try it! And you can try it separately from the serp game – just have her do a hand touch then click the MM and play with the toy, so she understands the context.
Countermotion serp exits looked great!
The right turn exits were easy peasy – good mechanics and I think that is her preferred way to turn. The left turn exits went well, they are definitely a little harder. She had one question: at :24, she almost didn’t take the jump. It was because you were looking at her instead of the landing spot. Compare to the following reps where you made the adjustment to looking at landing at :33 and :48 and :55 – perfection! yay! And your toy placement and marker were great on all of them.Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
Puppy sitting is so fun! And I am glad Promise loves her too!!
Both Prytty and Annalise got a workout on the tunnel rocking horses! Looking great!!!
Annalise, great job here:
>>. The toy was too much of a distraction when we tried it. Head explosion! She could only focus on the toy waiting on the finish line or in the hand. Didn’t include that video. It’s all of her headed to the toy- exit with to>>
It might have been too many concepts together all at once to have the toy on the ground AND learn the tunnel rocking horses LOL!!! So it was smart to switch to the Treat n Train. After she gets the the cookies from it, remember to engage with her (can be with cookies or toys) as you move back to the next start area.
As she learns to go to the wing with the tunnel AND treat n train behind her, you can start a little closer to the wing to help her commit to it, especially on the right turns. The left turns looked easier for her here.
Your connection was almost perfect!!! Two little spots needed more connection to get her to go to the wing wrap: 1:02 and 1:25. I heard you saying the verbals (yay!) so one thing that helps me remember to connect is reminding myself to say the verbals to the pup, not to the wing LOL!! So as she exits the tunnel, be sure you are looking at her cute little face and saying the verbals to her as she passes you (yes, while you are running the whole time :)) You nailed it at 1:58 (connection, running, verbal, timing, keeping your arms low) – that was perfection and she knew exactly what to do 🙂
She did well on the countermotion game too!
>>Serpentine exits countermotion. She did good here. She was getting a wee bit tired>>
Yes, she was a little tired (there was a lot of running and brain working on the tunnel rocking horses LOL!). And also I think she was delaying the release because she was like “wait, why is Annalise FACING me and where should I be going?” So she was definitely thinking about it a lot 🙂 She got lots of good reps and the power nap will help her brain remember it 🙂 Super job paying attention to the mechanics of where to look (at the landing spot) and throwing the treat. You can also put the treat n train there (on the landing side of the barrel) to help deliver the rewards.
Amy, I laughed out loud when she managed to get you soaked at the end LOL!! So fun!! I am glad everyone had a blast 🙂
Tracy
Good morning! The nosework workshop sounds fun!!!!
The minny pinny looks great – the line up is very clean, she seemed happy with the collar hold, and the verbals soound good. Yay!
Two suggestions:
– use bumps on the ground or lock the bars into the 2 inch cup – she is having trouble with her footwork on the turns so the lower bars will help for now.– when you begin the verbal, say it two or three times before you let her go, so she hears it before the moving starts. That can help attach it to the behavior even better.
Looking at the rocking horse video:
Her commitment and turns looked great! You can definitely move the barrels further apart so you can both move more 🙂 You should move to the advanced level of this (more movement and rotation) and then add the next games, with the spins and racetracks. Her commitment looks ready for you to be able to move to those.Also, add in your wrap verbals and more connection. Be sure to make more direct eye contact as she exits the barrels, especially as the handling gets fancier 🙂
>>I think her barking in the double barrel exercises had to do with the fact that we were away from home all day and she had lots of energy to release. But then again, most of my terriers have been barkers in agility. It also seems to be a common trait among agility Kerries (my own and others I know).>>
There are a couple of reasons we get barking in agility: barking from excitement, when the dog is barking and continuing to work (looking at the line or barrel). And barking from frustration, when the dog barks at the handler and briefly doesn’t know where to go.
With her barking here, I think there was a little of both happening: Maybe it was pent up energy, or maybe it was the joy of moving (like when she was at the barrel and did a little bark) and maybe it was that she wanted more connection (like at :30 where you were looking ahead when she was behind you, and she actually jumped up a little and barked AT you). So adding more connection will totally help get rid of the frustration barks (think of it as her saying “WHERE?!?!”). She might still excitement bark! But that is fine. And it is possible that as you add more speed, motion, and distance between the barrels, she might not bark at all because she is busy LOL!!! The barking here could have been that there was not enough motion. We will find out soon as you play the next games with the barrels 🙂
Aha, here is the advanced level, perfect!!! These are looking really good too – I heard wrap verbals happening (yay!) and she DEFINITELY liked the extra action 🙂
>>In the heat of the moment on this one when sending Hola to the barrel behind me I’m still not sure if I’m using the correct arm.>>
Generally you are – for example on that first rep, you had the correct arm visible on the rotations at :15, :20, :21 but not :18, where you did a cross arm. Think of the correct arm as being the exit arm of the FC. The same help true for the other reps – you were able to decelerate and rotate to use the “new” arm and she did well!!
She totally liked using the toy here! And she did well with the countermotion, I didn’t see any real questions from her. It was a little harder, yes, but she still nailed it 🙂
Since we were talking about barking above:
There were some little grunty noises at the beginning but overall I think she didn’t have time to bark because there was a lot of action 🙂At 1:27 you got a bark because you were late (she is very judgey lol) but then at 1:31 you were early (too early on the rotation by maybe a step) but she didn’t bark, she just went and committed. Yay!
On this video and on the previous video, most of the barks involve the left turns. So possibly left turns are harder? But either way, it is fine and she was quieter as the game got more exciting in the last 90 seconds of this video.
For example, at 1:50 – 2:00 (and after that as well) you were timely with lots of motion: There was no barking, she was too busy too bark haha and her commitment looked great!!!
Nice work here! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning!
>>Bob has been a little on the crazy side the last few days – seemingly out of the blue. Tried the moving serp drill yesterday and he was beyond over the top.>>
Could be normal adolescent brain changes, hormones, weather, needing to run around more, needing to go on a sniffari, all of the above, none of the above. He just couldn’t process it, for whatever reason.
Now that there is a veterinarian/neuroscientist in dog sports who tells us what to expect with adolescent dog brains, I am MUCH more chill when we have sessions that go wonky. The MM not working and changing the picture to the toy and treat target didn’t help, I am sure, and then being asked to stay or be held… overall, I am glad you didn’t force it. It is possible that he had a different brain day, or the MM not working through him off – and teenage dogs cannot bounce back from changes like that in the same way as baby puppies or adults (I can actually show you the study that tells us this. Science for the win!) So hopefully you abandoned the session, just played or went for a sniffy walk, and come back to it later this week.
And definitely make sure he gets out on sniffy walks!!! It turns out to be incredibly helpful (and calming for the teenagers – my baby dog slept for 2 solid hours after the 3 minute sniffari demo LOL!)
Our understanding of teenage dog brains is that a wonky session like this is both 10000% normal AND to be expected. In adolescent brain development, they can literally wake up with a brain that is entirely different on Monday from what it was on Sunday. No worries – the learning is still there and will reappear.
Excellent choice to do a relatively simple thing, and something *different* here 🙂 Plus, you were not moving so it was easier for him to process. And it went really well!!! On this session, you were building value – clicking front feet in the box.
So for the next session, you can mark rear feet not front feet (can be first rear foot to begin with, then mark 2nd rear foot only).
The trick to marking rear feet: stare at the box and do.not.watch the dog AT ALL. You were watching him here (your head was moving LOL!) which is fine for front feet but won’t work for back feet. Just stare at the box LOL!!
And about the marker: you can now get rid of the clicker and use a “get it” marker and toss the treat. The clicker can cause more of the looking at us, and the ‘get it’ will help him look ahead more.
I am not worried about him looking at you right now, it will go away in the next session or two when add in the MM.
>>I don’t know that I have a mat as big as the pvc box I used. Should I try and get one and work on both?>>
The box is mainly to do concept work – I think the mat will eventually be better for his contact work (the mat progression has proven to be incredibly effective for dogs that are build like SB and move like SB). So keep the box for the next session or two, to get the back foot markers going – then you can go to a mat. A cheapie walmart yoga mat is a good start, because you can get it for $5 and have no remorse about cutting it up into smaller pieces. The first mat work should be relatively big then we reduce the size of the mat.
Great job! Let me know how it goes with the back foot markers 🙂
TracyGood morning! Both posts came through – did you get an error or something? Seems like the internet was wonky last night 🙂
This session was good! In true flyball fashion, you had music playing LOL!! And in true flyball fashion, I obsessed on it in slow motion 🙂 She did well! My favorite rep at at :25-:26. Good footwork there! Watching in it slow motion, her front end in particular is slipping on the rug, so do the next session either on flyball mats or on turf (you might notice I bought a roll of turf from Amazon that is now in my living room LOL!!! Yes, I am a nut but I figure no one will judge me haha). The slipping was what was causing the wider turns on some of the reps (could have been a bit of fatigue because the game is so plyometric? But I think it was slipping). She also did best when there was a moment of stop in between reps. For example on that :25-:26 rep, she was straight and relatively stationary when you cued the over and back. On the wider reps that had more double taps of the front feet, she was either coming in sideways and in continuous motion, or offering it. So be sure to reward her, then make her stop and line up (sorry not sorry, Snap haha!), then cue it. That will get the best power and footwork!
I will be using the progression with Ramen and Hot Sauce – my other youngsters were trained with the mat progression (and they have great box turns). But, because I like to obsess… this progression is producing some of the fastest dogs in flyball so I am willing to give it a try LOL!!!
Great job here!
TracyGood morning!
>.My bad thing about teaching Woof and Quiet is I’m super bad at putting that into a behavior chain. They woof, so I can say quiet so that I can reward for quiet. So I kinda teach my dogs to woof when I’m teaching them quiet… LOL. Bad Trainer! But I’m sure he will learn it quickly!>>
It is not that you are a bad trainer, it is more like theory and reality don’t match 🙂 In theory: if we put barking on stimulus control and never cue it, the pups won’t bark. In theory. In reality… they don’t shut up bark bark bark hahaha! I don’t mind it because the barking as a trick is SO helpful to get focus in dog sports. All of my dogs bark on cue (and yes, there are times when my house is noisy because PAPILLONS hahaha)
>>This boy has the attention span of a knat. LOL. Like 5 seconds. 😀 but it’s something to build on!>>
Yes, but it is fine. He is doing brilliantly and I wouldn’t change a thing about his perfect little self.
>>I will do some more of the arm/leg send to the target too, and the barrel, to help him understand.
I had to go back to that a bit too with my pup, who is basically the same age – it is like they had a moment where the skill broke down but then it came back.
>>Not only does he have a short attention span, is just so immature too. So I’m trying to enjoy the cute puppy age. But sometimes he tries my patience! He was chewing up the rug this evening so he was put in the crate with a bully stick instead. He’s so busy!>>
Yep! Totally relatable. If I can’t directly watch the pup, I will put him in a crate with something to do. They are busy AND still teething AND they don’t know the rules of life yet (although my other dogs are VERY helpful with that LOL!)
>>I did get a working spot in Max PUp 2, but now I”m not sure if he’ll still be too immature for that class. Think he’ll be okay? I figured I can puppy stuff down for him if needed.>>
I think he will be fine for MP2 because there area handful of us with dogs the same age: Casper, my Ramen, the baby Goldens Audie & Prytania, and a couple of others. They will all be in the 7-8 month range in that march time period. What happens in that time span is they make massive leaps forward in transferring the concepts and they are not yet fully in the throes of adolescence – so we might start them all with a puppy-version of the game then build it up.
And because I will be training my pup alongside, I will be able to break things down for the younger dogs so we all advance together. It will basically be 2 tracks – our baby babies, and the pups that are going to be over a year old when we start.
>>Today at flyball practice he LOVED the circle of love and seeing All The people and getting treats and then chasing me for a toy.>>
YAY! I love it! And he engaged with the toy on the recalls? SUPER!
On the video, he was interested in the crunchy bottle tug when it was moving (but it was a little too much pressure when it was kind of dead in front of the person who was very energetic LOL!). So you can attach it to a long toy so you can drag it (or she can drag it) and he can chase it.
After an circle of love experience or two, I stop doing the circle of love stuff with my dogs and move to the pattern games and engagement with me, so that they learn to ignore the other people and dogs. If he leaves you to visit, no problem, the other folks should still cheerfully greet him and give him a cookie – but we start to shift the games to more momma focus pretty quickly.
>> That pretty much burned up all his brain cells. LOL.
Well yes 🙂 Flyball training is a really high energy level and it burns a lot of glucose. And basically the brain is powered by glucose so literally, it might have burned up his brain cells LOL!! You will see the mental stamina improve but even with the adult dogs, our flyball training sessions don’t go longer than 5 to 7 minutes (with rest breaks built in) then a massive break between sessions. It is an intense sport (but super fun).
>>But we tried some counter motion… and I put a harness on him for the Super Fun Place and he didn’t even seem to know it was on. But All The People are SO COOL that he couldn’t really do anything but be a puppy. Which is okay, it’s all fun! Man he LOVES that training barn!>>
Perfect about the harness, and perfect about how much he loves the training building and people. Yay!!! Those are the most important things: positive emotions 🙂 And now you can start to bring in othre games he loves to shift things towards more engagement with you! Flyball doesn’t start any real training on the box or jumps until the pups are well over a year old, so engagement is really all you need at this point.
Great job here!!
TracyHi!
His commitment is looking really good here on these, which makes it easier to work out the different handling!! One thing that was particularly excellent was that even if the handling was not perfect… you rewarded him anyway because you were working out what you needed to do. I wish I could convince EVERYONE to reward their dogs like that – big click/treat to YOU!!!! It made him very happy to keep trying all of the different moves 🙂First video – super job on your FCs and the race tracks! Your connection was super clear and he had no questions.
You added the spins on videos 2 and 3. On the second video, at :03, your spin was good when you turned towards him like a FC then did the BC. The spin is a FC-BC combo 🙂 so starting it like a FC then doing the quick blind is what gets the tight turn. Your second one was a blind cross (:22) where you turned away from him instead of towards him. You can see the turn was a little wider because of that (although we do use blind crosses to get crazy tight turns sometimes :))
On the 3rd video, you were getting the smoothness of the spins: :23 was correct (FC-BC combo) and so was :38, which was also really smooth and quick. You are definitely getting it! Yay!
2 suggestions to add:
– add your wrap verbals, so you don’t say “go”. Since go will mean big huge straight line extension, we want to get the wrap verbals on the barrels at this stage.Also, you can stick the toy in your pocket so you don’t switch it from hand to hand. Switching it delays your timing and draws his eyes to you instead of the barrel (like at :04 on the 2nd video). And since the rewards for this don’t have to be precise (you can whip the toy out of the pocket as you keep moving), having it stuffed into a pocket will make it easier for you both.
Great job! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning!
>>This is soooo weird, this will be my third try at loading my week 10 videos……
Were you getting an error message? and what type of device were you using? Sometimes Apple devices and the WordPress software don’t get along. Or, it could be a connection issue because there are a lot of videos in each post. But 3 posts did come through! Let m eknow what was happening and I will pass it along to the tech folks.
Left/right minny pinnys – He figured out the setup really well on both clips, with juts on elittle bar and then all three bars – no problem! The tone/rhythm of the verbal was perfect (sounds different from your wraps and from the loud GO GO GO verbals. And your reward position was great – he liked the treats but I bet you can use a toy now too.
One suggestion – hold him lined up at your side, start saying the verbals, then let him go. This will help him process and attach the verbals better than moving then hearing them. And it will also help you double check your words – on these clips, you were saying left when he was turning to his right. and vice versa. So either YouTube mirrored the clip, or you had the verbals bsed on your hands (he starts on your left, so you say left), or you had them backwards (I have done this – oops! LOL!!) So that moment of holding his collar, saying the verbals 3 or 4 times, will allow you to spot check if you are naming the direction correctly.
The stays look good! He seems very happy holding his stay as you lead out. Interestingly, when you said ‘stay’, he went into a down. When you didn’t really say stay, he held the sit.
Based on his responses here, he doesn’t need th stay cue – he seems to understand that sit means stay! That is great! You did these all on your left side, so be sure to all set him up and lead out on your right side – I did too much left side practice with my puppy so his right side understanding is weaker. So be sure to show Sid the right side line ups too 🙂
Adding the prop was of course harder 🙂 But he did really well – I cracked up when he took his toy to the prop LOL!! When you very clearly lined him up, he seemed to understand that he should sit and not head for the prop – perfect. And he was definitely jazzed up by the value of the prop: he was leaning forward a little more. This is great and it allows you to work the skill of the stays in front of the ‘jump replacement’ which will make it easier to do this in front of the jump. Good job throwing back the rewards before he brok the stay, I think you were at 100% success on both videos. Super!!!
As with the previous video, remember towork the stay on your right side too. And he is totally ready for the week 12 lateral lead out game.
Find my face game – on both videos, he did beautifully. He was perfect at patiently finding your face when you disconnected (great acting LOL!!!)
Try not to say yay, try to use your tossed reward marker (if you do a lot of praise, it is not as clear if he should go find the reward or keep looking at you. You used “get it” more frequently on the 2nd video and that was clearer.When you completely disconnect, try to keep half of an eyeball looking for him, so you can see if he is finding your face – he was very patient 🙂 He doesn’t have to come all the way in front of you, he can be at your side or a little behind you.
He does like his cookies, but I bet he will also like the version of this game with 2 toys. You can have a toy in each hand – and when he finds your face, you cue him to tug on one of the toys. Then ask him to release the toy – you then disconnect – when he finds your face, you ask him to tug again. This version of the game might be more likeyl to be effective near the ring for him, if he likes toys more than food.
Great job here!!!
Tracy
Hi! Glad you are having fun 🙂 The pattern game in this environment was GREAT!! Excellent choice of game, and she did a great job of being able to re-engage even with all the noises and smalls and being in the great outdoors. You were nice and patient too 🙂 allowing her to take a moment to listen to a sound when she needed to.
When the environment is really distracting, you can just do regular pattern games (no need to turn away from her). So if she is comfy, you can get closer to the ring area today. And if you are on dirt (hard to find the treats) or it is too close to other dogs to toss a treat, you can bend over and put the treat on your shoe! Or, if she prefers movement, you can walk back and forth more.
Super job! Have fun!
TracyDarned agility dogs being balanced and turning both ways LOL!!! When she is pumped up, which way does she turn on the first rep? That way she won’t be tired and will be too pumped up to think about it much 🙂 And you only want to do 5 reps at a time, then take a break. Otherwise yes, she might get tired and turn the other way.
I scrolled back through her thread here and the only times were noticed a side preference, the preference was to her left (one reference to it on December 5th, and she was better to her left on the rear crosses). So I think left is a good call for now!
T
Hi –
>>The only MAX pup games I am going to use is “Take a Breath” and I need that too…LOL…
Oh yeah! I forgot about that one LOL! It is perfect!
>>I am pretty stresses and worried. Being left over the weekend waiting for the radiologist report is very mentally taxing.>>
I totally relate. I shed many tears over the luxating patella issue. I am still neurotic about it.
>>I do have some puzzles and will find or buy a snuffle mat.
Because he is little, you don’t need to spend the big bucks on a real snuffle mat – you can go to a walmart or target and get a deep pile bath mat, it will work great!
>>He is doing good if with me and will do quiet time in crate a couple times a day. Then his little pen right beside my couch is working well too. Also my 12 year old pap is his best buddy and the old man will lay with him in the pen to keep him company.>>
Awww, yay for the old man helping out!
>>I don’t think there is a lot of pain and right now he is on Gabapentin and Medicam and since they maybe blocking some of the pain I am being super careful about keeping him inactive. He would go running and playing if allowed.
Gaba and medicam, good stuff! And yes, they are blocking any pain so keep him in bubble wrap for now.
Tracy
Hi!
This was a really good video to watch and learn about Audie from!!
>>. Looking at the video, I can see how our failure rate increased in the 2nd session. too much for him to have done a 2nd session or I should have rewarded stays more before moving to the exercise. also wonder if I had started the 2nd session with pattern game if that would have made a difference>>
Normally, as you know, I am all for short sessions where we don’t over-work the pups. After watching the video here… he was fine. He was totally engaged, not brain tired or disengaged. All errors were human errors of reinforcement choice, mechanics and connection LOL!!! More below:
In the first part of the session, watching with the sound on… there was a LOT going on in the environment! Barking dogs, people, jangling tags. etc. Good job at the beginning doing some pattern games and some stay rewards. He did really well!!! I would definitely use more toy play. This section (the whole video, actually) was all food reward – using only food reward ends up resulting in too many reps, easy handler disengagement (meaning, you don’t interact with him enough), not enough play, and not enough excitement. So after every treat or 2… get the toy involved and play and engage 🙂
The collection looked great on the first release! And he was able to do the parallel path in extension too, going back and forth between that and the decel.
Three details for this game:
– try not to say “yay” for the cookie thrown ahead on the parallel path, he didn’t know where to look when that was happening.
– for now, stand still in position for the decel before you release, rather than moving into it – there was not enough difference between moving and decel for him to read it fully, so we need to keep it very different looking.
– both the decel and the parallel path can (and should) be rewarded with a toy, not a treat 🙂
I am guessing the 2nd session was at about 3 minutes when things were quieter (and you were doing the serps).
To help solidify the stays during the serps, move to position, show the arm cue… and then throw the reward back to him.
His errors here were mechanics-induced: when you released and didn’t really show a big connection shift to the landing spot (an arm cue to match it), he didn’t know where to be (like at 3:53). This was especially true when it all happened at once, like at 4:40 when you released, moved, put the arm and eyes in position all in the same moment – too much to process!
When you made it clearer by showing the arm and connection shift separately from your motion like at 4:16, or later on when you were moving THEN showed the cue and released (5:16 for example) then he got it every time.
And when you were fully engaged and working each step of the rep (like the rep starting at 5:34, for example), he was terrific! But when you were disengaged (not looking at him, or talking to yourself) – he failed like at 6:06 when you walked away without connection and discussing doing the serps again so he failed. Same thing happened at 6:48 when you turned your back on him and said something about eating clover – he was like “wait what does that mean?”
And on those failures on the serps and stays, he definitely got a ‘sad trombone’ response to the errors… but those were really human errors, so resist the temptation to mark the failure or drop your energy with a sad trombone “nice try”. Just give him a yay and hurry back to reset and start again.
So cleaner training will really help – I don’t think the amount of training was too much for him, I think it was just being sure that you were fully engaged in each rep and showing all the correct mechanics. And definitely get the toy play involved in all of this – there was over 7 minutes of video here and not a single rep with a toy. The toy brings higher arousal, which is great because then he learns it in higher arousal. And the studies behind learning & arousal say that if he learns the skill in the same state (higher arousal) as he has to recall the skill (higher arousal at a trial) then he will have more success. If he learns it in a different state (lower arousal) than he will need to recall it (higher arousal) then he is more likely to fail and be unable to recall the skill and execute it.
It is great to have this on video – it was overall a really nice session and it is fun to see how he gives such great feedback on mechanics!! Let me know what you think!
Tracy
Very very nice job on the countermotion session here!! You can add more motion (walking faster, the build to jogging) – two suggestions to get rid of her questions that you saw when she was on your left side.
She was pretty perfect on your right arm at the beginning!
She had questions on the left side but I think she was actually reading your line correctly in a very literal way:At :49 and :57, by the time you released her, you were actually converging onto the rear cross line which presented right turn into. I am pretty sure that you were probably trying to not step on the stuff on the floor so your line was no longer straight. That convergence was causing the right turns when you wanted the left turns. Good news: she pays close attention to all of your cues. Bad news: she pays close attention to all of your cues 🙂 HA!
She has a lot of whippet in her, and I have found that whippety dogs are GREAT at processing visual info incredibly fast (sighthounds, right? Makes sense). I have found my whippety dogs and student whippety dogs to be able to respond to visual cues faster than any other type of dogs… again, it is good news/bad news because it means we humans don’t have as much leeway to show subtle changes in motion in the early days of training.
She sees everything and as a young dog, she is incredibly literal – good girl!!!
Compare your line at :48 and :57 to your line at 1:36 where she had no question: you were moving straight after the exit (no convergence) so she knew it was a left turn.
I thought your line was 1:43 and 1:50 was good too (nice and straight, no convergence) but you were looking at her instead of looking back at the landing, so she didn’t commit (normal baby dog question – eventually you won’t have to look at landing but it is important for now).
On the last 2 reps, you nailed it (1:58 and 2:03) – srtaight line of exit, looking at landng and no convergence. She was perfect!!!
So – keep going with the straight line of exit, give yourself enough room so you can be very straight and not show convergence. And keep reminding yourself to look at landing.
Your toy placement was fabulous!!
Out of curiosity… if you have played with any ball retrieves or foundaiton box turn for flyball, which way does she turn?
Great job!
Tracy
